a book meme

[rushthatspeaks]

There's been a meme going around in which people take the list of most widely unread books on LibraryThing, and mark which ones they've read.

I'm not going to do that. I'm going to go through and explain why I haven't read the ones I haven't, and I think we will all find that a great deal more entertaining. I of course have no problem with people telling me I really should read any of these, although I do not promise to do it any time soon.


A list of books I haven't read:

Anna Karenina-- When I was about nine, I ran across an undoubtedly wildly abridged version of this in the school library, and I started reading it, and it made no sense and I was very depressed by it, and then the school librarian saw that I was reading it and came and stood over me and emoted for half an hour over how wildly moving she had found the ending (which I had not yet read), specifically the bit about the train, and how she thought Anna Karenina was the best book for teenage girls ever. After she had gone I quietly slipped the book back on the shelf and snuck out, and have never been able to bring myself to touch it again.

Crime and Punishment-- I intend to, but every time I get it out of the library someone assigns me some essay by Foucault to read or proofread or something, and then I can't interact with the word 'punishment' in a serious context for another six months. Also I am deeply suspicious of a book whose mere proximity brings on Foucault.

Life of Pi : a novel-- I have never heard of this. Has anybody? Is it remotely interesting? If it were a history of the number, I would be all over that, but its being a novel gives me strange doubts.

Ulysses-- YES raxvulpine I WILL EVENTUALLY READ ULYSSES YES I SAID YES I WILL YES

The Brothers Karamazov-- You know, maybe I should take a class on Russian literature or something. It's a thought.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies-- Once witnessed an extremely scarring flame war on whether this was a brilliant work that explains everything or a piece of reactionary twiddle-twaddle. Ever since my reaction to the book has been LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU, no matter what people are saying about it.

War and Peace-- No one will tell me which translation is definitive, and it actually matters to me.

Vanity Fair-- For fifteen years I regularly confused this with the magazine, and would now be perfectly willing to read it, if it ever occurred to me to do so when I was near a copy.

The Time Traveler’s Wife-- I have a deep innate annoyance at books that use the Interesting Thing Here's Wife construction. Also people keep coming up and saying this is a revolutionary and original book, but they're never science fiction people, and I do not trust non-genre claims of originality in what is clearly a genre book, especially when the genre seems to have pretty much ignored it.

The Blind Assassin-- What is this? It sounds like a classic samurai movie, which would be fine, but it could well be metaphorical, in which case it sounds like a Deist analogy gone horribly wrong.

The Kite Runner-- A lot of reviews of this used the word 'heartwarming'.

Mrs. Dalloway-- Actually I am afraid of Virginia Woolf: specifically her fiction, because while I do not usually catch the stylistic habits and word patterns of other writers, I pick up Woolf like a sponge even when I am only reading her essays. So I can't read Woolf's fiction while trying to write any myself, which I am doing basically all the time. Maybe between novels.

Great Expectations-- I didn't have them.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius-- To whom would I complain if it wasn't? I don't have time to write a letter to the Better Business Bureau.

Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books-- I am already depressive enough most of the time as it is.

Middlesex-- Parts of the intersex community were quite offended by this book, so I did not want to support it.

Quicksilver-- I went through an intense phase of reading Neal Stephenson which lasted about three weeks and carried me through about six books, and then during Cryptonomicon something snapped and I couldn't remember why I was reading Neal Stephenson and haven't been able to since.

Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West-- I tried. I bounced off this so hard I think it left dents in my forehead.

The Historian : a novel-- I have never heard of this, but still uncharitably suspect that I would rather read The Novelist: a history, if it exists.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man-- Sure! Right after Ulysses, War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, the stack by my bed, the research for my novel, and... I've forgotten something else on this list, I'll get back to you.

Love in the Time of Cholera-- I read One Hundred Years of Solitude and liked it, but find the title of this one rather off-putting. I may get to it eventually.

Middlemarch-- Oh actually this was on my to-be-read list ahead of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. How convenient this meme is!

The Count of Monte Cristo-- No excuses. Seriously, none. I am very sorry. I will fix this.

