Movies and Books you've STRUGGLED with

[Deej]

After countless attempts, I've finally sat through a complete viewing of Gone With The Wind. I like old movies and I enjoy epic films, but I've never been able to watch this one all the way through. Finally, I borrowed a neighbors copy and committed myself to sitting through it. Turns out it's a pretty good flick!

I made two attempts at reading The Grapes Of Wrath before completing the task on the third try. I enjoyed it.

Catcher in the Rye was another book that took three attempts. Bored hell out of me.

Still haven't managed to finish The Great Gatsby, The Lord Of The Rings books or anything by Hemingway. I don't hold out much hope for the first and last entries, though I'm still game for LOTR books.

Movies that required muliple attempts...Heat(good)..2001:A Space Travesty(bad)..Dr, Zhivago(oh the horror)....Beat The Devil(WTF?)....Nosferatu(Germans are weird).

Any books or movies you've actually had to work at getting through?

[BeyondTheGrave]

a movie i always  struggled with is "the longest day" . i could never sit a watch the whole thing.

"Dont be a fool for ur tool"

[Dunners]

a wrinkle in time, I hate the way the book is written.

[raj]

I enjoyed Wrinkle in Time, and The Longest Day.  Can't recall anything I've struggled with, ocassionally a book or movie is so bad that I stop reading or watching it.

[trekgeezer]

The Lensman Chronicles by E.E, (Doc) Smith.  The books have great concepts that have inspired a lot of people from George Lucas to J. Michael Straczynski.

The pulp writing style(from tthe 30's) that was used is just really hard to read. A lot of sexism and every one is a Bronze Adonis or  Venus.  They are classics  and  I pretty much forced my way through them, but they were worth it .

[raj]

Oh, that does remind me of Through a Mirror Darkly, which at times felt like an obligation to read.

[Ash]

I have never made it all the way through 2001: A Space Oddysey

Maybe someday I will.

[maria paula]

"the lord of the rings", sorry but i find it really soporific and boring, i cant stand frodo and sam. i love peter jackson but not the trilogy.

[Shark]

I always just avoid movies and books that bore me to tears.  Great classic or not, if it doesn't interest me, I'm not going to waste my time with it.

[petrol lunatic]

A Tale of Two Cities- I hate Dickens more than anything else in the entire world. Stupid Victorian people.
If On a Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino- it was way too hard to follow, each chapter is a portion of a different book.

[The Burgomaster]

Deej wrote:

"Catcher in the Rye was another book that took three attempts. Bored hell out of me."

Wow.  Catcher in the Rye was one of the few books that I have ever read that I had a hard time putting down.  I was completely absorbed by it from page 1 all the way to the end!

I have the extended version of LOTR: THE TWO TOWERS on DVD.  The first time I tried to watch it, I made it through about 30 minutes.  The 2nd time, I made it to the end of disk #1.  I really like the movie, but I just can't seem to get through it.  I think I need to watch LOTR again first to refresh my memory about a few things.

[maria paula]

i agree with u, catcher  in the rye its a great book. caught my attention from the start till the end.

[Vermin Boy]

A Civil Action was rough going for me. The writing style just seemed so dry-- I kept imagining Criswell reading it.

It took me a while to finish The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Don't get me wrong-- I liked it a lot-- but I just kept getting distracted. I think I read something like five other books in their entirety between when I started it and when I finished.

For one reason or another, I've never made it more than a few chapters into Lord of the Rings (though I've read the Hobbit more than once).

As for movies, it took several sittings to finish Apocolypse Now Redux.

[Brian Ringler]

I've struggled with almost every book I'm told to read in school.  No, I'm not bad at reading I actually graduated with an english minor from college since it went along with my major but when I'm told what I have to read something completely turns me off of it.  I could pick it up on my own free will and love it but when I'm told I have to do it by this time and so on so forth it just doesn't work.  Maybe I just can't get over my problems with authority.  Anyone else feel this way

[Deej]

The Burgomaster wrote:

>
> Wow.  Catcher in the Rye was one of the few books that I have
> ever read that I had a hard time putting down.  I was
> completely absorbed by it from page 1 all the way to the end!

Yeah, everyone from my brother to Mark David Chapman seems to be wacky about this book. That's why I read it..."The Great American Novel" etc. I just didn't dig it. I thought Holden was a pretentious whinger, maybe I just didn't get it. I read Shane in one sitting...didn't put it down..much less whining in Shane...and more shootin'!!

 I guess now  I should mention a "Classic" book that I read and enjoyed, to save literary face, but can't think of one right off. I finished Lord Of The Flys in one sitting, when I was 14. Of course, it's about 100 pages long and kind of a children's book....but I dug it thoroughly! Poor Piggy!

Still working on the complete LOTR book, it's not that I don't enjoy it, but it hasn't grabbed me yet, and my mind has sort of toddled off. I've set it aside now for a few weeks, but will try again soon.

Just re-read The Novels Of Dashiell Hammett (except for The Dain Curse) and 4 of Raymond Chandler's early Marlowe novels....gooooood readin'!! I think I've given up on Hemingway and Fitzgerald....impenatrable! Currently, psyching myself up for Gerald's Game....wish me luck!