“Classic” books/novels you’ve loved or hated

[Billy Pilgrim 1960]

I know everyone has a different definition of what a “classic” novel or book should be- I’m talking about those generally listed on “100 greatest books ever written” type lists. I’ve been on a kick over the last couple of years trying to read some classic novels.

A few that I can Remember:

Liked: Robinson Crusoe, Count of Monte Cristo, The Old Man and the Sea, Slaughterhouse 5, Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Men.

 

Didn’t like: The Catcher in the Rye, the Heart of Darkness, the Alchemist, The Pearl, Crime and Punishment, the Scarlet Letter, Red Badge of Courage.

 

looking for more recommendations 

 

[retread 2951]

I started to post this in the Favorite Books You've Read thread, but it didn't really fit there. Here are two threads from the old site the jose_medina and sweatpants_boner put together.

I forget how they ranked the first list, but the second one was the result of everyone submitting their top 25.

http://www.shaggytexas.com/board/showthread.php/104882-Shaggy-Bevo-s-100-must-reads?p=3642957&viewfull=1#post3642957

Quote

1. Civil Disobedience -Thoreau
2. Crime and Punishment -Dostoevsky
3. Lord of the Flies -William Golding
4. Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
5. Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
6. Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
7. All Quiet on the Western Front - Remarque
8. The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
9. Night - Elie Wiesel
10. A Soldier in the Great War - Mark Helprin
11. A Time of Gifts - Patrick Leigh Fermor
12. The Master and Margarita - Bulgakov 
13. Robinson Crusoe - Defoe
14. All the Pretty Horses - McCarthy
15. Undaunted Courage - Ambrose 
16. Counte of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
17. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
18. Animal Farm – George Orwell
19. Godel Escher & Bach - Hofstadter
20. Dahlgren 
21. Devil in the White City – Erik Larson
22. The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
23. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
24. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (2 votes)
25. Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
26. Neuromancer - William Gibson
27. American Psycho -Bret Easton Ellis
28. The Republic--Plato
29. 1984--George Orwell 
30. Iliad -- Homer
31. Shelby Foote's History of the Civil War
32. Huckleberry Finn -Mark Twain
33. Watchmen - Alan Moore
34. Go Tell it on the Mountain - James Baldwin
35. Les Miserable- Hugo
36. The Grapes of Wrath- Steinbeck 
37. One Hundred Years of Solitude - GG Marquez
38. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
39. The Drawing of the Three - Steven King
40. The Sun Also Rises- Ernest Hemingway
41. I, Claudius - Robert Graves
42. The Killer Angels - Michael Shaara
43. Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer
44. A Bright Shining Lie - Neil Sheehan
45. Master and Commander - Patrick O'Brian
46. White Fang - Jack London 
47. On the Road - Jack Kerouac
48. Cosmos - Carl Sagan
49. Martin Eden - Jack London
50. Fear and Trembling - Søren Kierkegaard
51. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay – Michael Chabon
52. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
53. Gilead – Marilynne Robinson
54. The Guns of August – Barbabra Tuchman
55. The Second World War – Winston Churchill
56. The Brother Karamazov – Dostoevsky
57. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
58. The Sound and The Fury - William Faulkner
59. Rant - Chuck Palahniuk
60. Raising Cole – Mark Pittman, Darrell Royal, Mark Wangrin (homerish, but acceptable)
61. Paradise Lost – Milton
62. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
63. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
64. Darkness at Noon - Arthur Koestler
65. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
66. Killing Lincoln – Bill O’Reilly
67. Of Mice And Men – Steinbeck
68. King Solomon's Mines - Rider Haggard
69. Shogun - James Clavell 
70. The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton
71. The Call Of The Wild - Jack London
72. Beyond Good and Evil - Friedrich Nietzsche
73. Das Kapital - Karl Marx
74. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
75. Sometimes a Great Notion - Kesey
76. The Trial – Kafka
77. A Hero of our Time – Lermontov
78. The Chinese Maze Murders - Robert van Gulik
79. Flashman - George MacDonald Fraser
80. All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren
81. The Stranger – Camus
82. The Idiot – Dostoyevsky
83. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
84. The Stand - Steven King 
85. A River Runs Through It - Norman Maclean
86. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald 
87. The Killer Inside Me - Jim Thompson
88. The Gay Place - Billy Lee Brammer
89. The Heart of the Matter - Graham Greene
90. The Moviegoer - Walker Percy
91. Little Big Man - Thomas Berger 
92. Killing Pablo--Mark Bowden
93. The Two Treatises of Government--John Locke
94. Hamlet--William Shakespeare 
95. April, 1865 - Jay Winik
96. The Corner - David Simon
97. The Places In Between - Rory Stewart 
98. Texas - Michener
99. A Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich - Solzhenitsyn
100. Friday Night Lights
101. Monster-Walter Dean Myers 
102. Survivor - Palahniuk
103. A Storm of Swords - G.R.R. Martin
104. The alchemist. 
105. Jurassic park. 
106. Enders game. 
107. Old man and the sea.
===================
Vetoed Entries
Left Behind
The Old Man and The Sea- Ernest Hemingway 
Moby $#@!
Of Human Bondage
The Hobbit
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius – Dave Eggers
The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger
Dune - Frank Herbert
IT - Stephen King
Death to the BCS - Jeff Passan 
The Hunt For Red October - Clancy