The Grapes of Wrath-- Did I mention that I am a depressive?

The Poisonwood Bible : a novel-- I dunno. Should I?

Angels & Demons-- Brought to you by the author of The Da Vinci Code, which I didn't read either!

The Satanic Verses-- This has fallen victim to the thing where somehow I wind up reading only the most obscure works by a lot of major authors. That said, I really liked Haroun and the Sea of Stories, so maybe I should read some more Rushdie sometime.

The Picture of Dorian Gray-- If anyone can figure out why I haven't read this, please get back to me, as I am at a dead loss.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest-- I hated the movie. I realize this is unfair to the book, but I really hated the movie.

To the Lighthouse-- See previous Woolf note.

Tess of the D’Urbervilles-- If anyone can come up with a reason I should read this, please get back to me, as I am at a dead loss.

Oliver Twist-- My parents had the cast album of the musical. Does that count?

The Corrections-- Never heard of it.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay-- Obscure syndrome strikes again: Summerlands is a really great book.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time-- Bounced like a Superball.

The God of Small Things-- Any good?

A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present-- Uh some of the assumptions in this title unnerve me just a tad.

Cryptonomicon-- Halfway! Then I started finding Turing boring, which is a sign of Serious Trouble.

A Confederacy of Dunces-- I have vague unplaceable memories of some Greil Marcus essay telling me to read this book, and I usually do pay attention to that, but I haven't got to it.

A Short History of Nearly Everything-- No.

Dubliners-- Right after Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man!

The Unbearable Lightness of Being-- Hm. Never occurred to me, but I guess I could. I mean, I have no strong feelings on the matter.

Oryx and Crake : a novel-- After The Handmaid's Tale I vowed never to read speculative Atwood again.

Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed-- NO. Firmly.

Cloud Atlas-- What is this? Good title, at any rate.

The Confusion-- What is this? Unhelpful title, at any rate.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame-- PLEASE NO ONE TELL THRUD I WILL I SWEAR

Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything-- How can you be a rogue economist? Do you get to hit people with the New York Stock Exchange scrolly boards? If not, why not?

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values-- Life is short.

In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences-- Started this. Developed anxiety disorder (for unrelated reasons). Stopped.

White Teeth-- Never heard of it. In an unrelated note, truly white teeth are actually rather disturbing-looking.

David Copperfield-- I have a fairly major Dickens deficiency. I am reading Bleak House at the moment, though.


(Quickly, Books From The List That I Have Actually Read)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Catch-22, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Wuthering Heights, The Silmarillion, The Name of the Rose, Don Quixote, Moby Dick, Madame Bovary, The Odyssey, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, The Tale of Two Cities, The Iliad, Emma, American Gods, Atlas Shrugged, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Canterbury Tales, Brave New World, The Fountainhead, Foucault’s Pendulum, Frankenstein, Dracula, A Clockwork Orange, Anansi Boys, The Once and Future King, 1984, The Divine Comedy, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Gulliver’s Travels, Les Misérables, Dune, The Prince, The Sound and the Fury, Angela’s Ashes, Neverwhere, Beloved, Slaughterhouse-five, The Scarlet Letter, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, The Mists of Avalon, Lolita, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, The Catcher in the Rye, On the Road, The Aeneid, Watership Down, Gravity’s Rainbow, The Hobbit, Treasure Island, The Three Musketeers

Comments

[khukuri.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed Life of Pi! It is mostly about a man stuck on a boat with a wild tiger, and I can't really explain it further than that.

[foleyartist1.livejournal.com]

Remember the year I worked at Borders? Life of Pi was one of the top bestsellers that year. (That is actually why I did not read it, no offense to the book or its author.)

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I recently got it out of the library because I had enjoyed some of Yann Martel's short stories, but I couldn't get into it.

[breadandroses.livejournal.com]

Absolutely yes to White Teeth. I really love that book. I'll tell you why at length when finals aren't eating my brain.

Also yes to The God of Small Things which is utterly beautiful, but not to be read when you're feeling down.

