First up, I’ve had quite the busy week, and unfortunately I haven’t been able to get to many questions that have come in on the blog and via e-mail. Also though, I’ve been getting quite a few questions that have already been covered in the FAQs. Please please please check there first! And thanks so much to the regular readers who have chimed in with answers to some of these questions — you guys are life-savers.
This week’s You Tell Me is a fun one, and it comes via the Washington Post book blog Short Stack.
What book are you embarrassed not to have read?
As a member in good standing of the publishing industry (well, last time I checked), let me tell you that it’s not possible to have read everything, and yet there’s sometimes an expectation that an agent will have not only heard of every book ever published, but read every book published. Not possible, obviously, but there’s still pressure to be conversant about pretty much every book ever published.
But nevertheless, I’ll still answer. I’ve never read THE LORD OF THE RINGS series and I’m embarrassed.
What about you?
abc says
I’m in the Ulysses camp. And I’ve never read George Orwell either. Unless I read Animal Farm and forgot that I did. That is possible. Ok, let’s just say I probably read Animal Farm. But not 1984. I cannot claim to be an intellectual even if I do smoke pipes and love tweed.
Furious D says
I never read anything by James Joyce after doing "Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man." I'm not embarrassed considering I considered going back in time to slap James Joyce around for inflicting that book on me.
I've never read Jane Austen. Just couldn't work up the interest, mostly because romantic comedies of manners in Regency England, don't really speak to my boorish, testosterone laden mind.
Couldn't finish War & Peace. I have it somewhere, but never finished it, and for that I am ashamed.
But I did read Moby Dick without being assigned it,about 15 years ago.
bookstalker says
To Kill A Mockingbird. And I live in Alabama.
Maureen says
Catcher in the Rye. It just never appealed to me, but whenever people around me start to talk about it I get embarassed and don’t join in. I also haven’t read the Narnia books, which embarassed me as well.
Kristin Laughtin says
I haven’t read LOTR either, but that was because I read THE HOBBIT and didn’t care for Tolkein’s writing style.
I’m still embarassed I haven’t read CATCHER IN THE RYE or CATCH-22 or DUNE.
MelodyO says
I’m embarrassed that I haven’t read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Chabon. And that’s because it’s sitting right beside me, opened to page 56, wondering what it did wrong. I mean, it says WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE right on the front. I should be eating it up, right? I just can’t get past alllllll the telling instead of showing. I know he writes well, but there’s no way I’m reading 656 pages of minute detail. I’m sorry Michael!
Maris Bosquet says
I WAS embarrassed not to have read LOTR–until this spring, when I read it to better understand how it was re-written for the screen.
Maris Bosquet says
Nathan, After reading some of the comments, I’m wondering what books people DISLIKE the most!
Anonymous says
Actually, Nathan, Terri said she was proud she’d never WRITTEN a word of Toni Morrison’s. I don’t get that either, though. Toni Morrison is brilliant, and I’d be pretty proud if I wrote even a few of her words.
I am embarrassed never to have read either the ILIAD or the ODYSSEY. Very embarrassed.
But I have not read any Tolkien and I intend to keep it that way. I’m not proud of it, but I’m certainly not embarrassed.
By the way, to the person who was scared off of JANE EYRE by WUTHERING HEIGHTS: Charlotte is an entirely different dish than Emily. Take the plunge and read JANE EYRE. It’s wonderful.
Moira says
My list of embarrassed not to have read is topped by Gone With the Wind. closely followed by the likes of the Vampire Chronicles, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Great Expectations. Now that I think about it… this list could grow infinitely longer if I wanted to truly feel ashamed.
gerriwritinglog says
I haven’t read Dante’s Inferno, in spite of having it on the assigned reading list in at least two or three of my undergraduate classes. Why embarrassed? Because I study epic literature. But I just couldn’t make myself read something quite so… propagandized. Oh, and I’ve only read the first section of Paradise Lost.
Yeah, bad me, no biscuit.
Adaora A. says
I quit reading LOTR halfway TWO TOWERS as well. I forget who said that, but it’s exactly the same for me. I keep devouring other books and I’ve never gotten back to it. I couldn’t get into it. I’ve never touched it’s older brother nor it’s younger sister.
gabriellel66 says
None! None whatsoever. Oh, yes, I feel guilty about some books having sat in my TBR pile for about 5 years but that’s probably an indication I shouldn’t have bought it in the first place and was just being greedy. Life’s just too short to worry about what you haven’t done–I’m going to enjoy what I *have* done, and that includes enjoying some mighty fine reads and tossing aside those I “should” read when they prove boring or ridiculous (to my way of thinking).
