Tuesday, February 28, 2012

THE BEST OF FEBRUARY

WILLIAM JAMES - THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

"I have a degree and some background in psychology, but I couldn't understand a word of what James Joyce was saying or trying to say, it's so 'thick', and that's unfortunately the way a lot of the top 100 greatest novels read for me; like Ulysses for example. That book was so thick with aulde Englishe, one would need an interpreter or something. My only thought is, what a bunch of stuffy people, those literary 'scholars', who voted many of these books. I am reading all the way through the bible, my objective, but I am also reading and enjoying many of the greatest classic novels as an objective, just to do it. But I don't need to read this book 'varieties..' to gain a single grain of wisdom or whatever. I am a born-again God-Man with a most wonderful life experience. Handcuffed in a police car and at the breaking point, I silently cried out from someplace desperately deep inside, 'O God... Take me out of this world', and true to my prayer, God answered. One day hitchhiking, I met a household of 'brothers' headed by a middle-aged Japanese couple. The Japanese man asked me, 'If you could have a treasure chest, that every time you opened it, there was something new and [exciting], would you take it?' When I looked into his eyes, they were shining, not as if he had been weeping, but glistening as with life and joy. I didn't answer; in fact I put up a fighting argument the whole time, but I stepped out to the curb, and whispered, 'Lord Jesus Christ! If you are real, get me a ride.' Almost instantly, a VW bug pulled over with a young college music student inside and took me home. Another day, I tested again, '.. If you're real, please give me a ride.' A car again pulled over, I got in without saying a word, and the lady handed me some christian gospel tracts, '..Here. Hand these out to people you meet. Praise the Lord.' Again another day, I tested, 'Lord, if you're real..' I got in without saying a word, and the lady exclaimed, '..I just had to pick you up. God told me, 'Pick up my Child'...'"


HOMER- ODYSSEY

"Sure the killing and the monsters and the adultery is all swell, especially when read as a 13 year old. Still an overlong tale (epics are definitively but unnecessarily so) only bested by Ovid's Aeneid for tedious filler material."


SHAKESPEARE - HAMLET

"Would've been a good book if the play was revolved around Laertes instead of Hamlet. It would've been based on the same timeline but just from Laertes's point of view. Think about it."

"It mainly rewards it's dignified and true readers who push through and read it in it's entirety ... I'm a fan of atmosphere in books and setting, and the setting in Italy and Greece and Eastern Europe really intrigues me. I love knowing more about those places and their history. So this is a nice way to get a sweet taste of that"


DOSTOEVSKY - CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

"Lessons this book teaches us: 'You are not superiour to other people, do not kill other people, God is the answer to all your problems'

Good. now let's go after some teletabbies."


EMERSON - ESSAYS

"This book was a waste of my time. Not anywhere in his bumbling incoherence did Waldo come up with a single cognitive thought! The shame he has brought upon American society is very disturbing. I mean, his name is WALDO. You know? As in, where's Waldo? Obviously he's very lost. Stay away!"


BEOWULF

"Beowulf is the enbodyment of everthing I can't stand in a male. He is arrogant and vain. It is completely unnecesary to announce every person's linage every time a person is spoken of. YUCK!!!!!! The memories in the middle of an action are distracting and annoying. The only reason I gave it 2 stars was because I like dragons."

"I continue to be amazed at the belief that just because something is written by the British then that in itself makes it a classic and a must read. We freed ourselves from the British government through war and struggle. What do we have to do to free ourselves from their literature, becuase other than The Cantebury Tales and a few poems and epitaphs, British lit is long, boring, tedious and outdated. Not to mention some of the language is unbearable, I find myself having to re-read passages just to understand them. Please free the college undergrads of the world."

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Beowulf III

"I liked the descriptive the author words, I almost thought that the made up monsters and warriors were real. Beowulf was a hero an through that power he beings to be hated because he was able to protect everyone's life even if it wasn't his responsibility to defend someone he made it his, making other hero less powerful."


"Boring. The only plot is a hero fighting and killing monsters."


"This particular edition is the Charles William Kennedy translation, which is true to the original iambic pentameter the epic poem was written in."


"Okay, I get it. You're strong and proud. What are you, a black woman?"


