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Original poster

Books you feel you should have read ....

61 replies

MadBadandDangeroustoKnow · 10/07/2008 22:58

but have somehow never got round to?

For me, there are very many, but another thread has reminded that I've been intending to read Middlemarch ever since the BBC adaptation, more than a decade ago.

Anyone else want to confess?

OP posts:
hatwoman · 10/07/2008 23:31

Brave New World

Pavlovthecat · 10/07/2008 23:30

Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder - I cant ever seem to finish it, although I love it.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M Pirsig - again, i have attempted to read this about 4 times in my life. It is a fantastic book but I get sort of stuck half way, mental block. I will finish it before I die.

hatwoman · 10/07/2008 23:30

I see my 1000 years experience was like quattrocento's Ulysses. I managed precisely 1 page of Ulysses - you do indeed deserve a pat on the back.

Original poster
MadBadandDangeroustoKnow · 10/07/2008 23:28

Well, I asked about books you feel you should have read (although my 'guilt at not read' list and 'want to read' list have a lot in common).

I would agree, though, that Madame Bovary is indeed a Wurk of Genius. It was on my guilt list for years. When I finally read it last year, it instantly entered my top ten books of all time chart (possible basis for another thread there, mayhap).

OP posts:
hatwoman · 10/07/2008 23:28

another one with Middlemarch on her list. I've read Anna Karenina and really liked it. I read 1000 years of solitude purely on the basis that I should. hated it. soldiered on to the end but was left with an overwhelming feeling of not getting it.

Quattrocento · 10/07/2008 23:26

Oh read Middlemarch, please please do. It's fabbo. As is Anna Karenina and W&P and all of Gerald Durrell too

I could never get to grips with:

Laurence Durrell
James Joyce
Charles Dickens
Fielding
Smollett

I manfully struggled through Ulysses tho but please will someone tell me what's good about it?

BecauseImWorthIt · 10/07/2008 23:22

I have a degree in English Literature, and there are so many books I have never read.

I have never read any Charles Dickens for a start.

thumbwitch · 10/07/2008 23:16

many many - Middlemarch is one of them.
Anna Karenina
Don Quixote - started 3 times now but never get very far
Pickwick Papers -tried it, didn't really get it, probably too young, probably need to try again

FlossieTCake · 10/07/2008 23:14

War and Peace
Anna Karenina
Gerald Durrell (mainly because the family I married into have devoured them all and hence know them inside out)
PG Wodehouse (ditto)
EM Delafield (ditto again only worse as I think she is some sort of distant relative so there is also parochial pride to contend with)
Madame Bovary - never got more than a quarter of the way through even though my supervisor at uni thought it was a Wurk of Genius

Actually what I seem to be doing is listing books I think I ought to have read but have accepted I never will as there are too many more that I actually want to read

I have my money on .... umm.... let's say 3 more posts before someone says Ulysses.

daffodill6 · 10/07/2008 23:08

Canterbury Tales - started it at least 3 times and always found something better to do than finish it. So am saving it

ilovemydog · 10/07/2008 23:04

Possession - people raved about it, but I just didn't get it and stopped.

Must try again....