And you know, not to embarrass anyone but Dan, if you can find the time, Hunter might turn out to be one of those joys for you. Certainly is for me.
Anonymous says
Haven’t read a word by Hemmingway and that’s a little embarrassing. Not crawl-under-the-table embarrassing, but anyway.
I have to say I don’t get the few people who seem to be strongly opposed to reading something- Morrison, Tolkien, etc. How do you know if… uhh… you haven’t read it?
To the folks who listed To Kill A Mockingbird- I can’t imagine someone NOT liking it. So when you get a chance…
Julie Weathers says
As a fantasy writer, I feel like I should have read The Sword of Shannara by now, but I haven’t. (Did I even spell “Shannara” correctly?)
Yes, you should.
Robb says
never read any of the tolkien works, never so much as cracked open a harry potter book, but i’m not the least bit embarrassed by that.
never read war and peace, never finished moby dick, which i feel somehow obligated to read, but can’t really say i’m embarrassed over it.
Toni Kenyon says
I think I’m more embarrassed not to have read them, Nathan, I live in the country where the trilogy was filmed!! Peter Jackson put us New Zealand writers on the map.
Rob Gould says
Oh cripes. Let’s see:
Gormenghast (recently bought though)
None of the Harry Potter books
No Thomas Hardy books
No Charles Dickens (must remedy this)
Now I come to think about it, there is a significant number of books that I mean to buy, but due to other things, don’t. Meh.
Chatty Kelly says
The Shack…I think I am the only person in the Christian community who has not read it. And I have no plans too either! But what a great success story of self-publishing! THAT is what inspires me.
terri says
Nathan – I find the hype surround Miss Morrison to be out of proportion with her books. Like she was the second coming of literature. I laughed out loud reading some reviews of ‘Beloved’. They tended to range from ‘it was okay’ to ‘it was stuffed down my throat by my lit professor.’ Typically, for me, if a lit professor likes it, then I won’t! Give me a Michener ‘brick’ any day!
terri says
No, I’ve never written a word of Ms Morrison’s either. I couldn’t even get through the text on the back of the book. I found it vague and pretentious. Now, ‘Grapes of Wrath’, I can quote long passages of that book, it is my absolute favorite American novel. For foreign novels, you can’t beat ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’ by Solzhenitsyn. Stunning in its brevity. So sorry to ruffle literary feathers. However, I’m still not embarrassed!
Anonymous says
Terri, what of Toni Morrison’s actual work have you read? Would you want someone to dismiss your work on the basis of reviews?
Read THE BLUEST EYE. It’s completely unpretentious, it’s moving, and it’s extremely well-written.
Toni Morrison is a self-made woman, who started writing when she was a divorced mother of two. Just ebcause she won the Nobel Prize doesn’t make her somehow inaccessible.
Anonymous says
Catch 22
Amber Draeger says
I’ve read more than I can shake a stick at, BUT.. here’s the really, really sad bit.
I’ve never finished a single series in my life. Really, really embarassing. It’s also a behavior completely opposite of my personality.
Made it to the second to last chapter on Steven King’s The Dark Tower… never finished LOTR…
And.. never finished Harry Potter. Read all of them except book 7. Please don’t flog me. *cowers in corner*
Anonymous says
I really want to have read The Poisonwood Bible (I hear it’s brilliant), but I’m never in the mood to actually do it. Nor have I read Carlos Castaneda. I have all of them; I just haven’t gotten around to them.
Beth Terrell says
I didn’t care for Toni Morrison either. I read two of her books and just didn’t enjoy them. I do admit to being embarrassed by that.
Also, while I’ve read a number of of the classics, there’s a greater number I’m embarrassed not to have read. METAMORPHOSIS, THE GREAT GATSBY, and CATCH-22 come to mind. CATCH-22 and THE GREAT GATSBY have been on my TBR pile forever.
I couldn’t finish GONE WITH THE WIND and am not embarrassed by that at all; I absolutely despised Scarlett.
Alright Tit says
To Kill A Mockingbird. The Complete Works of Peanuts I can find the time to read, but criminally not this. (I feel better for that admission, this is like therapy.)
E.M.Alexander says
Catch 22
Love in the Time of Cholera
Anna Karenina
After reading all these posts about LOTR, I’m feeling kind of smug I read them, even if it was a long time ago…
Liu says
I don’t believe you’ve never read the thing. You have to read at least the title. that counts.
