Readable Classics

aulsmith : I just don't like the Bennetts.

aulsmith : It's readable, but I find the end disappointing every time I read it.

jain : Definitely read the short story, but skip the novel.

aulsmith : I think the novel is very over-written compared to the original story.

aulsmith : I found the prose dense and the story odd.

aulsmith : I've never found these very readable as novels. They don't make sense, and the chess game in Looking Glass makes it even worse. But each chapter is fun and the poetry is great.

jain: I'm not usually a fan of Hemingway, but this I liked.

jain: Shows a perceptive and nuanced understanding of generational abuse. Accordingly, the beginning and middle of the book can be painful (though compelling) reading, but I find the eventual happy ending extremely catharctic.

jain: The Seamus Heaney translation is my favorite.

aulsmith: The descriptive narration was a little much for me, but I wanted to know what happened and kept reading.

aulsmith : Some of these are great and pretty readable. Some of these need notes to be understood well. Some of these aren't that good to begin with and some of them are downright terrible.

aulsmith : If you can stand to be in the same room with Holden Caufield for more than 10 minutes at a time, I guess it's pretty readable. When I read it in high school I counted the profanities per page and averaged them to keep myself reading ...