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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Greatest Books you've NEVER read?

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16:03 / 14.11.08

Now, we have the thread we already had for movies!

Recently, I read, that most books, that are bought are put on the shelf back home never to be read. I got three large shelves and there are many books that I have indeed never read [beyond the first ten pages]. It´s gotten better though, since in recent years I gave a lot of them away.

Here are some I haven´t read so far:

George R. R. Martin - A Game of Thrones, meant to be very good. I plan on starting to read it again in the not so near future.

Melville - Moby Dick, started it two times, don´t plan on reading it again anytime soon, especially since I read recently, that Melville himself considered many parts of the book ballast (aka filler, I presume).

Tom Wolfe - The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, stopped at page 105, will start again someday.

What books are on your never read list?

16:27 / 14.11.08

"Gravity's Rainbow" by Pynchon. I've started twice, made it about 100 pages in then stopped.
Twice I've started "Perdido Street Station" by Miéville but never finished.
And never got past the halfway points of either "Orientalism" by Saïd or "Wreched of the Earth" by Fanon.
And finally, I've been in and out of Deren's "Divine Horsemen" but haven't gone cover to cover yet, but I have watched her film of it.

18:32 / 14.11.08

I'm with you on 'Divine Horsemen' - there's nothing wrong with it, it's well-written, it's about interesting stuff, and I've finished far worse books in an afternoon. It's just, perhaps, that it's not really a page-turner.

That and 'Ulysses' are at the top of my guilt list. Getting through 'Moby Dick' and 'Gravity's Rainbow' was a bit like going to the gym for a month, each time, but I managed. I can't get beyond page ninety of 'Ulysses' though. That bit when Bloom's cooking his breakfast, and there's the 'tang of urine' in the kidney - catastroph, personally

18:50 / 14.11.08

I want to add that I've only read parts of the Bible.

20:28 / 14.11.08

That bit when Bloom's cooking his breakfast, and there's the 'tang of urine' in the kidney - catastroph, personally

That´s just before Joyce describes en detail how Bloom is taking a crap.

22:27 / 14.11.08

Only ever got through about a volume and a half of Proust's In Search Of Lost Time. Actually, the other day I saw a guy on the bus reading Sodom and Gamorrah (i.e. vol 4). It just seemed so wrong, reading that on the bus. I mean, half the joy is the just insanely long sentences, grand sweeping passages that go on for pages and pages - how can you interrupt that because you just got to your stop?

23:02 / 14.11.08

Melville - Moby Dick, started it two times, don´t plan on reading it again anytime soon, especially since I read recently, that Melville himself considered many parts of the book ballast (aka filler, I presume).

Moby Dick is great, you should check it out. I think "ballast" was meant more in the sense that it's the weighty stuff in which the book is grounded rather than "filler."

01:32 / 15.11.08

I've not read Moby Dick yet, either. I don't quite understand it. I've also not yet read Everyone Poops, which was apparently quite a hit.

11:40 / 15.11.08

I think a lot of people don't realize how funny Moby Dick is, but there's a lot of humor in there. If you can acclimate yourself to Melville's sentences, the book is great fun.

15:29 / 15.11.08

Erm, I have all of Pynchon's books and have NEVER FINISHED ANY OF THEM! There. I've admitted it. But the third of that I did read V was damn cool. I also have a load of used Dickens paperbacks in my closet gathering dust. Edward Whittmore's Jerusalem Quartet too.

Closed for Business Time

16:35 / 15.11.08

Shame on you! V is easy peasy, same with Vineland. Mason & Dixon is Gravity's Rainbow lite - much recommended. There's also the early short stories collection, Slow Learner, for people with less patience or time.

I'll get back to this thread with a huuuuuuge list/lust.

19:51 / 15.11.08

I wouldn't say that V is easy, though it's easier than most of his. He still jumps around alot without prelude, and occasionally you may wonder for a minute what the hell he's talking about, but I think it was fantastic for creating a detailed sense of place, and the minutia that make them. There are many times when I felt immersed in a sense of place or emotion or that combination of them, something I think he can do extremely well. Grand overarching themes tied together with tiny ancillary threads. Sometimes the plot is beside the point, it seems.

