What classic books do you not like/loathe

[AtroposHeart]

Farenheit 451

Great Gatsby

Jane Austen Novels (Never been able to finish one)

 

*Goes to pack my bags before the literary police come to get me.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

Farenheit 451

Great Gatsby

Jane Austen Novels (Never been able to finish one)

*Goes to pack my bags before the literary police come to get me.

I hated this one. The writing is good enough, but every single character was a stupid twat...

I tried to read some Faulkner recently, but put it down as I really hate reading phoneticized accents.

[Just_Jane]

Jane Austen. I have tried to read various ones and just can't seem to finish any of them. I lose interest.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

Oh! And while I love the Lord of the Ring mythos, I cannot stand Tolkein's writing style.

[twin2]

I have two pieces of lit I hate with a passion:

1) The Old Man and the Sea. Really, it should have been a short story. He catches the fish on like page 8 and he is still catching it on page 78. I know, metaphorical for growing old, blah, blah, blah, it bored the ever living crap out of me.

2) Young Goodman Brown. Between high school and college I had to read it three times. Each time I read it, I hated it even more. I don't know why I JUST HATE IT!

[mama_bear]

I've started Great Expectations many times and never finished. The same is true for many of the Austen novels. I listened to Great Gatsby on CD's during a car trip and while it's not my favorite I didn't loathe it.

[ElphabaGalinda]

I absolutely hated Catcher in the Rye. I only finished it because I kept thinking it would get better, but I hated the whole thing. I also don't like any Jane Austen books, but it's because I'm not a fan of anything from the time period, not because there's anything wrong with them.

I hate how some books are considered classics and therefore better and something everyone must read. I actually don't particularly like any classics, the above two I just hated. Sometimes I don't understand how classics became classics.

[Deleted06]

We had to read The Once and Future King in 10th grade English. Worst. Book. Ever.

[OddlyAmused]

The first two that come to mind are Jane Eyre and Heart of Darkness. Jane Eyre I forced myself through the last 200 pages because I refused to let myself read something I really wanted to read until I finished it, and Heart of Darkness was for AP English Literature and was just incredibly painful.

[pomology]

The first two that come to mind are Jane Eyre and Heart of Darkness. Jane Eyre I forced myself through the last 200 pages because I refused to let myself read something I really wanted to read until I finished it, and Heart of Darkness was for AP English Literature and was just incredibly painful.

I fucking HATE Jane Eyre.

[Arete]

Jude the Obscure would have gladly killed Jude before the middle of the book to put him out of his misery and me out of mine.

[CanadianHippie]

From other posters:

Farenheit 451

Great Gatsby

Catcher in the Rye

Yes, yes, yes!

Also:

The Grapes of Wrath (I had to stop reading after the freaking turtle got his own chapter.)

Of Mice and Men

Glass Cowcather:

And while I love the Lord of the Ring mythos, I cannot stand Tolkein's writing style.

Yes!

Finally, nothing to do with classics, but I have to put this out there:

I cannot stand Stephen King books. People are always trying to get me to read more of his books because "they are just so good, you just haven't really tried reading them before!" I find them tedious and not the least bit bearable.

[CanadianHippie]

Oh, and because she deserves her own hate post:

Elsie Dinsmore. She is right up there with Bella Swan on my list of "heroines" I wanna punch.

[Guest Anonymous]

I can't stand anything by Dickens. That man clearly got paid by volume: The books are full of extraneous characters who do absolutely nothing for the plot; you get told, over and over again, the names of all of someone's pets; you get a couple of pages on why some random characters, who never appear again, quite like pork pies; and at least half a page on why some kid is called "Pip".

Additionally, Dickens was super-racist. I mean, even more racist than most other people of his time. I remember reading one essay about how he thought his contemporaries' racism was not racist enough and how he half-heartedly suggested a little genocide. What a social reformer!

riffles

[Glass Cowcatcher]

Finally, nothing to do with classics, but I have to put this out there:

I cannot stand Stephen King books. People are always trying to get me to read more of his books because "they are just so good, you just haven't really tried reading them before!" I find them tedious and not the least bit bearable.

There are some that I really liked. The Dark Tower is near and dear to my heart. Others, though, are stylistically horrible. Jesus H. Christ, I do not need to

(annoying)

know what kind of soda the villain drinks to know he's a bad man!

[terranova]

I absolutely hated Catcher in the Rye. I only finished it because I kept thinking it would get better, but I hated the whole thing.

Not sure how old you are, but I think it might be a generation thing. I was born in the late 70's, and have been accused of "not getting it" by people of my parents generation.

[Guest Anonymous]

Not sure how old you are, but I think it might be a generation thing. I was born in the late 70's, and have been accused of "not getting it" by people of my parents generation.

I'm 40 and hated it. My response to it was simply "Shut the fuck up please, angsty teenager".

[valsa]

Les Misérables. I finished to whole 1200-some page book, even though I hated it by page 100, because I was a freshmen in high school and thought that growing up meant I had to read classic adult literature. I actually like most of the main story (sans the ending, which I thought was just stupid) but the extra filler commentary was boring as hell.

I also can't read the Lord of the Rings books due to the writing style. I'm trying to get into H.P. Lovecraft but his writing style is getting in the way as well.

[jesssnerch]

I can't stand anything by Dickens. That man clearly got paid by volume: The books are full of extraneous characters who do absolutely nothing for the plot; you get told, over and over again, the names of all of someone's pets; you get a couple of pages on why some random characters, who never appear again, quite like pork pies; and at least half a page on why some kid is called "Pip".

Additionally, Dickens was super-racist. I mean, even more racist than most other people of his time. I remember reading one essay about how his thought his contemporaries' racism was not racist enough and how he half-heartedly suggested a little genocide. What a social reformer!

Dickens' work was originally published serially, so each week or month or whatever a new chapter would be published which accounts for lot of repetition. But yeah, I was an English major and I can't read him.

[BlondeAgent007]

Stephen King can get a little repetitive, but *shrugs* I'm a big fan of some of his stuff. I really enjoyed the overall story of the friendships and relationships in It. I also liked Misery, and some of his other stuff that doesn't involve paranormal activity.

I tried several times to read and finally gave up on Little Women. Just couldn't get into it even though I wanted to because I loved the movies. Didn't like Jane Austen either.

I got through the Hobbit but conveniently misplaced the fellowship of the ring.

[freejoytoo]

Lord of the Rings, oh my God I just wanted to die. I'm weird though because I like the films.

I love, love, love The Catcher in the Rye but from what I've seen in real life I seem to be very alone in that opinion.

[AtroposHeart]

I just the remembered the damn 'Red Badge of courage' that took me two months to get through, while something that I loved like 'The Deathly Hallows' took me only two days.

[BlondeAgent007]

Okay now I'm curious... is there anybody out there who has read To Kill a Mockingbird who DIDN'T like it? Honestly the only people I know who don't never actually read it, just skimmed it for school and watched the movie

[Sweetpea1]

Main Street is the most boring book I've ever read.

Moby Dick...would have liked it if Melville hadn't stopped every five pages to explain the novel.

[Terrie]

Washington Square. Plain girl is wooed by gold digger, gold digger is thwarted by girl's father, girl never marries. DULL.

I actually liked Catcher in the Rye, but I think you have to read it when you're a teenager. I suspect that if I went back and read it now, it would annoy me.