Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion
Members
>
5 books you least like from the list
I second that emotion!!Books I REALLY dislike on The List are:
Atonement
Catcher in the Rye
Great Gatsby
Lolita
...and ANY book my Faulkner (yes, I've read them ALL and didn't like a single one!)
Oh, Phyllis, if on a winter's night... is one of my all-time faves. I'm so sorry you didn't enjoy it. And Tess, I'm sorry you didn't enjoy any of your Faulkner, though I definitely understand that his style can be a love it or hate it kind of thing.But I too can confess my antipathy for major writers. Let's see:
I think D.H. Lawrence is the least talented soft-core pornography writer I've ever encountered (and I wonder if the list's fondness for him allowed the inclusion of the totally bereft of value Story of O).
If you are British and you wrote during the 1800s, chances are I am pleased/hoping you contracted syphilis.
Thomas Mann, why did you write The Magic Mountain, and better yet, why did I read it?
If your name is Henry James or Edith Wharton, I find you dull. Not criminally so, just too dull to read anymore. Your parlor intrigues lack something. Please see Tolstoy, Leo for some pointers.
If you are Ayn Rand, I hope you and L. Ron Hubbard are having a nice laugh at our expenses in the afterlife.
Finally, please allow me to reiterate my feelings of "don't believe the hype" when it comes to Messrs Coetzee, Coehlo, and McEwan. I'm glad you've written a lot of books. Please stop.
Finally, please allow me to reiterate my feelings of "don't believe the hype" when it comes to Messrs Coetzee, Coehlo, and McEwan. I'm glad you've written a lot of books. Please stop.LOL! I nearly fell out of my chair laughing at that one. I agree, all three should just stop writing. Or, barring that, at least stop publishing. I would also like to request that Margaret Atwood cease and desist from the act of writing immediately as well.
I am in agreement with Tess on anything that Faulkner wrote. I would like to add I feel the same if not more about Thomas Hardy. Those two writers alone make it hard for me to claim I have an open mind about reading!! I hear people just RAVE about them. I personally see noting but childish rantings and people who had NO CLUE...Especially about Hardy. Its like did he even understand those without money or even women?! I do admit if I ever found a travel diary though of his it would be worth a peek. He could describe landscape, the appearance, smell, etc. But people and how they think and what motivates them...HE WAS CLUELESS!!
I just noticed this one and wanted to chime in:Of the few books on the list that I have actually read, I disliked in no particular order:
1. Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein
2. The Plague by Camus
3. The Idiot by Dostoevsky
4. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
6. Tom Jones by Fielding
(I had to pick 6)
Oh my. There seems to be a lot of anti Catcher in the Rye sentiment. I'd love to hear more on why so many of you didn't enjoy it.My father recommended Stranger in a Strange Land to me so now I wonder just a tad how I will feel after so many mixed reviews.
However, I will feel free to jump in and add to the Faulkner anti-fandom..
Anyone else here not necessarily a big fan of Evelyn Waugh or Edith Wharton?
I'm curious if there have been any books or authors that don't get mixed reviews. Seriously, can anyone think of a book that everyone loves? I guess this would be the wrong thread for that question.
Ver, for what it's worth, Stranger in a Strange Land is one of my top 5 all-time favorite books. If you're wondering whether you would like it, try comparing our books in my profile.Or just read it, especially if you have any liking at all for science fiction.
well, Ver...i read 'stranger' way back in the day, oh, late high school or early college. and i completely loved it, and i think it's one of those rare books that changed the way i view the world. yes, that's an overwhelmingly positive review.BUT.
a very good friend of mine pointed out that a re-read in my 30s now might significantly change my opinion. heinlein's personal philosophy comes off occasionally as scorching misogyny, and that rubs ya the wrong way when you're not 16 anymore.
and Leslie, a firm ditto: faulkner & hardy are hopefully roasting in some literary hell for inflicting all that crap on us. ugh.
hmmm, Denise, a book everybody loves? according to the sales figures, i guess just harry potter...but he's not exactly on the 1001 list...
I didn't read Stranger in a Strange land until I was in my 40's and loved it. I am also a fan of Catcher in the Rye.I am curious--for the people who have listed hating certain books-did you read them as a adults, or as assigned reading in school? I know this doesn't always hold true, but I've noticed that when classics are read voluntarily, not as assigned reading, there is usually a greater appreciation.
