I’m going to admit something that may be shocking, particularly since I’m a writer.
I don’t like Shakespeare. There I’ve said it. I’ve tried, really I have. I saw a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream once that was okay, but overall I find my mind wandering. In fact, I watched a BBC production of The Tempest this week because it’s referenced in the book I’m writing and I’d never read or seen it, and it literally put me to sleep. When the phone rang, I about fell out of the recliner. The Tempest was still going on the TV. So how could I use this to my advantage? I made one of the characters in my book dislike Shakespeare and call him the “sure cure for insomnia.” 
Shakespeare isn’t the only “classic” I don’t like. Remember those required reading lists from high school? While I tended to like the more modern writers like John Steinbeck and Willa Cather, earlier ones made me want to poke my eyeballs out. I had to read The Great Gatsby twice — once in high school, once in college. Hated it both times. And being a lover of nature, I thought I’d read Walden by Henry David Thoreau. When I was quite a ways into the book and he hadn’t even managed to get to the dumb pond yet, I gave up. Same with James Fenimore Cooper’s Last of the Mohicans. LOVED the movie. The book? Zzzzzzzz. Didn’t finish it either.
Maybe I just don’t appreciate what others are seeing, or maybe I just like a more modern voice, perhaps a more popular culture voice. After all, I like Jane Austen, but at the time she was writing she wasn’t considered a high-brow or classic writer. Only years later was she deemed so. She was the Nora Roberts of her day.
What writers of today do you think will show up on those high school reading lists in the future? My guess is that writers such as J.K. Rowling and Stephen King will be there.
And what classic writers/books are snoozers for you?
July 17th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
SILAS MARNER!!! ARGH! And I’m with you on Shakespeare. I didn’t like Pearl Buck, either.
I liked Gatsby, and the boy loves it. I liked Hawthorne, but he didn’t.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
For sure J.K.Rowling and Stephen King. Maybe Nora Roberts?
July 17th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
I’ve always hated most of the classics, too. I used Cliff’s Notes all through school, but then I was punished as an adult by being assigned to teach an AP Honors English class, and I had to read–and teach!–all the classics on the reading list. Ughhh. I took The Scarlet Letter off the list–I figured if I couldn’t get through it, my students didn’t have to either.
I’m not a big fan of Shakespeare. Love some of the lines and appreciate the language, but I’m not crazy about the plots.
I think Dean Koontz is terrific, and I hope his stories will get some serious attention some day. I hope the works of some of my favorite historical fiction writers–James Clavell, James Michener–will be considered classics, too.
July 17th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Nope, sorry, love the Bard. Spend a good deal of my spare time blogging about him, too (http://www.shakespearegeek.com). And I’m a software engineer by trade, so it’s not even like I had a big English lit background. I just find myself drawn to his stuff.
I could do without Hemingway.
July 17th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Trish! Such blasphemy
I have to confess, I adore Shakespeare. Twelfth Night is a wonderful comedy of errors. Mistaken identities galore! One of these days—when I have time!—I’d like to do an in-depth analysis of that play because I think it’s such a good example of great pacing and plotting.
Yeah, I’m THAT much of a nerd.
She’s the Man—a fairly recent teen movie with Amanda Bynes—is essentially a remake of that play. There’s also a film version of the original play that’s fun to watch.
The Taming of the Shrew is another favorite, and I love the film version with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
I was not a fan of Macbeth in high school—my English teacher managed to turn it into a major snore-fest. Years later I saw a production that used the original script but was set in a modern-day, civil-war-torn country in Central America. Very moving.
Have I convinced you to give Will another chance?
July 18th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Interesting, Mary. I can’t remember anything about it now (probably been 20 years since I read — wow, that’s hard to write), but I remember liking Silas Marner. I haven’t tried Pearl Buck.
Cheryl, all good choices. I wonder if volume of books actually works against an author when being considered for “classic-dom”.
Terry! I feel so much better about not liking Shakespeare now.
Would you believe I’ve not read Clavell, Michener or Koontz? I did watch a lot of those mini-series on TV based on Clavell’s books when I was a kid.
Duane, strangely I’ve not read Hemingway either. And you’re definitely not alone in your love of the Bard.
Lee, She’s the Man is on my Netflix Queue. One of my favorite movies, Ten Things I Hate About You, is supposed to be a modern take on Taming of the Shrew.
July 18th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Some of Shakespeare was OK. What I really found hard to get through were the Dostoyevsky tomes–I still don’t think I’ve managed to get through Anna Karenina (required HS reading) or War and Peace… Oy… I have read Shogun, but not anything else by him. Haven’t read Michener or Koontz…
July 18th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the D’Ubervilles” was a snoozer. The movie sucked, too. I’m guessing that J.K. Rowling will be on some high school reading lists.
July 20th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
I never read Austen. Can take or leave Shakespeare. With rare exceptions, I hated all the classics I had to read. I had to do Gatsby twice, too, because I changed schools my senior year and they did it senior AP Humanities, while my old school did it junior year. If I hadn’t tested out of English in college, I probably would have had to do it three times!
My junior year I rebelled. I didn’t read Faulkner–stopped when I counted a five page sentence–or Conrad. Still got an A in the class, so it probably wasn’t much of a rebellion.
I guess I’m just far too modern, and far too commercial. I like fast pacing and a focus on story, not language.
July 21st, 2008 at 7:32 am
I had to read Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye’. I barely made it through it. She might be a pulitzer prize winning author, but that book was so depressing I wanted to throw it out the window. Reading it was an ordeal. Sheesh. I like a book where the characters rise above the muck and mire of their lives – that’s right, I like books that inspire hope AND give a happy-ever-after. Her books do NOT offer that, which is probably why Oprah likes her. :~)
Off to read something uplifting now…
July 21st, 2008 at 8:58 pm
I wonder why so many books on those required reading lists are so hard to get through and so incredibly dull.