To roll my eyes when someone says their favourite book is a classic

[Eyeroller100]

I'm an avid reader and I'm always looking for new books to read so I often ask people what their favourite books are. AIBU to roll my eyes every time someone mentions one of the classics.

I know people do love them and they may well be their faves, but I am quite skeptical as if they are saying it to make themselves sound better.

I've tried reading a lot of classics and I just can't get into them at all! They are pure effort

I’m loving all the book love on this thread 😊
I haven’t done very much reading since the DC came along but can’t wait to get back into it.
I’m a bit surprised how many people on this thread love Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights - I studied them at school without reading the whole books and it put me right off

I read Anna Karenina and LOVED it. But I was probably 19. I read and adored lots of classics when I was a teenager. But who has the time and mental capacity these days! If you asked me what my favourite book was I might well pull one of those books that I adored 20 years ago, when in reality I haven't read anything taxing or challenging in years. I must get back to good books now that my children let me read more than 2 words a week.

I studied them at school without reading the whole books and it put me right off

That's the bit that jumps out for me. You might be surprised if you read the whole thing (or still might dislike them which is fine too!)

We did Jane Eyre at school; in fact I still have my annotated copy which I love reading to see how I analysed it aged 16

If someone gets pleasure from reading Mills and Boon; what on earth is wrong with that?

The semi colon is generally properly used in worthwhile literature - to name but one thing.

semicolon

@Rose

Steady. Your wit is overwhelming. I apologise for a mis-type on a small phone keyboard.

That said. I'd rather be the type of person who makes a typo on a forum (yes uses words as part of her profession perfectly adequately) than be judgemental. It must get so wearing

semicolon

Mwahahahaha unfortunate huh?

Got to love the person who pulls someone up on their SPAG with a mistake

Yes I should probably give them another go. I don’t really like depressing books though 🤨
School also managed to ruin David copperfield and Great Expectations for me by dipping into them but I have since enjoyed several other Dickens

"@CotedAzur you're coming across very much as a person who tries to hide their own insecurity by being critical with no foundation over others choices."

I guess I would give a shit what some faceless stranger thinks if I were indeed insecure

"Critical with no foundation over others [sic] choices"? Is that even English?

Is that even English?

It's a dashed off post in a waiting room. But if that's what you want to discuss rather than answering the question then knock yourself out.

Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights (etc. etc.) were written to entertain people so you can read them that way without studying their every word. A literature degree is the ruin of this though.

I think books become special to you if you read them at the right time in your live. If you hated a book at school you might find that it speaks to you later in life.

I do like the thought of being a "faceless stranger". How dramatic and mysterious

Makes a change for my writing not to have my name to it

life
(scared now)

"If you asked me what my favourite book was I might well pull one of those books that I adored 20 years ago, when in reality I haven't read anything taxing or challenging in years."

Exactly. This is what I understand when someone says their favourite book is Lord Of The Flies or To Kill A Mockingbird.

People might not like reading or might not have time for it, but if they did (and not just Bridget Jones and 50 Shades Of Trash ffs) there is no doubt whatsoever that they would find many books they would like better now as adults than those they enjoyed as children.

What question, Jacques?

If there is a pressing issue you need my help with, it was not clear in your earlier ad hominem.

CoteDAzur

"Critical with no foundation over others [sic] choices"? Is that even English?

Lol. I allowed that one to pass...

Has this become the barely suppressed fury emoticon?

A username on an internet form does not makes a person less faceless!

Are any of you Rachel Cusk?

there is no doubt whatsoever that they would find many books they would like better now as adults than those they enjoyed as children.

That depends. I have read 1000s upon 1000s of books.

There has never been anything to rival WH in my affection since I first read it aged 9. That doesn't mean I haven't read books I have loved since, from many genres.

I re-read WH 4/5 times a year and still find new parts to marvel at. That is a great book for me and why it is my favourite. I have a totally different relationship with it than I did when I was 9 or 17 or 25.

Has this grin become the barely suppressed fury emoticon?

Not at all. I'm genuinely quite enticed by the prospect of it. Thinking about it MN is the only place I actually write where my name isn't on the piece.

Using an iPhone too hence the semicolon shocker.

My favourite books are a bit of a mixture, the Harry Potter series, Lord Of The Rings (took me ages, well worth it though) Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, What Katy Did, What Katy Did At School and What Katy Did Next, the Anne Of Green Gables series, the Little House series, The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, The Ordinary Princess, The Worst Witch series, Goodnight Mr Tom and Back Home, The Princess Diaries, the Confessions Of Georgia Nicolson and His Dark Materials. The most of Phillipa Gregory, Elizabeth Chadwick and Alison Weir's books. (I like historical fiction.) And Deric Longden's books.

I think books I read and enjoyed as a child/teenager tend to stick with me, even if they're not particularly highbrow. I was so upset when I found out Louise Rennison had died. I cried for ages.

FaFoutis

Are any of you Rachel Cusk?

Who he?

Who he?

She's a novelist.

Sadly I am not her. I wish I was, I LOVED Arlington Park.