Here's today's Booking Through Thursday question:
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?Oooh, interesting question. And my answer is...
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte. Or as my husband calls it, Wooooothering Heights. I'm a big fan of Emily Bronte's poetry, and I love the other Bronte sisters' novels. I know Wuthering Heights is supposed to be romantic and gothic, but I just found the writing overblown, the characters unbelievable, and the whole thing depressing overall. I like Charlotte's and Anne's more down-to-earth writing better.
What's your least favorite "good" book?
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15 comments:
Agree 100% Certainly the worst romance in the history of the English language
Don't ya just love it when ya can't figure out why everyone loves a book and you don't. Sometimes I wonder just how many ppl really read it :)
I wonder what it is about the Brontes? I did like Wuthering Heights but could never finish Jane Eyre. Such a shame - I'd have liked to have liked both of them!
David Copperfield.
I'm remember reading this for a college course and thinking, "This is supposed to be a love story?" You want a love story, read "Jayne Eyre" - there's a love story. I didn't like any of the characters in this book and was sad that more of them didn't die off at the end.
tina--lol, I'm glad we agree!
a blog in the rough--exactly, I always wonder what I'm missing. But maybe people are just pretending to have read it!
litlove--I actually liked Jane Eyre but it's a deeply flawed book when read with a modern sensibility. I don't know what it is with those Brontes, but you're right, I wish I liked Wuthering Heights...
bybee--I will admit I haven't read it! But it certainly won't go to the top of my must-read Dickens pile :)
j.s.--I didn't like any of the characters, either, and I agree 100% with your sentiment, "This is supposed to be a love story?", lol!
I thought Wuthering Heights was depressing. And boring. But I did read it in high school. Maybe I'd feel different now. I don't know.
Why is that most hate reading depressing books? I liked it for the anti-hero thing.
My BTT post!
Kill word Verification
It's so nice to know I'm not the only one. Wuthering Heights is beautifully written . . . and I hated it. I didn't find it the slightest bit romantic. It's depressing.
jeane--I read it a pretty long time ago, too--I wonder if it would be any different for either of us now :)
gautami--I do like Austen, but I have heard enough negative stuff about The Alchemist that I don't think I'll try it! I don't always dislike depressing books, it really depends on whether something else about it grabs me--but if not, then depressing can throw it over the edge for me :)
bookfool--I agree--I thought it was beautifully written, too, and not romantic at all! I'm happy to hear I'm not alone in this :)
Well, I have a long list of these types of books many of which I have recently blogged about..Disgrace by Coetzee and Midnights Children by Rushdie both held to be the best of Booker winners both disappointing for me. Also, The Wind up Bird Chronicle, a masterpiece - no I think a rather acquired taste...
This is what I love about books - everyone reacts to them so differently...
Maybe "Wuthering Heights" is not supposed to be a love story.
redhead--I agree, that's what's also fun about blogging, you get to read so many diverse opinions!
amateur reader--I would agree that Wuthering Heights isn't a romance, really, but supposedly "romantic" and "gothic"--of those movements--and I guess I don't respond to either category very well. Like I said in my post, I responded more to both Charlotte and Anne Bronte's more down-to-earth styles, as opposed to Emily's gothic style. This, however, is probably a failing on my part, as Emily is considered a genius! I do like her poetry, though :)
Ooh, I'm gonna go with Love in the Time of Cholera. I recognized that the writing was good, but I thought the "romance" was creepy.
melanie--I'm going to agree with you there--creepy romance!
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