10 Classic Books We Read Despite Knowing How They End

The big news on the Internet today is that spoilers don’t ruin books — in fact, they actually increase the pleasure we get out of reading them. These scientific findings fly in the face of just about every other comment on every film and TV blog we’ve ever read, but we don’t actually find them terribly surprising. Some of Western culture’s best-loved a most-read books are, after all, ones whose endings are so widely known that most of us know them before we even pick up the book. After the jump, we’ve compiled — and revealed the outcomes of — ten classic works of literature that we read (and, in the case of plays, watch) even though they’ve already been “spoiled” for us.

She dies.

They both die.

He comes home.

Reader, she marries him.

He loves Big Brother.

She wakes up.

Paradise… lost.

He doesn’t come.

Boo Radley: not such a creep, after all.

That weird acid-trip thing.

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[...] does not prevent one’s enjoyment of the work, and may even increase it.) A couple of weeks back, we selected some of the books we still read, knowing full well how they end; now we’ve picked out ten movies that still play, even with [...]

[...] Smidgen of Antimatter Surrounds Earth.Universe Today on How To Enjoy The Perseids.FlavorWire on 10 Classic Books We Read Despite Knowing How They End.Film School Rejects lists 6 Great Horror Franchises That Sequels Eventually Ruined. Hero Complex [...]

[...] Read More On flavorwire.com › [...]

[...] frattempo su Flavorwire, neanche a dirlo, hanno subito pubblicato la top ten dei libri che persistiamo a leggere pur se siamo già a conoscenza della storia, con tanto, ovviamente, di spoiler circa il finale di ognuno. Sapevate che Romeo e Giulietta [...]

@Michael Stephens, are you kidding? Who doesn't? Whoever it is that isn't reading Paradise Lost is missing out. Lines 624-649 of Book XII are likely the most beautiful words ever written in the English language.

Tiago -- That's not the ending.

@Michael Stephens--We read it in high school, so...everyone in my school district, anyway (and we read it in class, so no getting out of it).

Spoilers ruin books! Scientific my a**. If the book is heavily plot-driven, like a mystery or and adventure novel, knowing the plot would ruin your reading pleasure. If the book is a classic, or character-driven, the the plot might not be that necessary.

Frodo throws the One Ring into the Cracks of Doom.

Jo marries the Professor. Anne Elliot marries the Captain. Valentine Michael Smith becomes soup.

Who reads Paradise Lost nowadays, except a very few English majors? I mean, really?

Gatsby, really not as great as he believed. Still my favorite Am Lit book to teach to juniors even after twenty-one years!

LOVE THIS! Esp., Jane E. Am the mom reading this for the senior boys who gag at the thought. Watched the Wm Hurt version (ahhhhh) first then read the last chapter (reader...). But the movie cannot begin to develop the characters as EB does SO WELL.

alex grows up, droogies

Peeta, Gale, and Katniss live.

"These scientific findings fly in the face of...." Honey, "scientific findings" are a nickel a dozen. Don't believe everything you read. Better yet, don't believe hearsay.

Snape kills Dumbledore

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  1. [...] Smidgen of Antimatter Surrounds Earth.Universe Today on How To Enjoy The Perseids.FlavorWire on 10 Classic Books We Read Despite Knowing How They End.Film School Rejects lists 6 Great Horror Franchises That Sequels Eventually Ruined. Hero Complex [...]

  2. [...] frattempo su Flavorwire, neanche a dirlo, hanno subito pubblicato la top ten dei libri che persistiamo a leggere pur se siamo già a conoscenza della storia, con tanto, ovviamente, di spoiler circa il finale di ognuno. Sapevate che Romeo e Giulietta [...]

  3. [...] does not prevent one’s enjoyment of the work, and may even increase it.) A couple of weeks back, we selected some of the books we still read, knowing full well how they end; now we’ve picked out ten movies that still play, even with [...]