http://www.shaggytexas.com/board/showthread.php/105444-Rank-your-top-25?p=3658147&viewfull=1#post3658147

Quote

1 Counte of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 
2 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
3 Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry 
4 Hamlet- William Shakespeare 
5 Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut 
6 Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy 
7 Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
8 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 
9 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad 
10 One Hundred Years of Solitude GG Marquez 
11 Lord of the Flies William Golding 
12 Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain 
13 Animal Farm George Orwell 
14 Catch 22 Joseph Heller 
15 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald 
16 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 
17 1984 George Orwell 
18 The Sun Also Rises Earnest Hemingway 
19 Lord of the Rings JRR Tolken 
20 Iliad Homer 
21 Of Mice And Men John Steinbeck 
22 Les Miserable Hugo 
23 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 
24 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole 
25 The Sound and The Fury William Faulkner 
26 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov 
27 All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque 
28 The Stranger Albert Camus 
29 A River Runs Through It Norman Maclean 
30 Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau 
31 Paradise Lost John Milton 
32 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams 
33 The Republic Plato 
34 The Stand Stephen King 
35 All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren 
36 All the Pretty Horses Cormac McCarthy 
37 Devil in the White City Erik Larson 
38 Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe 
39 The Call Of The Wild Jack london 
40 The Trial Franz Kafka 
41 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson 
42 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon 
43 Fear and Trembling Søren Kierkegaard 
44 Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 
45 The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien 
46 Beyond Good and Evil Friedrich Nietzsche 
47 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 
48 The Heart of the Matter Graham Greene 
49 Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk 
50 I, Claudius Robert Graves 
51 Sometimes a Great Notion Ken Kesey 
52 A Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 
53 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh 
54 The Drawing of the Three Stephen King 
55 The Guns of August Barbara Tuchman 
56 The Two Treatises of Government John Locke 
57 Everything is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer 
58 Gilead Marilynne Robinson 
59 Killing Lincoln Bill O’Reilly 
60 Master and Commander Patrick O'Brian 
61 Old man and the sea Ernest Hemingway 
62 The Idiot Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
63 The Outsiders S.E. Hinton 
64 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 
65 Das Kapital Karl Marx 
66 Enders Game Orson Scott Card 
67 King Solomon's Mines Sir H. Rider Haggard 
68 Shelby Foote's History of the Civil War Shelby Dade Foote, Jr. 
69 The Gay Place Billy Lee Brammer 
70 White Fang Jack london 
71 Shogun James Clavell 
72 Survivor Chuck Palahniuk 
73 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 
74 The Second World War Winston Churchill 
75 Watchmen Alan Moore 
76 A Soldier in the Great War Mark Helprin 
77 Darkness at Noon Arthur Koestler 
78 Night Elie Wiesel 7
9 Raising Cole Mark Pittman, Darrell Royal, Mark Wangrin 
80 The Killer Angels Michael Shaara 
81 Undaunted Courage Ambrose Dahlgren 
82 A Bright Shining Lie Neil Sheehan 
83 A Hero of our Time Mikhail Lermontov 
84 A Time of Gifts Patrick Leigh Fermor 
85 Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand 
86 Little Big Man Thomas Berger 
87 Neuromancer William Gibson 
88 The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov 
89 Flashman George MacDonald Fraser 
90 On the Road Jack Kerouac 
91 A Storm of Swords George R. R. Martin 
92 Cosmos Carl Sagan 
93 Killing Pablo Mark Bowden 
94 Texas James A. Michener 
95 The Moviegoer Walker Percy

