Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
Archived Chit Chat & All That
>
Loved it/Hated it/Afraid to read it/Conquered it
Edīte wrote: "1. loved it: The Financier by Theodore Dreiser2. hated it: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
3. afraid to read it: I`m not afraid to read, bec..."
Hi Edite:
I noticed you did not care much for Madame Bovary - I love classic literature but this is one I have not read yet. What turned you away from the book if you don't mind my asking?
1. Hated - Toss up between The Great Gatsby or The Catcher in the Rye2. Loved - The Lord of the Rings
3. Afraid - Ulysses
4. Conquered - Ivanhoe
John, if it helps, I loved Madame Bovary! I'd never had a particular interest in reading it, but randomly picked up a copy as I knew it was a French classic, but nothing more. I struggled with the first 50-100 pages, finding the text quite boring, but on the advice from somebody here on GR, I persevered and I'm so glad that I did, as it's now a favourite. I think it helps if you enjoy 19th century literature, but it's definitely worth a read and not one you should be afraid of trying.
I agree with Pink 100%. Bovary was slow and boring at first but it was because he was showing you how slow and boring Mme Bovary found her life. Then things pick up and it was really remarkable. I've never seen anybody use pacing so effectively.
Loved it: The Beautiful and DamnedHated it: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Afraid of it: Ulysses
Conquered it: Lolita
I would never have read Lolita if Jeremy Irons didn't narrate the audio.
It seems I've never posted anything in this thread, so here's my listing.Loved it: Quite many, but I think I go with The Lord of the Rings.
Hated it: Tristram Shandy - elämä ja mielipiteet is my only 1 star classic and in second place comes Wuthering Heights (2 stars), as it was so annoying and also a bit boring book to read.
Afraid of it: Not quite sure, but I think choose Alastalon salissa by Volter Kilpi, a Finnish classic, which is written (mostly) in stream of consciousness style and concentrates for only a one day. It's considred a bit difficult book to get into and it's also quite long (around 800 pages), which makes it even more difficult to conquere.
Other one I could choose into this is Bleak House, mostly because my history with Dickens is a bit complicated one.
Conquered it: Well, only one book that fits in this category for the moment and it's War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
Simona wrote: "My list just for this year:1. Loved it - Sophie's Choice The style! I enjoyed every sentence.
2. Hated it - The Book Thief I am probably a barbarian for saying this, bu..."
I was disappointed with the Book Thief as well. It didn't feel real. It felt like good marketing drove this book.
You mentioned your fear of The Catcher in the Rye. I was afraid of it myself at one time. I used to live near Valley Forge Academy and was kinda in the mood to read something that seemed "a very big deal". So I read The Catcher (not to mention that getting the book for free didn't hurt. I guess someone just couldn't not come to terms, because it was brand new). At first I liked it ok...but was a little disappointed since I thought it was supposed to be a modern classic. When I went to the cliff notes to find out what the different symbols meant I was doubly disappointed. It seemed to me that they had attached meanings to the symbols but they didn't explain where their reasoning came from. Knowing Salinger experience in WW2 made me suspect that perhaps this was an adult book that had been cloaked as a children's (YA) book. I think that is the case. If you do decide to conquer your fear I hope that you will consider looking at my group for an alternative meaning to The Catcher In The Rye.
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
Ashley wrote: "Okay, Here's my list...1. loved it
2. hated it
3. afraid to read it
4. conquered it
1. 'the Help'...I absolutely loved that book. (I have forever amber on my must read list...I'm glad to hear it..."
In case you are interested there is a group that just started Bleak House. It is one of my favourite Dickens' books. My other favorite is less known Hard Times
Here is the group thread for Bleak House
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Silver wrote: "1. The Magus: This was one of the most amazing books I have ever read. I consider it one of my all time favorite books, and it is unlike anything else I have ever read. It kept me on the edge of my..."I am reading Don Quixote right now. I am glad that i have Roy McMillan to help me. He has made it very entertaining! I think what I really like is studying my own belief system and how i have been manipulated by rhetoric...or how people maybe manipulate by it.
Okay, Here's my list...1. loved it: Hard Times; because it validated what I believed about public education that majors on "testing" over experiences. It also inspired Tolstoy.
Also loved Bambi because I felt like I discovered this book. I know it has been around and Disney made a movie out of it, but Disney's version is not Felix Salten's version. In Felix Salten, the author of the original Bambi that Disney based the movie on, there is Falin's brother Gobo. He plays such an integral part that to say more would be to spoil it. But another historical fact you might find interesting is that Hitler banned this book. wiki has a great bio on the book.
