Literature Moby Dick and other dronings

[Stok]

I've committed myself to reading Moby Dick tonight. I heard some facts about it: that it was based on a real sea faring catastrophe, and that it's lengthyness is meant to mimic the endless monotony which was a whaling trip at the time. This meta style of writing intrigues me, so Im wondering what the community here thinks of classics: namely which classics surprised you by being deeper than you originally thought they were because your English teacher was so damn boring.

Frankenstein was one such for me. The fact that the monster is presented so much more self aware than in all of his modern incarnations really caught my interest and carried me through until the end. As well as the good dr.'s moral conflicts.

 

[crumbelivable]

Catcher in the Rye is an evergreen novel, the teenager barely existed as a concept when it was written but all the aspects of teen angst within still hold up today. People who say Holden is a "bad role model" or that kind of stuff don't understand the book.

 

[Natasha4E]

My school taught me a "deep" book means it is boring, self important and whiny. It felt like they were trying to discourage reading...

I could not get through Moby Dick. But yeah I can imagine being at sea is as boring as the book was.
I loved Frankenstein. It was a very interesting book to read. It was different from what I expected.
I am now reading Dracula. This one is also different from what I expected. I thought it would be scary. I find it to be funny, instead.

 

[Stok]

My school taught me a "deep" book means it is boring, self important and whiny. It felt like they were trying to discourage reading...

I could not get through Moby Dick. But yeah I can imagine being at sea is as boring as the book was.
I loved Frankenstein. It was a very interesting book to read. It was different from what I expected.
I am now reading Dracula. This one is also different from what I expected. I thought it would be scary. I find it to be funny, instead.

It definitely accomplishes what it set out to do lol. Moby is one that you just have to accept there's going to be a lot of useless information that you can throw out of your brain/skim over. What keeps me moving through it is in between the monotonous walk down the street he'll throw in some musings about the faults of religion or the existence of an afterlife, separate from the Christian narrative. When you couple that with the perspective that he's wrestling with these thoughts in 1844, when everyone else around him is CONVINCED of the Christian narrative it makes it ten percent less boring lmao.

Do tell of some funny moments in dracula

One of my favorite spiritual excerpts from Moby right now is "Me thinks we are all mistaken in this matter of life and death. We are all like clams looking up at the sun shimmering through the vast ocean, and thinking that water transparent air,"

 

[Stok]

Catcher in the Rye is an evergreen novel, the teenager barely existed as a concept when it was written but all the aspects of teen angst within still hold up today. People who say Holden is a "bad role model" or that kind of stuff don't understand the book.

Any memorable scenes or quotes that really illustrate your point?

It's one I've been meaning to read

 

[crumbelivable]

Any memorable scenes or quotes that really illustrate your point?

It's one I've been meaning to read

If it's something you've been meaning to read I'd recommend you read for yourself and draw your own conclusions. All I'm gonna say is there's a part where a close acquaintance of Holdens takes down his character in the most masterful way possible

 

[GrumpySwallow]

"Where the Red Fern Grows" is the only book to have ever made me cry my eyes out. I read it once as a child for school, for that "Accelerated Reader" program that used to be a thing. I've been thinking about picking it up and reading it again as an adult.