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Books you don't "get"


Crazydog7

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"Kushiel's Dart" is not good literature in any meaning of the word. It has purple prose, Mary-Sue like characters, and a silly utopia for society. A society were the populations are decendants of angels and due to that extremely pretty scores higher on the Mary-Sue badness scale than "Hermione the Vampire Queen takes over Hogwarts".

[quote]To be honest, when there's a well-regarded book that I don't engage with well, I question first if I am the one at fault, not the author.[/quote]

I tend to agree, although there are a few pieces of very famous literature I just loathe. "The Sorrows of Young Werther" is probably my main complaint here. An utter pile of putrid emo-filled suicide glorification.

A lot of the classics read very differently depending on how old you are though. I recently read "Persuasion" by austen and really liked it. I don't believe I would have at a younger age though. It is a very subdued book compared to the more capricious "Pride & Prejudice" or "Emma".

I've always held a great love for Dickens and his commentary on society. Zola, Kafka and Flaubert went a bit over my head when I read them at age 18, but I could still recognise their greatness.

When I grew up, I read a lot of the Swedish classics as well, and a lot of them are really good.

One classic author I will never like is Balzac. His whole world view is really immoral and cynical, which doesn't fit me at all.
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[quote name='Lyanna Stark' post='1376560' date='May 30 2008, 08.25']A lot of the classics read very differently depending on how old you are though. I recently read "Persuasion" by austen and really liked it. I don't believe I would have at a younger age though. It is a very subdued book compared to the more capricious "Pride & Prejudice" or "Emma".[/quote]

This has been true for me. I've purposely not gone back to some of the books I loved in my youth and 20-something years fearing I might dislike them now. However, I've been able to pick up authors I didn't appreciate before and begin all over with them. Hemingway is an example. My younger self let his reputation influence my opinion of his novels and what they meant. My older self has begun to appreciate his body of work so much more. Conversely, I've lost some appreciation for F. Scott Fitzgerald.
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This thread gives me an oportunity to bring up something that's been bothering me. Never having read any Vance before, I decided to pick up a copy of Tales of the Dying Earth the other day, and give it a whirl. Reading the first book, Dying Earth, left me wondering what all the to-do is about. I feel that surely there must be something I missed.... I guess I just didn't "get" it. I dunno. I'm finishing the rest of the books, to see if it picks up any for me.
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The Lord of the Rings. Could not read any of it. Even the Hobbit. Just bores me to tears. Ditto for Harry Potter books. Did not finish the first one -- could not relate to any characters or emphasize with any of them at all.
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[quote name='back_packn' post='1376808' date='May 30 2008, 09.30']This thread gives me an oportunity to bring up something that's been bothering me. Never having read any Vance before, I decided to pick up a copy of Tales of the Dying Earth the other day, and give it a whirl. Reading the first book, Dying Earth, left me wondering what all the to-do is about. I feel that surely there must be something I missed.... I guess I just didn't "get" it. I dunno. I'm finishing the rest of the books, to see if it picks up any for me.[/quote]

I partially agree. I found it entertaining, and the setting had some fun elements to it, but I can't get the effusive praise.

It's .... decent. Nothing special, other then a very original setting. (Well sorta original. I thought Gene Wolfe had a MUCH better take on the Dying Earth thing)
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[quote name='Simon of Steele' post='1375686' date='May 29 2008, 16.49']That just makes me sad inside. Dickens has so much to offer. Try Great Expectations, it's wonderful. Or for commentary on formal education read Hard Times. It is as true today as it was when it was written.[/quote]

Its sad, but the only Dickens book I found palpable was A Tale of Two Cities, if only for the ending, which blew me away. I disliked Great Expectations, but I think that was a result of being forced to read it in 9th grade, back when I thought Dragonlance and Robert Jordan were "da bomb". I wonder how I would appreciate it now? I thought Great Gatsby was pointless when I read it in high school, but after a re-read two years ago found it to be excellent.