[retread 2951]

Enjoyed

Confederacy of Dunces
Blood Meridian (could be a slog at times)
All the Pretty Horses
Huck Finn
Great Gatsby
Old Man and the Sea

Not on the lists

The Great Train Robbery (Crichton)
Princess Bride
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

[Billy Pilgrim 1960]

12 hours ago, retread said:

Enjoyed

Confederacy of Dunces
Blood Meridian (could be a slog at times)
All the Pretty Horses
Huck Finn
Great Gatsby
Old Man and the Sea

Not on the lists

The Great Train Robbery (Crichton)
Princess Bride
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Confederacy of Dunces has been recommended to me by a few people, will finally check it out after I finish I, Claudius.

 

never heard of The Great Train Robbery but my interest is piqued because I really enjoyed Jurassic Park and Andromeda Strain by Crichton

[SimonBolivar 10957]

I expected Jurassic Park to be exactly like the book so that was a nice surprise.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

Hemmingway, other than The Old Man and The Sea, I've disliked everything else he wrote. Pain in the ass to read.

Jack Londons White Fang, and Call Of The Wild, two of my favorites, and I've read them both at least 3x

Edited May 2, 2019 by Onboard 2.0

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

In general, I've been surprised by how much I have liked most of the books that people complain that they were forced to read in high school and college literature classes, with one notable exception - I hate that mid-1800's ponderous, existential crap.  Not every Victorian novel, just the silent, unrequited suffering shit.  Stuff like

Silas Marner

Wuthering Heights

Bartelby the Scrivener

Madame Bovary

Ethan Frome

They all seem like you're reading a 500-page introduction then there is no plot. 

Still messes with me that Silas Marner is really the plot of the Professional/Leon

 

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

11 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Hemmingway, other than The Old Man and The Sea, I've disliked everything else he wrote. Pain in the ass to read.

Jack Londons White Fang, and Call Of The Wild, two of my favorites, and I've read them both at least 3x

Takes all kinds.  The Sun Also Rises may be my favorite book.  Don't care for Old Man and the Sea.  Too formulaic (even if you argue it wrote the formula).

I have also found that some of the more dense literature (not Hemingway, but stuff like Faulkner, Hugo, the Russians, the post-modernists) is a lot more enjoyable if you listen to it.  For some reason (at least to me), those novels are easier to follow in spoken form.

[SimonBolivar 10957]

4 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

Takes all kinds.  The Sun Also Rises may be my favorite book.  Don't care for Old Man and the Sea.  Too formulaic (even if you argue it wrote the formula).

 

Yeah, The Sun Also Rises is a very smooth read and of course Hemingway is always going to keep his descriptions short and simple.

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

22 minutes ago, Billy Pilgrim said:

Confederacy of Dunces has been recommended to me by a few people, will finally check it out after I finish I, Claudius.