Books that I did not like include:
A Clockwork Orange
Lord of the Flies
Love in the Time of Cholera
Heart of Darkness
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
For the first three, the subject matter turned me off so much I couldn't enjoy the writing, HOD was just...dense and TAOABT was just pretentious and annoying.
When you do think about the fact that none of the Harry Potter books are on the list that is kind of scary. For several reasons really...first they are very clever books that are well written and tell a good story. Second, they are books that reach across several age groups, sexes and those with varied interests. And thirdly any book that has that many people, children especially in today's world of instant gratification and technology and have them interested in not just reading those books but reading more like them after they are finished by other authors then deserves a spot on the list.
Sorry but the least talented soft porn writer has to be Henry Miller, didn't enjoy either of his books. No plot just a list of women and drugs he'd had.
hahaha. Just wanted you to know I got a kick out of this comment.
I'm so glad someone agrees with me!I was starting to think I was just a pleb and I was missing something!
I thought "Catcher in the Rye" and "The great Gatsby" were just plain dull.
I am nervous to read clockwork orange. I saw the movie in highschool and just remember how destribing it was. I saw a few didn't like the book, Clockwork Orange. Should I dare start this?!? Any recommendations?
I always advocate starting a book. If you don't like it, put it down. You should be able to find Clockwork cheap at a used book store, or free at the library.If I recall, from many years ago, I thought the movie was excellent, though disturbing. I tried to read the book, but couldn't get through it. Can't remember why. I think the slang, or invented language, gave it a real flavor, but proved difficult for me to grasp.
The movie totally freaked me out. But the book is so amazingly imaginative and well written I was totally engrossed. I highly recommend it!
Re: A Clockwork OrangeHighly recommended.
The slang is not an invented language. It is Russian that was transposed into the English alphabet.
tolchok = hit
droog = friend
moloko = milk
Also, the book ends differently than the movie. Well, at least some versions of the book. Try to find a copy with extra chapter(s), I know the one with the face and fire (you'll know it when you see it) has the extra chapter(s).
I agree, it's the language that is difficult with Clockwork. Our copy has a little lexicon in the back, and after awhile, you start to remember the words. I believe there's a bit of latin thrown in as well?
Well, for me Clockwork Orange was required reading in college.AND Anthony Burgess was a writer in residence at the time at my school. He was not my actual professor, but I met him.
I remember that I went to see the movie AFTER I read the book (which is something I usually try to do, if possible), and thinking it was pretty scary, pretty faithful to the spirit of the book. Maybe, he movie inspired more menace than the book. The nature of film is that gruesome details are more vividly depicted than literature. Or quite differently. They used to say a great book makes a mediocre movie, and a mediocre book is usually material for a great film. There are exceptions, when the book and the movie are equally great, even if somewhat different. A few times, the movie can stay faithful to the book, too. But, as you all know, they live a lot out and for me, what is left out that is sometimes the essence of a book, is the language (not the plot).
But, I think the book is as worthwhile as the film. Not that scary,
I recall being more scared at the movies. Also, the book was not
easy reading, as I recall, but it was a long time ago that I read it.
Lol.I think, though, that Edith Wharton's 'Age of Innocence' the movie and the audio version was enjoyable.
I have to agree with most of the above (though I have not read all of the above) - but can't you not spare, please, please spare, 'The Great Gatsby'? I read it once a year and I think it is one of the best
books, ever! For me its because how Fitzgerald elevates each sentence to a pedestal. Such beautiful writing and so many different elements. The language is spare yet evocative, too.
Ok Writermyst. Maybe I'll have to give the Great Gatsby a try after all. I thought I might just skip it since I saw the last half of the movie on tv once. complete with commercials. The subject matter itself didn't seem that interesting, but maybe I need to take a look at the writing.
I really enjoyed The Great Gatsby. I did have to read it in high school, but I had a really great teacher for those years. He went into great depth about the subtext, the symbolism, etc. I would have liked it either way though, it was one of the ones I finished long before we went all the way through it in the class. I'm not really sure why everyone is so down on it. Of course, I also liked Lord of the Flies.
