Day 2: Your 5 least favorite books of all time.
This one is actually a little difficult. I have this nasty habit of picking up a book, reading the first few pages, and then putting it down if I don't like it. I will not read something that does not interest me, so it has to capture my attention quickly. This list will consist of books I had to read for class because I had no choice but to read them.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
I had to read this three different times for classes in school. I never finished it. It's long, it's boring, and a lot of it was unnecessary. The story of survival is amazing, but it wasn't for me.
The History of Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Really, really, really long. Boring book. Even my professor had us skip a few chapters because they were boring. Enough said.
Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee
This book I just had a hard time understanding. There was stuff in there that I didn't get, didn't want to be in there, and just plain weirdness. It's a political metaphor on war, maybe that's why I had no interest in it.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Well written for sure, but I felt like nothing happened. Why do people feel the need to create ridiculously long novels that do not need to be long. Get to the point, Dickens. Okay, this one really wasn't all that long, but it felt like it was.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
This book has some great points about immigration, the labor force, and the way we processed meat, but it doesn't mean I liked it. Again, long and boring when it didn't need to be.
If you take a look at this list, you will probably think I don't like classic books, but that isn't the case. I do happen to enjoy a lot of books that are considered classics. What I don't like is when people just read them because they are "classics." Just because they are considered by some random panel of judges to be in the lists of greatest books of all time does not mean they should be there. There are good qualities to all of these books, but to me, they didn't mean much. They obviously do to other people because the world continues to read them.
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