Classics for Beginners discussion

Which classics have you read and not enjoyed at all? Did it fall behind your expectations? Did it live up to the hype?

Er, well, not to play off the title too much or anything but...I really don't enjoy most of Dickens' work. I also didn't particularly like Little Women :/

I enjoyed Little Women quite alot. I haven't read much dickens but have David Copperfield and Oliver Twist on my bookshelf to read.

A lot of people liked it...I don't even know what in particular I disliked, it was just very difficult for me to get through it for some reason....

"Age of Innocence" - Yawn...zzzz...

Ha! What is so boring about it?

Not sure, the plotline had great potential, but i found it really slow and boring. I read it a second time a few years later and it still dragged on. I even tried watching the movie and found that to be just as slow.

I won't be trying that anytime soon then...

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The Awakening
The Stranger

NO offense to fans of these books. For me, they were absolutely pointless wastes of time.

Ha, I haven't read or even heard of any of them.

Well, I don't think you're missing much, personally. :)

Quinn wrote: "I'm with Rachel - I've never been much of a Dickens fan."

In my experience as a high school English teacher, very few people under the age of about 30 or even 40 like Dickens. There are a few, but not many.

Dickens, I find, is most appreciated by more mature readers. That isn't necessarily a virtue, but seems to be a fairly common experience.

Go back to him when you're thirty five and see whether your view of him has changed.

I read Oliver Twist (which I believe is Dickens) when I was 10, and I actually liked it.

I am reading that right now and enjoying it very much.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The Awakening
The Stranger

NO offense to fans of these books. For me, they were absolutely pointless wastes of time."

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was seriously the worst book I've ever read. I hated every page of it.

Quinn wrote: "I'm with Rachel - I've never been much of a Dickens fan.

I've been working on Wuthering Heights and I'm just not loving it. I really, really hate pretty much every character that po..."

Despite being on most high school English teaching lists, Wuthering Heights is still an aquired taste. Most lovers to (the often dreaded Twilight) will find this enduring and tragic love story increadible and up until 10 years ago I would read this book at least once a year. (I loaned out my dog-earred notes in the margin copy and have never seen it since.

I am SERIOUSLY! struggling with Anna Karenina, it came pre-loaded on my Kobo, and I want to finish it, but I am finding that the people are so blathering and pathetic that I can't get past 20% read! I wonder what my impression of Wuthering Heights would be now?

I also have Anna Karenina hibernating. I enjoyed the writing style but still struggled to keep going with it.

I loved Wuthering Heights and most books by the Bronte Sisters. I also love Jane Austen, but do not like Louisa May Alcott, I think Winona Ryder really turned me off this author. Though I think Winona just confirmed what I thought of the character Jo. I imagined her a strong character and yet she seemed so weak when written. I spent the book urging real strength and happiness.

I started reading A Tale of Two Cities it took me so long that it was due back at the library and I still haven't finihed it so I am going to re-borrow it some time in my life.

Kjerstin, I'm glad it wasn't just me who disliked A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "Kjerstin, I'm glad it wasn't just me who disliked A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man."

Seriously, every time I hear the name "James Joyce," I shudder, and this book is to blame. I've never had such a horrible experience with a book before. As a literature major, I tend to like most books we read in class. I just could not get through this one. :( I would say that "stream of consciousness" is just not a writing style that I particularly enjoy. However, Darl's chapters in As I Lay Dying were phenomenal. I guess William Faulkner was just better at writing stream of consciousness.

I totally agree with you. I didn't understand The Sound and the Fury when I read it, but I enjoyed it to a certain extent. I wanted to be put out of my misery when I read A Portrait...

Maybe I will try The Sound and the Fury... I guess I can't give up on James Joyce based off of one of his works.

I'm done with Joyce, but I admire you for trying him again. I would recommend reading Sound and the Fury with cliffnotes. But you might be better than I am at understanding it.

Out of Africa was just painful for me. I finally gave up and didn't even bother trying to finish it.

I had a bad experience with Dickens about 10 years ago. I got about a page and a half into Oliver Twist and I found it awful and boring (he spent that entire time just trying to set the scene, and he still hadn't finished!!!), and I guess it has just affected my view of him ever since. Perhaps in a couple of years I might give him another go again.

I just fine Dickens to be very long-winded. But I guess it's kind of silly considering I've read a few other long-winded books and enjoyed them.

Briohny, I had that experience reading "The Cricket on the Hearth." I gave up on it. It was so boring for me. I loved "A Christmas Carol" though.

I agree that "A Christmas Carol" is good. It's the only Dickens that I have read. I'm nervous to read anymore of his work since most people don't like him :s lol

Kjerstin, I'm willing to give some of his other books a try, but I'm hoping I don't get too bogged down.

