# What famous works of fiction, popular with readers and critics both, do you not care for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2019, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659 "2019-09-22T20:28:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/141 "2019-09-27T03:11:39Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > Another vote for _On the Road_. What a huge pile of feces. I got through about 50 pages before I couldn’t stand one more story about the characters going out drinking and sleeping with women. It would have been OK as a short story, but I agree with you. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/142 "2019-09-27T03:18:48Z")
Brilliant cartoonist Kate Beaton on Kerouac and Ginsberg. **Hipsters Ruin Everything.** Scroll down! [http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=228](http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=228) ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/143 "2019-09-27T03:34:46Z")
> [@LittleOtt](#): > > For you Shakespeare haters out there - you have to see Shakespeare because you don’t know how to read it. > > There is a very small sub-set of actors who know how to read the stuff. Let them perform it for you. A warning: The actors have to be really good at knowing how to act this one man’s plays. I mean they have to be really good. If you get a chance go see the Royal Shakespeare Company do their thing. > > I’ve seen good Shakespeare, bad Shakespeare and GREAT Shakespeare. The great stuff will grab you and take you on a journey. Start easy. Romeo and Juliet. Measure for Measure. If you want a tragedy, try Othello but, and I mean this, you can’t read his plays yourself no matter how good a reader you are. You need actors who have spent years just working on this one guys plays to open up the doors for you. I agree with you about Shakespeare–you really have to see the plays being performed to truly appreciate them. In fact I be hard pressed to think of any playwright’s work that could appreciated simply by reading the written word–plays are meant to be performed. ---
**Author:** ![Unreconstructed\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/76d3ee/32.png) [@Unreconstructed\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unreconstructed_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/144 "2019-09-27T08:34:24Z")
Hound of the Baskerville - Boring and stuffy. The Great Gatsby - Well written, but all the characters are super annoying. On The Road - Shite. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/145 "2019-09-27T19:18:51Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > _Dune_. All talk, and the action all occurs “off-screen” so to speak. I read it in my early twenties, and whenever I told anyone I didn’t care for it, they said Oh, you were too young; read it again. So I read it again in my late thirties. Still didn’t like it. I read Dune in my thirties and loved it. It did give me a greater appreciation for Lynch’s adaptation in the 1980s. Edit: It’s totally okay not to like popular things. I wasn’t chiming in here to say you were wrong not to like it or something. ---
**Author:** ![SayTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@SayTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SayTwo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/146 "2019-09-27T22:51:03Z")
Boy, this thread is really a humdinger! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/147 "2019-09-28T02:21:27Z")
> [@SayTwo](#): > > Boy, this thread is really a humdinger! OK, so it’s popular with readers, but have any critics weighed in? Either way, boy howdy, this thread sucks. I can’t believe anyone reads past the fifth or sixth post. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/148 "2019-09-28T02:27:49Z")
Harry Potter ------ take your pick. Dune by Frank Herbert even though I really like a lot of his other stuff. Same for the whole Foundation series by Asimov. Any time I spent reading any of it is time I wish I could recover and better use. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/149 "2019-09-28T07:13:41Z")
One I haven’t seen mentioned so far: _Doctor Zhivago_. I had to read that three times during my undergrad education, and I still don’t get it. Not that I want to, now that I no longer have to open it again. But even the movie didn’t help me understand it. Both the movie and the book are long, boring, and incomprehensible. