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I think Romeo and Juliet is severely misunderstood by 90% of commentators and 99.99999999999% of high school teachers. Romeon and Juliet are NOT the heroes. R&J should be seen as a satire of the whole "love conquers all" and love excuses any action mentality of so many "romantic" stories.
I agree! I remember in high school I said something in class like "I think Shakespeare just wanted to use these two to teach us a lesson, to teach adults not to think so much like teenagers" and I was given the impression that I was way off-base, that of course R & J were the heroes. When I read it again as an adult, I recognized even more clearly as satire, and knew that I had been correct all those years ago in 9th grade. But then again, I tend to see satire in lots of things people meant literally and genuinely, so who knows?
I think this is the second time mentioning Atlas Shrugged on City-Data, but I have to mention it again. I really enjoyed reading The Fountainhead. I enjoyed it so much that I read it three times. Twice when I was 17 and a third time when I was 23. I just identified with Howard Roarke and while the book was very repetitious, I enjoyed the ideas, and it carried a very powerful message that changed my life. I can definitely understand why some people thought the book was awful but for me, it was one of the greatest things I'd ever read.
I think what happened was that I expected Atlas Shrugged to be the same. Along with that, it was just... awful. The characters felt rigid and unreal. I didn't make it to the 67 page long speech but at one point, someone talks on and on making an argument about money being the root of all evil, and I couldn't take it. The book was just spoon feeding me ideas rather than playing with my brain and making me search for them. I also felt like the book had no progression or character development.
Brave New World - Im in love with the dystopian novel genre, so I really expected a lot more from this book. Between the incessant whiner (who also happens to be the main character), the short guy with a massive case of Napoleon Complex, the classic Alpha-male who thinks that everyone else is beneath him, and the woman who can't go more than ten minutes without wanting sex, this book should be a finalist for "The Most Unlikeable Main Characters Ever" award.
This one jumped immediately to my mind .......... I really dislike this book, but then again I really don't like much about the way Huxley writes
I saw Catch-22 mentioned and that is an absolute favorite of mine ..... although I really struggled to get through Closing Time and some of his other works just failed to grab me nearly as much
In all fairness, the Bible is a library of many books, not a book. Tobit is very funny. Jacob's story in Genesis is almost Mel Brooksish in places. Leviticus? Sure fire cure for insomnia.
I think this is the second time mentioning Atlas Shrugged on City-Data, but I have to mention it again. I really enjoyed reading The Fountainhead. I enjoyed it so much that I read it three times. Twice when I was 17 and a third time when I was 23. I just identified with Howard Roarke and while the book was very repetitious, I enjoyed the ideas, and it carried a very powerful message that changed my life. I can definitely understand why some people thought the book was awful but for me, it was one of the greatest things I'd ever read.
I think what happened was that I expected Atlas Shrugged to be the same. Along with that, it was just... awful. The characters felt rigid and unreal. I didn't make it to the 67 page long speech but at one point, someone talks on and on making an argument about money being the root of all evil, and I couldn't take it. The book was just spoon feeding me ideas rather than playing with my brain and making me search for them. I also felt like the book had no progression or character development.
Someone thought The Fountainhead was awful??? I've never heard that before. It's been on many "Best Books" lists. I thought it was great.
I read it twice, just to be sure. I didn't like the characters at all, they seemed one-dimensional and flat to me. The denuement was entirely predictable: I didn't think there was much tension.
Studs Lonigan. Just....too much needless detail. I gave up about half-way through.
I tried to read this book, but couldn't get past the third chapter. I'm not saying he is not a good writer, but I keep imagining him writing with a thesaurus on his lap.
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