Classics that are, or aren´t, a good read

I found Ulysses too dense, until I picked up two commentaries, one by Nabokov- absolutely amazing, the commentary and the book.

Only Nabokov novel I've read is Despair, one of his lesser know books, did I enjoyed it.

Don't particularly like Austen, but I do enjoy Bronte in small doses Smile

I like the Russian authors, particularly Dostoevstsky, also Tolstoy, Checkhov(sp?).
Balzac, Huxley, and some other French writer who escapes my mind at the moment.

I feel silly for adding this, but also the Sherlock Holmes books Embarrassed

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Has anybody read Eugene Sue? I have long intended to sart on The Mysteries of Paris, but haven't gotten to it yet.

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DITLOID's challenge my attention span.

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Again, a mystic sisterhood would contumaciously assert itself as she met the sanctified frown of some matron, who, according to the rumor of all tongues, had kept cold snow within her bosom throughout life.

I include the above sentence not only because it is appropriate for this thread , being that it comes from a classic, Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter', which I am reading right now and enjoying thoroughly, but mainly because of the word 'contumaciously', which, when I encountered it earlier today caused me to pause. I thought to myself, "I don't believe I have ever seen 'contumaciously' used in a sentence on A2K.

Anyone?

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We are much too contumacious to use the word on here.

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I have seen OmSigDavid use that word often. (He just spells it differently.)

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edgarblythe wrote:

We are much too contumacious to use the word on here.

I had to look it up Embarrassed

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Are we traveling along a Kant line, Wandel?

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CalamityJane wrote:

edgarblythe wrote:
We are much too contumacious to use the word on here.

I had to look it up

No shame in that. 99.9% of Americans would not know the word and I doubt many of them would make the effort to look it up.

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gustavratzenhofer wrote:

Are we traveling along a Kant line, Wandel?

Kant is an excellent subject for this thread. I have attempted to read Critique of Pure Reason several times. I have never understood it.

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Thank you, Green Witch. Razz

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wandeljw wrote:

gustavratzenhofer wrote:
Are we traveling along a Kant line, Wandel?

Kant is an excellent subject for this thread. I have attempted to read Critique of Pure Reason several times. I have never understood it.

Actually, when you posted that bit about David, I thought you were making a reference to a story about a college professor being surprised that so many students had signed up for his lecture entitled, "Unveiling the Mysteries of Kant"

It was later discovered that a student had surreptitiously altered a word on the announcement.

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gustavratzenhofer wrote:

Actually, when you posted that bit about David, I thought you were making a reference to a story about a college professor being surprised that so many students had signed up for his lecture entitled, "Unveiling the Mysteries of Kant"

It was later discovered that a student had surreptitiously altered a word on the announcement.

Oh great, now bits of my lunch are over the screen.

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gustavratzenhofer wrote:

wandeljw wrote:
gustavratzenhofer wrote:
Are we traveling along a Kant line, Wandel?

Kant is an excellent subject for this thread. I have attempted to read Critique of Pure Reason several times. I have never understood it.

Actually, when you posted that bit about David, I thought you were making a reference to a story about a college professor being surprised that so many students had signed up for his lecture entitled, "Unveiling the Mysteries of Kant"

It was later discovered that a student had surreptitiously altered a word on the announcement.

That sounds more like you, Gus. I must remember to "dial it down" when reading your posts.

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Hemmingway is good, Jane Austen is horrible.

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blindsided wrote:

Hemmingway is good, Jane Austen is horrible.

Interesting BS, these authors already seemed to have very split opinions about them, whereas others are clearly liked or disliked (well their work is anyway).

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Classics that are, or aren´t, a good read?

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

This book sucked

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Amigo wrote:

Classics that are, or aren´t, a good read?

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

This book sucked

On the whole I agree, but reckon it's just a case of not being of that generation.

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vid wrote:

Amigo wrote:
Classics that are, or aren´t, a good read?

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

This book sucked

On the whole I agree, but reckon it's just a case of not being of that generation.

And that's the point of this thread - I'm curious about what is a good read now, and I'm not passing judgement on whether they were momentous at the time, in context, or whether they should be considered classics - I'm really looking at it from the 'good read' perspective.

I've really appreciated everyone's thoughts and I've added things to my Amazon wishlist.

Classics that are, or aren´t, a good read

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