21:55 / 15.11.08

The Crying of Lot 49 is a great place to start. It's short and relatively straightforward (focused on one character). V. is the only book of his I don't love.

22:30 / 15.11.08

Dammit Dusto, stop with your hatin of V! I have to admit, it's been a long time since the last time I read it, I think 16 years ago. Maybe I wouldn't like it if I read it again. It bothers me how much I forget of books I've read, other than general impressions. Did you read it more than once, or was it recently? I don't think it's his best work, but I think it outshines "Lot 49" and "Vineland" by a good bit. Vineland was, from what I remember, entertaining but a little flat, and 49 never came together well for me. I liked most of his short stories better. It's all opinion, so I'm just curious.

23:21 / 15.11.08

It's been a while since I've read V. The first time was in 1995. I'd already read Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow, and Vineland. At the time, I liked it more than Vineland, but not as much as the other two. In 2000, I reread Vineland after having read Mason & Dixon, and I found that I liked it a lot more on second read. I saw the larger pattern a lot more clearly the second time through. I still think it's his lightest book, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. A little later I tried to reread V. and I couldn't make it all the way through (partially because I was reading it while traveling, and I set it aside when my travels were done with). The first time through, I think I'd had faith that it was all adding up to something, but knowing the ending ahead of time made me see how insignificant a lot of the parts were. Not to say there weren't some great parts, too, but the book just felt a lot more amateurish to me than it had before. I mean, I'd be happy if I could write a book as good as V., but I have a greater fondness for his other stuff. Maybe I'll try it again soon.

Anna de Logardiere

00:31 / 16.11.08

The only book mentioned in this thread that I've read is Divine Horsemen. I have also never finished anything written by Ackroyd.

Closed for Business Time

07:02 / 17.11.08

Dan Ackroyd writes? I never....

"Laughs" aside, here's a smattering of Great Books I've NEVER EVEN TRIED to read. I'm arranging them in vaguely chronological fashion. Very vaguely in fact.

OLD OLD EUROPEAN FICTION CLASSICS, FROM, LIKE, THE MIDDLE AGES AND SHIT:

- Decameron, Boccaccio
- almost everything by Shakespeare
- anything by Dante Alighieri
- " John Bunyan
- " Francis Bacon
- " John Milton
- " Kit Marlowe
- " Chaucer (for example Canterbury Tales)
- " in fact, most classical writers of verse in any language... the list goes on and on and on and does in fact get quite tedious both to read and write.

Moving on to the MODERN ERA CLASSICS I'VE NEVER BOTHERED TO PICK UP (mod. era here ca 1750 upwards), arranged vaguely by country or language of origin:

Francophones

- anything by Zola, Flaubert, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot, Moliere, Racine, Rousseau, Hugo, Nerval, Balzac, de Maupassant, de Goncourt, Verlaine (but I HAVE read most of the symbolists), Cocteau, Bataille, Proust, Beckett, Ionesco, Robbe-Grillet, Duras, Houellebecq or indeed most French and Francophone authors.

Does Tin-Tin count?

Anglophones ... oh lord. OK, I'll just list some of the ones I've ever wanted to read but for some reason never got around to.

- The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Middlemarch, George Eliot
- Erewhon, Samuel Butler
- Ulysses & Finnegans Wake, Joyce
- The Sound and The Fury, Faulkner
- any of Woolf's novels
- same with Delillo
- Four Quartets, T. S. Eliot

and it could go on for a loooooong time. What DO I read? Loads of sci-fi. Loads of non-fiction, mostly social science and pop natural science. The news, and blogs, online. Terrible, really. Kids these days eh?

