You know how sometimes you’ll be talking to a group of people and someone will be like, “Dude, how great was that part in Harry Potter when such and such happens?” and you’re the one person in the world who hasn’t read Harry Potter and you quietly admit this and they’re like, “YOU HAVEN’T READ HARRY POTTER??? What is wrong with you?!?!”
Yeah.*
We all have our “gap” books, those books that everyone in the world has read and talks about all the time and look we are really meaning to read them but we’re all very busy and there are a lot of books to read and no one could possibly be expected to read them all and why do I have to defend myself aha;sldkjf;aj
Anyway, my name is Nathan Bransford. I have not read The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Yes. I know.
What are some of your gap books?
(*For the record I’ve read Harry Potter.)
New to the blog -Hello. I have read book one of LOTR and could not get into book 2 or 3. I also have not read Great Expectations, even though I loved David Copperfield.
I have a shameful number of gap books – Twilight, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Sound and the Fury, Of Mice and Men … the classics I WILL read one day (Faulkner and Steinbeck), but until my kids are old enough to want Harry Potter read to them, I don't have much interest.
Eat, Pray, Love. I don't even have a clue what it's about.
Twilight. sorry, can't bring myself to read them.
Annnnd, I am on 3rd Harry Potter book right now. Not totally sure if I will finish the series though they are pretty enjoyable!
Read Lord of the Rings for the first time when I was 13, wasn't super impressed, read it again in my 20s and LOVED it.
Did read Da Vinci Code and half of Eragon- hated them both 🙁 is To Kill a Mockingbird good, or just required? (Hello, I am not an American!)
Wow I feel positively "well-read" at this point!
I LOVE LOTR, but completely understand why some people find it wordy. I enjoyed Twilight, it needs some polishing in terms of the actual writing, but it did remind me how it felt to be a 14 year old girl again :D.
I have read loads of "classic books" due to an elective I took in varisty (inter-textual reading). This meant I had to read not only the classic novel, but modern books that referenced it. Vastly enjoyable and eye opening!
I also (sadly) had to read huge amounts of over-political fiction, because somehow (in Africa) anything referencing race or politics, becomes an instant great/classic/must subject students to this.
I have never read The Lovely Bones. I cannot get a copy here and the Dollar exchange rate makes Amazon a pipe-dream. I did manage to catch the movie.
I managed to avoid cheesy Romance books…till this year. My well-meaning hubby bought me a mixed bag of second hand books. I read the first one, because you should always try new things. I read the next one, to ensure the first one was not merely some diabolical attempt to write the world's worst book. I have not read a fiction book since, any fiction. I am too terrified that it might just reminded me of reading those books. If there was ever a time I wish I could scrub my brain…
I'm baffled why people would consider not having read Twilight as something to be embarrassed about.
I can understand why industry folks have to read the most popular books in order to better do their jobs, but readers don't have to.
I'm not a 13 year old girl. Why would I read books aimed at them? Surely that would be more embarrassing.
I never read anything. When you've read intensely for decades, it feels like been there done that for most, and the rest aren't interesting enough to entice. I've had a go at Twilight in the last twelve months but only because it's a genre I'm very interested in and write in, myself. Had a go at Harry Potter and admired the craft but couldn't warm to most of the characters or the cliched elements and situation.
Another confession by an English major – I haven't read Moby Dick or Anna Karenina. About the latter, I knew it would not end well and I just couldn't take another depressing Russian novel after Crime and Punishment.
More recently, a couple of years ago, everyone in my set was reading and raving about Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees. I couldn't get into it.
Asimov's, Heinlein, Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Flies, Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, any Shakespeare … and the list continues to grow.
Don't get me wrong, I'm an avid reader. I am always devouring a book or two a week but I just have not read much that was written before 1960.
I've never read the Wrath of Flies… Just kidding. I hadn't read enough Faulkner, and am NOW FINALLY reading Requiem for a Nunn, which is VERY funny.
Oh, so many! I haven't read The Great Gatsby. Or Animal Farm. Or Anna Karenina (though I do intend to give it another go–trying to read it in two nights in college was NOT a good idea). And I only read the first book in the LOTR trilogy–I just couldn't take any more of that.
LOL I haven't read LOTR either. The first movie bored the crap out of me. (Maybe it was the monochromatic brown color scheme… yeah that's exciting.)
And I have read Harry Potter.
I read the first Twilight book but not the rest.
Will NEVER read:
Moby Dick.
The Da Vinci Code.
Eragon series.
Lord Of The Rings Trilogy.
Twilight Saga (after New Moon).
Wheel Of Time Series.
The Time Travelers Wife.
Anything by Nickolas Sparks.
The Scarlet Letter.
Have Not Had Time To Read But Want To:
The Hunger Games.
Looking For Alaska.
Chronicles Of Narnia.
Hush, Hush.
Pretty much anything really popular I steer clear from. I tend to hate most best sellers.
Harry Potter. I never seem to find the time. I'm too busy reading other children's books.
Catcher in the Rye. I hear people go on about it and instead I'm like…umm I can talk to you about The Sound and The Fury instead, lol.
The Last 4 Harry Potter Books–I got bored after Book 3
LOTR
Twilight
Moby Dick
Nearly any/all modern "Great Adult Books" : The Help, Kite Runner, etc..
I'm a young female writer, and I've never read Jane Austen. I plan to, I just haven't yet…
I've never read Harry Potter, Dan Brown, Lord of the Rings, or Twilight.
Out of those, I might want to read Lord of the Rings but not the others. Oh, To Kill a Mockingbird & Lord of the Flies are still on my "gap" list.
Oh, and Hamlet.
Hi! My name's Natalie. I'm from Ukraine.
I've never read
The Odyssey (Homer)
Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes)
The Old Man And Sea (Ernest Hemingway )
David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)
etc. ((
Mine are Marley and Me and The Pillars of the Earth.
I cannot believe how many people on this thread have not read Pride and Prejudice, or anything else by Jane Austen. Seems like a literary travesty!
I've never read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I've only read part of the first book of the Chonicles of Narnia, so that's still a gap for me… a gap I hope to fill, though! I haven't read the Millennium Trilogy either… or The Hunger Games trilogy. Or The DaVinci Code.
*gulp* Pretty much everything Stephen King has ever written is one huge "gap" for me. (I tried reading Misery, but I just couldn't get into it.) I think that's the only "gap" I'm ashamed to admit I have. This has actually prompted people into asking me how I live with myself, lol. Perhaps, someday, I will check out the local library's Stephen King collection. 😉
Also, like Deb and David, I haven't seen the The Godfather, either… or Star Wars or Star trek.