Just a couple of nights ago I decided to give Herman Hesse another go. About six years ago I read Siddhartha, because my son, then a senior in high school, was required in an honors seminar class to read it, and he was having trouble. He hated it.
I hated it.
Worst. Famous. Novel. Ever.
I cannot comprehend why it has become so revered. I did finish it, too, so I guess that doesn't quite qualify for the thread, but . . .
In any case, I'm now giving a go at Magister Ludi, the Glass Bead Game, Hesse's last novel, and by some critics' estimation, his real masterpiece. I'm about twenty pages in, and it's better than Siddhartha, by a bit, but that's like saying liver with onions is better than liver without onions.
I'll read a bit further.
caw
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. I enjoy the Western genre, but I've never been able to get past the first 100 pages of Lonesome Dove. Once, twice, I've tried to read it, and I recently gave it another try, figuring that "the third time's the charm". No such luck! I just can't "get into" the story, I don't really like any of the characters, and McMurtry's prose seems trite and long-winded.
Tess of the D'Ubervilles
Crime and Punishment
I might have another go at Crime and Punishment at some point. Tess, I'm never touching that book again.
I forced myself to finish Midnight's Children, but it was a painful experience. I wish I hadn't bothered.
Catcher in the Rye - I know, I know....it's supposedly a 'classic'.....but I tried and tried, and, for the life of me...I just don't get it.........it's poorly written, and just.....stupid.....
Gormeghast. I tried reading it about five years ago and got so bored with it that I couldn't even make it past the first chapter! Now, I'm normally a really persistent reading and try to give a book at least the first 50-100 pages (length of book depending) before I decide enough's enough, but I just could not get into this one, and I've always felt kinda bad for that, like it's the type of book that I should like, but I just...couldn't.
Oh yeah, and Dust of Dreams, the ninth Malazan Book of Fallen. I 'was' a huge fan of the series, I loved everything up until book five, after that, things started becoming shakey, too many characters that does nothing through their over long expositions - it's like Erikson wants a POV for each and every character he has.
After Toll the Hounds, I had about two years of break from the series, and I got a chance to read other books, shorter epics like Peter V Brett's The Warded Man, and other horror books by Clive Barker and Joe Hill. And a few more. After that, coming back to this series feels, daunting.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - I tried. I really did.
~STS~
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - I tried. I really did.
~STS~
The Great Gatsby
The Stand
Over the years I've fallen out of love with that book.
Oh, I am so going to look like a philistine. I could not finish:
Brave New World - Huxley
Moby Dick - Melville
Things Fall Apart - Achebe
On the Road - Keroac
Look Homeward Angel - Wolfe
The Host - Stephanie Meyer (okay, not finishing that one probably redeems me)