Comments on: Books: When More is More

By: ArisEile

ArisEile — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:42:01 +0000

Joyce's Ulysses! And I actually understood it better than most, even if less than many.

By: rodriguez

rodriguez — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:02:23 +0000

I love this post.

I read all the Tolkein stuff, but I could not get through Simarillion, and I read Anna Karenina and a few of the Russians but I could not get through Crime and Punishment, and I read Jane Austen, but I could not get through Middlemarch, and I read a few Dickens novels, but I couldn’t get through that last fat one….it always ended inzzzzzzzz

Lately I fought my way through Constantine’s Sword. It’s not well written, and I’ve got some serious problems with the premise. But it was so worth it. There are some ideas in there I never would have come to by myself.

By: BeckySharper

BeckySharper — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:30:57 +0000

Completely agree with Endora and ahimsa about age being a big factor. I absolutely love Dickens, for example, but reading Great Expectations in high school was such a different experience from reading it in college. I just “got” it at 19 in a way I didn’t at 16 (and I had excellent teachers in h.s. so I don’t think that was the issue.)

A confession: I was never able to get through the LOTR books. I suspect that my dislike of them had something to do with being forced to read Fellowship of the Ring in 6th grade with an unpleasant teacher. Also, they just seemed to boy-fantasy-oriented for me. At that age I was much more interested in reading fiction with women characters, whether it was Jane Eyre or all the Jean Plaidy novels about the queens of England.

And thanks for all the good job-related wishes, y’all! I’m very excited.

By: Endora

Endora — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:29:38 +0000

@ahimsa: I think you’re *so* right about needing to read books at the right age. I read The Great Gatsby when I was 13 and thought it was dreadfully boring. Gave it another try aged 19 and thought it was amazing. The book hadn’t changed, but by the time I read it the second time, I was a lot more mature.

By: ahimsa

ahimsa — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 03:22:02 +0000

I don’t think about book length very much these days. I do remember back in 3rd or 4th grade that I wanted to read the thickest book in the elementary school library. So, I checked out The Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings. It was good.

I loved Middlemarch but I read it for fun when I was in my mid-40s, not in high school or college. Same with Anna Karenina. I didn’t pick up the books as a challenge but simply as stories that looked interesting to me.

I do think there are certain books that simply don’t resonate as a teenager or young woman that you might love when you’re older. And vice versa. It’s hard to know since everyone’s experience is so different but that’s my two cents.

I’ll end by saying that I’ve started to read Ulysses twice. Both times I was dreadfully bored so I gave up. I guess that book is simply not for me, period. I think I’d need a class or book discussion before I could even get through it. I might still be bored with it but at least I might get something out of it.

By: craftydabbler

craftydabbler — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:56:23 +0000

My proudest reading achievement was reading Ulysses in the 12th grade. I have re-read it a few times since, and I get more out of it each time.

I haven’t read anything substantial for quite a while. I’ve actually started reading non-fiction, memoirs, and self-helpy sorts of things. I used to be a dyed-in-the-wool fiction reader. I find I don’t have the energy to get as emotionally invested in my reading as I used to do.

By: mischiefmanager

mischiefmanager — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 22:59:51 +0000

Dickens makes the time investment worthwhile.

Yay to “Middlemarch”! I love the HP books and reread them regularly, whereas I use LOTR as a reference for the films. Peter Jackson gets huge points from me for bringing life to a lifeless book. I read “Anna Karenina” in high school but don’t remember much about it. I want to reread it before the Kiera movie version comes out.

Two long books on my list: Murakami’s new one, “1Q84″ and Vikram Seth’s “A Suitable Boy”.

By: Mackey

Mackey — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 22:18:35 +0000

congratulations on the new job Becky! it’s great that you are able to have some time off in-between finishing and starting anew.

As for long books, I remember I used to steal away to the garage where there were boxes of books that did not fit in the bookcases in the house. In those boxes was the gold:
* DH Lawrence (and yes his books with swearing and sex!),
* The Scarlet Letter (not understanding some it when I was 12, I still plowed ahead),
* Herodotus’ Histories (and giggling at some of the different cultural mores that he identified were different between Greece and Egypt),
* Homer’s Odyssey and Illiad, plus Theogony (now that really opened my eyes about sex)
* plus a whole bunch of others that I can’t even remember.

I spent a whole 6 weeks of the Summer in the garage just reading whatever I could get my hands on. And maude it was great!

By: lijakaca

lijakaca — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:54:07 +0000

I was proud for finishing the Silmarillion, though it was at a long cottage vacation with not much else to do.
I also was relieved to finish the Odyssey, which took much much longer than the Iliad or Aeneid for me because I was fuming at how poor Penelope was treated and spoken of. And considering how fantastical Odyssey’s adventures were, I found them strangely boring.
I always go for the older books/texts, because I love ancient history and would love to get through as much ancient literature as possible.
My next project is Volume 1 of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms – I’ve been playing games set in ancient China recently and that’s piqued my interest.

By: Verity Khat

Verity Khat — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:22:37 +0000

And congratulations on the new job AND the downtime! It’s nice when good things happen to awesome people. ^_^