Daniel Frank has an interesting post about most loved and most hated classics, which had a few surprises for me:
No. 8 of most beloved: The Brothers Karamazov. Really? I’m totally surprised. It’s not an easy novel — I still recall the amazing lecture the tutor Michael Ossorgin gave on the novel and its intricacy — and so many people not only read it but love it? I’m going to have to take another look.
No. 9 of most beloved: Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I certainly liked it but I had no idea that people still read it.
No. 5 of most hated: Gulliver’s Travels. Again, I’m astonished. I thought that novel was totally captivating and a wonderful social and political satire. (And FWIW, I also greatly loved T.H. White’s wonderful inversion and continuation, Mistress Masham’s Repose — along with the great Fritz Eichenberg illustrations.) This one is baffling.
No. 10 of most hated: Madame Bovary, presumably so rated by readers under 40. Madame Bovary really is a novel for adults, and by “adults,” I mean adults of a certain age. If you’re under 40, skip it. If you’re over 40, you probably will not be able to put it down.
More at the link.
Later On 