It is horror I suppose because it looks at the evils of man which when realized are horrible and bring on shock and outrage. I liked it, but it was alot different than I thought it would be and there were times when wading was the only option.
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It is horror I suppose because it looks at the evils of man which when realized are horrible and bring on shock and outrage. I liked it, but it was alot different than I thought it would be and there were times when wading was the only option.
I loved Frankenstein... I still feel sorry to tears for that poor monster that noone wants :( I sympathised so much that it's even worrying!!!
To see "Jane Eyre" in boring list is unfair.
To realize that it's not translated into my Azerbayjan turkish, yet always upset me.
Hmm...what should I start with... I totally hated "Milkman of Mäeküla" ("Mäeküla piimamees") by Eduard Vilde, I remember that I discussed "Hamlet" although I even managed to read it through. I didn`t get so far with "Lord of the Flies". "King Edipus" by Sophokles was also quite awful although I generally like Greek myths.
either fathers and sons or Crime and Punishment.... try as I might, I can't find Russian authors I like...
oooh fool...I have a hard time finding Russian stuff I don't like... father and sons is on my shelf ready for this summer, but I still have to read Tom Jones for my next exam, and it might be a good candidate for the most boring book prize...
Most of the really unbearably boring books I can think about are Italian... And I do like Italian lit. in general, just maybe I read more of them...or maybe cos a lot of them were not chosen by me ...
I loved that book.Quote:
Originally Posted by imthefoolonthehill
I just have to second Crime and Punishment. It deserves the title of the most boring book I ever laid my hands on. It is even boring then shakespeare.
Tom Jones, on the other hand, I loved.
:eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2:Quote:
Originally Posted by EAP
i *stammer* dont know what to *stutter* say to that.
i guess it just shows the unique and fascinating diversity of the forum members, and therefore, i will not argue for the benefits of shakespeare, but accept that we have differing opinions and celebrate that fact.
however, while im here and posting to this thread anyway, i would just like to lend my support to anyone who stated that Jane Eyre was boring as heck. the problem i had with the book was that i made the mistake of first reading Jean Rhys' "wide sargasso sea" which is basically the story of the 'crazy' west indian woman, Bertha. having first read that left me with very very little sympathy for the whiney Jane. the whole book through, i was mocking her in my head
*cut to internal dialogue*
"poor baby...awwww poor poor Jane. you big wuss...lets see you face some real hardship, little whiner" and so on.
ewww...i wouldnt reread that book if someone paid me (well maybe if they paid me well, but i wouldnt like it, and i would mock her the whole way through!)
Wow, so many people said Lord of the Flies *cries*
Its one of my favourite books of all time, probably..in my top 5. And Shakespeare? *cries harder*
anyway, there are many books I have disliked instensely, and probably because I have read them for the wrong reasons and not understood them, like I have seen them in the top 10 books of all time. The Great Gatsby would have to be one of these, a long boring book about '30s socialites, climaxed by a pregnant woman getting run over at the end. I didnt get it.
I still think older literature is much much better then that drivel they call modern novels. Has anyone read anything published in the last few years? I read The God of Small Things because I saw it had won the booker prize or something. So awful. And awful. It didnt help that I am a twin..and..well if you read the ending you will know. The Life of Pi I thought would be an interesting story, but I couldnt get passed a third of the book talking about his zoo. A third!! Atonement was better, but had a bad ending in my opinion.
Modern literature is too much like modern art, dull, lifeless and obscure.
the mayor of casterbridge
hardy could have done so much more with the story, but he chickens out all the time. man sells his wife (with daughter), she comes back with different daughter (but same name) 20 years later when he has become mayor of casterbridge/dorchester. promises so much, delivers so little. i read and enjoyed far from the madding crowd. every 50 or so pages he would put something so genius in, that it was worth reading the previous 49 of dorset countryside description. mayor of casterbridge doesnt do this. the ending is nice with 'the will' but i havent got there yet. i cant wait to finish it so that i can start on tess.
casterbridge alternative: he meets and marries the first elizabeth-jane, not knowing she is his daughter. that could have opened lots of worm tins, inviting a very interesting story. im a hardy fan because of madding crowd, but this book bores me silly. although, in his day, jude the obscure was considered too controversial (i have a feeling that will be boring too, but i'll give it a go one day).
tommy.
