Fifty Works of English Literature We Could Do Without by Brigid Brophy

But I do wish to address the literary notions raised by GQ magazine in general and Jesse Ball in particular. Such reasons can best be provided by people who spend much of their lives spreading this message. I shall not offer the theological or moral reasons for doing so. But, if not, there are good reasons as well. If you are a person of faith and believe that The Holy Bible is the Word of God, you already have reasons to read it. Ball is not specific as to whether he thinks we should never bother reading The Holy Bible or simply not re-read it after our first introduction. It is repetitive, self-contradictory, sententious, foolish, and even at times ill-intentioned.” Ball, faculty member of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he teaches courses on “lying, ambiguity, dreaming, and walking,” describes The Notebook as “a marvelous tale of two brothers who have to get along when things get rough.” Publisher’s Weekly, reviewing The Notebook, provided a somewhat different description of the brothers, reporting that “they boggle at nothing: not theft, sodomy or murder, which last, when necessary, they manage with insouciance, having become a pair of soulless charmers, unflinching proof that monsters are not born but made.”

Those who have read it know there are some good parts, but overall it is certainly not the finest thing that man has ever produced. This rather startling idea comes from writer Jesse Ball, who declares confidently, “The Holy Bible is rated very highly by all the people who supposedly live by it but who in actuality have not read it. Not surprisingly, the proposition generating the most controversy was the inclusion of The Holy Bible as a book you don’t have to read, with the chosen replacement turning out to be The Notebook by Agota Kristof. It published a provocative article entitled “21 Books You Don’t Have to Read.” Each title suggested by various writers and editors for oblivion was offered with another title offered as a replacement. GQ, the magazine formerly known as Gentlemen’s Quarterly, and which began as Apparel Arts in 1931 as a publication for the men’s clothing trade, has of late taken to providing literary advice.

Fifty Works of English Literature We Could Do Without by Brigid Brophy