Worried Man Blues
Well-known member
French in 3 months......had the bastard 40 years
Martin Chuzzlewit - 40 pages , so hard to read had to stop.I gave up reading Dickens in the original text. I have read and really enjoyed abridged versions. I put it down to the originals being written for periodicals and so the cliff hanger element called for multiple characters and plots which for me didn’t make an enjoyable read. Perhaps it’s time to give it another go.
Yeah, that's the one I mentioned that is really dull. Try The Pickwick Papers first, that's a really light read (and his first big hit)Martin Chuzzlewit - 40 pages , so hard to read had to stop.
A pity. The book is brilliant. As is book 4 (Spider's web)The third book in the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo series... I read ~1,200 pages over 2.5 books but the 3rd was so, SO dull that I just couldn't face finishing it
Almost the exact opposite of youI told myself I'd read everything Jacob Böhme before the summer is over... its HEAVY though and half of it plain boring. But interesting.
You didn't get to the worst bit. I'd say that the account of the trip to America hasn't aged well, but apparently nobody much liked it when it came out. Not one of his best. I had to read Hard Times as a youngster and that put me off for years. I was sucked back in by seeing some of the RSC' s Nicholas Nickleby on Channel 4. I read that and, after struggling at the beginning, got used to the language and really enjoyed it. Went on to read one every year or two. They're worth the slog. He's sometimes boggy, and you have to forgive the frequent massive coincidences in the plots, but when he's good, he can be thrilling, angrily reforming and really funny. (Not Shakespeare funny).Martin Chuzzlewit - 40 pages , so hard to read had to stop.
That's one of my favourite books100 Years of Solitude - ever single character seems to be called Jose Arcadio and that makes it impossible to follow the story.
I enjoyed and finished Moby Dick but gave up quite early on Catch 22. As you say, utter drivelMoby Dick, 200 pages in where’s the frigging whale?
Catch 22, just couldn’t face another page of utter drivel
How can something be boring AND interesting?I told myself I'd read everything Jacob Böhme before the summer is over... its HEAVY though and half of it plain boring. But interesting.
Spoiler alert!The Bible................Jesus gets killed in the end !
Coincidentally this article lists Malcolm Lowry's "Under the Volcano" which I posted about only half an hour ago....How can something be boring AND interesting?
On the “books you think you should read theme……I agree on Catch 22 and Candide; really surprised to see them mentioned. Dickens is also one of my favourites, but I can see why modern readers might find him a bit heavy going.
However maybe there's another possible thread: "Books you think you should read but haven't even started" All of Joyce's work would be in there for me, also Henry James, Proust, Chekhov, Dostoevsky .... actually maybe not such a good idea as I think for a lot of people the list would be too long. I have wanted to tackle Joyce (not so much the others), but I've never felt up to it. Maybe when I retire.
EDIT: In other words I think the reason a lot of people haven't mentioned Henry James is that they're put off starting because it IS Henry James and they've heard he's boring.
EDIT 2: I have been to his house though, Lamb House in Rye. That was boring too!
No, the point of writing is not to pad out the page with so much inconsequential dross that any memorable line begins to seem less the product of a writer's imagination and more the inevitable product of random chance.
And Orwell's writing's an ideal example to illustrate that it's possible to be interesting and memorable and widely quoted while being economical.
I don't have an issue with the characters or the stories themselves, I've enjoyed plenty of adaptations, but with his writing on the page. So no, I wouldn't agree with the description of him as a brilliant wordsmith. "Paid by the word hack" would be my summation.
Somehow, I struggle to imagine Dickens ever making a story shorter.
The Bible................Jesus gets killed in the end !
Except there’s a lot goes on after he dies, so it’s not “in the end”.Spoiler alert!