Gravity's Rainbow

[Quality Start Machine]

Books like The Scarlet Letter and Ethan Frome exist for horny schoolteachers to underline the fuck scenes.

[Pre]

Books like The Scarlet Letter and Ethan Frome exist for horny schoolteachers to underline the fuck scenes.
I never read The Scarlet Letter

Doesn't hockeynight have forums that you can "contribute" to?

[Quality Start Machine]

Books like The Scarlet Letter and Ethan Frome exist for horny schoolteachers to underline the fuck scenes.
I never read The Scarlet Letter

Doesn't hockeynight have forums that you can "contribute" to?

Nathaniel Hawthorne sucks.

[flannj]

The tangent I'm going off on here is this: how do you recommend something to someone without using the phrase "I'm not sure if this book is for you" which implies that you're somehow smarter/better than that person? It's a real problem and this problem, in and of itself, adds to the insufferable douche factor of the whole recommendation conundrum.

So the issue with these authors and their books is that you almost have to bump into someone that happens to have already read these books as recommendation is all but out of the question. Which is another reason why I'm glad this place exists so I can talk about these pointless things with people who know what I'm getting at. Maybe.

It's weird, because movies aren't at all like that.  People never take offense to being told that they
wouldn't enjoy a movie.  I think a lot of it is that few people are actually interested in reading
literature over escapist candy novels but are also self conscious about admitting it to others or
sometimes even themselves.  I don't get it.  I like escapist books just like I love escapist movies.  I
also have no interest in the world in trying to finish War and Peace again (made it 100 pages maybe)
or anything like it and I'm not ashamed of that.

I think a lot of things are just so different that the only way someone is going to know if they like it is
by trying and that applies to everything from sky diving to 1100 page novels revolving around a tennis
academy.  There's similar things that you can use to estimate if you'll like it, but if you're unfamiliar with
the general concept then you just have to try it.

If you like to sky dive then you'll probably like to bungi jump.  Liking the Da Vinci Code isn't going to mean
you'll like Focult's Pendulum, but liking House of Leaves probably means you'll like Infinite Jest.

Maybe one of the problems is school.  I know some high school teachers act like if you don't love whatever
classic novels they chose to teach then the problem is that you're failing to get it versus maybe it just sucks.
So a bunch of people probably grow up thinking that they're not smart enough to appreciate good novels
instead of the fact that The Scarlet Letter sucks balls and they should feel good about hating it.  And they
get such a stale view into the world of literature that they think those of us that enjoy it are reading a
bunch of classic/modern day Hawthorne style tripe.

A thousand times THI

And a million times THI

Fuck the vapid popcorn novel that was The Great Gatsby, too.

But the green light meant envy!

Thanks for summing that up, Pre. It's true - kids are basically taught to hate literature. It's so very sad.

Jane Eyre anyone? Fuck that book.

An overanalyzing high school teacher ruined "The Good Grocer" "The Assistant" for me.
For fucks sake not every written word has to be looked at as a metaphor.

Edit - Because I'm an idiot and high school was so long ago that I couldn't remember the correct title.

[Quality Start Machine]

An overanalyzing high school teacher ruined "The Good Grocer" for me.
Not every written word has to be looked at as a metaphor for fucks sake.

For me, it was a lit class in college called "Twentieth Century Novelists". I signed up, expecting Vonnegut, Hemingway, or something else cool and interesting.

Instead I got a loser with an Oedipal complex giving me a semester of D.H. Lawrence.

Nothing can kill love of Literature like a Lit class.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

Books like The Scarlet Letter and Ethan Frome exist for horny schoolteachers to underline the fuck scenes.
I never read The Scarlet Letter

Doesn't hockeynight have forums that you can "contribute" to?

Nathaniel Hawthorne sucks.

I never had to read The Scarlet Letter, but do recall hating Hawthorne's short story "The Minister's Black Veil" in its place.

It was "Bartleby, the Scrivener" without all the action.

[Bort]

Books like The Scarlet Letter and Ethan Frome exist for horny schoolteachers to underline the fuck scenes.
I never read The Scarlet Letter

Doesn't hockeynight have forums that you can "contribute" to?

Nathaniel Hawthorne sucks.

I never had to read The Scarlet Letter, but do recall hating Hawthorne's short story "The Minister's Black Veil" in its place.

It was "Bartleby, the Scrivener" without all the action.

Wow. I managed to have to hate ALL THREE of those in 10th Grade.

I also hated Catcher in the Rye on my own time that year.

[flannj]

Is it too soon for me to say "Overrated: Catcher in the Rye?"

I don't have strong feelings either way on Catcher.
But "Nine Stories" is outstanding.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

Books like The Scarlet Letter and Ethan Frome exist for horny schoolteachers to underline the fuck scenes.
I never read The Scarlet Letter

Doesn't hockeynight have forums that you can "contribute" to?

Nathaniel Hawthorne sucks.

I never had to read The Scarlet Letter, but do recall hating Hawthorne's short story "The Minister's Black Veil" in its place.

It was "Bartleby, the Scrivener" without all the action.

Wow. I managed to have to hate ALL THREE of those in 10th Grade.

I also hated Catcher in the Rye on my own time that year.

Crispin Glover and Joe Piscopo, together at last!

[Wheezer]

Nothing can kill love of Literature like a Lit class great aunt with an S.E. Hinton fixation.

Memories of a lousy summer'd.

[Doc]

Catcher in the Rye is overrated.  Just like Walter Payton was.

Gaddam, I fergot I hated you, too. Catcher in the Rye is indeed overrated, but Walter Payton was underrated. You have overrated your ability to make proper ratings.

[Chuck to Chuck]

Catcher in the Rye is overrated.  Just like Walter Payton was.

Gaddam, I fergot I hated you, too. Catcher in the Rye is indeed overrated, but Walter Payton was underrated. You have overrated your ability to make proper ratings.

You may still hate me but clearly you didn't follow what I was going for.

[Bort]

Catcher in the Rye is overrated.  Just like Walter Payton was.

Gaddam, I fergot I hated you, too. Catcher in the Rye is indeed overrated, but Walter Payton was underrated. You have overrated your ability to make proper ratings.

You may still hate me but clearly you didn't follow what I was going for.

If you were saying that Catcher in the Rye was actually underrated, then you couldn't be wronger on the wrongin'-est day of your life with an electrified wrongin' machine.