Thursday, October 8, 2009

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted at Booking Through Thursday. It asks fun book related questions each week. It’s a fun way to get you thinking about your books and share you're thoughts with other book bloggers. Once you’ve completed your post return to Booking Through Thursday and leave a comment and link. This week's question is:

Discuss!
I was wanting to try a certain author and wished I knew someone who had read her works so I could get a recommendation when it occurred to me that having a “YOU ask the question” Booking Through Thursday might be fun. Each participant could ask a question they’ve wanted to discuss with other readers. Perhaps, like me, you’d like a recommendation of a certain author’s best work, or perhaps you LOVE a certain genre or series but no one else you know does and you’d just like to discuss it with someone. Or perhaps you want to try a new genre and would like recommendations from seasoned readers.


I would love to discuss the Classics. I have read some Classics that are so wonderful that they change my outlook on a subject or on life in general, and then I've read other Classics that drive me up the wall. In other words, when they are good they are great and when they are bad they really stink! One such Classic that I've held back reading is Wuthering Heights. Some people love it...mostly characters in other books love it...and then people I've talked to hate it. What's a girl to do? Am I missing something if I continue to scorn this Bronte Classic?

11 comments:

  1. Personally I found "Wuthering Heights" both fascinating and annoying. I'm glad I read it because people are constantly referring to it, though.

    I started trying to read "the classics" back in junior high, and usually I find that I love them more than I thought possible. You're right that sometimes they feel like a slog. I'm personally forcing myself to read "The Grapes of Wrath" next week.

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  2. I wish I could help you with this. I've never read Wuthering Heights either, but I chose not to because from what I understand it's a tragic love story without a happy ending. I don't like those kind of books. I do, however, love Jane Eyre, but possibly there is no comparison between them.

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  3. Going to stick my neck out and say that this is a classic you may well love. I read it first in my teens, and didn't like it so much. With a bit of well-aged perspective I enjoyed it more.

    Tense, claustrophobic; and in no way romantic!

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  4. I stayed away from classics such as this for a long time because they seemed so intimidating and I didn't think there was any way they could be relatable.

    Earlier this year I decided to buck up and try a classic. I read the Austen standards: Emma and Pride & Prejudice, but my favourite classic so far is Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. It now has a firm position on my favourite books of all time list.

    I also read Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, which has a pretty crazy story line. Has anyone else read it? I really enjoyed that one as well.

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  5. Hmm, to be honest, I didn't love Wurthing Heights. I thought Heathcliff and Catherine were awful, I'm still puzzled why some consider this such a great love story. But, some people read it and love it and others dont. So, you might like it? I just thought it was overrated.

    If you're going to read a Bronte I say go with Charlotte! I think she is a much better writer and Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books. I also enjoyed Villette and bought Shirley but havent read it yet....

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  6. I haven't read Wuthering Heights either. Someday I hope to get to it, but I'm not in any hurry.

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  7. I just read "Wuthering Heights" before I came to college this fall; it was all right. I didn't love it, but I really enjoy reading classic novels. There are so many allusions to these novels in today's literature that it fascinates me. Furthermore, this 'canon' of literature is based upon incredibly early books--"Pilgrim's Progress," for example. I think "Wuthering Heights" is just one of those novels you feel obligated to read, but still feel accomplished at the end. After all, it gives you much to compare to when considering other classic novels.

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  8. Not at all. I've read several Bronte novels, and Jane Eyre has been the only one worth reading so far.

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  9. I've started reading Wuthering Heights a half a dozen times and had never gotten past the first few pages. This summer I tried it again and got a little further but was sidetracked by another book. I do plan on reading it someday, even though most people I know didn't like it.

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  10. Skip Wuthering Heights and read Jane Eyre. I wish I could get my reading hours back on Wuthering Heights. I finished but it dragged forever.

    I think I would have liked it better if it wasn't billed as a love story. Everyone is awful to everyone. If that is romantic, I'm not impressed.

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  11. I tried to read Wuthering Heights. Ugh. I just couldn't get into it. I recently saw a film adaptation, and my first thought was, "What on earth is the appeal of this?" Heathcliff's an ass, Cathy is just insane, and everyone else seems to be completely screwed up. I mean, things may be like that in real life, but when every character in a book is that dysfunctional, it seems like overkill.

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