 

never heard of The Great Train Robbery but my interest is piqued because I really enjoyed Jurassic Park and Andromeda Strain by Crichton

If we're fast-forwarding to the Dunces era (hilarious book):

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Inherent Vice (easiest and most entertaining of this list)

J.R. 

White Noise

Infinite Jest (written later but in the same vein)

 

[TwiceHorn 31435]

Hemingway is a pain in the ass to read?  His economy with words while still conveying tons of meaning, is remarkable.  His short stories may be the best things ever written.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

5 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

Takes all kinds.  The Sun Also Rises may be my favorite book.  Don't care for Old Man and the Sea.  Too formulaic (even if you argue it wrote the formula).

I have also found that some of the more dense literature (not Hemingway, but stuff like Faulkner, Hugo, the Russians, the post-modernists) is a lot more enjoyable if you listen to it.  For some reason (at least to me), those novels are easier to follow in spoken form.

Oh for sure, I mean seriously, fuck those guys who say they get Playboy for the articles.  I'm just there for the pictures.

[Billy Pilgrim 1960]

4 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Hemingway is a pain in the ass to read?  His economy with words while still conveying tons of meaning, is remarkable.  His short stories may be the best things ever written.

I read Steinbeck’s The Pearl and Hemingway’s Tho Old Man and the Sea back to back. Hemingway was able to vividly describe what was going and paint a  clear picture with words while keeping the story and action moving. Was a great story-teller.

Steinbeck spent so much time thoroughly describing inane bullshit with no bearing on the story that it made a 100 page book feel like a grind.

[bamachine 1230]

Here to shit on Catcher In The Rye. It is my most hated of all the "classics" aka required reading in honors and AP English in HS plus Lit 201 in college. Enjoyed almost all of Twain, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Dickens, etc. but Salinger can suck my left nut.

[Deej 76750]

On 5/1/2019 at 3:40 PM, Billy Pilgrim said:

I know everyone has a different definition of what a “classic” novel or book should be- I’m talking about those generally listed on “100 greatest books ever written” type lists. I’ve been on a kick over the last couple of years trying to read some classic novels.

A few that I can Remember:

Liked: Robinson Crusoe, Count of Monte Cristo, The Old Man and the Sea, Slaughterhouse 5, Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Men.

 

Didn’t like: The Catcher in the Rye, the Heart of Darkness, the Alchemist, The Pearl, Crime and Punishment, the Scarlet Letter, Red Badge of Courage.

 

looking for more recommendations 

 

I read The Count of Monte Cristo in French. First book I read cover to cover in that language. I will always have a soft spot for it.

I enjoyed Fitzgerald's translation of The Odyssey enough that I've read it several times.

Not a novel, but a classic, Capote's "In Cold Blood" is a fantastic read.

[South Austin 52431]

A Tale of Two Cities is probably my favorite "classic."  I've read it about 5 times in my life.  East of Eden may be a close second.  Lord of the Flies is excellent.  I love Moby Dick (#nohomo).

Never cared for Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Jane Eyre, or Wuthering Heights. They bored me to death in college, but perhaps they read better as an adult.  Not sure I care to find out, though. 

The Alchemist is an overrated piece of dung, listed on celebrity book lists in an effort to make them seem deep.  I'm not sure it's even widely considered a classic, but I mention it since it was referenced above.  (Tell us how you really felt about the book, South Austin.)

[Red Five 40823]

1984 was the first book I was made to read in school that I really liked. 

[TexArcher 37761]

Loved:

War and Peace

The Death of Ivan Ilyich (if you've always wanted to read Tolstoy, but don't have time or inclination for an epic like W&P or AK, start here.  Tolstoy has no equal.)

Slaughterhouse-Five

Cat's Cradle

No Country For Old Men

Wuthering Heights

All the Sherlock Holmes

 

Thought were overrated:

Pride and Prejudice

The Sound and the Fury

The dozen or so Poirot short stories I've read.  Very well-written, but seem obviously derivative of the Sherlock stories.  I'm hoping to enjoy Murder on the Orient Express more.