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/150 "2019-09-28T08:42:04Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > _The Once and Future King_ by T H White. Forced to read it in high school. I think it poisoned me from ever being able to enjoy anything pertaining to King Arthur, with the possible exception of Purcell (but that’s music and that’s different). My sentiments on _TOAFK_ are similar, if not so strong (read it, voluntarily, when young). What most annoyed me about it, was White seemingly going off frequently into rambles about his personal hobby-horses, rather than attending to whatever he was trying to do in the book series. More remains in my head about the first volume, _The Sword In The Stone_, than about the others. Bits of that first volume, I did take to – reckon the “wizards’ duel” marvellous: infinitely better than anything thought up by J.K. Rowling. Much of the cod-medieval background, though, just silly in my view: the various nobles and lords-of-the-manor and their antics – Sir Whozis and his “wildlife park” containing anthropophagi – fatuous, nothing but. I’ll confess that I’ve always found “King Arthur & company”, in any shape or form, rather boring. There’s mentioned (non-approvingly) in another current thread, S.M. Stirling’s “Emberverse” novel series of present and recent years – speculative fiction diving sharply into the mythic and magical: a thing I found ghastly from the start, though struggled through the first few volumes. Many Stirling fans love this series passionately; signs were seen at one time, of its coming to mirror the Arthurian legends: many devotees were ecstatic – I was the reverse. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > I also can’t stand _Pride and Prejudice_, which I had to read for a course in “Comedy”. I found it to be torture. I find anything by Jane Austen, unreadable: never compelled to read her, but I’ve voluntarily tried, repeatedly – so many people rave about her works. I’ve never got more than 15 / 20 pages into one. In part, the archaic English turns me off. Have stopped trying: it seems clear that short of a visit to a brainwashing camp, Jane is never going to be for me. > [@Shodan](#): > > You are dead to me! Dead! **Shodan** – no doubt I’m dead to you, too. Just has to be, I’m afraid… ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/151 "2019-09-28T12:05:54Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > One I haven’t seen mentioned so far: _Doctor Zhivago_. > > I had to read that three times during my undergrad education, and I still don’t get it. Not that I want to, now that I no longer have to open it again. But even the movie didn’t help me understand it. Both the movie and the book are long, boring, and incomprehensible. I always wrote it off to cultural differences. My ancestry is far-eastern-European or borderline Asian and I loved both that and _War and Peace_. But I may be the lone person among my circle of friends who can honestly say that. I also always liked the history of it all; a Russian book smuggled into Russia? That’s just what I call neat. Nothing against those who dislike either – you are probably right. But its just one of those niche works that will always have its fans. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/152 "2019-09-28T17:16:46Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > My sentiments on _TOAFK_ are similar, if not so strong (read it, voluntarily, when young). What most annoyed me about it, was White seemingly going off frequently into rambles about his personal hobby-horses, rather than attending to whatever he was trying to do in the book series. More remains in my head about the first volume, _The Sword In The Stone_, than about the others. Bits of that first volume, I did take to – reckon the “wizards’ duel” marvellous: infinitely better than anything thought up by J.K. Rowling. Much of the cod-medieval background, though, just silly in my view: the various nobles and lords-of-the-manor and their antics – Sir Whozis and his “wildlife park” containing anthropophagi – fatuous, nothing but… There are two versions of The Sword In The Stone. The first was written independently, mostly as a kids book, the other was part of the three book Once & Future King. The first is much better, since the second is way too preachy. If it has the ants, it’s the bad one. ---
**Author:** ![Moris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moris/32/2846_2.png) [@Moris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moris)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/153 "2019-09-28T19:50:02Z")
Anything from that racist, dog-loving scribbler Jack London. Taras Bulba by Gogol. Christ. Just no. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/154 "2019-09-28T20:37:54Z")
Oh, I dunno–I like a lot of the books mentioned. On the other hand… I disliked _Howard’s End_, though I no longer remember any details from the book at all, only that I didn’t think it was any good. I liked _The Little Prince_ as a child. Read it again about ten years ago and was stunned at how much I disliked it. Trite, boring, overly precious, and not anywhere near the “wisdom-filled classic beloved of generations” it is often billed as. “Half the wisdom of a Hallmark card,” is how I’d bill it. I also used to like _Once and Future Kin_g a lot more than I did when I read it a while back. While we’re on the subject of (sort of) children’s books–I do not like _The Giving Tree_ at all. Whereas many people, unaccountably, do. And while I do like _A Wrinkle in Time_, the second book in the series, _Wind in the Door_, is just short of unreadable. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/155 "2019-09-28T21:00:52Z")