"I am sure glad that story telling has improved over the years."


"All I really remember is Beowolf bludgeoning Grendel's mother to death with her own arm. I seem to recall we were all very indignant about that. The idea of a supposed-hero killing the monster (and the monster's mother) just for the sake of killing does not sit well with me."


"To me Beowulf is important as a piece of history rather than as a piece of literature. It shows how literature has developed and how it existed at is very beginning. Simple, very black and white."


"bleehhhhhhhhhhhh who cares you were all going to die of dysentery or childbearing complications or consumption anyway."


"Just because a work is Great does not mean it is good. And it was NOTHING like the move!"


"I would not recommend Beowulf to anyone who is looking for an interesting book. The story line is too historic, and it is hard for people these days to find a way to connect with Beowulf, the main character. As someone who does not enjoy stories based around epic heroes, Beowulf was extremely boring for me. He kills this; he slaughters that; he defeats this; he overpowers that. The story is so predictable that it isn't even worth reading."


"The story centers around a most egotistical, self-glorifying man, Beowulf. The reader must endure pages and pages of Beowulf's constant bragging and babbling about his numerous 'brave' feats."


"Beowulf, outstanding historic relic that it may be, is incredibly boring. Has anyone ever sat down and read Beowulf for fun? If so, that poor chap must either have given up on page 3, or must have strange literary appetites indeed. This is basically an old legend, which can be related faithfully to you in, oh, maybe a three page little tale, but instead is blown up into what seems to be an endless poem. All I can say it, avoid this like the plague!"


"If you only read one book this year that: lacks substance, doesnt require any real thinking, lacks adequate description, has a ridiculously overpowered and infinitely benevolent hero, is written in a boring fashion, and is a 6th century equivalent to The Power Rangers......... makes it this one!"


"Beowulf is the enbodyment of everthing I can't stand in a male. He is arrogant and vain. It is completely unnecesary to announce every person's linage every time a person is spoken of. YUCK!!!!!! The memories in the middle of an action are distracting and annoying. The only reason I gave it 2 stars was because I like dragons."


"This book had to be a bad joke or a cruel punishment. I was forced to read this for a British lit class and let me tell you it was money wasted. I continue to be amazed at the belief that just because something is written by the British then that in itself makes it a classic and a must read. We freed ourselves from the British government through war and struggle. What do we have to do to free ourselves from their literature, becuase other than The Cantebury Tales and a few poems and epitaphs, British lit is long, boring, tedious and outdated. Not to mention some of the language is unbearable, I find myself having to re-read passages just to understand them. Please free the college undergrads of the world."

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Beowulf II

"Beowulf is boring. Always has been. Always will be."


"it was really bumd and not that interesting..."


"what was this even about tho..."


"Poetry. Ugh."


"The plot isn't believable -- who can fight a monster under water for so long?"


"A bunch of neanderthals saw monsters, and the only one with some symmetry in its brain decided to write something that would annoy students for all eternity."


"seriously people!
just because a book is old does not mean it is any good!
this poem is annoying, unrealistic, and poorly written!"


"There isn't an author because no one wanted to claim responsibility for this heaping pile of refuse."


"I hated this story everytime I read it!!! Then I majored in English!"

WHAT A FUCKING SURPRISE


"We read this because it's old. No other reason."


"no one should ever read this."


"I thought it was a rather silly. I had no sympathy whatsoever for the protagonist and titular character, Beowulf. During the climactic battle between Beowulf and the dragon, I found myself rooting for the dragon,(which I actually do a lot, incidentally)"


"Where do I start? The zealot kings and their concubines are a perfect example of living a life of sin. Their bigotry toward woman disgust me. The mead halls were full of sin and perdition thus it was damned for years and terrorized with such a demon as Grendel."


"Beowulf is about a time when fighting monsters and slaying dragons was what gave life meaning."


"Yes, I know, it's taken me a shamefully long time to get around to something that every medievalist should know by heart, etc. In my defense, I'm not an Anglo-Saxonist—I'm a common-or-garden High Medievalist."

SPECIALIZED IGNORANCE: STILL IGNORANCE


"Beowulf is an epic poem who till this day doesn’t have a known author. It’s based on made up character, Beowulf."