2. hated it:Lonesome Dove because it stereo types cowboys as focused on whores and body functions. Just seemed to lack a connection to the land. Dialogue and thought processes not believable.
3. afraid to read it: The Catcher in the RyeI did read this but it took almost five years after it was recommended. One of my fears was that only sociopaths read that book...and if you understood it you would go out and kill a rock star.lol. Second I didn't want my kids to talk like that....they were young and i was innocent.
The first time I read it I hated it,because he didn't explain what the ducks were. When I read the cliff notes I didn't believe what they said. Through Salinger and reading The Catcher I discovered a different level of reading. I learn to read this book by looking at the audience it was written to, post WW1 and WW2. I especially got excited when I listened to the lyrics of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and related it to what was literally and allegorically taking place. Then the symbol of the hat made sense (But having read Bambi i had wondered if it didn't have that meaning...and i believe it does). It took Salinger 10 years to write this book.
My second one is Lolita which i have not tried to overcome, yet.
Also, The Canterbury Tales and the The Iliad & The Odyssey
4. conquered it: Les Misérables...It is that longest book that I have read without an audio version. I remember crying at the sand pit, at the children museum in Chattanooga, TN, while my little girl played, and kids came out of the sand pit and shook the sand all over me. Unfortunately, both of us got lice from that experience...which is reminiscent of the title of this book....The Miserable Ones.
I am adding Paradise Lost to my list of conquered. I have had it on my list for years to read and have just read it this year. Because it didn't make a big enough impression on me i think possibly i should read it again soon. I think poetic stories are a lot to digest.
Hope you didn't mind me being a little long winded.
Dana wrote: "Connor wrote: "That's what happened to me with Moby-Dick. I got to this boring part in the middle"I too have this same problem with Moby Dick. I have attempted to read it three times over a decad..."
I want to read Moby Dick again and explore the themes of Jealousy and Revenge. I kinda wish knowing something about harpooning a whale and then making oil out of the blubber was something i was more interested in for he spent a lot of time on explaining it.
Emily, I'm afraid of Moby Dick too.I just don't want to read about killing whales.
Also, I read several negative reviews that said it was tedious and boring.
I don't always pay attention to negative reviews for every book, often I'll read a book and like it in the teeth of naysayers, but the comments about "Moby Dick" scared me off of it.
I read (listened) to Les Mis with this group last year I think, and it really is a great novel.
At some point, I'd like to read "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" b/c I liked Les Mis so much.
Matt I recco Les Mis.If you get back to Moby Dick and complete it, I'd like to know how you liked it.
Loved it: Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford. Stormed straight into my top 5 reads. Incredible.Hated it: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I found it interminable (15 years ago) and the characters nauseating.
Afraid to read it: This was War & Peace (Tolstoy, again)for many years. I wanted to read it because I felt I should as a lover of Russian literature, but my experience of Anna Karenina put me off. I finished it on Sunday (Hurray!) after a week of being unable to tear myself away. Truly remarkable.
Conquered it: Gravity's Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon) This one wad HARD but impressive and totally mind-boggling, I had to resort to online sources more than once to keep it straight in my head.
Congrats on completing W&P.
Moray wrote: "Loved it: Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford. Stormed straight into my top 5 reads. Incredible.Hated it: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I found it interminable (15 years ago) and the characters nausea..."
Yes congratulations on war and peace. Sorry you didn't like Anna Karenina. I will tell you what i liked qbout it. It describes different types of families and how their childhood created the context for their adult life. Also investigated the new trend on marriage and courting. This is not the deep physiological works of say Crime and Punishment. But if you have the chance to read it again i think you may like it better.
One of the reasons i read it a second time was because i was looking for a character that was a drama queen and a friend recommended Anna Karenina
It's funny how I didn't really think about those things at all when reading Anna Karenina. In away I took it as it was, a description of the Russian high society at the time. Also for me personally it was interesting that a lot of it happened just about 25 km from our border and still the life was so different than on this side.
Mod
was my first introduction to Saul Bellow. ..."
Oh so glad to hear. That has been on my TBR list for quite a while now.
Cosmic wrote: "Moray wrote: "Loved it: Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford. Stormed straight into my top 5 reads. Incredible.Hated it: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I found it interminable (15 years ago) and the cha..."
I am definitely considering trying Anna Karenina again after War and Peace. I was 14 when I read it last and I think I was probably too young to appreciate it. Now that W&P is done I can't think of an "afraid-to-read" any more!
Loved it : p&prejudice , persuasion , jane eyre, tenants of the wildfell hallHated it : gone with the wind, wuthering heights annnd yeah outlander , i agree with silver....