I'd say skip Poisonwood Bible and go for some Kingsolver that is less epic, like Prodigal Summer. Her new nonfiction book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is also really good as well.

[eredien]

I liked Poisonwood Bible, which I had to read in college, for its writing, but found it depressing as well as religiously depressing.

[breadandroses.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's beautifully written (Kingsolver, after all). It's just that there's too much, too many characters, too much time covered. A lot of it felt sketched to me.

There's also a certain overused trope that I really annoys me.

[weirdquark]

Ditto, except I read it because my mother had it lying around the house.

I am perhaps fonder of it than it deserves because I read it right after I met Thrud and the character I found most interesting shares her name and that sort of thing tends to get my attention.

[foleyartist1.livejournal.com]

The Blind Assassin-- What is this? It sounds like a classic samurai movie, which would be fine, but it could well be metaphorical, in which case it sounds like a Deist analogy gone horribly wrong.

It's Margaret Atwood. I hated it. I think I hated it so much that I reviewed it expressing my hatred. It is NOWHERE near as cool as a classic samurai movie.

Love in the Time of Cholera-- I read One Hundred Years of Solitude and liked it, but find the title of this one rather off-putting. I may get to it eventually.

I read this twice several years apart. One time I hated it and one time I liked it. It's one of those types of books, I think.

Persephone approves of your Great Expectations explanation.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Life of Pi is....odd.

The Kite Runner is NOT heartwearming. I think it's manipulative and awful, but many will disagree.

Middlemarch is great. I loved War and Peace, especially when I was reading memoirs of the time concurrently.

Kavalier and Clay is pretty good stuff.

Tess is okay is you want more feminist rage fodder. Read Cloud Atlas instead. It's excellent.

I didn't like the Time Traveler's wife--I felt it was sentimental and emotionally dishonest, but many disagree.

[ckd]

(Still need book icon. Still not king.)

Some comments on particular items:

A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present: that's the Howard Zinn, right? I haven't read it either, but I have a soft spot for Zinn since he was one of the BU faculty's loudest critics of John Silber when I was an undergrad. Ah, tenure.

The Confusion is the second Neal Stephenson Baroque Cycle book. If you didn't get started on Quicksilver, you wouldn't have ever gotten to this. I haven't either.

Freakonomics is actually a pretty good "here's how to use economics as a tool to analyze stuff that's not traditionally economics". Sample bit: how to show that sumo cheating is rampant, and explaining what the incentives are that create it. I don't agree with all of the hypotheses in this book, but they all made me think. Get it from the library, read a couple of chapters, and either continue or toss it aside depending on whether you like it or not.

[oyceter]

I second sartorias in saying that Life of Pi is very odd. I am still not sure if I like it, though it was fascinating while I read it. It had some nightmarish images to me, but I am not sure if anyone else thought so.

The Time Traveler's Wife - I hate this book argh argh argh hate hate argh. *ahem* The heroine is stationary and boring and spends the entire book waiting, there is a miracle baby, the time travel makes NO SENSE (a GENE? NO RLY?), there is pointless decapitation that I laughed hysterically at, and they basically fall in love because they know they're supposed to be in love. Also, did I mention how the heroine does nothing but wait?

I enjoyed Guns, Germs, and Steel and thought it had some interesting ideas, but it was not ultimately convincing, particularly with regard to China.

I enjoyed Freakonomics, but I also enjoy pop science. Also, some of the articles were interesting but somewhat facile.

I liked Reading Lolita in Tehran for some bits, but felt it was overly Westernized. That was also five years ago, and I may disagree with it more vehemently now, partly arriving at truth via Dead White Men Books.

Angels and Demons - may be fun for purposes of mockery, but 'ware of horrific Mary Sue-ism (he describes himself as he looks in a mirror!), horrific gender issues, and horrific race issues (it has a Hassassin. Need I say more?). Sadly, unlike Da Vinci Code, there is no self-flagellating, hair-shirt-wearing, cell-phone-using albino.