"I didn't, for the most part, actually read this book. But, like many books I've had to read for classes, it was really confusing and hard to understand. My teacher explains it enough during class that just reading a summary on sparknotes was enough for me. I don't think I would have liked it even if I had read it better because of the fact that nothing happens...there was no plot or anything. Not really worth reading, if you ask me."


"Essentially a collection of fairly standard tribal mythologies passed down orally until a poet wrote them down in clunky, biblical-style verse. Not a very enjoyable read. The popular belief that something must be good if it's old (and great if it's especially old) has always amused me. Like a number of 'classic' films and ancient plays, Beowulf simply doesn't have much to offer beyond its admittedly impressive age."

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Beowulf

"This is terrible. Beowulf is the most famous epic poem ever."


"Old old book, maybe the oldest book in the world."


"One of the earliest written stories we have recorded."


"If I wrote a list of things I don't give a shit about, I'm pretty sure 'some big fucking monster whose name sounds like a word for the area between my balls and my ass that attacks alcoholics and is eventually slain by some asshole, told entirely in some ancient form of English that I don't understand' would be near the top."


"the idea of holes in the plot never occurred to people in the 11th-12th century(?somewhere in that time frame, I can't remember)."


"About a thousand years before this, Virgil wrote the Aeneid and Ovid wrote the Metamorphoses. Then this crap came along and got shut away because nobody wanted to read it. Now everybody thinks it's great because their stupid ancestor barbarians wrote a crazy story that sucks, has no stylistic merit, and doesn't make sense. I'm glad they couldn't find the whole thing."


"what is up with the ending? it takes place a half century later and for the most part is entirely irrelevant to the rest of the plot, which was bad to begin with ...

What's all the more ridiculous about this AWFUL plot is the fact that about half of my copy of Beowulf is the intro and afterword, full of PRAISE for this book. I don't care to look up quotes, but I'm sure you've skimmed through them a bit. Just because this is the only piece of literature to survive from this era doesn't make it good."


"The author had some pretty screwy priorities. I counted at least four or five mentions of how glory and fame are the most important things in life."


"I felt some of the fighting was unnecessary."


"Honestly, I don't think much of it ,which is natural, because it was written a billion years ago."


"The only thing I remember is that it used some kind of oldy-timey English that I didn't understand."


"If Beowulf was written in 2009, it wouldn't be published. This poem is awful. I read it twice just to make sure. Sucky status confirmed."


"Probably the worst book I've ever read. I have never been so confused by a book."


"i hate this book more than any other. i did learn, though, that when someone tells you you cannot do something, you should do it just to prove them wrong. like when dr. jensen makes you write a beowulf essay 4 times and tells you that you can't write and to change your major. my first newberry will be for her. nah nah nah nah nah!"


"This book is a huge reason why I dropped out of the Honor's Program a the University of Utah. Intellectual studies of the west my eye. The reason why we don't know who wrote it is that nobody wants to take credit for it."


"Another college book that I didn't completely read but completely hated."


"I especially don't recommend this book to people under 8th grade. I am stinkin serious"


"I didn't like it, I think it's a guy thing. All that killing and bloodshed, all that honoring gold. Ick ... And they should have renamed the characters Tom Dick and Harry, I couldn't keep tack of them all."


"Reading Beowulf is boring. Go rent the movie instead."

Monday, February 20, 2012

Ralph Waldo Emerson - Essays

"This is a very deep book--very fitting for a deep person such as myself."


"Emerson was a spineless opportunist who took ideas from everyone with whom he was ever in contact."


"This fucker's a jumped-up graduation speaker at an overpriced private high school, and that's all there is to it."


"Some interesting conversation points but contradicts Biblical teaching on a number of points. For example, Emerson relies totally on the individual in his attempt to live life. Totally on his own, he tries to achieve perfection. The Bible teaches man has fallen and cannot achieve perfection or eternal life on his own. Instead, man must rely on God to rectify our sin (through His gracious provision of Jesus Christ – John 14:6). How does this fit into Emerson’s enormous emphasis on self-reliance as the fulfilling way to life?"