12:53 / 17.11.08

When I was very little my grandparents bought me a copy of Last of The Mohicans. I tried but I couldn't get anywhere and now I have a permanent block for that book. Older and wiser I pick it up but as soon as I read the first line (something about something being a feature peculiar to colonial wars if my memory serves me right) my eyes start glazing over and I fall asleep. Oh well. Apart from that I pretty much finish any book I start unless it's by Virginia Woolf, I can't stand her.
Not got round to Ulysses yet but I will so don't think that counts for this thread. There is loads of stuff that fits into this category but I don't really feel guilty about any of that. There are a lot of books to read basically.

12:58 / 17.11.08

Robbe-Grillet

Finally got hold of his film Trans-Europe Express the other day only to discover it's in French with no subtitles - bah!

Closed for Business Time

14:15 / 17.11.08

Oh dude, Fenimore Cooper takes me back to the days when wee Nolte actually frequented libraries on a more or less daily basis. These days I can hardly stand the places. But I do love the Leatherstocking Tales. At least I remember that I used to love them, around 20-25 years ago. I might find them repulsive these days..

17:38 / 17.11.08

Bleak House
Anna Karenina
War & Peace
The Brothers Karamazov
Dead Souls
Anything by Norman Mailer (I started one and didn't like it, but I should try more)
In Search of Lost Time
The Death of Vergil
The Man Without Qualities

04:09 / 23.11.08

i couldn't read vikram seth. tried 'an equal music' but just didn't get into it. likewise, i can't stand peter carey's novels - his shorter stuff is ok, but oscar and lucinda was like eating oats soaked in glue.

i also admit to always wanting to read the bible and the q'ran, but having not had the stomach to start either with any intention to finish, as a book (cover to cover). and i really do keep meaning to read 'dracula', but haven't got round to it yet...

but i second the calls to moby dick. its a great read - i think people expect some rollicking 'mad man chases whale' adventure frollick, which it isn't until the end.

trollope is another i always thought i should have a go at - any recommendations on where to start?

07:24 / 23.11.08

I´ve read Dracula and it´s really fun. The most famous vampire novel! And with good reason, as it is exciting, suspenseful and sometimes very creepy. It is one of those letter/telegram/diary novels, so poor Vlad never gets to share his point of view. For the best probably, reading Dracula´s diary might have been a bit boring ("Making breakfast for Harker. Bloodpudding for breakfast? Maybe he already is one of us?").

22:43 / 24.11.08

I want to add that I've only read parts of the Bible.

I've read the New Testament, but I really don't understand much of what's happening from the Old. I've tried jumping in the middle, I've tried starting from the beginning, I just don't know. There's a couple of times I've thought of punching some of the characters - God included. As a Christian I feel kinda guilty about this. Especially since my own personal experiences with God seem to have so little to do with the Bible. Should I buy a commentary, and let someone else try to justify God's actions for me? Should I read it myself and make my own opinion? Should I let my experiences speak for themselves and forget the Bible altogether? But that's a different discussion.

I read half of Yann Martel's The Life of Pi, and then went back and read the intro about the animals with the boy on the lifeboat. I think I know where the story is going and I don't want to go there. I could be completely wrong, but I still don't want to go there. I've often intended to re-read Tolkein, but I keep falling asleep. And I don't even know anyone who's ever read Pychon. If someone could throw me a sales pitch that's better than wikipedia, I may consider picking him up.

23:27 / 24.11.08

i rekkun 'life of pi' was good read, duno if i quite knew where it was going, so mebbe you're wrong and should find out?

pynchon - he's a richly imaginative and poetic writer with a dark and wry sense of humour; i think it often doesn't quite matter if you don't immediately follow the plot, the prose in and of itself (like joyce's 'ulysses') makes the effort worthwhile...

and you get it by the end, i think - not that he is into detailed revision-like denoument! mebbe try 'slow learner' (i so wish i knew to whom i lent my copy - mushy brain me) first and then 'vineland'; before venturing into 'v' or beyond...

00:08 / 25.11.08

I've nae read any Trollope, either. I'm guessing Barchester Towers is the best place to start. I own Thackeray's Barry Lyndon, but that's about as far as I've got into his work.

00:26 / 25.11.08

I keep picking up browsing and then chucking many novels by Iris Murdoch.
Lack of time and high distractibility really.
New Mantra:

Must. Make. More. Room. For. Iris. In. My. Life.

