SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Books you are told are good that end up pissing you off

Joined: Mar 13 2009 Location: Arlington Posts: 467

Optimist With Doubts wrote:

My fault then sir I apologise.

No Worries. Very Happy

Joined: Oct 19 2009 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 1479

SoldierHawk wrote:

^ I totally respect that. I mean there must be a reason he's considered a giant of American literature, but for the love of all that's holy I can't figure it out. My personal idea of hell is being trapped for all eternity in a library stocked with nothing but Hemingway and those fucking "Chicken Soup" books.

Maybe you can enlighten me some, though. What is it about him, and that book in particular, that you find so attractive? You may inspire me to give it another shot.

I hated A Farewell to Arms the first time I read it, but when I read it a second time I thought it was incredible. I think having been through it once, I was able to grasp the structure of the novel better, which let me make better connections between the plot and the themes that Hemingway was trying to get across.

Also, The Old Man and the Sea is amazing

Posted: Mar 10 2010 11:26 pm

This is from Kurt Vonnegut's "Palm Sunday:"

James Jones told me one time that his publisher and Ernest Hemingway's, Charles Scribner's Sons, had once hoped to get Jones and Hemingway together–so that they could enjoy each other's company as old warriors.

Jones declined, by his own account, because he did not regard Hemingway as a fellow soldier. He said Hemingway in wartime was free to come and go from the fighting as he pleased, and to take time off for a fine meal or woman or whatever. Real soldiers, according to Jones, damn well had to stay where they were told, or go where they were told, and eat swill, and take the worst the enemy had to throw at them day after day, week after week.

Posted: Mar 11 2010 09:48 pm

English 203 started this week and my first reading is Daisy Miller - A Study. It's 40 pages long in my textbook but it has maybe 15 pages' worth of plot. IRC tells me that the amount of pages spent saying how hot Winterbourne thinks Daisy is is comparable to a chapter of Twilight.

Joined: Mar 18 2010 Location: Tuonela Posts: 299

LeshLush wrote:

Also, The Old Man and the Sea is amazing

I'll quote! Reading classics is rewarding most of the time, but Sartres Nausea started to piss me off when I realized the whole book was about how everything sucks. Not that life didn't suck at post-war Europe, plus the book has its deeper depths, but it gets repetitive and too heavy to read.

Another story is guys like Thomas Pynchon. He pisses me off, because his stories are interesting, but his style makes your head hurt. I guess it might get better if you just learn to live with his paragraph-long sentences, but fuck it. I'll pick up some K. Dick instead.

Almost forgot the mention Lovecraft. Don't worry, he kicks ass, but sometimes he just makes me laugh when you're not supposed to. It seems that occasionally he runs out of words to describe how everytyhing is horrible, terrible or frightful - but he just has to write how everything is so, so horrible, terrible and frightful. The feel of repetition, after going through his stuff for a while.

Joined: Apr 09 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3112

Lovecraft is up there for me. He's just way too damned verbose, and leaves little in a scene to the imagination. You could skip every other page and still know exactly what's going on in one of his stories.

Joined: Apr 27 2010 Location: Seattle Posts: 1

Every single Tom Robbins book. I hate his writing style. I just want to punch him in the face, and from now on when someone tells me to give him another try, I will punch them in the face.

Joined: Oct 19 2009 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 1479

Vaenamoenen wrote:

LeshLush wrote:

Also, The Old Man and the Sea is amazing

I'll quote! Reading classics is rewarding most of the time, but Sartres Nausea started to piss me off when I realized the whole book was about how everything sucks. Not that life didn't suck at post-war Europe, plus the book has its deeper depths, but it gets repetitive and too heavy to read.

Another story is guys like Thomas Pynchon. He pisses me off, because his stories are interesting, but his style makes your head hurt. I guess it might get better if you just learn to live with his paragraph-long sentences, but fuck it. I'll pick up some K. Dick instead.

Almost forgot the mention Lovecraft. Don't worry, he kicks ass, but sometimes he just makes me laugh when you're not supposed to. It seems that occasionally he runs out of words to describe how everytyhing is horrible, terrible or frightful - but he just has to write how everything is so, so horrible, terrible and frightful. The feel of repetition, after going through his stuff for a while.

Glad we agree on The Old Man and the Sea, but I really like Thomas Pynchon's style. Gravity's Rainbow is kind of the shit. That description of the diplomat dreaming his adnoid was taking over London was one the funniest and most well-written asides I've ever read.

Posted: Apr 28 2010 10:01 pm

Well, I have seen this piece of shit (although I may have missed it), Wuthering Heights. Ugh, God Emily really is the untalented sister. It's a gothic novel with almost no gotic themes, and no, the ghost scene in the crappy movie doen't count (Sorry, Frankenstein a much better representation of the genre imho). In fact, this book is so bad, my teacher actually ripped on it in class for about tree days and never gave us a test over it.