"Emerson has alot to say. Unfortunately, He has too much to say"


"I'm sure he has good things to philosophize about, but too wordy"


"Emerson just seems like he's taken the wrong meds...if you know what I mean..."


"Talk about 'little minds.' What a contradictory piece of shit."


"The essence of Emerson's essays is merely nebulous claims to self-importance and a direct undermining of Christianity and traditional values."


"The main ideas here are straight from the diary of an angst-ridden, over-privileged, self-absorbed smarty-pants 16-year-old."


"Self-Reliance: Meh. A preachy sermon about the importance of thinking for one's self. The essay reads too much like ye olde scripture with too many digressions."


"This book was a waste of my time. Not anywhere in his bumbling incoherence did Waldo come up with a single cognitive thought! The shame he has brought upon American society is very disturbing. I mean, his name is WALDO. You know? As in, where's Waldo? Obviously he's very lost. Stay away!"

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Ludovico Ariosto - Orlando Furioso

"Oh no!!! I hate Ariosto!!!!"


"boring, slow and old-fashioned. It is so slow and boring that it sounds like a religious work"


"the most Italian book I have ever read."


"Ariosto was not interested in a serious history, but just to entertain."

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Plato - The Republic II

"The most yaoi thing i've read lately is plato's Republic, which is a bit too nambla for my taste."


"I hate the republic. I want to burn it. It is one of the most ridiculous things that I've ever had to read!"


"i hate plato. i hate the republic. i hate his double messages. he confuses me. help."


"Oh man, I hate The Republic. I can almost vaguely sense the stench of the gas chamber every time I read it."


"God, I hate the Republic. I HATE IT ... It's horrible, it's so boring and all the arguments are posed in such a silly way"


"I hate The Republic by Plato(all of his arguements are biased...Plato just wants his 'teacher'... get it... 'teacher'... ahem... 'boyfriend'... to look good...)"


"All of this was fun for about fifty pages, and then even the most ridiculous displays of Socrates worship couldn't hold my interest."


"Plato is, hopefully, burning in hell. The Allegory of the Cave is retarded, and besides, anyone who offers you an allegory should be feared and avoided at ALL costs."


"His Philosopher King lunacy holds that the Governmental, which primarily exists to serve families, should be run by academic elitists instead of family men."


"God forbid that i have to read this tosh.

he goes on and on and on - too sanctimonious!!"


"I hate the Republic so much. Socrates and Plato just love lying. Oh, and assuming that everyone except themselves is an imbecil. If Athens was full of morons, why on Earth did they 'love' it so much?"


"I HATE the republic as well. all snooty elitism. who gives a fuck? yep, let's exploit the slaves, only the best shall rule... I'm plato, and I've never even put this into practice but somehow I think everyone should venerate me and I should be taught to unfortunate college students for years on end."

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Confucius - Analects

CALLING CONFUCIUS THE AUTHOR OF THE ANALECTS IS A BIT LIKE CALLING CHRIST THE AUTHOR OF THE GOSPELS BUT I'M DOING IT ANYWAY

"What an utter waste of time trying to read what seemed like at times non-sensical ramblings, an what an even greater waste to find out that he, Confucius, most likely didn't write all of these disjointed sentences or had others add to them. You would do far better to read Proverbs out of the Holy Bible."


"Incredibly repetitive and axiomatic. He offers nothing to back up his philosophy."


"I was honestly expecting something more from this. All I found was a compilation of quotes by the man. Most of them completely irrelevant to today and to other cultures."


"I tried reading the saying of confucius to understand how his doctorine affected the far east culture but quited from the first page :/ it was really hard"


"I couldn't understand have of what the book was saying.. Kept jumping from one thing to another ... I honestly can't see anyone of finishing this with me understanding it.. So what's the point of reading without absorbing the words..
Total waste"


"Not my type of philosophy, which is odd because I usually enjoy eastern philosophy. I found Confucius to be extremely opinionated which goes against most philosophical thinking."


"This is one of the most boring books I have ever had the misfortune to try to read. If anyone could gain any wisdom from this book then they would have to have been a complete fool before they began to read it. I was always of the mind that Confucius was supposedly a wise man or a sage. However, I now believe that his name should not be Confucius but 'Confused'. Don,t waste your time and money on this rubbish. There is no wisdom to be gained from this book."

