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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 1977 Views
I have a couple I really disliked - 06/09/2009 05:28:38 AM 1374 Views
I agree. - 06/09/2009 05:49:28 AM 1378 Views
Ohhhh quotefail! - 06/09/2009 05:54:02 AM 1427 Views
I saw that. - 06/09/2009 06:03:29 AM 1266 Views
You actually read Monkey Bridge? - 06/09/2009 02:47:39 PM 1272 Views
Haha, I'm surprised anyone has heard of it here - 06/09/2009 04:43:59 PM 1253 Views
Some examples - 07/09/2009 08:25:37 PM 1176 Views
Political polemics, for one. Utopian novels, for another. - 06/09/2009 05:29:54 AM 1195 Views
People always recommend I read Ayn Rand - 06/09/2009 02:51:25 PM 1360 Views
I started The Fountainhead. It was pretty dreadful. *NM* - 06/09/2009 08:44:31 PM 723 Views
The Wanderer's Tale by David Bilsborough. - 06/09/2009 06:24:49 AM 1311 Views
YES! - 07/09/2009 06:10:29 AM 1198 Views
Oh, a lot of things. But I wonder. - 06/09/2009 07:00:34 AM 1336 Views
Re: Oh, a lot of things. But I wonder. - 06/09/2009 07:05:51 AM 1301 Views
! - 06/09/2009 06:50:42 PM 1288 Views
Re: ! - 06/09/2009 07:22:43 PM 1184 Views
Well, I do plan on reading it. - 07/09/2009 03:38:26 AM 1249 Views
In fantasy, Vellum and Ink were terrible - 06/09/2009 02:54:05 PM 1264 Views
Duly noted! - 06/09/2009 06:51:22 PM 1249 Views
Oh plenty - 06/09/2009 09:37:23 AM 1310 Views
I hated Wuthering Heights more than Jane Eyre, but I hated Jane Eyre, too. *NM* - 06/09/2009 02:54:49 PM 762 Views
I was never forced to read Wuthering heights - 06/09/2009 03:44:59 PM 1356 Views
I disliked both as well... more than disliked. *NM* - 09/09/2009 08:59:37 PM 772 Views
Well... - 09/09/2009 09:01:18 PM 1268 Views
I like all books I have ever read. - 06/09/2009 12:09:51 PM 1351 Views
You hated The Brothers Karamazov? - 06/09/2009 02:59:16 PM 1283 Views
Umm, yeah. - 06/09/2009 03:28:30 PM 1445 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 738 Views
Oh man, the prologue to the Wife of Bath was horrible. - 06/09/2009 05:11:39 PM 1206 Views
The Canterbury Tales are not Old English. They are Middle English. - 06/09/2009 05:59:59 PM 1370 Views
Edit: ignore this, what I had before was blatantly untrue *NM* - 07/09/2009 12:11:37 AM 745 Views
As I'm translating some ancient Greek right now, I call bullshit on that. *NM* - 06/09/2009 08:45:46 PM 687 Views
EDIT: Last post was basically equally bullsh*t - 07/09/2009 12:17:01 AM 1259 Views
I was going to, but I felt I had already been pedantic enough. *NM* - 07/09/2009 02:34:04 AM 750 Views
Jane Eyre. - 06/09/2009 05:13:27 PM 1288 Views
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel - 06/09/2009 05:58:39 PM 1290 Views
Must remember this. *NM* - 06/09/2009 06:53:08 PM 718 Views
What do you mean? *NM* - 07/09/2009 10:43:58 AM 748 Views
Re: The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel - 06/09/2009 08:08:21 PM 1280 Views
well it was the best book in the series *NM* - 14/09/2009 04:37:27 PM 678 Views
Catcher in the Rye and Heart of Darkness, among the "classics." *NM* - 06/09/2009 08:15:12 PM 729 Views
Ooh! I second Catcher and the Rye. What a piece of garbage. - 06/09/2009 08:20:00 PM 1131 Views
I couldn't finish Heart of Darkness - 14/09/2009 04:39:00 PM 1316 Views
Vellum by Hal Duncan and The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson - 06/09/2009 08:16:12 PM 1347 Views