Afraid of : middlemarch,started some its bookmarked...and
War & peace ,anna Agraid of : lord of the rings trilogy...so long and intimidating..but i will definitely conquer it and middlemarch in 2016
Conquered it : as the crow flies..not a classic still...
siriusedward wrote: "Loved it : p&prejudice , persuasion , jane eyre, tenants of the wildfell hallHated it : gone with the wind, wuthering heights annnd yeah outlander , i agree with silver....
Afraid of : middlemarch,started some its bookmarked...
War & peace ,anna karenina"
I agree with all the books on your "Loved it" list! Gone With the Wind is also on my "Loved" list, but I agree with you about Outlander - I though that book was awful.
I haven't read Middlemarch or War & Peace, but I also loved Anna Karenina.
1. Loved it - The Bell Jar I loved her writing.2. Hated it - Moby-Dick; or, The Whale This is one of the few books I abandoned. I feel bad about it though, so I'll probably try again at some point.
3. Afraid to read it - Ulysses but I will one day. Finnegans Wake I probably won't ever.
4. Conquered it The Book Of Luelen Very interesting but dry dry dry.
1. Loved it - So many. The Lord of the Rings, Far from the Madding Crowd, and On the Road are three that come to mind. I was going to write that I loved all three for very different reasons, but really, that's not true. I loved all three because they resonated with me emotionally, and I kept thinking about them even after finishing. I have a feeling that Anna Karenina will be the same (I'm not done, and I'm already lit-crushing on Tolstoy).2. Hated it - I think hate is too strong a word, but I really didn't like The Pearl. I enjoy Steinbeck, but I had to push myself through the mere 96 pages that make up this slim volume. The characters were less-than-sympathetic, and the message that the book conveyed just irritated me. But I'll save that for the group book discussion.
3. Afraid to read it - Moby-Dick; or, The Whale - I've made half-hearted attempts to start the book, but I always throw up my hands and walk away.
4. Conquered it - The Sound and the Fury. I read it late last year, and fell in love with Faulkner and his often infuriating but ultimately beautiful style. Also The Lord of the Rings. I put it off for years but finally read it this year.
Angie,I too am afraid of "Moby Dick."
:)
For 2016, I think it will beLoved it - Their Eyes Were Watching God followed closely by Jane Eyre, both new favorites.
Hated it - Obasan (most disappointing anyway)
Afraid to read it - Foucault's Pendulum
Conquered it - The Golden Notebook
Angie wrote: "3. Afraid to read it - Moby-Dick; or, The Whale - I've made half-hearted attempts to start the book, but I always throw up my hands and walk away. 4. Conquered it - The Sound and the Fury. I read it late last year, and fell in love with Faulkner and his often infuriating but ultimately beautiful style. Also The Lord of the Rings. I put it off for years but finally read it this year. "
These two books are the other way around for me. I tackled Moby Dick this year and liked it a whole lot more than I expected to. I keep trying Faulkner, but I don't get very far!
Moby Dick was the first classic I chose to read when I started my "Classics Binge" a couple of years ago, and I whizzed through it fine - not scary at all!1) Loved It: well lots obviously, but the first book I read that I wasn't really expecting to like but which absolutely blew me away was Toni Morrison's Beloved
2) Hated It: my old gran used to say "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all", but to save people the trouble of looking through my Read shelf, there are only 3 books I've rated as 1-Star: Flowers For Algernon, Frankenstein and The Handmaid's Tale
3) Afraid To Read It: I have Woolf, Hemingway and Faulkner slated for 2017, but that's really just a way of putting off Joyce and Proust ;o)
4) Conquered It: The Magic Mountain (technically haven't finished it yet, but will do within the next 4 days!) - monstrously "dense" (and LONG!) read, but surprisingly enjoyable - needed to set myself a "ration" of 25 pages per day though as the best way of "forcing" my way through!
I think we have quite different reading tastes...all of your hated 1 star books were 4 stars for me, I even think them 5 star worthy now!Good luck with Woolf, Hemingway (another favourite of mine) and Faulkner. I'll be continuing with some Joyce and starting Proust in 2017 too :)
Pink - we actually have a 78% compatibility, which is one of the highest I've seen for me, so I guess we're allowed the odd disagreement!
1. Loved it - 19842. Hated it - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
3. Afraid to read it - House of Leaves (I've heard this book messes with your mind in unimaginable ways, sometimes months after reading it)
4. Conquered it - Brave New World (it was fairly dry and at times difficult for me to continue. But, I loved 1984)
Darren, hopefully that means you'll love Hemingway and Joyce as much as I do then! I'm still undecided on Woolf, I dislike the process of reading her books, but love the memory afterwards. I'm planning on reading The Waves and Orlando next year, as I haven't tackled those ones yet.
