# I pit the anti-literature thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 15, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027 "2005-08-15T01:17:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/1 "2005-08-15T01:17:46Z")
> **[It's no wonder man inveted Television.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=330145)** > > Not entirely certain if this is Cafe Society material. I rather think it’s more mundate and pointless. So in an effort to make myself an more well read and rounded person I seized a list of classics which I commited myself to read before the end of... OP lists a random bunch of classic novels. Now enter a random series of posts, “Don’t read that book! I haaaaaaayted! It’s boooooring!” Not just “I hated it and it’s boring,” but “don’t read it. Throw it out. It’s useless. I didn’t understand it, was too impatient to bother with it, have the attention span of a four-year-old, don’t like reading anyway, so it’s a waste of time.” Culminating in a post which says, “thanks guys! I hate reading and now you’ve confirmed the notion that’s all a waste of time.” So much for fighting ignorance. Why is there MPSIMS anyway? If this board is really about fighing ignorance, why indulge people with a forum to enable one another’s ignroance? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/2 "2005-08-15T01:24:53Z")
So they should lie and say they enjoyed the books? Only opinions you agree with are to be allowed? ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/3 "2005-08-15T01:28:21Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > So they should lie and say they enjoyed the books? Only opinions you agree with are to be allowed? There’s a big difference between saying, “well, I didn’t enjoy \_\_\_\_\_,” and saying, “don’t read \_\_\_\_, it’s stupid and boring,” especially when \_\_\_\_ is a time-honored adventure story. Take some responsibility for being a lazy reader. I don’t care for Wagner. Wagner is obviously appealing to people who know a lot more about music than me. I wouldn’t go into a thread on classical music and say, “don’t waste your time on Wagner.” I know, whatever my preferences, that Wagner isn’t a waste of time. I certainly wouldn’t dismiss, as some people do, and entire CENTURY of music based on my limited experience. It all comes down to fighting ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/4 "2005-08-15T01:30:39Z")
Where did anybody say they don’t like reading? Where did the “thank you” say that he/she didn’t like reading? People were saying that they did like some of the books, and didn’t like others. Some that were reviled by one were enjoyed by another. So what? Did you enjoy every single book on the OP’s list? And how do you feel about Paul Verhoeven? ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/5 "2005-08-15T01:32:24Z")
That thread is mostly people comparing notes as to which “classics” they enjoyed and which ones they found dull. I think you took the “thow it out” comments far too literally. Besides, it’s in MPSIMS, f’chrissake. They’re in there talking about cute pet pictures, wierd-ass dreams, and the Dukes of Hazard. ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/6 "2005-08-15T01:33:24Z")
So, let me get this right, you like the novels they do not like and that leads you to pit them? Or am I missing something? I counted 20 posts including the OP, one that even remotely fits into your pitting, someone said in his opinion to throw out such and such a book. Obviously you like the book, but not liking the book does not make you “ignorant” in makes you a person with there own tastes. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/7 "2005-08-15T01:34:05Z")
You were a little hard on the **“throw”** it out comments, too. Crap. And I previewed, too. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/8 "2005-08-15T01:36:49Z")
Well, reading “classics,” whatever that means. It was “Barely Adequates” contribution. A bunch of posters describe how classic book after classic book is “tortuous,” and then he thanks them for relieving him from the “guilt” of not enjoying them. I don’t know I’ve ever read Paul Voehoeven. What difference does it make? There are classics I don’t enjoy. Henry James isn’t my favorite. But I try not to sound like an ignorant high-schooler when I state my preferences. “I never cared for James.” Fine. “James is teh suxx, he’s so booooring! It’s pure torture! Don’t even bother.” No. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/9 "2005-08-15T01:37:03Z")
From the MPSIMS thread: > [@cricetus](#): > > You don’t have to care for them, but don’t say “toss them out,” to a potential reader. Let him decide for himself. But why not? If I’m asked my opinion, I’m certainly going to give it. If my opinion is “Don’t waste your time,” that’s what I’ll say. I’m certainly not going to recommend The Last of the Mohicans to anyone. (And neither will Mark Twain.) Someone else will have loved it, and will recommend it. Again, so what? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/10 "2005-08-15T01:39:07Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > I don’t know I’ve ever read Paul Voehoeven. What difference does it make? It was a joke, son. We had a now departed poster who was extremely emotionally invested in the idea that Paul Verhoeven’s movies were the finest art ever, and would brook no dissent. