Literary

Books and Authors I Hate

I hate Moby Dick
Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Books And Authors I Hate

Yes! At least for now.

Here are some “classic” works of literature that I just don’t like.

So sue me.

  • Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Boring, boring, boring.
  • Lord of the Flies by William Golding. I don’t care that he won a Nobel Prize. I read this for high school English class and hated it. Maybe I’d like it better now, but I don’t think so. I’ll try to read it again soon.
  • Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler. Okay, I read this on my own in high school. I don’t think I need to explain why I held my nose while reading it. It has nothing to do with literary merit, which is not the point anyway. It certainly isn’t boring. I think it is essential reading for trying to understand a madman’s psyche.
  • Other than A Room of One’s Own and also her journals and letters, I just cannot finish any of Virginia Woolf’s books. Her novels usually have long run-on sentences and no plot to speak of.
  • Shakespeare. I like individual lines of his, but suffering through some of his plays is torture. Romeo and Juliet, and some of the comedies I can appreciate. but most of his tragedies are insufferable. I know this is not a popular opinion, especially in England, but I will admit that I have never been able to get past the surface level of Shakespeare. I studied his plays in high school and university (along with Chaucer), but I must admit that I find Shakespeare pretty tedious. It’s funny about how some people complain about violence now, but has anyone ever read Titus Andronicus? Talk about blood and gore!

Books and authors I hate? Perhaps I will feel differently in a few years.

Further Reading

Books and Authors I Haven’t Read . . . Yet

Also this: Talking about books I don’t like – Modern Mrs. Darcy

Thank you for reading The Literary Lioness!

I love books, writing, film, and television.

No Comments

  • Gina

    Oh, I love the honesty! And, I have to agree with you on Shakespeare. I like a few of his plays, mostly the more popular ones, but I NEVER sit down and just read them on my own. I understand the merit, it's just not for me.

  • The Literary Lioness

    @Gina — Since I was an English major I could never admit that I didn't care for Shakespeare. Perhaps it's different in England because I believe they start reading Shakespeare at an early age and we didn't start until high school. I've read a few sonnets on my own, but never the plays.

  • Teacher/Learner

    I appreciate the bold step into downright honesty about books typically heralded that we just can't stand!

    I do think that what we read in high school & university depended a lot on who was teaching it & the quality of that teaching. But that's just the new educator in me speaking :oD

    I'm with you on Virginia Woolf–very challenging novels, yet I really enjoyed A Room of One's Own. Lord of the Flies can be depressing, but I actually didn't mind that one. Shakespeare is give & take–the comedies are usually easier to understand :oD

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