Posted by Julie at Oct 10, 2012 8:40 am
So because of my daughter’s school, I spent the last week reading a book I’ve been trying to avoid for forty-seven years: Animal Farm. I’d read Orwell’s 1984 and while I enjoyed it at the time because of Orwell’s very simple writing style, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to reading a story about pigs or delving into a metaphor about communist Russia. (YAWN). But I read it and it was…meh. Too long, in my opinion. A little self-indulgent. Probably more relevant back when it was originally written or during the Cold War. But a good example of irony and a cautionary tale for people about listening only to political propaganda and not being educated enough to recognize spin.
The test is on Friday. Hopefully, she’ll do well.
Another book I’ve been avoiding my whole life, successfully so far, is A Catcher in the Rye. I have read about the book–I was an English major after all, with my specialty in American Lit–but nothing about it appeals to me. In my unread opinion, Holden Caulfield’s tale is yet another self-indulgent treatise against “the man” with a whiny lead character. But that’s just my impression. :-)
I’ve read and loved many classics, my favorites being Moby Dick (yes, I read it and I loved it), The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, Of Mice & Men, The Grapes of Wrath, Sister Carrie, Ethan Frome, The Age of Innocence, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, a book I always wanted to work into my curriculum as a teacher, but never had the chance.
But I have had a lot of books, so called classics, that I greatly disliked. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man sticks in my brain and the most boring “classic” I ever had to endure, but which I actually finished.
On the popular romance front, I need to confess that not only have I never read Kathleen Woodiwiss, I’ve never wanted to. I’ve had no desire (this is no secret!) to read Twilight or that book about the 49+ levels of color between black and white.
We always talk here about books we’ve read or books we want to read…but what about the books you have NO INTEREST in reading? Do you have a list of books you’re actively trying to avoid?
You punched two of my buttons–those books that sparkle between day and night and I’ve always like my books with a bit more color. B&W variations belong in photography. CATCHER IN THE RYE wasn’t too bad. ANIMAL FARM bored me, too. I found MOBY DICK to be…meh. I plowed my way through WAR AND PEACE and THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV. Meh. Upton Sinclair’s THE JUNGLE was torture.
The classics I leaned toward were all English. Dickens is a particular favorite but my all time favorite “classic” author is Alexander Dumas–The Musketeers series especially!
I’ll just ditto everything Silver said!!!
I really want to find the time to read:”To Kill A Mockingbird” and retread Jane Austen. I’d really love an English class to be forced to read some classics. There’s just always so much to do/read…. Plus, I need to be able to focus for longer than two minutes.
1984 was one of those books for me. I had to read in college…in 1984! I put it off and put it off. Finally I locked myself in a friends dorm room who went home for the weekend and read the stupid thing. I hated it.
As for the 50 Shades of Grey…I tried not reading it, but eventually gave in. I’m a huge fan of the Twilight books. Not for the superior writing, but for the sweet love story that takes me back to when I first met my husband at 17. And since 50 was fanfic from Twilight I didn’t want to ruin my sweet Twilight story. Well I have to admit…I didn’t mind 50. It was better than I thought.
Once in awhile I read I book that I thought…that was a waste of my time, but for the most part…they are not.
I haven’t read any of the Twilight book or 50 shades. I’m sure they’re ok books, but I hate the hype surrounding them. I know that there are other books with better stories with better writing, that aren’t getting the recognition they deserve. Of that’s my opinion. :D
As for in school, my mother was a big believer in the schools summer reading program. So every summer I read the books and wrote the book reports. Thank goodness they gave us a list of books to choose from. I never read Fahrenheit 451 – by Ray Bradbury. I wasn’t a fan of the book The Martian Chronicles which had to read.
Somehow, I managed to get through school without reading any of these. I’m not sure how. Maybe I did, and I just don’t remember them. I remember reading a lot of poetry, and Greek and Roman mythology, but I don’t remember having to read “The classics.”
As for the others you mentioned… Nope, never read Woodiwiss, or Twilight, or that other one.
And I can’t say I ever hope to. Not that I feel there’s anything wrong with them, I just don’t feel like they’re for me. At least not right now.
I don’t think I’ve ever come across I didn’t want to read unless it was from bad reviews.
So many of these dry old books that have been passed down forever as “must reads” by students is ridiculous! Animal Farm is one of them. Please! Let’s find something more meaningful for students to read and learn from. It’s like saying that for the last 60 years or so, nothing of worth has been written. I think it’s a copout by the educational system. So, have I raised anyone’s hackles here? What do you think?
Amen.
Raised hackles? Not at all! I agree with you. I understand the value of “classics,” but I think it’s very important to study the literature that is relevant in this time to these kids. That’s what fosters a true love of reading!
I don’t remember what classics I have read. I was in high school a very long time ago! When I was doing book reports in high school my teacher, at least one year, let me read books that were not on the list. Lucky me. One I remember reading was Marjorie Morningstar. Looking back I’m not sure I understood it, I think I also read Gone With The Wind for a report & maybe To Kill A Mocking Bird. Depends on when it was released. I’ve stated before that I have not read any of the Shades of Grey books or Twilight books. There is just no interest in them for me. Part of it is my disgust that these books have received so much attention & interest when there are so many talented wonderful authors out there that only get recognition from very few.
This morning I finished reading Blue Skies by Robyn Carr.
It is a reissue as the book was originally released in 2004. It was well written, hard to put down. The subject matter greatly appealed to me as it was set in the airline industry after 9/11. Since I love flying, love airplanes it was very appealing to me. I highly recommend reading it if you are a Robyn Carr fan. :batteeyes: At one time I wanted to be an airline stewardess, which is what they were called when I was growing up! Sadly I was to short!! :boohoo: Now I don’t think there is a minimum height restriction.