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/11 "2005-08-15T01:40:21Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > From the MPSIMS thread: > > But why not? If I’m asked my opinion, I’m certainly going to give it. If my opinion is “Don’t waste your time,” that’s what I’ll say. I’m certainly not going to recommend The Last of the Mohicans to anyone. (And neither will Mark Twain.) Someone else will have loved it, and will recommend it. Again, so what? The tone of the thread is like a bunch of whiney high school students. It was the tone that ignored me. It quickly gets one’s nerves to read book after book is “so boring, tortuous,” etc. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/12 "2005-08-15T01:42:39Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > It quickly gets one’s nerves to read book after book is “so boring, tortuous,” etc. You know what _really_ gets on one’s nerves? Nathanial Hawthorne. Really. _House of the Seven Gables_ really was boring and torturous. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/13 "2005-08-15T01:43:11Z")
> [@Uvula Donor](#): > > You know what _really_ gets on one’s nerves? Nathanial Hawthorne. Really. _House of the Seven Gables_ really was boring and torturous. Your loss. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/14 "2005-08-15T01:44:45Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > Your loss. Not at all. There are plenty of other things out there to read; not bothering with Hawthorne merely frees up time for them. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/15 "2005-08-15T01:53:50Z")
I just needed to vent a little bit. I’m over it now. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/16 "2005-08-15T01:54:56Z")
> [@Uvula Donor](#): > > Not at all. There are plenty of other things out there to read; not bothering with Hawthorne merely frees up time for them. Like arguing with me on the Internet? I certainly feel I’ve got more out of reading Hawthorne than arguing with pretentious assholes like me on the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/17 "2005-08-15T03:17:29Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > Like arguing with me on the Internet? Well, sure, if you insist. But actually, I stumbled upon a copy of Steinbeck’s _Winter of Our Discontent_ yesterday at a yard sale and I’m currently being reminded of why I enjoy his writing so much. Of course, that leaves me open for others to screech “Steinbeck!! You’ve _got_ to be kidding!” but if they do, I’m not going to open a Pit thread about it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/18 "2005-08-15T03:33:53Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > The tone of the thread is like a bunch of whiney high school students. It was the tone that ignored me. It quickly gets one’s nerves to read book after book is “so boring, tortuous,” etc. Am I allowed to think that a book is boring and torturous? Is it that I am just not allowed to think certain books are boring and torturous? Do you have a list of books that I must only give my undying praise to? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/19 "2005-08-15T03:39:35Z")
Note: Do not read this post. It’s worthless. Don’t spend your time on it. > [@This Year's Model](#): > > And how do you feel about Paul Verhoeven? “And how do you feel about Kipling?” “I don’t know; I’ve never kipled.” 😃 > [@cricetus](#): > > “don’t read it. Throw it out. It’s useless. I didn’t understand it, was too impatient to bother with it, have the attention span of a four-year-old, don’t like reading anyway, so it’s a waste of time.” Seriously, dude, I don’t think anybody in that thread had this particular attitude, and I think you’re displacing your anger at those you may have encountered elsewhere who _do_ have this attitude onto our poor Dopers in MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027/20 "2005-08-15T05:15:25Z")
> [@Uvula Donor](#): > > Of course, that leaves me open for others to screech “Steinbeck!! You’ve _got_ to be kidding!” but if they do, I’m not going to open a Pit thread about it. 😃 Steinbeck!! You’ve got to be kidding! Seriously, though. I also loathed most of the 19th-C. English literature I had to read, with the exception of some of the Dickens and _Pride and Prejudice_. And I love Umberto Eco. I felt _infinite jest_ was scintillating and worth each moment I spent looking up his purposefully erudite vocabulary strewn liberally over all 1,278 pages and throughout the footnotes which were, I’m not kidding, over 50 pages long. Does that mean I’m going to come in and thread-crap on someone for saying they liked _Jane Eyre_ or Pynchon’s _V._? No! I recognize that _Jane Eyre_ is not my improbably-coincidental-and-overwrought cup of tea, and that others like that, and I’m okay with that. Buy if it’s _V._ then yes, I’ll thread-crap. Nobody should have to deal with that tripe. If they want to read it, more power to them, but they’ll get fair warning from me: **Future Pynchon Readers:** if you get to the fifth or sixth chapter of _V._ and think, “This stinks, but I should read to the end juuuuuust to make sure I’m not missing anything,” I’d like you think back on today, when you were warned that you’re not, in fact, missing anything. Put the book aside and go get something you’ll like. If you don’t, you’ll just end up angry at him. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-anti-literature-thread/317027.md?page=2)