Edited May 20, 2019 by TexArcher

[demos 3002]

Hated All the King’s Men.

 

downloaded the audio book and listened to the whole thing on a trip; wish I hadn’t.

 

[Rougarou 594]

On 5/2/2019 at 10:09 AM, Liquor and Poker said:

If we're fast-forwarding to the Dunces era (hilarious book):

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Inherent Vice (easiest and most entertaining of this list)

J.R. 

White Noise

Infinite Jest (written later but in the same vein)

 

All you are missing is some American Pastoral or Portnoy's complaint and The Corrections and you've got the patriarchial who's who of the 20th Century. Maybe throw in some Lincoln's Bardo or whatever that weird book was; I liked Civil Warland way better.

Let's see... the most visible of the Latin American Magical Realism boom of the 80's, check.

The Pynchon book that became a movie, got it.

Gaddis book that nobody reads. I'm following!

White Noise is actually mega awesome. Don DeLilo is one of my favorites and this book is amazing. Zero K was a major disappointment.

This is Water >>> New Sincerity Movement and IJ

Edited June 7, 2019 by Rougarou

[SydneyCarton 48052]

Shit. I need to be in front of my bookshelf to properly answer this question. 

Like

Tale of Two Cities, obviously. (H/T to South Austin). 
Generally liked most of what I've read by Dickens (2 Cities, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Christmas Carol)
Pretty much entire catalog of Dumas (Count of Monte Cristo, Three Muskateers et al). 
Tom Jones, A Foundling - by Henry Fielding
No Country For Old Men
Pretty much all of Jane Austen (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma)
Confederacy of Dunces is fucking brilliant
Lolita - Nabakov
All of Oscar Wilde (Dorian Gray, short stories)
The Illiad & The Odyssey (this really depends on the translation)
The Fountainhead (except, you know, that pesky rape)

Unsure:
Infinite Jest (This honestly reads like 2 books. The parts at the Tennis Academy are possibly some of the most brilliant writing I've ever read. It's Confederacy of Dunces level genius. The other 50% of the French Canadian wheelchair cadre made me consider throwing the book in the toilet every other chapter. It was painful and I hated it. It's why it took me a year to read the book).  

Disliked:
Of Human Bondage (just never grabbed me, kind of boring)
The Great Gatsby
The Grapes of Wrath
Scarlet Letter (it was ok, I guess)
Crime and Punishment


Fucking Hated:
Wuthering Heights
Lady Chatterly's Lover
Moby Dick
Catcher in the Rye aka, Teenagers are always whiny stupid bitches regardless of generation
The Bostonians (Sorry HJ)
Blood Meridian

 

That's all I can think of without looking at my books. Lots of other stuff that didn't strike me as special, like Camus, mixed bag of Hemingway, Vonnegut etc. 

Edited June 7, 2019 by SydneyCarton

[Grippe 310]

On 5/8/2019 at 7:05 PM, Deej said:

I read The Count of Monte Cristo in French. First book I read cover to cover in that language. I will always have a soft spot for it.

Love Dumas and fucking HATE Hugo.

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

18 hours ago, Rougarou said:

All you are missing is some American Pastoral or Portnoy's complaint and The Corrections and you've got the patriarchial who's who of the 20th Century. Maybe throw in some Lincoln's Bardo or whatever that weird book was; I liked Civil Warland way better.

Let's see... the most visible of the Latin American Magical Realism boom of the 80's, check.

The Pynchon book that became a movie, got it.

Gaddis book that nobody reads. I'm following!

White Noise is actually mega awesome. Don DeLilo is one of my favorites and this book is amazing. Zero K was a major disappointment.

This is Water >>> New Sincerity Movement and IJ

The Corrections is fantastic. 

