10 Books Not To Read Before You Die

[Madam Broshkina]

Recommended lists of ‘essential’ reading are the most pernicious ‘to do’ lists of all. Lists of physical achievements or magical holiday destinations or wonderful restaurants or fabulous hotels make you feel like your life has been wasted; a list of great books you should have read makes you feel like your brain has been wasted.
Most people embarking on a journey into a new book will feel they have to hack through a hundred pages of dense undergrowth before their conscience will allow them to give it up as a lost cause. But how many people feel secure enough in their own judgment even to do that? How many times have we all ploughed on to the end to find there’s actually no treasure after all? A book, even a useless one, can take several days out of your life so it’s a big investment.
The best way to fight the massed ranks of recommended books is with an offensively glib and, if possible, ill-informed reason for not bothering with them.



Check out the list here:


http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle4773601.ece

[zelda_pinwheel]

The Hemingway style is impressive at first. Simple sentences with few descriptions. They avoid adverbs and adjectives and, as a change from the over-elaborate works of Dickens and Austen, it’s OK for a while. Then you realise it’s a bit dry and boring and the more you find out about Hemingway, the more you realise he was a bore too: a terrible macho bore obsessed with bullfighting, guns, boxing and trying to catch big fish; really quite a tiresome bloke you wouldn’t want to spend time with.

secretly i've always felt more or less that way.

[Patricia]

I've read seven of them, but doubt if I'll ever bother with any more Hemingway.

[lilac_jive]

Couldn't agree more with the Iliad, and I majored in Classics. Although it is cooler in Greek.

But Pride and Prejudice!!! *gasp* No one puts Mister Darcy in a corner!

[Roy White]

Hemmingway... His short stories are truly great though. The Old Man And The Sea is one of my all time favorites. I had a friend once who once said to me, "Man what is wrong with you? You always have your nose in a book?" I asked him and he told me he had never (get this) NEVER READ EVEN A SINGLE BOOK!!! in his entire life. I made him promise to read The Old Man and the sea and a few days later he said to me.. "Man that was a great book! I'd read more if all books were that good!" Remember this was the ONLY book he had ever read... After I quit laughing 10 minutes later I said, "Do you REALLY think I'm just wasting my time with my incessant reading? There are hundreds and thousands of books that good or better!
But... Lo. He never read another....

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Roy White

"Do you REALLY think I'm just wasting my time with my incessant reading? There are hundreds and thousands of books that good or better!
But... Lo. He never read another....

We just shake our heads and smile. Knowing that we have the doorway to a world that they will never know.

BOb

[Over]

Originally Posted by Roy White

Hemmingway... His short stories are truly great though. The Old Man And The Sea is one of my all time favorites. I had a friend once who once said to me, "Man what is wrong with you? You always have your nose in a book?" I asked him and he told me he had never (get this) NEVER READ EVEN A SINGLE BOOK!!! in his entire life. I made him promise to read The Old Man and the sea and a few days later he said to me.. "Man that was a great book! I'd read more if all books were that good!" Remember this was the ONLY book he had ever read... After I quit laughing 10 minutes later I said, "Do you REALLY think I'm just wasting my time with my incessant reading? There are hundreds and thousands of books that good or better!
But... Lo. He never read another....

Come on! He never read a book in his life, it wasn't very wise to overwhelm him with that statement!

[DixieGal]

I disagree about every book on the list. Except Proust, which I'm told is very good in French.

Don't make me whip out my lit degree on you guys for trash-talkin' Hemingway. He and Gertrude Stein were pals and were experimenting with language, stripping prose down to the bare bones. His more meaty works, such as The Old Man and the Sea are more to my taste, but the stark Nick Whatsisname stories were experiments.

This all came about in that post-WWI era, when modern art, poetry, and lit was exploding out of Paris.

[RickyMaveety]

Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books. I've probably read it 10 times, and I'll probably read it 10 more.

So, clearly I have different reading tastes from the author of that article, and that means that his opinion on books to read or not read matters not one tiny bit to me.

[bill_mchale]

All things considered, I am pretty sure this list was meant to be taken firmly tongue in cheek; after all the author admits to not even having tried to read at least several of the books on the list. Certainly no one can be taken seriously who recommends not reading the Lord of the Rings, not because it is poorly written, but because of who else reads it.

--
Bill

[astrodad]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

All things considered, I am pretty sure this list was meant to be taken firmly tongue in cheek; after all the author admits to not even having tried to read at least several of the books on the list. Certainly no one can be taken seriously who recommends not reading the Lord of the Rings, not because it is poorly written, but because of who else reads it.

--
Bill

True. Maybe he wanted us all to rush out and buy these books.

[bill_mchale]

I am not so sure as I would go that far. I suspect that the author is mainly poking fun at such lists.

--
Bill

[astra]

I have read only 2 books from the list: The Lord of the Rings and War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy. The latter by "accident". I was forced to read it in school.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by astra

I have read only 2 books from the list: The Lord of the Rings and War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy. The latter by "accident". I was forced to read it in school.

Hmmm, that sounds like the equivalent of a 12 car pile up . That being said, I am actually hoping to read War and Peace in the upcoming year. I started it in H.S. and enjoyed what I read of it, but I had to return the book before finishing it so I ended up stuck at about 400 pages.

--
Bill

[mjh215]

Satire