Classic books that you HATED

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  • adamb83
    adamb83 Posts: 719 Member
    Most things by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I just couldn't get into his writing style at all.

    His short stories are much more riveting ... have you tried those? Young Goodman Brown, Rappaccini's Daughter, and The Birthmark are all very, very good.
  • meghan6867
    meghan6867 Posts: 388 Member
    All things William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway... and I'm an English major.

    (I know... I know... I ought to be ashamed of myself.)

    Favorites: Jane Eyre, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, anything Shakespeare, Life in the Iron Mills... the list goes on and on...
  • heretic911
    heretic911 Posts: 66 Member
    Sadly I don't remember hating any classics I read in high school or college...I must be a book geek:huh:
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
    Lolita. I could not relate to the protagonist.
  • tjradd73
    tjradd73 Posts: 3,495 Member
    A Tale of Two Cities by Charles D ickens

    Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

    I agree with this perfectly!!! plus The Great Gatsby was a bore for me!!!

    on the other hand...Jane Eyre, Dorian Gray, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea were some of my faves!
  • jenbit
    jenbit Posts: 4,252 Member
    I love reading and according to my family I will read anything but man are there some classics I just cant handle

    The tale of 2 cities --ugh
    The catcher and the rye- I mean really he is just a whinny little ***** that never stops complaining
    Oh and Romeo and Juliet --listen people it is not the most romantic story ever told. Its 2 horny teenagers with bad judgement skills and really bad adult helpers

    and one I originally liked but they made us read to many years in a row is my side of the mountian
  • twinmom14ek
    twinmom14ek Posts: 174 Member
    Compliments of an English degree I learned to hate anything by Faulkner.. and came close to burning my copy of Catch 22 (Heller).

    I'm with you on both of these! I want my books to make just the tiniest bit of sense. Funny though..some of my favorite books are getting listed here over and over. I love Austen, the Brontes, Dumas, ****ens, etc. I did my AP literature final paper on The Great Gatsby (I got to choose the book). Guess I'm a bit of a dork, but I find the classics immensely more entertaining than most of the contemporary drivel that passes for writing.
  • dinos
    dinos Posts: 1,390 Member
    Pride and prejudice by Jane Austen. I had to read it for my English literature class. It took me a whole semester.
  • PixieGoddess
    PixieGoddess Posts: 1,833 Member
    Lord of the Flies. It's disturbing and they're all turds. Yeah, I know it's supposed to be that way.

    Yes! I had to read this book 3 years in a row for summer reading while switching schools. AWFUL!! I say schools should toss out Lord of the Flies and let kids substitute Hunger Games.

    Actually, I don't think that would be too bad of a substitution. It's also a great commentary on human nature and society, although I don't think it forces quite as much focus on the loss of individuality as Lord of the Flies does - partly just because it's written in first person.
  • Ohmydaze
    Ohmydaze Posts: 403 Member
    The picture of Dorian gray.

    Of Mice and men.. but I was 13 and our teacher was AWFUL.
  • TexasSunny
    TexasSunny Posts: 87 Member
    Great Expectations.... ick.
  • Shelbert79
    Shelbert79 Posts: 510 Member
    I can't think of any off hand..I generally like all books

    This
  • cannonsky
    cannonsky Posts: 850 Member
    A Light In August

    and the second half of Huck Finn
  • pamtram
    pamtram Posts: 67 Member
    Vanity Fair - BORING

    The movie was so much better :)
  • jenaissance
    jenaissance Posts: 302 Member
    Catcher in the Rye
    and
    A Tale of Two Cities (the only book I've ever started but not finished)
  • Kickinkim418
    Kickinkim418 Posts: 257 Member
    Moby ****
    The Old Man and the Sea
  • Kickinkim418
    Kickinkim418 Posts: 257 Member
    oops the latter half of the title got bleeped...LOL
  • missmatildamoonshine
    missmatildamoonshine Posts: 17 Member
    Wuthering Heights. I don't think there was one character I cared about!
  • Dancerten
    Dancerten Posts: 237 Member
    Interesting to see that pretty much ALL schools across the country have the same list of about 10 books they make students read...

    I hated:
    'Catcher In The Rye' - Holden Caulfield is an absolute brat
    'Great Expectations' - that were never fulfilled... boring
    'Great Gatsby' - liked the story, but thought it was poorly written, the movie looks like it will be interesting
    'East of Eden' - wasted 600 pages of my life
    'Lord of the Flies' - the only character I liked was Rodger, and he was a psychopath
    'Ethan Frome' - suicide by sled? come on...
    'Raisin in the Sun' - I'm pretty sure this was a play, but I hated reading it too. Especially hated it when our teacher made us act the parts
  • valorieflowers
    valorieflowers Posts: 154
    The Old Man and the Sea!!!
    Grapes of Wrath
    The Death of Ivan Illyich
  • JodieChampoux
    JodieChampoux Posts: 17 Member
    I tried to read Dr Zhivago, I couldn't manage all of the Russian names!
  • firesoforion
    firesoforion Posts: 1,017 Member
    All Quiet on the Western Front is my favorite book of all time!

    I never seem to be alone in saying Moby ****, though, happy that's true here as well. I actually read it voluntarily, and it killed any impulse I ever had to finish books that I wasn't enjoying. Why, WHY is it a classic?!?! :huh:

    Not on the same level, but I hated Treasure Island, too. What can I say? I'm a landlubber...
  • _Timmeh_
    _Timmeh_ Posts: 2,096 Member
    The Bible.
  • cannonsky
    cannonsky Posts: 850 Member
    The Bible.

    *snickers*
  • lshaunessy
    lshaunessy Posts: 64
    Cantebury Tales.
  • PuggleLover
    PuggleLover Posts: 261 Member
    Horrible = Red Badge of Courage... I tried reading it 5 times and couldn't get through it... and it's so short.
  • Trechechus
    Trechechus Posts: 2,819 Member
    :sad:

    Most of the books mentioned on here I LOVE.

    I can't STAND "Old Man and the Sea" or "Catcher in the Rye" or "The Great Gatsby"
  • pudadough
    pudadough Posts: 1,271 Member
    The Grapes of Wrath.

    Now every time I watch a movie or read a book that has no resolution (or is just bleak and boring as hell,) I say they "Steinbecked it." True story.
  • jeanie_ca
    jeanie_ca Posts: 38 Member
    I like most books but absolutely HATED....

    The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
    As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner

    <shudder>
  • LauraMacNCheese
    LauraMacNCheese Posts: 7,173 Member
    The Bible.

    :laugh:

    I had to read that in college as "a piece of literature"...yeah, like after 12 years of Catholic school that's gonna happen, LOL!
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