I need to read some Joyce this year. A colleague has been trying to talk me into Ulysses.
Matt wrote: "I'm with you Angie except I'm planning to read Dubliners and Portrait of an artist. James Joyce is my selection for "J" on the A-Z author list I plan to read in 2017."Those are the two on my list also!
Dubliners is on my list for next year too :)
Mod
I'm hoping to read this book too in 2017.
1. Loved it - Jurgen by James Branch Cabell (still the only 5 star read so far this year a great forgotten classic)2. Hated it - Alice in Wonderland (utter rubbish)
3. Afraid to read it - Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs (i'm feeling a little better now having got through one of his books The Soft Machine but i'm still putting off this one for some future year, i will get to it though as its on my reading list.)
4. Conquered it - Mardi by Herman Melville (my most recent tough read, took me a month and a half and resorted to an audiobook at times but got through it.)
This year so far:1. Loved it - Strange Nervous Laughter
2. Hated it - The Kite Runner
3. Afraid to read it - The Metamorphosis
4. Conquered it - The Annotated Uncle Tom's Cabin
1. Loved it -I'm going to cheat and put three of my favourites in here David Copperfield, Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights because I think they all have such wonderful characters. Good, bad, likeable or not, the characters are what drew me into each of these books and why I loved them.2. Hated it - A Clockwork Orange. My husband loved this one, but I just couldn't get into it for some reason.
3. Afraid to read it - War and Peace. This one intimidates me a little bit. I actually started it years ago, but put it down for Gone With the Wind. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it at the time, but I do want to read it.
4. Conquered it - Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. I actually loved it, but when I started reading, I was intimidated by it. It was actually one of the first classics I read when I started reading classics a few years ago, so I guess I always thought of it as being "conquered" even though I really enjoyed it.
Wreade, so I'm not alone in my feelings about Alice in Wonderland! Although I didn't exactly hate it, just thought it was a lot of nonsense not at all suited to me. Everyone else seems to love it though!Luella, I'd recommend Ted Hughes Tales from Ovid: 24 Passages from the Metamorphoses which is fantastically translated and highly readable. It's also not that long either.
Pink wrote: "Luella, I'd recommend Ted Hughes Tales from Ovid: 24 Passages from the Metamorphoses which is fantastically translated and highly readable. It's also not that long...."I thought she meant the Kafka one, i was like, isn't that supposed to be pretty short? Does she have a beetle phobia or something? :lol .
Pink wrote: "Wreade, so I'm not alone in my feelings about Alice in Wonderland! Although I didn't exactly hate it, just thought it was a lot of nonsense not at all suited to me. Everyone else seems to love it...."
Hate may have been a bit harsh, i did give it two stars but its representative of that type of ungrounded surreal style of writing which i do hate. Dr .Faustroll by Alfred Jarry is probably the ultimate embodiment of what i hate from that style but i figured nobody would have heard of it so Alice was a better example ;) .
Pink wrote: "undecided on Woolf, I dislike the process of reading her books, but love the memory afterwards. I'm planning on reading The Waves and Orlando...."
The only Woolf i've read apart from the Room of One's Own essay is Orlando and i really liked it, eventually :) . I thought it pretty dry until the 'change' but i feel like it could do with a reread.
I've also recently seen the film with Tilda Swinton, pretty good odd little thing in its own right, worth a look.
Tanima wrote: "Afraid to read it - House of Leaves (I've heard this book messes with your mind in unimaginable ways, sometimes months after...."
This one really isn't as weird or mind blowing as people say. It is really good though. The most disturbing part for me was just the really sordid sex scenes, although that was more sad than disturbing i guess ;) .
The only residual effect this book had on me was that about 6 months after reading the library version i was overwhelmed with a need a buy a copy for myself :P .
I'm going to start Woolf with Mrs. Dalloway, Hemingway with For Whom the Bell Tolls and I have House of Leaves on my xmas list so hopefully Santa will bring! :oD
Oh I didn't know Tilda Swinton was in a film version of Orlando, I'm even more interested in reading and watching the film now. I've read A Room of One's Own, Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse by Woolf. Her stream of consciousness style is difficult for me to fully enjoy, but there's something wonderful about her writing and stories that makes me want to read more.
1. Loved itO Pioneers! - A new favorite. Can't wait to read more from Willa Cather2. Hated it A Confederacy of Dunces - Never disliked a book as much as this one. I read it for a F2F book club and it was not for me.
