Last week, the Times Online published the 10 Books NOT to Read Before You Die. I have to agree with many of these choices: I could never endure James Joyce, and I can't say much for Jane Austen, either.
I'm tempted to add Conrad's Heart of Darkness or Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, both of which I found rather stifling. Same with DeLillo's White Noise, which is praised up and down but just doesn't do anything for me.
What would you add or take away from the list?
I'm tempted to add Conrad's Heart of Darkness or Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, both of which I found rather stifling. Same with DeLillo's White Noise, which is praised up and down but just doesn't do anything for me.
What would you add or take away from the list?
10 comments:
Actually, about half those books would make my favourites list. Hiis thesis seems to be that "Classics are large and boring and I don't have the attention span for them!" Well, bully for him, say I -- I for one adore Austen and Proust and Tolkein, and am currently reading Ulysses.
In conclusion, that list is silly and I reject it. Kapow!
Any lists of do-read or don't-read books are patently subjective, and I think this one is an especially biased example. It's certainly not relevant, shocking, or inspired to make a list trashing the classics - those of us who admire them know quite well that there are billions of people in the world who would have more use for them as kindling than company.
That said, I would add "The Fountainhead" and "As I Lay Dying," the American classics that make my own subjective list of don't-reads, and take out P&P and LOTR.
Personally? Moby Dick and a large portion of Charles Dickens' works would make the list for me. Not because I hate classics, but because I truly, truly hate both of these guys writing. I might add a couple of Hemingway books to the list, and I second As I Lay Dying and The Fountainhead.
Yes, yes! Moby-Dick! I despise that book. The best thing about that book is the first line ("Call me Ishamael."). You can keep everything else.
I love Austen.. sigh...
Though I agree with adding Mrs. Dalloway & Joyce. I love me some classics, but sometimes I do need to force my way through.
I would take Hunter S. Thompson off the list. Sure, the author of the list had a good point when he said Gonzo journalism gave certain journalists the license to just get wasted with the interviewees, but it was much more than just that for Thompson. The style is creative and invigorating, and certainly unique at the time.
I would add Steinbeck. I've never been able to make it through The Grapes of Wrath, and I don't think I ever will, even though I'm pretty sure I have a copy laying somewhere around my room.
I also second (or third? whatever) Dickens. We had to read one of his books over the summer when I was in high school, and I absolutely could not make it past the fourth page. I can't even imagine forcing myself to read all of that just because it's a classic.
Pierre by Herman Melville or The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
I want to argue against so many of these comments, but I won't because everyone is entitled to their (incorrect) opinion. ;-)
I would have put "Lolita" on my list, but after the third try, I got it. I think we are ready for certain books at different points in our lives. I'll never give up.
I, too, think it's silly to dismiss classics. Most of them (most!) have survived for good reasons. I once hated all 19th-century novels; I tried them again ten years later and loved many of them.
That said, I don't like Hemingway, I couldn't finish Tess of the d'Urbervilles (though I'm loving Far From the Madding Crowd) and I didn't think Conrad's The Secret Agent was all that, though I thought Heart of Darkness was spectacular.
At the risk of being lynched by Dostoevsky lovers, I'd add Dostoevsky to the list. But I wouldn't make a list of only don't read classics; I would include a lot of modern day books as well, such as Atonement.
I gather from comments that LOTR was put on the don't read list...I can't really say much other than I loved it when I read it. When the movies came out, I tried to re-read it and failed, which is weird because I remember gobbling those books up.
Post a Comment