I just recently started reading The Picture of Dorian Gray since my partner bought me a collection of leather bound classics and it was included. I have heard of the story but I haven't ever read it. So far I am less than one hundred pages in but it's a great story so far, it's well written and quite compelling. Have any others read it? How did you like it? Any thoughts at all?

CyborgDreamSt8 wrote:I just recently started reading The Picture of Dorian Gray since my partner bought me a collection of leather bound classics and it was included. I have heard of the story but I haven't ever read it. So far I am less than one hundred pages in but it's a great story so far, it's well written and quite compelling. Have any others read it? How did you like it? Any thoughts at all?

I enjoyed the book, but it was many years ago. I hope you enjoy it. It still seems topical, with so many people trying to stay young looking.

That is quite true. I am about halfway through it now, been reading today while he's outside doing car stuff, and I just can't seem to put it down. Something about it is rather magnetic.

lindad_amato wrote:

CyborgDreamSt8 wrote:I just recently started reading The Picture of Dorian Gray since my partner bought me a collection of leather bound classics and it was included. I have heard of the story but I haven't ever read it. So far I am less than one hundred pages in but it's a great story so far, it's well written and quite compelling. Have any others read it? How did you like it? Any thoughts at all?

I enjoyed the book, but it was many years ago. I hope you enjoy it. It still seems topical, with so many people trying to stay young looking.

I really enjoyed Dorian Gray, particularly that Oscar Wilde so clearly caught the trend toward youth culture, not just looking young, but the beauty of youth and somehow holding onto that. This has become an obsession of western society in the many decades since Wilde was writing --- "Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!" (Lord Henry, Ch2)

A favorite line of mine as well. I particularly like the wild abandon for life Lord Henry has in the book, at least so far. He is quite an interesting character, but you truly find yourself identifying in part with Dorian at times as well. Young, easily influenced, just so much of him is me when I was younger, and still at times to this day.

This is one of the few books that I have not fiinished, and it surprised me after I had heard such good things about it. I only managed to get half way through and then gave up. Rather than finding this book compelling, I found something about it repelling and I just did not want to continue. Reading these comments makes me want to go back and try again and see if I can look at it with a different perspective and find something I missed before.

I have had the exact same experience with Moby Dick, I have it on my kindle and continue to try to slog through it even now, but after four months and only getting 47% through I hold out little hope of ever finishing it. I just don't like it, that may have been the case with you and this particular book.

CyborgDreamSt8 wrote:I have had the exact same experience with Moby Dick . . . I just don't like it . . .

I think its great to have a place where you can say that about one of the classics and not be ostracized for your opinion. Sure wasn't like that in school. If I dared to say I didn't like a book that was an accepted classic, I would suffer serious consequences with the teacher, not to mention ridicule in front of the class. And, by the way, I found Moby Dick to be nearly unbearable. But, then again, I didn't like Hemingway at first, and now The Old Man and the Sea is one of my favorite novels of all time.

I never had to read it in school, though I assure you threat of reprisal would not have stopped me. I was raised by parents that would have stood up to the school officials should I be retaliated against for expressing an honest opinion. I completely disagree with the way school is handled in America. It's not a place to learn, it's a place to be forced into conformity. But that's a tangent I'd rather not see this topic go off on. What I am saying is this, Moby Dick is horrendously hard for me to read, and I am so glad I have another person who agrees. I have always wanted to read The Old Man and the Sea.

CyborgDreamSt8 wrote:I have always wanted to read The Old Man and the Sea.

It's a very "slow" novel, so I'm reluctant to recommend it. However, the emotional build and climax are incredibly powerful (at least they were for me). What amazes me is how he manages to draw these kinds of emotions out of me without using a lot of adjectives and adverbs and "flowery" prose.