I’ve managed to make it almost 41 years without reading Animal Farm, and I’m fine with it. Also skipped 1984…Pretty sure I can happily live mt life without reding either.
I read all the Twilight books when they first came out. I bought first 50 Shades book on Carly’s suggestion, but haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. My sister love them tho. One of the few times she has read a book before me.
I never considered throwing abook at the wall until Twilight. I got to page 24. Ew.
Anecdote- while waiting to board the plane at BWI on my way home from Con, I was talking to a woman (in her 60′s or 70′s) who was putting away her book. A young boy about 4 or 5 asked her what she was reading. She looked at me with horror on her face, and said she didn’t know how to answer that question. I looked at him and asked if he knew the book “One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish”? He said yes and I told him it was the adult version. He then asked to see the pictures. I thought his mother was about to choke on her laughter. The lady was reading that 49+ book. LOL
When in college I had a Women’s Lit class and read some classics. I loved reading DH Lawrence, Jane Austen, to name a few but haven’t had the time to read anything that is serious or thought provoking because of all the time my teaching job takes right now.
When I was in high school we had to read Lord Jim & I couldn’t get into it. It grossed me out and made me sick. Realize that I am always with a book, so to say that meant something.
So now I am back to romance books that take me away from dealing with hormone-driven, irresponsible teens. I started with the historicals but now it’s contemporaries. Okay, so I throw in an occasional light mystery too.
My daughter the non-reader read Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth and gave it to me to read. I DON’T want to read it. I started it but it doesn’t keep my attention. I’m thinking of shelving it for good. Right now it is a dust collector on my end table. :?
I have actually gone back to re read some of the classics. The Illad by Homer. To Kill a Mockingbird and I recently just bought Cannary Row by Jack London. I never wanted to read Animal Farm and was very lucky that I missed that in high school. Shakespeare was the hot author back then. Yawn. I enjoyed The Twilight series but 49 +1 was awful. I do have Pride and Prejudice in my TBR pile and it has been there for 2 years and am still not sure if I want to read it? Any thoughts?
I’m a big Shakespeare fan, but I prefer his comedies above all others and it really takes a good teacher to get you acclimated to the language so that you get all the jokes. Once you do, however, it’s usually quite entertaining!
Funnily enough “Portrait” was the only Joyce novel I could stand. I made it to page 99 of “Moby Dick” and gave up especially since we had just finished “The Deerslayer” that semester…ugh. No real interest in “50 Shades” but other than that nothing comes to mind…
Interesting choices. I personally have never been successful in reading Dr. Zhivago. Trying to keep track of all the characters… Tolkein’s Twin Towers is the reason I never made it through the trilogy. Moby Dick bored me senseless and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, nod fest!
I agree with you about those shades between black and white. At quilting meeting today, I watched a bunch of ‘mature’ ladies giggle like a gaggle of junior high girls about reading the ‘naughty’ book. Definitely dropped it to the bottom of my ‘to read’ list.
But a lot of the classics are still my favorites. Little Women, Jane Eyre, The Hobbit, To Kill a Mockingbird… the list goes on.
I seldom read any of the books I was assigned in HS, except Gone With The Wind, and The Once and Future King, which I loved. I got all As and Bs in English, by reading Cliff Notes on the things I was supposed to read, and actually reading what I wanted to read, like The Godfather. I remember writing an essay about why I didn’t read Crime and Punishment on the back of the mimeographed sheet with the test on that book. Got an A on that, too.
When I worked as a tutor for non traditional students years later, I did finally have to read Of Mice and Men and Animal Farm, among others. I hated them all. I’ve long thought that one could make a good living writing short, simplistic prose, so that HS students could read the books and be tested on them. (The exception is Dickens, who was too wordy.)
I really believe that each student should be able to present what books they would like to read from a long, comprehensive list, and be tested on that. My brother read at a 4th grade level, until he took a minicourse in Sci Fi (because I had so many SciFi books, he figured he wouldn’t have to buy any) his Junior year, and from there on, he read above grade level. Ditto my younger son, who read well, but didn’t like most books, till he started reading nonfiction at 14. He went on to be one of 2 student presenters at a Tolkien symposium in college.
In other words, required reading is an oxymoron.
Interesting topic. I have no desire to read most of the “classics” (Charles Dickens, James Joyce, Shakespeare, etc.). More currently, I have (a gift) 50 Shades of Grey, but haven’t read it yet, not sure when I’ll get to it. I read erotic fiction inc. BDSM, but from what I’ve heard this holds no appeal for me.
I’m not into those fantasy epics where each book has 800 pages and there’s 6-10 books per series (Stephen Douglas? Stephen Donaldson?). I read The Lord of the Rings and sequels because my brothers did and I gotta say the movies are SO MUCH BETTER.
You’re not missing anything with the Twilight books which I read because it was “the” thing to read.
I will say though, I had to read Moby Dick at college and I LOVED it. No one was more surprised than me. I reread it several times.
Wow – no Katnleen Woodiwiss?! She helped me thru a horrid marriage! But anyway – I don’t like books set in India or Asia, namely China, Japan, Mongolia, etc. I don’t know why but I do. I managed to get thru 5 yrs of college without reading any of them.
Read Catcher in the Rye and Animal Farm in high school. Loved the English teacher, not so much the stories. Grew up with Kathleen Woodwiss and Rosemary Rogers and Lavyrle Spencer. Loved them and love the Plot Monkeys.My list of favorite authors is huge so I can’t list them all, but when the change genres it’s sometimes hard to follow through. Sandra Hill is one of my all time favorites! :hallpir: :hallpir: