Books I haven't read

Rachel · #1 12-10-2001, 06:13 PM

Inspired by Shimmer's discussion on Ayn Rand I would like to start a new thread. Whose books haven't you read that you really think you should have?
for example: I've only read one Salman Rushdie book; it was 'Haroun and the Sea of Dreams' his childrens book. I've not read any of his 'meatier' books like the Satanic Verses or Midnight's Children.
I'd never even heard of Ayn Rand before today (except for the Simon and Garfunkel song, and even then only because my parents had the album!).
i started Joyces 'Ulysess' four times and never finished it - IT WAS TOO BORING!!!!!. . .What other literary embarassments do people haveand how much are you willing to admit??

Jock · #2 12-10-2001, 07:04 PM

Hi Rachel. You mean people actually write about things other than food? Amazing!
But realy, I don't read biographies. I'm not quite sure why people write them. Do they think their lives are so much more interesting than those of the rest of us in the annonymous masses? It always seems to me to be a bit arrogant. But there are exceptions to the rule. If Julia Child's biography were written, I would be first in line at the book store.
I agree about James Joyce. I've tried but it's too much like work. Herman Melvil (did I spell that properly?) is another one I couldn't read. You want to know about Moby Dick? Watch the Gregory Peck movie

Jock

Kimmie · #3 12-10-2001, 07:22 PM

Oh, too funny Jock!

It has been written!

Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child

My husband got it for me for Christmas when it came out!

Risa · #4 12-11-2001, 09:38 AM

I've never read Moby Dick. I just wasn't interested for some reason and it wasn't one we had to read in school in Canada. Some books/authors on my continually growing reading list include:

The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje (haven't seen movie)
Anything Salman Rushdie
Kingsley Amis
Beloved -Toni Morrison (it's under my bed somewhere)
100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood (also under my bed)
Sister Carrie - Theodore Dreiser
Remembrance of Things Past - Marcel Proust (a must read so I can find out what the big deal is about madeleines)
Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Invisible Man - Ellison
Updike's Rabbit books
etc...

It's so hard to keep up. Although I suppose if I made a point to actually read books on my list and not pick up newer, less cerebral books or stopped with the cookbooks, I may actually finish the classics before I'm 60.

thebighat · #5 12-11-2001, 06:34 PM

I'm already resigned to the fact that I will never have the time to read all the books I once thought I couldn't live without reading. I picked up Proust in the bookstore once. Too big. Saw Les Miserables (the movie) and went to the bookshelf where I had a copy of the book tucked away for a rainy day. Naw, can't do that one either. Once upon a time I was an English major in college planning to be a teacher. I still get a ton of books out of the library, but they mostly seem to be things like science stuff, adventure stuff like mountain climbing or diving, or cookbooks. My house is bursting at the seams with books. I have books I have moved with over a dozen times since I was a teenager. I collect sets of things, like a complete paperback set of Ian Fleming, or Grahame Greene,or Mark Twain, or books on WWII, or different editions of the Ring trilogy, I still have my original 1966 copy of The Two Towers, or books about people who sail around the world, lately can't put Chichester and Manry down and I gave Joshua Slocum away.
You all want a fabulous book to read? One that will change your life?
A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole. Look for it at your local bookseller.

Mezzaluna · #6 12-11-2001, 07:25 PM

Great thread! Jock, I've read Appetite for Life and enjoyed it very much.

Books I haven't read yet- some to my great shame:
Mansfield Park
Sense and Sensibility
Nicholas Nickleby
The Joys of Yiddish
The Silmarillion (only got partway through)
Moby Dick
The Brothers Karamazov
The Iliad; The Odyssey
Beowulf
The Sound and the Fury
Anything by Hemingway
On the Road
Anna Karenina
Native Son

Next book I'm going to read: a literary equivalent of a Twinkie on the beach in Florida later this month! Title to be determined. Any suggestions?

Olive Branch · #7 12-11-2001, 08:20 PM

I've never got through Dante Alighierie's Divine Comedy, despite having started it about twenty times. My brother-in-law insists I just haven't found the "right" translation!

