Classics!!

Ok, so I like to read some classics. Some do totally suck.. And most of them are hard to get into.. But they're good. At least some of them.. (I have ADD so be prepared.) But some I couldn't get into. Like some of Dickens.
My absolute favorite classic so far is Wuthering Heights! I read it because of Twilight and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Wuthering Heights was painful. I couldn't get through the language and I've read books set in the 12th century written in Scottish brogue! And given that I hated Catherine and Heathcliffe so thoroughly, I just couldn't find it in me to push through.

Jane Austen books are great as are other Bronte books. I stumbled across a Pride, Prejudice...and Zombies book. It's Pride & Prejudice but with Zombies thrown in. Has anyone read that?

jedibarrister wrote:

Wuthering Heights was painful. I couldn't get through the language and I've read books set in the 12th century written in Scottish brogue! And given that I hated Catherine and Heathcliffe so thoroughly, I just couldn't find it in me to push through.

Jane Austen books are great as are other Bronte books. I stumbled across a Pride, Prejudice...and Zombies book. It's Pride & Prejudice but with Zombies thrown in. Has anyone read that?

No, but I definitely have to look it up now, haha. Sounds interesting.

Pride and Prejudice ZOMBIE style? It certainly would give a twist to the classic.

And I guess Wuthering Heights is just one of those books I like for odd reasons. *shrugs*

I loved Wuthering Heights a lot better than Jane Austen books. There was something about WH that ade it more interesting. Maybe because the main character didn't all end up happy in the end. It seemed more fun thant the ritualistic "find love and money - End up happy"
But that might just be me.

Oh crud. I accidently sent you a PM instead of responding on here.. So, I'll say it again. I agree with SecretMagic. Some of the appeal might be due to the fact that it's different and heartbreaking.

DhampirLoveInterest wrote:

Oh crud. I accidently sent you a PM instead of responding on here.. So, I'll say it again. I agree with SecretMagic. Some of the appeal might be due to the fact that it's different and heartbreaking.

I'm glad I checked here before the PM, it didn't make much sense by itself.
I definitely think that's it's appeal. Things don't seem so sugar coated in Wuthering Heights. That's not to say that everything goes well for Jane Austen's characters; but Wuthering Heights sets up a more realistic view of things.

I have seen the Pride, Prejudice and Zombies book in stores. It may be worth a look...perhaps renting from the Library.

They made us read the classics at school. Jane Eyre (I think), Wuthering Heights (I seriously don't remember much about it), Lord of the Flies (ick), To Kill A Mockingbird (zzzzzzz). One I actually enjoyed, and it may seem weird is, "All Quiet on the Western Front".

My teacher in Grade 13 (long story, don't ask, it's an Ontario thing) was disappointed that I wasn't all that into reading. She made it her mission to find something that would interest me. Y'see, I used to judge books by their thickness. LOL! She came upon "Crime and Punishment". Her reasoning was because I was into mysteries (like mystery movies/shows). OMG...I never did finish the book. It was really slow moving and with stuff that seemed 'blanked out' it made it difficult and confusing to read.

I liked the A&E mini-series version of Pride and Prejudice - Colin Firth!!!

Hmm, some classics I really enjoyed are Frankenstein and The Great Gatsby. Ooh and I LOVED The Stranger. And Sartre's play No Exit.
I'm currently reading Phantom of the Opera. And I fully intend on reading The Portrait of Dorian Gray.
My favorite book ever is On the Road by Kerouac.

I'm a book geek, but I tend to avoid the romantic stuff. As might be obvious. Who knows though, if enough people say its good I can change my mind. One of my all time favorite books is a supernatural-romance. A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb...not a classic but I had to plug it haha.

ugh, I didn't like Lord of the Flies all that much either Ballroomdancer13. My high school teachers always managed to pick books that put the class to sleep. I'm sure their excellent books under normal circumstances, but they never suited a classroom.

I bought The Picture of Dorian Gray last week, but my sister's reading it first.

My favourite classic at the moment is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass. Oh Alice.

SecretMagic wrote:

ugh, I didn't like Lord of the Flies all that much either Ballroomdancer13. My high school teachers always managed to pick books that put the class to sleep. I'm sure their excellent books under normal circumstances, but they never suited a classroom.

I bought The Picture of Dorian Gray last week, but my sister's reading it first.

My favourite classic at the moment is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass. Oh Alice.

I moved before I got to read Lord of the Flies, and from what I'm haring I'm glad I did haha.
No offense, but I read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and I kept wanting to slap her. LOL I've never been very patient with kids though.