Jot Evil Rules During Weddings

15:59 / 25.11.08

I need to read more of The Bible too. The only part I really remember reading is Genesis. I am not religious at all but I think it would be a good idea to read the Bible just for general culture purposes.

I also have The Gulag Archipelago that I bought a while back that I have never gotten around to reading. I am very interested in reading it but my life is so busy I have not found the time yet.

16:00 / 25.11.08

trollope is another i always thought i should have a go at - any recommendations on where to start?

I’ve read Barchester Towers I think (or was it the Warden? It was a long time ago) and I remember it being a good read, certainly nothing to be scared of so I would just dive in with that I reckon.

I´ve read Dracula and it´s really fun. The most famous vampire novel! And with good reason, as it is exciting, suspenseful and sometimes very creepy.

I’d agree with that, I think it’s an absolute classic and one that I’ve read several times at different ages and enjoyed each time, presumably in a slightly different way.

I want to add that I've only read parts of the Bible.

I read it cover to cover when I was at school and I think that’s it worth doing, if only so you know what people are talking out when they mention it and because of the number of expressions that have their origin there.

I read half of Yann Martel's The Life of Pi, and then went back and read the intro about the animals with the boy on the lifeboat. I think I know where the story is going and I don't want to go there. I could be completely wrong, but I still don't want to go there.

I actually can’t remember what happened at the end of this rather average book but I don’t think that it was anything that would make someone wish they hadn’t gone there so maybe you’re wrong in your prediction.

I keep picking up browsing and then chucking many novels by Iris Murdoch.
Lack of time and high distractibility really.

I remember enjoying a couple by Iris Murdoch. The Great And The Good was my favourite of those I read. I think that she is one of those authors whose stuff seems to come from an era which I don’t recognise because it seems so different from now despite not really being that long ago. Kingsley Amis is another author of which I would say this. Not to belittle their fiction though. Anyway, I was surprised at how readable Murdoch’s novels were - at least the ones I read.

16:12 / 25.11.08

Should I buy a commentary, and let someone else try to justify God's actions for me?

I'm re-reading "The Book of J" by Bloom. It's a translation and interpretative commentary on one of the oldest copies of the Jewish Pentateuch. It puts a pretty fresh spin that the earliest books of the Torah may have been social commentary written by a woman close to Solomon and his son's court and were never intended to be a religious text. That's why God seems so schizophrenic... Well worth reading.

20:42 / 27.11.08

Thank you, astrojax and freektemple. I'm off to the library...

00:51 / 02.12.08

The Idol Rich;

Iris Murdoch is severely underrated. Possibly, she wrote too much (like Freddy Mercury, she apparently left a lot of material in the can when she passed away; though not, one trusts, as disastrously for the future of humanity) but 'The Sea, The Sea' is, genuinely, a great novel. I say this as a fan of stuff like American Psycho' and 'Money' -I can see why she might have this image as a rather outdated, Agatha Christie-esque figure, but it's not fair. As a study in deranged, self-destructive obsession, 'The Sea, The Sea' is up there, honestly, in my crawling humble, with 'Lolita'.

09:08 / 02.12.08

For sure, not a criticism, just an observation. Never read The Sea, The Sea though, or the Black Prince for that matter which I guess is her other most famous one. It's the world where her novels are set that has dated rather than the novels themselves. I just think it's noteworthy that I often find novels of the mid twentieth century harder to relate to than much earlier novels - probably because they are in a similar but different world to the one I live in rather than being a totally other place that I have to create from scratch.

15:44 / 17.12.08

I Started The Bible last night. I'm on Page 9. God Just told Noah to build the Ark. Adam & Eve were created three times, apparently.
I really hope to stick through it: I re-read Bloom's "Book of J" and all of Rushkoff's "Testament" and I'm Bible-hyped.

20:42 / 17.12.08

There will definitely be times when you will be bored out of your skull or wondering "what the fuck are they talking about?", but much of it is very interesting, and even good.

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