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Original poster

so which 'classics' have you never read?

155 replies

iwastooearlytobeayummymummy · 27/03/2011 21:20

For me it's Wuthering Heights and the Russian stuff: War and Peace and Anna Karenina
Also never read Madame Bovary, but I'm sure I've started it before now Grin
I love Margaret Attwood but have not got round to the Hand Maids Tale yet ( but it is beside the bed)

OP posts:
BillComptonstrousers · 27/03/2011 22:10

Bloody hell I've been on here too long, I thought you meant mumsnet 'classics' thread.......j

Crystyclear · 27/03/2011 22:10

P.S I love all the Russians.

Vallhala · 27/03/2011 22:12

BeligerentGhoul, the closest I can come to complimenting 'Of Mice And Men' is to say that it's clever. "Superb" is pushing it too far for me!

goodasgold · 27/03/2011 22:12

Rhinestonecowgirl Fathers and Sons?

PatTheHammer · 27/03/2011 22:13

Grin at Billcomptonstrousers, your comment and your nameGrin

Forgot about Hardy, now I liked them.

This is making me feel bad about all the shite I have been reading since I had DC's!

BelligerentGhoul · 27/03/2011 22:14

It has so many layers though, Val. Easy to read as just a 'story' but also works at other levels. I love it. Apart from the giant rabbit bit, which is stupid. :)

PatTheHammer · 27/03/2011 22:15

Crysty- What do you mean the Hobbit histories? Do you have a different book to me? Mine just starts at the Fellowship of the RingConfused

Leo35 · 27/03/2011 22:15

A Tale of Two Cities (DH said it was great... it was boring), Emma, Madame Bovary (blimey she was hard work), Tess of the D'Ubervilles (she was as well), The Rainbow, the George Eliot one that wasn't Mill on the Floss or Middlemarch: I could go on and on. I read for relaxation having done my concentrating in the day, and find that I don't have the mental energy for the classics at present.

RhinestoneCowgirl · 27/03/2011 22:17

goodasgold yes it was Fathers & Sons, A210

I have managed to finish Middlemarch (but it was pre-children)

Maryz · 27/03/2011 22:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BelligerentGhoul · 27/03/2011 22:18

Oh gosh yes...George E makes me want to eat my own eyeballs.

meditrina · 27/03/2011 22:19

I loved The Hobbit, but have never read LOTR or Silmarillion.

CatIsSleepy · 27/03/2011 22:19

BG noooooooooo! i love middlemarch!!

Crystyclear · 27/03/2011 22:20

patthehammer at the beginning of the Fellowship there's pages of hobbit family tree nonsense that I just couldn't get into; i must have tried a dozen times over 10 years to read through the lists of relations. Is this just my edition? Hmm Grin

Icoulddoitbetter · 27/03/2011 22:21

I've never read any Austin, Bronte (s) or Dickens. I'm a complete philistine. I read Jude the Obscure a few years ago immediately followed by Beloved. That was one fun month!

I began On the Beach after seeing the Gregory Peck film but ever finished it...

I adore the Handmaids Tale though. I read it around the same time as Brave New world and 1984 so bit of a theme there too.

Leo35 · 27/03/2011 22:21

Forgot about the LOR. Never got past the first page of The Hobbit and the other one that is first in the triology. Usefully filmed for lightweights like me. Ditto Dickens - love him on the telly!

RhinestoneCowgirl · 27/03/2011 22:23

Oh I really enjoyed Middlemarch, and GE a great writer, it was just long and required a bit of concentration as the cast of characters was so big...

RhinestoneCowgirl · 27/03/2011 22:23

DH has read LOTR so I don't have to...

Original poster
iwastooearlytobeayummymummy · 27/03/2011 22:24

I don't think I've read a Hardy either, although blagged an A level question courtesy of Coles Notes
Part of the problem is catching bits of adaptations on the telly , cinema and radio over the years, I catch the plot and then can't be arsed! ( but read Rebecca on holiday 2 years ago and realised how much I had missed by assuming I knew the story!)

OP posts:
PatTheHammer · 27/03/2011 22:25

Crysty- Oh yes, you don't need all that crap! Bit jealous its not in my edition thoughEnvy
Although I must hold my hand up as a bit of a Tolkein geek in my younger days and I LOVE the family trees and stuff, and the mapsBlush
Think I must have read LOTR about 15 times and The Silmarillion about 10.
Bit off topic though as thats not really a classic, only in Fantasy terms.

Read Mill on the Floss but not MiddleMarch. Its on my book shelf but looks intimidatingly large these days.

Original poster
iwastooearlytobeayummymummy · 27/03/2011 22:27

Never wanted to read LOR, the first few pages of the Hobbit did for me! Tosh
I loved George Elliott as a teenager but have not re visited

OP posts:
Leo35 · 27/03/2011 22:28

Adam Bede! Had to go and look it up as it was driving me mad. Yep, tried twice to get into that one and still not read.

LeQueen · 27/03/2011 22:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bilblio · 27/03/2011 22:46

Never read any CS Lewis. I tried last year but gave up after a few chapters. Love Dickens but I agree with needing 30 minutes a day.

I'm finally reading Vanity Fair after attempting it numerous times over the years. It's just too long! The only reason I've succeeded this time is I found an old copy in a charity with much thinner paper and smaller print so it doesn't feel like as much of a chore. I'm mostly enjoying it until he goes off on rambles, and I'm still not certain about how some people are related, even though I'm 2/3rds of the way through it.

Crystyclear · 27/03/2011 22:56

Of course tolkein and fantasy can be classics... The bible being a great example of both! (wink)