Several Vastly Over-Rated Works of Literature

Discover the most overrated books in literature that don't live up to the hype. See which classic and popular works made our list of vastly over-rated reads.

The Aeneid Cover
Book

The Aeneid

by Virgil

"Fitzgerald's [translation] is so decisively the best modern Aeneid that it is unthinkable that anyone will want to use any other version for a long time to come." —New York Review of Books Virgil's great epic transforms the Homeric tradition into a triumphal statement of the Roman civilizing mission—translated by Robert Fitzgerald.
The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Cover
Book

The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

by Edgar Allan Poe

This collection of 73 short stories and 48 poems includes many masterpieces by American writer Edgar Allan Poe.
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ID: 0762406720
(Type: books)
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ID: 0940450550
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War and Peace Cover
Book

War and Peace

by graf Leo Tolstoy

Presents the classical epic of the Napoleonic Wars and their effects on four Russian families
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ID: 0192834002
(Type: books)
Les Misérables Cover
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Les Misérables

by Victor Hugo

No summary available.
The Scarlet Pimpernel Cover
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The Scarlet Pimpernel

by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

It is 1792 and France is in the grip of a seething, bloody revolution. Mobs roam the Paris streets hunting down royalists, barricades block any chance of escape, and every day hundreds die under the blade of Madame la Guillotine. But in the hearts of the condemned nobility there remains one last vestige of hope: rescue by the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel. Renowned for both his unparalleled bravery and his clever disguises, the Pimpernel’s identity remains as much a mystery to his sworn enemy, the ruthless French agent Chauvelin, as to his devoted admirer, the beautiful Lady Marguerite Blakeney. First published in 1905, The Scarlet Pimpernel is an irresistible novel of love, gallantry, and swashbuckling adventure.
The Man in the Iron Mask Cover
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The Man in the Iron Mask

 

No summary available.
The phantom of the Opera Cover
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The phantom of the Opera

 

No summary available.
Tom Jones Cover
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Tom Jones

by Henry Fielding

Tom Jones is widely regarded as one of the first and most influential English novels. It is certainly the funniest. Tom Jones, the hero of the book, is introduced to the reader as the ward of a liberal Somerset squire. Tom is a generous but slightly wild and feckless country boy with a weakness for young women.
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ID: 0375752498
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ID: 1577487761
(Type: books)
The Last of the Mohicans Cover
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The Last of the Mohicans

by James Fenimore Cooper

The wild rush of action in this classic frontier adventure story has made The Last of the Mohicans the most popular of James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales. Deep in the forests of upper New York State, the brave woodsman Hawkeye (Natty Bumppo) and his loyal Mohican friends Chingachgook and Uncas become embroiled in the bloody battles of the French and Indian War. The abduction of the beautiful Munro sisters by hostile savages, the treachery of the renegade brave Magua, the ambush of innocent settlers, and the thrilling events that lead to the final tragic confrontation between rival war parties create an unforgettable, spine-tingling picture of life on the frontier. And as the idyllic wilderness gives way to the forces of civilization, the novel presents a moving portrayal of a vanishing race and the end of its way of life in the great American forests.
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ID: 089968291X
(Type: books)
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ID: 0375406727
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Treasure Island Cover
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Treasure Island

by Robert Louis Stevenson

No summary available.
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ID: 0486404277
(Type: books)
Ulysses Cover
Book

Ulysses

by James Joyce

This revised volume of the acclaimed novel follows the complete unabridged text as corrected in 1961. Set entirely on one day, 16 June 1904, Ulysses follows Leopold Bloom and Stephen Daedalus as they go about their daily business in Dublin. From this starting point, James Joyce constructs a novel of extraordinary imaginative richness and depth. Unique in the history of literature, Ulysses is one of the most important and enjoyable works of the twentieth century. This edition contains the original foreword by the author and the historic court ruling to remove the federal ban. It also contains page references to the first American edition of 1934.