# Share your favourite / least favourite classic books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 3, 2009, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165 "2009-05-03T11:51:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OM\_Waterfall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/51bf81/32.png) [@OM\_Waterfall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OM_Waterfall)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/1 "2009-05-03T11:51:45Z")
My favourite book ever: Don Quixote. I have never read anything else with the combination of social commentary, absurdity, deep thoughts and crude humour! Altough, an honourable mention must go to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I would like to warn you about the last book I attempted: Life of Johnson. I found the endless footnotes and slow pace so hard to read that I gave up. It’s not fun to read for an hour and then realise nothing has happened. So what are your favourites, and which could you not stand? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/2 "2009-05-03T12:54:45Z")
My favorites are Sister Carrie, 1984 and To Kill a Mockingbird. I’ve read all of them dozens of times. My least favorite are Madame Bovary and Anna Karinena. Couldn’t get through either of them. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/3 "2009-05-03T13:14:25Z")
My favorites are: 1. Brothers Karamazov - Best. Book. Ever. I read the Constance Garner(I think) translation and enjoyed the characters, the plot, and the philosophizing throughout. I highly recommend it. 2. Les Miserables - Hey, I liked the wordiness and descriptions of everything. I even read the chapter on Paris, its greatness, and its sewer system. My least favorite: 1. For Whom The Bell Tolls - Meh. I prefered A Farewell to Arms. 2. Romeo and Juliet - I know it’s a play, but it\* is\* a bit overrated. I’d take Twelfth Night over this any day. I’d also add Shakespeare’s Sonnets, which contain a few brilliant lines, a few good poems, and a lot of crapola. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/4 "2009-05-03T14:48:43Z")
Favorite: _A Tale of Two Cities_. Like\*\* Annie-X-mas\*\*, I also love _Sister Carrie_. I’ve read \*The Three Musketeers \*and \*Jane Eyre \*quite a few times. Least favorite: Moby-Dick. All it ever inspired in me is a desire to eat clam chowder. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/5 "2009-05-03T15:06:16Z")
Favorite: _The Three Musketeers_ plus sequels. I think they still hold up as action-packed page turners. I also love _Vanity Fair_ for similar reasons. I cry and cry, it’s very satisfying. Least favorite: _Great Expectations_. Oh Pip, if only you had died in infancy. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/6 "2009-05-03T15:58:38Z")
Do plays count? I love Shakespeare, and _The Crucible_. Least favorites: Anything by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I can’t even get through his short stories. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/7 "2009-05-03T16:18:18Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Least favorites: Anything by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I can’t even get through his short stories. Oh boy, do I agree with that one. As for favourites: Moby-Dick, The Counte of Monte Cristo, and Dead Souls are pretty much perfect. ---
**Author:** ![trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trapezoidal_jellyfish)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/8 "2009-05-03T16:25:52Z")
My all-time favorite is _Jane Eyre_. as for least favorite, > [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Least favorites: Anything by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I can’t even get through his short stories. Yes. Yes yes yes. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/9 "2009-05-03T18:50:02Z")
Favorite: either _Moby-Dick_ or _The Rise of Silas Lapham_. Least favorite: probably _Sister Carrie_, which I could not bear to finish. Some other unbearable classics I would disqualify on grounds that they were never meant to be borne – foremost probably _Pilgrim’s Progres_s by John Bunyan. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/10 "2009-05-03T19:09:09Z")
Favorite: _Pride and Prejudice_. I don’t know if you’d really call it quality literature, but I’ll go with _The Count of Monte Cristo_, too. It’s totally implausible and absurd, but completely entertaining, too. Before they had summer explosion movies, they had _The Count of Monte Cristo_. Least Favorite: Hmmm…maybe _The Decameron_? I know it’s all about sex, but it’s like the same sex story 100 times. (Actually, this isn’t quite true. It’s two different sex stories, fifty times each. Sometimes the wife cuckolds her husband, sometimes a monk gets caught having sex with a nun/peasant girl. HA! It’s hilarious.) It got pretty old, pretty fast. I also hated _An American Tragedy_. Not a book, but the poetry of Emily Dickinson made me want to commit suicide. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/11 "2009-05-03T19:41:48Z")
Favorites: _To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, Moby Dick, The Great Gatsby_ Least Favorite: _The Sound and the Fury_. What what? ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/12 "2009-05-03T20:12:51Z")
Favorites : _Lord of the Rings__To Kill a Mockingbird_ Least Favorite, Most Hated: _Wuthering Heights_ ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/13 "2009-05-03T21:57:41Z")
Favorite: _Moby Dick_ Least Favorite: _Oliver Twist_ - I can’t get past the rampant anti-Semitism ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/14 "2009-05-03T22:08:34Z")
I don’t get all the Hawthorne hate! I like Hawthorne! Not my very fave, but I like him. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/15 "2009-05-03T23:28:29Z")
I hate, hate, hate **Great Expectations** , **The Pearl** , and **Moby Dick**. **To Kill a Mockingbird** is my favorite, if forced to choose. There’s a bunch that it just edges out, and are fighting for second place. ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/16 "2009-05-03T23:35:05Z")
Pride & Prejudice is my favourite - but I also hold Jane Eyre, What Maisie (sp) knew & Vanity Fare in high regard. & not a book but Katherine Mansfield’s short stories are excellent. There are a bunch that I simply couldn’t get through. Dr Zhivago, Tess of the D’Urbervilles & Wuthering Heights are the first that come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/17 "2009-05-03T23:39:18Z")
Favorite: 1984, The Stranger Least Favorite: Almost anything from Shakespeare. Call me ignorant but I can’t stand “old” English , plus most of his plays are so similar its booooring. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/18 "2009-05-03T23:57:59Z")
Favorites: **The Trial** by Franz Kafka and **Arrowsmith** by Sinclair Lewis. If Hemingway counts, then I’ll second whoever said **For Whom the Bell Tolls**. **The Trial** and FWTBT–along with everything else Hemingway wrote–were two of the bigger reasons I joined the army back in the day. Yeah, I was about as dumb and naive as I could get back then. Least Favorites: I could never get into Fitzgerald. I tried to read **The Great Gatsby** , and it was too much of a downer. I read about a page into **The Sound and the Fury** before realizing it wasn’t for me. And poetry. Except for Kipling and some Pushkin. I hate and detest all other poetry. On edit: Except for dirty limrecks. But I guess those don’t count as “classics” except for the one about that guy from Nantucket. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/19 "2009-05-04T02:33:35Z")
> [@Enterprise](#): > > Some other unbearable classics I would disqualify on grounds that they were never meant to be borne – foremost probably _Pilgrim’s Progress_ by John Bunyan. Absolutely. The most tedious classic ever written. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165/20 "2009-05-04T02:58:32Z")
Favorites: **Moby Dick, Great Expectations** (I hated it in high school, but when I reread it in my Master’s course, I realized it was pretty damn good), **McTeague** Special attention to the work of Mrs. E.D.E.N. Southworth, too. For poetry, I’ll take Dickinson. I’ve liked Hawthorne, but wouldn’t list him as my favorites. Least Favorite: **Leaves of Grass** [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favourite-least-favourite-classic-books/495165.md?page=2)