[foleyartist1.livejournal.com]

I second the vote that Freakonomics was enjoyable but somewhat facile. That's primarily why I didn't recommend it to you even though it was overall fun for me.

[wherdragon.livejournal.com]

Angels & Demons--

I did and I say: don't bother. If you really must read one of Dan Brown's books, go for the Da Vinci Code, it was better. Which isn't saying much, but there it is. It's really the same plot, with a different girl, and different details. And at least in Da Vinci Code you get to hear about pretty architecture. Nothing in this contradicts foleyartist1's comments.

Dubliners--

Good point is that here is where I saw English come the closest to Latin, especially in awesome chiasmus. Other than that, :P

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Sadly, unlike Da Vinci Code, there is no self-flagellating, hair-shirt-wearing, cell-phone-using albino.

Having that character described to me very nearly caused me to see the Da Vinci Code movie, as did the presence of Ian McKellen. I forgot what brought me to my senses, but something must have.

[shahnasa.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed Life of Pi, I think you will, too. I think the only things that would prevent one from liking it would be not liking animals, or not liking books with only one human main character, or not liking terribly unrealistic books.

I just read Love in the Time of Cholera last year. It was very readable, and very hateable, given my preferences in love stories. Let me summarize it for you -*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*- two young people fall in love hard, with a love that is both frightening and forbidden. The girl's father sends her away for a while, and when she comes back, she realizes that her love was really just the obsessive passion of first love, and she's not really certain what she saw in him. She moves on and builds a happy life and family with another man. He never moves on, but takes an indecent number of lovers anyway. It's okay, though, because he's keeping his heart pure for her. When her husband dies, he pursues her until she gives him a second chance. *END OF SPOILERS*Utter tragic emo male fantasy, if you ask me, and actually, the author has even said he's playing a trick on you, the reader. He wants to draw you in to his characters, while admitting that they may not necessarily be good people.

I have not read The Kite Runner because I have heard it is about abuse, possibly of a sexual nature.

I have also not read The Time Traveler's Wife, and was unable to articulate all the reasons why I didn't like the premise until I read this post- yes, I think I'm going to add "Interesting Thing's Wife" to the list of tropes I hate. From reading the back blurb, I detected the whiff of the male fantasy "I can come and go from your life as I please, but you'll be always be here and faithful, right?"

In case she doesn't respond to this, Ri liked and recommended The Poisonwood Bible to me.

I enjoyed Middlesex. Good story, and well-told, I thought. I have no idea why some would find it offensive, but I'm not up on my intersex issues.

I am currently reading Guns, Germs, and Steel, and like it a lot (though it's LONG. And repetitive. I'm having college textbook flashbacks). I think it's pretty good. I'd be curious to see that flame-war. Having read the reviews on Amazon to get a bit of counter-perspective, I don't think the people who think it's merely politically-correct feel-good theory really have a leg to stand on. They tend to say things like "he ignores cultural factors," when he really doesn't, he just says cultural factors evolve from geographic factors. They also say he ignores the influence of religion. No, uh, actually there's a whole chapter on religion and government just before page 300. I just don't think the detractors made it that far in to the book. ;)

I am glad to find someone else who didn't like Wicked. I might give the musical a try, but the book didn't have me hooked or even interested by page 50. I gave up.

Without having read it, it is my impression that Freakonomics is on the level of Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex?. In other words, a bunch of disparate things that don't really make sense, and might be interesting, but you could really live without knowing.

You know, for a meme of "most widely unread books," this list sure seems to include a lot of bestsellers, and be very heavy on recent books. I would think the most unread books would be things like the Malleus Maleficarum, or the epic of Gilgamesh, or, you know, books we haven't all heard of. Or do they mean books that are owned but not read? If so, I think the Bible needs to be added to the list. ;)

Thanks for this meme. I always enjoy your perspective.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Or do they mean books that are owned but not read?

Yes, that's exactly what they mean. LibraryThing is a catalogue of its members' collections, the books they've bought or been given, so inevitably there is a preponderance of recent bestsellers, many of which are unread.

[wherdragon.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot about Wicked!