I was so going to say Mayor of Casterbridge, because out of all the books I was forced to read in highschool, it was the one I hated most. So long winded, and in the end doesnt the book go full circle?
Well...I love Jane Eyre..and Wuthering Heights! I live in Yorkshire so maybe I am prejudiced. But I love the stories and the way they are written! Dare I say I found The Hunchback of Notredame extrememly boring? But the worst book I ever had to read was Daniel Defoe's 'A Journal of the Plague Year.' Has anyone read this? Although it sounds factual, its actually fictional and I think was one of the first novels published in 1722. It's so wordy and the sentences go on forever...
Aww, same for me.Quote:
Originally Posted by atreides
You also reminded me of how much I hated 'On the road'. It just went on and on and on... pretty pointlessly for me, my problem I guess.
Quote:
Originally Posted by emily655321
Well Thank you Em..:D
Meet (late) the rebellious Jim Morrison
Yes, such an upstanding young lad. :D
I'm all agreement.Quote:
Originally Posted by atreides
"I'm no art critic, but I know what I hate." --C. Montgomery Burns
LOL, Am I the only one who dislikes Shakespeare?
But then again the dislike is very subjective, I was introduced to Shakespeare at a very early age, and I just couldn't gulp it down. My dislike was further fueled by the fact that I was urged, even ordered to continue with Shakespeare even If I detested the stuff and couldn't understand the half of it.... A few months ago I tried re-reading Hamlet....to no avail.
But I guess I'll be forced to tackle Shakespeare again for my A-Level's.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by EAP
Well, not really...I only read one shakespeare's books..and it was Shakepeare Sonnets..Not really in to shakespeare my self
TommyTucker,
I can't believe that you think The Mayor of Casterbridge was one of the most boring books. That novel had some of the most memorable characters and scenes ever. And if you think Jude the Obscure will be boring, I believe you will be pleasantly surprised. ;) Jude contains one of the most shocking scenes in literary history. (Don't let anyone ruin it for you) I'll promise you that Jude the Obscure is at least 5x the novel that Far From the Madding Crowd is. BTW, have you read The Return of the Native? If so, what'd you think of that?
I submit The House of the Seven Gables as the most boring book I've ever read. Can anyone here give me a reason to look at that dreary book again? Hawthorne just doesn't really do much for me as a novelist. The Scarlet Letter was decent, but he's just much better with short stories.
far from the madding crowd was the book which started me using a bookmark on which i could write my favourite bits on and what page i could find them again. for a 300-400 page book i managed to fill two sides of a4. seems quite uneconomical, but those bits were worth waiting for. i tried to do the same for mayor of casterbridge, but already half way through i have two references, both concerning the landlady at the king of prussia who fitted her chair quite well and walks like a keg is moved. that was a long time ago. i know what happens already as i keep an eye on the last page, hoping it will get nearer without me having to read anymore.
i started the princess bride yesterday and have barely put it down since. i expect i'll finish it today or tomorrow. i also read another book while i was hacking through mayor of casterbridge. its really hard work. i dont know about the characters. elizabeth jane hasnt done a great deal, other than look out of her window, behave and obey her father. for me, not the makings of a truly superb woman of character. the mother, shes gone now, is so absent from my memory i forget her name. michael, himself, has not inspired me like the three fellas from 'far from...' (my car is called sergeant frank troy). michaels jersey mistress/fiance whatever you like is just about to join the story (i hope she does something) and farfrae too is almost absent from memory. but the bigger problem is that the story is just so uninspired. its like reading a biography of the real mayor of dorchester in 18**. who reads that? "we got a fair price for the corn today. i would have liked more, but what with things the way they are i was happy enough with three shillings and sixpence."
ive seen the film, jude. does indeed have a quite remarkable moment, but i thought the controversy surrounded this incestual relationship. but apparently not. the 'controversy' was that they werent married. hardy would be laughed out of the room if he went to a publishers with that in this day and age.
just my opinion. hopefully i'll fill one side of a4 with MoC.
tommy.
