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You just aren't reading the right books (and reviews), it seems Larry Send a noteboard - 23/01/2011 12:41:07 AM
Of the ones I've read...I don't think I actively liked any. And, here, there haven't exactly been amazing reviews rolling in on other people's challenge classics, they've been pretty bad. (yours included)...Why are these books classics?

Ugh. I finished The Swiss Family Robinson today and I am sick and tired of these horrible books. That had to be one of the worst reading experiences for me ever. I think I may dis-obey myself and go back to Erikson. Now.


Technically, I'm not participating in any of the "challenges" given at this site due to ones I devised a few months ago, but I have reviewed a few classics here over the past couple of months and I did enjoy those (Moby Dick, The Poems of John Keats, and Paradise Lost). I'll be commenting later tonight/tomorrow on Rubén Darío's poetry, Plato's The Republic, and will add my thoughts on Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Then again, each of these are revisits at age 36 of books/poems read between 17-23 (except for the Darío, which I first read three years ago).

Sometimes, it's amazing what re-reads after long intervals can do for one's take and appreciation of these works. Sometimes a classic is not to be "enjoyed" in the same way that a pulp genre fiction is; several stories challenge readers, make them have to confront weighty issues that perhaps they'd rather not read about. Does not make them any less excellent because the reader was unprepared or non-receptive of them, however. Usually, it just means the reader needs to experience more and have a more open mindset.

And if you're going to go back to reading Erikson, you might want to be familiar with Mesopotamian cosmology and religion, as there are a few references to that buried within that series.
Illusions fall like the husk of a fruit, one after another, and the fruit is experience. - Narrator, Sylvie

Je suis méchant.
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A few thoughts on my Classic challenge book. Well, books, as it turns out. - 22/01/2011 11:48:21 PM 1325 Views
This month is just making me hate classics. - 23/01/2011 12:06:08 AM 1150 Views
Aw. That's a shame. - 23/01/2011 12:21:10 AM 1054 Views
Re: Aw. That's a shame. - 23/01/2011 12:55:44 PM 1182 Views
Hrm... a high fantasy classic... - 23/01/2011 01:15:05 PM 958 Views
Yeah? Okay... *NM* - 23/01/2011 01:16:15 PM 476 Views
Yes. - 23/01/2011 01:17:18 PM 1107 Views
Dunsany is good. And Grimm, but - 23/01/2011 01:25:40 PM 974 Views
There's really only one high fantasy classic, no? Or two, if you count the Silm separately. *NM* - 23/01/2011 01:35:03 PM 477 Views
Perhaps Gormenghast? - 23/01/2011 01:58:50 PM 1128 Views
Perhaps, haven't read either Dunsany or Peake. - 23/01/2011 02:02:51 PM 1088 Views
Re: Perhaps, haven't read either Dunsany or Peake. - 23/01/2011 02:05:31 PM 1252 Views
Maybe Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? *NM* - 23/01/2011 02:20:49 PM 479 Views
Re: Dunsany is good. And Grimm, but - 23/01/2011 01:37:56 PM 1011 Views
Re: Dunsany is good. And Grimm, but - 23/01/2011 01:59:18 PM 1133 Views
H. Rider Haggard. - 23/01/2011 01:24:01 PM 1078 Views
Sounds interesting. - 23/01/2011 01:34:45 PM 1114 Views
Re: Sounds interesting. - 23/01/2011 01:39:34 PM 1177 Views
King Solomon's Mines is also awesome. - 23/01/2011 03:52:04 PM 942 Views
You can't love all of the classics, but it's not like it's a genre of its own that you can dislike. - 23/01/2011 12:32:01 AM 1143 Views
Precisely - 23/01/2011 09:40:26 AM 1367 Views
True true... - 23/01/2011 12:58:42 PM 1100 Views
Fortunately, that's precisely what this site aims to do! *NM* - 23/01/2011 01:34:16 PM 490 Views
You just aren't reading the right books (and reviews), it seems - 23/01/2011 12:41:07 AM 1165 Views
The Swiss Family Robinson is hardly a "classic", unless by "classic" you mean "old". - 23/01/2011 06:55:30 AM 963 Views
Fine then. - 23/01/2011 01:02:48 PM 1023 Views
Re: This month is just making me hate classics. - 23/01/2011 09:05:52 AM 1131 Views
A lot of "classics" need proper context to be appreciated - 23/01/2011 12:22:44 PM 1322 Views
Well said. - 23/01/2011 12:46:35 PM 1158 Views
Re: Well said. - 24/01/2011 02:33:10 AM 1200 Views
Very true - 23/01/2011 01:04:56 PM 1079 Views
Speaking of Dumas... - 24/01/2011 02:45:02 AM 949 Views
ooooh - 24/01/2011 08:51:46 AM 1258 Views
The Molière movie is called... wait for it... - 24/01/2011 10:21:48 PM 1098 Views
oooh - 24/01/2011 10:24:19 PM 1140 Views
Re: oooh - 24/01/2011 10:29:23 PM 992 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 01:15:39 AM 1098 Views
I really should watch that movie. - 25/01/2011 09:43:35 PM 1036 Views
Re: I really should watch that movie. - 25/01/2011 11:15:10 PM 1173 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 01:50:04 AM 1017 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 10:22:21 AM 1169 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 12:46:30 PM 1190 Views
That's it! - 25/01/2011 12:50:18 PM 1212 Views
Re: A few thoughts on my Classic challenge book. Well, books, as it turns out. - 23/01/2011 06:25:50 AM 1101 Views
The big problem with Dracula is that it's an epistolary novel. - 23/01/2011 06:58:25 AM 1102 Views
Yeah, agreed. - 23/01/2011 09:46:57 AM 1045 Views
But Frankenstein doesn't even have good writing to recommend it. - 23/01/2011 10:09:58 AM 1032 Views
The challenge is making me wish I hadn't already read Frankenstein - 23/01/2011 07:38:49 AM 1598 Views
Really? - 23/01/2011 07:52:24 AM 996 Views
I didn't mind The Importance of Being Earnest too much - 23/01/2011 08:38:14 AM 1558 Views
Frankenstein - 23/01/2011 09:05:10 AM 1134 Views
... - 23/01/2011 09:08:03 AM 974 Views
Thank you. *NM* - 23/01/2011 10:10:34 AM 462 Views
For, as usual, being my wonderful, divine self and bringing light to the world? *NM* - 23/01/2011 10:12:30 AM 496 Views
Something like that. *NM* - 23/01/2011 10:15:37 AM 419 Views
There's a reason why they include Wilde among the "decadents". - 23/01/2011 10:16:33 AM 1040 Views
Re: A few thoughts on my Classic challenge book. Well, books, as it turns out. - 23/01/2011 08:53:01 AM 1064 Views
Yes. - 23/01/2011 10:15:04 AM 1052 Views
Re: Yes. - 23/01/2011 10:18:02 AM 1050 Views
I just read A Christmas Carol as well. It's very short, alright. - 02/02/2011 08:46:16 PM 1108 Views

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