I TOTALLY recommend the musical to anyone and everyone. I love it incredibly.

I don't recommend the book to anyone at all. I got it because I loved the musical and I found it wildly different, and not in at all a good way. I only got a third of the way in and bad things just kept happening, emotionally and otherwise, with no good reason I could see. I stopped, as I was not in a good emotional place myself at the time, but I have heard that it doesn't get any better.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

This is 'books listed as owned and unread on LibraryThing', which means it tends to skew towards bestsellers and geek books a bit.

I'm pretty sure The Kite Runner involves sexual abuse, from things I saw in the movie reviews, but I don't think it was the primary subject matter. I could be wrong, though, not having read it.

[larryhammer]

Go. Read. Middlemarch. Now. It actually is even better than Wives and Daughters, and not just because it's finished because the author didn't die while writing the final chapter. It is even better than Emma (though not Persuasion).

Personally, I say skip all the Dickens, but I find him unreadable. And I read a lot of Victorian lit.

I actually kinda like The Time-Traveler's Wife, but that's because I persist in reading it as an achingly painful tragedy, which was apparently not the intention. It is emotionally manipulative, but does seem to acknowledge just how fucked up the two main characters are.

---L.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

That wasn't the intention? Come on. I cried buckets. I was about to say it's an achingly painful tragedy, but if you can take that, it's also an interesting SFnal exploration, and it is about both of them. Surely it was intended as tragedy?

Also, what you said about Middlemarch and Dickens.

[larryhammer]

I have been told, though I haven't confirmed this so take it as rumor, that the author once got snippy at reading it as tragic instead of romantic.

---L.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

*moves Middlemarch much higher up list*

[q10.livejournal.com]

Guns, Germs, and Steel calls attention to some interesting and under-recognized forces in human history, but is accurately characterized by neither of the extremes from that flame war. it also made me nervous because, whenever it touched on a topic where i had specific expertise, the oversimplifications made me cringe.

the other thing to understand about it is that all of Jared Diamond's popular-audience books besides The Third Chimpanzee are basically the result of him expanding and updating a small section of one of his earlier books into a book-length document (i think - i admit to not having read all of them). so Guns, Germs, and Steel and Why is Sex Fun? can obviously be traced to parts of The Third Chimpanzee, and Collapse is often described as an expansion of the gloom-and-doom sections of Guns, Germs, and Steel.

if you go into it not expecting him to be infallible, and recognizing that any complete history of human civilization that fits into a reasonably portable volume is going to cut some corners, it's a lot of fun.

[sovay]

I am not going to hit you over the head about the books you should be reading. I think I have been emphatic about enough of them already. Although I read David Copperfield recently on poliphilo's recommendation, and it was awesome.

YES raxvulpine I WILL EVENTUALLY READ ULYSSES YES I SAID YES I WILL YES

You win James Joyce.

The Time Traveler’s Wife

The best reason I have ever heard to read The Time Traveler's Wife is that the characters were inspired by Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, with time travel as a fantastic version of shell-shock. The book itself, however, remains in a box in my brother's room.

Quicksilver

I love the World War II sequences of Cryptonomicon; I am intensely ambivalent about the modern-day ones. In the same way, I think the Baroque Cycle might have been a really good brick-thick almost-alternate history à la Mary Gentle, but it is unfortunately not.

The Confusion-- What is this? Unhelpful title, at any rate.

It is the second book in Neal's Baroque Cycle. It is what it sounds like.

Cryptonomicon-- Halfway! Then I started finding Turing boring, which is a sign of Serious Trouble.

See above. I did not find Turing boring; I wanted more of his plotline and way less of everyone else's. Especially the modern-day characters.

This is a truly weird list.

[weirdquark]

I had pretty much the same reaction to Cryptonomicon. Coding fills me with glee. The rest of it... eh. I started out skimming and skipping the sections that weren't the Turing bits, although I did eventually find the other sections relevant/interesting enough to bother going back to the beginning and reading the whole thing.