[quote="DropDeadPoet"]

SecretMagic wrote:

ugh, I didn't like Lord of the Flies all
No offense, but I read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and I kept wanting to slap her. LOL I've never been very patient with kids though.

No offence taken. I just love it because there's no structure to it all. Everything is so messed up and nothing makes sense, it's wonderful!

I was also tortured with The Great Gatsby. So depressing! Ugh! Sorry DropDeadPoet. For the most part, I did NOT enjoy the books they made us read in HS. I DO remember reading The Stranger though. That was pretty good. That was part of a course we did called "World Literature in Translation".
They also made us suffer "Catcher in the Rye". Yeah, um, I didn't bother with the actual text. I used the notes. I couldn't be bothered. If the teacher knew, she didn't say anything or didn't care. LOL!

I DID enjoy most of the Shakespeare plays. The only ones I didn't like were Merchant Of Venice and The Tempest. The rest of them were OK. We did R&J, Hamlet, and MacBeth. I am definitely a 'tragedy' girl.

I loved Catcher in the Rye. And I'm very much a "depressing realistic novel" person, lol. I hated the way my teacher tore it apart though. I felt she had too much disdain for teenagers. She must've been one of those ultra-serious types back in school.
It's obvious that poor Holden has untreated PTSD and few care to really help him. Doesn't help he's inherently distrustful of adults.

Also, I think Shakespeare kicks ass.

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I DID enjoy most of the Shakespeare plays. The only ones I didn't like were Merchant Of Venice and The Tempest. The rest of them were OK. We did R&J, Hamlet, and MacBeth. I am definitely a 'tragedy' girl.

I'm glad someone else doesn't like Merchant of Venice too. It was the worst High School shakespeare play we read. I didn't mind The Tempest though, but at least I didn't that one in high school.
My all time favourite Shakespeare is A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was just so fun to read.

I'm all about the tragedies. I attended a performance of Midsummer Night's Dream and sorry, I didn't enjoy it. I thought it was weird.
Then at Uni, I took English my first year and they had us read Henry IV. In a word? Dreadful!

I've only read A Midsummer Night's Dream once and it was the first Shakespeare I read, so perhaps it's not as good as I remember it. But I love the idea of faeries wandering about playing match-maker. Each to their own.
I'm doing a shakespeare course at Uni this year (which I should be studying for...whoops) But we've only focused on a few plays and didn't really go too deep into them. It also helped that I'd read most of them before so I didn't find them all that bad.

It definitely helps if you've read the books before!

I had 'recycled' reading material from HS to a Uni paper. I took a course on Mystery fiction and I had read books by PD James. So I used those same ones I read to do a paper for that course.

Ballroomdancer13 wrote:

I had 'recycled' reading material from HS to a Uni paper. I took a course on Mystery fiction and I had read books by PD James. So I used those same ones I read to do a paper for that course.

I did that too with Shakespeare stuff. Had to do a speech for Antony and Cleopatra, so I got out all my old HS notes.

Well, I assume a majority of us have read Romeo and Juliet. I thought it was..Basically not too good.

I always loved the basic outline of Romeo and Juliet. I thought it was sweet that they wanted to be together forever, but also thought they were dipsticks for killing themselves.

I actually liked R & J.

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I thought it was sweet that they wanted to be together forever, but also thought they were dipsticks for killing themselves.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

i couldnt agree more. im a huge fan or R&J done get me wrong. but so much of the concept is flawed. they barely knew each other. and they died!

Ballroomdancer13 wrote:

They made us read the classics at school. Jane Eyre (I think), Wuthering Heights (I seriously don't remember much about it), Lord of the Flies (ick), To Kill A Mockingbird (zzzzzzz). One I actually enjoyed, and it may seem weird is, "All Quiet on the Western Front".

Jane Eyre is probably my favorite book (after VA of course :3). It's probably the only classic I've read that wasn't for school. lolz I liked To Kill A Mockingbird when I read it for school. Lord of the Flies... not so much.

I read Jane Eyre again recently and loved it. Why does it have to be so awesome? I've been trying to read Wuthering Heights, but I haven't been able to get into it. Will try again soon though. Maybe after I've read Blood Promise and need something to fill the gaping hole in my heart while I wait for Spirit Bound.

Between Blood Promise and Spirit Bound will be the 5th Georgina...or not. Both Spirit Bound and Succubus Shadows are due out in April 2010.