Dumbest Literature Mistakes You've Made

It took surprisingly long for me to realize that Bran saw Jamie have sex with Cersei. I think I found that out several books after, or watching the first episode. I have no idea how I read that wrong.

edited 26th Dec '14 4:47:21 AM by lazybanshee

Undoubtedly. I HATED Lord of the Flies. I don't care how 'thematic' the ending was, it was pulled out of the ass and about as climactic as 'Whoops! Jem was free all along!' from Huck Finn. In otherwords, not at all.

I turned in an essay without any cited evidence and told my teacher since he knew it all I was just being very audience aware by not reiterating those things to him

Not a great reception to that one. oh well

so...guess what my new short story project is? (Sucks to your Email!)

I hated Lord of the Flies so much.

Continuing to read Maximum Ride in the futile hope that it would get better after "The Final Warning." Then again I was in junior high when that came out. The book after that was the last straw for me xD

I found Maximum Ride fun to read up until the fourth book, when the author decided that the series was now about saving the environment. It was handled horribly, and this is coming from someone who agrees that it's an important issue. That and New Powers as the Plot Demands ruined the series for me.

I was also in middle school at the time. I don't think I would've enjoyed the series nearly as much if I'd started it later.

edited 13th Jan '15 6:49:09 PM by SapphireBlue

I actually read the first book of that series. Wasn't really impressed, to be honest. Felt like we were missing the important bits.

Not about a book content, but a mistake about author's genders: I thought for some time that French writer Alfred de Musset was gay because he was the lover of other French writer George Sand, and wondered a bit how that was so well accepted in the 19th century. Turns out George Sand is a Moustache de Plume.

Oh and for some reason, I always mix up the names of Moliere (17th century French playwright, about as well known in France as Shakespeare in English-speaking countries, but mainly focusing on comedies) and La Fontaine (17th century French fabulist, often taught in primary school). I perfectly know which is whom, it's simply that half the time I will say the name of one while thinking about the other. I have no idea why (in case you wonder, no, there is not a quirk of French pronunciation or meaning that make their name to be similar in some way).

Before I read it for an English class, I thought A Modest Proposal was about a humble marriage proposal.

Boy was I WAAAYYY off.

edited 22nd Jan '15 6:27:30 PM by PrincessGwen

^ It was hilarious reading A Modest Proposal silently in class and seeing the confused looks on everyone's faces as they read. I found it hilarious

I think my dumbest mistake was not realizing in Harry Potter that Hermione and Ron had gotten marriedin the epilogue until heard other people talking about it and read it a second time. Apparently I am very bad at picking up romantic "subtext" (like kissing -_-).

I'd say my worst was defending Terry Goodkind's Character Filibuster moments because "classic writers like Ayn Rand" do the same thing.

I still have both Goodkind and Rand in my collection, but now very much in spite of that stuff rather than because I think it's acceptable. And also because I don't like getting rid of books, even when I actively dislike them.

edited 22nd Mar '15 4:07:15 PM by eleemacfall

I have a bad habit of assuming all authors are British until proven otherwise. This isn't out of misplaced nationalism as I am American.

Reading A Farewell to Arms for school after I'd gotten into a four-wheeler accident. I was already in pain and grumpy but that book just made me pissier.

Also, when we were reading Paradise Lost, I brought up I, Lucifer in class. I forgot my teacher was very religious and whewwww she was pissed I was even mentioning it.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who first thought Ulysses was mythology-related!

Just remembered one after going to the library today. I periodically confuse Charles Stross and Neal Stephenson, probably due to their somewhat similar genre focus and politics.

They also look kind of similar.

When I was younger, I had a bad habit of being completely unable to read between the lines, so I would take everything that the Unreliable Narrator says at face value, even if the character in question is clearly villainous or otherwise unpleasant. Did anyone else have that problem?

I think I have the exact opposite of that. I do not trust the narrator easily, and I tend to doubt everything they see, especially when it comes to character.

I was assigned to read Invisible Man but accidentally picked up The Invisible Man.

edited 12th Jul '15 7:48:37 AM by Know-age

"Before I read it for an English class, I thought A Modest Proposal was about a humble marriage proposal. Boy was I WAAAYYY off."

To my dearest,

You are fairer than any woman ever to live in Ireland, not excepting Isolde. I confess that I am a poor man and unworthy of you. Nor am I greater than average in looks or virtue. Notwithstanding, I am sorely in love with you and beg that you might consider a proposal of marriage to me. If you do not love me as I love you, I will understand. If however you can find it in yourself to love your humble servant but are afraid to start a family without wealth, fear not. We can sell our offspring to the English as food.

Finding the protagonists of Left Behind sympathetic. It took me a long time to realize that the series really only has one protagonist. And while he's spoken of as a Big Good, he's arguably even more of a monster than the series villain (if only through being more powerful than him).

I trusted anything without a hard cover to deliver a good story. Sometimes they do, but a lot of times I return the novel with disappointed results.

Up until today I was under the impression that Series Of Unfortunate Events was British. Nope, the author's American.

I asked for Fahrenheit 451 for my birthday, then complained about how "They make these covers always so non-contextual. This one has a firefighter. Why the hell would you put a firefighter on this book?"

I was later informed that yes, the book does indeed feature a firefighter. Lesson learned - Don't judge a cover by its look.

edited 7th Oct '15 12:17:52 PM by Razyar

I had some trouble with reading as a kid, and when reading "Harry Potter" for the first time I spend a good while mis-pronouncing characters' names: Professor Snap, Ron Wesley, Her-moin, Doodley Dursley, Dobey, Gilerly Lockheart, Voldermont, Dublemore, and Headwing, just to name a few.

I thought that Animal Farm was supposed to be funny

Fortunately, I had a more learned friend who helped me understand satire better