Thursday, October 02, 2008

Booking Through Thursday: The Best of Snooze Sisters


What, in your opinion, is the best book that you haven’t liked? Mind you, I don’t mean your most-hated book–oh, no. I mean the most accomplished, skilled, well-written, impressive book that you just simply didn’t like.

Like, for movies–I can acknowledge that Citizen Kane is a tour de force and is all sorts of wonderful, cinematically speaking, but . . . I just don’t like it. I find it impressive and quite an accomplishment, but it’s not my cup of tea.

So . . . what book (or books) is your Citizen Kane?

You know...I'm actually having a difficult time coming up with an answer to this one. I think my brain is hardwired to forget instantly any book that just isn't my cuppa. Wait a second...I think I feel a couple of titles slowly, ever so slowly, rising up through the ooze.

Both of them are books that I was forced to read in high school. George Eliot's Silas Marner was a total snooze for me. So much so that I don't remember a single thing about it other than the title. In the years since, I've tried other Eliot titles like Middlemarch and Adam Bede, and I kept nodding off and dropping those books in the floor. So...I think Eliot herself just isn't an author for me.

The other title, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, was a bit different because I remember the plot and the characters. I can picture reading it and thinking that this was, indeed, a good book--I just didn't like it.

Not much of an answer for me this week. I believe I just tend to forget the Eh and move on to the next book in the stacks. So many books, so little time, right?

8 comments:

  1. Ooh I forgot about Silas Marner!!

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  2. I'm trying to getting through Middlemarch, which isn't too bad. :)

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  3. Me, too - Scarlet Letter was one of my non-faves. I liked Middlemarch, but thought it was much too long. And I forgot all about Silas Marner, but it should definitely go on my list, too.

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  4. You have a fine answer; don't apologize for voicing your opinion. I have three other titles for my answer. Come check it out. Happy BTT.

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  5. The only one of those I've read is Middlemarch. I did enjoy it once I'd got into it, but I agree that it's too long. I think it helped that I'd seen the TV serialisation, which was very good - in fact as I enjoyed that so much that was why I read the book.

    I forget the ones I didn't like too.

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  6. I'm curious about Scarlett Letter now. I bought a copy on sale and it's been on my to-be-read for awhile. SilaS Marner...meh. You should give "The Lifted Veil" a go - it's very non-George-Eliot and it's a novella. Curious reading indeed.

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  7. The Scarlet letter is still relevant in many parts of the world.. Hence I liked it a lot.

    My BTT post!

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  8. I absolutely love your blog design!

    Scarlet Letter was 'meh' to me too. I haven't finished reading anything by Eliot, tried Mill On The Floss but didn't get farther than 40 pages, same for Middlemarch

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