Justine says
Ah, tons. Lord of The Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, How to Kill a Mockingbird, Gone with The Wind, The Great Gatsby, The Cather in The Rye, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy and my history textbook. Then again, those great American books are not popular where I live and I’ve got time to get to them all. Hopefully. Found your blog through Blogs of Note! Definitely note-worthy, indeed! 🙂
Katie Killary says
So glad your blog has been noted! I need to read up on this stuff and learn about it :O)
Quicksilver says
Well, it’s Young Bond and Lord of the Flies for me.
I pretend not to hear when a related discussion starts in the book club here.
Lisa says
Nathan! Just read that Lauren Conrad got a three book deal! Say what? Where’s Spencer’s book? =)
Sabina says
i haven’t read the lord of the rings series either — and both my kids have. i tried once, and just couldn’t get into it. i haven’t read the complete narnia series either — i read the first story in the series and partway through the second, but never really got to the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe one.
i am also embarrassed to say i have never ready completely through the bible. i’ve read all the new testament (several times), and about 2/3 of the old testament. but i got distracted by other books about spirituality. so yeah…. i hear ya
Fr. Christian Mathis says
Brothers Karamazov
Ryan Field says
“Read THE BLUEST EYE.”
I have to agree with this anon post. I wasn’t a fan of BELOVED, but I’ve read THE BLUEST EYE about ten times.
Brooke says
Slaughterhouse 5
writtenwyrdd says
Funny, Ulysses was my instant thought as to what I am embarrassed for not having read. But not really embarrassed. Just sort of guilty feeling.
I think I mostly have a generalized embarrassment that I generally cannot stand “the classics” although I have read many of them for school. About the only benefit of an English degree is forcing me to experience a number of “the classics”, lol.
bryan russell says
kristin laughtin:
Just in case you want to know, the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings are written in very different styles. They’re not really at all alike, especially after the first 100 or so pages in LotR. Well, once they get to Bree, anyway, however many pages that is. I’m too lazy to get up and find a copy to check :).
My best to you.
Dan Gary says
I just started “The Two Towers” book 2 of LOTR. “Fellowship…” was great, and this one seems to be just as good. I you haven’t read them yet, put them on your list.
I am embarrassed that I have never read Dante’s Inferno. I have always wanted to, but I always find a reason not to.
Calliope3 says
I was an English major in college (graduated last year), and I haven’t read any Charles Dickens…
Elizabeth Marie says
Love the blog – very helpful for us writers. Congrats on making the blog of note!
Jeannine says
The Bible.
m clement hall says
I’m curious about the list of books that “not having read” causes embarrassment. Why should it?
If you teach the subject of fiction, if you gain your living from fiction, perhaps there are certain fundamentals, new as well as old, on which one should have a grasp, just like any other profession. Otherwise — what’s at stake?
Reading is for enjoyment. Once you’re out of school, it’s no longer an obligation. Some people don’t read at all. Some people only read non-fiction to improve their minds. Some people only read picture books. What the hell? Reading is for enjoyment, not self-flagellation!
Anonymous says
M Clement Hall: yes, reading is for enjoyment, but that’s not its only function.
I read also to educate myself, and, in this capacity, I sometimes feel embarrassed, or, more accurately, inadequately educated.
There are things I want to know, and many of them are contained in books, even novels. So, my failure to have read certain books reminds me of my own inadequate knowledge.
Ana Todor says
I never read the whole Divine Comedy by Dante Aligheri. I can’t seem to get past the Inferno.
Barbora says
I am embarrased about reading ‘The Notebook’ which while it was an entertaining movie, wasa terrible, terrible book.
Mike Hoffman says
Hi Nathan – First timer to your blog via the “blogs of note” – and it’s quite cathartic to admit to the volumes one has never read, despite claiming to be a bibliophile.
I did read half of LOTR but, frankly, found it got boring somewhere in the middle of The Two Towers, so gave up. But, then, I was 12 years old at the time.
However, the literary blind spot I am most embarrassed about has to be never having read a word of Dickens outside of “A Christmas Carol” – I know, I know! Whenever I feel like some Victorian lit, I always get sidetracked by the Russians…
Hoffy
http://www.hofflimits.com
Matthew Hissong says
The Bible Ulysses Paradise Lost… and maybe Proust. Maybe because I don’t know that I’m embarrassed about not reading him. And only half-embarrassed about Ulysses, three quarters about Paradise Lost.
Nathan should put up a blog post about what books certain people think we should have read but AREN’T embarrassed about not having read. You know, so we don’t seem like bigots against the ignorant. Be proud of your ignorance, people!
:~) JK.
-Matt
Lya says
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.