[sovay]

I started out skimming and skipping the sections that weren't the Turing bits, although I did eventually find the other sections relevant/interesting enough to bother going back to the beginning and reading the whole thing.

Which means that if you have not read Hugh Whitemore's Breaking the Code (1986), you would probably be interested in it. It is about Alan Turing and the Enigma decryption; the original play starred Derek Jacobi. There's also a television adaptation from 1996, which I remember noticing at the time, but of course I didn't actually watch it.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

You win James Joyce.

Do I have to water him regularly? I'm not sure our windows get sufficient sunlight.

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West-- I tried. I bounced off this so hard I think it left dents in my forehead.
YES! Hi let me take OZ, but I will make it all "grown-up" and drain the magic from the world. Obviously monkeys can fly if you sew wings to their backs! Female needs rescued from the terrorist cell. ZzzzZzzz Did not like this book at all.

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

A Confederacy of Dunces was pretty good, as I recall, though it wasn't outstanding. Worth picking up if you have time for it, but not worth bumping other things down the list. Has some very strange characters (especially the main one) who are not particularly appealing, but not so dislikable as to be offputting. I'm not sure that it really has a point, either, but it's an interesting journey not getting to it.

The Corrections is by Jonathan Franzen, who is a Swarthmore alum, and a lot of people like it, but other than that I don't know anything about it.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is the only Rushdie I've read, too.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

You can be a rogue economist pretty easily, actually, once you recognize that economics is in some ways an ideology/secular religion. (It pretends to be a science, but real sciences laugh at it and won't invite it to any good parties.)

If you're an economist, and you recognize that people make decisions about economic issues in ways other than predicted by pure linear reasoning -- that is, with input from emotion, and not always with a clear eye toward maximization of self-interest -- why, that's enough to make you a Rogue Economist. Or, it was when the author of Freakonomics, whose name I'm blanking on, won his Nobel for pointing out reality to all the other economists. Unless I'm confusing this guy with some other Rogue Economist. I don't think I am, but I'm not as sure as I'd like to be.

I have been assured, by people whose credibility is above reproach, that The Handmaid's Tale is not speculative fiction in its intent. Not because Atwood holds herself to be above mere genre, but because it was in fact written about the Harvard graduate English program. I've meant to re-read it ever since being told that, but I keep forgetting to do it.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

...

... you have achieved something I had thought entirely impossible, and put into my mind serious intentions of at least re-skimming The Handmaid's Tale.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

War and Peace-- No one will tell me which translation is definitive...

Does there have to be a definitive translation? In fact, can there be a definitive translation? I concede that some translations are better than others, but I don't think that's what you're asking.

The Poisonwood Bible : a novel-- I dunno. Should I?

Well, I enjoyed it, for all its flaws. It's less fun and more worthy than Kingsolver's earlier novels, but not necessarily in a bad way (and if that doesn't sound like a recommendation, I repeat, I enjoyed it).

Cloud Atlas-- What is this? Good title, at any rate.

I was about to launch off into a recommendation, and then I double checked. Seems I haven't read Cloud Atlas, I read Ghostwritten, a recommend it heartily. But I found David Mitchell's next book (number9dream) unreadable: I read the first 20 pages three times, and then gave up on it, which I practically never do. And haven't taken the plunge with Cloud Atlas.

Personally, I don't Librarything the books I haven't read yet: there's enough backlog on my shelves without starting to catalogue the boxes in the attic and the piles on the floor!

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

damn. too many italics.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't mean 'definitive' as in One True Translation, because I do not think that such a thing is either possible or desirable, but I find that with most books there are one or two translations that are generally accepted as being the ones that first-time readers and general audiences will want to head for, and quite often things have one single translation that makes itself into the default for non-scholarly purposes. With War and Peace I can't seem to find out enough information on the varying translations even to tell whether there are any that are generally regarded as bad, which is aggravating.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. I read the Penguin edition (translated by Rosemary Edmonds). It was a long time ago, and I don't remember anything about the translation - but that probably means it was OK at worst.

