King Allant
Member
only read How to kill a Mocking Bird and Catcher in the Rye out of that list
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62% of people pretend to have read classic novels
- Thread starter Messofanego
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Sounds like a romance to me
Nah, romances are like all those Shakespeare stories where the two main characters are made for each other, but can't get together for whatever reason until the end. Romances are great, too, don't get me wrong. It's just that Jane Austen, under a paper-thin cover of romance, really wrote about morality and psychology.
I really liked Animal Farm, but I haven't read it since I was 15.
I wonder how many classics the average adult would have read if they weren't forced to read a bunch of them in secondary English classes. I'd bet money that 90% of the people who have read The Catcher in the Rye have only done so because it was assigned in class. That, Death of a Salesman, To Kill a Mockingbird, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest are pretty standard reads in United States/Canada. It would be hard to get through high school without being exposed to one of them.
umop_3pisdn
Member
It's kind of funny to lie about reading To Kill a Mockingbird, you can read that in like an afternoon. Dostoevsky or something I can kind of get, but you'd probably get caught.
ClassyPenguin
Banned
I've all of them on that list except War and Peace and A Passage to India.
As I suspected, this forum is filled with dirty, uncultured peasants.
As I suspected, this forum is filled with dirty, uncultured peasants.
Elaugaufein
Member
Well yes. I'd have to turn in my "real degree" club card if I seemed too much like a liberal arts major , it's nothing personal, I'm just professionally obligated to be dirty and uncultured.
TheKaeptain
Banned
I read only six of those in the OP. One day I will tackle the other ones like War and Peace.
I'm a math and physics major, I also studied computer science (which is pretty much how I make my living these days) and I have read every book on that list, come at me bro.
Not trying to be a dick, but your decision to not read those books has nothing to do with your chosen profession. If you're fine with it stop apologizing, if you don't, just read them, I promise you had to read more boring shit during you so called real degree.
Okay, maybe not more boring than A Passage to India, but the point still stands.
p.s.
if you have time to post on gaf, you have time to read some books.
1984: Read
War and Peace: Never read
Great Expectations: Read
Catcher in the Rye: Never finished
A Passage to India: Never read
Lord of the Rings: Read Fellowship
To Kill A Mockingbird: Read
Crime and Punishment: Never finished
Pride and Prejudice: Never finished
Jane Eyre: Never read
People don't typically seek out classic novels unless they are avid readers of fiction, which admittedly I am not. I really depends on what you were taught in school.
War and Peace: Never read
Great Expectations: Read
Catcher in the Rye: Never finished
A Passage to India: Never read
Lord of the Rings: Read Fellowship
To Kill A Mockingbird: Read
Crime and Punishment: Never finished
Pride and Prejudice: Never finished
Jane Eyre: Never read
People don't typically seek out classic novels unless they are avid readers of fiction, which admittedly I am not. I really depends on what you were taught in school.
umop_3pisdn
Member
Yeah, none of these are particularly challenging, unless you intend to read the Russian novels untranslated or something.
No Red Chamber? THAT'S THE BEST ONE.
User 100115
Banned
Of those I've read 1984 (it ruined me), To Kill A mockingbird, and Lord of the Rings. I've tried to get through Crime and Punishment several times but it doesn't hold my interest. And I've also read Moby Dick and The Odessy, though they aren't on the list.
Never was into any kind of romance, which is how a lot of those seem to a laymen, so I gave them a skip.
Never was into any kind of romance, which is how a lot of those seem to a laymen, so I gave them a skip.
Elaugaufein
Member
I was just digging back at the uncultured peasant thing. If you scroll up you'll see that I have read 4 of them. And that my overall evaluation of them is that I don't really understand the hype Classics get. I read a lot , just not classics.
Don't like to read books/novels at all. Pretty much only read books that were required readings for a course.
Have read 2 of the books from that list though.
To Kill A Mockingbird was the book we read for Grade 10 English class. So done that.
