There are several. The reasons are all the same: Some books were much discussed, when I was in school, as having been considered important in the past but now being considered less important. Instead of having to read them I heard and read why I should read something else instead.
So...I missed Middlemarch, though I read Silas Marner and Daniel Deronda.
I never read Enoch Arden or Ethan Fromme.
I never read, though I've always intended to read, Paradise Regained.
I never read, or wanted to read, The Sun Also Rises.
I remember that I didn't read all of the Leather Stocking Saga, though I agreed with Mark Twain that it was badly done, so bad that I don't remember which volumes I didn't read. It's a rare man--usually they're married to women writers at the time--who can make up really good female characters, but Cooper's were so bad as to be embarrassing.
I didn't read Middlemarch, but I did end up reading the The Lifted Veil, which is more of a Speculative Fiction piece (if I may be allowed to apply current genre categories to books written before they existed). It's short, but extremely interesting.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting recommendation. I see it's available at Gutenberg.org, as well...may be reading it soon! Thank you, Michael Mock.
ReplyDeleteI’ve never read any of those books either!
ReplyDeleteLydia