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62% of people pretend to have read classic novels
- Thread starter Messofanego
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Messofanego
Banned
Which one was it? The Haunted Mask, Welcome to Dead House, How I Got My Shrunken Head were my favourite. Jeez, I was a huge fan as a kid. In 1997, went to either universal studios or disney and got these:
Were these a bunch of housewives, lol? My favourite scene.
The Artful Dodger
Member
I don't understand pretending to read a book. Does that impress women more?
If so, maybe I'll start.
If so, maybe I'll start.
I don't find either of them are hard reads really. War and Peace is thick, but it's not hard. Most of Dicken's stuff was serialized and read by the masses. Which is true for a lot of the classics, they were the Game of Thrones of their time.
Dickens is pretty hit or miss for me. His bildungsromans does very little for me, but I love A Tale of Two Cities to death.
Thing is, if you find a book hard, just drop it (but give it a fair chance first). It's not for you and there's little point in forcing yourself through it.
You don't read many books, nah, just a shit ton, more or less...
Can that at least fill two bookcases? If so that probably qualifies as a small libraries worth.
I can't count the number of books I've read since the start of highschool but I'd imagine its nearly the same. Not counting school textbooks and assigned reading material.
Is that true? I find that hard to believe. I don't think I know anyone who doesn't read books.
Z..
Member
Not sure if serious. Genuinely. Are you Scandinavian or something?
A surprising bit of honesty.
I have to question why people think not wanting to read books in someone's leisure time is a sign of stupidity? Like how does not reading or not wanting to read literary fiction somehow makes someone lesser in regards to intellect?
Sure some interesting ideas are in fiction but it is not the only way these ideas can be expressed and it just seems to me that most use books as pompous display even going so far as to fake reading them as we see in this study
Sure some interesting ideas are in fiction but it is not the only way these ideas can be expressed and it just seems to me that most use books as pompous display even going so far as to fake reading them as we see in this study
Well, if you read a lot of well written stuff you're probably going to be a better speller and have a better conversational vocabulary than someone who doesn't. I would say being lower in those areas doesn't necessarily make someone stupid.
I won't deny that at all, in fact it's something I could certainly use! I think most people agree with what you said but my comment was more directed at the kind of people who see books as how I stated it. Anecdotal but, I personally have seen this and some posters here seem to reflect it
FreeMufasa
Junior Member
Anyone else just wait for the movie these days?
Ain't no body for got time for reading books
Ain't no body for got time for reading books
90% of the time you're waiting over 10 years and getting an inferior version. It isn't like it takes any longer to read a book than to play a game for example, why write off things you think you'll enjoy because you have to read to enjoy them?
zoleristec
Member
Never read any of the books mentioned in here, probably never will. Not a fan of fiction.
Krelian91
Member
Bolded the ones I've read.
I tried to read War & Peace and Crime & Punishment but never finished them. I should try again.
I don't understand why 1984 is so high on that list, it is really pretty short.
Its also the only one I've read on that list. I've tried Crime and Punishment a few times, just when I get to part Two I end up having something else to do. It also doesn't help that in my mind I've already made up an ending to the book by that point and now it feels I have read it.
Maybe this will be my goal next year.
Its also the only one I've read on that list. I've tried Crime and Punishment a few times, just when I get to part Two I end up having something else to do. It also doesn't help that in my mind I've already made up an ending to the book by that point and now it feels I have read it.
Maybe this will be my goal next year.
Meus Renaissance
Member
Thread has inspired me to order War and Peace
Chainsawkitten
Member
Hmm, so I did lie about finishing some books back in school, to the point where I'm not sure which ones I finished and which ones I didn't...
fredrancour
Member
It talks about gov't and surveillance and privacy, and gets alluded to in any such conversations, and "big brother is watching" is really famous. It is probably the most likely of those to be mentioned in a conversation so ppl have the most chances to pretend they read it.
gutter_trash
Banned
I got screwed at a job interview because I was asked stupid questions like
''what books have a read?'' ''What sports do you practice?''
I lied on both counts but it was obvious that I lied because of my eyes. I wasn't expect these questions for my type of job that has nothing to do with reading books or physical activities.
That is the only time that lied about having read some book because it was a job interview.
Maybe I should have been honest and said that I play video-games when it came to a video-game developer job
''what books have a read?'' ''What sports do you practice?''
I lied on both counts but it was obvious that I lied because of my eyes. I wasn't expect these questions for my type of job that has nothing to do with reading books or physical activities.
