Books You Should Have Read But Admitted You Haven't: About Time I Read... (PHOTOS)

Penguin Books (@penguinbooks) recently tweeted, "So who is up for admitting what books they should have read by now? #abouttimeiread"

We've all got books on our list that we feel almost shameful about not having started or finished. For a lot of people who responded to the Tweet, James Joyce's "Ulysses" was one of those. We can sympathize. That's a tough one to get through.

Thought of any other books that you should have read by now? Let us know in the comments!

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Howmanyreally said on 27 Sunday 2011 pm31 7:46 pm: I started reading "Freedom" and put it down. I found it tedious.

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Not worth reading. It's about time I read that, too!

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Comments

[Nora Kindley]

12:40 PM on 04/13/2011

Villette, Our Mutual Friend, The Red and the Black, Midnight's Children, Beloved, and all of those "Short Histories" of things.

[dawnisdawn12]

03:35 PM on 04/01/2011

Dante Aligheri's "The Divine Comedy", translated edition. I had already read a wonderful translation of his "Inferno" and was desperate to read the rest of this incredible story. I got it for Christmas six years ago and it looks so lovely just sitting on the bookshelf. Eventually, I hope...

[dutchdragonfly]

10:14 PM on 03/28/2011

"Pillars of the Earth" (Ken Follett) & "Michelangel & the Pope's Ceiling" (Ross King) are a good combo

[Nicholas Rowley]

10:00 PM on 03/28/2011

"I Claudius" makes me think of another great book about Rome;

"Memoirs of Hadrian" by Marguerite Yourcenar.

[DavidEm]

08:41 PM on 03/28/2011

I'm on my THIRD reading of "The Illiad."
NEVER again!

There's a line in it---"How long can a man rage?"---that I would really like to see printed on the cover.

[DavidEm]

08:21 PM on 03/28/2011

"I, Claudius" is my all-time favorite. I've read it THREE TIMES.
It's beautifully written, uncannily historically accurate, and a real pleasure, while not being a completely "easy" read.

[Nicholas Rowley]

09:42 PM on 03/28/2011

What did you think of "Claudius the God"? If you've not read it give it a go and see what you think, it's pretty polarizing even amongst those who like "I, Claudius". :)

[DavidEm]

10:09 AM on 03/29/2011

Thanks, Nicholas. It COULDN'T be as good as "I" (as we fans call it), but I'll give it a shot.

I've heard the same evenly split opinions about it.

[RedDogBear]

11:35 AM on 03/30/2011

I loved them both. Its been a while since I read them though so I'm not sure what was polarizing about Claudius the God.

[M4dwoman]

08:07 PM on 03/28/2011

I'll stick to my book of Bradbury short stories.
I've never liked being told what I should read. Somehow, it makes it less interesting if you have to read it.
I once felt the urge to read David Copperfield after seeing a tv miniseries. I kept it long enough that the roaches found it and ate the cover off.

[dutchdragonfly]

08:32 PM on 03/28/2011

ditto on Bradbury...

As far as being told what to read, someone once told me I "had to had to had to" read The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. And it turned out to be a terrific book.

Doesn't always turn out that well, tho.

[dutchdragonfly]

07:44 PM on 03/28/2011

Anthony Powell sounds familiar - somewhere from waaay back. The Music of Time? But I don't have it, so my roomie from the 70's probably did.

...while I was rummaging thru the garage, I found some Leon Uris. What a find!

Now that I think about it, I need to build a bookshelf in my cramped little condo & bring back to life some of those old books that have been gathering dust. My old friends. ;D

[Nicholas Rowley]

09:39 PM on 03/28/2011

Yep Music of Time exactly. :)

I think I might need to buy the condo next door in order to turn it into a library. :)

[DavidEm]

07:30 PM on 03/28/2011

"Any Human Heart," by William Boyd, is the BEST novel no one knows about!

[Nicholas Rowley]

07:19 PM on 03/28/2011

OK a book I'm just finishing and while I don't think everyone should absolutely read it, I loved it and I'd tell people to read it if they were drawing a blank on a book to read:

The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt, lots of fun even though it's written about a time following a fairly substantial tragedy for Venice.

I've read nothing else by him but this is one of my favorite books of late. :)

[DavidEm]

07:28 PM on 03/28/2011

Oh, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is even (OK---SO MUCH!) better.

[mglovert]

03:34 PM on 04/04/2011

I didn't like the way I felt while I was reading it.

[dutchdragonfly]

06:09 PM on 03/28/2011

I just went searching thru my garage for a book (actually it's 4) I read in the 70's that I LOVED..
and I found it! :

Has anybody else read The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell? It's actually one story told thru the eyes of 4 different characters - so 4 small books. So Good!!

[Nicholas Rowley]

07:20 PM on 03/28/2011

Alexandria is a great set, ever read Anthony Powell?

[dutchdragonfly]

07:45 PM on 03/28/2011

I meant to reply to you Nicholas, but my post went up there ^ instead...

[DavidEm]

08:12 PM on 03/28/2011

Be careful! Re-read those books you read in your youth before recommending them!

I recently re-read (or TRIED to) "Brideshead Revisited," which I ADORED as a 25-year-old, and was appalled at my youthful literary taste. :->

[dutchdragonfly]

08:25 PM on 03/28/2011

Yeh, you definitely have a point there. Tastes definitely do change over time. Not sure if mine have gotten worse or better, but they are so not the same. ;)

[Nicholas Rowley]

09:38 PM on 03/28/2011

Interesting, I love Brideshead even more the last time I read it, though my favourite bits were still those in Venice.

[michelesda]

06:03 PM on 03/28/2011

Why isn't Moby Dick in here somewhere? I would have to consider that one of the best bad books I ever plowed through.

[brooklyncitizen]

09:26 PM on 04/10/2011

It really is...though it is a muscular task.

[Baileygk]

05:00 PM on 03/28/2011

I'm not sure what books I "should" have read by now. I'm not sure I agree with obligatory novel selections.

I do have a pile of books in my "to read" section.
"Gulag Archipeligo"
"Keep the Aspidistra Flying"
"Madam Bovary"
"It Couldn't Happen Here"

with Borders going out of business, my pile has grown exponentially with every visit.

[RedDogBear]

03:56 PM on 04/01/2011

The Gulag book is very hard to read. Its unrelentingly sad. I've read a lot of Solzhenitsyn and I prefer The First Circle (also sad but with a touch of some hope and humor) and August 1914 (an amazing historical novel about role of Russia vs. Germany in WWI.

[Baileygk]

12:48 PM on 04/04/2011

I'm reading Cancer Ward right now. It can't possibly be less uplifting than this. Granted, I have not finished yet, but it is quite sad. I can't believe that Soviet society existed like this. How did anything get done?

[SamSeven]

04:07 PM on 03/28/2011

HP that was the most cyptic article on what books you should have read please do better.

[Alette]

02:03 PM on 03/28/2011

Donna Tartt? Really? I'm assuming that's a joke.

[Mum]

04:54 PM on 03/28/2011

I thought her first book was excellent.  Couldn't even get through the first few pages of her second, and was surprised to see it nominated for the Orange Prize.