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A Classic That You Keep Meaning To Read

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  • 20-10-2005 3:32pm
    #1
    missingtime
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,942 ✭✭✭


    Is there anyone that has just finished/just started a book that they should have read ages ago?

    For me it was The Catcher in the Rye.


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    #2
    Nimrod's Son
    Closed Accounts Posts: 664 ✭✭✭Nimrod's Son


    Ditto (I thought it was pants BTW). War and Peace is staring at me at home but I can't bring myself to start it just yet. It looks so darn long!


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    #3
    Dades
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    Oddly enough it was CITR for me too.

    Finished it last month and thought it was so overrated I started a rant thread about it here. :D

    Never read The Grapes of Wrath. Maybe next year.


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    #4
    missingtime
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,942 ✭✭✭missingtime


    Aww I quite liked Catcher In the Rye. There is loads I keep meaning to read. I started Hitchhikers Guide but I kinda lost my way with it.


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    #5
    the dice man
    Closed Accounts Posts: 33 ✭the dice man


    The Atheist wrote:

    Never read The Grapes of Wrath. Maybe next year.

    You should definitly read it, first 100 pages are a bit slow but then it really picks up.

    Funnily enough I bought East of Eden straight after I read Grapes of Wrath and still haven't read it so I really should get started on that sometime soon.


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    #6
    chump
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,807 ✭✭✭chump


    East of Eden well worth the read...
    I keep meaning to read Catch 22, I don't know why I dod... I just do

    Last book I read was The Time Travellers Wife... brilliant read


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    #7
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,725 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Still have the second half of the second part of Don Quixote to finish.

    And most of Crime and Punishment.


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    #8
    Nimrod's Son
    Closed Accounts Posts: 664 ✭✭✭Nimrod's Son


    chump wrote:
    East of Eden well worth the read...
    I keep meaning to read Catch 22, I don't know why I dod... I just do

    Read it ASAP. Brilliant book. Funny as **** as well. You can't go wrong, I guarantee!


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    #9
    NoDayBut2Day
    Closed Accounts Posts: 944 ✭✭✭NoDayBut2Day


    For me, it's Phantom of the Opera. I have the book and started it, but never did finish it. I like the musical better, anyway. :rolleyes:


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    #10
    arbeitsscheuer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,391 ✭✭✭arbeitsscheuer


    I've been meaning to finish Closing Time - the sequel to Catch 22, by Jospeh Hellar, for about a year now.

    Started it, waded half way thru, with difficulty, and then put it down.
    And I have not resumed reading it since.

    In fact, I've started another Joseph Hellar classic, God Knows, so hopefully I'll at least finish this one...


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    #11
    tSubh Dearg
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 5,555 ✭✭✭tSubh Dearg


    I keep meaning to read Wuthering Heights. One of these days I will get around to it.


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    #12
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,725 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    tSubh Dearg wrote:
    I keep meaning to read Wuthering Heights. One of these days I will get around to it.
    I picked up a copy of Wuthering Heights according to Spike Milligan, so now I'll have to read the original first ..


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    #13
    OfflerCrocGod
    Registered Users Posts: 6,294 ✭✭✭OfflerCrocGod


    tSubh Dearg wrote:
    I keep meaning to read Wuthering Heights. One of these days I will get around to it.
    Dull. Don't bother.


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    #14
    tSubh Dearg
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 5,555 ✭✭✭tSubh Dearg


    My latest plan is to get my grandchildren to read it aloud to me when I'm in my dotage. :)

    I've a couple of others I keep meaning to read as they are part of this set I got called "52 Books you must Read". I had already read about half of them so now I'm slowly working my way through the others recommended.


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    #15
    lofto
    Registered Users Posts: 90 ✭✭lofto


    a book i have heard somuch about but have yet to read is "on the Road" by John something?. Have heard a lot about it but have yet to pick it up, heard people on another thread before saying it was very much like 'catcher in the rye'. a book that i really enjoyed re-reading recently was 'Twelve bar blues', would definitely recommend it.


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    #16
    Closing Doors
    Closed Accounts Posts: 226 ✭✭Closing Doors


    lofto wrote:
    a book i have heard somuch about but have yet to read is "on the Road" by John something?.

