A Thursday meme: What, in your opinion, is the best book that you haven’t liked? Mind you, I don’t mean your most-hated book–oh, no. I mean the most accomplished, skilled, well-written, impressive book that you just simply didn’t like.
That one was easy, I have two: Dicken's The Tale of Two Cities. I'm not sure if it was how it was presented at school, or the fact that the French Revolution held no interest for me, but I just could not get myself to enjoy it.
The other is Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. I found the narration slow and incredibly dull and while I cannot deny that it is a great book, I just found myself not liking it.
To be fair, I was forced to read these books for school. They are also the only two books where I have tossed it down mid-way and started thinking about alternative ways to get the story. It was not that they were too difficult to read, they weren't...it was that I found they were to boring. It has always been a guilty regret that I've never enjoyed these particular books while I continue to enjoy other classics...even from the same authors. (Loved Great Expectations and David Copperfield...as for Steinbeck, I liked East of Eden...but not much else.)
Really, I should give them another chance now that I'm older. However, my experience in wading through both of these books has left such a lasting aftertaste that it will probably require a concerted effort to pick them up again.
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3 comments:
I wonder if there is a link between slogging away reading books at school and apathy towards the author in later life. I mentioned both George Eliot and Thomas Hardy in my post, based on books I had to read at school. But then I have tried Eliot since and still found her work not at all to my taste. I've not given Hardy the same chance but I am leaning towards giving Charles Dickens another go.
Although it may have been school and the whole idea of "You Must!" I would suggest that you NOT pick them up again. There are so many good books waiting to be read, why bother?
I wonder how they decided which books to read in school. Some of them have no frame of reference for high school kids.
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