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Fyodor Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment III

"HATED this book. Long and tedious, but more importantly, it puts the reader inside the mind of a crazy person, and it was not someplace I wanted to be"


"Call me a Philistine, but this would have scored higher if the editor had removed the repetitions and thus halved its length."


"I feel it fails at the fundamentals of what a story should be about. Sure, we sympathise with our anti hero, who for some reason feels compelled to commit murder for the sole reason of seeing if he can get away with it.
But the tale becomes so dreary and chlaustrophobic, and Raskolnikov becomes so wrapped up himself we are treated to too much internal reflection. I'm sure it is a commentary on many aspects of life, but of what worth is this, if the story cannot hold the reader to deliver such things. This book, for me, is outdated and irrelevant, and Im sure I will incur the wrath of the purists for that statement.
But, dear reader, consider this. You are considering buying this, right? Hence you're reading a review on it. If it is part of a course for you, or you have an inflated opinion of your own intellectual faculties, buy it with my blessing and gibber on to your friends about how sophisticated you are to have read this. But, if, like me, you are looking for a good novel with some value for a more casual reader, steer well clear, and by doing so distance yourself from the pretentious crowd."


"Pseudo intelectual by a racist writer
The only people who should read this book are people who belong to so called ' intelectual' parties, or people who have commited terrible crimes - it can replace death as ' The Capital Punnishment' .
If you're intrested in good literature, smart writing, character analysis, ANYTHING... search elsewhere.

If you shot your Teacher for forcing you to read this, you have my sympathy"


"In this inspired book, Dosoyevsky forwards a complex, brilliant and innovative world view - that you have to be punnished for your crimes!
By a sexist, racist writer, we get the story to bore even the most adequate reader. It's so boring, dead people will rise to shut you up if you'll read it to them.

This is the lamest so-called classic I've ever read ... And by the way, lots of people say they liked 'Brothers K'. It is, admittedly, somewhat better then this one, but that's like being drier then the ocean. Evoid at all costs!"


"There are people like this man in the world, of that I have no doubt, but through their pains, sufferings, and guilty consience, things will not be alright, and this is something that should not even be suggested to the weak and fickle minds of today."


"It is a crime that I was punished by this wordy tripe!"


"Lessons this book teaches us: 'You are not superiour to other people, do not kill other people, God is the answer to all your problems'

Good. now let's go after some teletabbies."


"Well what can I say, I would much rather find myself engrossed in some soup label literature than this atrocity. Who is this guy? This book makes me feel physically ill and I have the continous urge to rush to the bathroom and deposit my last eaten meal everytime I come across the novel lying on the kitchen table."

Friday, February 10, 2012

Shakespeare - Hamlet III

"The most overrated work of art in the history of hummanity."


"All and all this play is atrocious. Though it is acclaimed as the greatest work of drama ever, it is hardly that. People who say such things, have absolutely no credibility. Hamlet's only purpose is to confuse the reader. Any intelligent person can see through his character and realize that he is little more than a feeble mind with a large vocabulary. He is almost the mirror image of Lennie in OF MICE AND MEN, Barnaby Rudge in the Dickens' book of the same name, Benjy in THE SOUND AND THE FURY, or Dogberry in Shakespeare's own MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. The rest of the main characters (Claudius, Gerturde, Polonius, Ophelia, Laertes, The Ghost, Horatio, Rosencrantz, Guildensern, The Player King, Fortinbras, The First Gravedigger, Barnardo, Reynaldo, and Osric) are ridiculous and annoying caricatures. HAMLET would have been a much better play had these characters been eliminated entirely. Their only contribution lies in the fustian and obfuscating nature of a horrid play. Take my advice: if you want some real entertainment, read Shakespeare's TITUS ANDRONICUS with the great intellect Aaron the Moor, the forerunner of Iago, or THE SPANISH TRAGEDY, containing the sublime Hieronimo, the forerunner of Jane Austen's Anne Elliot. You will find these plays far superior to the 'aesthetic failure,' as T.S. Eliot commented, otherwise known as HAMLET."