Two books that I don't get all the hype about are Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse 5. Perhaps the writing just isn't to my taste. I just kept wanting to put the books down and go "Yah, I get it, war is absurd. Right." If Vonnegut had written "So it goes" one more time, I was ready to throw the book away. I've been told that to really enjoy Vonnegut I should have started with some of his other books and that may be true. I certainly enjoyed his short story Harrison Bergeron.

Another book that I was less-than-impressed with is Catcher-in-the-Rye, but instead of being too young for the book as with those mentioned above, I think I was too old. Holden Caufield's adolescent existential angst annoyed the shit out of me. This guy at a party wanted to fight me once when I told him I thought Holden Caufield was a "whiny little bitch."

Although, again, I might just not have read all of these at the right time. I truly believe that circumstance affects one's enjoyment of literature at any given time.
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[i]Moby Dick[/i] - could have been one of the greatest novellas [b]ever[/b] if you take the beginning and ending - but that beginning and ending are wrapped around what seemed like a thousand page long slog through a detailed history of the New England whaling industry.

I agree with the Dickens dislike - the only things I have read by him that I enjoyed were [i]Tale of Two Cities[/i] and [i]Christmas Carol[/i]. I hated [i]Great Expectations[/i] (though I was forced to read it for school) and I have tried many many times to read [i]Pickwick[/i] and cannot get more than a few pages into the book. Maybe I have just been trying to read some of his weaker books?

And count me as another lover of 19'th century Russian lit. I think that [i]Anna Karenina[/i] is the finest novel ever written. :)
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[quote name='Nadie' post='1377235' date='May 30 2008, 09.39']Another book that I was less-than-impressed with is Catcher-in-the-Rye, but instead of being too young for the book as with those mentioned above, I think I was too old. Holden Caufield's adolescent existential angst annoyed the shit out of me. This guy at a party wanted to fight me once when I told him I thought Holden Caufield was a "whiny little bitch."[/quote]

I read it when I was 16 and thought pretty much the same thing. He was so useless that I couldn't even pity him.
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[quote name='Dylanfanatic' post='1376304' date='May 29 2008, 23.15']To be honest, when there's a well-regarded book that I don't engage with well, I question first if [b]I am[/b] the one at fault, not the author.

I wonder if the case could be made in some of ones listed above that it is an ill-prepared/read reader and not the author who is more to blame. After all, the more immature/non-worldly me at 16 hated [i]Moby Dick[/i]; the 23 year-old grad student me [i]loved[/i] it. Go figure *shrug*[/quote]
In my case, I just blame the translator :P


I'm another one who enjoys the Russians and the Brits and Americans. I enjoyed Dostoevski more than Dickens and about as much as Austen. Tolstoy, I enjoyed probably the same as Dickens.

But I'd really rather read the stuff the Brits and Americans were putting out in the 20th Century than any of the stuff listed above. It's hard to top Hemingway, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Woolf and Joyce, IMO.
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[quote name='Nadie' post='1377235' date='May 30 2008, 11.39']Although, again, I might just not have read all of these at the right time. I truly believe that circumstance affects one's enjoyment of literature at any given time.[/quote]
I think Catcher in the Rye and Wuthering Heights are both great examples of this kind of book.
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[quote name='add-on' post='1377396' date='May 30 2008, 10.58']But I'd really rather read the stuff the Brits and Americans were putting out in the 20th Century than any of the stuff listed above. It's hard to top Hemingway, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Woolf and Joyce, IMO.[/quote]
Try Hesse, Mann, Solzhenitsyn, Pasternak, and Bulgakov for the earlier part of the century, and Rushdie, Garcia Marquez, Kundera, Grass, Naipaul, Cortazar, and Saramago for the latter part.
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I hated Kafka with a passion until I read the 'Letter to the Father', after that it all became clear. At least as clear as a story about waking up transformed into a giant book can come clear.

I was bullied into reading Wheel of Time, and I politely returned the borrowed book after a week. I hear it is an outstanding series, but I couldn't make it past the first 50 pages.

My Orwell supporter heart nearly stopped at the 1984 hate, but as neither Brave New World nor Catcher in the Rye did anything for me either, I acknowledge the difficulty of modern classics.

