classics I haven't read, part 1
I got this idea from my niece's blog--couldn't resist. Here they are:
1. Don Quixote (Cervantes)--don't know why, just never felt moved to open it. Also, someone I know used to play the album of the musical so often that I think it put me off, even there is no singing in the book.
2. Clarissa (Richardson)--I should want to read this because it's epistolary, and I love epistolary, but somehow it's always sounded very dour. There's a lot of very dull criticism written about it, too, although I guess that's not Richardson's fault.
3. Bleak House (Dickens)--I started this and it was very bleak indeed, besides which it has a lot of legal stuff in it.
4. Anything by Trollope--I tried Trollope and found him pretty boring, although I know this puts me in a benighted minority.
5. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson)--I don't know why I haven't read this, because it's just the kind of thing I like--horror, dismay, gloomy scenes, a tormented anti-hero,etc.
6. The Call of the Wild (London)--I'm put off by this because it's about a dog, and I am not excited by nonhuman protagonists.
7. Proust--this is the big one. I've started it 3 or 4 times and I usually make it past Swann's Way and then start to lose momentum.
8. Confederacy of Dunces (Toole)--I never even started this. I remember that I didn't like the title, which I admit is weak.
The title of this post says "part 1" because I'm sure I'll think of more.
1. Don Quixote (Cervantes)--don't know why, just never felt moved to open it. Also, someone I know used to play the album of the musical so often that I think it put me off, even there is no singing in the book.
2. Clarissa (Richardson)--I should want to read this because it's epistolary, and I love epistolary, but somehow it's always sounded very dour. There's a lot of very dull criticism written about it, too, although I guess that's not Richardson's fault.
3. Bleak House (Dickens)--I started this and it was very bleak indeed, besides which it has a lot of legal stuff in it.
4. Anything by Trollope--I tried Trollope and found him pretty boring, although I know this puts me in a benighted minority.
5. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson)--I don't know why I haven't read this, because it's just the kind of thing I like--horror, dismay, gloomy scenes, a tormented anti-hero,etc.
6. The Call of the Wild (London)--I'm put off by this because it's about a dog, and I am not excited by nonhuman protagonists.
7. Proust--this is the big one. I've started it 3 or 4 times and I usually make it past Swann's Way and then start to lose momentum.
8. Confederacy of Dunces (Toole)--I never even started this. I remember that I didn't like the title, which I admit is weak.
The title of this post says "part 1" because I'm sure I'll think of more.
posted by mary grimm at 5:16 PM
4 Comments:
dr.jekyll/mrhyde and proust one word review: YAWN. but don quixote is pretty decent; no singing that i can remember
I've read Call of the Wild (great)and Confederacy of Dunces (can't remember) but none of the others.
kitchen hand
Oh my, save yourself by NOT troubling to read Clarissa. No offense to those who may have enjoyed the novel, but my experience reading Clarissa was quite like trying to focus while someone gently and persistently taps that spot on your forehead between your eyebrows, right at the top of your nose, over and over and over again, as quickly as they can manage. Then consider that this experience lasts for 1000+ pages. No thank you.
dlb--I love your simile; and it's very persuasive.
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