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Original poster

Which classic author or book can you not stand, and why?

87 replies

Caligulights · 13/12/2004 23:30

Following on from what your favourite book is, who or what do you find unreadable?

Mine are DH Lawrence and Ernest Hemingway - turgid, turgid, turgid, and I've never been fond of the Brontes who strike me as depressing - the only one I like is Anne. I've always hated Charlotte since I found out she dissed Pride and Prejudice and since I tried to read Villette and failed.

OP posts:
PrettyHannukahndles · 14/12/2004 14:48

Henry James - Portrait of a Lady. It was sooooo boring and slow that I couldn't keep track of the plot (if there was one), and would forget what had happened one page previously, or what I had read the previous evening.

In fact, it was so deadly (and I gave it a good try, must have read nearly half) that I'm not sure if I even remember the author's name correctly! He did whitter on though.

bakedpotatohoho · 14/12/2004 14:51

Hnery James.
Just spit it out, FFS!

bakedpotatohoho · 14/12/2004 14:52

(snap)

moondog · 14/12/2004 14:56

J. R. Tolkien
Despite mother's best efforts)
Its so obviously......made up!!

moondog · 14/12/2004 14:56

Ted Hughes
'Crow' poems
Grooooooan.....

MariNativityPlay · 14/12/2004 14:57

As C S Lewis apparently said Moondog, not another f*cking elf...dh would agree with you.
Hard Times by Charles Dickens does it for me. Instant turn-off, dreadful book.

MariNativityPlay · 14/12/2004 14:58

"the pig lies on a barrow, dead" zzzzz

noddyholder · 14/12/2004 14:58

dickens is endless

amynSaintnixmum · 14/12/2004 14:59

Bozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

moondog · 14/12/2004 15:02

MNP !

TinselTamum · 14/12/2004 15:04

Thomas Hardy for reasons so eloquently put forward by spacedonkey.

Henry James- utter tedium.

Proust- anyone who can have a single sentence that extends over almost a whole page wants shooting.

Jospeh Conrad- Heart of Darkness. Forced msyelf to get to the end because I felt all would become clear but was just as mystified as when I started (and also bored witless).

MancMum · 14/12/2004 15:04

anna karenina - I shouted for joy when the stupid woman died as I knew the end was in sight!

spacedonkey · 14/12/2004 15:05

and there was I just thinking my beloved tolstoy had escaped mumsnet wrath

pantomimEDAMe · 14/12/2004 15:30

William Golding, Lord of the Flies. Utterly depressing. A particularly irritating teacher tried to impress us by claiming it showed what people are really like once you strip the veneer of civilisation away. Peed me off as A. these are made-up characters and B. they are all boys ? so you can't really judge 100 per cent of humanity from them.

OhComeLetUsADiorHim · 14/12/2004 20:52

Can't get on with George Eliot. Got 2/3 of the way through Adam Bede, and just could not force myself to read another page.

vict17 · 14/12/2004 20:55

Another one for Joseph Conrad here - Heart of Darkness complete tosh! Also hated James Joyce' Ulysses - what was that all about?! And finally Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner

vict17 · 14/12/2004 20:57

Oh and Henry James - The Turn of the Screw...

CathB2 · 16/12/2004 13:53

Catcher in the Rye - I just want to slap him.

Also Proust- waded through Rememberance of things past (I had a long commute) and wanted to slap him too!

nailpolish · 16/12/2004 13:55

is 1984 a classic? i didnt like it - it scared me

KateandtheElves · 16/12/2004 13:59

Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck. We read it at school (age 13 maybe?) and it was so boring.

Maybe I should give him another try now I'm older and wiser.

Arabica · 16/12/2004 14:12

Catch 22. What a load of sexist b**cks.

logICICLE · 16/12/2004 14:22

Anna Karenina. You did way better than me, MancMum. I got about 7 chapters in and lost the will to live - oh and gained the desire to shred the thing page by page.

Prettybird · 16/12/2004 14:31

David Copperfield. Uninteresting story about an uninteresting boy. I did enjoy Christmas Carol though.

lailag · 16/12/2004 14:43

Alice in Wonderland

DingDongDinosaurOnHigh · 16/12/2004 15:03

Swallows and Amazons - could never get into it.

And DH thinks I am crap because I have only read half of Crime and Punishment. It was just so depressing.