Have you ever been 'beaten' by a book?

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by Muskrat

Lord of the Rings.
I've had the book for so long the pages have turned yellow and started to disintegrate. Tried to read it again and again but just die of boredom each time. Seems to be about funny little gnomes having huge long......long.....longgg battles.

I've observed that almost everyone has one of two reactions to LotR - either it's the best book you ever read, or it bores you silly.

I pity those in the latter camp, but I understand it. I'm in the former camp, myself, but I sympathize.

(Although I admit the battles kind of bore me, too. Give me Frodo and Sam at Mt. Doom over Helm's Deep anyday.)

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Fiona

I've also been defeated by Ulysses. I'm thinking of trying again in the new year, but this time I'll be having a few drinks before I start...

Two suggestions:

1) Read Homer's Odyssey first. Joyce refers to the Odyssey and utilizes its structure. See MR poster Strether's commentary on the new version of Ulysses he uploaded here.

2) Try reading it aloud. Joyce's primary sense was hearing, and to a great extent he was attempting to reproduce in his writing what he heard in his legendary walks through Dublin. Reading it aloud might give you a better feel for the language.

There's a story about him in which Joyce meets an old friend while out walking. Ulysses had recently been published, and Joyce wished to know what his friend thought. The friend replied that he'd only read it five time, and would have to read it at least five more times to have a real opinion. "But man", exclaimed Joyce, "Didn't you at least think it was funny?
______
Dennis

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by khalleron

... The book that keeps 'beating' me is Moby Dick. I really, really, really do not like the characters. Maybe someday I'll make another run at it.

I liked the characters. They're the reason I plowed through to the end of Moby Dick. It's the endless chapters on the characteristics and behavior of various species of whales that I found tedious.

[Enraptured]

Originally Posted by Mrgauth

For me it is about any 'classic literature'. Have not ever been able to get through a Dickens, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Austin, that guy who wrote War and Peace, and any other 'classic' writer you can think of. I think it is the fact that I grew up watching TV and not reading that much that I am wired now in such a way that my entertainment has to start quick, act fast, and come to a conclusion promptly or I get bored. For that matter don't think I have ever ready a 1000 page book. Read the Lord of the Rings when a teen but that was more for escape from an abusive mother. Now, I just can't get through it.

Have always wished I loved the classics, but alas. I'll just stick to cotton candy I guess.

I don't tend to like classics either. In my case I know it's not that I grew up watching TV; I barely watched any TV when I was a kid, and for several years when I was growing up we didn't even get TV reception (we had a TV, but only used it for the occasional movie rental). And length isn't an issue for me - one of my favorite books is close to 1000 pages long. I've just found it really hard to enjoy most of the classics I've tried reading. There are exceptions - I love Shakespeare, for instance - but they're rare. Maybe I just have a harder time getting into a book if it's not written in a modern style; I'm not sure.

Getting back to the topic at hand, the book this thread made me think of was Dune. My dad gave it to me when I was ten; I've tried several times since then to read it, and I do like it, but somehow I always end up putting it down early on and not picking it back up. I still intend to read it someday, though.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by khalleron

I've observed that almost everyone has one of two reactions to LotR - either it's the best book you ever read, or it bores you silly.

I pity those in the latter camp, but I understand it. I'm in the former camp, myself, but I sympathize.

(Although I admit the battles kind of bore me, too. Give me Frodo and Sam at Mt. Doom over Helm's Deep anyday.)

The battle scenes don't bore me silly, but it's interesting. I've re-read LoTR many times, and each time I tend to focus on different aspects. For some time, for example, I would fast-forward through the sequences in the Dead Marshes. They were a little too effectively dismal and depressing. In recent years, I've been able to read them with more appreciation.
______
Dennis

[boydcarts]

"The Count of Monte Cristo" is smacking me around a bit right now. I'm about half way in, but I'm finding some of the side excursions wearing on my patience. I almost quit during the bit during "carnival", and I just finished an entire chapter devoted to poisons that almost killed my interest in the book.

[Connallmac]

Originally Posted by nikkie

The Silmarillion. Had no trouble getting through Lord of the Rings, but...The Silmarillion was a wreck.

I read The Silmarillion back in high school and I thought it added a lot to my appreciation of Lord of the Rings. It really helped me to appreciate the Elves and their long and bittersweet history, as well as their relationship to Men.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by boydcarts

"The Count of Monte Cristo" is smacking me around a bit right now. I'm about half way in, but I'm finding some of the side excursions wearing on my patience. I almost quit during the bit during "carnival", and I just finished an entire chapter devoted to poisons that almost killed my interest in the book.

I would encourage you to stick with it - it's a great book, my favorite Dumas after The Three Musketeers.

