The books you feel you should've read by now

[juneau]

You know the ones - the classics, the ones everyone else seems to have read at school, the ones that were reviewed positively everywhere and you thought 'I'd like to read that', but didn't, or the ones that have sat on your shelf for months/years/decades and you've never got around to them.

What are they?

For me: The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, Slaughterhouse 5, On the Road, Wolf Hall, Anna Karenina, The Help, Pride and Prejudice, The Poisonwood Bible, Love in the Time of Cholera ... I'm sure there are more!

I'm staring at some ageing and unread books on my bookshelf right now - The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, Atonement by Ian McEwan and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. There are more .

I keep picking up Wolf Hall and cant face it.
It needs concentration, time and energy I think.
So - not just yet.
But I am sure that I will enjoy it, just not right now

The main one is Crime and Punishment. It's one of my DF's favourite novels and I feel that I should have read it but I just never got round to it. It's on my 'pending' shelf along with Anna Karenina which I have got half way through twice and then just left.

I have also had a twenty year battle with The Ambassadors by Henry James. I start off with great enthusiasm but a third of the way through I start to flag and by half way it just ain't happening. I then pick up some comfort reading and leave it for another 2 or 3 years.

I have promised myself that I will read it to the end this year - but I keep putting off starting.

I bought a huge pile of "Classics" once in one of those Bookends type shops, just because I felt I should have read them all. Out of them all, the only one I enjoyed was To Kill A Mockingbird, all the others were either too wordy and dire to actually read at all or deathly boring. I tried to feel ashamed of myself but just couldn't. If something's crap, it's crap, and it doesn't matter how many people rave and say it's brilliant, I just hear "Emperor's New Clothes" in my head I read for pleasure so if I'm not enjoying what I'm reading, I stop.

I finally got round to reading Sherlock Holmes. Loved it.

But yes to Crime and Punishment and The Catcher in the Rye. I will read them before I'm 40. That gives me 5yrs.

I agree with you PomBear. I refuse to be guilted into reading classics that I know I won't enjoy. I loathed Dickens' novels when I was at school, hate the tv adaptations and will not read them again ... ever. And as for Thomas Hardy - they are so depressing. I want to read for pleasure, too.

Someone recommended "house of leaves - mark danielwski" to me about 12 years ago. I bought it and have picked it up many times over the years but can never get through it. Maybe one day.

Ulysses, can't even remember where I put it. Might dig it out today, and also look at your suggestions. Maybe start a list of books to keep me off mn

Loads. I made a dent in them last year and read about 50.

Still need to read Anna Karenina, The Count of Monty Cristo, Crime and Punishment, Great Expectations and have tried Wolf Hall but couldn't like it. Determined to try again though.

I do think PomBear and DuchessofMalfi ( my favourite play ) are right about not forcing yourself to read stuff you know you won't enjoy.

On the other hand you can be surprised. I had heard that Walter Scott was virtually unreadable but last year, for some unfathomable reason, I bought a copy of The Heart of Midlothian and read it. I really enjoyed it and am thinking of reading more Scott. If asked beforehand I would probably have said that I would hate it.

then again I'd loose the list, maybe we could have a list of books people have enjoyed so much that they've re read them (alot)

Don't force yourself to read stuff you don't want to. Life is too short.

I've got A Suitable Boy, The Lacuna and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell and about 200 other unread books on my shelves. I just feel the physical weight of the book and sigh.

I've read a lot of crap on my Kindle since I've had the DC but its not filling the house.

We have thousands of books: a study full of them and hundreds in most rooms too. But much as I love the books, I am slowly whittling them down and think that only keeping the ones you love; the practical ones such as encyclopaedias and cook books; and an unread stack near the bed is the way forward.

SoniaGluck It's my favourite play too :)

Tess of the dubervilles (sp), Great Expectations, Crime and Punishment (I've read about half), David Copperfield are the ones that I can think of now.

Since DS2 was born, I've been reading lots of free books on my kindle, they are mostly crap but I need books that are easy reading for my sleep deprived state :)

Ulysses. It's been my New Year resolution for about two decades. I've started it three times, and get less far each time. I just can't work out what is actually happening and what is going on in the protagonist's head.

onehand so you finish reading it, then let me know if it was worth it ! They did a think on radio 4 last year, that made it a bit easier to understand so maybe I'll try again and let you know

Thing not think ! Although ......

Cloud Atlas. I somehow can't face it though.

Moby Dick, everyone says how great it is but the idea just doesn't appeal. Have read most of the others mentioned, Anna Karenina most recently which was suprisingly readable, although did skim some of the farming bits. Can't stand Dickens after being forced to read Bleak House for A level, and not George Eliot fan but would always recommend Jane Austen.

Have started Wuthering Heights several times and can't get into it, same with Ulysses.

I actually quite enjoyed Les Miserables - it was free on Kindle and it was BIG and I needed something to last - it is very well named though, it is one of the most depressing books ever I think - every single time I thought there was going to be a bit of happiness or something going right for someone... it didn't! Things got worse. I did finish it though, but not without reading more cheerful things in between the chunks of it.