It is technically not a book, I always disliked Romeo and Juliet. Sissy boy has a crush on girl. Girl ignores him. Sissy boy throws a hissy fit. He finds prittier younger girl and "falls in love" with her. Sissy kills her feline-esque cousin. They have pre martial sex(!) and he runs away. She fakes her death so she can find him. He kills himself because he's dumber than a sack of crap. She waks up and kills herself. Best part right at the end where everyone dies.

Now I loved Macbeth, which is far surperior to this garbage, so why does everyone remeber this?

Posted: Apr 28 2010 10:32 pm

BlazingGlory wrote:

Well, I have seen this piece of shit (although I may have missed it), Wuthering Heights. Ugh, God Emily really is the untalented sister. It's a gothic novel with almost no gotic themes, and no, the ghost scene in the crappy movie doen't count (Sorry, Frankenstein a much better representation of the genre imho). In fact, this book is so bad, my teacher actually ripped on it in class for about tree days and never gave us a test over it.

We're currently reading this in my AP English class, and while I can see why it's considered a "classic", I can't get over the fact that the book plods in so many different sections. I'm only about halfway through the book (I've barely gotten to the beginning of the second generation), but it's really hard to get through a book when you loathe almost all of the major characters.

Posted: Apr 28 2010 11:05 pm

Cameron wrote:

BlazingGlory wrote:

Well, I have seen this piece of shit (although I may have missed it), Wuthering Heights. Ugh, God Emily really is the untalented sister. It's a gothic novel with almost no gotic themes, and no, the ghost scene in the crappy movie doen't count (Sorry, Frankenstein a much better representation of the genre imho). In fact, this book is so bad, my teacher actually ripped on it in class for about tree days and never gave us a test over it.

We're currently reading this in my AP English class, and while I can see why it's considered a "classic", I can't get over the fact that the book plods in so many different sections. I'm only about halfway through the book (I've barely gotten to the beginning of the second generation), but it's really hard to get through a book when you loathe almost all of the major characters.

This is how I managed to stay sane through reading that abomination of a book. Every time I thought I was about to nod off/scream from boredom, I just thought about this:

Problem solved, and I was happy again. Very Happy

Also, as a plot, Romeo and Juliet sucks major balls. But its also one of the most beautifully written of Shakespeare's plays...the love poetry may be coming out of the mouths of annoying little brats, but its still wonderful to listen to.

Posted: Apr 29 2010 09:30 pm

Cameron wrote:

BlazingGlory wrote:

Well, I have seen this piece of shit (although I may have missed it), Wuthering Heights. Ugh, God Emily really is the untalented sister. It's a gothic novel with almost no gotic themes, and no, the ghost scene in the crappy movie doen't count (Sorry, Frankenstein a much better representation of the genre imho). In fact, this book is so bad, my teacher actually ripped on it in class for about tree days and never gave us a test over it.

We're currently reading this in my AP English class, and while I can see why it's considered a "classic", I can't get over the fact that the book plods in so many different sections. I'm only about halfway through the book (I've barely gotten to the beginning of the second generation), but it's really hard to get through a book when you loathe almost all of the major characters.

^This
So it isn't just me that finds Heathcliff to be an annoying, sado-masochistist necrophiliac (oops, spoiler alert), or Cathrine to be a whiny rich girl? God the only characters with any redeeming features are Edgar (only nice guy in the story) and Joseph (because you can't understand any of the crap he says).

Joined: Feb 16 2008 Posts: 832

Most classic literature is not really made for mass consumption.

Posted: Apr 30 2010 11:34 pm

Hearing bad things about Gatsby makes me unenthusiastic about having to read it in the comming weeks.

I didn't like Catcher in the Rye. I'd heard how good it was but didn't like it that much when I was 3/4 through so I kept thinking something big was going to happen only to find that nothing really happens. I understand why it's regarded highly, it was just boring.

Posted: May 02 2010 12:35 am

BlazingGlory wrote:

Cameron wrote:

BlazingGlory wrote:

Well, I have seen this piece of shit (although I may have missed it), Wuthering Heights. Ugh, God Emily really is the untalented sister. It's a gothic novel with almost no gotic themes, and no, the ghost scene in the crappy movie doen't count (Sorry, Frankenstein a much better representation of the genre imho). In fact, this book is so bad, my teacher actually ripped on it in class for about tree days and never gave us a test over it.

We're currently reading this in my AP English class, and while I can see why it's considered a "classic", I can't get over the fact that the book plods in so many different sections. I'm only about halfway through the book (I've barely gotten to the beginning of the second generation), but it's really hard to get through a book when you loathe almost all of the major characters.

^This
So it isn't just me that finds Heathcliff to be an annoying, sado-masochistist necrophiliac (oops, spoiler alert), or Cathrine to be a whiny rich girl? God the only characters with any redeeming features are Edgar (only nice guy in the story) and Joseph (because you can't understand any of the crap he says).

