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62% of people pretend to have read classic novels
- Thread starter Messofanego
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Trent Strong
Banned
Why would you lie about having read some ridiculous fantasy book like LOTR? Reading about elves and orcs is supposed to make you seem smarter? Jesus.
Race to be King
Banned
Why not read it and find out? It's not too long, and then you can decide for yourself.
not psycho
Member
I've lied about reading books before, but only when someone was recommending it to me and I didn't want to dismiss them, but also knew I wasn't going to read it. Thus "oh, yeah, I read that a while back."
You've read the same ones I have, with the exception of Crime and Punishment.
I highly recommend it. To me it is the best use of language ever printed to sequential pages.
You've read the same ones I have, with the exception of Crime and Punishment.
I highly recommend it. To me it is the best use of language ever printed to sequential pages.
SquiddyCracker
Banned
I've read two of those and checked the wikipedia articles for the others (so I know just as much about them).
Yeah like I said earlier I read it recently and really liked it. I don't know if I've ever read a piece of literature where the author puts you in the head of the protagonist so well.
I'll confess to being part of the 62%. I wrote a critique of Moby-Dick in college after reading the first chapter and skimming the rest of the book. A while later I got into a bit of an argument with a cousin of mine about whether or not it was any good. I never admitted that I never actually read it.
ymoc
Member
Worst first reply ever?
I'd just quickly and HIGHLY recommend The Red and the Black by Stendhal.
This man has seriously one of the best writing styles you'll ever find.
Truly a masterpiece.
Though it ends kinda abruptly, at least is seems so to me. During the second half of the book there are so many indications of a deeper plot and happenings, but then it all comes to a suddend end. I just can't shake the feeling there was a lot more the author wanted to write about, but somehow decided to finish the book with a quick wrap. Or maybe it's just me, I dunno...
Freshmaker
I am Korean.
50x confirmed.
Use Thug Notes to get an idea of the rest, thats what I did..... =D
Darkmakaimura
Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
I had a former friend (emphasis on former) who tried to impress a girl by quoting lines from books and poetry. The guy is a fucking violent drunk, pill popping, constantly angry douchebag who wouldn't understand half of what he was telling her.
As far as me, I haven't read any one of those books listed nor what I lie about doing so to impress someone. The most classics I read were short Edgar Allen Poe stories back in high school.
Old issues of Electronic Gaming back in the 80's and Game Informer doesn't count, do they?
As far as me, I haven't read any one of those books listed nor what I lie about doing so to impress someone. The most classics I read were short Edgar Allen Poe stories back in high school.
Old issues of Electronic Gaming back in the 80's and Game Informer doesn't count, do they?
Z..
Member
They have a much slower burn when compared to more contemporary novels, but that hardly makes them boring.
Trent Strong
Banned
Weird, I just bought The Red and The Black yesterday. I had never heard of it before, but Amazon recommended it because I had read Lost Illusions by Balzac, and since it was only a dollar I said 'what the hell?".
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Speaking of which, how was Lost Illusions? That's the Balzac I want to start on. No Proust yet.
ymoc
Member
: ) It can't be a coincidence! You were meant to read this book hahaha.
Just one warning....how should I put it...Don't let the (over)stretched "romantic" parts of the book distract you (especially in the first part of the book). It seriously picks up after that.
not psycho
Member
These are the most common books I lie about having read:
1. The Master and Margarita
2. Under the Volcano
3. Lolita
4. Atlas Shrugged
5. Finnegans Wake
I hope The Master and Margarita is funny, because I usually claim that it was. Lolita and Atlas Shrugged I feel like I know enough about to give a decent impression that I've actually read them.
1. The Master and Margarita
2. Under the Volcano
3. Lolita
4. Atlas Shrugged
5. Finnegans Wake
I hope The Master and Margarita is funny, because I usually claim that it was. Lolita and Atlas Shrugged I feel like I know enough about to give a decent impression that I've actually read them.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
I actually had Master and Margarita for a while, but I sold it to pay for a Borges collection. Manuscripts don't burn, they just get turned into lackluster film adaptations.
Yeah, during this time I was also a member of the Doubleday book clubs and was spending hundreds on contemporary books as well. Mostly, a lot of smut, Patricia Cromwell, and Dean Koontz. I needed something light to read too! Of course, I had a job that I only worked 8 hours Saturday and Sunday evenings and was off the rest of the week. I had a lot of free time.
Kitschkraft
Member
I read The Hobbit and tried to get through LOTR but that shit was just unbearable after having seen the film. Gave up on it around the time they finally got out of the Shire.
Never touched any of the other books on the list. Not necessarily "proud" about it...I just don't have the willpower to get through those types of books.
