The Star-Tribune carried a feature article today headlined "Open Book, Open Air", for which local folks who enjoy reading outdoors were interviewed as to when, where, and how to maximize the open-air opportunities for doing so remaining to us.   One respondent suggested a genre of "what not to read". He advised against thrillers "because you start looking behind the trees and shadows around you."  He also avoids Russian novels and any works that fall in the "Eat Your Peas" category.   So, if you read a work in our "Russian Lit" category for your 2013 Classics Challenge, you read what Nick Hayes dubbed an "Eat Your Peas" novel.   When we choose categories for next year's challenge, maybe we could include an "Eat Your Peas" category, because it isn't confined to Russian novels, and it would be quite interesting to see what participants in this Forum consider to be works that fall in the EYP category.

Cool idea, although even the toughest classic wouldn't make my what-not-to-read list (well, maybe Finnigan's Wake).  I find that I like to criticize the classics that I don't enjoy because it gets me thinking analytically about why a book is revered and what is different about my values that makes me dislike it.  I also find that old fashioned prose like the kind in Russian lit, Dickens etc. challenges the way my brain processes things and at least teaches me new vocabulary words.  My real what-not-to-read list would be anything that insults my intelligence without at least being a good time.  The categories would be:

• sappy, unsexy romances that wear their wholesomeness like a badge of honor (yes Nicholas Parks, I'm looking at you and your minions of wannabes),
• things with social commentary that aren't satire/anything the Lifetime channel would consider optioning (yes Jodi Picoult, I'm looking at you and your minions of wannabes)
• political books of any leaning where a cursory read can show that the author knows exactly how to cure all the country's ills while having done a minimum of research

I found a nice leather bound copy of Moby Dick once in a used bookstore. When I left the store that day I was so excited by the find that I stopped at a bus stop and sat on a bench there and started reading. I enjoyed the experience so I started carrying the book with me and read it on benches around the city.

EYP. Love this category. Perfect name for a book you think you should read but don't really wanna.