THIS ALMOST MAKES ME WANT TO QUOTE ELIOT'S ESSAY ON HAMLET IN FULL, BECAUSE OF ALL THE EGREGIOUSLY RETARDED LITERARY AND CULTURAL CRITICISM THE MAN WROTE, NOTHING, NOT EVEN THE ESSAY ON BLAKE, TRUMPS THAT. BUT THEN AGAIN IT'S STILL NOT AS DUMB AS PREFERRING TITUS ANDRONICUS TO HAMLET


"It's dull, monotinous, boring. The only way you can get anything out of it is if you over-analyse to such a level that you change the plot of the play completely! I apologise to all Hamlet fans out there, but i really dont see why this play demonstrates Shakespeare as a great British writer.
The soliloquies are perhaps why the play is most famous, and i had to write a 3000 word essay on how they connect Hamlet to the audience. But they don't. Apart from one, 'tis now the very witching time of night...' they are all bland and show nothing but Hamlet's idiocy, stupidity, and cowardice.
So there you go, read it if you will. Who knows, it may be a question in a pub quiz, but i just want to warn you that compared to a lot of Shakespeare's other work, this just isnt up to scratch. sorry xxx"


"Hamlet sucks. Like really shakespeare? You cant just talk like a normal person...?"


"The play Hamlet sucks cock."


"In my opinion all of Shakespeare's writings are long winded, drawn out words with no possibility of ever coming close to being remotly interesting. Hamlet was actually one of the most terribly boring, predictable, useless book ever written. The plot had no vital juices. The charachters were devoid of all emotion and energy. Even more devastating to the book is how it all ended. I actually got to say once Hamlet,Gertrude, and Claudius died I was leaping with joy, it was impossible to contain my excitment. Why? Because it meant that if every one is dead, well, IT IS FINALLY OVER! Finally, this book not only is long, boring, and an embaressment to the whole romantic time period. It has no long lasting effect on anyone. So, what I'm trying to say is that any poor, unfortunate soul that has to read this book will never even understand let alone remember what actually went on through the course of the play."


"Why do we have to analyze all of Hamlet's problems? We have our own problems to take care of!"


"Be or not be , thats the question - Hamlet SUCKS"


"im so tired of hamlet and ophelias stupid ass just kill the fucking uncle so i wont have to read this book no more"


"Seriously, if it's Shakespeare you want, go buy a different play than this."

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Shakespeare - Hamlet II

"Two words...

Over. Rated.

Put them together and you've got my feelings on what is supposedly the greatest work of Western Literature."


"Well, for starters, I don't consider this his greatest work. Yes, it is incredible writing and one can not servive in the literary world without knowing this play. However, I hate Hamlet. Not just the play, the man himself. He's so whinny and wishy washy. Everything he does boils down to one thing... He is avoiding avenging his father's death. He is to much of a pansy to just kill his father's killer and just be done with the whole thing.

Am I the only one that wants to slap him during his 'To be or Not to be' speach?"


"Not a fan of ole Willie! Movie version: yes! Reading the book: No!"


"This one is no except for me. It just didn't descripe things like a novel does."


"If Shakespeare were alive today he would be writing soap operas."


"The world would be a prison if everyday dialogues were as lengthy and florid as these in 'Hamlet'."


"It's still just as fun to read as it is to stare at a blank wall for a few hours.

I didn't see the point. I'm just happy the way he taught it wasn't filled with 'symbolism' and other shit. I don't believe in any of that. They wrote the book to entertain, not to hide secret messages."


"I feel asleep, it was so boring!
This book is very boring and doesn't say much for the man who wrote it! Ofcourse Willy is acclaimed as the best writer of all time, but this is only because of British Media hyping the man, after 400 years."


"cheap cop-out ending."


"I'd rather watch Mel Gibson than read Shakespeare anyday"


"I really dont get it.Why is he famous?"


"To be a pussy or not to be a pussy..."


"There is really no point and it's really long."


"This has to be one of the worst plays ever written, Shakespeare or no Shakespeare. While the Bard was the master of English drama, he really slipped up here. The plot makes no sense, the characters motivations are contrived, and the jokes fall flat. I have read this play hundreds of times, seen umpteen productions and films, and am astonished at the plaudits universally accorded to it. The modern English translation by Daniel Nystedt, however, corrects many of these flaws (by eliminating the ghost and such unneccesary characters as Claudius, etc.) and overall is much more worthwhile."


