Great Literature You've Never Read

Posted by Alex in Book & Lit on August 17, 2008 at 2:29 am


Do you think you’re the only one that skipped great works of English classic literature? Well, here’s a little secret: even respectable authors didn’t read ‘em!

At the literary festival Ways With Words 2008, The Daily Telegraph asks established authors which books they are most embarrassed to admit they’ve never read:

During this year’s Ways With Words festival at Dartington Hall, Devon, we would collar our guests and ask: what’s the book you’re most ashamed of never having read?

Would the eminent Cambridge classicist admit to The Iliad? Would V S Naipaul’s old editor cop to A Bend In The River?

Or would the former schoolmate of a fellow guest confess – with apparent relish – to never having read a word his old friend has written?

Link – via Chasing the Southern Cross

So – ‘fess up: what works of literature are you ashamed of never having read?


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18 comments to "Great Literature You've Never Read"

  1. Alex
    August 17th, 2008 at 2:31 am

    I tried to read Romance of the Three Kingdom but got really bored as a lot of it was "who begot whom" and didn't finish. ;)

  2. becca
    August 17th, 2008 at 4:10 am

    I've never read The Catcher in the Rye. I tried to when I was 16 but couldn't get through it. I'll read it eventually.

  3. ted
    August 17th, 2008 at 9:32 am

    Bunch of pompous twits - seems irrelevant.

  4. HollywoodBob
    August 17th, 2008 at 10:09 am

    I have read a lot, and I mean a lot, 3 books or more a week for the last 20 years or so. And frankly I've read a bunch of "classics" that were awful. In fact, of all supposed great literature out there, IMHO 90% of it is twaddle. So sure there's a few "great" works that I'm probably missing out on by not having read them, but I'll take that chance since the majority of the ones I have read were terrible.

  5. Caitlin
    August 17th, 2008 at 10:49 am

    one flew over the cuckoos nest and a clockwork orange but i just ordered them on amazon so....woo!

  6. Tim Giachetti
    August 17th, 2008 at 10:59 am

    Bob is right. I still read 3 or more a week and , yes, the classics were terrible.
    Don't think I missed any of the "great" classic.
    Maybe we are just jaded.
    The info goes in, I digest, and 90% of it makes me puke it out of my head.
    But I will give Orson Scott Card his due. The Ender saga is incredibly pleasant to read, satisfying, and creative.

  7. Kate
    August 17th, 2008 at 11:14 am

    As an English major, I'm embarrassed to admit that I never read....well, a lot of the "classics." Some classics I think are brilliant and fun (Count of Monte Cristo, anyone?) and others are just ungodly boring. Spark Notes summaries got me through many of my basic courses because I just could not get myself to read them and stay awake.

  8. Homer J. Simpson
    August 17th, 2008 at 12:26 pm

    Books I am embarrassed not to have read:

    Most of the stuff mentioned in the video

    The Bible beyond the first few books of the Old Testament (I am working on this one slowly but surely)

    Moby Dick (I meant to get started on it this Summer, but too many other things got in the way)

    Anything by Joyce other than a couple of his short stories that I read for a class once

    Paradise Lost (I did read the beginning and end of it for a class once)

    The second two-thirds of The Divine Comedy

    The Aeneid (I plan to tackle this one soon)

    Anything by Cormac McCarthy written before Blood Meridian

  9. CheeseDuck
    August 17th, 2008 at 1:02 pm

    Never finished The Bible... Never even finished Genesis >.<

  10. CheeseDuck
    August 17th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

    Actually. I take that back. It doesn't really matter. I'm not even Christian.

  11. Dianne
    August 17th, 2008 at 6:34 pm

    I've never read Little Women. Finished Jane Eyre last Spring and LOVED IT. I love anything by Steinbeck. Grapes of Wrath is a "must read." If there are a cazillion characters in a book I get bored. Never have tried War and Peace, Tale of Two Cities. Loved "Rebecca" and Frenchman's Creek. If a book spans more than 2 or 3 generations, FORGET IT. I can usually tell after 2 chapters if it's something I'm going to stick with. I have tried Wuthering Heights 5 or 6 times and just can't seem to get into it. The movie was great!!! Wonder if anybody else has had this problem with Wuthering Heights. Happy Reading. It's a great escape isn't it??!!

  12. Alex
    August 17th, 2008 at 6:37 pm

    I agree with Dianne - Steinbeck is awesome, Wuthering Heights is completely insurmountable.

  13. vintagek8
    August 17th, 2008 at 10:49 pm

    Apparently, I am a freak for having never read A Wrinkle in Time in my youth. I wasn't aware that this book was required reading in order to exist as a normal human being!

  14. Arty
    August 18th, 2008 at 12:52 am

    Ugh... I've never read One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and my father constantly makes references to it. Oy.

    I keep telling myself I'll read it but I keep finding other books to read instead.

  15. Lore
    August 18th, 2008 at 1:59 am

    I agree... the classics are rubbish. Bunch of stuff no one cares about and doesn't have much relevance in our crazy day anymore.

  16. Moodindigo
    August 18th, 2008 at 2:37 am

    The classics are rubbish... Fair enough then, guilty feelings of missing out completely dispelled by ignorance. I feel better.

    I finshed reading Jude the Obscure last year. It took me ages but was worth it. Also, after it came up in a pub quiz last week I started reading Pepys' Diary at the weekend as ignorance of its historical significance has always caused me some shame. I'm only about thirty pages in but I'm really enjoying it.

    Oh, and according to my mates at the pub I should be ashamed that I've never read The Godfather but then, I didn't even finish the film.

  17. drr
    August 18th, 2008 at 5:07 am

    No worries, great books come to you when you need them.

  18. Homer J. Simpson
    August 18th, 2008 at 10:23 am

    "Never finished The Bible. Never even finished Genesis.
    Actually. I take that back. It doesn’t really matter. I’m not even Christian."

    I'm not either, but I read the Bible for its literary/historical/cultural importance.


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