classic books you didnt like

[Neesy]

Is Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller considered an "American Classic"? (we analyzed that sucker to death in high school English).

 

[Dana Jean]

I read Moby Dick once and never, ever again. There are reasons to re read books you like, but not if you don't. There are too many books you like to spend time on ones you don't.

I agree with this.

 

[Dana Jean]

Is Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller considered an "American Classic"? (we analyzed that sucker to death in high school English).

Yes, I would say so.

 

[Neesy]

Yes, I would say so.

Well, there you go - I am pretty sure there was a guy in there named "Biff" - still don't think it was that great of a book (but to each his own, right?)

 

[Dana Jean]

Well, there you go - I am pretty sure there was a guy in there named "Biff" - still don't think it was that great of a book (but to each his own, right?)

Yes, Biff was there.

 

[Pucker]

Like Catcher in the Rye, I think maybe Death of a Salesman gets a bad rap because so many of us had it force-fed to us by barely competent high school English teachers.

 

[Neesy]

Like Catcher in the Rye, I think maybe Death of a Salesman gets a bad rap because so many of us had it force-fed to us by barely competent high school English teachers.

I read "Catcher in the Rye" all by myself, without it being part of a curriculum (when I was 14). Maybe that is why I like it.

 

[Anduan Pirate Princess]

It was rare that I liked anything they made us read in high school. Not a big fan of Shakespeare, because I need most of it explained to me before I can appreciate what just happened. I HATE mostly all those classic dystopian books like 1984, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, Brave New World. I don't get what the big deal is about Jane Austen. Hemingway...The Old Man and the Sea is still probably the worst thing I have ever read in my life.

 

[Anduan Pirate Princess]

Oh man, Ethan Frome. Yeah, let's kill ourselves with a sled. That'll work.

Lol, spoiler alert! There was another winner from high school.

 

[The Nameless]

That's true. Will you be getting The Bazaar of Bad Dreams? I have asked Santa for it, and I might get it (even if I was a naughty girl).

Spoiler

I hope hubby buys it for me - last year he bought me Carrie, as he knew it was one book I did not own!

Wow, a constant reader like yourself, with an almost complete collection - how did you miss carrie?

I got bazaar yesterday.

 

[Neesy]

Wow, a constant reader like yourself, with an almost complete collection - how did you miss carrie?

I got bazaar yesterday.

I read it when it first came out back in the 70s and of course saw the movie. Being in the military for over 20 years, with all those moves we had to go through, somehow things got misplaced.

I only got back into reading Stephen King when 11/22/63 came out and at that point all I had was a book club edition of Dreamcatcher!

Since joining the SKMB I have tried to complete my collection, mostly through second hand stores (what you guys call Charity Shops in the UK).

It's funny because when he surprised me with the Carrie book, a few days before that I got my Cemetery Dance illustrated edition in the mail! (not sure if he had already bought me the Christmas gift at that point or not). I had ordered the special limited edition in April and it took until December to get it.

Hope you had a good B-day, The Nameless

 

[doowopgirl]

Well now, see ...

Moby Dick is a good example of a story I like that is not necessarily easy to read. And you're certainly right about there being too many stories and not enough time.

There were parts of Moby Dick I liked. There were some really good quotes. But there were also a lot of parts I skimmed through. In the end it was driving me nuts. Loved the ending, though.

 

[Blake]

I didn't particularly like doing Shakespeare at High School mainly because our English teacher was boring and stopped every three minutes too explain what it meant. I like what they did at the Oregon Shakespeare festival trying to modernise the language.

 

[stacy270]

I feel like I might get set on fire but here goes.......

I am currently trying to get through,"To Kill a Mockingbird." I am reading that and Ghost Monster by Simon Clark.I keep reaching for the latter and don't seem to have much interest in the former.

And....The Bible.After reading The Left Behind books I was interested enough in the Bible to order a copy to read.I started at the beginning.(Many people say you should just read the New Testament but I would never start a book anywhere but at the the beginning.) I was so horrified by what I was reading that I eventually stopped reading it.It was causing me stress.

 

[muskrat]

Sure, Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow is a modern classic.

In regards to the Bible, Homer Simpson always had a quote I loved:
"Oh, everything's too damn expensive these days. Look at this Bible I bought--fifteen bucks! And talk about a preachy book! Everyone's a sinner..." Points at a page in the book. "...except for this guy.

Or when Homer griped about the church needing funds, said something like, "God needs money? Why don't he write another book? That first one sold pretty good."

 

[OKKingFan]

Moby Dick for me. The movie looks somewhat interesting, but that's one boring book. Best thing I can say for it is I've read that "classic." So I don't have to read it any more.

 

[Arcadevere]

sorry but i will bring this thread back lol

OF all classics what i did not like is

Romeo and Juliet
why?
i hate romance, and this one brings the cliches in today's television, i blame this novel a lot lol

and The Moby Dick
i struggle on this, and when i finished reading it, i vowed to never touch this book again, i ended up donating this book to my HS library before i entered college

my fave would be the Count of Monte Cristo, A Tale of Two cities, Dr. Faustus and Sherlock Holmes' story, however, the least SH book that i did not like was the Valley of Fear, i read this and got bored, ended up sleeping on it over.
also The Cask of Amontillado of Poe is my all time fave short story because this one was a dark humor for me, analyze it in my class and ended up making a short manga for this (that i'm still wondering where did i place all the drawings in my old laptop)

still reading Don Quixote because i got lazy to get this book from my shelve and it was in there for nearly 2 years, i vowed to read it after finishing what i'm reading today

 

[AnnaMarie]

I feel like I might get set on fire but here goes.......

I am currently trying to get through,"To Kill a Mockingbird." I am reading that and Ghost Monster by Simon Clark.I keep reaching for the latter and don't seem to have much interest in the former.

And....The Bible.After reading The Left Behind books I was interested enough in the Bible to order a copy to read.I started at the beginning.(Many people say you should just read the New Testament but I would never start a book anywhere but at the the beginning.) I was so horrified by what I was reading that I eventually stopped reading it.It was causing me stress.

The problem with starting The Bible at the beginning is all those begats.

 

[LanaBanana]

Pride and Prejudice. I didn't think it could be more boring, but then I read the first 10 pages of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Sigh.

 

[GNTLGNT]

...as voracious a reader as I was/am, I pretty much have skipped the classics through no real plan or conscious thought...none of them were in genres I gravitated to... I remain primarily a primate that enjoys horror, sci-fi, thrillers, hard boiled detective fiction, splatter punk and most anything King & Koontz...