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Rufus T. Firefly
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is one way of saying it, though I prefer "mensch"
Sep 2000
time: 07:31
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Well, so far this thread has dumped on a huge number of my favorite authors: Camus, Dostoyevsky, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Kafka, Salinger, and Flannery O'Connor. As soon as people get around to trashing Balzac, Faulkner, Kazantzakis, Philip Roth, Don Delillo, and John LeCarre, I think you'll have hit everybody. 
But I'll play. Among Great Authors, I can't abide Tolstoy (too heavy-handed and moralistic), Dickens (ditto, though my wife swearsGreat Expectations will change my mind), and Henry James (unspeakably dull most of the time).
I also agree that LOTR is so wretchedly boring it makes Henry James read like Elmore Leonard.
And Stephen King is to writing what McDonald's is to food. Except that I don't necessarily feel physically ill after eating at McDonald's.
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Boris Godunov
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Portland, OR
Aug 2001
time: 00:31
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Sounds to me like some people have a problem in that their MTV-attention spans won't let them savor a good book that doesn't race along like a Dan Brown novel.
Les Miserables is great precisely because of all the side trips. It's a brilliant look at French history and the culture of the times. You won't find a historical text with a better account of Waterloo, nor a more vivid description of the Paris sewer system.
Now, the great thing is you don't have to read those asides, if you don't want. Skipping them won't make you miss out on any of the book's plot. It will remove some of the background richness, however.
It's worth it to read the novel, however, as it is one of the greatest books written. The story is so timeless that it has inspired more films than any other book in history with the exception of the Bible.
Dickens can be great, too--you just have to get the right one. I'd agree that Great Expectations lives up to its name, and A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and a few others stand out. Hell, I even liked Bleak House. Most of the rest I can leave, however.
My most tedious literary experience to this day is still Moby Dick. A so-so introductory chapter, followed by upteen chapters of incredible boredom. Three chapters on whale rope? No thank you. There's a fine line between rich detail and excessive bullshit, and Melville crossed it. The last three chapters are terrific, but they don't make up for having to wade through the rest of the book. Bleargh.
A close second to that was Hardy's Tess of the D'urbervilles. My god, what a wretchedly dull book. It was so loathed by my class that we took turns stomping on the marker for Hardy in Westminster Abbey on our senior trip to London. Putrid.
quote:
Mahler doesnt do it for me. |
And you have the nerve to call someone else a heathen?
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Jon Miller
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well... considering that the poems dealing with Luthien and Berien were basically dealing with his wife and him (and I think for her) suggests that he did
LOTR is fairly male dominated... everything he wrote isn't neccesarily...
JM
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Jon Miller
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in fact... apparently some of the tale of Luthien and Beren was based on his relationship with his wife..
JM
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Jon Miller
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Faulknier and Conrad are two of my favorite authors (and I have read many others... like War and Peace (but it has been over a decade since I read War and Peace))
Melville I am not a fan of
and I disliked Moby Dick in particular
(Also Magic Mountain)
JM
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Jon Miller
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most of their children were born after the the tale of Luthien and Beren was started
I think it started based off an expereince with her dancing in a grove..
JM
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31-03-2005 06:17
ACK!
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