What popular/classic books have you never read?

[mickeyboat]

I was an English major in college, and still never read War and Peace, Grapes of Wrath or 1984.

I have also never read any of the Harry Potter books.

 

[Disney-Kim]

I was also an English major but have not read War/Peace or Grapes of Wrath.

read most of the others listed, or used cliff notes.

 

[clarabelle]

I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" about once a year. I still cry when Scout says "Hey Boo" and I still get chills up my spine when Atticus shoots the mad dog.

I have never read any of the Bronte books. I am just now for the first time listening to "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" on CD with my kids in the car. Turkish Delight!!

 

[Aneille]

Hmmm...I've read pretty much all of them, really (English degree). I agree with Amy (of course) that To Kill a Mockingbird is an amazing book! But there were some real doozies too...Great Expectations is awful. So is Madame Bovary. Oh...what was the one where they can't get to "R"...Virginia Woolf I think...

Another English Lit major. Last weekend we actually took all the books I have left over from college out of the garage and put them on the bookshelf. Madame Bovary is there, still unread!

I do have a goal to read every book on that shelf, especially the ones I never finished because I loathed so much in school.

I have also read some of War and Peace and just started to get into it and put it down and never went back.

Another one I could never get into was Tom Jones. Then some of the ones I really hated were:

Evelina, The life and opinons of Tristram Shandy, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker. All of those were from the same class and I don't think I read any of them all the way through. Bad bad class for me!

I really enjoy Steinbeck, Vonnegut, Hawthorne and Shakespeare though. I read Grapes of Wrath well after college and I really enjoyed it.

 

[swtnikki]

I have The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings & I still have to read that. I've never read the entire Narnia series either.

 

[PaulaSue]

I haven't read any of the books that were posted.
I admit I never liked to read ( except for the daily paper!)

Ditto! I haven't either, I have never even heard of over half of them. I don't/can't seem to read anything longer than magazine articles or now my girls kids books, I get bored very fast. I really wish I could read more my the girls, I can do about 15 - 20 minutes max before I get buggy and need a break.

Dh can't believe I graduated the top 5 percent of my class in National Honor Soc. and never read anything he mentioned. I never did reports or took final exams either. The call my school Slow Tech (Vo-Tech) and I graduuated with a degree in Floriculture. (My parents divorced when I was in 7th and I moved in the middle of 7th and 8th and then too Vo-tech for the rest of my years.)

I tease Dh that I will read them when my girls get them in school, while they are sleeping. ( I'm a night owl) I want to be helpful while they are studing.

 

[Caylin]

I work in a bookstore and there's a lot I haven't read! I haven't read Pride & Prejudice or Moby Dick or Tristram Shandy or anything that I probably should read. And customers get so cranky when you haven't read the business book they're asking about! I'm a theatre grad student. I read plays. The best was when a lady got mad at me because I hadn't read every world atlas in the store.

 

[chell]

I believe there were only 2 books posted here that I have read. Reading a book isn't for me because my mind wanders too much. The newspaper and stuff on the internet is much better for me. When I try to read a book I spend too much time trying to find ways to make it better and looking for corrections that need to be made.

 

[marybet]

I think the Classics are over rated. I read Jane Eyre in the 8th grade and loved it but in high school there was the dreaded book list. I lobbied hard for some books that were written in the last 20 years, (this was the mid 60's) and they did add a few. I remember reading Main Street by Sinclair Lewis and it was just horrible. I read books for the stories, not how well they are written and much prefer contemporary novels.

I agree about To Kill a Mockingbird, it is a great book. We live close to Monroeville, Alabama, where Harper Lee lives. I've actually meet someone who knows her. I have been to the courthouse and every year they have a play of the trial right at the courthouse. One of these years I am going to go and see it. I must say that it gave me chills when we walked into that courthouse. I know it was fiction but it was not hard to imagine that a trial like that could actually happen, especially in Alabama.

