andy
Young Armadillo
Posts: 80
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Post by andy on May 31, 2011 9:13:29 GMT -5
See, this is the thing. Before reading it, I thought that even if I didn't actually like it, that I would be a bit disturbed reading it or made uncomfortable by it. But I wasn't. At all. I just thought it was boring. Yeah, the language was beautiful, I guess, but he just went on and on about boring stuff; the main thing I remember from the book is a description of the road trip and it was just page after page of listing things that they saw. One page would've been fine, but it didn't end. I found it thoroughly underwhelming. I will try Nabokov's other stuff, sometime, though. When you get around to giving him another chance, maybe you'll enjoy his memoir Speak, Memory more. Each chapter is a self-contained essay and he had a really interesting life so there's enough going on to keep you reading although the writing is very verbose. His Ada or Ardor is also great fun if you're into Russian and French literature (to which references abound), though it could be a bit hard to get through if you're not. Hmm. I think a lot of pre-20th century literature is over-rated and deemed 'classic' simply because it was written before the 20th century despite the fact that a lot of it is really weak compared to more recent books - e.g. Robinson Crusoe which is absolutely awful and - in the words of the great E.M. Forster, only English people could be blinded by vanity enough to consider it anything above children's literature or Dumas whose books would pass as historical fiction romances nowadays. Also, a lot of books are hailed as classics simply because their writers were part of some minority or other or wrote about controversial issues. The Well of Loneliness, to name just one, is a joke.
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jasper
Armadillo Pup
On. Say on. Be said on. Somehow on.
Posts: 9
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Post by jasper on May 31, 2011 10:51:14 GMT -5
How... how do people not like Faulkner?
Although maybe the guy with Beckett as an avatar has a higher tolerance for barely-comprehensible wordsplosions.
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Post by mapachita on May 31, 2011 14:47:12 GMT -5
I didn't like Emma :/ I had to read it for my Brit Lit class last year, but the teacher told us to read the "short" version. I decided to read the original version on my own, and it was painful I was very sad, because I loved Pride and Prejudice.
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callmeishmael
Young Armadillo
Believe it or not, I use this username on other forums as well.
Posts: 66
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Post by callmeishmael on May 31, 2011 18:45:06 GMT -5
I died seeing this post. Hemingway is my favorite. End of story. Overrated literature though? I'd have to say my vote goes towards Milton. I just can't grasp why it's so amazing.
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alyoshka
Young Armadillo
Vous etes un chanteur des pommes.
Posts: 94
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Post by alyoshka on May 31, 2011 18:50:53 GMT -5
Romeo and Juliet. I just can't like it. I agree
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alyoshka
Young Armadillo
Vous etes un chanteur des pommes.
Posts: 94
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Post by alyoshka on May 31, 2011 18:52:26 GMT -5
Lolita. I thought it was a great pile of shit, if I'm really blunt. I never, ever skip passages in books but I skipped pages of Lolita because I just couldn't take it any more. Oh god, I hate it. I was not a fan of Lolita either, but I LOVED Nabokov's other works. Try something other than Lolita because there's no excuse for not loving Nabokov.
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Post by Tori on May 31, 2011 19:09:57 GMT -5
I find James Joyce to be incredibly overrated. Though, that may have something to do with the fact that my senior year English teacher spent about a month practically drooling over him. She had us read almost all of Dubliners....it was miserable. Yes, I know he's one of the most prominent figures in Irish literature....but really, I don't see why people rave over him.
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Post by Tori on May 31, 2011 19:14:54 GMT -5
Unpopular opinion because it involves Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet. Well, as you probably know, I'm a little bit Shakespeare obsessed....and I can't really stand Romeo & Juliet either. I respect it as part of Shakespeare's works, but it makes me terribly annoyed that it's the only Shakespearean play that many people ever read! It's not that good. At all. Even he didn't think it was great! And it's become such an overall cliche too. Ugh. Pride and PrejudiceNovels of manners do not really do it for me. I absorbed it and I learned a little from it, but I did not enjoy it in the least. On the subject of the overrated, Mr. Darcy is one of the most overrated characters of all time. Gag. I can see where you're coming from....I certainly don't think it's a "genius" piece of literature....but I still adore it...and Darcy too. I'm an absolutely hopeless romantic. End of story. haha
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alyoshka
Young Armadillo
Vous etes un chanteur des pommes.
Posts: 94
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Post by alyoshka on May 31, 2011 19:16:27 GMT -5
I find James Joyce to be incredibly overrated. Though, that may have something to do with the fact that my senior year English teacher spent about a month practically drooling over him. She had us read almost all of Dubliners....it was miserable. Yes, I know he's one of the most prominent figures in Irish literature....but really, I don't see why people rave over him. James Joyce is hit or miss type of author, in my opinion. ><
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krista
Young Armadillo
Warrior of Words
Posts: 52
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Post by krista on May 31, 2011 19:38:19 GMT -5
Unpopular opinion because it involves Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet. Well, as you probably know, I'm a little bit Shakespeare obsessed....and I can't really stand Romeo & Juliet either. I respect it as part of Shakespeare's works, but it makes me terribly annoyed that it's the only Shakespearean play that many people ever read! It's not that good. At all. Even he didn't think it was great! And it's become such an overall cliche too. Ugh. I completely agree! I'm overly obsessed with Shakespeare but I hate how it is taught to early high school/late middle school students. And most of the time, the only film adaptation that is showed along with the play is Leonardo Dicaprio's Romeo + Juliet. I love the film, don't get me wrong, but I think there are other film adaptations/plays that students should see as well/instead.
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Post by cyanea on Jun 1, 2011 1:15:49 GMT -5
Overrated literature though? I'd have to say my vote goes towards Milton. I just can't grasp why it's so amazing. Ugh. My friends and I, after taking an intensive Milton class last semester, are convinced that he is the most arrogant and pompous windbag in the English canon. Also, I join in with all the Romeo and Juliet votes. It's entertaining, but it saddens me that that's the only play that anyone ever knows.
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Post by flute88 on Jun 1, 2011 1:47:03 GMT -5
And most of the time, the only film adaptation that is showed along with the play is Leonardo Dicaprio's Romeo + Juliet. I love the film, don't get me wrong, but I think there are other film adaptations/plays that students should see as well/instead. We watched that my freshman year, after we read the play - but it was a voluntary, after-school pizza party thing. What was really cool was that the entire freshman class got to take a field trip see a performance of Romeo and Juliet in Seattle. It was awesome and a lot of fun, and I believe that about half the girls in the freshman class came away from the play head-over-heels in love with Mercutio, lol. On an unrelated note, I thought of another book - Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I can't stand his writing style at all. I got through Under the Banner of Heaven because the subject matter was interesting, but Into the Wild was so boring I could barely stand it. I'm not really a big non-fiction fan unless I'm really interested in the topic.
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jun 1, 2011 1:49:14 GMT -5
How... how do people not like Faulkner? I ask myself that same question when people announce they don't like Keats. It completely and utterly baffles me.
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Post by betonblack91 on Jun 1, 2011 10:26:17 GMT -5
I have to agree with others here and say i hated Catcher in the Rye. I read it when i was about fifteen and hated and i re-read it this year, five years later and think i hated it more. As part of degree i had to read Fiesta or as some of you know it- The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway. I never finished that book even though it is stupidly short. I will try to read something else by Hemingway at some point...
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callmeishmael
Young Armadillo
Believe it or not, I use this username on other forums as well.
Posts: 66
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Post by callmeishmael on Jun 1, 2011 10:53:35 GMT -5
D: You hate two of my favorite books.
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