I'm not a raving fanatic, but I don't find him boring. Some of his stuff is better than others. The humor is fall-off-your-chair funny, but the drama occasionally falls flat. Personally, I can't stomach Hamlet or the Henry's. But Much Ado and Twelfth Night, for instance, I think are brilliant.Quote:
Originally Posted by EAP
I am not a major Shakespeare fan either, some things I like and some things I just think are brutual to have to be put through reading.
I've read a lot of Shak. in school, but I never felt like I was being "put through" it. Probably because we did a lot of acting with it, not so much sitting-at-a-desk-analyzing-it. Senior year I elected to take a Shakespeare course, so I guess I have a pretty good impression of him. :p
I loved a lot of the books mentioned here. For example: Wurthering Heights, Portrait of an Artist, A Doll's House. I hated Moby Dick, though. Hate Hate Hated it. Okay, I lie. I hated the first third of it, and then I found myself quite greatful to Spark Notes. It sounds horrible, and I wonder if it wouldn't suck so much if I weren't forced to read it in a crunch. Anyone here find some value to it, other than to spur generations of discussions on which books are long and boring?
Quote:
Originally Posted by CBW
correct me please if I am wrong.....
The 'form' of a book is the sum of the individual constructive building blocks, the styles and techniques manipulated to arrive at the desired presentation of one's material....nes se pas'?
Speaking of 'forms', it sounds as if your professor is/was a waste of a DNA form. just a little bit of a wingnut as demonstrated by his imperious behaviour. They have drugs for that now.......and the 'gods' put people like that in our lives so that we may learn how NOT to treat others......
Quote:
Originally Posted by EAP
Shakespear is meant to be seen. Spoil yourself with a night out, see some live theatre....OR.... Shakespeare is passion......................get the BBC video or DVD version of Othello, Hamlet, etc (available at almost any library worldwide), a big bowl of popcorn and a beverage, turn off the phone and the computer. Lock your doors and pull your blinds. Then grab the remote and see what old Willy has to say about life.
Jeeezzz.....sorry, this probably qualifies as psychological torture to someone forced to understand Willy.......
I would have to say 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'.
Hugo dwelt too much on the architectural structures of Paris' famous buildings than of the actual story; however I thought the ending was one of the best endings I have ever read...it's just you have to read the whole book to get to it.
I loved Crime and Punishment ; one of the things I liked most about it was my ambivalence in my feeling about the murderer...whether or not I wanted him to be caught. Of course, I think that is what goes through his mind throughout the book: what's his punishment? From the law or from the horrendous memories he must harbor?Quote:
Originally Posted by imthefoolonthehill
I just realized, through this thread, that I LOVE "boring" literature, though the fact comes as no surprise, being a fan of the classics.
I have not read many extremely boring books, while attempting to get in the mindset of any author, but Gore Vidal's Creation seemed a little deceiving; I loved the concept behind it, with famous, ancient Greeks, Romans, and Babylonians as the main characters, but the relatively thick novel seemed to make no progress and just babbled in exaggerated-rhetorical verbosity.
hmmm Moby DIck, I'm on my second year of trudging through it but i willl get it done.... Sohpie's Choice though a magnificent and heart moving story it is nonetheless written in a boring manner, and Mists of Avalon (i love her other books) the one book I gave up reading, twice and still have not finished it
Aniaml Farm is the most boring book. easy to read but boring
Boooooo..............how can u say Animal Farm is boring...?
It isn't my tea bag.
Perhaps, but i have no idea how the story be boring...U only need like 1 or 2 hours (or less) to finish it...besides, the story is great.
As I said it's not my tea bag.
Hmmm.... a toss up here between two books.............I'm sure somewhere on this forum I've commented on my feelings towards "War and Peace", a book, I might add, that currently holds the distinction of being the only text I've ever failed to finish reading (800+ pages was as far as I could force myself to read it) but I think my old Human Geography Studies textbook from 2nd year geography wins top prize as THE most boring book ever printed.......
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bongitybongbong
Gotcha :rolleyes:
St Martin's guide to writing... absolutly the one book that actually put me to sleep when i tried to read it... no book does that
well theory books ussualy are like that...
Ulysses. Positively, absolutely - Ulysses. James Joyce for all the kids out there.
The Coral Island - R. M. Ballantyne