> [@Moris](#): > > Anything from that racist, dog-loving scribbler Jack London. Huh. I finished **Martin Eden** a couple of months ago, liked it a lot. And I’ve always dug **The Sea Wolf.** Haven’t read the dog books. I take it you don’t like Rudyard Kipling, either? ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/156 "2019-09-28T21:30:04Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > One I haven’t seen mentioned so far: _Doctor Zhivago_. > > I had to read that three times during my undergrad education, and I still don’t get it. Not that I want to, now that I no longer have to open it again. But even the movie didn’t help me understand it. Both the movie and the book are long, boring, and incomprehensible. Russia was his first love, though he had one other (just not his wife). Bam! ETA: Of course I base my synopsis solely on the movie. Obviously I’m not going to _read_ the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/157 "2019-09-29T11:10:40Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > There are two versions of The Sword In The Stone. The first was written independently, mostly as a kids book, the other was part of the three book Once & Future King. The first is much better, since the second is way too preachy. If it has the ants, it’s the bad one. It was all many decades ago – wonder whether I might even have read both versions. As per my earlier post: while on the whole I’m “thumbs down” re the whole thing, there were for me some enjoyable parts. I recall that I rather liked the bit about the appalling ants, and Arthur’s time as one of them, courtesy of Merlin – their “Newspeak” in which anything basically positive or negative is “done” or “not-done”, respectively (“Message to Control: there is a not-done ant in Sector GJ2905”). ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/158 "2019-09-29T21:20:13Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Everyone I know who read **House of Leaves** by Mark Z. Danielewski, loved it. I thought it was so-so and less interesting than **Pale Fire** which it is compared to. The bit with the mother’s letters in the appendices was clever enough and I was glad to be able to figure out the cipher on my own, but there were huge swaths of rambling pointlessness in the book. Yes, I know the parts I intensely disliked fit the narrator’s addled state of mind, but Johnny Truant was a bore. Danielewski compared to Nabakov? I ain’t heard of that - there’s ten levels between those two writers. _Pale Fire_ is the standout example of this sort of thing for me, as it goes - just did not get it. Or rather I got the central conceit just fine (the fantasist editor), but didn’t find it at all interesting. Hated the poetry as well, but perhaps you were meant to. Obv I am in a minority as it’s wildly lauded as a work of genius by people who read deeply, and I should probably try it again (even if its praise does sound like turbonerds laughing at their own dungeon and dragons jokes). House of Leaves is really flawed but has some brilliant parts IMHO - agree the whole Johnny Truant narrative is just bobbins, though, so the whole book as an integrated structure sags badly. The house of horrors, though, was really inventive for such an old trope - thought it was a bold effort for a first book. I don’t hate Henry James or anything but am amazed such a difficult author built the reputation he did. How did he manage that? Would have thought an author writing about relatively mainstream themes would need to get some traction with your everyday readers (ie he’s not James Joyce writing some wildly ambitious magnum opus), but ain’t no way the rank and file are wading though stuff like _The Ambassadors_. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/159 "2019-09-29T21:46:12Z")
> [@Moris](#): > > Anything from that racist, dog-loving scribbler Jack London. > > . It’s more complicated than that: [Jack London - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_London#Race) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659/160 "2019-09-30T10:49:30Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > While we’re on the subject of (sort of) children’s books–I do not like _The Giving Tree_ at all. Whereas many people, unaccountably, do. It’s a sweet story upon first reading. Upon second reading, however, you realize it’s about a severely dysfunctional relationship about a tree who loves a man who abuses that love and takes everything from the tree while giving nothing back, until there is nothing left to give (except a seat). This isn’t _The Happy Prince_ where the statue and bird give all to help the needy; the guy here is a selfish jerk. > [@](#): > > And while I do like _A Wrinkle in Time_, the second book in the series, _Wind in the Door_, is just short of unreadable. Is that the mitochondria one? All the sequels are lesser works compared to the first book. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-works-of-fiction-popular-with-readers-and-critics-both-do-you-not-care-for/840659.md?page=9)