[kevwun 15758]

We had to read Ivanhoe for summer reading when I was in high school.  What an awful book to make high school kids read during the summer.

[Post Oak 20204]

Loved 

Lonesome Dove

Grapes of Wrath

Call of the wild

Robinson Crusoe

 

Hated 

Moby Dick with a passion.

 

No doubt some I've forgotten.

[wild_turkey 3159]

Not really sure where we are drawing the line on classics. I love Cormac McCarthy but never really thought of his books as traditional classics, yet lots of them have been mentioned so far.

Liked: The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, Fahrenheit 451, The Call of the Wild, Robinson Crusoe, Lonesome Dove, A Separate Peace, The Sun Also Rises, East of Eden, The Odyssey

Disliked: Ethan Frome, Wuthering Heights, A Tale of Two Cities, The Scarlet Letter, The Metamorphosis, The Prince (have not read any of these since high school so maybe my adult self would appreciate them more than my teenage version did)

Interested in reading: Grapes of Wrath, The Old Man and the Sea, Anna Karenina, War and Peace, 1984

[TexArcher 37761]

On 5/20/2019 at 6:22 PM, TexArcher said:

Loved:

War and Peace

The Death of Ivan Ilyich (if you've always wanted to read Tolstoy, but don't have time or inclination for an epic like W&P or AK, start here.  Tolstoy has no equal.)

Slaughterhouse-Five

Cat's Cradle

No Country For Old Men

Wuthering Heights

All the Sherlock Holmes

 

Thought were overrated:

Pride and Prejudice

The Sound and the Fury

The dozen or so Poirot short stories I've read.  Very well-written, but seem obviously derivative of the Sherlock stories.  I'm hoping to enjoy Murder on the Orient Express more.

Just came here to add The Alchemist to my overrated list.  I'd heard good things about it for years and seen it listed as one of the great novels.

It's not.  It's a mediocre adventure story told in mediocre prose, and the "philosophy" is trite, naive, and almost impossibly heavy handed.  

This is a novel for people who think The Secret is deep and powerful.

Blech.

 

Edited August 27, 2019 by TexArcher

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4974]

No James Fenimore Cooper on the list? The Last of the Mohicans deserves a spot at the least.

[Grippe 310]

24 minutes ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

No James Fenimore Cooper on the list? The Last of the Mohicans deserves a spot at the least.

Troof, this statement has it.

[PittsburghTiger 6174]

I hated everyone in The Great Gatsby

[TKthunder2 4985]

Really enjoyed the the popular stuff by Robert Heinlein, Alexandre Dumas, HG Wells, Ernest Hemingway, Ayn Rand, and George Orwell.  Also (to echo others on here) Lord of the Flies, Robison Crusoe, Fahrenheit 451, and (not yet mentioned) Watership Down.

Did not like Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, Grapes of Wrath, and (these not yet mentioned) Last Unicorn and Lord of Light.

[tantric superman 4667]

Butler's "The Way of All Flesh".  I read it later in life.  Written in the 19th Century, published in 1903. It is allegedly a great critique of Victorianism, but to me it was about a person growing older and experiencing the weight of life and coming to understand it.  I thought it was a really personal story. 

[tantric superman 4667]

In someone of the Samuel Butler mode of books that make you sort of sign with resignation at life, Carson McCuller's Heart is a Lonely Hunter is pretty damn extraordinary, especially since she wrote it at 23.  Saddest goddamn thing, but pretty deep and seemingly wise.

[tantric superman 4667]

Quick, fun reads from the Modern Libary's 100 20th Century Novels:

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh.  Funny as hell I thought.

High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes.  Great yarn.

Both of these could have been beach books.  Like candy.

I was expecting Bridge Over San Luis Rey by Thorton Wilder to be a slog, but I got into it.

The most recent ML 100 I read was Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather.  Man, I loved this little book. If you haven't read it and you make it to New Mexico, take a copy.

