What famous/popular story have you not read?

[Ginnydoll]

One story I never read was Romeo and Juliet.
The reason for missing it was because I moved in the middle of high school and the school I left hadn't read it yet and the school I joined already had.
I never read it on my own because I heard the story told so many times that
I didn't feel the need. Not to mention that I always got hung up on Shakespearean language/dialect.

What book(s) have you skipped and why?

[trappa]

There are a few i'm ashamed to say I havent read. Two that I will rectify soon are For whom the bell tolls and A christmas carol. Both apparently top reads. I think I will start on A christmas carol at the beginning of december for a festive read.
Yours

[carag4]

I have never read 1984 by George Orwell. I noticed it's been brought up recently because of concerns being raised by the NSA and the government keeping our phone records. As of right now, I have no objections to information like that being kept, but who knows? Maybe 1984 will convince me otherwise.

[mdfloyd]

There are a lot of "must-read" classics I refused to read when I was in school. I had some kind of weird idea that if a book was that popular it couldn't be much good. Thank goodness I got over that!

I've tried and failed to read War & Peace and Moby Dick and anything by Phillip Roth -- too many words in the first two and some kind of mental block about Roth. Never read Little House on the Prairie or Uncle Tom's Cabin because I'd never heard of them until I was in middle or high school.

I did read the DaVinci Code and swore I'd never read another Dan Brown, which I've very easily managed to do. I was okay with the Code until near the end, when everything seemed to be contrived and rushed -- as if Brown woke up and said, Hey, got my 50,000 words here so I'd better wrap this up!

[Fran]

There are a lot of "must-read" classics I refused to read when I was in school. I had some kind of weird idea that if a book was that popular it couldn't be much good. Thank goodness I got over that!

I've tried and failed to read War & Peace and Moby Dick and anything by Phillip Roth -- too many words in the first two and some kind of mental block about Roth. Never read Little House on the Prairie or Uncle Tom's Cabin because I'd never heard of them until I was in middle or high school.

I did read the DaVinci Code and swore I'd never read another Dan Brown, which I've very easily managed to do. I was okay with the Code until near the end, when everything seemed to be contrived and rushed -- as if Brown woke up and said, Hey, got my 50,000 words here so I'd better wrap this up!

@mdfloyd
Have you tried I Married A Communist? Roth at his very, very best IMHO - I loved that book.

I still have to get to The Count of Monte Cristo & Les Misérables .... and I'm sure there are lots of others but those two in particular are on my shelf awaiting me

[DATo]

I can think of many classics I have not read - Ivanhoe by Sir Water Scott, and The Idiot by Dostoyevsky to name a couple. I tend to read classics which have had the most impact in terms of perennial appreciation such as Don Quixote by Cervantes, The Iliad and The Odyssey by the historical figure we refer to as "Homer", and Candide by Voltaire.

[Bighuey]

Ive never read any of Shakespeare, like ginnydoll I couldnt get past the language.

[ariel]

Lord of the Rings.

I've tried to read it and failed, which is really disappointing because so many people seem to adore it! It's just never captured my interest.

[DATo]

Lord of the Rings.

I've tried to read it and failed, which is really disappointing because so many people seem to adore it! It's just never captured my interest.

I agree with you entirely. I DID read all of the Lord Of The Rings books as well as The Hobbit. This was back in the day when I felt I just had to complete any reading project I started. In my case it was a total waste of time. Not that the stories were necessarily bad, but I hated Tolkein's writing style. This may be anathema to Tolkein aficionados but I actually enjoyed Peter Jackson's movies FAR better. This was one of those rare times (in my case anyway) where the movie was better than the book.

[gali]

I have read most of the classics in my youth ( Lord Of The Rings, The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Misérables, Ivanhoe, to name a few) which I loved.

I didn't read Moby Dick since the subject bores me. I won't read A christmas carol at the beginning of december either since it isn't to my taste.

I have read War & Peace and Ana Karenina and didn't like them.

[Hetvi_doshi]

A big regret for me is that I have not read the divine comedy. It's with me from long but no time!

[mdfloyd]

Wow, the more titles you haven't read the more I realize I haven't read 'em either! And yet I still feel no need to read any of them.

[riyanj]

I haven't read the Fifty Shades books or the Sookie Stackhouse books. Though I'm a huge fan of True Blood on HBO.

[mdfloyd]

I've heard too many folks talk about how bad Fifty Shades of Gray is that I never plan to read it!

[prisailurophile]

Harry Potter series. I have yet to tackle the classics, as well! Oh, and The Book Thief. So many books, so little time...