Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook
Guy Buys $123 Safe on eBay, Finds $26,000 Inside Seller tries to get half the cash back, fails »

10 Books to Pass Up With Confidence

Richard Wilson saves us all a bunch of time and effort with a not-reading list

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 20, 2008 5:27 PM CDT

(Newser) – Forget the coma-inducing titles that lit lovers keep telling you to read, Richard Wilson writes in his book, Can’t Be Arsed: 101 Things Not to Do Before You Die. He lists the top 10 clunkers in the Daily Telegraph:

  • Ulysses, James Joyce: notoriously hard, so why bother?
  • Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien: the first dangerous step towards reading Dune.

  • Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel Proust: "If I want to remember my childhood I look at some photographs," writes Wilson.
  • Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson: "dreary ramblings of an unreliable and workshy tosspot."
  • War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy: "way, way too long."
  • The Iliad, Homer: not only boring, it's not even a book—it's a poem!
For Wilson's most avoidable book ever, click on the link below.

Hunter S. Thompson.
Hunter S. Thompson.   (Getty Images)
Ulysses, James Joyce.
Ulysses, James Joyce.   ((c) cobra libre)
Some of these you can just leave.
Some of these you can just leave.   ((c) Mr. Siegal)
An early edition of Ulysses.
An early edition of Ulysses.   (Getty Images)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Be the first to comment on this story.

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne