Oops, that’s “Roman Fever.”
Oh, I forgot to mention that it sounds disgusting.
Has anyone else read House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne?
It’s been a loooong time since I read that, and so I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt, but if it’s anywhere near as bad as I thought at the time then it would be up there with Ethan Frome.
You’re not - I enjoyed both Great Expectations and Ethan Frome. And Good Earth. And The Old Man and the Sea. Go figger. There are, in fact, few classics I’ve really not liked. I didn’t like The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant very much, but that was mostly because I despised the rapist hero, and I don’t consider the books classics anyway.
I will throw one out there: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Okay, I didn’t despise it. But I didn’t like it, either; I didn’t think it as funny as it wanted to be. It might’ve been worth the few hours it took to be read, but no more.
I’ve read most of the books mentioned and enjoyed many, but wasn’t forced to read but a few of them.
In high school they tried to make me read Catcher in The Rye, and I went to the teacher and straight out said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t read this.’ He didn’t miss a beat and gave me another book to read and write a report on.
I’m a pretty tolerant reader, from travelling in the third world where there is one shelf of english language books at the shop. After a day or two you’re reading things you mightn’t otherwise consider. Initially I disliked this, but came to love it as one of the perks of travel. It opened a whole different world, Hell, I read a handbook for Russian Parents once!
However, I am in complete agreement with
Jerzy Kozinski’s Painted Bird, I’m still amazed I finished it.
Also, while travelling across South America there were no affordable English books
available so I was forced to read my travel companions book, The Search for The Double Helix. I hated that book, but I liked to read so much I couldn’t live without it.
Still, at least once a day I would fling the wretched thing to the floor in disgust and say, ‘I hate this book!’
On the train back to Cusco, Peru, I found the only other traveller I’d met, the entire journey with a book to trade. I waited with anticipation while he dug through his pack. And what did he come up with?
Catcher in the Rye !
Some days you can’t catch a break! :eek:
Either of the two Idlewild mentioned are fine to start with. I, too, like Persuasion. It was the first Austen I ever read. Mansfield Park is the favorite of many fans.
Just so this isn’t a continued hijack, I’ll concur with everyone who found Moby Dick unreadable. Part of my distaste, however, came from the fact that it was the “favorite” novel of a pretentious roommate I hated. She poisoned it for me…as if it wasn’t poison enough by itself.
Thanks, misshannah - perhaps I’ll tackle Persuasion* next.
After I finish War in Heaven, Nightmare Alley, and Choice of Evils, that is.
Regards,
Shodan
Or learn to preview, for that matter.
Regards,
Shodan
PS - I liked Moby Dick.