WWTBAM Bored

I know I shall be called a philistine or low rent or tacky, but, John Updike, Rabbit, Run, is a miserably bleak, creepily misogynistic (yes!), did I say bleak?, naval-gazing piece of shit.

Thought I'd go old school, re-read things I thought I'd read way back. Pulitzery shit. Shit being the operative word.

Perhaps I had already relegated this one to the one-holer with Catcher in the Rye and other overrated novels...and just forgot. My bad.

If I could get a refund on a Kindle book I would. But, that would require me caring enough.

minus stars, no, not in the realm of star rating at all

Now I need some literary genius to tell me that he has crafted a character so well that I've given up prematurely and will miss redemption. My gut reaction tells me I am right.

Classics I think also suck:

The Great Gatsby - wrecked excess is bad, 'm kay?
anything by Faulkner - in love with the sound of his own voice - I shouldn't say anything by him because I only read "The Bear," but it was tediouser than a political thread on this Bored

I know it makes me a bad Suthrener, but I loathed A Confederacy of Dunces. The writing was pretty good but nothing happens and there is no one to root for.

I'm sure there are more but that's my quick list. Avoid them.

Recommended a hundred times: Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume. Just trust me.

I just finished The Nix, by Nathan Hill, new book. Loved it.

I agree that Rabbit is awful. I chalked it up to me having zero interest in privileged-WASP ennui. I agree that the character of Gatsby is a big jerk.

I liked Catcher & all Salinger's stuff when I read it but recent articles about Salinger in real life have me creeped out (he had a one-night-stand with his model for Esme the minute she was legally old enough, then ditched her literally the next day; she writes philosophically about it, but I am aghast).

Never read anything by Faulkner but know many synopses. Never read Dunces.

My contribution to this thread is that Henry James is literally unreadable. By me anyway. Not only can I not figure out what is happening in his famous supposedly-spooky novel but I Don't Care.

You hit it. I end up not caring which is a book's death knell.

If someone can explain what Finnegan's Wake is about, or even what it is, I would commend them. I've always believed that this was an example of the emperor having no clothes.

I've often thought that many books, art, and films have been declared to be great because someone thought, "I have no idea what the hell that's about. It must be great."

Bob Juch wrote:I've often thought that many books, art, and films have been declared to be great because someone thought, "I have no idea what the hell that's about. It must be great."

Yes! Ulysses, any Faulkner, on and on...

kroxquo wrote:If someone can explain what Finnegan's Wake is about, or even what it is, I would commend them. I've always believed that this was an example of the emperor having no clothes.

Ayn Rand. Anthem. Massive dump. Dint read Finnegan's Wake, but the more peeps suggest things the more detritus pops up in my head.

Ritterskoop wrote:Classics I think also suck:

The Great Gatsby - wrecked excess is bad, 'm kay?
anything by Faulkner - in love with the sound of his own voice - I shouldn't say anything by him because I only read "The Bear," but it was tediouser than a political thread on this Bored

I don't pretend to understand Faulkner, and maybe I don't even like him and I haven't read him for several years. However, he was one of the authors I read to broaden myself when WWTBAM hit and I am very glad I did.

Every once in awhile, I would run across a paragraph or so in his works that I absolutely loved. Those passages spoke to me as no other author has.

Spock wrote:

Ritterskoop wrote:Classics I think also suck:

The Great Gatsby - wrecked excess is bad, 'm kay?
anything by Faulkner - in love with the sound of his own voice - I shouldn't say anything by him because I only read "The Bear," but it was tediouser than a political thread on this Bored

I don't pretend to understand Faulkner, and maybe I don't even like him and I haven't read him for several years. However, he was one of the authors I read to broaden myself when WWTBAM hit and I am very glad I did.

Every once in awhile, I would run across a paragraph or so in his works that I absolutely loved. Those passages spoke to me as no other author has.

My Faulkner claim is a research paper I wrote in HS (!) on him. Read a slew of his stuff, got an A, can't remember one bit of what I read or wrote, other than the teacher liked what I had to say. I just remember feeling it was like injecting a math problem with deeper meaning or something.