Hm. - 06/09/2009 11:20:40 PM 1265 Views
Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - 06/09/2009 08:24:07 PM 1246 Views
I didn't mind Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog...I mean Man - 07/09/2009 02:40:14 AM 1237 Views
Shame on you. Those books are truly Great. Especially Portrait. - 12/09/2009 10:52:40 PM 1272 Views
What? - 06/09/2009 08:28:17 PM 1420 Views
My problem with Wuthering Heights was the characters. - 06/09/2009 09:40:24 PM 1245 Views
Re: My problem with Wuthering Heights was the characters. - 07/09/2009 12:27:44 AM 1286 Views
Wait...you're a guy? - 07/09/2009 02:44:27 AM 1278 Views
Indeed. - 07/09/2009 03:01:59 AM 1290 Views
Stars in His Pocket Like Grains of Sand - 14/09/2009 04:41:16 PM 1458 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 1161 Views
War and Peace is pretty straightforward - 07/09/2009 02:43:25 AM 1300 Views
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell. - 07/09/2009 12:54:41 AM 1302 Views
Shame! Shaaaaame! *NM* - 07/09/2009 03:06:55 AM 691 Views
- 07/09/2009 06:13:26 AM 1201 Views
I'm not sure. - 20/09/2009 04:19:52 PM 1547 Views
It probably doesn't help but - 20/09/2009 06:17:34 PM 1633 Views
Don't flame me for saying it.... - 07/09/2009 04:49:40 AM 1359 Views
Nah. - 07/09/2009 05:18:23 AM 1214 Views
For me it was the other way around. - 07/09/2009 07:38:35 AM 1211 Views
You know, I kind of feel that way, too. - 08/09/2009 03:40:58 AM 1238 Views
One last one: Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley *NM* - 07/09/2009 07:44:48 AM 730 Views
*NM* - 07/09/2009 10:33:08 AM 704 Views
Awww man, I thought we got rid of you! *NM* - 07/09/2009 06:05:30 PM 668 Views
Have you ever seen the mini-series? - 07/09/2009 05:42:45 PM 1288 Views
I love really really bad TV movies sometimes....they make for lots of laughter - 07/09/2009 06:06:38 PM 1165 Views
Actually, you might like it. As in, think it's good. - 07/09/2009 06:11:14 PM 1213 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 1153 Views
Yeah, you might like it then. - 07/09/2009 07:20:04 PM 1220 Views
A Confederacy of Dunces. - 08/09/2009 06:13:59 AM 1294 Views
Crap. That's two people now. - 09/09/2009 01:42:40 AM 1166 Views
Don't go by what I say. - 09/09/2009 03:11:17 AM 1246 Views
Anyone with more than half a brain wouldn't. *NM* - 09/09/2009 03:49:34 AM 732 Views
This sounds like a redshirt mission. *NM* - 14/09/2009 01:12:17 AM 722 Views
Re: Hardy - 09/09/2009 02:42:39 AM 1133 Views
Aw. I liked Confederacy. *NM* - 09/09/2009 06:15:10 AM 705 Views
That probably makes sense for someone from the area though. - 09/09/2009 08:02:23 PM 1290 Views
Oh, I forgot to mention Brave New World. - 08/09/2009 06:26:29 AM 1155 Views
Wha? - 08/09/2009 03:26:29 PM 1303 Views
Wha. - 08/09/2009 06:43:12 PM 1142 Views
*stands and applauds * Here here *NM* - 08/09/2009 08:19:53 PM 748 Views
The Road andOld Man and the Sea - 08/09/2009 04:16:11 PM 1191 Views
Time to give up your man card. *NM* - 12/09/2009 10:53:56 PM 701 Views
The great Gatsby and Romeo and Juliett. - 08/09/2009 08:24:23 PM 1225 Views
Word! - 08/09/2009 08:41:27 PM 1372 Views
Hitchickers guide to the galaxy and The Good earth by Pearl S. Buck - 09/09/2009 01:07:01 AM 1264 Views
Ah, man. I love both those books. *NM* - 09/09/2009 08:08:00 PM 737 Views

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