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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 1386 Views
This month is just making me hate classics. - 23/01/2011 12:06:08 AM 1216 Views
Aw. That's a shame. - 23/01/2011 12:21:10 AM 1125 Views
Re: Aw. That's a shame. - 23/01/2011 12:55:44 PM 1240 Views
Hrm... a high fantasy classic... - 23/01/2011 01:15:05 PM 1020 Views
Yeah? Okay... *NM* - 23/01/2011 01:16:15 PM 501 Views
Yes. - 23/01/2011 01:17:18 PM 1166 Views
Dunsany is good. And Grimm, but - 23/01/2011 01:25:40 PM 1035 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 501 Views
Perhaps Gormenghast? - 23/01/2011 01:58:50 PM 1189 Views
Perhaps, haven't read either Dunsany or Peake. - 23/01/2011 02:02:51 PM 1148 Views
Re: Perhaps, haven't read either Dunsany or Peake. - 23/01/2011 02:05:31 PM 1312 Views
Maybe Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? *NM* - 23/01/2011 02:20:49 PM 508 Views
Re: Dunsany is good. And Grimm, but - 23/01/2011 01:37:56 PM 1072 Views
Re: Dunsany is good. And Grimm, but - 23/01/2011 01:59:18 PM 1198 Views
H. Rider Haggard. - 23/01/2011 01:24:01 PM 1140 Views
Sounds interesting. - 23/01/2011 01:34:45 PM 1171 Views
Re: Sounds interesting. - 23/01/2011 01:39:34 PM 1234 Views
King Solomon's Mines is also awesome. - 23/01/2011 03:52:04 PM 997 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 1211 Views
Precisely - 23/01/2011 09:40:26 AM 1421 Views
True true... - 23/01/2011 12:58:42 PM 1160 Views
Fortunately, that's precisely what this site aims to do! *NM* - 23/01/2011 01:34:16 PM 519 Views
You just aren't reading the right books (and reviews), it seems - 23/01/2011 12:41:07 AM 1228 Views
The Swiss Family Robinson is hardly a "classic", unless by "classic" you mean "old". - 23/01/2011 06:55:30 AM 1026 Views
Fine then. - 23/01/2011 01:02:48 PM 1094 Views
Re: This month is just making me hate classics. - 23/01/2011 09:05:52 AM 1207 Views
A lot of "classics" need proper context to be appreciated - 23/01/2011 12:22:44 PM 1383 Views
Well said. - 23/01/2011 12:46:35 PM 1216 Views
Re: Well said. - 24/01/2011 02:33:10 AM 1271 Views
Very true - 23/01/2011 01:04:56 PM 1145 Views
Speaking of Dumas... - 24/01/2011 02:45:02 AM 1010 Views
ooooh - 24/01/2011 08:51:46 AM 1321 Views
The Molière movie is called... wait for it... - 24/01/2011 10:21:48 PM 1153 Views
oooh - 24/01/2011 10:24:19 PM 1201 Views
Re: oooh - 24/01/2011 10:29:23 PM 1056 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 01:15:39 AM 1150 Views
I really should watch that movie. - 25/01/2011 09:43:35 PM 1100 Views
Re: I really should watch that movie. - 25/01/2011 11:15:10 PM 1253 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 01:50:04 AM 1078 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 10:22:21 AM 1229 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 12:46:30 PM 1258 Views
That's it! - 25/01/2011 12:50:18 PM 1276 Views
Re: A few thoughts on my Classic challenge book. Well, books, as it turns out. - 23/01/2011 06:25:50 AM 1165 Views
The big problem with Dracula is that it's an epistolary novel. - 23/01/2011 06:58:25 AM 1164 Views
Yeah, agreed. - 23/01/2011 09:46:57 AM 1106 Views
But Frankenstein doesn't even have good writing to recommend it. - 23/01/2011 10:09:58 AM 1094 Views
The challenge is making me wish I hadn't already read Frankenstein - 23/01/2011 07:38:49 AM 1660 Views
Really? - 23/01/2011 07:52:24 AM 1060 Views
I didn't mind The Importance of Being Earnest too much - 23/01/2011 08:38:14 AM 1623 Views
Frankenstein - 23/01/2011 09:05:10 AM 1199 Views
... - 23/01/2011 09:08:03 AM 1041 Views
Thank you. *NM* - 23/01/2011 10:10:34 AM 488 Views
For, as usual, being my wonderful, divine self and bringing light to the world? *NM* - 23/01/2011 10:12:30 AM 519 Views
Something like that. *NM* - 23/01/2011 10:15:37 AM 447 Views
There's a reason why they include Wilde among the "decadents". - 23/01/2011 10:16:33 AM 1103 Views
Re: A few thoughts on my Classic challenge book. Well, books, as it turns out. - 23/01/2011 08:53:01 AM 1129 Views
Yes. - 23/01/2011 10:15:04 AM 1118 Views
Re: Yes. - 23/01/2011 10:18:02 AM 1116 Views
I just read A Christmas Carol as well. It's very short, alright. - 02/02/2011 08:46:16 PM 1175 Views

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