A Passage To India was actually a "choice" for me. We were allowed to choose whatever we wanted in Grade 12 English (but had to be approved by the teacher to make sure it's the appropriate level of reading and not some pop-up-picture book, LOL). But yeah, the teacher put 2 books on the desk and said whoever attempted one of these 2 books would get extra marks. I was the only one who chose from those (as I really didn't have any clue what I wanted to read since I'm not an avid reader, so may as well get some extra marks out of it).
Have read 2 of the books from that list though.
To Kill A Mockingbird was the book we read for Grade 10 English class. So done that.
A Passage To India was actually a "choice" for me. We were allowed to choose whatever we wanted in Grade 12 English (but had to be approved by the teacher to make sure it's the appropriate level of reading and not some pop-up-picture book, LOL). But yeah, the teacher put 2 books on the desk and said whoever attempted one of these 2 books would get extra marks. I was the only one who chose from those (as I really didn't have any clue what I wanted to read since I'm not an avid reader, so may as well get some extra marks out of it).
hydrophilic attack
Member
Why would anyone lie about something about that? If you are ashamed for not having read them, why don't you just read them? Out of those I have read 1984, War and Peace, Great Expectations, The Lord of the Rings and Crime and Punishment.
When I want to impress ladies I
There are only two skills required for reading classic novels -
The ability to read and the ability to stare at a piece of paper for a period of time.
If you are able to read Harry Potter or a college textbook, you possess all the skills necessary to read fucking Ulysses.
This obviously not guaranteeing you're going to lake (as I already said, I hated Ulysses) but reading classics is not hard and reading a book you like is the easiest thing ever.
I don't think that post was overly serious, and if it was, it was best to ignore it (for real, anyone who thinks that is either an idiot or a super-elitist, probably both).
p.s.
I would suggest you give "the classics" (i kinda hate that term, but i got nothing better) a shot, there are some amazing stuff there.
- 1984 by George Orwell – 26%
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy – 19%
- Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger – 15%
- Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkein – 11%
- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – 8%
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – 8%
- The Bible (3%)
- Homer’s Odyssey (3%)
- Wuthering Heights (2%).
Those are the ones I've read. Most of them are well worth their status. Don't care much for Pride and Prejudice, though, but have read it twice. The Bible is hit and miss. Crime and Punishment and War and Peace are amazing masterpieces.
I love reading "classics". They are famous for good reasons, and the issues they bring up are often as relevant today as when they first came out.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Not true. I just don't claim to have read all of it. More like 1/4th.
Yeah, what a weird statistic to include. The majority of books on my shelf are books I haven't read. Almost makes more sense to have books you haven't yet read than books you have read. Reminds me of that scene in Seinfeld.. "Books! Books! I need my books!" (I like holding on to books)
Colonel Mustard
Banned
Everyone is probably better off having not read Jane Eyre.
Messofanego
Banned
Ok, so I'm reading some William Burroughs books (because they're inspirations for some new videogame) and starting with The Soft Machine. What the fuuuu????
Oh wait, is this junkie lingo? Just take the very first line: "I was working the hole with the Sailor and we did not bad fifteen cents on average night boosting the afternoons and short timing the dawn we made out from the land of the free but I was running out of veins..."
Since there are no commas, it's kinda like stream of consciousness. I think I need to embody the character to fully appreciate this.
Oh wait, is this junkie lingo? Just take the very first line: "I was working the hole with the Sailor and we did not bad fifteen cents on average night boosting the afternoons and short timing the dawn we made out from the land of the free but I was running out of veins..."
Since there are no commas, it's kinda like stream of consciousness. I think I need to embody the character to fully appreciate this.
The implication is that many people are using books simply to affect an atmosphere of taste and sophistication when they carry no personal importance. Like a vase of flowers or a painting you get at Micheals or Ikea.
It's a little vain to buy books for the sole purpose of displaying them. I do not think I own any books that I haven't read, exept for certain textbooks that were "required" for courses but were never really used.
Considering it was released in 1951 I see the whole thing as just trying to be extremely edgy and that is why it got popular.
Great Expectations is infinitely better.
