Posted on 04/12/2013 8:28:36 PM PDT by MNDude
Silas Marner was wonderful but I had to see the movie with Ben Kingsley to close the gaps.
Anything written by Faulkner or Hemingway.
I find it to be quite charming. For example, the description of the palace of the sun at the beginning of Book II. I love the way he describes "Doris and her daughters," carved on the door, as "not all of the same appearance, yet not altogether different; as it should be with sisters." It reminds me of a Steve Martin bit.
It occurred to me that the modern emphasis on understatement and subtlety is an ongoing reaction against this efflorescent style, which was taught to generations as the highest literary artistry. I guess you could get tired of it, but the stories are short.
Some books are just better than their readers.
Inasmuch as I wasn't actually FORCED to read them, you know, my record was rather spotty. When I've "reread" some of these as an adult, Moby Dick, in particular, I've thought, "How could anybody expect a kid to read this?"
I agree. I once tried to leaf through it and came to the conclusion that there’s more of story line in a supermarket circular .
I preferred the film adaptation of “Moby Dick”, that being “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”
LOL! Amen.
Bingo. My thoughts exactly! Henry Fonda was a Democrat in real life, and I am sure his views rubbed off a little on his empty-headed daughter.
I find it highly significant that most people who rave about Joyce’s work are self-styled “intellectuals.”
I can have similar ramblings and blathering from any Irishman by buying him a half-dozen drinks in quick succession.
Amusingly, that is exactly what one of the chapters consists of: a semi-retired football player gets a few too many under the belt and starts raving about everything, eventually latching on to the hero (so-to-speak).
I believe the chapter is called ‘Cyclops’.
It’s readable, mostly. If you want unreadable, move on up to ‘Finnegan’s Wake’.
There’s a lot of satisfaction (and a few unhappy surprises) waiting for you. Many very happy returns too.
Ulysses was ....just unreadable. Mindless meanderings of some damn fool.
It seemed to me like a composition by someone who was continually high on drugs.
Portrait of the Artist was very readable, Ulysses was somewhat readable, Finnegan's Wake was -- well, I tried.
I'm not sure that Joyce was worth the effort.
Oh I HAD to read it just to say I did. But it's BORING.
So is The Scarlet Letter.
Pretty much anything by Hawthorne or Melville. They are just not good reads.
But anything by Mark Twain really holds up. Not sure why.
Even Ben Franklin holds up, and he wrote 100 years before these guys. Gotta love his essays on farting and old women as lovers.
I loved Catcher In The Rye. Don't understand the hatin'. Plus you have to contrast the theme with Lord of the Flies.
J.D. Salinger's THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. Why? Because the question is about overrated and that's my reaction to the near hysteria from the media and the elites to these pages produce for this character (Holden Caulfield) and his whining, boastful, self-absorption, and preoccupied with his identity. The only thing really good about the book is that you have a picture in Caulfield the quintessential liberal. I was very pleased to see Mr. Salinger's book was often mentioned on this FREEPERs list of top three over rated books, and note that Salinger only wrote one book. When he died the fawning Liberal media, also convinced that Obama is a great president, were in a swoon in the hopes that Salinger had stashed away a few unpublished "masterpieces." None have been found.
Finally, I offer Joseph Heller's CATCH-22. Why? It's at best an okay book, but I'll take my Kafka straight. I don't need the dumbed-down derivative swill. I realize Heller needed to denigrate those who fought in WWII, and as a veteran of that war he could get away with it. I realize, too, that military organizations can have plenty of pompous people and absurd rules. Still, his book is over the top inane and, IMHO, of no lasting value.
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