That is the only time that lied about having read some book because it was a job interview.
Maybe I should have been honest and said that I play video-games when it came to a video-game developer job
Supermanisdead
Member
Jane Eyre is some good shit, but everyone should read the pseudo-prequel: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.
The only piece of classic literature that I've ever actually lied about reading was Catcher in the Rye. Oddly enough, people seemed less impressed when I told them I also read Tolstoy and Dostoevsky (which I actually did) than when I told them about Salinger.
I guess Catcher in the Rye is just more recognizable than Crime and Punishment or War and Peace.
I guess Catcher in the Rye is just more recognizable than Crime and Punishment or War and Peace.
Grenouille
Member
Is it that bad?
David Copperfield is just too long and the better characters don't show up often enough. It has its brilliant bits sure, but i kind of lost interest after he grows up. I was hoping bleak house would be better.
CarpeDeezNutz
Member
We got thug notes now so who cares? I still feel good cos I read most of the books listed.
Same as me lol
Also, I did read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, that could technically count.
Devolution
Member
Fuck Ethan Frome. Just the fucking worst damn book I read over the course of high school.
equippedwithtowel
Member
Read 1984.
It's short, well written and has one of the best gut-punch third acts in classic literature.
Then read Brave New World so you can tell everyone it's more accurate and seem smart.
From that list, I read 1984, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Lord of the Rings, and the first three were required reading for high school English courses. So 4/10. I wish it were 3/10, I was an angsty disaffected teen at the time and I still wanted to slap the living shit out of Holden Caulfield for being such a whiny do-nothing little prick. That book was such a waste of my god damn time.
Don't know if these can be considered "classics" but I wish I could be lying about having read: Anthem (thankfully the ONLY Ayn Rand book I've read, and fuck you, AP English), Waiting for Godot (FUCK YOU AP ENGLISH), and Stranger in a Strange Land.
Don't know if these can be considered "classics" but I wish I could be lying about having read: Anthem (thankfully the ONLY Ayn Rand book I've read, and fuck you, AP English), Waiting for Godot (FUCK YOU AP ENGLISH), and Stranger in a Strange Land.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJp1ptX4F3M
Who needs to read when we have ghetto break downs of literature online.
Who needs to read when we have ghetto break downs of literature online.
Hard in what sense? I thought the beginning of Bleak House was a tad slow, but once it picked up I couldn't put it down. The chapters related by the girl (can't remember her name) are a breeze. The ones by the narrator are considerably less straight-forward and require a lot more attention, but I still wouldn't call them a hard read. Brilliant novel.
Whaaaaaaat?
I still hate Jack Warner for cancelling the Gary Cooper/Bette Davis film.
1984 by George Orwell yes.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy no. Watched the film.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens No. Watched the film.
Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger Yes.
A Passage to India by E M Forster No.
Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkein Yes.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Yes.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Yes.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Yes. I think.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy no. Watched the film.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens No. Watched the film.
Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger Yes.
A Passage to India by E M Forster No.
Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkein Yes.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Yes.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Yes.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Yes. I think.
smh.
Seriously. There are so many historical, geographical, and classic references, coupled with a vocabulary list that no one on this planet is sufficiently prepared for, that the book is almost incomprehensible.
The Artful Dodger
Member
Fixed.
Finnegan's Wake is the best book. I've never finished it, I constantly thumb through it, and with a few exceptions rarely understand what is going on. I call it my favorite book, I've never read.
Did you read a novelization of Waiting for Godot, or did you just read the script of the play in class?
I think it's a good play, but I don't think either of those would be a very good way to experience it.
Devolution
Member
A story about a miserable fuck who cheats behind his wife's ailing back with her cousin. Him and his lover go sledding, wreck themselves in a moment of "let's kill ourselves" and then the wife ends up taking care of both of them.
Between that and the boring prose, fuck that book.
I've been beaten, but Finnegan's wake is a better fit for what you are suggesting. I will agree that it is probably the most popular classic read with the least finishes.
It was the script of the play in a small paperback. Experiencing it as an actual play would have definitely been a lot better, since the physical comedy involved would have had some impact. But ultimately I found it boring, and writing a forced excessively long paper analyzing it sucked any possible enjoyment out of it.
I think that going through the process of learning literary analysis in high school killed any potential pleasure in actually doing so for me. I can still appreciate it when a writer uses the various literary tricks of the trade, but only if it's in the process of telling me an engaging story. So I can't really get into a novel that doesn't have an interesting plot on the surface even if it's a brilliant allegory for something else.
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