3. Conquered it Middlemarch I liked it but found it a struggle to get through.
4. Afraid to read it William Shakespeare
Pink wrote: "Wreade, so I'm not alone in my feelings about Alice in Wonderland! Although I didn't exactly hate it, just thought it was a lot of nonsense not at all suited to me. Everyone else seems to love it t..."Sorry I should have specified I meant Kafka's, I think I did this one on my phone so there were no links.
Loved it - Moby Dick: Truly the great American novel. Maybe just the great novel PERIOD. Hated it - Ulysses: Now this is a novel that I will never get. I DESPISED it. All I saw with it was a LOT of pretentiousness, a lack of actual story, bland characters, and, most of all, terrible writing. It wasn't even as confusing as people said (except for that 150 chapter), it's just god awful.
Conquered it - Infinite Jest: I know this is a more modern book, but I still feel like I needed to put this one here. I am an incredibly fast reader and it still took me about a week and a half to get through this one (10 days to be exact). However, I was loving the ever loving crap out of it. This, despite me enjoying it immensely, was still a struggle to get through at times.
Afraid to read it - The Brothers Karamazov: I love Dostoyevsky to death. "Crime and Punishment" is one of my all time favorites. However, this one just scares me. It seems INCREDIBLY dense and has a premise that just isn't worth the density and confusion of it.
Graham, amen re: Ulysses! I can't stand James Joyce. Every word he writes just drips with his disdain for the reader and how so much smarter he is then them and isn't it sad they can't be as smart as him?
I am new to the classic literature world, however, I have always been a book junkie; primarily historical fiction. However, I have found myself on a classic Lit kick and i have come to realize i have a love/hate relationship with this genre, but I can't get enough. That being said:Loved it: Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. I think I have a major Lit crush on Tolstoy right now and I think he is an utter genius! The Count of Monte Christo took me on such an amazing journey despite it being a "door stop" of a novel. Also, Jane Eyre and P&P!
Hated it: Things Fall Apart by Achebe. Maybe I just didn't get it but I found the characters to be awful. I couldn't relate to the book and sad to say it was an utter bore and a waste of time for me.
Afraid of it: I'm probably most afraid of anything by Shakespeare. I can't wrap my head around his work and I know he is amazing but if I'm having to decipher the words then I'm not enjoying what I'm reading.
Conquered it: Don Quixote; I feel like I cheated my way through this one because I had to resort to the audio book just to finish it and at the end I just didn't get it and found it to be a bit ridiculous. Lolita by Nabokov is one that I'd consider to be one because I was afraid of it but once I got my head around the disgusting aspect of it I actually enjoyed it and look forward to reading more of Nabokovs works.
1. Loved it - Bleak House. I've always liked Dickens but this one seemed kind of intimidating (a lawsuit? how interesting could it possibly be?) but I really enjoyed it.2. Hated it - The Great Gatsby. Didn't like any of the people, thought the plot was a real snooze.
3. Afraid to read it - Crime and Punishment. It's huge and Russian with probably a cast of thousands, and after Doctor Zhivago was such a disappointment, I'm afraid to tackle it.
4. Conquered it - Les Misérables. Nearly gave up in that middle section that's nothing but a chronicle of the Napoleonic wars, but I soldiered on (ha ha see what I did there?)
1. Loved it - Emma and The Three Musketeers2. Hated it -Wuthering Heights and Outlander (I'm not a prude but a lot of it seemed like S-M porn to me)
3. Afraid to read it - this is a little different, not a long or difficult book but ever since middle school when everyone was reading it, I've avoided Anne Frank The Diary of a Young Girl. I just can't read about Nazis!
4. Conquered it - Ulysses- only thanks to a GR group and although I admired it I felt I didn't get a lot of it. On the other hand, after decades of avoiding it, I loved Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. For those afraid of reading it, I'd say don't treat it as a regular story. It's more like a collection of different genres. I was surprised that there is humor and some Shakespearean-type soliloquies. And I think it's fine to skip over some of the listings of parts of the whale and how it's processed. I did that and I don't feel a bit guilty.
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Tom Sawyer's Companion (other topics)Mother London (other topics)
The Count of Monte Cristo (other topics)
Atlas Shrugged (other topics)
Moby Dick; or, The Whale (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Alan Moore (other topics)Georgette Heyer (other topics)
Elizabeth Taylor (other topics)
Anthony Trollope (other topics)
Eileen Chang (other topics)
More...
2. Hated it
3. Afraid to read it
4. Conquered it
Love this topic! Here's mine:
1. The Taming of the Shrew
2. Watership Down
3. Madame Bovary
4. Hamlet