I love the title.

*hysterical crying - fists balled into eyes*

Greyweather wrote: "I love the title."

Barb gets the credit for that.

And 'Wuthering Heights' was the inspiration.

I have - swooned - called for my smelling salts - had my ties severed - plonked out a duetical dirge on the ol' joanna - splashed holy water - made a cross with index fingers........


........ and still you heretical ghoulish barstewards relentlessly advance in your evilishness!

Heee, I don't think Bettie is appreciating our efforts. Amazing how quickly some people found this.

Please include "The Catcher in the Rye". I didn't "get" this book in highschool or 2 years ago when I reread it.

Whoops, guess this one doesn't really qualify for English literature, does it?

Ummm, wait a minute. The House of Mirth? Barb?

Misfit wrote: "Heee, I don't think Bettie is appreciating our efforts. Amazing how quickly some people found this. "

I'm appreciating greatly - I am having a lovely 'faux hysteria' time flouncing about and wailing loudly; look there I am, fallen backwards over the arm of that mulberry-coloured velvet chaise longe.... lordy! but my bodice has split open with the emotion evocated by you cruel and heartless cads!

*sotto voce* - you can whip Wharton into seven shades of, erm, proverbial and I will wail "I didn't see who did it yer esteeemnestness"

Flounce, Flounce, swoon, Flounce - it would be terrible if EVERYTHING THAT ANTHONY TROLLOP-E WROTE was on this list wouldn't it!

a nudge is a good as a wink to a blind horse!

Bettie wrote: "Flounce, Flounce, swoon, Flounce - it would be terrible if EVERYTHING THAT ANTHONY TROLLOP-E WROTE was on this list wouldn't it!

a nudge is a good as a wink to a blind horse!"

Excuse me, but do we mean BRITISH lit, or LIT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE, of what ?
I mean, there's no end of American lit one can post here, starting with.....ahh, but let that be my surprise ! (Your bodice tore on its own or did some cad rip it ? We are your friends, you can tell us.)

Thom wrote: "Bettie wrote: "Flounce, Flounce, swoon, Flounce - it would be terrible if EVERYTHING THAT ANTHONY TROLLOP-E WROTE was on this list wouldn't it!

a nudge is a good as a wink to a blind horse!"

Exc..."


Dear Thom *draws you to one side away from the riff-raff*

let me say, my gallant man *places palm under left breast and gives it an upward twitch*... as I understand it, it should be as the title says it should be, namely English as opposed to that upsatart genre, American.

Forsooth - there is enough monstrosity emanating from the mother without looking at the inconsequential drivel spewing forth from the ingrate nations.

Misfit,
House of Mirth.
I know I gave it three stars but I'd bet good money someone out there was forced to read it as torture during High School.

Bettie wrote: "Thom wrote: "Bettie wrote: "Flounce, Flounce, swoon, Flounce - it would be terrible if EVERYTHING THAT ANTHONY TROLLOP-E WROTE was on this list wouldn't it!

a nudge is a good as a wink to a bli..."

Hear, hear !

This is waaaay too much fun, look at what you started Barb. Thom has good questions and I think Bettie had the perfect answer.

What surprises me is I haven't seen A Scarlet Letter of Jane Eyre yet. Wait until the high school kids find us..... (the Amazon reviews for those two books are priceless enough).

Bettie and Thom are a hoot and a half!

Barb wrote: "Bettie and Thom are a hoot and a half!"

The year was 1960, and Ruth Davies had us READING (that's italicized) King Lear--would have said I hated it, but in truth it was simply incomprehensible to me. You understand, there was no walk-thru holding book or any such thing, just "Read this or you're gonna flunk." Got a D in her class, now wear it as a reminder when teaching Shakespeare.

Bettie wrote: "as I understand it, it should be as the title says it should be, namely English as opposed to that upsatart genre, American. "

Oh is that what we Americans are now? A genre?

OK, who are those five people giving A Tale of Two Cities votes?

See Misfit,
House of Mirth has gotten three more votes.
I knew I was on to something with that one.

