Comments on: Reading can be not fun

By: N. Clifford Henderson

N. Clifford Henderson — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 12:32:55 +0000

In reading your blog, I hesitate to jump in, since I am something of an outsider, though I have hopes. I am not certain that I am allowed to comment. As a history professor, I read things different from what any of you have mentioned. As for Shakespeare, I found that it wasn't until I read him for the third or fourth time that I began to "get it." However, the book that I have had the most trouble reading, and I have never been able to complete it, is Mein Kampf. I still feel that I need to read it to help me understand Adolph Hitler and to put him in historical perspective. But I just can not finish it, partly because it is so hateful and evil, and partly because it is so poorly written.
I hope you have not minded me jumping in. You will be getting a query letter from me.

By: Claire Caterer

Claire Caterer — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:11:54 +0000

Many of these noted I really did like–LORD OF THE FLIES, HAMLET (but just read it this year!), Dickens, Twain. But here's the thing: It helps to read some of them later, I think, when it's your choice. Re. Shakespeare: Read some kind of annotated version. I like the "Shakespeare on the Double" editions–large type, plot summaries, and a "modern" translation presented side by side with the original. Also: WATCH Shakespeare–it makes all the difference.

That said, I didn't appreciate slogging through Salman Rushdie's SATANIC VERSES. And forget about Cervantes' DON QUIXOTE. Once you read the first 150 pp, you've pretty much got the plot.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 06:17:03 +0000

I agree with you about The Catcher in the Rye. I read it in high school and loved it and then reread it again several months ago and thought, what was I thinking?!

By: Nicole Marie Schreiber

Nicole Marie Schreiber — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 23:27:47 +0000

Loved this post and had to come up with my worst reads in school. I was thrilled to see that others agreed with me, so I didn't feel so weird about not seeing the greatness in these works! Here they are...

1. Lord of the Flies
2. Heart of Darkness
3. The Scarlet Letter (couldn’t finish because so bored, tried to use Cliff Notes but still got a D on the test)
4. Rascol (so bored)
5. A Tale of Two Cities (never finished it, couldn’t get passed first chapter)
6. Dante’s Inferno

Here is what I did like...

1. Hamlet (I fell in love with Shakespeare's world!)
2. Romeo and Juliet
3. Taming of the Shrew
4. A Farewell to Arms
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
6. The Crucible (Scary but fascinating. I ended up visiting Salem later in life and couldn’t get the book out of my mind!)

By: Taymalin

Taymalin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:19:44 +0000

5. The Lord of the Rings.
4. Romeo and Juliet.
3. Twilight.
2. Wuthering Heights.
1. Anything by Margaret Atwood.

And yes, I do get almost as much joy from hating a book as I do from loving one. Especially if I can find someone else who hated it as much as I did and likes to complain about it as much as I do.

By: Mary Witzl

Mary Witzl — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:39:43 +0000

The Painted Bird (I could be stuck for weeks with no other reading material but this book and never be tempted to give it another go)
Daisy Miller (in fact, just about anything Henry James ever wrote even though he sounds like such a decent guy; I can't get over how he could say the same thing over and over and never seem to realize he'd already done it to death)
The Old Man and the Sea (so thrilled I'm not the only one!)
The Sound and the Fury (life is just too short and this book was absolutely too long)
Paradise Lost

By: Curtis Moser

Curtis Moser — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 04:06:48 +0000

Interesting discussion. I'm surprised how many people list Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea as unreadable. In fact, if I had to create a list of some of my FAVORITE books of all time, many of the books I'm seeing in the comments would be on it. Huck Finn, for example. The Old Man and the Sea would be on it. For Whom the Bell Tolls, Lord of the Flies, Slaughterhouse Five, and Gatsby would all be there. As far as the unreadable ones, anything by James Joyce, most of Dickens's stuff is too wordy for me, and, of course, Middlemarch by George Eliot.

By: Becca

Becca — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:45:59 +0000

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (I absolutely loathe this book!)
Romeo and Juliet (just because it's overdone)
The Old Man and the Sea
A Separate Peace (redleg, yes! I couldn't stand this one!)
Lord of the Flies
Slaughterhouse Five

By: annegreenwoodbrown

annegreenwoodbrown — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:08:00 +0000

What a hoot to read everyone's lists! I LOVE Shakespeare and I practically majored in the Canterbury Tales.

For me it's the Hobbit/ Lord of the Rings--I can't even watch the movies...
And Hemingway never floated my boat. Then there was that nightmare called The Brothers Karamazov...

By: Barbara Martin

Barbara Martin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:41:00 +0000

The Red Pony.