Readable Classics

aulsmith : I just don't like the Bennetts.

aulsmith : It's readable, but I find the end disappointing every time I read it.

aulsmith : I read this at age 18 and found it confusing and irritatingly misogynist (though I didn't know the word at the time).

sturlington: Can be a slog but worth reading

aulsmith : I found pacing lose and disjointed. Had to start it a couple of times before I got through it.

jain : Definitely read the short story, but skip the novel.

aulsmith : I think the novel is very over-written compared to the original story.

aulsmith : I've never found these very readable as novels. They don't make sense, and the chess game in Looking Glass makes it even worse. But each chapter is fun and the poetry is great.

aulsmith : Poe is very readable, but he gives me nightmares.

aulsmith : I found the prose dense and the story odd.

jain: I'm not usually a fan of Hemingway, but this I liked.

aulsmith: The descriptive narration was a little much for me, but I wanted to know what happened and kept reading.

aulsmith : If you can stand to be in the same room with Holden Caufield for more than 10 minutes at a time, I guess it's pretty readable. When I read it in high school I counted the profanities per page and averaged them to keep myself reading ...

aulsmith : Some of these are great and pretty readable. Some of these need notes to be understood well. Some of these aren't that good to begin with and some of them are downright terrible.

jain: Shows a perceptive and nuanced understanding of generational abuse. Accordingly, the beginning and middle of the book can be painful (though compelling) reading, but I find the eventual happy ending extremely catharctic.

jain: Surprisingly funny, both intentionally (see: the fart joke in Chap. 1) and unintentionally (see: Melville's very earnest argument that whales are fish and not mammals). Also intensely homoerotic--always a plus for me.