I guess i 'get' CiTR but it can go burn in the same pile as 50 Shades of Grey and The Awakening
This. Read Wuthering Heights instead.
I just read Anna Karenina for the first time last year and loved it. Longest book I've read in a long time, but it flew by.
umop_3pisdn
Member
I used to work at a popular thriftstore that carried books, naturally the bulk of them were 'classics' and those would be what I would buy. When you can buy like a handful of books for five dollars that's usually what I'd do after the end of my shift. I've maybe read like 10% of them. It's worth it if you don't move a lot to have them handy so you can read them if the whim strikes you.
Sounds like what happens with steam summer sales.
I have the same policy for those as well, I only buy the things I want to play immediately. If I buy a book, chances are I'm already reading it on the way home.
SteveWinwood
Member
Yeah but what if the society collapses or you get trapped on an island?
I'm banking on one of those happening later in life.
Messofanego
Banned
"His shorts dissolved in rectal mucous and carbolic soap. summer dawn smells from a vacant lot."
That's quite the image, Burroughs!
What does "rumbling" someone mean?
*urban dictionary*
Oooooh.
That's quite the image, Burroughs!
What does "rumbling" someone mean?
*urban dictionary*
- Verb. To be identified or picked out by a narcotics agent, police, or anyone else around that could potentially rat you out for drugs.
- "Take the phone. I don't want him to rumble my voice." WSB, The Soft Machine, p. 6 (1961).
Oooooh.
Where are you going to get the electricity to play your games???
SteveWinwood
Member
Batteries or solar power or something.
I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
But you don't need power for books!
Dorian Grey, Dance of Dragons, and Crime and Punishment are just sitting on my table waiting to be read.
I'm just glad I don't need glasses or that twilight zone would give me nightmares.
What will you do when steam complains it can't go online? Usually you have to tell steam to go offline while online or else it won't let you play your games.
HOW WILL YOU ACCOUNT FOR THIS IN YOUR POST-APOCALYPTIC GAMING SCENARIO?
HOW WILL YOU ACCOUNT FOR THIS IN YOUR POST-APOCALYPTIC GAMING SCENARIO?
OrlanisWorks
Banned
I've read To Kill A Mocking Bird, Lord of the Flies, Bud not Buddy, and those were the books I enjoyed. Great Gatsby wasn't too terrible.
I need to re-read Catcher in the Rye to see if I still think it is a brick of horseshit.
I need to re-read Catcher in the Rye to see if I still think it is a brick of horseshit.
Expected the Bible to be higher ... maybe people think that reading a few pages = reading the book
Read Orwel, Tolkien and Austen
Don't remember anything about Orwel since was a school read.
There is a chance my brain mixes the Austen novels with their movies ....
But then again, most of the list are classics of the english literature and ... well ... I rather read books written in portuguese =P
...except anything Neil Gaiman touches
Read Orwel, Tolkien and Austen
Don't remember anything about Orwel since was a school read.
There is a chance my brain mixes the Austen novels with their movies ....
But then again, most of the list are classics of the english literature and ... well ... I rather read books written in portuguese =P
...except anything Neil Gaiman touches
Purely anecdotal, but I've very rarely heard anyone claim they've read the entire bible. But then again, I'm from a fairly secular country.
I've read the entire Bible.
equippedwithtowel
Member
The issue I have with people going "lol BNW is way more accurate" is that Orwell wasn't writing about the 21st century. He was writing about the cold war. I mean ffs the novel is literally called 1984.
Things like regional superstates, proxy wars, the permanent state of war and long lived totalitarian communistic states were all referenced. Orwell wasn't prophesying a clear future for the west but rather giving a nightmare vision of the west under a Stalinesque regime.
And yes it's also much more compellingly written.
Which is strange since by MY anecdotal evidence, more atheists and non religious people read the bible than religious people who actualy believe in the bible
Race to be King
Banned
Aw man, you're in for a treat with The Picture of Dorian Gray! I'm kind of jealous of you getting to read it for the first time. Start it tonight! Once you've finished, you might want to check out A Rebours by JK Huysmans. You'll see why.
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