Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime
I thought it might be interesting to have a thread on all those books which we know we OUGHT to read, but for some reason have never got round to. Perhaps to hold each other to account, so we can be challenged to read them and comment on them sometime in the future.
I'll start with a few that - perhaps surprisingly given my literary interests and political concerns - I've never got round to reading but I KNOW I should, one day:
1. 1984.
2. Dracula.
3. Gormenghast.
I should stress that these are all actually on our bookshelves at home (or else, are packed up ready to be moved to York imminently!). It's just that something else has always displaced them from the top of the "must read" pile...
Interesting ... my daughter is pestering me to read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which she has read several times, ditto Don Quixote, (but that is HUGE and I have tons of research material to read!) and half of Charles Dickens' books. Yes, all on the shelves ...
It's strange but there are no books that I think I ought to read but haven't. If I want to read a book I do. There are probably hundreds I should read but I don't want to, so I've never bothered with them. I had a look on my Billy bookshelves when I saw this post and I've read all of the books, some twice.
After studying English and American Lit at university, I had everything possible thrown at me and to be honest, I've never recovered
Amboline, all your three listed, I've read - read them!!!
I've been meaning to read Wild Swans (on my bookcase), which I will as soon as I get back to the UK - especially now, when it'll be useful research. I've never read any Oscar Wilde, though I've meant to, likewise Wide Sargasso Sea (which I have on the shelf, as well). All the Dickens books I've never read (which means all except Great Expectations, and all of which I've collected over the years, mainly from pride, considering Dickens was born in Portsmouth), The Bell Jar... loads more I could no doubt mention, but I can't remember them all.
Do you mean you've never read Wuthering Heights Katy?
Okay, three waiting on the shelf to read, but not neccesarily a must to read unless you like that thing: The Other Boleyn Girl, Diane Gabaldon's Lord John and the Private Matter, and lots of other reference books.
Another one I've just remembered: "Crime and Punishment". So many people have said glowing things about it over the last few years, I really must get around to it soon.
There are no contemporary books which I feel I OUGHT to read, but quite a few classics. Vanity Fair, for example, and the previously mentioned Crime & Punishment. Somehow I doubt it's going to happen, though... I'm becoming less and less disciplined in my reading habits. Still hoping to manage Gormenghast one day!
I'm usually quite happy to give up on any author (however great) after one or two of their novels leave me cold, and have done so with Dickens, Austen and George Eliot.
I have had '1984' recommened to me several times, but never read it.
As a fantasy and sci-fi reader and writer, I feel I ought to have read Tolkein, but only just managed to read 'The Hobbit', and never even tried 'Lord of the Rings'.
Also, I should read Asimov, and several other of the 'classic' science fiction writers, but haven't.
If you read nothing else by Asimov, at least try Nightfall, his classic short story. If that doesn't make you want to try more, nothing will.
My 'failures' include War and Peace. I tried to start it, got confused by the names, and gave up. It also put me off most other Russian literature, which I tend (probably wrongly) to think of as dour and depressing.
I also started Lady Chatterley's Lover, and got bored by the end of the first chapter - so I haven't picked it up since (or any other DH Lawrence). Mind you, I was only twelve at the time.
Then there's Virginia Woolf: started To the Lighthouse, wanted to slap all the characters round the head by the end of the first ten pages or so - "Look, if you want to go to the lighthouse, just GO and get it over with, can't you?"
I used to read whodun(n)its on the train. Often I'd nod off. I now wish I'd tried to read some of the classics, but I can't see how I could have managed to carry some of the bigger volumes.
Evaine that comment about wanting to slap the characters around. There are times I'm reading books, and I want to shake some of them- same with some telly programmes- are they really so stupid that they haven't been able to work out whatever it is, when the evidence is there. Good grief!
Sorry for that sidetrack rant. Back to the subject.
It annoys me that I've still not got round to The Handmaid's tale. Betsie, you MUST read Catcher In The Rye, it's an amazing book. Likewise TaffetaPunk and The Picture Of Dorian Grey.
The trick with 'The Catcher in the Rye' is not to have read it when it first came out (1958?), but to encounter it at the right age. Probably best between 14 and 16. I loved it, and re-read it more often than any other book; both my teenage daughters have read it recently and responded with enthusiasm.
I went through all the books on my shelf this weekend, and realised that there are still a hefty number to get through, including The Count of Monte Cristo, Catch 22, Wuthering Heights, Emma, Rebecca, Captain Corelli's Mandolin (and many others by Louis De Berniere), the list is endless. And I was thinking of taking a trip to the bookshop...
