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Post by Olive on Jun 2, 2011 7:46:15 GMT -5
Anyone who dares to create his own sonnet style deserves to be shunned. Except for Shakespeare. We love him. To be fair, I don't believe Shakespeare actually invented that sonnet form... but onto my main point. I will actually agree with the Spenser dislike. I enjoyed his sonnets, and while I love some epic poems from that era, I just wanted The Faerie Queene to end.God, that thing was painful. |
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pkip
Armadillo Pup
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Post by pkip on Jun 2, 2011 9:50:07 GMT -5
Sense and Sensibility. I can't really say I hate Austen since I've only been exposed to that book in my Brit Lit II class, but it put me off so much that I don't want to read anything else by her! :/ Amen. I am a huge Austen fan, but I hated S&S. You might want to give her another shot, though. Each of her books is different. |
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callmeishmael
Young Armadillo
Believe it or not, I use this username on other forums as well.
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Post by callmeishmael on Jun 2, 2011 11:08:05 GMT -5
To be fair, I don't believe Shakespeare actually invented that sonnet form... but onto my main point. Ah, I was under the impression that while he did not invent the sonnet, he did come up with the English form. My apologies for that, as well as the absolute statement. |
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Post by Olive on Jun 2, 2011 11:21:08 GMT -5
To be fair, I don't believe Shakespeare actually invented that sonnet form... but onto my main point. Ah, I was under the impression that while he did not invent the sonnet, he did come up with the English form. My apologies for that, as well as the absolute statement. If my Brit Lit I memory serves me correctly, it was the Earl of Surrey that started the English sonnet form? Of course, since Shakespeare mastered it, we call them Shakespearean sonnets now. I mean, who ever hears of the Earl of Surrey in daily life? |
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Post by gravyboat on Jun 2, 2011 15:04:13 GMT -5
Really? That saddens me as I've been meaning to read some things by him ASAP....  Oh, some of his sonnets were nice enough, but The Faerie Queen was so heavy-handed and awful. |
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Post by thestrangewinston on Jun 3, 2011 13:54:19 GMT -5
The Great Gatsby was good but overrated. The Catcher and the Rye however was absolutely horrible in my opinion. Summary of it: whine, whine, whine, bitch, bitch, whine.
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Post by Alex on Jun 3, 2011 14:51:50 GMT -5
One of the most overrated books I've ever read is Catch 22. I HATE that book with a passion. I read it because I had always heard people talking about how witty and important it is and it tops a lot of "Great Books" lists. I was completely unprepared for how awful it was. When people say that Catch 22 is the funniest book they've ever read, I don't even know what to say.
It was just so dull and repetitive and there was no point, which may have been the point but I hate when books are like that, it's not entertaining at all.
I think it may have worked better as a short story or something, but 400 pages of repetitive circular conversation and confusing, unlikeable, and one dimensional characters just made me despise the book.
If you want a hilarious book that's a little absurd, read Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. THAT is a great book.
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Post by meh on Jun 8, 2011 19:34:55 GMT -5
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I love the writing, I really do. It's very descriptive, and emotional and brilliant. But the story line ... I can't take it, Jane's not as independent as they make her seem. Also, Mr. Rochester, couldn't stand him. YES! I could NOT get into that book! I also hated The Great Gatsby. |
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Post by emrielle on Jun 8, 2011 19:52:08 GMT -5
I try and try, but I just cannot read Austen. I get so far and just get bored.
I had to read Heart of Darkness for a short fiction class (it was the longest thing we had to read), and hated it, though I did really enjoy Apocalypse Now, which is a movie very heavily based on Heart of Darkness. Of course, it might have had something to do with the fact that I disliked the professor quite a bit.
On Milton, I think it depends on how you are introduced to his work. My professor for my Milton class barely let us speak his name, we focused entirely on his work, and just barely on him as a person, which I enjoyed.
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Post by andreaisabbbw on Jun 8, 2011 19:59:26 GMT -5
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
I had to read it for AP Language and Composition my junior year of high school, and I absolutely despised it. I get it--it's great literature that will transcend time. I think I got to chapter six and then quit. I also can't stand Jane Eyre. Maybe it's because I'm more Austen. I don't know. I like the other Bronte sisters better, too.
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Post by Fuck Yeah Dion on Jun 8, 2011 20:20:14 GMT -5
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. I had to read it for AP Language and Composition my junior year of high school, and I absolutely despised it. I get it--it's great literature that will transcend time. I think I got to chapter six and then quit. I also can't stand Jane Eyre. Maybe it's because I'm more Austen. I don't know. I like the other Bronte sisters better, too. What didn't you like about Huck Finn. Personally, I think it's a bit episodic and the ending sucked ass (one of our major English major inside jokes at my school is telling people that they "lost their nerve," as our English professor told us Mark Twain lost his nerve when writing Huck Finn), but I liked it overall. As for overrated literature? Faulkner. |
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Post by andreaisabbbw on Jun 8, 2011 20:30:12 GMT -5
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. I had to read it for AP Language and Composition my junior year of high school, and I absolutely despised it. I get it--it's great literature that will transcend time. I think I got to chapter six and then quit. I also can't stand Jane Eyre. Maybe it's because I'm more Austen. I don't know. I like the other Bronte sisters better, too. What didn't you like about Huck Finn. Personally, I think it's a bit episodic and the ending sucked ass (one of our major English major inside jokes at my school is telling people that they "lost their nerve," as our English professor told us Mark Twain lost his nerve when writing Huck Finn), but I liked it overall. As for overrated literature? Faulkner. I don't know. I never even finished reading it. Haha I didn't know that about Twain. Maybe I should try reading it again and I might like it. Everything I learned about Huck Finn was what was discussed in class and I don't remember any of it now. I like Faulkner. I had to read As I Lay Dying for one of my classes and I thought it was pretty good. |
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Post by Fuck Yeah Dion on Jun 8, 2011 20:44:19 GMT -5
What didn't you like about Huck Finn. Personally, I think it's a bit episodic and the ending sucked ass (one of our major English major inside jokes at my school is telling people that they "lost their nerve," as our English professor told us Mark Twain lost his nerve when writing Huck Finn), but I liked it overall. As for overrated literature? Faulkner. I don't know. I never even finished reading it. Haha I didn't know that about Twain. Maybe I should try reading it again and I might like it. Everything I learned about Huck Finn was what was discussed in class and I don't remember any of it now. I like Faulkner. I had to read As I Lay Dying for one of my classes and I thought it was pretty good. I think that hypothesis is just something my English professor has, so don't take it as historical fact haha. He claims that the presence of Tom Sawyer at the end of the novel indicates that Mark Twain never meant to write the kind of expansive work Huck Finn was becoming, so he brought Tom Sawyer in to try and make the book light-hearted again. And I couldn't stand As I Lay Dying, but I'm not a fan of modernism. |
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Post by pjthefey on Jun 9, 2011 1:48:02 GMT -5
I'll second the Tolkien comment. If feels like a World of Warcraft quest log and the abundant dialog is awkward to say the least.
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Post by pjthefey on Jun 9, 2011 1:51:39 GMT -5
... Also Marianne Moore if and only if she is being credited as a poet.
Don't get me wrong, I like many of her works but after studying the way she "wrote" her poetry, I've come to feel as if she doesn't deserve to be called a poet so much as a creative editor who was skilled in making collages of text that looked like poetry.
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