My highschool English experience was kinda weird. Most of the kids in my highschool read The Great Gatsby, Animal Farm, and 1984 (Or, at least 2 of those three books), depending on who they had as a teacher. I ended up with some of the newer teachers who didn't seem to follow the state guidelines, and I ended up reading Ethan Frome and....Mind of My Mind by Octavia E. Butler. Ethan Frome is probably the type of book that turns people off from these types of books...cot damn did that feel pointless. Mind of My Mind is a science fiction book, by a black female author in the 70's...it was awesome fun and I ended up finding more of the authors work and reading it later. That was a funny class, the teacher gave everyone a separate book to read and at the end of the semester we had to write a report on it and talk about it in class. Unorthadox, but actually kind of cool as she gave everyone a book that she felt they could relate to in some fashion.
I took community college courses my senior year in highschool, and we did read Hamlet...it was actually a good experience, because we read it in class and the professor would explain every single detail after we were finished reading for the day. Still, would have hated it on my own.
I think that, when looking at my entire schooling experience, the author I ended up reading the most was Edgar Allen Poe. I'm guessing that this is true for many American. I like him, interesting life, and wrote some pretty twisted things.
Never touched any of the other books on the list. Not necessarily "proud" about it...I just don't have the willpower to get through those types of books.
My highschool English experience was kinda weird. Most of the kids in my highschool read The Great Gatsby, Animal Farm, and 1984 (Or, at least 2 of those three books), depending on who they had as a teacher. I ended up with some of the newer teachers who didn't seem to follow the state guidelines, and I ended up reading Ethan Frome and....Mind of My Mind by Octavia E. Butler. Ethan Frome is probably the type of book that turns people off from these types of books...cot damn did that feel pointless. Mind of My Mind is a science fiction book, by a black female author in the 70's...it was awesome fun and I ended up finding more of the authors work and reading it later. That was a funny class, the teacher gave everyone a separate book to read and at the end of the semester we had to write a report on it and talk about it in class. Unorthadox, but actually kind of cool as she gave everyone a book that she felt they could relate to in some fashion.
I took community college courses my senior year in highschool, and we did read Hamlet...it was actually a good experience, because we read it in class and the professor would explain every single detail after we were finished reading for the day. Still, would have hated it on my own.
I think that, when looking at my entire schooling experience, the author I ended up reading the most was Edgar Allen Poe. I'm guessing that this is true for many American. I like him, interesting life, and wrote some pretty twisted things.
what_rhythm
Neo Member
wait, where did 62% come from
Kitschkraft
Member
I think that it means that not everyone claims to have read all or even many of those books, but 62 % claim to have read at least one of them when they haven't.
Race to be King
Banned
There are lots of film adaptations of Hamlet that you might enjoy too, and it helps seeing it in context. There's one with Kenneth Branagh that's pretty good, and another with Russell Crowe that's more hammy.
Maybe you'd like Macbeth as well.
Part of me understands why people lie about 1984 because of it's political importance, but really the goddamn thing is 300 pages, if that, and Orwell's writing can be understood by fucking gradeschoolers. It's not exactly a difficult read.
Most of the stuff I read these days is nonfiction, don't really find the time to read as much fiction as I would like..
Most of the stuff I read these days is nonfiction, don't really find the time to read as much fiction as I would like..
Exactly. Now if it was something like The Sound and the Fury, then I could understand why they might not want to read it lol.
equippedwithtowel
Member
Novels aren't reducible to their component elements in that way.
TKAM is not an american landmark solely because it covered racial issue and was published in era it was.
You don't have to like the novel personally but to dismiss it in such a manner is reductive in the extreme
Fix that.
If John Waters doesn't think people should fuck you, then what are you doing with your life?
ChubbyHuggs
Member
I tried to read most of them, but I became bored through most.
To Far Away Times
Member
I feel other mediums do a better job at communication than books.
Satanic Saint
Member
- 1984 by George Orwell Read and loved it.
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Didn't read.
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Gave up reading.
- Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger Read it and liked it.
- A Passage to India by E M Forster Never heard of it.
- Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkein Read it and liked it.
- To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Read it and loved it.
- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Never heard of it.
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Didn't read.
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Read it and hated it.
You should read Lolita. Nabokov is close to unbeatable as a prose stylist. Such a mesmerizing use of language, and in Lolita's case it's very self-aware about that fact too, as Humbert is a literary scholar who knowingly uses highly eloquent and poetic prose to tell his story and attempt to charm the reader.
Trent Strong
Banned
I enjoyed it. It starts pretty slowly, but once it gets going it'll get it's hooks in you.
You feel wrong.
not psycho
Member
Oh yeah, come to think of it I did read it a while back. I had a false start at it, which always makes me forget I went back and finished it. I totally agree with your description and would recommend it h...
No, no, sorry. Maybe I will read it someday.