Curly, I really enjoyed Captain Corelli's Mandolin. It made me laugh out loud. I was laid up with a broken leg at the time so I appreciated the laughter.
I did read Don Quixote, because I thought I should, and I was somewhat disappointed. I didn't warm to any of the characters except the horse. Thought I should read Wuthering Heights but don't know if I will. Feel less than enthused!
Gormenghast is very strange - but the TV version, with Stephen Fry and Ian Richardson and a host of other famous names, was well worth watching (there was a brilliant review of it by Nancy Banks Smith, musing on the lack of a good cleaning lady, amongst other things).
I'm reading Trillion Year Spree, by Brian Aldiss and David Wingrove, at the moment, a bit at a time. It's a history of science fiction writing - and I've suddenly realised that I've never got round to reading one of the classics of the genre - Stranger in A Strange Land by Robert Heinlein.
This was a book that caught the zeitgeist of the Sixties, and even inspired a coven of witches to base their rituals around it!
About 3/4 way through Wuthering Heights now. Had a 'mare on the bus on Friday - Labour Party Conference has messed up public transport in Manchester. Anyway, plenty of time to read, unfortunately at the part when Catherine died. I cried. Thanks for the warnings! I got a few strange looks...
That made me laugh. Sorry Curly. It's a very sad moment in the story but I could just picture you on crowded public transport, sobbing. Hehehe, don't mean to be unsympathetic because I'm with you all the way but it's just a deliciously funny image.
Finally finished WH. Island Girl, I laughed at myself.
I have now started Rebecca. Next thing you'll all be telling me is that this is sad too. Oh, brother!
One of the saddest stories I've ever come across is not a book, but the film production more than makes up for it. It hits me at the same point in the film, every time, guaranteed, copious tears flow. "House of Flying Daggers". One of the most romantic, most tragic stories ever told. Sorry for the digression, but I think this is the most visually stunning film ever made.
Comments
I'll start with a few that - perhaps surprisingly given my literary interests and political concerns - I've never got round to reading but I KNOW I should, one day:
1. 1984.
2. Dracula.
3. Gormenghast.
I should stress that these are all actually on our bookshelves at home (or else, are packed up ready to be moved to York imminently!). It's just that something else has always displaced them from the top of the "must read" pile...
Cold Mountain
Finnigan's Wake
Catcher in the Rye
Brideshead Revisited
After studying English and American Lit at university, I had everything possible thrown at me and to be honest, I've never recovered
I've been meaning to read Wild Swans (on my bookcase), which I will as soon as I get back to the UK - especially now, when it'll be useful research. I've never read any Oscar Wilde, though I've meant to, likewise Wide Sargasso Sea (which I have on the shelf, as well). All the Dickens books I've never read (which means all except Great Expectations, and all of which I've collected over the years, mainly from pride, considering Dickens was born in Portsmouth), The Bell Jar... loads more I could no doubt mention, but I can't remember them all.
Okay, three waiting on the shelf to read, but not neccesarily a must to read unless you like that thing: The Other Boleyn Girl, Diane Gabaldon's Lord John and the Private Matter, and lots of other reference books.
I'm usually quite happy to give up on any author (however great) after one or two of their novels leave me cold, and have done so with Dickens, Austen and George Eliot.
As a fantasy and sci-fi reader and writer, I feel I ought to have read Tolkein, but only just managed to read 'The Hobbit', and never even tried 'Lord of the Rings'.
Also, I should read Asimov, and several other of the 'classic' science fiction writers, but haven't.
My 'failures' include War and Peace. I tried to start it, got confused by the names, and gave up. It also put me off most other Russian literature, which I tend (probably wrongly) to think of as dour and depressing.
I also started Lady Chatterley's Lover, and got bored by the end of the first chapter - so I haven't picked it up since (or any other DH Lawrence). Mind you, I was only twelve at the time.
Then there's Virginia Woolf: started To the Lighthouse, wanted to slap all the characters round the head by the end of the first ten pages or so - "Look, if you want to go to the lighthouse, just GO and get it over with, can't you?"
It was a blooming heavy book to lug around though!
Sorry for that sidetrack rant. Back to the subject.
I did read Don Quixote, because I thought I should, and I was somewhat disappointed. I didn't warm to any of the characters except the horse. Thought I should read Wuthering Heights but don't know if I will. Feel less than enthused!
This was a book that caught the zeitgeist of the Sixties, and even inspired a coven of witches to base their rituals around it!
I have now started Rebecca. Next thing you'll all be telling me is that this is sad too. Oh, brother!
(The Hitchcock film is wonderful too, but rather different from the book).
Beezlebubs tales to his grandson by G.I.Gurdjieff