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Classics that disappoint

honeydevil said:
speak for yourself and mark twain was always introduced to me as a, mybe not kids book, but yeah something like that and with the "hard" words how should the kid understand that?
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Stewart and RainbowGurl were talking about Oliver Twist, by Dickens, nothing to do with Mark Twain. It's not a children's book - or, at least, it wasn't written for children- but I don't think Dickens is difficult to read. My daughter read A Christmas Carol without problems and she is 11.
 
A Christmas Carol is a considerably easier go than Nicholas Nicholby, Hard Times, David Copperfield etc. While ACC is a Dickens classic it's not entirely representative of his work.
 
Everybody's reading level is different. I don't think it's something to make fun of or feel smug about.
 
I found David Copperfield hard going at times, and many of the words were unfamiliar to me - particularly words that we just don't use any more. That can be very offputting, and I don't think it is necessarily about education so much as preference. Some people just don't like to stumble over text as they read it, but prefer to be absorbed by the story. I think that's a fair preference to have and not one to be horrified by at all.
 
How do you increase your vocabulary without reading books that have words that you do not know? Regardless if they're long or short? I consider my general vocabulary to be decent but I still come across words in mainstream books that I do not know. I have a nice big dictionary within arms reach when I read for just that reason. Also, I don't consider the complexity of the words used in a book is what makes a book 'difficult' or not. It can attribute to a books difficulty of course but are the subject matter and ideas not what requires thinking? Dismissing a book because it has words you do not understand is not fair to yourself or the book.

Like I said above, using A Christmas Carol as a meter for the difficulty of Dickens' work is not a good idea. Regardless of reading level. It's one of his simpler books by a decent margin. It's tremendous that your daughter read the book without problems but that does not mean she's ready to tackle any of Chucks major works.

I feel as though I may have misread into Wabbit's response and it may have nothing to do with me. Pretty sure it doesn't but there's my post anyway. :)
 
ions said:
Dismissing a book because it has words you do not understand is not fair to yourself or the book.
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It depends upon what you are looking for, though. Not everyone reads in the same way - people read to relax or enjoy a good story as much as they read to explore imagery and increase their knowledge. Not everyone wants to be expanding their vocabulary while they are relaxing.

The only thing about this conversation that I find horrifying is that people are critisising someone's level of education because she found that a book's language and style wasn't what she was looking for.
 
While I don't entirely disagree with you Kookamoor I do think that's specious reasoning especially in this context. Yes if you're not looking for that particular style and you come across it you probably are not going to enjoy it. That again is not fair to yourself or the book. If you're looking for something specific in a book and that book doesn't have it does not mean the book was bad. Just means the book didn't have what you were looking for.

I'm the first to criticize my education. A decent vocabulary was just one deficiency. Neither here nor there in the discussion I suppose.
 
ions said:
Yes if you're not looking for that particular style and you come across it you probably are not going to enjoy it. That again is not fair to yourself or the book. If you're looking for something specific in a book and that book doesn't have it does not mean the book was bad. Just means the book didn't have what you were looking for.
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Absolutely - couldn't agree more. Hence the reason I respect everyone's right to like and dislike every book, be it the Da Vinci Code or Othello. Commenting on the worth or quality of a book or piece of writing is completely different. In Rainbowgurl's comment she merely said:

Rainbowgurl said:
I think I must say I was disappointed with the book Oliver Twist. I think this may be because the words were hard and to long for me to understand.
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Which, IMHO, meant merely that she didn't like the book, not that it was necessarily a bad book.
 
Stewart said:
I don't think anyone's making fun or feeling smug about it. I, for one, am horrified.
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don't get all dramatic about it. I only read twain in english, my SECOND language. And i just was bored with it. and not everybody likes this style....
 
Pride & Prejudice is one of the highest selling books ever & I am totally bewildered as to why. I tried soooooooooo hard to read it, but urgh, I just couldn't
 
Sar said:
Pride & Prejudice is one of the highest selling books ever & I am totally bewildered as to why. I tried soooooooooo hard to read it, but urgh, I just couldn't
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Yeah, I had some problems with that one as well. I just couldn't relate to the characters. I think I discussed this somewhere else on here, and someone suggested that I read up more on the social situations at the time to appreciate it.
 
I guess my main difficulty stems from the fact it merely seems obsessed with class & status & getting people married off but very little else. I do appreciate it's hardly modern day & therefore maybe reading up on the social situations at the time may help a little, but I don't think any book which merely revolves around such a subject matter would be of interest to me. (Too girlie ;))
 
Sar said:
I guess my main difficulty stems from the fact it merely seems obsessed with class & status & getting people married off but very little else. I do appreciate it's hardly modern day & therefore maybe reading up on the social situations at the time may help a little, but I don't think any book which merely revolves around such a subject matter would be of interest to me. (Too girlie ;))
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Don't read Anna Karenina. I've never read Pride and Prejudice so I can't compare directly but I can tell you Anna has a fair helping of that content.
 
clueless said:
Stewart and RainbowGurl were talking about Oliver Twist, by Dickens, nothing to do with Mark Twain. It's not a children's book - or, at least, it wasn't written for children- but I don't think Dickens is difficult to read. My daughter read A Christmas Carol without problems and she is 11.
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sorry it was late and i guess i just scewed, sorry... :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
I just finished Conrad's Heart of Darkness and I didn't like it. I just couldn't get into the story. I also was disappointed with Moby Dick. Everybody recognizes the title I suppose but I wonder how many have actually read the book as it's sooo boring :) Maybe not if you are interested in the profession of whaling because the writer goes on and on about that at some point. I did not manage to finish that book.
 
Anything by Dickens. I have tried reading many of his books - including Great Expectations and The Tale of Two Cities , which most people seem to enjoy the most - but I have never managed to get even a quarter of the way through them.

The main thing about his books that put me off is his writing style. I just cannot get into it no matter how hard I try.
 
The Last of the Mohicans.... blah never got through it.

Someone mentioned The Awakening - I suppose it's the one by Kate Chopin. I loved that one, for some reason it just spoke to me.
 
I was a bit disappointed with 1984 by George Orwell. I think I must have expected it to be a bit more exciting or something. I had heard heaps about it and was looking forward to reading it. I'm not saying it's not a good book, but I have to admit it wasn't what I thought it would be.
 
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