And now after looking I see one of the votes for HofM is my good friend Jody, who read it with me in our book club which we affectionately refer to as "The Bad Book Club".

Barb wrote: "And now after looking I see one of the votes for HofM is my good friend Jody, who read it with me in our book club which we affectionately refer to as "The Bad Book Club".
"

Have you read any other E Wharton titles ? Any comparison ?

Since we seem to be using "English" to mean "anything written in any language, then translated into English..."

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Greyweather wrote: Oh is that what we Americans are now? A genre?

*Hugs Greyweather* - Don't worry dear one, the 'mother' is now no more than an ouvre padded out with "What Ev'" at every turn.

I had to study Latin way back 'then' and it didn't matter one jot how badly I did at it, I couldn't hurt it because it was already dead. OTOH English is supposed to be alive and kicking and some authors have been trying to murder it, and us with it.

Barb wrote: "And now after looking I see one of the votes for HofM is my good friend Jody, who read it with me in our book club which we affectionately refer to as "The Bad Book Club".
"

Barb wrote: "See Misfit,
House of Mirth has gotten three more votes.
I knew I was on to something with that one.
"

Hmmmph. I see Dickens and Melville are still duking it out for #1 spot.

Why is "War and Peace" on this list? It's Russian. Hugo and Flaubert are French. Wharton, Salinger, Steinbeck, Melville, and Fitzgerald are American.

I think if it could create a hatred of literature in general, it is fair game for the list.

Tatiana wrote: "Why is "War and Peace" on this list? It's Russian. Hugo and Flaubert are French. Wharton, Salinger, Steinbeck, Melville, and Fitzgerald are American."

Who knows? I don't think there are any rules yet. Barb? You started this - do we want rules or is anything fair game?

It's a free for all!
If it felt like bad medicine add it!
If you read it in Hight School and it made you want to scream add it!
If you wish you had the six hours back you spent reading it add it!

Thom,
I haven't read any other Wharton. 'The House of Mirth' was a difficult read for me. I'd like to try 'The Age of Innocence', but I'm gun-shy now.

Barb, try a couple of Wharton short stories, especially "Roman Fever" and "Xingu" which are really very funny and sly—deliberately so.

Barb, I second Antoine's rec: Wharton's stories are great IMO. But I loved "The House of Mirth" too:)

i have a literature degree... and the title makes me giddy.

No one mentioned Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton?? In the movie Grosse Point Blank, one of my favs with John Cusak (swoon), the main character asks his old English teacher is she's still "inflicting that old Ethan Frome damage". Hysterical movie. Anyway, Ethan Frome is a regular, or was, in the list of horrifying stories grown-ups make kids read. I was so angry about reading it when I was in junior high or high school. However, it has really stuck with me. The ending kind of the story kind of goes along with the philosophy of eating dessert first in life. AKA bad stuff happens, in case you haven't figured it out.

... I actually liked "The Glass Menagerie".

Sounds terrifying, Lori - luckily, I was never assigned it!

The main thing I remember about Ethan Frome was that all the meals in it seemed to consist of pickles and donuts.

Antoine wrote: "The main thing I remember about Ethan Frome was that all the meals in it seemed to consist of pickles and donuts."

Oh really, I don't remember that. Maybe it's time to reread it. The thing that pops into my head now when I see the words Ethan Frome is Liam Neeson.

Looking back on it, I think the pickles and donuts in the book were meant to suggest the privation of wintertime, but to a late 20th century teenager they just seemes incredibly odd.

I was going to vote on this list, but then, as I scrolled down, I was puzzled to notice that books not written by English authors are included.

For example, "War and Peace" was written by a Russian, "Moby Dick", "The Pearl", "The Red Pony", and "The Catcher in the Rye" by Americans. Flaubert was French, as was Victor Hugo.

This list should be retitled: "Books Most Likely To Create Hatred of Literature". Or, the books written by writers from countries other than England should be deleted. Only then would I go ahead and vote.

Maria,
This list was inspired by my characerizaion of Wuthering Heights. It was a fun way for people to share their displeasure with certain books and we opened it up so that anyone could add anything they felt met that description.

This is just for fun and not intended to be technically correct.