Rhomega Beta
Member
I hear this is virtually unreadable anyway.
Freeza Under The Shower
Member
I don't, but I can't concentrate on while reading lately.
It's really starting to annoy me, since I've got whole cabinets of books I still need to read (because I bought them). And yes, paper books, not that electronic crap.
read of that list:
1984
to kill a mockingbird
it's a rather odd list to be honest. No one in the right mind would bother reading The Lord of The Rings given its size and story. Might as well go and read the fucking Bible while you're at it. Good god, how dull.
oh, and for the record: if you want to know what a drunk pirate Yoda would write, TRY reading Heart of Darkness. pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff nope
It's seems strange to me that so many people even have to lie. Those books seem common enough. They're kinda forced on you, I would think, in most high schools.
As for reading as a medium. I personally think it's an excellent medium. It's one of the few mediums, that, depending on the content, I can really imagine myself in the book. I don't know if that's strange or not to anyone else. Sometimes there's too much of a barrier and I imagine myself as just some spectator. Other times, I project myself as the protagonist.
It requires a strong imagination and I guess that's one thing I'm known for. I do some personal creative writing of my own. I think that what keeps some people from enjoying a novel. The fact that you need to be able to imagine what you read to really visualize it. It was a skill I didn't gain till 10th grade.
As for reading as a medium. I personally think it's an excellent medium. It's one of the few mediums, that, depending on the content, I can really imagine myself in the book. I don't know if that's strange or not to anyone else. Sometimes there's too much of a barrier and I imagine myself as just some spectator. Other times, I project myself as the protagonist.
It requires a strong imagination and I guess that's one thing I'm known for. I do some personal creative writing of my own. I think that what keeps some people from enjoying a novel. The fact that you need to be able to imagine what you read to really visualize it. It was a skill I didn't gain till 10th grade.
Balzac is my favourite writer and you'd have to break my fingers to get me to say anything negative about any of his works but I'd start with Père Goriot or Cousin Bette.
triplestation
Member
i know people in real life that out of the blue started reading books and 1984 was included in the books read
some people just want to give the impression that they are book readers to appear literature savvy or something
just watch movies and stfu with your damn big brother bullshit fucking posers
some people just want to give the impression that they are book readers to appear literature savvy or something
just watch movies and stfu with your damn big brother bullshit fucking posers
Cameron122
Member
I'm on chapter 22 of War and Peace believe me ;~;
Haha
Yeah, I started in August 2011, with Don Quixote, or basically everything from this page through page one. I have slowed down a lot from my frenzied initial pace, though, and I've been reading a lot more comics than I was before. It's just easier to do with this job, and certain evil posters made lots of great suggestions.
I have, in fact, read Planetary, the initial run of Runaways and the first six issues of (2005), the first three trade collections of The Unwritten, and the Rucka and Brubaker run of Gotham Central
I am guessing you meant Patricia Cornwell? I read a lot of those Kay Scarpetta novels in high school! I think Body Farm was the first one I read. I had a rather macabre interest in forensics and true crime and murder-y stuff when I was younger and so it was right up my alley.
But if it was Cromwell, well, I have no idea.
The Master and Margarita is funny at times, but it's not a comedy book.
It's also like the greatest book ever, you should give it a go.
Lolita is brilliant and very easy to read, it has a fantastic flow to it, just read the first page, that shit will hook you up.
As for the others, I thought Finnegans Wake is borderline unreadable and Atlas Shrugged fucking blows. I have not read Under the Volcano.
Nice.
It wasn't Cromwell. Thanks for catching that.
Dreams-Visions
Member
I feel like everyone has read at least one of those in Jr High or High School. Or, they were instructed to.
Figure that'd be the case for most.
For me:
1984 by George Orwell high school
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy never
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens never
Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger high school
A Passage to India by E M Forster never
Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkein read because of the movies
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee middle school
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky college
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen high school
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë never
I don't feign to reading classic novels and outright tell people I have little interest in them since my taste in books is so specific, but I certainly feign interest with friends that live and breathe classic novels.
They literally asked the whole group "Which classic author would you go on a date with?" I responded [to myself], "Why am I friends with these people again?" and most everyone said an author that went over my head while I said aloud, "Ernest Hemingway because he was hot in Midnight in Paris."
They literally asked the whole group "Which classic author would you go on a date with?" I responded [to myself], "Why am I friends with these people again?" and most everyone said an author that went over my head while I said aloud, "Ernest Hemingway because he was hot in Midnight in Paris."
What's funny is I did read a lot of those while in school, but that was a long time ago. I don't think I could have an intelligent conversation about most of them today. I more or less remember the reason they were important and what I took away from the story at the time I read them. I don't remember a lot of the details because it has been so long.
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