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Friday, March 23, 2018

50/50 Friday (77): Best/Worst Classic Novel

50/50 Friday is a meme hosted by Carrie @The Butterfly Reads and I and focuses on the opposite sides of books (best/worst, differing opinions, etc).  Every week will have a new topic and several advance topics will be listed in the tab labeled 50/50 Friday!


Today's Topic: Best/Worst Classic Novel


Best:
I actually have SO many favorites for this but if I have to pick just one...


Standalone to date
Release date: 1925

Blurb:
"Jay Gatsby is the man who has everything. Everybody who is anybody is seen at his glittering parties. Day and night his Long Island mansion buzzes with bright young things drinking, dancing and debating his mysterious character. For Gatsby - young, handsome, fabulously rich - always seems alone in the crowd, watching and waiting, though no one knows what for. Beneath the shimmering surface of his life he is hiding a secret: a silent longing for the one thing that will always be out of his reach. And soon this destructive obsession will force his world to unravel."


I absolutely adore this book.  While it does help that it's one of the shorter classics I've read (just under 200 pages), it's also the one with such a tragic story that reveals a facet of humanity that I hadn't seen before.  Highly recommend!  (Little Women was a close second as well as The Hobbit, The Handmaid's Tale, Lord of the Flies, and Animal Farm but I couldn't resist Gatsby!)


Worst:
This actually was actually harder than my favorites because there are so many classics that I disliked for a number of reasons.  But I have to go with:


Standalone (to my knowledge)
Release date: -750

Blurb:
"The Iliad is one of the two great epics of Homer, and is typically described as one of the greatest war stories of all time, but to say the Iliad is a war story does not begin to describe the emotional sweep of its action and characters: Achilles, Helen, Hector, and other heroes of Greek myth and history in the tenth and final year of the Greek siege of Troy."


This is one of those classics that I really wanted to read because it plays into do much mythology and war theory (War and Peace, here I come!) but I just couldn't get into it.  I felt my attention waning and my eyes glazing over while I read it.  I'm thinking I'll attempt it again in a year or so and take it in more manageable chunks.  You can get it free (the digital version) in many outlets because it's such an old book!  Also vying for this title were Brave New World and Pride and Prejudice.


Have you read any of these?  What are some of your favorite classics (and not just the old ones!)?  Make a post and link up down below!



Next Week's Topic: Best/Worst Book You Read for School

6 comments:

  1. I need to read The Great Gatsby but since I watched the movie I know what’s coming and it makes me so sad! I didn’t mind The Iliad but I don’t think I read that adaption.

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    1. Ugh yeah that ending is just brutal! A lot of the time, I won't be able to convince myself to watch the movie after reading the book and knowing what's coming (hello, Allegiant). You have so much more patience than I do! Thanks for stopping by, Jenny!

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  2. I loved The Great Gatsby - I wouldn't say it's my favorite classic, but it's certainly a really great one. I felt like the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio did it justice. It breaks my heart you didn't like Pride and Prejudice, as that's one of my favorites haha. I also love The Catcher in the Rye, and one of my latest discoveries is Daphne du Maurier, who is a fantastic writer - Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel are THE BEST omg. Also, Great Expectations by Dickens is marvelous. Great post!

    Veronika @ The Regal Critiques

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    1. Yes, the movie was so good! I spoke to people who didn't like the book but loved the movie because it was so atmospheric.

      It breaks mine too, actually! I found the movie to be slightly hilarious but still enjoyable so I'm thinking of giving the book one more shot before I abandon hope entirely.

      I still have to read Catcher in the Rye! It's one of those books that it seems like everyone read in school but I never did! I also never read Great Expectations (I've actually never read any Dickens so that's another thing that needs to be remedied!). Thanks for stopping by, Vera!

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  3. I have to admit, I have read The Great Gatsby but I really didn't like it! We started on a bad foot because I don't like when the perspective that tells the book is a bit distant from the true couple it is about and some of the plot is told from a secondhand kind of perspective. I haven't read the Illiad but some people at university had to read it for their module this year and I have heard it isn't the most exciting read :P

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    1. I get that. We talked a lot about it in my class and who the actual protagonist is, Nick or Gatsby. I really liked it that way but it does make it a little more distant emotionally speaking. Haha yeah I can totally attest that the Iliad isn't' as exciting as it seems to be. I read books that mentioned it so I always wanted to read the primary source but when I did, it was kind of a disappointing moment. Thanks for stopping by, Olivia!

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