Haven’t read Moby Dick? Never managed to get through On the Road because you thought the writing kind of sucked? Never read anything by Tolstoy because reading a 1,000 page book just seemed to daunting? Well, you’re not alone. Recently Slate.com surveyed several contemporary authors about which of the “great” books they haven’t read. So if you never managed to read Ulysses, don’t fret. You’re in good company.
Great novel that I’ve never read but really should: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. I’ve never made it past page 5. It’s sad really considering how much I loved Mrs. Dalloway. (I believe my blog partner in crime, Kate, said she would include any of the great Russian novels, like Crime & Punishment & Anna Karenina, on her list.)
Now I throw the question out to any of you who may read this: what great books haven’t you read?
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November 8, 2007 at 3:18 pm
another Anthony
I’ve never managed to read anything by Dickens. I’ve bought a few of his books, but I never get past the first few pages, so they just collect dust on my bookcase. The ones about orphans are especially difficult to get interested in. The Pickwick Papers is supposed to be one of the funniest things in the English canon, but I can hardly remember the last time I found a book so immediately boring. The cartoon versions of A Christmas Carol always went down smoothly though.
I got through the fist book of Proust’s magnum opus, and I have always been meaning to go back and finish the rest. The author of some other article I read recently (maybe also from Slate?) was saying that he figures he can’t die until he has read all of “A Remembrance of Things Past”, so he is postponing it as a way of forestalling death.
November 8, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Anthony
Luckily for me I’ve read some Dickens… I tried reading Proust once but literally fell asleep in bed and drooled on the book. And that’s probably too much information.
May 1, 2008 at 11:00 am
moby dick
[...] reading a 1,000 page book just seemed to daunting?Well, you??re not alone. Recently Slate.com surveyhttp://booklust.wordpress.com/2007/11/08/the-great-books-we-havent-read/Moby Dick by Herman MELVILLE – 2002 – 88 [...]