I've just loaded up my Dallas Library Queue with the remaining 40 or so books I need to read in the list.  Finnegan's Wake and Ulysses still laughing at me.

[tantric superman 4667]

Oh, have never been able to read Joseph Conrad. 

[tantric superman 4667]

On 5/5/2019 at 5:07 PM, bamachine said:

Here to shit on Catcher In The Rye. It is my most hated of all the "classics" aka required reading in honors and AP English in HS plus Lit 201 in college. Enjoyed almost all of Twain, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Dickens, etc. but Salinger can suck my left nut.

Everything Salinger wrote is fan fucking tastic.  Yeah, the college grad students shat on it, but they were full of shit.

[tantric superman 4667]

And not sure why people read Hemingway's novels when his short stories and non-fiction are head and shoulders above them.  The bullfighting books are fantastic as of course are all the stories, especially the greatest of all "The Short Happy Life of Frances McComber".

 

[tantric superman 4667]

On 5/2/2019 at 2:48 PM, Billy Pilgrim said:

I read Steinbeck’s The Pearl and Hemingway’s Tho Old Man and the Sea back to back. Hemingway was able to vividly describe what was going and paint a  clear picture with words while keeping the story and action moving. Was a great story-teller.

Steinbeck spent so much time thoroughly describing inane bullshit with no bearing on the story that it made a 100 page book feel like a grind.

Wow, I think Steinbeck is like candy.  The Pearl was depressing, but Cannary Row and Tortilla Flat zoom along. 

[TwiceHorn 31435]

1 hour ago, tantric superman said:

And not sure why people read Hemingway's novels when his short stories and non-fiction are head and shoulders above them.  The bullfighting books are fantastic as of course are all the stories, especially the greatest of all "The Short Happy Life of Frances McComber".

 

*Macomber  Carawong.

God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.  

Indian Camp.

So many.  So great.

 

Edited January 8, 2020 by TwiceHorn

[52-80 19142]

On 8/27/2019 at 5:49 AM, TexArcher said:

Just came here to add The Alchemist to my overrated list.  I'd heard good things about it for years and seen it listed as one of the great novels.

It's not.  It's a mediocre adventure story told in mediocre prose, and the "philosophy" is trite, naive, and almost impossibly heavy handed.  

 

 

 

[tantric superman 4667]

11 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

*Macomber  Carawong.

God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.  

Indian Camp.

So many.  So great.

 

Another reason they are so great is that I would often start the story, see what they were drinking (gimlet's, for some reason lots of brandy and soda) and drink those while I read. 

I'd don't have many hard copies of books in the house - I'm a library guy, but this baby is the best one I have:

[NorthLoop 14180]

Picked up The Hamlet by Faulkner at Half Price. Dunno if it's considered a classic or not but holy shit what a chore to read. I'm about 40 pages in and debating on putting it down for good. 

The Spanish chapters in Blood Meridian were easier to read than this, and I don't know Spanish. 

Edited February 24, 2020 by NorthLoop

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

On 1/7/2020 at 9:21 PM, tantric superman said:

Quick, fun reads from the Modern Libary's 100 20th Century Novels:

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh.  Funny as hell I thought.

High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes.  Great yarn.

Both of these could have been beach books.  Like candy.

I was expecting Bridge Over San Luis Rey by Thorton Wilder to be a slog, but I got into it.

The most recent ML 100 I read was Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather.  Man, I loved this little book. If you haven't read it and you make it to New Mexico, take a copy.

I've just loaded up my Dallas Library Queue with the remaining 40 or so books I need to read in the list.  Finnegan's Wake and Ulysses still laughing at me.

