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Umm, yeah. jh Send a noteboard - 06/09/2009 03:28:30 PM
That's one of my all-time favorite books. Of course it's slow; Dostoevsky is always slow. However, I suggest reading it again. No, scratch that. Read The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor again. It's Dostoevsky's crowning achievement in denouncing Russian communists, and very prophetic. Then go read the story right before that about the peasant boy torn apart by dogs. If you like that, go back and read the book because it has gems of ideas buried in a narrative that is on its face somewhat trivial.

Regarding Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, I know it has become standard fare in the realm of hyperbole to say "one dimensional characters," but technically his characters (or anyone else's) are "two dimensional" if you are trying to put them down.


This is the part I don't understand. I was being nice when I said they had any dimension at all. but that's only since the plot elements they are can be more or less upset. Can't see that they have any other
"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world" - Calvin.
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So...what books DON'T you like? - 06/09/2009 04:57:28 AM 2024 Views
I have a couple I really disliked - 06/09/2009 05:28:38 AM 1415 Views
I agree. - 06/09/2009 05:49:28 AM 1428 Views
Ohhhh quotefail! - 06/09/2009 05:54:02 AM 1508 Views
I saw that. - 06/09/2009 06:03:29 AM 1321 Views
You actually read Monkey Bridge? - 06/09/2009 02:47:39 PM 1321 Views
Haha, I'm surprised anyone has heard of it here - 06/09/2009 04:43:59 PM 1312 Views
Some examples - 07/09/2009 08:25:37 PM 1237 Views
Political polemics, for one. Utopian novels, for another. - 06/09/2009 05:29:54 AM 1261 Views
People always recommend I read Ayn Rand - 06/09/2009 02:51:25 PM 1409 Views
I started The Fountainhead. It was pretty dreadful. *NM* - 06/09/2009 08:44:31 PM 744 Views
The Wanderer's Tale by David Bilsborough. - 06/09/2009 06:24:49 AM 1383 Views
YES! - 07/09/2009 06:10:29 AM 1257 Views
Oh, a lot of things. But I wonder. - 06/09/2009 07:00:34 AM 1394 Views
Re: Oh, a lot of things. But I wonder. - 06/09/2009 07:05:51 AM 1355 Views
! - 06/09/2009 06:50:42 PM 1344 Views
Re: ! - 06/09/2009 07:22:43 PM 1224 Views
Well, I do plan on reading it. - 07/09/2009 03:38:26 AM 1314 Views
In fantasy, Vellum and Ink were terrible - 06/09/2009 02:54:05 PM 1315 Views
Duly noted! - 06/09/2009 06:51:22 PM 1303 Views
Oh plenty - 06/09/2009 09:37:23 AM 1361 Views
I hated Wuthering Heights more than Jane Eyre, but I hated Jane Eyre, too. *NM* - 06/09/2009 02:54:49 PM 797 Views
I was never forced to read Wuthering heights - 06/09/2009 03:44:59 PM 1408 Views
I disliked both as well... more than disliked. *NM* - 09/09/2009 08:59:37 PM 795 Views
Well... - 09/09/2009 09:01:18 PM 1317 Views
I like all books I have ever read. - 06/09/2009 12:09:51 PM 1397 Views
You hated The Brothers Karamazov? - 06/09/2009 02:59:16 PM 1346 Views
Umm, yeah. - 06/09/2009 03:28:30 PM 1505 Views
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. In Ye Olde English, it's harder to translate than ancient Greek. *NM* - 06/09/2009 05:07:49 PM 763 Views
Oh man, the prologue to the Wife of Bath was horrible. - 06/09/2009 05:11:39 PM 1263 Views
The Canterbury Tales are not Old English. They are Middle English. - 06/09/2009 05:59:59 PM 1425 Views
Edit: ignore this, what I had before was blatantly untrue *NM* - 07/09/2009 12:11:37 AM 771 Views
As I'm translating some ancient Greek right now, I call bullshit on that. *NM* - 06/09/2009 08:45:46 PM 712 Views
EDIT: Last post was basically equally bullsh*t - 07/09/2009 12:17:01 AM 1309 Views
I was going to, but I felt I had already been pedantic enough. *NM* - 07/09/2009 02:34:04 AM 776 Views
Jane Eyre. - 06/09/2009 05:13:27 PM 1352 Views
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel - 06/09/2009 05:58:39 PM 1338 Views
Must remember this. *NM* - 06/09/2009 06:53:08 PM 742 Views
What do you mean? *NM* - 07/09/2009 10:43:58 AM 778 Views