I love Rand (she makes me think) but I get why she is not for everyone. And that doesn't mean I think people who don't like her don't like to think. It may be somewhat like I far prefer Christopher Hitchens to Richard Dawkins - they make similar arguments about deities, but Dawkins is just so unbelievably rude to believers that it's a huge turnoff. It's not necessary. Hitchens didn't do that. So Dawkins makes me think but he makes me mad, too, and Rand is like that for lots of folks. Also her positions are just so extreme.

Someone just last night also recommended The Nix, and also I think The Nightwing or The Nightmare or something like that.

Ritterskoop wrote:I love Rand (she makes me think) but I get why she is not for everyone. And that doesn't mean I think people who don't like her don't like to think. It may be somewhat like I far prefer Christopher Hitchens to Richard Dawkins - they make similar arguments about deities, but Dawkins is just so unbelievably rude to believers that it's a huge turnoff. It's not necessary. Hitchens didn't do that. So Dawkins makes me think but he makes me mad, too, and Rand is like that for lots of folks. Also her positions are just so extreme.

Someone just last night also recommended The Nix, and also I think The Nightwing or The Nightmare or something like that.

Fountainhead, etc were okay. Anthem was just ham handed and poorly written.
I really enjoyed The Nix. Long, character and story driven, interesting take on 60s by a younger author.

Maybe The Nightingale, about WWII?

Yes. French Resistance.

Anthem is more of a screed, yeah. If I understand what that word means.

At least it is short.

Beebs52 wrote:

Spock wrote:

Ritterskoop wrote:Classics I think also suck:

The Great Gatsby - wrecked excess is bad, 'm kay?
anything by Faulkner - in love with the sound of his own voice - I shouldn't say anything by him because I only read "The Bear," but it was tediouser than a political thread on this Bored

I don't pretend to understand Faulkner, and maybe I don't even like him and I haven't read him for several years. However, he was one of the authors I read to broaden myself when WWTBAM hit and I am very glad I did.

Every once in awhile, I would run across a paragraph or so in his works that I absolutely loved. Those passages spoke to me as no other author has.[/quote

My Faulkner claim is a research paper I wrote in HS (!) on him. Read a slew of his stuff, got an A, can't remember one bit of what I read or wrote, other than the teacher liked what I had to say. I just remember feeling it was like injecting a math problem with deeper meaning or something.

I am probably one of the few people who has read Faulkner while in a deer stand.

Ritterskoop wrote:Yes. French Resistance.

It' s good. I read it. Kristin Hannah I think.

Spock wrote:

Beebs52 wrote:

Spock wrote:
I don't pretend to understand Faulkner, and maybe I don't even like him and I haven't read him for several years. However, he was one of the authors I read to broaden myself when WWTBAM hit and I am very glad I did.

Every once in awhile, I would run across a paragraph or so in his works that I absolutely loved. Those passages spoke to me as no other author has.[/quote

My Faulkner claim is a research paper I wrote in HS (!) on him. Read a slew of his stuff, got an A, can't remember one bit of what I read or wrote, other than the teacher liked what I had to say. I just remember feeling it was like injecting a math problem with deeper meaning or something.

I am probably one of the few people who has read Faulkner while in a deer stand.

That seems poetic.

Spock wrote:

Beebs52 wrote:

Spock wrote:
I don't pretend to understand Faulkner, and maybe I don't even like him and I haven't read him for several years. However, he was one of the authors I read to broaden myself when WWTBAM hit and I am very glad I did.

Every once in awhile, I would run across a paragraph or so in his works that I absolutely loved. Those passages spoke to me as no other author has.[/quote

My Faulkner claim is a research paper I wrote in HS (!) on him. Read a slew of his stuff, got an A, can't remember one bit of what I read or wrote, other than the teacher liked what I had to say. I just remember feeling it was like injecting a math problem with deeper meaning or something.

I am probably one of the few people who has read Faulkner while in a deer stand.

Next time read The Deerstalker.