I'm so glad you mentioned Willa Cather. I enjoyed her books and that is a nice one. For the plains and immigrant experience (Midwestern version) her others, such as O Pioneers, are also good but not everyone likes those. I also read and enjoyed Giants In The Earth (Rolvaag). I'm with the folks that have mentioned preferring Hemingway's short stories to his longer works. One thing I've noticed about my own reading habits is that some authors or particular works I try to give a second chance. I had no patience for Jane Austen when I was in high school, but later came to appreciate her perspective. Probably doesn't hurt that I'm female, but the same was true for me of Solzhenitsyn and I was glad I returned to his works again. Perhaps it was some age and experience that gave me a wider perspective. Having greater knowledge of historical events and the world in general was helpful in that regard.

[High Plains Drifter 11024]

 

Catcher in the Rye is brilliant. Every teenager thinks it speaks to them, every adult hates the whiny teen. IOW, it perfectly reflects our changing mindset as we move from our teen years into adulthood.

 

Also surprised at all the hate Moby Dick is getting. Loved that book.

Also like Conrad's novels, at least the ones I've read: Heart of Darkness, Secret Sharer (not really a novel I guess), and Nostromo.

 

 

[High Plains Drifter 11024]

On 6/17/2019 at 4:32 PM, wild_turkey said:

Interested in reading: Grapes of Wrath, The Old Man and the Sea, Anna Karenina, War and Peace, 1984

 

 

My favorite book, short story, whatever.

[High Plains Drifter 11024]

On 5/2/2019 at 9:41 AM, Billy Pilgrim said:

Confederacy of Dunces has been recommended to me by a few people, will finally check it out after I finish I, Claudius.

 

 

Having never read Confederacy of Dunces, your life is obviously lacking in theology and geometry. You must begin a reading program immediately so that you may understand the crises of our age. Begin with the late Romans, including Boethius, of course. Then you should dip rather extensively into early Medieval. You may skip the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. That is mostly dangerous propaganda. Now that I think of it, you had better skip the Romantics and the Victorians, too. For the contemporary period, you should study some selected comic books. I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.

 

[atomheartbevo 89618]

Started reading The Hobbit to my kid, but he's way too young to appreciate the craftsmanship (for lack of a better word) of that book, and damn is it wordy.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

I read around quite a bit and am lax about remembering to post in the Whatcha Been Reading thread; my latest two were off-the-wall reads picked up from the library's new acquisition shelf. After finishing some Henry James stories (Portrait of A Lady, etc) I wanted a different type of diversion. Anyway, after perusing the list above, I realized that I've read quite a few of those books. A list that has more nonfiction included is The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written: the history of thought from ancient times to today by Martin Seymour-Smith. It's rather daunting to scroll through --here is a link:

https://thegreatestbooks.org/lists/45

because I'm too lazy to copy paste the titles. I had realized while scrolling through it that while I've read some of them in their entirety, most I've only read excerpts, pulled for a class in high school or college.

I must ask any of you students of history or the classics, have you ever read The New Science by Giambattista Vico? I've heard that it is rather dusty and yet formed a not insubstantial influence on writers such as James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, both of whom I've read but also with whom I have a rather sketchy relationship (simply was not mature enough to appreciate Joyce and don't know that I still am).

Anyway, it's rather ambitious, but I may add some of the titles from that list to my 2024 reading catalogue if any strike my fancy. Our local library competes with the parks department for funding and apparently athletic endeavors are quite pricey compared to books so the new pickings have been slim of late.

[Hellraiser97 181]

I loved To Kill a Mockingbird.  I hated it at first because, and this was in high school, we were forced to read it and I primarily read SciFi/Fantasy.  But after a short bit I realized it was really good!

I hated the Great Gasby.  I went through a phase in the early 2000's trying to read some of the 'classics' I'd missed.  That was one.  Just absolutely hated it.  I understand the nihlism of the day, but I just didn't enjoy a book where basically nothing matters and when you die no one is going to care or go to your funeral.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

I didn't hate The Great Gatsby but it wasn't a favorite either. Sinclair Lewis is an author that gets left off the list and while some of his works are better than others, I'd say he wrote as well if not better than his peer, Fitzgerald. I was neither an English or History major though so that's just like my opinion, man.