Friday, August 10, 2007

LIST: Top twenty books I've never read, and don't plan to.

John, at The Book Mine Set, made a list after he read Bybee's list, and I've love lists! So I have to make one too. And it's easy, because there are a lot of famous books I've never read. I'm going to focus here on twenty allegedly great books I have little to no intention of reading, because I've done a great job this year of reading many famous/classic books that for some reason never made it onto my reading list. I stuck pretty tight to mysteries and Stephen King for the last forty number of years, so my eyes are wide open this year. However, they will not likely ever open to the following:

  1. The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
  2. The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
  3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
  4. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  5. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
  6. Ulysses by James Joyce
  7. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
  8. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
  9. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
  10. Middlemarch by George Eliot
  11. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
  12. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
  13. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
  14. Watership Down - Richard Adams
  15. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
  16. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  17. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
  18. Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
  19. Kim - Rudyard Kipling
  20. The Old Man And The Sea - Ernest Hemingway

They are either too long, or just don't interest me. I'm sure I'll eat my words some day and end up loving one or two of these. But I doubt it.

There are, of course, many other great books I have not read, but I would like to get to some of them. That's a list for another day. Yeah, more lists! So, what's your confession? (go see John, he's giving out penance I believe)

15 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh! You have some of my absolute favorites on this list!

    Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Anna Karenina, Heart of Darkness, Grapes of Wrath, and The Old Man of the Sea.

    You can DEFINITELY skip One Hundred Years of Solitude. Blech.

    I plan on reading these in the next year or so: Middlemarch, The Bell Jar, and War and Peace.

    Hmm, might have to make up my own list. As of right now I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books, but I'd like to try at least the first two or so.

    I'll have to think about doing a list!

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  2. I knew that they would be favorites; they are all from lists of great/favorite books. I'm sure some are very good, but I'm pretty sure they are ones I'll get to anytime soon. Maybe, eventually, but, they just don't appeal to me right now. I know, I'm crazy.

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  3. It's a little relief to me that I've actually read some of these on your list. Unlike 3m though, I didn't like The Old Man and The Sea. It's the only book I've reread. I disliked it in highschool and a couple years ago decided to give it another shot, thinking the problem may have been maturity. Nope. Still didn't like it.

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  4. I didn't like Wuthering Heights in high school and have been thinking of rereading it; maybe not.
    I haven't read any Hemingway, or Dickens, or Twain, but I'd like to try Dickens.

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  5. There are plenty of books I have no interest in, but I was really surprised to see The Count of Monte Cristo on that list. I think that book is a rollicking adventure. I just love it. I've read several on the list and enjoyed them, but nothing tops the Count.

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  6. Skip Hemmingway.

    Bookfool- The Count is the best!

    John- You are my hero. I HATED The Old Man. All that baseball talk and the fishing goes on forever.

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  7. Ah man!!! You've got some great ones on that list!!

    Hmmmm.... I've never thought about listing books I'll never read. That might be kind of fun to ponder. Stay tuned!

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  8. bookfool - I didn't say never. The Count is probably one I would read. I know I loved The Scarlet Pimpernell

    chris - I'm not saying never, just not likely

    suey - I love lists! I can't wait to see your list.

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  9. I love the Narnia books; they are so much fun to read!

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  10. Oh, yeah. I loved The Scarlet Pimpernel, too. Great book. Sink me.

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  11. Your list speaks to me! It has some books I'm not too interested in, either. I tried to read several of these (Lord of the Rings, Narnia, The Count of Monte Cristo) and didn't make it. I survived Heart of Darkness, but only for a class, and then wrote an amazing paper full of complete crap about symbolism. I made an A, but boy, did earning that A hurt.

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  12. There are several here that I never want to read either. And I hated Anna Karenina.

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  13. I also have no desire to read most of the books you listed. At one point I had many on my TBR list, but then thought why bother if I have no interest? There are plenty of other books I can read that do interest me.
    The Old Man & the Sea I read for a class--not missing much.
    The Chronicles of Narnia was a quick, fun read. I enjoyed it, but don't feel as if my life was greatly enriched my the experience.
    The rest of them? Whatever.

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  14. Interestingly, I've started reading Les Miserables in a daily read together on lj. I certainly couldn't read it straight through though.

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