Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

Classics or "Must reads" that others rave about but you just don't get

89 replies

boogiewoogie · 26/06/2011 20:15

Mine are the following:

The Great Gatsby - I read this a couple of years ago and was disappointed with it and thought I'd missed the point. Gave it another the other day and finished it in 2 days (short book). No, still not getting the hype. No likeable characters either.

Catcher in the Rye- Nothing really happens.

Middlemarch - My fourth attempt at this... I will finish it this time!

The Time traveller's wife - Page turner, yes but "must read", no, no, no!

Started Early, took my dog - I normally love Kate Atkinson and really enjoyed the first three Jackson Brodie books but I found this dry.

The Da Vinci Code - Couldn't get past the first chapter.

OP posts:
ThePathanKhansWoman · 30/06/2011 21:20

A Suitable Boy, i have gotton about half way twice, starting to think i am a bit thick lack the required concentration.

Lady1nTheRadiator · 30/06/2011 21:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ThisIsJustASagaNow · 30/06/2011 21:16

The Life of Pi. Great waffly long passages about animal behaviour ZzzzzConfused

PotteringAlong · 30/06/2011 21:16

Anything by jane Austin - I've never managed to finish one Blush

iwasyoungonce · 30/06/2011 21:11

But I LOVE "Jane Eyre"!

iwasyoungonce · 30/06/2011 21:10

So far I agree with "Time Traveller's Wife". I was very underwhelmed.

Catch 22 - also tried to read it, and got to about 50 pages before I gave up.

May I add "Gulliver's Travels", which I hated.

WidowWadman · 30/06/2011 21:05

Lord of the Rings. Boring. With a capital B

madhousewife · 30/06/2011 21:03

FIL gave me the best advice - there are too many books in this world to waste your time reading something you don't enjoy. He said this after I was complaining about struggling through a so called must read.
Now I'll give a book a good go but if it's not doing it for me I put it down.

beachyhead · 29/06/2011 20:50

Captain bloody Corelli.....tried three times and then gave up

1944girl · 29/06/2011 20:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Tortu · 29/06/2011 20:25

Jane Eyre. Yawn.

piperhaven · 26/06/2011 21:03

Oh boogiewoogie - I loved Gatsby, Catcher and Middlemarch but there are lots of must reads I never even bother with eg Da Vinci Code and Time Travellers. Read what you enjoy. Life's too short

Ilovedaintynuts · 26/06/2011 20:54

Cloud atlas by David Mitchell. What a big load of pretentious, pointless tripe. Life is also too short to read The Shipping News, Beloved and Remains Of The Day. That's a few hours of my life I'll never get back Grin

BitOfFun · 26/06/2011 20:16

Catch 22. Can't manage it at all, and I've read eighty-odd of that BBC Top 100 list that knocks around facebook.