I haven't gotten to the necrophiliac part (though I can't say I'm surprised), but yeah, Heathcliff is a horrible person in general. I was a lot more sympathetic for him towards the beginning of the story, but up to and after the point where he catches Hindley's baby at the bottom of the stairwell and mentions how he wished he hadn't caught it to get revenge on Hindley, I was a bit alienated with him, to say the least. I can't stand Catherine either, her character doesn't strike me as anything but bratty, indecisive, and manipulative.The only likeable characters in the book (so far) I've seen are Edgar (you've really got to feel sorry for him and all the crap he has to put up with) and Nelly Dean.

Also, Hawk, I'll keep that in mind. I kept thinking of Heathcliff Huxtable from the Cosby Show. Laughing

Posted: May 11 2010 07:12 pm

I just realised that I'm 74 pages into Gatsby and nothing has really happened.

Posted: May 11 2010 07:14 pm

anorexorcist wrote:

I just realised that I'm 74 pages into Gatsby and nothing has really happened.

dont worry, eventually the book ends. thats when stuff really happens

Posted: May 11 2010 08:33 pm

username wrote:

anorexorcist wrote:

I just realised that I'm 74 pages into Gatsby and nothing has really happened.

dont worry, eventually the book ends. thats when stuff really happens

Don;t forget the lampshaded gay sex and "The eyes of Dr. James T. Eckleburg."

Posted: May 11 2010 10:32 pm

I'd probably be crying of boredom if I didn't know the end. My teacher said to read the spark notes plot summary then read the book, he told me just to skim it and not to read to much into it. If I didn't know about the interesting ending I would have trouble picking it up and paying attention.

I also have to watch the movie, I found the newer shorter version with Paul Rudd, so that makes me a little happier. If I hadn't found the torrent I'd be reading the book and watching a 140 minute movie about a boring book.

I'm just trying to get through the material, my teacher has probably memorized the book so I'll let him tell me what it means.

Posted: May 11 2010 11:11 pm

anorexorcist wrote:

I'd probably be crying of boredom if I didn't know the end. My teacher said to read the spark notes plot summary then read the book, he told me just to skim it and not to read to much into it. If I didn't know about the interesting ending I would have trouble picking it up and paying attention.

I also have to watch the movie, I found the newer shorter version with Paul Rudd, so that makes me a little happier. If I hadn't found the torrent I'd be reading the book and watching a 140 minute movie about a boring book.

I'm just trying to get through the material, my teacher has probably memorized the book so I'll let him tell me what it means.

If your teacher is anything like mine was, this is a dangerous course of action. Trust me, you really don't wanna know the meanings behind most of American literature. Just remeber the green light and, I kid you not, "The Eyes of Dr. James T. Eckleburg." You can get away with only knowing the meaning behinf those two pieces of symbolism because they set up the tone and message of the entire story.

Also, I find your opinion on the ending interesting. I thought it was only so-so, but then again, by that point I actually like Gatsby as a character and just having the digruntled auto workerr kill him off was a little depressing, but hey, that was the style of the day.

Posted: May 11 2010 11:55 pm

I have not seen/read the ending yet, I just know what happens sorry if it sounded like I was voicing my opinion on it. Just from reading the plot outline it sounded like the ending would be the most interesting part of the story.

I don't think my teacher wants to get to far into the meaning of the book, he said not to read to much into it so I'm assuming (hoping) we don't have to get to elaborate. I think you are right in that I'll be fine if I get the meaning of those two symbols.

Title: Titlating Joined: Dec 17 2007 Posts: 5042

I read a book about magnets but it was written by a scientist so it made me pissed.

Posted: May 12 2010 12:53 pm

I finished the movie of The Great Gatsby, while he kind of annoyed me most of the story, I didn't hate him in the end because I hated Tom and Daisy, I might hate Daisy the most.

The ending wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be, it was more depressing than anything.

Posted: May 12 2010 02:46 pm

anorexorcist wrote:

I finished the movie of The Great Gatsby, while he kind of annoyed me most of the story, I didn't hate him in the end because I hated Tom and Daisy, I might hate Daisy the most.

The ending wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be, it was more depressing than anything.

Ugh, I hated that movie so much. For some reason a book where nothing happens is a lot easier to deal with than a movie where nothing happens.

And BLazing Glory is right.

Posted: May 12 2010 06:24 pm

SoldierHawk wrote:

anorexorcist wrote:

I finished the movie of The Great Gatsby, while he kind of annoyed me most of the story, I didn't hate him in the end because I hated Tom and Daisy, I might hate Daisy the most.

The ending wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be, it was more depressing than anything.

Ugh, I hated that movie so much. For some reason a book where nothing happens is a lot easier to deal with than a movie where nothing happens.

And BLazing Glory is right.

You forgot the best part about both pieces of symbolism. They both translate to hopelessness and how nothing will ever get better!