Now people can have someplace on topic to discuss it.

For myself, I’ll mention Wuthering Heights.  Blah.  Though there’s only ever been one book that I actually tried to read and couldn’t bring myself to get through it, and that was one called Cryptozoic! by Brian Aldiss (though that probably doesn’t count as a “classic”).  Which was a shame, because he’s usually a good author.

To Kill a Mockingbird and Catcher in The Rye. 
Both were hideously boring and required reading for english…The latter didn’t even have a plot…

I thought To Kill a Mockingbird was okay.  Catcher in the Rye is one of those books I’ve always intended to read at some point but haven’t gotten around to it.

Eh…I dunno, I get the whole ‘racism is bad’ thing with To Kill A Mockingbird, but it just dragged on for about 100 pages more than it had to…
And Catcher in The Rye was basically 250 pages of the main character whining about his life (Which wasn’t that bad of a life, might I add), being an ass to nearly everyone he meets, and generally being Captain Emo/Tool.  I get that it’s a ‘classic’, it’s just one about a complete jerk.

Jane Austen.  I could never get into her books.  Although I have just finished reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  And struggled with it, because of Austen’s style of writing.

1984

And though Watership down was great I found Shardik very hard going.

Mother Goose just bores me to tears.

Anything by Dickens.  I never finished Great Expectations, though it was required reading.  I managed to avoid also having to read A Tale of Two Cities (which, to great hilarity, the teacher once mis-announced using complete alliteration).  Dickens’ writing style didn’t draw me.  If I can put a book down without wanting to immediately pick it back up, I usually don’t finish it, but Dickens in particular is something I can’t read.

Accipiter - 26 June 2009 07:48 PM

For myself, I’ll mention Wuthering Heights.  Blah.

I couldn’t agree more.

Unfortunately, in my advanced placement/college prep literature classes in high school all of our reading was mandatory.  It wasn’t a reading list where we got to choose.  It was mandatory reading of certain books.

Wuthering Heights, Crime & Punishment and Main Street were the top three terrible ones (all about equally atrocious).  Though I’ll admit to struggling and not finding much enjoyment in most of the books we read.

I read Catcher several years after I got out of school because I wanted to read it and it was not an assigned work in school.  It was all right, but I never really “got” it.  I don’t see what the big deal is with the people that absolutely love it and think it’s the great work of literature.

NEO - 26 June 2009 10:15 PM

Mother Goose just bores me to tears.

Try the Brothers Grimm.  They’re much better.

Ahdora - 26 June 2009 10:22 PM

Anything by Dickens. 

Amen Bro’!  The Little Curiosity Shop was torture…

In the other thread I already mentioned Kafka’s ‘The Castle’. That is the only book I never finished. It was like trying to swim through liquid tar….