[rax.livejournal.com]

"Ulysses-- YES [info]raxvulpine I WILL EVENTUALLY READ ULYSSES YES I SAID YES I WILL YES"

Ahahahahahahaha. :)

"Middlesex-- Parts of the intersex community were quite offended by this book, so I did not want to support it."

Other parts were into it, but I haven't read it either, I have just heard about it in passing. My mother liked it.

"Dubliners-- Right after Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man!"

Oh god no read Dubliners first, it's _so much better_. (plus it will help you understand the book I am writing when I am done with it!)

"Oryx and Crake : a novel-- After The Handmaid's Tale I vowed never to read speculative Atwood again."

I actually really liked Oryx and Crake, which surprised me (I only read it because I was going to be talking to Margaret Atwood about it, over similar objections to yours). But there are enough books out there that there's no reason to specifically jump on this one.

"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius-- To whom would I complain if it wasn't? I don't have time to write a letter to the Better Business Bureau."

You could just write a list of more accurate titles and submit it to McSweeney's.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

You could just write a list of more accurate titles and submit it to McSweeney's.

Doesn't that author, like, run McSweeney's? Or have I become confused by similar aesthetics?

Repositioning of Dubliners in TBR list accomplished.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is so very different from the rest of Rushdie that, while I'm not saying you shouldn't read the rest of Rushdie, I would go so far as to say that liking Haroun doesn't tell you whether you'll like the rest of Rushdie at all. At all at all.

My godfather picked up A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius when all the "right people" were reading it and read the introduction, in which the author explains that actually you can skip this part, and also that part, and he's not sure this bit is actually what he hoped it would be, until he's told you to read a five-page section in chapter 4 or something like that. And my godfather perfectly well understood that the author was attempting to be humorously self-deprecating, but he said, "If he doesn't want me to read it, and he wrote the damn thing, I think we're done here." This is why my godfather will never be the "right people," and also why I love him.

[puritybrown.livejournal.com]

The only ones I would recommend on that list are Mrs Dalloway, To The Lighthouse, Middlemarch and Great Expectations. I've read Ulysses, and all I can say is: don't bother. Reading that book was an experience not unlike pulling teeth.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

The Blind Assassin is a book about some mid-C20 Canadians one of whom is an SF writer, and I like it a lot, but I also like Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid's Tale though my favourite Atwood is The Robber Bride.

I read a fast-paced US translation of War and Peace in Greece (on boats, for about a week) and loved it to bits, when back in Britain I did my thing and ordered his complete other works from ILL, his complete other works turned out to be translated by some Victorian Dickens-wannabe called Constance Garnett and be unreadable. Therefore my advice is, look for US translations and avoid Garnett and Penguin Classics.

I have a very soft spot for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance which, come to think of it, I also read in Greece. I had a brief passionate love affair with it, because it actually understood Plato. Also, it understood and articulated some of the things that are wrong with formal education, which was really helpful to me just before I went to college. It is in fact right about some things and wrong about others, but I enjoyed thinking about that, and also I liked that it was non-fiction written like fiction. I think I'd hate it if I read it for the first time now, but nevertheless I smile fondly when I think about it. I have a hand-painted t-shirt with the spanner/lotus from the old British cover. It hasn't fit me for years and years, but I keep it as a souvenir. I think you may be too old for the book -- I don't know, how much do you really care about Plato?

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I care a great deal about Plato, as he is one of the few I managed to read some of in Greek, and so you interest me strangely in this book.

[marchharetay.livejournal.com]

First, this use of the meme made me REALLY happy. Have I mentioned how glad I am we're lj friends? (RL too, of course, for all that I never see you, but this is an LJ specific squee).

Anywoot! I am compelled to respond.

For the second first - the overlap in your list and mine is hilarious.

