.....Billy Budd?....wasn't he the Editor of High Times magazine?.....
classic books you didnt like
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Anything by any of the Beat Writers.
So pretentious and self-important.
So pretentious and self-important.
You've made a powerful enemy today, pooch.
Faulkner's style is convoluted. Once you get used to it, however, you'll discover a whole new universe. You might want to try something shorter like The Bear. As for Rushdie, he is thick. Try his Imaginary Homelands, a book of essays which are quite a joy to read.
I may have mentioned this before but McTeague bored me silly. I know Uncle Stevie loves it and perhaps an adult might enjoy it but it was forced upon me in my sophomore year of High School.
Strange to say, I read Silas Marner a few years ago and liked it very much. The reason I read it was after seeing A Christmas Story numerous times, I decided to read the book assigned to Ralphie's fourth grade class. Impressed by the book but quite floored that anyone ever considered it either suitable material or of the least interest to children of that age. It's not even a high school level book--more like 35 or 40 years old and up! (Both in reading and comprehension level.) When I mentioned this, someone suggested perhaps the kids shared a classroom with an older class and what was written on the board was actually that class's assignment, but no, as the class leaves the room you hear the teacher (whose name is, like me, Miss Shields) telling them not to forget to read the next chapter of Silas Marner. Still shaking my head over this one.
As for Holden Caulfield, in 1999 I made a project of trying to read as many as possible famous 20th Century books before the Millennium. This was one of the last, finished on December 8. (If you don't get the significance, look it up.) I enjoyed the book and having attended two boarding schools, the first a very rich east coast snob prep school, I could easily picture the world and relate to his problems. In fact, it was assigned reading in that school but for a class or two above mine and I remember one girl saying the interest was in what trouble the main character would get into next. When I did read it I found it better than expected. With all the reports of school bullying now the scene about that still gets me.
You sure are and probably me too! One time trying to strike up a conversation with a friend's mother I asked her what was her favorite book. She stared straight at me and said, firmly and accusatorially, "The Bible." Rarely will you have seen me leave any place so fast.
That was actually my first choice, followed by Animal Farm, both of which were required reading freshman year in high school. More like let's kill ourselves with a surplus of depressing lit. Absolutely could not believe anyone thought enough of those rags to assign them, let alone film them. There was also a book of short stories titled Impact: Stories for Pleasure quite possibly too grim for Uncle Stevie himself.
Jane Eyre and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich I quite liked, as one takes place in part at a spartan school and the other in a Siberian prison camp, and they made my school life look quite rosy in comparison.
A Farewell to Arms. I kind of hate to say it, but I am just not a huge fan of Hemmingway's writing style
Yeah, I got about five pages into one of his books which was supposed to be great and forced myself through The Old Man and the Sea in 1999 with the other 20th Century books so I could say I read some Hemingway. My dad recommended the Nick Adams stories but I never read them so couldn't say.
I read that and Frankenstein around the same time as Danse Macabre and liked Dracula better than Frankenstein.
My friend's son was reading it and I mentioned having read two kids' books in which the kid's mother swore this time she was going to get through it. (The two books were from different series so it was not the same mother trying to read it in more than one book.) I never even attempted it but I did write a prizewinning poem for a class for which it was assigned.
Heard a story once about someone who borrowed Gravity's Rainbow from a friend and then couldn't return the book because they threw up all over it. This did not lend the book appeal for me.
Of course, the correct response is to ask which is their favourite contradiction, or point out that it's OK but could do with a thorough edit to iron out all the inconsistencies.
(Got any room in that there Hellbound cart?
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....a little known novel by Clive Barker.....Of course, the correct response is to ask which is their favourite contradiction, or point out that it's OK but could do with a thorough edit to iron out all the inconsistencies.
(Got any room in that there Hellbound cart?