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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 1489 Views
This month is just making me hate classics. - 23/01/2011 12:06:08 AM 1319 Views
Aw. That's a shame. - 23/01/2011 12:21:10 AM 1235 Views
Re: Aw. That's a shame. - 23/01/2011 12:55:44 PM 1344 Views
Hrm... a high fantasy classic... - 23/01/2011 01:15:05 PM 1120 Views
Yeah? Okay... *NM* - 23/01/2011 01:16:15 PM 586 Views
Yes. - 23/01/2011 01:17:18 PM 1269 Views
Dunsany is good. And Grimm, but - 23/01/2011 01:25:40 PM 1144 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 586 Views
Perhaps Gormenghast? - 23/01/2011 01:58:50 PM 1300 Views
Perhaps, haven't read either Dunsany or Peake. - 23/01/2011 02:02:51 PM 1254 Views
Re: Perhaps, haven't read either Dunsany or Peake. - 23/01/2011 02:05:31 PM 1416 Views
Maybe Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? *NM* - 23/01/2011 02:20:49 PM 592 Views
Re: Dunsany is good. And Grimm, but - 23/01/2011 01:37:56 PM 1175 Views
Re: Dunsany is good. And Grimm, but - 23/01/2011 01:59:18 PM 1302 Views
H. Rider Haggard. - 23/01/2011 01:24:01 PM 1252 Views
Sounds interesting. - 23/01/2011 01:34:45 PM 1280 Views
Re: Sounds interesting. - 23/01/2011 01:39:34 PM 1340 Views
King Solomon's Mines is also awesome. - 23/01/2011 03:52:04 PM 1100 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 1318 Views
Precisely - 23/01/2011 09:40:26 AM 1525 Views
True true... - 23/01/2011 12:58:42 PM 1270 Views
Fortunately, that's precisely what this site aims to do! *NM* - 23/01/2011 01:34:16 PM 606 Views
You just aren't reading the right books (and reviews), it seems - 23/01/2011 12:41:07 AM 1334 Views
The Swiss Family Robinson is hardly a "classic", unless by "classic" you mean "old". - 23/01/2011 06:55:30 AM 1130 Views
Fine then. - 23/01/2011 01:02:48 PM 1200 Views
Re: This month is just making me hate classics. - 23/01/2011 09:05:52 AM 1315 Views
A lot of "classics" need proper context to be appreciated - 23/01/2011 12:22:44 PM 1493 Views
Well said. - 23/01/2011 12:46:35 PM 1317 Views
Re: Well said. - 24/01/2011 02:33:10 AM 1379 Views
Very true - 23/01/2011 01:04:56 PM 1252 Views
Speaking of Dumas... - 24/01/2011 02:45:02 AM 1116 Views
ooooh - 24/01/2011 08:51:46 AM 1428 Views
The Molière movie is called... wait for it... - 24/01/2011 10:21:48 PM 1258 Views
oooh - 24/01/2011 10:24:19 PM 1304 Views
Re: oooh - 24/01/2011 10:29:23 PM 1161 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 01:15:39 AM 1252 Views
I really should watch that movie. - 25/01/2011 09:43:35 PM 1209 Views
Re: I really should watch that movie. - 25/01/2011 11:15:10 PM 1359 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 01:50:04 AM 1180 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 10:22:21 AM 1337 Views
Re: oooh - 25/01/2011 12:46:30 PM 1360 Views
That's it! - 25/01/2011 12:50:18 PM 1381 Views
Re: A few thoughts on my Classic challenge book. Well, books, as it turns out. - 23/01/2011 06:25:50 AM 1272 Views
The big problem with Dracula is that it's an epistolary novel. - 23/01/2011 06:58:25 AM 1272 Views
Yeah, agreed. - 23/01/2011 09:46:57 AM 1216 Views
But Frankenstein doesn't even have good writing to recommend it. - 23/01/2011 10:09:58 AM 1203 Views
The challenge is making me wish I hadn't already read Frankenstein - 23/01/2011 07:38:49 AM 1896 Views
Really? - 23/01/2011 07:52:24 AM 1172 Views
I didn't mind The Importance of Being Earnest too much - 23/01/2011 08:38:14 AM 1870 Views
Frankenstein - 23/01/2011 09:05:10 AM 1302 Views
... - 23/01/2011 09:08:03 AM 1146 Views
Thank you. *NM* - 23/01/2011 10:10:34 AM 574 Views
For, as usual, being my wonderful, divine self and bringing light to the world? *NM* - 23/01/2011 10:12:30 AM 605 Views
Something like that. *NM* - 23/01/2011 10:15:37 AM 530 Views
There's a reason why they include Wilde among the "decadents". - 23/01/2011 10:16:33 AM 1212 Views
Re: A few thoughts on my Classic challenge book. Well, books, as it turns out. - 23/01/2011 08:53:01 AM 1236 Views
Yes. - 23/01/2011 10:15:04 AM 1223 Views
Re: Yes. - 23/01/2011 10:18:02 AM 1222 Views
I just read A Christmas Carol as well. It's very short, alright. - 02/02/2011 08:46:16 PM 1278 Views

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