To this day, I wonder how Goethe managed to become national poet of Germany. I haven't read anything I would classify as 'outstanding'. I understand the appeal of Puschkin, Burns and Shakespeare - but Goethe? Some poodle must have influenced the entire nation.

Edit: The day's free chocolate cake goes to Myshkin for a great synopsis of modern literature. Bonus points for Solshenitzyn. A very great man and writer indeed.
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[quote name='Towarisch Snjeg' post='1377441' date='May 30 2008, 11.28']I hated Kafka with a passion until I read the 'Letter to the Father', after that it all became clear. At least as clear as a story about waking up transformed into a giant book can come clear.[/quote]
I truly disliked [i]The Metamorphosis[/i] the first ime I read it, and thought that I disliked Kafka. That was until I read [i]The Trial[/i]. Now I'm a big Kafka fan, although to be honest even on re-read [i]The Metamorphosis[/i] didn't get much better.

[quote name='Towarisch Snjeg' post='1377441' date='May 30 2008, 11.28']To this day, I wonder how Goethe managed to become national poet of Germany. I haven't read anything I would classify as 'outstanding'. I understand the appeal of Puschkin, Burns and Shakespeare - but Goethe? Some poodle must have influenced the entire nation.[/quote]
Heathen.

ETA:
[quote name='Towarisch Snjeg' post='1377441' date='May 30 2008, 11.28']Edit: The day's free chocolate cake goes to Myshkin for a great synopsis of modern literature. Bonus points for Solshenitzyn. A very great man and writer indeed.[/quote]
Thank you so very much. Now I feel bad about calling you a heathen.
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[quote name='Myshkin' post='1377452' date='May 30 2008, 13.33']I truly disliked [i]The Metamorphosis[/i] the first ime I read it, and thought that I disliked Kafka. That was until I read [i]The Trial[/i]. Now I'm a big Kafka fan, although to be honest even on re-read [i]The Metamorphosis[/i] didn't get much better.[/quote]

Man...I don't even know what to say.
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I haven't had a go at a re-read yet, but Gene Wolfe's [i]The Book of the New Sun[/i] did nothing for me. It was boring. I'll probably change that opinion in ten years time when I dig it out from some long-lost shelf, but at the moment: nah, not for me.

Tad Williams' [i]Otherland[/i]. I love Williams, I love SF. Just couldn't get into [i]Otherland[/i]. Same with Neil Gaiman's [i]American Gods[/i]. I'll go back to them eventually :)

~Chris
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[quote name='Lyanna Stark' post='1376560' date='May 30 2008, 14.25']"Kushiel's Dart" is not good literature in any meaning of the word. It has purple prose, Mary-Sue like characters, and a silly utopia for society. A society were the populations are decendants of angels and due to that extremely pretty scores higher on the Mary-Sue badness scale than "Hermione the Vampire Queen takes over Hogwarts".[/quote]

Oh, I have [i]missed [/i]you! *

I thought the book was perfectly hideous, and was astounded to see it getting any kind of acclaim. Its barely funny. Has every cliche of bad adolescent fantasy in the book, and absoloutely does not notice it - its a poor copy of Eddings with unpleasant gratuitous sex piled on top.


Also, Altered Carbon. I heart the Balck Man criticism, but I seem to be genuinely alone in thinking Altered Carbon flat out boring.

The only gene wolfe I ever read - the Kinght - I found completely unreadable, in a very bad way, but I still want to try his earlier stuff.



*I do not say this often
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For a book that got a lot of praise I thought Charlie Stross' [i]Accelerando[/i] had surprisingly weak storytelling and characterisation. The ambition is impressive and Stross does have some interesting concepts but it just wasn't an interesting story for me, and I say that as someone who likes several of Stross' other books.
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[quote name='Datepalm' post='1377533' date='May 30 2008, 15.35']Also, Altered Carbon. I heart the Balck Man criticism, but I seem to be genuinely alone in thinking Altered Carbon flat out boring.[/quote]

You are not alone, but I often feel that way too. I also found most of [i]Altered Carbon[/i] boring and was in general underwhelmed by it. It was an interesting world, but other than that I didn't find it particularly compelling. Morgan has been on my "avoid" list ever since, although I keep wondering if I am missing something.
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