The ending will surprise you - *every* dramatic adaption gets the ending wrong. The Hollywood types don't get it - it's not the romantic ending they expect, but it's the right one.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Connallmac

I read The Silmarillion back in high school and I thought it added a lot to my appreciation of Lord of the Rings. It really helped me to appreciate the Elves and their long and bittersweet history, as well as their relationship to Men.

The problem with a lot of folks is that they came to the Silmarillion expecting a linear narrative with a continuing cast of characters, ala LoTR, and it isn't.

I tell folks to imagine they are sitting in the Hall of Fire in Elrond's house in Rivendell, listening the the loremasters recount tales of the Elder Days. The tales will vary in style and tone, according the the tale and the teller. Some will be present and immediate, and others will be distant and remote, echoes from distant times before speaking peoples walked the surface of Arda.

Personally, I loved it, but I'm one of the folks who may have spent as much time in the Appendices of LoTR probing for back story as I did reading the books.
______
Dennis

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by khalleron

I would encourage you to stick with it - it's a great book, my favorite Dumas after The Three Musketeers.

The ending will surprise you - *every* dramatic adaption gets the ending wrong. The Hollywood types don't get it - it's not the romantic ending they expect, but it's the right one.

Count of Monte Cristo is my daughters favorite of all time I think.

[Connallmac]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

The problem with a lot of folks is that they came to the Silmarillion expecting a linear narrative with a continuing cast of characters, ala LoTR, and it isn't.

I tell folks to imaging they are sitting in the Hall of Fire in Elrond's house in Rivendell, listening the the loremasters recount tales of the Elder Days. the tales will vary in style and tone, according the the tale and the teller. Some will be present and immediate, and others will be distant and remote, echoes from distant times before speaking peoples walked the surface of Arda.

Personally, I loved it, but I'm one of the folks who may have spent as much time in the Appendices of LoTR probing for back story as I did reading the books.
______
Dennis

You're right of course. I often compare it to the bible for many of the same reasons.

[Fiona]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Two suggestions:

1) Read Homer's Odyssey first. Joyce refers to the Odyssey and utilizes its structure. See MR poster Strether's commentary on the new version of Ulysses he uploaded here.

2) Try reading it aloud. Joyce's primary sense was hearing, and to a great extent he was attempting to reproduce in his writing what he heard in his legendary walks through Dublin. Reading it aloud might give you a better feel for the language.

There's a story about him in which Joyce meets an old friend while out walking. Ulysses had recently been published, and Joyce wished to know what his friend thought. The friend replied that he'd only read it five time, and would have to read it at least five more times to have a real opinion. "But man", exclaimed Joyce, "Didn't you at least think it was funny?
______
Dennis

1. I have a basic understanding of the storyline of the Odyssey
2. I have consumed 3/4 bottle fine New Zealand Sauv Blanc
3. The time has come! I will begin tonight!

Many thanks for your advice, Dennis, & wish me luck!

[curtw]

Titus Groan has now beaten me in three formats; the original written page, the BBC miniseries, and the the audiobook. For being such an epic, I have as yet been unable to get past the first "day" of subjective time in the novel. What does it take up--about the first 250 pages?

On a brighter note, I have managed two of the books that have stopped others here. I enjoyed Pillars of the Earth immensely. House of Leaves was a letdown at the end, because I expected a much better payoff for all of my intellectual "investment."

[Ea]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

The problem with a lot of folks is that they came to the Silmarillion expecting a linear narrative with a continuing cast of characters, ala LoTR, and it isn't.

...

Exactly. It's not a novel with a clear beginning, middle and end. It's a (make-believe) collection of myths, legends and tales, many of them not quite complete. A collection of stories that a story-teller could work with, to embellish and refine and work into proper new versions - just like has been done with myth collections such as the Norse eddas.

Though in this day and age I wonder how the copyright will play out if someone did. I have read that Tolkien hoped that his works would inspire and feed new works just like our old stories have done for centuries. But would any new story-teller, and writer, be allowed to actually do that legally? (I know there's lots of fan fiction but it's understanding that it's legally 'dodgy').

Originally Posted by curtw

Titus Groan has now beaten me in three formats; the original written page, the BBC miniseries, and the the audiobook. For being such an epic, I have as yet been unable to get past the first "day" of subjective time in the novel. What does it take up--about the first 250 pages?

I loved the BBC adaptation - gave me a way to approach the novel again (not that I finished

[kennyc]

I have to comment on the House of Leaves thing. I've not read it, but my understanding that it is written by the brother of of Poe a musician (from the wikipedia page):

House of Leaves was accompanied by a companion piece (or vice versa), a full length album called Haunted recorded by Danielewski's sister, Ann Danielewski, known as Poe.

and I love, love, love that album!