Re: The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel - 06/09/2009 08:08:21 PM 1332 Views
well it was the best book in the series *NM* - 14/09/2009 04:37:27 PM 708 Views
Catcher in the Rye and Heart of Darkness, among the "classics." *NM* - 06/09/2009 08:15:12 PM 762 Views
Ooh! I second Catcher and the Rye. What a piece of garbage. - 06/09/2009 08:20:00 PM 1195 Views
I couldn't finish Heart of Darkness - 14/09/2009 04:39:00 PM 1367 Views
Vellum by Hal Duncan and The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson - 06/09/2009 08:16:12 PM 1401 Views
Hm. - 06/09/2009 11:20:40 PM 1314 Views
Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - 06/09/2009 08:24:07 PM 1293 Views
I didn't mind Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog...I mean Man - 07/09/2009 02:40:14 AM 1287 Views
Shame on you. Those books are truly Great. Especially Portrait. - 12/09/2009 10:52:40 PM 1325 Views
What? - 06/09/2009 08:28:17 PM 1474 Views
My problem with Wuthering Heights was the characters. - 06/09/2009 09:40:24 PM 1299 Views
Re: My problem with Wuthering Heights was the characters. - 07/09/2009 12:27:44 AM 1347 Views
Wait...you're a guy? - 07/09/2009 02:44:27 AM 1331 Views
Indeed. - 07/09/2009 03:01:59 AM 1334 Views
Stars in His Pocket Like Grains of Sand - 14/09/2009 04:41:16 PM 1517 Views
Oh, and maybe it was lost on me, but I never got much joy out of War and Peace - 07/09/2009 12:22:48 AM 1217 Views
War and Peace is pretty straightforward - 07/09/2009 02:43:25 AM 1354 Views
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell. - 07/09/2009 12:54:41 AM 1356 Views
Shame! Shaaaaame! *NM* - 07/09/2009 03:06:55 AM 714 Views
- 07/09/2009 06:13:26 AM 1244 Views
I'm not sure. - 20/09/2009 04:19:52 PM 1600 Views
It probably doesn't help but - 20/09/2009 06:17:34 PM 1695 Views
Don't flame me for saying it.... - 07/09/2009 04:49:40 AM 1401 Views
Nah. - 07/09/2009 05:18:23 AM 1259 Views
For me it was the other way around. - 07/09/2009 07:38:35 AM 1265 Views
You know, I kind of feel that way, too. - 08/09/2009 03:40:58 AM 1276 Views
One last one: Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley *NM* - 07/09/2009 07:44:48 AM 752 Views
*NM* - 07/09/2009 10:33:08 AM 736 Views
Awww man, I thought we got rid of you! *NM* - 07/09/2009 06:05:30 PM 685 Views
Have you ever seen the mini-series? - 07/09/2009 05:42:45 PM 1347 Views
I love really really bad TV movies sometimes....they make for lots of laughter - 07/09/2009 06:06:38 PM 1222 Views
Actually, you might like it. As in, think it's good. - 07/09/2009 06:11:14 PM 1264 Views
I had a couple of issues with the book that I could easily see being removed from the movie - 07/09/2009 07:01:40 PM 1203 Views
Yeah, you might like it then. - 07/09/2009 07:20:04 PM 1272 Views
A Confederacy of Dunces. - 08/09/2009 06:13:59 AM 1347 Views
Crap. That's two people now. - 09/09/2009 01:42:40 AM 1222 Views
Don't go by what I say. - 09/09/2009 03:11:17 AM 1305 Views
Anyone with more than half a brain wouldn't. *NM* - 09/09/2009 03:49:34 AM 760 Views
This sounds like a redshirt mission. *NM* - 14/09/2009 01:12:17 AM 747 Views
Re: Hardy - 09/09/2009 02:42:39 AM 1177 Views
Aw. I liked Confederacy. *NM* - 09/09/2009 06:15:10 AM 733 Views
That probably makes sense for someone from the area though. - 09/09/2009 08:02:23 PM 1344 Views
Oh, I forgot to mention Brave New World. - 08/09/2009 06:26:29 AM 1198 Views
Wha? - 08/09/2009 03:26:29 PM 1357 Views
Wha. - 08/09/2009 06:43:12 PM 1191 Views
*stands and applauds * Here here *NM* - 08/09/2009 08:19:53 PM 775 Views
The Road andOld Man and the Sea - 08/09/2009 04:16:11 PM 1258 Views
Time to give up your man card. *NM* - 12/09/2009 10:53:56 PM 724 Views
The great Gatsby and Romeo and Juliett. - 08/09/2009 08:24:23 PM 1278 Views
Word! - 08/09/2009 08:41:27 PM 1421 Views
Hitchickers guide to the galaxy and The Good earth by Pearl S. Buck - 09/09/2009 01:07:01 AM 1315 Views
Ah, man. I love both those books. *NM* - 09/09/2009 08:08:00 PM 760 Views

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