"Some parts were creepy. I was literally creeping out when Hamlet started making out with his mom. Of course I realized that that was hundreds of years ago and maybe back then that was OK. This story provded us with a look at what literature used to be. I think this a good story to read in class."

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Shakespeare - Hamlet

"Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s worst plays."


"Kill me now. I'd pretend to act interested but I won't even try."


"Puleeze!!!"


"not a better play of his."


"Can you say dumb and boring?!!!!"


"I hate hamlet. The sniveling little brat prince should have just off'd himself in the first act and saved us all the hassle of suffering through his inability to cope with his father's death."

WHAT A LOSER, CAN'T COPE WITH HIS FATHER'S DEATH


"some of the most epically inspiring quotes are found in this single piece of writing, some of which being, 'To be or not to be...' 'There is method to his madness,' and my personal favorite, 'This above all: To thine own self be true.'"


"DONT LIKE IT BECAUSE I WISH HE WOULD SPEEK NORMAL ENGLISH"


"INSECT what are the school thinking?"


"Would've been a good book if the play was revolved around Laertes instead of Hamlet. It would've been based on the same timeline but just from Laertes's point of view. Think about it."


"The plain truth is that there are plenty of non-fictional people who have dealt with more difficult things with much less complaining."


"I also detest his motives for killing Claudius. Is he concerned that his uncle is evil and needs to be stopped? No, all Hamlet cares about is revenge for his father's death."


"It mainly rewards it's dignified and true readers who push through and read it in it's entirety ... I'm a fan of atmosphere in books and setting, and the setting in Italy and Greece and Eastern Europe really intrigues me. I love knowing more about those places and their history. So this is a nice way to get a sweet taste of that"


"It sucked because I couldn't identify with Hamlet. I didn't identify with him when he was telling his mother who she cannot have sex with, and I didn't identify with him when he was ruining Ophelia's life, and I don't identify with him now ... I will refer to this play as Hamlet: the Suck-fest. Why is it a classic (and why does Hamlet hate women)?"


"I did not care for the fact that two men see the ghost in the beginning but are never seen or heard from again."


"To be honest, I find Shakespeare too difficult to wade through. If I must be subjected to the bard, I prefer to see it live, or even in a movie. I find I'm able to understand it more. Or I could watch the Lion King, and then I get to sing along! ;)"


"I don't know what Willy Shakespeare was thinking when he wrote this one play tragedy, but I thought this sure was boring! Hamlet does too much talking and not enough stuff. He needs to shape up and show them who's boss. Maybe Shakespeare fans of Hamlet should take a rest on the book tragedy! Ha ha!"

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Homer - The Odyssey III

"Yet another book assigned to ninth graders that I don't think they will be able to relate to. I've been assigned The Odyssey numerous times and have never been able to read it cover to cover. Maybe this is my year..."


"When I first read this book, I thought that I would never be able to finish this book because there was a lot of reading I had to do."


"you would think that a huge fantasy nerd like me would have loved this book."


"Sure the killing and the monsters and the adultery is all swell, especially when read as a 13 year old. Still an overlong tale (epics are definitively but unnecessarily so) only bested by Ovid's Aeneid for tedious filler material."


"My goodness, was this a boring book or what? This was one of the worst books I've ever read. I mean, I get that it's a classic and everybody should like it and all of that other pretense, but I did not enjoy one bit of this book, I'm sorry to say."


"so so so soooooooo boring oh my goodness i wanted to cry"


"the odyssey was just really confusing, and it was like not fun to read!"


"WELL I DIDNT LIKE THIS BOOK VERY MUCH IT WAS BORING AND NOT MY TASTE. I RECOMENED THIS BOOK TO PEOPLE WHO LIKE GREEK THINGS OR THINGS LIKE THAT."


"I was very disappoionted about the story. Getting very good reviews and feedbac; it wasent very interesting.It started off boring and finished off the same"


"I found Odysseus very arrogant and the gods hypocritical and the actions of them morally questionable. The style was also patronizing in places, by always addressing characters with an adjective describing their character, which we should make our own minds about, and not be force fed what we should think of them."

