I bet this has been done before, but what classics/modern classics have really left you baffled as to why they're so popular?

[Twinklemegan]

Brave New World for me

Wuthering Heights to an extent, though I might need to try it again

I know there are others, but can't think at the moment.

McEwan always pops up on these threads and I just think he writes beautifully.

Love him.

white teeth

The Time Travellers Wife - just could not get it!

Alchemist - total,total wank and drivel ans shite - can you tell that I don't get it ?!

Wuthering Heights too

Can something as recent as Captain Correlli's Mandarin be a classic? Or The Time Traveller's Wife for that matter.

Message withdrawn

Alchemist is in no way a classic apart from being classic crap

Time Traveller's wife is not a classic - you are right. I just remember being so disapointed by all the hype when I read it but no it is not a classic.

Most disapointing classic for me was Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

awww i thought the Alchemist was sweet, but then i read it when i was 14 and didnt even know it was meant to be popular then..

You heathens!
Wuthering Heights is the best book ever....!

But I hate Dickens...much prefer Wilkie Collins or Thomas Hardy.

Catcher in the Rye leaves me cold.

Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintnenance...hmmm, jury is out for me.

Scott Fitzgerald and James Joyce both baffle me.

Name of the Rose also left me with a non warm feeling.

Wuthering Heights - hated it.
Middlemarch - why do people rave about it? It seems like two or three separate books barely stitched together.
The God of Small Things
The Bone People

Oh I feel better now. I couldn't get through The God of Small Things, or Underworld, or Time Travellers Wife and was a bit ashamed of myself on each count.

'To The Lighthouse' is another one for me. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. And it didn't. Then my husband read it and said "Why didn't you tell me it was crap? I've totally wasted my time reading that." Which was comforting.

I like a spot of Dickens though, and Trollope. Jane Austen is my favourite. Mostly though the books I really enjoy are filed under 'Light Reading' in my local bookshop (Georgette Heyer, PG Wodehouse). So I guess I'm just not a 'heavyweight' kinda girl!

Notes on a scandal - I know it's not a 'classic', but can't believe it was nominated for Booker.

I didnt really get Catcher in teh Rye either. Maybe it is rather dated, and was seen as surprising or innovative in its day?

We Need To Talk About Kevin was predictable and irritating. I was most disappointed.

Catcher in the Rye turns me into a snob. I read it and think anybody who enjoys it must be 14 and suffering from a 'this book is about me', angsty phase.

And I can't enjoy Birdsong as much as I feel I'm supposed to.

Can I tentatively suggest that Angela Carter sometimes reads as a contrivance? I do adore her but find her a bit studied postmodern at times.

James Joyce I disagree with. His books are pure joy.

Is the lovely bones a classic? I didn't like it anyway.

Tender is the night

Hemingway leaves me cold

I didn't enjoy Birdsong either (but loved we need to talk about kevin)

Agree Notes on a Scandal and Lovely Bones - both v dull and disappointing.

I found Kundera's 'Unbearable Lightness of Being' unreadable and I don't get Salman Rushdie either.

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow (or whatever it was called!)

I have read Catcher in the rye about 3 times, each time thinking that maybe I missed the point. I don't think I have missed the point and won't be reading it again.

Waiting for Godot zzzzzzzzzzz

Did it for A-level & STILL didn't get it .

white Teeth by zadie smith. Read about half and didn't enjoy it at all. I normally really persevere with books, so it's unusual for my to give up on one.

Another vote for the Alchemist. Pile. Of. Wank.