Reading Classics on your own...

lol... I hated Hemmingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Haven't read anything by Steinbeck or Joyce.

Glad to know that I'm not totally alone in the world. It seemed everyone in my class actually liked the Great Gatsby. Out of a bunch of 21st century teenagers... I was the only one who hated it! lol

Now that's something I haven't heard before. That I need to "experience life" in order to enjoy the classics. lol I find that a little insulting actually. I know I'm young, but are my years really considered that cheap? I also really doubt I'll like the classics any better years from now. I don't see myself thinking of "The Sun Also Rises" as anything but pointless, even after I'm the same age as the lady who had an affair with the 19 year old bullfighter. But the classics you mentioned I never had to read in school and I am a little interested in. I might try them. My sister read Count of Monte Cristo and she enjoyed it, and she shares pretty much the same interests as me so I might like it to.

You'd have to be specific by book. I have different reasons for each one. The one I mentioned that I hated in the original post, The Once and Future King, I actually liked up until the kids killed the unicorn (which was about 1/4 of the way through and I'm a nutcase for unicorns so I didn't like that.) Then afterwards Arthur sleeps with his sister, Lancelot has a decade-long pity party and then has an affair with Arthur's wife... who I never liked the character of either. All stuff from the original Arthurian legends, but I'm not really fond of those to begin with. I'd already read Lord of the Rings when I read the Hobbit. I'm a fantasy fanatic. I love a good vs. evil showdown and a quest to save an imaginary world. The Hobbit was a fun read for me, I loved all the characters and the story kept me going. I read Watership Down because I'd been told it was like Lord of the Rings but with bunnies. Well in truth I don't think it's much like Lord of the Rings at all, and it's kinda hard to take bunnies seriously... but I still enjoyed it. Most of the classics I hated in school I hated because I didn't see the point. The one that sticks out to me the most is The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway. I didn't understand WHY the story even needed to be told. As far as I could tell it was about a bunch of rich people getting drunk and a 30 year old lady having an affair with a 19 year old bullfighter (ew). The story was written beautifully... in the sense that Hemmingway could string words together and make it sound pretty... but it takes more than pretty words for me to like a book. I didn't care about any of the characters and I was caring about them less and less as I turned the pages. As for the plot... I didn't see one. There wasn't any true conflict... and the conflict that was there I didn't feel compelled to follow. I had a fight with an English teacher about the classic status and literary merit of The Lord of the Rings and once. I insist they are classics. They were groundbreaking for their time, have since influenced hundreds of books that came after them, and despite being published in the 30s-40s are still very popular today. I mean... what other criteria does a classic need to fulfill? Oh right. My English teacher thought fantasy never had any merit no matter how old and respected it was. I do want to read more classics too. If only to say I've read them some of the time. I doubt I'll like many.

I had to read Frankenstein and I thought it was okay. I'm usually a fantasy fan so I thought maybe I'd enjoy Once and Future King... and I did like the first part, but after the kids killed the unicorn it all went downhill for me.

Haven't read Othello. What was it that you liked about it?

I've gotten more than one Jane Eyre recommendation, so I might give it a try.