I don’t know if it qualifies as a classic novel, but in the late 70s/early 80s I could never get through The Hobbit when several of my friends were going crazy over it. My S read it in 2nd grade.
English major here. Just no to Moby Dick. No one should have to suffer through that. Same for Faulkner.
Thanks for this. It’s the literary equivalent of the Get it Off Your Chest thread.
Heart of Darkness. The Francis Ford Coppola movie version was so much better. 
I won’t tell you how we referred to the book when I has in HS; it’s against ToS and would raise ire amongst the #metoo movement (most of whom also hated the book.
Well, I’m disappointed, ski. Wuthering Heights is both one of my favorite books and favorite movies. But I can do without all Conrad.
I remember reading Ayn Rand in high school, and loving the book. Then I proceeded through many others. Reading some of the comments here, maybe I should read her again and see what I think 45+ years later.
Not a fan of many classics, but I did like Jane Eyre.
Middlemarch. Just sayin’. Sorry, @Mary13.
English class was my least favorite class throughout High School.
The required reading list was torture for me. I had such an awful attitude about it, it took years for me to discover a love of reading.
Hate most of the Dostoyevski I’ve read, which isn’t much.
Jude the Obscure - kill me now, please!
Conrad was always a struggle even though I admire the writing, but the plots…hmm
Thank you for bringing up Wuthering Heights - even though I love the Brontes
Books I hated when I was young but love today:
Madame Bovary
Portrait of a Lady
I took an independent study in high school designing myself a class on reading all the classics with the supervision of one of the higher level English teachers because our school didn’t really offer one. Wow, I was a different person then because I don’t think I could get though ONE of those classics now- I so much prefer light reading!
I was an English major and I love to read but I’m not a Henry James fan. Ironic since part of my thesis involved a couple of HJ novels. To quote my advisor quoting his college English professor, “A woman walks from a door to a window and Henry James writes a novel about it.”
I could never understand the appeal of The Hobbit or the others in the series, but I have always enjoyed Shakespeare (which I was turned on to at about age 11), and I love the new telling of his stories that many production companies are doing now (such as the 40s inspired A Comedy of Errors) - you know most of Shakespeare’s works are rehashing of his previous works. Not many “classics” I can say I enjoyed. Read them as part of a required reading list.
I tried playing the original Swiss Family Robinson as a book on tape in the car during a vacation trip when the kids were little. That writing style has now become our family code for bad writing.
Put me on the Moby Dick boat.
@skieurope I recall that “Heart of Darkness” as also an inspiration for the Vietnam War movie, “Apocalypse Now” and the Brando character/sequence. I’m not sure but I seem to remember that as being discussed.
I majored in Literature. I hated anything by Faulkner. Do people read him these days? Could never get through Middlemarch. I loved everything by Thomas Hardy.
Loved both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.
I tried so many times to read A Confederacy of Dunces. Finally, I was forced to read it for book club and really enjoyed it.
I couldn’t get through Ulysses by Joyce. Nonsense.
For me, a book should either grab my attention right away, or, if it doesn’t, should give me hope that if I continue reading, it will be worth it. What makes it “worth it” is hard to identify.
For those interested, I just read The Sympathizer by Nguyen and I believe it’s going to be regarded as a classic.
That was the movie I was alluding too. I still hated the book.
I had the same experience with A Confederacy of Dunces… many tries, when I finally committed to finishing it (out of embarrassment, since it was a gift from a boyfriend) I understood the appeal.
In HS, I just couldn’t get through Crime and Punishment. Actually, I don’t think I read more than 2 chapters. It was the only time I bought Cliff Notes to get through that unit.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by Joyce, found me breaking down.
All
the
way
d
o
w
n
I put Ulysses back on the shelf after forcing myself to get through two chapters to see if it got better.
Hobbit and The Brothers Karamazov were for school (HS, college, respectively) so I had to force my way through.
Catcher in the Rye was one of my favorites in HS. I’ve re-read it a couple of times but don’t find it as appealing these days.
I have The Metamorphosis and V on my bookshelf, daring me to read them. I’ve re-read Animal Farm, 1984, Mockingbird, and Lord of the Flies instead, putting them off until I feel like a challenge.
I never had to read Moby Dick, and the descriptions don’t make me want to try.
Anything Shakespeare. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that I love the musical “Something Rotten”!