Thursday, February 2, 2012

William James - The Varieties of Religious Experience

"I have been working my way through this book for three years now. Have not lost hope though."


"the book is, for the most part, stupid and overrated. certain thinkers believe that once they have achieved a certain stature, they can say anything they want. at no point does the book adress the problem that these 'religious experiences' are *based* on delusional beliefs."


"I was really looking forward to reading more about this subject, but I found that this book was just a scattered array of pages about nothing. After reading this, I honestly couldn't tell you what point he was trying to prove. How anyone can make a book with this topic so boring, is a mystery to me. It took me so long to get through this book because I just hated the idea of even picking it up again and reading this nonsense.


PFFFFFFFFFFFT."


"very old-fashioned terms and references making the modern reader wince, so the book sounds better than it actually is."


"He is wrong in the way that all of the great artists of the Romantic period, from Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats to Picasso, are wrong, in his emphasis on the individual and his denial of the universal and the absolute. James offers a view of religion as a wholly personal matter, the utility of which lies in its benefits for each person. Like all of his intellectual cohorts, he had lost faith in universal truth. Indeed, one biographer has suggested that the succession of short term jobs that he held lead him to posit the equal value of all experiences. Because of this crisis of faith, he was unable to make judgments about the truth or value of different religious beliefs ... GRADE: F"


"I have a degree and some background in psychology, but I couldn't understand a word of what James Joyce was saying or trying to say, it's so 'thick', and that's unfortunately the way a lot of the top 100 greatest novels read for me; like Ulysses for example. That book was so thick with aulde Englishe, one would need an interpreter or something. My only thought is, what a bunch of stuffy people, those literary 'scholars', who voted many of these books. I am reading all the way through the bible, my objective, but I am also reading and enjoying many of the greatest classic novels as an objective, just to do it. But I don't need to read this book 'varieties..' to gain a single grain of wisdom or whatever. I am a born-again God-Man with a most wonderful life experience. Handcuffed in a police car and at the breaking point, I silently cried out from someplace desperately deep inside, 'O God... Take me out of this world', and true to my prayer, God answered. One day hitchhiking, I met a household of 'brothers' headed by a middle-aged Japanese couple. The Japanese man asked me, 'If you could have a treasure chest, that every time you opened it, there was something new and [exciting], would you take it?' When I looked into his eyes, they were shining, not as if he had been weeping, but glistening as with life and joy. I didn't answer; in fact I put up a fighting argument the whole time, but I stepped out to the curb, and whispered, 'Lord Jesus Christ! If you are real, get me a ride.' Almost instantly, a VW bug pulled over with a young college music student inside and took me home. Another day, I tested again, '.. If you're real, please give me a ride.' A car again pulled over, I got in without saying a word, and the lady handed me some christian gospel tracts, '..Here. Hand these out to people you meet. Praise the Lord.' Again another day, I tested, 'Lord, if you're real..' I got in without saying a word, and the lady exclaimed, '..I just had to pick you up. God told me, 'Pick up my Child'...' ... I would rather read any of Watchman Nee's or Witness Lee's works than this boring book 'Varieties..'; specifically , The Economy of God, a most important book, a classic masterpiece; I feel like the luckiest person in the world to have discovered it just once. Some of the principles set forth in that book can only be compared to something like the map to the treasure of Monte Cristo- a hundred fold. My only slight disagreement with Witness Lee is when he gets a little too preachy at times, maybe alluding to things of the spiritual life, '.. the sisters just know [from the inner life], not to buy a certain thing.' Sometimes, Mr. Lee may not have explained something as well as I think he should, but the book is a classic nonetheless. A greater read to me than 'Varieties..' would be a compilation of born-again or life experiences; How about several volumes at least. 'Varieties of Religious Experience' is an extremely boring read and I think a complete waste of time. Only one [thing] is important really, one focus, hinted at again and again thoughout the bible: Strive to enter [The Kingdom of God] at the strait gate. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are there already, Mary chose that better part, and few there be that find it. Christ said 'I am the Gate.' Witness Lee wrote another 'classic', called Christ Versus Religion."