“Fired from the Canon”
Over at the new website Second Pass, they have a blog post up called “Fired from the Canon” about 10 “classics” (rather loosely defined as novels other people try to convince you everyone should read) that you don’t have to bother with. It’s a fairly bold list — you could pretty easily come up with a list like this that no one would really argue, but they’ve chosen a few quite popular and loved books. Read the post here, and then come back here and tell me what you think. I have personally only read four of the ten, but here are my thoughts on those:
-One I loved when I read it, but agree you can only read before you turn, say, 22, and if you haven’t by then, you shouldn’t bother.
-One is a book I only kinda read. Like, I read it for a class, but I can barely remember anything about it, and one of the reasons is because the “idea” is more important than the characters, if you know what I mean. So I agree with that one as well.
-One of them I giggled aloud when seeing it on the list just because it makes me feel like I’m not alone, and because it seems to me the boldest choice on the list. I don’t agree that you should skip it necessary, it just made me laugh that it was there.
-One is my least favorite book by one of my favorite authors, and I completely agree with the assesssment.
If you know me at all, you will probably be able to figure out very quickly which of these is which when you see the list. Come back and argue or agree with the list, please! Fun!
1 – On the Road
2 – 100 Years of Solitude? (I’m guessing this one because I think I remember you saying that you read it and didn’t like it)
3 – A Tale of Two Cities
4 – Jacob’s Room
Am I right?
| Posted 4 months agoI’ve only read five of these, but *White Noise* and *One Hundred Years of Solitude* are among my favorite books of all time.
But Jack Kerouac is a dink. And although *Tale of Two Cities* sucks, I did really love it when I was fifteen.
Now I want to come up with my own list, but I think my tastes might be too indiscriminate. I just love everything! Can’t decide if this is a power for good or evil…
| Posted 4 months agoThanks for linking. I’d be curious to know the answers to your personal quiz. Without knowing you at all, I still have guesses. In order: On the Road, Dos Passos, 100 Years of Solitude, and The Road (or Absalom, Absalom!)
jw
| Posted 4 months agoI think it’s pretty hard for me to think of books I really don’t like. And most of the books I really don’t like wouldn’t be considered classics.
I read Tale of Two Cities too late, so when I got to it (after reading a lot of other Dickens), I was surprised that I didn’t care for it; it lacks the complexity and passion of other Dickens novels. By contrast, I was madly in love with Jack Kerouac when I was in college, but that’s an obsession I’ve definitely outgrown, and if you haven’t read it by the time you finish college, you really should not bother.
I’ve never read One Hundred Years of Solitude and was extremely surprised by its appearance on the list. But I didn’t care for White Noise. And the one I giggled at being on the list was The Road. I was really surprised by that because I was certain everyone but me loves that book — though I certainly think I liked it better than the person who made the list. I thought it was a good book; I just didn’t see why it was so beloved.
Oh, and ps: your supposedly indiscriminate taste is definitely a force of good!
| Posted 4 months agoPS: Just to clarify (I don’t know if the above comment did or not), the answers are:
1. On the Road
| Posted 4 months ago2. White Noise
3. The Road
4. A Tale of Two Cities
I have tried four different times in my life and possess two different copies, but have never been able to get through “The Magic Mountain” – masterpiece though it may be. That being said, I read “One Hundred Years of Solitude” in 1975, while living in a small cottage on a small Greek island, and while pregnant. It totally spoke to me, kept me company the only time in my life I lived totally (joyfully) alone and seemed to increase the magic a Greek island sojourn can lead one to. Years later I tried it again, but couldn’t finish. Goes to show how time and place and personal zeitgeist inform and influence a reader’s reaction to a work of art.
| Posted 4 months ago“White Noise” is and always will be one of my personal favorites (though it can’t holf a candle to “The Alexandra Quartet”).