Today's topic is "Books I Had to Read in School and Didn't Like." I was a literature major so there were a lot of books I had to read. Fortunately, I'm a very eclectic reader but there were still some of the books we were assigned I just couldn't get into. In no particular order, some that I remember:
1. John Steinbeck's East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath. His books are just so depressing.
2. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Funnily enough I watched a film of this when I was older and really enjoyed it. I might have to try to read this one again.
3. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. I know it's all symbolic, but roaches ::::shudder::::
Those are the only ones I can remember off the top of my head that I didn't like. I enjoyed most of my classes (American Lit was my favorite, except for Steinbeck
What about you? Are there any books you remember not liking from school?
I've never read Metamorphosis because of the subject matter. Roaches gross me out, too!
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I kinda love Kafka, but I'm all in for that weird stuff.
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I managed to mostly avoid Steinbeck and Dostoyevsky, but I didn't mind The Metamorphasis; bugs don't creep me out the way they do a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteThe best how-to-read advice I ever received was on how best to approach the Canterbury Tales. It was, basically:
1. Buy yourself a bottle of wine.
2. Go find yourself a nice shady tree in a park somewhere, sit under it, and have a glass of wine.
3. Pour yourself a second glass of wine.
4. Open the Canterbury Tales and start reading aloud to yourself, sipping from the second glass as needed.
It really was much easier to read when I approached it A) phonetically, and B) whilst slightly tipsy.
My list is here.
Hemmingway and Steinbeck are so hard to get into. Good list!
ReplyDeleteI played Rose of Sharon in drama class. Didn't enjoy it.
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