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Comment by bfrancom01 | Hacker News Reader

I couldn't stand most of the books I had to read in high school, especially To Kill a Mockingbird. Others included The Great Gatsby, & Lord of the Flies. All awful books IMO, & still dreadfully awful. I can't believe American culture thought (still thinks?) those books were good. Luckily I read books that I liked on the side to make up for it.

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I have to agree. I wonder if part of the general illiteracy is a reaction to the dreck that we are forced to read in school.

At least in high school English classes you get to read some legitimate literature. In middle school, I remember being subjected to an unending string of aggressively mediocre young-adult historical fiction and science fiction that featured teen-aged girls as protagonists by my all-female English teachers. Hard to summon much enthusiasm for that kind of thing when Arthur Clarke, Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Asimov, Ben Bova, Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, Ken Follett, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Conan Doyle, Tolkien, Robert Jordan and George RR Martin beckon.

Tolkien is dreck. There I said it. It took my over a year to read Fellowship of the Ring because of how indescribably boring it is.

Dreck isn't really fair. Tolkien definitely isn't a great prose writer. But you only have to look at his imitators to see how much worse LOTR could have been without Tolkien's uniquely scholarly take on the elves+dwarves+dragons formula. (A formula which he partly invented.)

edit: I suppose I should add a note indicating that I'm aware of the absence of dragons in LOTR.

The Lord of the Rings was written over the course of 12 years, and IMO Tolkien's writing greatly improved as he gained experience. I almost gave up reading The Fellowship of the Ring because it was so boring, but I'm glad I didn't, because by The Return of the King the writing has become fast paced and exciting.

I feel like I'm in the minority when I say that I actually enjoy the long passages of scenery descriptions. I really like soaking in the atmosphere.

Can you suggest some readings, stuff you found especially enjoyable?

(I ask because you're my favorite writer on HN, and am curious as to what things influenced you)

Appreciate the compliment! My favorite books are Candide, The Great Gatsby, and My Antonia. Dracula and Frankenstein are really good too.

Whose translation of Candide do you suggest?

Read the Great Gatsby last year, was shocked at how much I liked it. Will definitely give My Antonia a read.

Would you care to say what books you think are good?

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