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Old 08-26-2011, 12:35 PM   #91
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Heh, this should be fun.

As much as I keep saying I like Jane Eyre... I never actually finished the book. My favourite part was the boarding school section, and it did get me interested in the subject of governesses though. I found it a bit tedious to get through.

And I also never went beyond the first book for the Harry Potter series. I actually found it boring. The only thing I actually remember from the series was Draco Malfoy, because I found his name interesting. But it did watch the very last movie though... and had no idea what was going on.

For some reason, Sansa is my favourite Ice and Fire character. She is pretty unpopular in the fandom, but I found her interesting and I want to read the rest of the books just to see what happens to her next. But I did find Arya annoying though.
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Old 08-26-2011, 06:18 PM   #92
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My favorite version of Wuthering Heights is that of Kate Bush!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQA5h...eature=related
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Old 08-30-2011, 05:38 PM   #93
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We were reading Wuthering Heights in my AP English class. It was my teachers favorite novel. Our first assignment was to write an essay defending the position that Wutherng Heights was a classic.

I wrote my essay on why Wuthering Heights was not a classic. I argued that for all of the metaphors and great use of other literary devices in the book, the characters were unlikeable and in the end, the book was unbearable because of that.

I got an F on the assignment but aced the class and passed my AP English exam with a 3. Not the best but it got me some college credit.
You obviously didn't understand that in that sort of class all you need to do is to reflect the teacher's prejudices with a bit of embroidery.

When doing English A-level I had a teacher for half the syllabus who did the Romantic poets with us. She was a Wordsworth junkie and at the time I didn't like Wordsworth one bit. But I wrote essays full of technicalities about the verse and admiring the end result and got straight As.
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Old 08-30-2011, 05:55 PM   #94
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Main Confession: If it was on a high school reading list in the late 80s - early 90s, chances are I haven't read it and probably never will.


Minor confession: I love fantasy novels! The more other worldly type beings (vampires, wears, faeries, etc.) the better.
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Old 08-30-2011, 06:40 PM   #95
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In regards to Sci Fi shows, I was really ticked off that Caprica didn't make it. I was so getting into that series. I'm not holding out much hope that were going to see another quality series on the Syfy channel that has the "story arc" format for a while.
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Old 08-30-2011, 06:42 PM   #96
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OMG, CLARISSA!

I did a whole semester in college on Clarissa for a graduate school entry term paper thing. I later rated it 2 stars on Amazon, and I've had commenters get shirty with me because It's A Classic.
Just because a book is called a classic by some, doesn't mean it's not total shite.
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Old 08-30-2011, 07:06 PM   #97
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I don't really like Paulo Coelho's books. They're really... boring.
I've tried to read them, my mind spaced out during reading The Alchemist since it was so bad, and I didn't bother finishing his other books.
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Old 08-30-2011, 07:17 PM   #98
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...I just don't think he's put out much worth reading besides The Long Walk and The Bachmann books.
Absolutely. The Long Walk is probably my favourite novella. I haven't read too much of King. I liked what I read, but nothing was as good as The Long Walk.
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Old 08-30-2011, 07:26 PM   #99
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You obviously didn't understand that in that sort of class all you need to do is to reflect the teacher's prejudices with a bit of embroidery.

When doing English A-level I had a teacher for half the syllabus who did the Romantic poets with us. She was a Wordsworth junkie and at the time I didn't like Wordsworth one bit. But I wrote essays full of technicalities about the verse and admiring the end result and got straight As.
I understood that, I just couldn't defend that book. We spent all semester on it and had to write essays in the various literary goodies found in it. I aced those. I can understand why the prose is nicely written and how it includes all sorts of great literary tricks but the characters sucked.

I did get an A in the class. (wink)
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Old 08-30-2011, 07:33 PM   #100
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Have you tried The Darkangel Trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce? I loved that series!
I'm reading The Darkangel now. Bought all 3 from Book Depository recently. May have even been based on a discussion with you.
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Old 08-30-2011, 08:13 PM   #101
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OK...

I hated Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd. I felt like I was reading endless pages describing trees. I wanted to die.

I also confess that I loathed Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I think I understand now that it was probably an attempt at creating a Dickensian fantasy, but at the time reading it was like chewing cud.

I did not manage to finish Midnight's Children even though it's been called one of the best books of the 20th century (or similar). Before I'm attacked by anyone, I do think this was probably more because I started reading it just when my new house was finished building and I was moving in etc.. Lots of chaos, so probably wasn't in the right frame of mind.

I am glad I read LOTR. I do think it is an important work to read if you like fantasy. But oh my god, what a boring piece of crap! Being the first has its importance, but it was done better later. I would rather die than read it again.

