unforum

[elford]

[twistedpuppet]

[Lithp]

[CraicIsMighty]

Mark Twain knows what's going on

For real though, for all the hype and praise "Classic Novels" get, a lot of them really weren't that impressive IMO. There were only a handful of books I've read in school that I actually liked. I thought Jane Eyre, The Scarlet Letter, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were pretty good, and The Handmaiden's Tale and 1984 were alright, but other than that I really don't get what's so great about half of the books they make us read. I'm pretty sure people really do just praise them because they're old, if they were written today no one would look at them twice.

Especially the Great Gatsby. urgh, that book really didn't impress me very much considering everyone and their brother praises it as the end all be all Great American Novel.

[Ithilwen22]

[twistedpuppet]

[CraicIsMighty]

I actually read Jane Eyre and The Handmaiden's tale on my own as well, and Jane Eyre is the only classic novel I've read multiple times of my own free will.

I was pretty much the only person in my class who actually liked The Scarlet Letter. I would never say it's one of my favorite books, and I doubt I'll ever read it again, but for some reason I did enjoy it a little. I can easily see why other people don't like it though, it is a pretty boring book overall. The problem with most classic novels is that the authors were more concerned with preaching their moral than actually telling a story, which is the purpose of fiction. A lot of them probably should have just stuck with writing essays about whatever social ill they were tackling, because they weren't very good at immersing their moral into their story.

That's why I loved Huckleberry Finn so much. It's one of the few novels that actually managed to have an entertaining story while preaching a moral in a subtle way. Huck Finn and Jane Eyre are probably the only two I'd gladly read again.

[Grumplestiltskin]

Pffft. You were bored.

When I was in 6th grade, one of my teachers thought it would be a good idea to expose 11-year-olds to the Shirley Jackson story "The Lottery." After we'd read it, just in case we had not been freaked out quite enough, he showed us a film adaptation, thereby ensuring that I would never get those images out of my head.

I did not speak for two days.

[slendydreaming]

Jane Eyre and The Phantom of the Opera are my two favorite classics, I tend to read them again every so often. Reading POTO definetly helps your understanding of the Broadway show, and makes me feel so bad for Eric(the Phantom)!

[paladin181]

[Geneaux486]

[Serum]

No, you know what book sucks? Jacob Have I Loved, I forget the author, but I had to read it in high school and even though I don't remember the plot, I do remember hating every page of it.

[Grumplestiltskin]

[Teedub]

During this year (which has been my senior year of High school,) I was plagued with reading the Arthur Miller play The Crucible. I normally love the whole Salem Witch Trials gimmick in certain stories, but man, this sucked. I literally just read other books while we were reading it out loud in class, but managed to make decent grades on the quizzes because we went over the material often during class.

[twistedpuppet]