If I have any regular readers, I promise to get back to the political stuff soon. I have some thoughts on the Democratic primary that I'd like to share and I plan to do a series of posts on different political topics as I try to suss out where I REALLY stand. But, for now I have a rant about classic novels.
What I really don't get is how most classics become classics. People talk about what great books they are, they end up on top 100 of all time lists and everybody who wants to look sophisticated will talk about how great these books are, but the bottom line is that most of them are boring and suck. Case in point, I recently picked up Catch-22 at my local used bookstore. I've read about 30 pages and I have no clue what's going on. The narrator will start in one direction, then all of sudden switch to something else without completing the thought. The story is not the least bit interesting yet, mostly because I can't figure out what kind of story the author is trying to tell. I plan to give it a little bit more, maybe try to get through 100 pages and finish it if I can find any reason to, but so far it's one of the worst books I've ever tried to read...and this is supposed to be a classic, one of the best novels of all time. I just don't get it.
Catch-22 isn't even close to the only example either. I once tried to read Catcher in the Rye and that was pretty awful too. To begin with, every other word is a curse word and that gets old real fast, furthermore, the story is incredibly depressing and not the least bit interesting. I think the main character was suicidal or something and I have to admit, I think it would be best if he just killed himself in the first few pages and got that thing over with. I actually made it all the way through Moby Dick a few years ago and I still have no idea what that book was about. It was boring, disjointed and I have no idea why anyone would want to read it, let alone talk about it like it was on of the best books of all time. In addition to those examples, there's Dickens, and although his books usually have a story that can be followed and good characters, they're also really boring. Jules Verne is boring, but at least I was able to follow 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and it wasn't a complete waste like Moby Dick.
Now, don't get me wrong, I do like some classics. Robert Louis Stevenson is a great author. Treasure Island is one of my favorite books and Kidnapped was really good too. I'm sure there are also other classics that I've read and liked, but overall most classics are verbose and boring. Some, like Catch-22 and Moby Dick, also have stories that are impossible to follow and completely useless. I just don't get how books like this become classics. Why would anyone want to read them? I'm sorry, but I'll stick to books with good characters and good stories. I may not be able to consider myself as sophisticated as a lover of classics, but at least I'll get enjoyment out of them.
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