Cool, Denise, and Kieffala. Trust me, Denise, you will like the book. The movie was only enjoyable to me on a slight level because it made me thing about Gatsby's character. But this movie was unable to capture LANGUAGE. It is the one thing that stands out for me - how can a writer construct such unbelievable sentences and thoughts that really touched my soul. I also read 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' about once a year - and I do so, usually out loud, to someone. It makes me cry just to read it, and have to stop and pause during certain passages! It is also an example where the movie was wonderful (beter than the Gatsby adaptation, much better in its own right) - and the book was so much deeper. It has similarities in plot and dialogue, but one of the key characters (in the Capote book) is strikingly different, and he is the narrator. The ending is also VERY different. Not a Hollywood ending. I don't know is I put this Capote book on my bookshelf, but it is a MUST read - and at 111 pages or so, it is short enough to be a novella. You'll wish it was longer - I didn't want it to end. But it was just right and ended just as it had to.
Well, I'm sure among the books I have NOT read are ones I would dislike far more than these picks, but, of those I HAVE read, these are the ones I liked the LEAST:Madam Bovary
Robinson Crusoe
Frankenstein
The Time Machine
A Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man
Women In Love
To the Lighthouse
A Farewell to Arms
The Color Purple
Love in the Time of Cholera (couldn't finish)
Yes, I've managed to read a lot of books I don't like.
Oh of what I have read thus far, here is what I have least liked Billy Budd
A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man
Madame Bovary
Of Mice and Men
Smilla's Sense of SnowBreakfast at Tiffany's
The Tropic of Cancer
The Tropic of Capricorn
Gulliver's Travels
Grapes of WrathTheir Eyes were Watching God
I know why the Caged Bird Sings
Catcher in the Rye
And I think "Heart of Darkness" though I was assigned it back when I was 14... at the time I hated it, but I'm going to give it another shot, perhaps I was just to young at the time.
I haven't read a lot of the books yet, and I fear that the worst is yet to come....
This is hard because if I don't like a book I simply don't finish it (unless it's required reading for a class). The few I definitely did NOT like are:Lady Chatterley's Lover by Lawrence
Nightwood by Barnes
The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
The Stranger by Camus
Cane by Toomer
It's always intriguing to me to see certain titles listed as favorites by some readers, while others say they hated those same books (eg. Breakfast at Tiffany's & Great Gatsby). That's why there are so many flavors of ice cream, not just chocolate!
I disliked the following:The castle of crossed destinies
Love in the Time of Cholera (couldn't finish)
100 years of solitude
The book of Illusions
Time's Arrow
It seems I can never get into Gracia Gabriel Marquez. I'll give it another shot when I'm older. Apart from those above, I also didn't like "Book of Ilusions" and 'Heart of Darnkess".
I couldn’t stand Animal Farm, but loved 1984. Go figure.
Yeah, I'm always surprised to see my favorites on the hated lists, and my hates on the favorites list. It makes it good though, we're all different! Plus, I can look at people who are in agreement with me can be great for guidance and suggestions.
Oh, despite the fact that some of you are Gatsby-haters, I will share with you my least favorites...1. Madame Bovary (Flaubert)
2. Elementary Particles (Houellebecq)
[I will stop picking on the French here, my residency permit might get revoked...]
3. Heart of Darkness (Conrad)--2 reads and I still can't like anything about it other than the descriptions of the river
4. Rabbit, Run (Updike)
There are others which I didn't really enjoy nor did I see the 'novelty' of them, but nothing that I really couldn't stand like those 4. So less than 5% of the books I've read from the list did I really hate; that isn't too bad a percentage.
Well, I have mixed feelings about The Fox and Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawrence. I think Lawrence was a true artist, but his depiction of women just makes me gag. I can't read him for enjoyment.Heart of Darkness- I don't know. It just doesn't do it for me.
I'm ashamed to say that anything by Toni Morrison does nothing for me. I just can't get into her writing. I haven't tried everything yet, though. So, maybe someday...
I've only read pieces of American Psycho and could not imagine reading the whole book, however good it is.
Oh, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- not my kind of thing, I guess
The Garden PartyProbably the closest I've ever gotten to feeling nothing after reading a story. Very dull and uninteresting.
The Color Purple
I just couldn't get into this one. The story wasn't all that interesting, and I thought that Walker came off as a poor stylist.