Maybe we can do a buddy read sometime! That would be fun :)

I started reading Oliver Twist aswell but it took me ages as I didn't ever get engrosed so would only end up reading it for 20 minutes every now and again, then it was due back at the library so I gave it back.

I also started A Tale of Two Cities but this took me longer because I had to reread to remember who characters were as alot were introduced at the same time, again this was due back at the library before I had chance to finish it.

That sounds fun. I'd probably start with Great Expectations.

Nicolle, thanks for the warning. I haven't felt the urge to reach for those, so I'd put them very far down on my list.

For me Virginia Woolf's Orlando was really disappointing. I really like the premise (the life of a young man who stumbles into immortality and subsequently into womanhood), but Woolf's style ruined it. I thought it was a great story badly written.

James Joyce is so hard to understand. I attempted (foolishly) to read Ulysses. I will probably never pick that book up again. I realized about 100 pages in that I had no idea what was happening and I was forcing myself to keep going out of sheer will power.

Groovy wrote: "James Joyce is so hard to understand. I attempted (foolishly) to read Ulysses. I will probably never pick that book up again. I realized about 100 pages in that I had no idea what was happening ..."

I don't know how old you are, but probably under 50. If so, wait until you pass 50, and then try it again.

What happens at this magical age of 50??

Nicolle wrote: "What happens at this magical age of 50??"

Ah, that's the magic. And the mystery.

Everyman wrote: "I don't know how old you are, but probably under 50. If so, wait until you pass 50, and then try it again."

Good to know. I'll try it later on. I probably would have anyway. I love a good challenge.

Moby Dick, though very promising in the beginning I quit when Melville started to explain the seven types of whales.

The Great Gatsby, I just wasn't into the story. Maybe I'll try again some other time.

:) Verena

Verena wrote: "Moby Dick, though very promising in the beginning I quit when Melville started to explain the seven types of whales.

The Great Gatsby, I just wasn't into the story. Maybe I'll try again some othe..."

I got you about The Great Gatsby I try to read it the other day because a lot of people are saying how good it was but after a few page, I realize it is not something I wanted to read right now.

Verena wrote: "Moby Dick, though very promising in the beginning I quit when Melville started to explain the seven types of whales.

The Great Gatsby, I just wasn't into the story. Maybe I'll try again some othe..."

I am going to read Moby-Dick this summer, I will tell you if I share your opinion.

Verena wrote: "Moby Dick, though very promising in the beginning I quit when Melville started to explain the seven types of whales.

The Great Gatsby, I just wasn't into the story. Maybe I'll try again some othe..."

I'm with you on Moby Dick. I was reading it for my AP Literature class in high school and ended up checking out the Cliff's Notes from the library so that I could write the summary I needed to hand in.

It seems as though Gatsby is highly rated. I didn't care for it myself. There weren't many likable people in the story and it's very bleak. Not my kind of reading experience. I didn't feel that I was enlightened by the story, except in a 'warning to the wise' kind of way. I'm not saying it wasn't well-written. It just didn't do much for me.

I tried The Great Gatsby myself when I was about 14 though couldn't get into it so abandoned it but I am hoping to pick it up again in the furture.

Portrait of a Lady by Henry James: It has too long winded with some descriptions of things like bricks on a house and run on (and on and on and on and on etc.) sentences. I did not care for the writing sytle.

the only one I've ever started to read and haven't been able to finish was The Invisible Man by H G Wells. Not good considering I had coursework to do on it for GCSE English Lit. Read the first chapter or so, gave up, watched the film of it and still managed an A for the piece of coursework.

I'm a little surprised about the number of people who don't seem keen on Dickens. I like his books, always have liked them, and I'm not in my 30s or 40s. I guess everyone has their own tastes.

I'm over 50 and don't like Dickens. I got through Hard Times without too much difficulty. Then I read Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton and said to myself, "Why read Dickens when I can read Gaskell instead?"

I can not comprehend why Moby Dick is considered a classic. It is wordy and pedantic. If I hadn't already loved whales before I tried to read it, I would have hated the sight of them. I wished I had harpooned my copy of the book! Instead I returned it to the library for someone else to be tortured.

Great Expectations, actually, I found incredibly boring. It didn't help that I *had* to read it, but I found pretty much all of the characters to be horrible people and I just wasn't interested enough in the story. It's the only Dickens I've read (for shame!) so I won't go as far as to say I don't like him in general, but he and I didn't get off to the best start.

The thing with the Great Gatsby (and pretty much all Henry James) is that it's not at all about plot, it's about the writers showing off how much talent they have. While one the one hand I can appreciate it, on the other I'd much rather read fluffy twaddle that actually has something going on.

Dracula....Very disappointing

Not that bad surely??

but it was Nicolle....I was very disappointed in how disappointing it was....Renfield is by far one of my FAVORITE Characters EVER, but other then that I have nothing good to say....:(