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Showerthought: I bought the 'definitive' annotated edition of a book for our club and it was a total waste of $45.
The annotations were just endless, dry academic footnotes that killed the actual story. We spent the whole meeting arguing about whether we should have just read the normal version instead. Anyone else have a book edition that actually ruined the discussion?
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wendy3911mo ago
That "definitive edition" sounds like it was definitive proof we should have just read the normal book.
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rosebarnes1mo ago
Been there with a "critical edition" of Gatsby. The footnotes pointed out every single green light reference until the magic was gone. Club spent forty minutes debating the editor's bias instead of the book. Sometimes you need to just read the story on the page. Skip the fancy editions unless you're actually writing a paper.
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the_eric1mo ago
My literature professor in college said those big annotated editions are like watching a movie with the director commentary on. They can be great for learning but awful for just enjoying the story. I've started reading the plain text first and only grabbing the fancy edition if I need to write something.
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