Things Fall Apart
How the hell am I supposed to sympathize with a culture which condones the murder of someone's child, for absolutely NO reason? If anything, it made me welcome the "intruders," which I doubt was the intended effect.
The Jungle
The "Full Metal Jacket" of novels. It starts off with such a kick that you're loving every depressing page of it. By the time Jurgis leaves his family and becomes a vagabond, the story spirals downhill fast. In addition to just pissing me off with the abrupt change of tone, it also has, hands down, the least satisfying ending I've ever read in my life. I didn't throw the book across the room, but I came damn close to it.
Sons and Lovers
Talk about an unlikable main character. I couldn't stand this precious little "artist" or his problems with women. Lawrence's style was also dull, which probably makes this the least of all the books I've read so far on the list. Dull style + a douchebag main character = me hating being able to read.
Tough one. I mostly only try to read books I think I might like.The Once and Future King
Middlesex
Catch-22
The Pilgrim's Progress
Orlando
I try to differentiate between books that "I love to hate" (I hate the book, but at least it's fun to discuss it with friends, or it made me more knowledgeable about a historical or literary period - or something!) and books that utterly waste my time. Along those lines, I really hated Naked Lunch , but Casino Royale completely wasted my time. Similarly, I disliked Lady Chatterly's Lover but found some value in reading it, whereas I thought Memoirs of a Geisha was sensationalist trash and completely unmemorable (I know, I'm the only person who feels this way!).
Overall though (and I'm only at 9%), I would say I have not encountered too many complete time-wasters on the list - for me, the point is not to "enjoy" every book, but to get something out of the experience. Some books are so fun to hate, I could never regret reading them!
That said, I can't say I'm looking forward to reading more Burroughs or Lawrence. Ugh. Don't think I would like Henry Miller that much either ... I think I'm a prude.
Inder, I appreciate your point about "love to hate" books. Most recently in that category for me was Cocaine Nights. It was the August book here, so it was fun to have a group gripe about it. Got to say I love Lawrence, though. And I liked Miller, too, which was a suprise.
Inder, I like your distinction. I totally know what you mean, and the "love to hate" phenomenon kept several books off my worst list.From my list of worst 5 (so far) I would have to say that these are all books that I "hate to hate". I wish I was glad I've read them. I feel that I SHOULD be glad that I've read them, can discuss them, and will more aware of any intertextuality in other books and films that touches on them; but yet, I am NOT glad.
I did not like I Robot. Too boring. Couldn't wait to get it done. I always force myself to finish books even when I don't like them- And I Robot was a forced read.
Emilee, here's a great list you may enjoy, for those of us who feel we must finish books.Daniel Pennac’s
The Reader’s Bill of Rights
1. The right to not read
2. The right to skip pages
3. The right to not finish
4. The right to reread
5. The right to read anything
6. The right to escapism
7. The right to read anywhere
8. The right to browse
9. The right to read out loud
10. The right to not defend your tastes
oh my gosh! I have got to make that my new mantra.
Love the Reader's Bill of Rights.
Not counting ones read for school:Confederacy of Dunces
I found the main character so irritating I found myself wishing he really would choke on one of the hot dogs from his cart.
Love in the time of Cholera
I wanted to read this ever since I saw the movie Serendipity (love John Cusack), but it was hard to get into. I also found Florentino Ariza to be really creepy.
Catch 22
Trudged through it, but was never able to get into it.
Reader's Bill of Rights is great - though recommend those who practice #9 avoid doing so very loudly in small enclosed areas (like the subway/bus) :)
I agree about Love in the Time of Cholera. How do you create a sympathetic character and also allow that he rapes young girls? Unless I misread, and I thought the prose was a little stilted by translation, he had some young girl that he sent to boarding school who was very very young and something about diapers...I don't know. He was a total creep so I didn't care if he got, in fact I didn't want him to get, the love he wanted.
Emma, my teenage daughter shared your sentiments about Confederacy of Dunces. She HATED it because of the obnoxious main character. But I found it very funny, and gave it four stars :-)
Dave I love the readers rights! Thanks! :)
Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
Books mentioned in this topic
Naked Lunch: The Restored Text (other topics)Beloved (other topics)
The Hours, Michael Cunningham
If On a Winter's Night a Traveler, Italo Calvino
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger