Which book do you think you should have read, but never have? (Do tell, and you could win a bundle of books worth £100)

[JaneMumsnet]

Hello,

In the run up to our first Bookfest event on 25 June (do take a look - we've got a fabulous line-up including Maggie O'Farrell, Meera Syal, Howard Jacobson, Andy Stanton and Liz Pichon, with a programme for all the family), we'll be running a survey on books and reading, and would love your help drawing up one or two of the questions.

1. Is there a book that you feel that you should have read but somehow missed out on? A classic that you've watched on TV but never perused in print? Which are the big tomes you are certain everyone around you has read, but you somehow missed out on or school or have never got round to tackling?

1. Is there a classic you are ashamed to admit you haven't read, to the extent that you might pretend that you have?

1. And - more broadly - is there an author whose greatest book or body of work has completely passed you by?

Do let us know - and all posters who tell us about the book or author who got away on this thread will be entered into a prize draw: one MNer will win a bundle of books worth £100.

Thanks as ever,

MNHQ

I really should have read to kill a mocking bird, considering it was the set text for my gcse in English lit. I read bits and pieces but never finished the book. I didn't like my English teacher so flunked her class. I actually read a lot too and have a copy of the book. I just can't bring myself to read it.

1. War and Peace
2. Moby Dick
3. Charles Dickens

Also all that Lord of the Rings and Hobbit shit.

I have never read any of the Harry Potter books, I just never seemed to get around to it. I'm hoping that now my DS is old enough we can get around to reading them together.

I don't think I've lied about reading a book.

I keep meaning to get around to reading books by the Brontes and Jane Austin. I've got some on the bookshelf.

1. See #2...
2. Any Austen... have begun many and failed to finish.
3. Tolstoy

I started crime and punishment - I didn't get very far.

I don't lie about books.

Terry Pratchet, I read some of the Nome books at my brother's because there wasn't much else to read and thought OK as kids books but not discworld.

I've got started on Wolf Hall and War and Peace - never finished either. Same with A Suitable Boy. They are all so big! The one I wish I'd abandoned was Sophie's Choice. I've read all of Jilly Cooper tho! James Joyce is on my to do list.

I admit to being scared of trying, and failing to understand, spy novels. I don't think I'm unintelligent but I've struggled to process tales of espionage in the past. I'm going to take the bull by the horns and attempt a le Carte novel this year just to see how I get on.

Le Carre .... I despair of autocorrect

Les Miserables. I have seen the musical more times than I care to count. DH has read the book several times. I know I should read it, but can never quite bring myself to it.

More recently, any book with "the girl..." in the title. I kind of want to read them to see what the fuss is about, but when i've done this in the past i've been disappointed.

Also:

1. The Great Gatsby
2. Hamlet (never even seen the play performed or a film of it, really ashamed to say I don't really know the plot, although know lots of other Shakespeare!)
3. Virginia Woolf

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Can't bring myself to read it. I have read Dylan Thomas "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog", which I loved.

I have downloaded PRide and Prejudice at least 3 times and never read it which is an outrage considering I read an average of 3 books a week! costs me a bloody fortune

1. Is there a book that you feel that you should have read but somehow missed out on? War and Peace

1. Is there a classic you are ashamed to admit you haven't read? To Kill a Mockingbird

1. Is there an author whose greatest book or body of work has completely passed you by? Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights)

1. I've never read any Dickens.

I've seen film, tv and theatre adaptations of lots of his work but I've never got around to it.

1. Is Harry Potter classic enough?

I have the whole collection on my bookshelf but I've never been overcome with desire to read it. I feel I ruined myself by watching the films first. I'd prefer not to be picturing Daniel Radcliffe whilst reading. Ds is nearly 7 though so I'm sure in the next year or so I'll have to get over that.

1. Wuthering heights

I've never lied about reading it (or anything else tbh) love Kate bush though

George Orwell - 1984

I think I would enjoy it, and it's a family members favourite book, so I do want to read it, but I haven't even got round to buying it yet

I have a degree in English Language and Literature so often feel ashamed of the (many) books I haven't read.

1. Anna Karenina. Maybe this'll be the year I finally manage it.
2. Moby Dick. Featured heavily in a university module, somehow managed to stumble through an essay on it and yet I never made it past the first 70 pages. I've come back to it several times and tried to get into it, mainly due to lying to many that I have read and enjoyed it.
3. I'm another for Orwell and 1984. Loved Animal Farm though.

When I was a student I had a much loved book of extracts from Indian literature. It inspired me to buy and read classics such as 'A Suitable Boy'. However, as much as I enjoyed the extract from 'Midnight's Children' by Salman Rushdie, and the film, I have never read the novel in it's entirety. I worry now that my head is full of too much other 'stuff' (as it wasn't as an MA student in the late 1990s) to thoroughly enjoy it, and other similar masterpieces, today.

Personally, I would recommend you don't bother with Midnight's Children.

a) IMO it gets worse the further you get into the novel - it's not one of those books where you struggle through the first chapter or two then really get into it and enjoy the rest, and

b) if you're anything like me, the constant snot references will make you feel sick.

Was and Peace but also Of Mice and Men. Love the Brontes though!

I find it really weird that people would lie about having read books. I'm sure if anyone asks me if I've read a certain book and I haven't, that I'll have read certain books they haven't. Nobody has time to read all the books

I have never read Dante despite doing a degree in Italian language and literature. I have two copies (including a translation into English) on my bookshelf but have never got beyond the first few pages.

Am highly ashamed that I have never read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. For those debating 1984 - do it!! Absolutely the best book ever!!!

Othello. I wrote an essay on it in an exam for my English Literature degree without ever having read it. Somehow I managed by just quizzing someone who had read it years before and by reading an O level study guide.
I've always felt like a bit of a cheat about it but still haven't got round to reading it.

I know a lot about, but have never read, The Picture of Dorian Gray. I'm sure I would like it!

Also in amongst my clutter I have about 5 books on how to live a simple life/de-clutter that I've never read!