Classic books that you HATED

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  • JodieChampoux
    JodieChampoux Posts: 17 Member
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    I tried to read Dr Zhivago, I couldn't manage all of the Russian names!
  • firesoforion
    firesoforion Posts: 1,017 Member
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    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
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    The Bible.
  • cannonsky
    cannonsky Posts: 850 Member
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    The Bible.

    *snickers*
  • lshaunessy
    lshaunessy Posts: 64
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    Cantebury Tales.
  • PuggleLover
    PuggleLover Posts: 261 Member
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    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
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    :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
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    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
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    I like most books but absolutely HATED....

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

    <shudder>
  • LauraMacNCheese
    LauraMacNCheese Posts: 7,198 Member
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    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!
  • misskerouac
    misskerouac Posts: 2,242 Member
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    I loved The Metamorphosis AND Catcher In The Rye AND Of Mice and Men lol


    I agree with Tale of Two Cities though. That was one of those books that I searched for the answers in the book and never actually finished reading.
  • ScottCadi
    ScottCadi Posts: 56
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    austen, bronte, most ****ens, Great Gatsby, most of the stuff that is older classics....

    oddly enough, Tolkien absolutely captivated me, I read him in 3rd grade and have loved him ever since!
  • ShreddedTweet
    ShreddedTweet Posts: 1,326 Member
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    Waiting for Godot...actually just about anything by Samuel Beckett....shoot me, shoot me now...

    *Yes, I know Godot is technically a play but it's an awful read!*
  • leejayem
    leejayem Posts: 120 Member
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    Anything Shakespeare - sorry folks. I blame the teacher actually!! I was in the "enrichment class" for Year 11 English & according to my teacher every single line of every Shakespeare book every written had a sexual undertone. I suspect she just enjoyed talking about male anatomy & used every opportunity to do so. Put me off Shakespeare completely.
  • lauraleeearle
    lauraleeearle Posts: 6
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    Were they really that bad? Personally I can find something enjoyable about almost every piece of literature that I read. I am faced with the daunting task of teaching these novels. Trying to make the classics remotely interesting or entertaining to a group of teenagers who couldn't care less is a task indeed.

    My favorite: "Lord of the Flies"
    Least favorite: "Animal Farm"
  • Koshkaxo
    Koshkaxo Posts: 332 Member
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    The second half of 1984: how effing depressing and hopeless!
    Every Shakespeare play: we read them out loud and listening to my classmates mis and over pronounce every word drove me nuts.

    Summary of my feelings lol: most books we did as a class I ended up disliking. I had a much higher reading comprehension than the majority of my peers and it was agony to listen to every detail be explained for them... I guess I was a book snob :p
  • iRebel
    iRebel Posts: 383
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    Walden.

    ugh. I have called Emmerson 'Bean Boy' ever since.

    I think Emmerson wrote it... I always just called him Bean Boy, so If I'm wrong, sorry

    'Walden' was actually Henry David Thoreau. He was a contemporary of Emerson's, though, and they were both considered part of the Transcendentalist movement, so it's an easy mistake to make. (Emerson is best known for 'Nature,' which is often assigned alongside 'Walden.')
    Oh, yeah, it was Thoreau. :blushing: And I passed a college lit class...
  • firesoforion
    firesoforion Posts: 1,017 Member
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    Were they really that bad? Personally I can find something enjoyable about almost every piece of literature that I read. I am faced with the daunting task of teaching these novels. Trying to make the classics remotely interesting or entertaining to a group of teenagers who couldn't care less is a task indeed.

    My favorite: "Lord of the Flies"
    Least favorite: "Animal Farm"

    I believe that if you teach it right, you can make most of these interesting. I used to HATE ****ens until I looked at where he fit in history (essentially a 19th century soap opera...), and now, well, he's long winded, but I at least find it interesting. Maybe the history angle won't work for everybody, but if you're conscious of the various ways that the books can be seen as interesting, and WHY various students might actually care about them, instead of just how they fit into the curriculum, you'll have a lot more success. Obviously not everyone will like every book, but I'd think that'd put the odds in your favor, and if you can find something enjoyable in almost everything you read, then that's a great thing.
  • smtillman2
    smtillman2 Posts: 756 Member
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    I loved all the books I read in school and tend to go back and read classics when I'm between other books.

    The only one I can't remember loving was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Loved The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and everything else I've read by Mark Twain. It just seemed to drag on forever.
  • ValerieMartini2Olives
    ValerieMartini2Olives Posts: 3,041 Member
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    I listened to Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky on audiobook. Blah. Thought it was terrible. Could not get into it at all.

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