 

[Sparx]

I've read alot of what is listed here. Jane Eyre couldn't keep my attention, and i've yet to start Catcher and the Rye.

 

[Philadisney]

seems like everyone i know has read 'a prayer for owen meaney.' i don't even know what it's about!

 

[momof2inPA]

seems like everyone i know has read 'a prayer for owen meaney.' i don't even know what it's about!

It's a great book about a guy named Owen Meany.

I've never read the Bible cover to cover.

I skipped some sections of War and Peace, but read all of Anna Karenina.

 

[DisneyCP2002]

Let's see my list would include:

Moby Dick
War & Peace
To kill a mockingbird(have seen the play NUMEROUS times)
A Tale of Two Cities

What's funny though, I've read probably every play SHakespeare wrote.

 

[Aneille]

I've read alot of what is listed here. Jane Eyre couldn't keep my attention, and i've yet to start Catcher and the Rye.

I first read this book while in middle school. Yes in 6th grade. It was assigned to us while the boys got to read The Hobbit. Well I really disliked it and it couldn't hold my attention at all.

Then in high school we had to read it again. This time I read it and it was okay, but I still didn't like it.

Once again assigned in college and I enjoyed it so much I re-read it!

I always remember this book when I think about going back to books I didn't like or put down because over the years your perspective changes so much.

I guess thats part of the reason I love reading, although I don't get time to do much of it anymore.

I am reading Alice in Wonderland to my 4 year old now, then we will move on to the Narnia series. I figure I can get in some of the classics I missed that way.

And I was very lucky in college and high school that my classes always included current novels. One I remember from college that I really enjoyed was The Things They Carried.

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

...I am reading Alice in Wonderland to my 4 year old now, then we will move on to the Narnia series. I figure I can get in some of the classics I missed that way.

Just a question, are you reading the real Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll? Because I read that for my english term paper in HS, and wow, is that one strange book! Really not at all happy like the movie makes it seem.

I suggest to anyone who wants to read Catcher in the Rye, read it. It is a great book, one of my favorites. I have read it 3 times and will read it again. I still don't understand why schools banned it though.

 

[grlpwrd]

What a timely subject as for the past 3 years I have been reading books that I should have read a long time ago since it's been my goal. I am trying to read a lot of the "classics."

I finished CS Lewis works, The Red Badge of Courage, some others, and I am struggling thru Catcher in the Rye (subject matter and swearing are a bit too much for me and that book is old!), but I feel like I really missed out on a lot. I can see why many are classics.

So many books, so little time!

 

[Aneille]

Just a question, are you reading the real Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll? Because I read that for my english term paper in HS, and wow, is that one strange book! Really not at all happy like the movie makes it seem.

I suggest to anyone who wants to read Catcher in the Rye, read it. It is a great book, one of my favorites. I have read it 3 times and will read it again. I still don't understand why schools banned it though.

Yes I am reading the real Alice in Wonderland and yes its very very strange! Its actually the annotated version. I got half way through it myself and it was taking me forever because I just had to read all the notes to the right and left of the text! So this is forcing me to just read the story first and then I can go back and read what they think he was really saying with all of it!

My daughter loves the Disney movie so she is actually following it okay. I know she doesn't get all of it but at I am impressed because now she is asking questions about words she doesn't understand. Yesterday it was the word axis. And perception based on size has come up a lot!

 

[Aneille]

What a timely subject as for the past 3 years I have been reading books that I should have read a long time ago since it's been my goal. I am trying to read a lot of the "classics."

I finished CS Lewis works, The Red Badge of Courage, some others, and I am struggling thru Catcher in the Rye (subject matter and swearing are a bit too much for me and that book is old!), but I feel like I really missed out on a lot. I can see why many are classics.

So many books, so little time!

Did you see the episode of 2 1/2 men when Alan has a nervous breakdown because he doesn't have enough time left in his life to read all the classics!

Since you read the CS Lewis works have you read Out of the Silent Planet? I have it on my bookshelf but I haven't read it yet. Was it good?