Mezzaluna, what are some twinkie books you've enjoyed? Then we can think about what you might like! I like mysteries, so I loved "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco. Anything by Carl Hiassen, he cracks me up. Michael Connelly, great reads. But what do YOU like?

Love ~ Debbie

Rachel · #8 12-12-2001, 02:41 AM

The Name of the Rose is way to complicated for a beach. The best most mindless candy floss I've ever read is anthing by Jilly Cooper. It doesn't matter which one - they're all the same

I've also discovered that I've neer read Iris Murdoch. Well, I always knew that i hadn't, but i've now discovered that Ive missed something in not. . .
Mybe if i spent less time on cheftalk, I'd have more time to read

Athenaeus · #9 12-12-2001, 05:11 AM

I think that if you consider yourself an avid book reader you must read some books for sure, even if you don't like them.
Or you dont? I mean why torture ourselves?

I managed to read Joyce's Ulysse the day I realised that it was a crap of the greatest size...
Do not faint !!! I am very serious
I was having serious thoughts once to indict Joyce on Homer's behalf because he used the name of Homer's masterpiece to ridicule the readers...

The same for Mobby Dick.Greatest of craps too.
I have to get paid to read something by Rushdi or Marcel Proust...

I laughted about reading "The name of the Rose" on the beach.

When he was in fashion all the Greek fashion victims , in order to show off that they were reading Umberto Eco, they were carrying on the beach this book.

Only if you could see their face as they were reading the endless chapter about the Poverty of Jesus under the hot Greek sun

Risa · #10 12-12-2001, 11:14 AM

Anyone remember A Suitable Boy? Another very long book that people would carry around to make themselves appear more literate. It's actually a decent read if I recall correctly.

Queen of the Twinkie authors that I can't help myself from reading, Nora Roberts. I am always ashamed of myself whenever I borrow her books from the library.

Favourite recently read twinkie book -
Jemima J: A Novel About Ugly Ducklings and Swans by Jane Green.
Definitely fluff and a bit disillusioned fluff at that but it had me laughing out loud. It's somewhat similar to Bridget Jones' Diary but Bridget Jones is better.

I just read James Patterson's When the Wind Blows last night. Also fluff but I couldn't put it down. I started it at 11:45 to help me fall asleep; I finished it just before 1:30. The book is rather flawed, but it maintains a good pace.

Olive Branch · #11 12-12-2001, 10:35 PM

Okay, "The Name of the Rose" isn't a twinkie, but I DID read it on the beach! And it was such a page turner, nothing that I had to force myself to slog through...

Love ~ Debbie

Anneke · #12 12-12-2001, 11:03 PM

I've developed this nasty habit over the past two or three years: I get to about 3/4 of the book, and then I stop reading and put the book aside, never to be picked up again. I must have a dozen such books, waiting to be finished. Then there are a few that I managed to read the first 2-3 chapters and also put aside (including Julia Child's biography!!). What's wrong with me?!? I think it's a combo of no time and a lack of discipline. The last book that I read in full was the Oranges of Hieronymous Bosch by Henry Miller. And that was a a few months ago.

I agree with Athnaeus. A lot of classics are crap, depending of course on your point of view. I first realized this as a teen reading Madame Bovary. Madame Bovary made me doubly appreciative of Ayn Rand. As for Proust, he needs to learn to write efficient sentences. When one sentence goes on for several pages, you know you have a problem. That's not litterature, it's acrobatics!

Some books that I aim to read in full some day: the Bible, Escoffier (the two are similar, in a way), Les enfants terribles (I'm embarassed about that one), and MacBeth (I skipped 10th grade English so I never got around to it). I also need to finish the Black Company series (Glenn Cook) but to get back into it, I'd have to start over and that might take a while...

Athenaeus · #13 12-13-2001, 02:42 AM

Olive Branch, as they say in mathematics : " The exception just confirms the rule"

Right ?

Jock · #14 12-14-2001, 06:06 PM

Rachel, thank you for a really fun thread.
Happy reading!

Jock

Rachel · #15 12-14-2001, 06:18 PM

you're very welcome Jock, it's nice to see that people don't take themselves so seriously s to not admit what they haven't read!!