Overrated Books?

[Alex W]

Seems like a great deal of the "important" literature from the 19th Century was written for an audience of otherwise idle, well-to-do people who had all day to sit in their parlour and read, with scarce little else in the way of diversion except maybe the fox hunt or a ball at Wimberly. So the concept of a real page-turner was nonexistent.

I suppose the exception were the serialized works published bit by bit in the newspapers, like some of Charles Dickens' works for example.

 

[Fiesta Red]

This won't make you like Pollack any better, but several years ago an electrical engineer computed the number of self-repeating patterns in Pollack's drip paintings. The so-called "fractalicity" of Pollack's paintings was unusually high. For comparison, he computed the fractalicity of people trying to imitate Pollack with random splashes of paint. It was low. He also computed the fractalicity of scans of Pollack's own drop cloths: low. Again, not this isn't proof that Pollack is great or that anyone should like him. But his painting wasn't random, and you don't get the same effect from a drop cloth.

There’s lotsa patterns and complexities in the Excel worksheet I use to keep track of my employees’ safety training. It’s not random at all. I doubt anybody could replicate it.

It still isn’t art.

 

[Tricone]

This won't make you like Pollack any better, but several years ago an electrical engineer computed the number of self-repeating patterns in Pollack's drip paintings. The so-called "fractalicity" of Pollack's paintings was unusually high. For comparison, he computed the fractalicity of people trying to imitate Pollack with random splashes of paint. It was low. He also computed the fractalicity of scans of Pollack's own drop cloths: low. Again, not this isn't proof that Pollack is great or that anyone should like him. But his painting wasn't random, and you don't get the same effect from a drop cloth.

Pollack was an "energy" artist correct? No pre planning, he just let himself go and improvised. Let the paint fall where it may from his movement and form. Interesting concept. I like it, but must admit I did not like his work till I learned where he was coming from. I see his work totally different now. His paintings are like a free form jam. Good stuff.

I see some negative comments about "Moby Dick". I have to admit that it is one of my favorites. I revist it about once a year.

"10,000 Leagues Under the Sea" I found to be dry and dull. I have never reread it. Once was enough.

 

[Spox]

About a year or so ago I was given a loan of a book on global geopolitics written by someone published by The Guardian and The New Statesman etc. It was a turgid read, it wasn't the subject matter which I had an issue with, it was what seemed like a lack of an editor, it consisted of seven fifty page chapters which read more like seven fifty page sentences. I read in bed, 1am-2am, and reading this book was soul destroying but I would take a break and think, "I'm a third of a way in so I should finish it." then halfway then two thirds etc. Last week and the previous week my internet connection went off for seven out of ten days and I made a decision to finish that book and did so.

I went to my towering columns of to read/re read and chose Bedsit Disco Queen, the autobiography of Tracey Thorn of the band Everything But The Girl. I had a bit of a shock to see that a decade had passed since I originally bought and read it. I started it and for the first five nights read an average of fifty pages a night, it was like rediscovering the joy of reading for pleasure.

I went down to see a friend yesterday and took some books to lend him and got some back one of which was Eminent Hipsters by Donald Fagen. I bought it new, read it then loaned it to him and got it back looking as if he had found it lying in a dirty street in the rain, pissed on it then gave it back to me, bless.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

When I used to teach Gatsby I always told my kids up front: I don't like this book. There's not a single character I really admire. It's a sad story of pointless lives. But the writing, the actual words and phrases, is scintillating. So we're going to read it and enjoy it.

How important is it to people that they admire a character, or that their lives are not pointless? The villains are always the characters I love best. It's a break from my boring life.

 

[Tricone]

the bible.
terrible plot, badly drawn characters and an unsatisfying ending. and preachy? don't get me started..

I find the Bible to be the best written and most informative book ever written. Characters developed so well they have lasted through all the centuries and people are still talking about them. Selfless and not preachy at all. The original dichotomy of good and evil from which great works like Tolkien's Ring trilogy, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, etc. got their inspiration from.
The inspiration to some of mankind's greatest artistic expressions.

