Literature you wanted/were supposed to like, but just couldn't

[MetroStyles]

For me, it was much of Shakespeare. I haven't bothered reading it since HS/early college, but his overly flowery speech and emo characters really rubbed me the wrong way, although some of his darkest work was bearable.

Also, I personally found Gladwell's The Tipping Point rather boring and not that insightful.

Lastly, I really liked Lolita but am not quite sure why it is considered one of the best Russian novels when (in my humble opinion/limited literary knowledge) Dostoevsky's works are a step above.

 

[Fuuma]

Originally Posted by MetroStyles

For me, it was much of Shakespeare. I haven't bothered reading it since HS/early college, but his overly flowery speech and emo characters really rubbed me the wrong way, although some of his darkest work was bearable.

Also, I personally found Gladwell's The Tipping Point rather boring and not that insightful.

Lastly, I really liked Lolita but am not quite sure why it is considered one of the best Russian novels when (in my humble opinion/limited literary knowledge) Dostoevsky's works are a step above.

Lolita is a Russian novel? It's all about his relationship with the english language son.

The tipping point isn't considered a good book any more than Dan Brown books are.

 

[MetroStyles]

Originally Posted by Fuuma

Lolita is a Russian novel? It's all about his relationship with the english language son.

The tipping point isn't considered a good book any more than Dan Brown books are.

I meant by great Russian authors, not situated in Russia.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Tristan

 

[Thomas]

Crime and Punishment. yuk.
The Great Gatsby. yuk

 

[Manton]

Proust. Shut up and die already.

 

[Bhowie]

Originally Posted by Thomas

Crime and Punishment. yuk.
The Great Gatsby. yuk

Big +1 on Crime and Punishment. Did not like any of Tolkein's work either.

 

[MetroStyles]

Originally Posted by Thomas

Crime and Punishment. yuk.
The Great Gatsby. yuk

I was very lukewarm on Gatsby, but I loved Crime & Punishment.

 

[bc78]

Originally Posted by Manton

Proust. Shut up and die already.

+1. Also Ulysses by Joyce.

 

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by Bhowie

Big +1 on Crime and Punishment. Did not like any of Tolkein's work either.

ah, that reminds me, I had read the Hobbit and the first of the trilogy, and was in the middle of The Two Towers, when I remembered that reading used to be fun. That was...what, seventh grade? I put it down and never picked it back up again. Haven't seen the movies, either.

 

[edinatlanta]

Twain's oeuvre.

Can't remember which HS English class I had to read it for but I had to buy an abridged copy so I could read and finish it.

 

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by edinatlanta

Twain's oeuvre.

Can't remember which HS English class I had to read it for but I had to buy an abridged copy so I could read and finish it.

(cheap shot edited out)

I find him quite uneven myself, and more or less resigned myself to pilfering his quotes.

 

[Fuuma]

Originally Posted by iammatt

Tristan

Like Tristan and Iseult? God I hated that and Parcifal....

 

[holymadness]

Originally Posted by Manton

Proust. Shut up and die already.
This. Got through twenty pages of Remembrance of Things Past before giving up. If I want 40 hours of rambling by a navel-gazing hypochondriac, I'll volunteer at an old folks home. However, some of these other answers make me

.

 

[Neo_Version 7]

Some parts of the Bible -- especially the lineage-heavy ones.