I am not a hater of classics per se. I've had some marvellous reading experiences with the classics. Notable works include To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, Crime and Punishment and my favourite for many years - The Outsider.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is neither atmospheric nor chilling. I didn't hate the book exactly, but it's language was convoluted and annoying. I'll happily pass on any of the author's other works.

I couldn't get past a few pages of Heart of Darkness by Conrad. In less than one chapter I felt completely bogged down by tedious writing. I'll give it a go at a later time.

I confess that I've never read Dickens, Tolstoy, Austen or Bronte(s). However, I did read The Moonstone by Collins and loved it.

Quote:
Can't/won't read Russian novels. I get bogged down in all the name variations.
Completely agree with this. I like Russian literature, but tracking all the different name variations is utterly painful.

I became completely sick of Raymond E Feist (started off as a favourite) because he refused to get off his one-trick pony. I hope that the world of Midkemia is swallowed by an apocalyptic earthquake.

I'm a sucker for gay coming-of-age stories. I would probably read them even if written by Dan Brown.

Forgot to mention - I always enjoyed studying Shakespeare. Don't know if I would enjoy reading it for pleasure, but I found exploring it in a class situation very rewarding.

Last edited by caleb72; 08-30-2011 at 08:19 PM.
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Old 08-30-2011, 09:16 PM   #102
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I ended up finishing the Heart of Darkness because a class I was TAing was reading it. It was awful. Far too descriptive for my liking.
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Old 08-30-2011, 11:04 PM   #103
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I'm reading The Darkangel now. Bought all 3 from Book Depository recently. May have even been based on a discussion with you.
Yaay! Tell me what you think.
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Old 08-31-2011, 03:53 AM   #104
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I consider myself a big science fiction/fantasy genre reader, but...

(1) I don't understand the fuss over Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series.

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My confession: I can't stand Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books. The way he characterizes women, the way the books drudge on and on and on!
This. I bought the first three books, read two, then donated them all. I don't remember anything other than I thought it was bland and I couldn't stand the characters.

(2) I've never finished anything by Tolkien.

I love high/epic fantasy and it's hilarious that I've never read LOTR. I've had several false-starts with Tolkien's books but I was never interested enough to finish them. I think it's because I've absorbed so much LOTR from pop culture that reading the books is almost unnecessary. I did, however, finish reading a giant biography of Tolkien's life. I seem to also dislike/not be so interested in books that are described to be "in the vein of Tolkien".

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I am glad I read LOTR. I do think it is an important work to read if you like fantasy. But oh my god, what a boring piece of crap! Being the first has its importance, but it was done better later. I would rather die than read it again.
Caleb, since our tastes are similar, I'd probably feel the same way.

(3) I couldn't finish Stranger in a Strange Land.

It grew to be annoying mid-way through. But I still really want to read more Heinlein.

(4) I agree that 1984 is a powerful book, but the act of reading it feels like work. Bludgeoning you over the head with its message, much.

(5) Despite the fact that he's already popular I still think H. G. Wells deserves more attention.
Other than being a father of science fiction, his prose has that insanely fun pulp-era flippancy and he had an amazing sense of humour.

(6) I love anything pulpy with a sense of humour.
Books with a devil-may-care attitude oftentimes can be more subversive than what first meets the eye.

(7) I have a love-hate relationship with Catherynne M. Valente's books.

I've only read two so far, but one I really liked, and one I mostly disliked. I have no idea if I will read more. I just can't seem to connect with her characters.

(8) I love epic/high fantasy, but I am sick to death of the familiar Reminiscent of Ye Olde England during the Dung Ages setting and Farmer Boy Becomes King and Ends Up Being in a Harem Anime characters. I am far more likely to check out an epic/high fantasy book if it has a very different setting, or has a very different protagonist. Female heroines in epic/high fantasies seem to play more complex roles other than "Acquire Power From Meeting Lots of People then Go Goku".

(9) The science fiction community seems to bring up the lack of optimism in current sci-fi literature.

Why is that a bad thing? I welcome escapist space opera as much as anybody, but cynicism about the future isn't going away. Feeling positive about humanity's future was a temporary blip in world history, as far as I'm concerned.

Last edited by Frida Fantastic; 08-31-2011 at 03:57 AM.
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Old 08-31-2011, 10:12 AM   #105
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(4) I agree that 1984 is a powerful book, but the act of reading it feels like work. Bludgeoning you over the head with its message, much.
Yeah, this was my fundamental issue with the book - the bludgeoning. Almost everything else I liked including the dismal setting. However, I always felt the lecturing was so obvious that I wondered why the author bothered constructing a storyline at all.

Animal Farm was even worse.
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