To each his own I guess.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

I find the Bible to be the best written and most informative book ever written. Characters developed so well they have lasted through all the centuries and people are still talking about them. Selfless and not preachy at all. The original dichotomy of good and evil from which great works like Tolkien's Ring trilogy, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, etc. got their inspiration from.
The inspiration to some of mankind's greatest artistic expressions.

To each his own I guess.

I wanted the Devil to get his own series.

 

[scottser]

I wanted the Devil to get his own series.

oh he did. sure, he invented tv.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

oh he did. sure, he invented tv.

Breaking Bad > The Waltons.

 

[Tricone]

Gone With The Wind isn't really a good read. It is one instance that the movie is better than the book.

 

[Tele-beeb]

If that was your only take away from reading Rand I suggest you have another go. You missed a bit

I actually just read the Cliff notes

 

[Trenchant63]

The Tell-Tale Heart. It was absolutely not uplifting like most of Poe’s stuff. I do not recommend!!!

 

[notmyusualuserid]

The Tell-Tale Heart. It was absolutely not uplifting like most of Poe’s stuff. I do not recommend!!!

Not a book

 

[Dukex]

Madame Bovary. I...just...didn't...care...

 

[Toto'sDad]

Having stated before, that I was once a voracious reader, having read many times by moonlight when I was a kid. I continued reading until I was about fifty years old. I read all of the Richard Bolitho yarns where he was a fictional English Naval character interwoven with history. Then one day, I realized that ALL writing was just drivel. It was a means of conveying the writer's personal agenda and not much else. When I came to that realization, I just stopped reading.

A woman who was a published author deriving her soul means of support from such, once asked my wife; You do read don't you? My wife looked her right in the eye, and said, I once read Donald Duck. The woman was shocked, I wondered exactly what my wife was up to, but kept silent. My wife is a very smart woman but loves sticking pins into overinflated egos. I have finally reached the point in life where I truly believe Donald had as much to say to the literary world as anyone else.

 

[Flat6Driver]

Seems like a great deal of the "important" literature from the 19th Century was written for an audience of otherwise idle, well-to-do people who had all day to sit in their parlour and read, with scarce little else in the way of diversion except maybe the fox hunt or a ball at Wimberly. So the concept of a real page-turner was nonexistent.

I suppose the exception were the serialized works published bit by bit in the newspapers, like some of Charles Dickens' works for example.

What we consider "classical" music today was the "pop" music of the day, right?
I read a funny thing where the composer had to write an aria (?) for a singer he didn't like. He wrote the lines so she'd have to move her head up and down a lot, essentially looking like a chicken. True or not, it's hilarious.

 

[Dostradamas]

Books that are “classics” or “groundbreaking” that just didn’t do it for you...

I’ll start...

The Catcher in the Rye
A boring, vulgar non-story about a spoiled brat who didn’t learn anything. The guy who shot John Lennon was inspired by this story (somehow). After reading it, I was inspired to shoot JD Salinger for putting out such drivel.

I see the forest, not the trees.

 

[cyclopean]

The Bible. The main character is inconsistently written.

 

[middy]

What we consider "classical" music today was the "pop" music of the day, right?
I read a funny thing where the composer had to write an aria (?) for a singer he didn't like. He wrote the lines so she'd have to move her head up and down a lot, essentially looking like a chicken. True or not, it's hilarious.

Pop for the upper classes perhaps, but not really. The leisured classes had time to devote to learning the arts, and patronizing the artists to let them work their magic was considered a worthwhile endeavor regardless of profit.
Pop was the bawdy tavern minstrels, competing for coins with the most titillating lyrics and foot stomping of reels.

 

[Toto'sDad]

What we consider "classical" music today was the "pop" music of the day, right?
I read a funny thing where the composer had to write an aria (?) for a singer he didn't like. He wrote the lines so she'd have to move her head up and down a lot, essentially looking like a chicken. True or not, it's hilarious.

A tradition that lives on today.