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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 1337 Views
This month is just making me hate classics. - 23/01/2011 12:06:08 AM 1163 Views
Aw. That's a shame. - 23/01/2011 12:21:10 AM 1072 Views
Re: Aw. That's a shame. - 23/01/2011 12:55:44 PM 1193 Views
Hrm... a high fantasy classic... - 23/01/2011 01:15:05 PM 970 Views
Yeah? Okay... *NM* - 23/01/2011 01:16:15 PM 478 Views
Yes. - 23/01/2011 01:17:18 PM 1117 Views
Dunsany is good. And Grimm, but - 23/01/2011 01:25:40 PM 988 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 481 Views
Perhaps Gormenghast? - 23/01/2011 01:58:50 PM 1143 Views
Perhaps, haven't read either Dunsany or Peake. - 23/01/2011 02:02:51 PM 1099 Views
Re: Perhaps, haven't read either Dunsany or Peake. - 23/01/2011 02:05:31 PM 1265 Views
Maybe Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? *NM* - 23/01/2011 02:20:49 PM 481 Views
Re: Dunsany is good. And Grimm, but - 23/01/2011 01:37:56 PM 1021 Views
Re: Dunsany is good. And Grimm, but - 23/01/2011 01:59:18 PM 1145 Views
H. Rider Haggard. - 23/01/2011 01:24:01 PM 1088 Views
Sounds interesting. - 23/01/2011 01:34:45 PM 1126 Views
Re: Sounds interesting. - 23/01/2011 01:39:34 PM 1190 Views
King Solomon's Mines is also awesome. - 23/01/2011 03:52:04 PM 955 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 1161 Views
Precisely - 23/01/2011 09:40:26 AM 1378 Views
True true... - 23/01/2011 12:58:42 PM 1111 Views
Fortunately, that's precisely what this site aims to do! *NM* - 23/01/2011 01:34:16 PM 493 Views
You just aren't reading the right books (and reviews), it seems - 23/01/2011 12:41:07 AM 1180 Views
The Swiss Family Robinson is hardly a "classic", unless by "classic" you mean "old". - 23/01/2011 06:55:30 AM 972 Views
Fine then. - 23/01/2011 01:02:48 PM 1039 Views
Re: This month is just making me hate classics. - 23/01/2011 09:05:52 AM 1141 Views
A lot of "classics" need proper context to be appreciated - 23/01/2011 12:22:44 PM 1336 Views
Well said. - 23/01/2011 12:46:35 PM 1172 Views
Re: Well said. - 24/01/2011 02:33:10 AM 1217 Views
Very true - 23/01/2011 01:04:56 PM 1093 Views
Speaking of Dumas... - 24/01/2011 02:45:02 AM 959 Views
ooooh - 24/01/2011 08:51:46 AM 1267 Views
The Molière movie is called... wait for it... - 24/01/2011 10:21:48 PM 1107 Views
oooh - 24/01/2011 10:24:19 PM 1146 Views
Re: oooh - 24/01/2011 10:29:23 PM 1005 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 01:15:39 AM 1106 Views
I really should watch that movie. - 25/01/2011 09:43:35 PM 1049 Views
Re: I really should watch that movie. - 25/01/2011 11:15:10 PM 1191 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 01:50:04 AM 1028 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 10:22:21 AM 1181 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 12:46:30 PM 1200 Views
That's it! - 25/01/2011 12:50:18 PM 1224 Views
Re: A few thoughts on my Classic challenge book. Well, books, as it turns out. - 23/01/2011 06:25:50 AM 1116 Views
The big problem with Dracula is that it's an epistolary novel. - 23/01/2011 06:58:25 AM 1114 Views
Yeah, agreed. - 23/01/2011 09:46:57 AM 1057 Views
But Frankenstein doesn't even have good writing to recommend it. - 23/01/2011 10:09:58 AM 1045 Views
The challenge is making me wish I hadn't already read Frankenstein - 23/01/2011 07:38:49 AM 1612 Views
Really? - 23/01/2011 07:52:24 AM 1008 Views
I didn't mind The Importance of Being Earnest too much - 23/01/2011 08:38:14 AM 1574 Views
Frankenstein - 23/01/2011 09:05:10 AM 1145 Views
... - 23/01/2011 09:08:03 AM 989 Views
Thank you. *NM* - 23/01/2011 10:10:34 AM 468 Views
For, as usual, being my wonderful, divine self and bringing light to the world? *NM* - 23/01/2011 10:12:30 AM 497 Views
Something like that. *NM* - 23/01/2011 10:15:37 AM 424 Views
There's a reason why they include Wilde among the "decadents". - 23/01/2011 10:16:33 AM 1054 Views
Re: A few thoughts on my Classic challenge book. Well, books, as it turns out. - 23/01/2011 08:53:01 AM 1073 Views
Yes. - 23/01/2011 10:15:04 AM 1069 Views
Re: Yes. - 23/01/2011 10:18:02 AM 1062 Views
I just read A Christmas Carol as well. It's very short, alright. - 02/02/2011 08:46:16 PM 1119 Views

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