Books/authors you feel obligated to like, but don't?

[Tim]

I was told as young man to write well one should write like Hemingway. That meant short declarative sentences. I was told John Hershey wrote well, and sundry others. I discovered Herman Hesse in college, and then Ian Fleming. I read John LeCarre and Graham Greene without direcrtion. I read Sartre. Genet, and Camus because I was told to read them. Later Chesterton, and outside of Thursday I'd rather read Superman. I know I'm nutz,.
tim

[wallflower]

Chesterton? I agree with the OP, at least in regard to works like "Orthodoxy." They're supposed to be all profound and wise and all, but really to me they just seem to be a witty man relishing his own wit and refusing to take serious matters with the sobriety they deserve.

I saw it as a collection of clever arguments that the average man can understand.  It's intellectual but down to earth.  Not everyone is a genius; it's great to have an author like Chesterton who can communicate intellectual subjects intelligibly.

You can read Chesterton but you can't read Introduction? I find the ease factor on those switched. Introduction is an easy read whereas Chesterton just never gets to the point! He goes round and round and round in his wit and I don't have the time, I've got work to do, please get to the point! That was my first impression anyway back in high school, and my last. 

[Marc]

Um, guys, I think the OP meant Catholic books/authors. Otherwise this thread would have been posted in the 'Arts' subforum. ;)

Anyway...
The Imitation of Christ

[ketchum]

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.

Her writings are generally a source of profound contemplative enlightenment.  Maybe she doesn't like you either?   :shrug:

I love that.  :laughing:

[Jitpring]

Then again, the real event could have done well with more counterrevolution. The only cure is more counterrevolution.

And more cowbell!

[Gerard]

Books by Cardinal Ratzinger.  The writings of JPII,  and Cardinal Newman,

[Baskerville]

John Steinbeck. The Grapes of Wrath made me cry tears of boredom. I think it's the only book in all my English classes that I stopped reading.

That and The Great Gatsby were the only two I liked in my senior English class.

[Baskerville]

Um, guys, I think the OP meant Catholic books/authors. Otherwise this thread would have been posted in the 'Arts' subforum. ;)

Anyway...
The Imitation of Christ

Seriously! I love that book I try to read a little at least every Sunday.

[Walty]

John Steinbeck. The Grapes of Wrath made me cry tears of boredom. I think it's the only book in all my English classes that I stopped reading.

That and The Great Gatsby were the only two I liked in my senior English class.

I've never met someone who doesn't like The Great Gatsby.

[Baskerville]

John Steinbeck. The Grapes of Wrath made me cry tears of boredom. I think it's the only book in all my English classes that I stopped reading.

That and The Great Gatsby were the only two I liked in my senior English class.

I've never met someone who doesn't like The Great Gatsby.

My little Brother. He hated it so much that he couldn't even finish the Cliff Notes.