    I assume it's Jack Kerouac, "On the Road". Brilliant book btw.


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    #17
    Dades
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    lofto wrote:
    heard people on another thread before saying it was very much like 'catcher in the rye'.
    Aaargh! ;)

    I stated a thread wondering how two books that inspired a generation could be so different. I've enjoyed On The Road many times, but found Catcher in the Rye irritating and pointless.

    If you're going to read OTR (and you should), take it on the road with you for the full effect.


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    #18
    GumDropButtons
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19 ✭GumDropButtons


    Just finished Le Morte D'Arthur... took me about a year to get through! Read about twenty other books before I finished it.


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    #19
    gaf1983
    Registered Users Posts: 1,207 ✭✭✭gaf1983


    should I finish The Brothers Karamazov? I read about 300 pages during the summer but Christ it's long and I've read other stuff since - is it worth the effort?


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    #20
    Dagnir Glaurung
    Closed Accounts Posts: 304 ✭✭Dagnir Glaurung


    gaf1983 wrote:
    should I finish The Brothers Karamazov? I read about 300 pages during the summer but Christ it's long and I've read other stuff since - is it worth the effort?

    I think so. I quite enjoyed it. It gets better towards the end too.

    I keep meaning to read Catcher in the Rye. Always completely forget about it as soon as I step into a bookshop though.


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    #21
    Piste
    Registered Users Posts: 11,440 ✭✭✭✭Piste


    After seeing The Hours last weekend I really want to read Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.

    Not quite classics but I would like to read Fight Club and Clockwork Orange.


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    #22
    grimsbymatt
    Closed Accounts Posts: 305 ✭✭grimsbymatt


    For me it was Catcher in the Rye, 1984 and To Kill A Mocking Bird. I read the former two in the past couple of months and am currently two thirds of the way through TKAMB.


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    #23
    theCzar
    Registered Users Posts: 2,078 ✭✭✭theCzar


    A Tale of Two Cities...all i know is the first line...


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    #24
    EvilPixieOne
    Closed Accounts Posts: 122 ✭✭EvilPixieOne


    Ulysses by James Joyce... some day...


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    #25
    odhran
    Closed Accounts Posts: 337 ✭✭odhran


    i've been meaning to read catcher in the rye, the great gatsby and gravity's rainbow fo over a year. at the moment, i'm reading lolita, which was on my bookshelf for at least that amount of time. as for on the road, i was extremely disappointed- that has to be one of the most overrated books ever!


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    #26
    Hip
    Closed Accounts Posts: 86 ✭✭Hip


    gaf1983 wrote:
    should I finish The Brothers Karamazov? I read about 300 pages during the summer but Christ it's long and I've read other stuff since - is it worth the effort?

    Read The Idiot first and then start again on The Brothers Karamazov.
    Capt'n Midnight wrote:
    Still have the second half of the second part of Don Quixote to finish.

    Don Quixote is one helluva long book.

    And to anybody thinking about reading War and Peace - don't, read Anna Karenina instead, it's much more pleasurable.

    War and Peace = 1/2 great book + 1/2 Tolstoy's questionable views on the subject of history.


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    #27
    Richelieu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 66 ✭✭Richelieu


    Hero of our time by Lermontov. Been meaning to read it for ages and ages. Finally started this week and I'm absolutely loving it! Can't beat those Russians....


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    #28
    finlma
    Registered Users Posts: 706 ✭✭✭finlma


    I read Crime and Punishment lately after putting it off for so long and enjoyed it.

    Catcher in the Rye is one of my favourite books of all time.

    I want to read Brave New World by Audous Huxley as my next classis


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    #29
    lacuna
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,899 ✭✭✭lacuna


    Brave New World is one of my favourites. I won't spoil it for you but get your hands on a copy as soon as you can!


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    #30
    jrey1981
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭jrey1981


    On the Road, as someone else mentioned


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    #31
    ionapaul
    Registered Users Posts: 5,293 ✭✭✭ionapaul


    In my experience, the vast majority of classics are fantastic, great reads and worthwhile experiences. That's why they are classics! And as mentioned above, you can't beat the Russians, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, Pasternak, what a race of novelists!

    I've never read A Tale Of Two Cities either, will have to rectify that sorry situation sometime soon.


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