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Admit it - what's the classic book that everyone raves about but you despise?

192 replies

EverySingleStar · 21/09/2009 00:57

I probably have more than one but The Great Gatsby is definitely up there. shudder violently Shall add more later

OP posts:
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MarmadukeScarlet · 21/09/2009 01:01

Some Gabriel Garcia Marques book that my DH rates as his all time fave, mysogonistic nonsense iirc.

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alwayslookingforanswers · 21/09/2009 01:02

Catch 22

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AitchTwoToTangOh · 21/09/2009 01:06

great gatsby, deffo. and i know it's not a classic but the lovely bones was SHIT.

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MarmadukeScarlet · 21/09/2009 01:10

God, lovely bones. I read that before my time was so precious and I would finish every book that I started, now if it hasn't got me in 20 pages I don't bother.

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AitchTwoToTangOh · 21/09/2009 01:33

yep, i gave the time traveller's wife a generous fifty and then tooooooossed it.

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mrswoolf · 21/09/2009 01:56

This reply has been deleted

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Celery · 21/09/2009 06:51

Wuthering Heights, urgh!

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Leln · 21/09/2009 07:42

Not really a classic, but 'On The Road' is completely mysognistic and boring to boot.
Also, all of Thomas Hardy; Tess is overly long, sentimental, melodramatic and utterly unbelievable. Oh, and such 'subtle' irony: a character called Angel who turns out to be foul and judgemental. Please.
I agree about Time Traveller's Wife - such an intriguing idea but done terribly.
As for the 'Lovely Bones' - arghhhh.

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Goblinchild · 21/09/2009 07:44

Anything by George Eliot, and most of Thomas Hardy!

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ILikeToQuickstepItTangoIt · 21/09/2009 07:46

Cold Comfort Farm - it bored the crap out of me and I didn't find it amusing in the slightest.

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Wiggletastic · 21/09/2009 07:53

Catcher in the Rye

Holden Caulfield is sooooooooo annoying!

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mollyroger · 21/09/2009 07:54

I liked most of these - except the Time Traveller's Wif which I tried twice and hated.
I also hate Dan Brown. And Kate Mosse. And that Island book - plot was ok but I hated her writing style....

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GibbonInARibbon · 21/09/2009 08:03

Cold Comfort Farm here too. Read it many years ago and I tried to love it but it really did nothing for me.

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mollyroger · 21/09/2009 08:04

oh. Cold Comfort Farm is one of my all-time favourites. And Thos Hardy one of my fave authors

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GibbonInARibbon · 21/09/2009 08:10

I have a real soft spot for Thomas Hardy, especially his poetry.

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Leln · 21/09/2009 08:21

George Elliott - you are so right.
I also cannot abide louis de bernieres...Is the man trying to win the 'Most Long Words in a Paragraph' competition?

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fishie · 21/09/2009 08:22

i hated the island book too, mollyroger how did you manage to find a plot in it? nothing happens.

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moondog · 21/09/2009 08:35

I capture the castle

(So bloody what?)

Captain Corelli's Mandoline

(I'm angry with myself for wasting those hours of my life)

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WidowWadman · 21/09/2009 08:43

Lord of the Rings. Tried several times, including reading it out loud to my flatmate and vice versa, because we both struggled, and the audiobook. Never got past page 80.

I accept its significance, but still find it really really boring.

Oh, and I can't stand Wordsworth. The Prelude is just tosh.

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Rhian82 · 21/09/2009 08:50

Awww, I Capture The Castle is one of my all-time faves, and I love Cold Comfort Farm! Agree about George Eliot though, detest Silas Marner.

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flimflammum · 21/09/2009 08:50

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. Admittedly I was about 14 when made to read it for school. I loved lots of other classic lit, but this bored me to... well, boredom really. I think the teacher thought that just because it was about children, young people would like it. We didn't.

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MarthaFarquhar · 21/09/2009 08:55

Ulysses. Big, yes; clever, yes; interesting? hell, no.

And White Teeth. Yes, London is a bit multicultural. Thanks for noticing.

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pofacedandproud · 21/09/2009 09:10

Little Women. Couldn't bear the sentimental bollocks. And oh yes Lord of the Rings. Turgid.

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pofacedandproud · 21/09/2009 09:11

Love Mill on the Floss! You probably needed to be a bit older to read it.

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LouLovesAeroplaneJelly · 21/09/2009 09:11

Great Gatsby. I blame Mrs Gilshenen for that at school. Oh and Sense and Sensibility.

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