So right now I should really really be inputting midterm grades onto my computer, or creating a midterm for the class that still has yet to take their exam, or editing all the awful paragraphs that were turned in days and days ago by my writing class...but none of those ideas sound remotely appealing, so instead, I'm going to write frivolous and unimportant things to distract myself.
I have a problem. I'm reading a book that is supposedly a classic, supposedly really great, supposedly a book that everyone should read because it's Important. And plus, it sounded interesting. So I decided to read it.
But I HATE it.
And I really don't want to keep reading it, but I have a hard time putting down a book once I've started it. It's this compulsion to keep reading, even though I'm miserable when I read it, and even more so after I put it down. Is this normal? Do any of you have trouble discarding a book once you've started it?
I wasn't going to name names, but....I'm going to anyway. The hateful book is Madam Bovary (so to answer your question, Marlo, no, I don't like it very much). Has anyone out there read it? Does Emma get any less irritating and obnoxious?
*I haven't forgotten about my lil poll to the right...I promise I'll tell you about it in a day or two. Don't let the suspense get to you.
4 comments:
I rarely give up on a book until I'm halfway through. If I'm hating it and I'm already that far in, it's time to give up.
And while I profess to have never heard of this particular book, I find that many 'classic' books are overrated, so I wouldn't feel bad about hating it.
she never gets any better. and that, i think, is the point of the book. she wants to live this wonderful, romantic life and be this extraordinary romantic heroine, but she's shallow and incredibly selfish, and lives a pathetic, beyond mundane life.
just skip to the last two chapters.
you're not obligated to like a book because it's a classic. personal taste still trumps all when it comes to enjoying a book, or any other work of art.
I did like the book. But then again, I also like Kate Chopin's short stories, some of which have characters similar to Emma but more likable.
I have had the same dilemma with some books as to whether I *should* finish them or not. Sometimes, though, I think the agony of trudging through a book and the lives of characters you despise is part of the point of the book. In retrospect, that is how I feel about Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage, which I think it aptly named for a variety of reasons :)And I am a sort of completionist (is that a word?) so I have a craziness for finishing things-- I can't even turn off a Beatles song in the middle of it, gotta listen to it all the way through. That said, there are some books that I haven't finished because I simply lose interest (ie, I only read 8 pages of the first Harry Potter. . . go on stone me now, hehe) or because the writing style/plot/characters are just a bit too much for me. The complete works of Flannery O'Conner is a good example. Too much O'Conner all at once; smaller snatches probably would have worked better for me.
At any rate, if you really don't want to finish a book, whether or not it is considered a classic, then don't. I don't think that not finishing a book reflects anything except the fact that you didn't like that particular one.
Like Ry Ry, it's hard for me to stop reading a book, even when it's the lamest book in the world (uh, like "Moby Dick").
I would barrel through it, even if it is horribly lame. Then you'll never be obligated to read it again. Whip out your amazing speed reading skills! :)
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