Which brings me to my comments.

a. I was obsessed with reading the Life of Pi (certainly odd since I *don't* go in for the big marketed books...except for once in a while when I do...). It had been around for some time when I decided I needed to read it, though not for long enough for the library to reliably have it in. So I bought it. And it sits on my shelf of Books To Read When I'm In Between Library Books. I think I had some idea that I was to love it for the reasons I love, love, loved Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Though I don't recall why...

b. The Poisonwood Bible is one of my favorite books...in the way that I enjoy it so much that I'm hesitant to dissect it or trust my judgment as to whether it is Good Literature. I just love it...love the voice...love the language and word play...love it.

c. The Corrections also gets a what from me. I inherited it from my neighbor two years ago and have every intention of eventually reading it.

d. Somebody was just telling me the other day how he believed that some other book like Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is very dated (i.e. no longer relevant or enjoyable). I am personally rather fascinated with "dated" works, so it is now on my list.

e. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - actually quite good. I sort of wish I still owned it. For that matter the *play* is good. (I also did not enjoy the movie despite liking Jack Nicholson).

f. Re: Love In the Time of Cholera, I'll add to the comment w/ spoilers above. I completely did not get that the two were in love. My read was that they were bored and a thing happened and then the guy fell in love with the part of his mind involved with her the way one does. I did not much enjoy the book and cared zero about any of the characters (and I can get quite attached to disagreeable characters...I just didn't believe in them as flawed people so much as that I just didn't believe in them). Don't bother. It gives one nothing.

[marchharetay.livejournal.com]

Ps - a teacher who, odd as she was, tended to be right about these things, insisted I'd love Crime And Punishment. She's probably right, and I've always meant to read it, but if it brings Foucault, I may have to tread carefully (as of my final year of college I am Done With Him For A Very Long Time).

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Loved The Life of Pi, for various reasons having to do with the cracked-out Canadianness of it ie it's the classic (modern) Canadian novel by virtue of being about a subcontinental Indian, though its author isn't. That's Canlit as *I* know it, and a helluva lot better than Presbyterian Prairie families or jaded Torontonians. Just, it should have been longer and more complex at the end; his editor suggested he cut, and he cut more than he should have, in entirely the wrong place.

It also has a thought-provoking defence of zoos.

[trifles.livejournal.com]

Great Expectations -- Contrary to what mass media culture had been telling me for ages, this book isn't about some screwy love obsession. It's the story of a kid growing up thinking he's going to have a vast inheritance, and The Problems Thereof. It is also hilarious (see here).

The Grapes of Wrath -- Depressing, yes, but has an ending that struck me as incredibly SFnal, the image of which still turns my brain inside-out (in a good way) every time I think of it.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest -- I've read it, and really liked it, but never seen the movie. Based on the clips I've seen, though, I don't think Nicholson was the right person to play the character. Or whatsherhead to play the Nurse. Or really, the entire movie to match the book. So... there you go.

[trifles.livejournal.com]

I am IN LOVE with the edit-comment feature.

Uninformative commentary

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I love The God of Small Things but you may find it too depressing.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is not the only Rushdie I've read but it's the only Rushdie I've liked.

Middlemarch is awesome.

[chomiji]

Guns, Germs, and Steel is actually really interesting. I'm not surprised that it's inspired flame wars, though.

I couldn't get into Wicked either, and people keep telling me I should love it. Which, of course, makes me want to dig in my heels even harder.

I enjoyed Cryptonomicon, but not nearly as much as Snow Crash or even The Diamond Age.

Cavalier and Klay is pretty good, but I enjoyed Chabon's recent Gentlemen of the Road even more.

[orawnzva.livejournal.com]

I did finish Wicked, but I didn't like it in the end. This is mainly because, at the points where it converges with the Wizard of Oz plotline, it requires WoO to be not just determined by a particular point of view, but deliberately false at the level of propaganda. It thus fails to be a different perspective on the same events, at which point it's very difficult to evaluate, because it can't really be considered without reference to WoO, but the reference doesn't hold very well.

fiddledragon says that the musical is wonderful, except for the last five minutes.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

That is exactly and precisely the problem I had with Wicked, which is why I stopped reading it. Thank you for articulating it so clearly.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Cloud Atlas is structurally very interesting, and I found almost all of it excellent and compelling. The SFnal elements do not get my maximum originality score, but honestly I didn't care a bit while reading.