Comments on: Shoulda, coulda, woulda

By: Kathleen Taylor

Kathleen Taylor — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:28:10 +0000

Poetry. Unless it has a specific rhythm and rhyme scheme, I am completely and totally Poem Deaf.

By: Rowenna

Rowenna — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:38:15 +0000

I’m hopeless on the great Russian novels…partially because there’s still so much short Russian fiction I haven’t yet read, and short Russian fiction is often the length of a “normal” novel, so…I find myself picking up another Pushkin short story rather than dive into Crime and Punishment.

By: Kristin Laughtin

Kristin Laughtin — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 23:16:55 +0000

I’ll own up to it: Off of that list, I haven’t read THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. I know the basic story, but haven’t read the full text. I was in advanced English classes in high school, and they skipped over it because they figured we would all read it on our own, anyway. I was generally busy reading Asimov and Vonnegut, and never got around to it. (Actually, I’ve never read SIDDHARTHA off that list, either, but that doesn’t elicit the same types of “OMG you haven’t read ____?!” reactions, in my experience.)

I’m an SF/fantasy writer, and there are quite a few books in the “canon” that I haven’t tackled yet, either. I’ve taken on a few in recent years, and it’s scary on occasion to realize I’ve written a similar story to one of them. Like, “yup, nobody will believe I WASN’T influenced by Book X…”

By: Anna Jones Buttimore

Anna Jones Buttimore — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:35:44 +0000

Don’t feel bad, Teri. My Dad is a big Russian literature fan and named me after Anna Karenina. I haven’t read it either.

By: Christi

Christi — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:13:09 +0000

The one I have most regret is Orson Scott Card’s ENDER’S GAME and other Ender and Bean books. My father is such a fan, and he’s a hard man to please regarding literature. He loaned me his audio books. I didn’t listen to them. My husband went and bought me the books. I haven’t read them. I don’t know why I put it off. I’m looking at ENDER’S GAME right now. It’s on the top of the nearest ‘to be read’ piles (I’ve many of these). I don’t know if I’m afraid it won’t live up to the hype or if I’ll be so inspired, I’ll change genres.

By: Teri Carter

Teri Carter — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:44:41 +0000

The list is so long. I just posted yesterday about all the fat books, the 1,000-pagers, that have scared me off. ANNA KARENINA is certainly in that category — every time I tried to start it I would think, “who are all these characters, again??”

Dickens. I think I’m most ashamed about Dickens.

By: Lydia

Lydia — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:31:07 +0000

Dickens. Great wit, but I just couldn’t get through his work. Gone with the Wind, too…read first chapter, and shut the book with a sad shake of the head and sigh.

By: Karen A. Wyle

Karen A. Wyle — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:26:52 +0000

It’s amazing how many “classics” I haven’t read, despite lifelong compulsive reading and a B.A. in English and American Literature. I don’t think I’ve ever made it through anything by Tolstoy. Never read Crime and Punishment. May not have finished David Copperfield, although I have read and re-read several other Dickens novels. No Proust, only one Hesse (Siddhartha). And if I read Passage to India, I can’t remember it. (My mother loves it and keeps asking me whether I’ve reread it. Sorry, mom, I’m not sure.) Have read only snippets of Moby Dick.

By: Anna Jones Buttimore

Anna Jones Buttimore — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:01:14 +0000

I got through my entire English degree without reading any Dickens because someone told me it was depressing. Now I’m rectifying my shameful ignorance downloading them all free on Kindle. And yes, they are depressing.

By: Ciara

Ciara — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:28:08 +0000

Oh dear everything Austen has passed me by. I simply can’t get into it, so it’s not so much a gap as wilful ignorance. I know it’s something I *should* read but a few lines into Emma or Mansfield Park and I find myself looking for distractions!