Least Favorite Books?

NatalyaI · 05-11-2006, 02:25 PM

I'll need time to go think about this (and I really should go finish an English project I've been procrastinating on), but I'd like to hear yours. Sorry if this belongs in the Commentary section: please correct me if I'm wrong.

Cheers,
Katherine

Wise Child · 05-11-2006, 04:40 PM

I was horribly disappointed with Atonement, by Ian Mc Ewan. I heard it was being hailed as one of the great novels of our century. I mean, it was all right... in places. A lot of it dragged, and as a whole I was just kind of bored.

Also, anything by Austen. I just find her characters 2-dimensional and lifeless, and you just know what's gonna happen. Short version: they get married. It doesn't seem important to tell you which book I'm talking about, as all the ones I've read have ended the same. I prefer the films, and it's pretty unusual to prefer the film to the book generally.

Wise Child · 05-11-2006, 04:59 PM

See, I'm cursed with the need to persevere. I'm afraid it'll suddenly get good in, like, a page, and I'll have missed it. I blame Phillip Pullman - I came pretty close to putting down Northern Lights since the first twenty pages or so are random and boring on the first read, when you don't know what the hell's going on. Then I carried on, and fucking WOW. Christ alive, I love that trilogy.

But this thread is for books that suck, so I'd like to give a special shout-out to Jill Mansel.

nuksaa · 05-11-2006, 06:09 PM

Anne Rice. I just do not enjoy her style of writing. Labored through Interview and have never been able to even approach Lestat.

Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Pure toilet paper and even then I feel like I am insulting toilet paper.

Circle V · 05-11-2006, 07:22 PM

I vaguely remember enjoying Old Man and the Sea. I liked the ending, at least, and I love the rest of his stuff.

Er... I really, really didn't like The DaVinci Code. Some of the random facts were cool, but it ended up being like reading a Reader's Digest just for the jokes at the ends of the articles (which, incidentally, I do.)

Cicero · 05-11-2006, 08:18 PM

I'm extremely picky with books, but the ones I don't like I don't get through so I don't remember them.

But I DO remember being forced to read "The Reader" (the author's name escapes me) for IB English. Wow. I've never actually been enraged by such terrible writing.

roserougesang · 05-11-2006, 11:37 PM

Can't really remember any literature I don't like. I'm usually a good judge of whether I'll like a book or not just by flipping through it quickly before I buy or borrow it.

angel011 · 05-12-2006, 04:06 AM

Cicero, I love your avatar!

I remember reading a book for school, it was called "Sutjeska" (it's a name of a river in former Yugoslavia). It was amazingly boring. About 200 (or 300, I'm not sure) pages long, all the action could be packed into 10 pages or less, and the rest of it was pure description of the surroundings. Unnecessary and poorly written description, I might add. Ugh.

Morrigan_Dubh · 05-12-2006, 04:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wise Child

See, I'm cursed with the need to persevere. I'm afraid it'll suddenly get good in, like, a page, and I'll have missed it. I blame Phillip Pullman - I came pretty close to putting down Northern Lights since the first twenty pages or so are random and boring on the first read, when you don't know what the hell's going on. Then I carried on, and fucking WOW. Christ alive, I love that trilogy.

I love the "His Dark Materials" trilogy too. So... different. Original.

But back on topic.

I was very disappointed by Lord Foul's Bane - book 1 of Stephen Donaldson's trilogy The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever.
I had high hopes of it, as I loved fantasy genre at the time, and my father had bought it for me, saying it was very good. But I didn't finish it.
Awful.

I hated The Catcher in the Rye too.

angel011 · 05-12-2006, 04:52 AM

Heh, I loved "Lord Foul's Bane" (actually, I loved the entire trilogy; the second trilogy, although it was even darker than the first one, was dissapointing, because it was sloooow) and I liked "The Catcher in the Rye".

This will be an interesting thread.

Wise Child · 05-12-2006, 05:41 AM

I liked The Catcher in the Rye. It's very tame nowadays in terms of its theme of teen rebellion, but I think it's really funny and there are some little gems in there joke-wise.

American Psycho was also disappointing. I was all prepared to be shocked (had my shocked face all ready and everything) and just got bored shitless. I never even finished it. And I ALWAYS finish a book once I've read more than eighty-odd pages.

Sobeh · 05-12-2006, 06:56 AM

I actually hated Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. German Romanticism meets proto-New Age tripe. Eww.

My wife is also one to persevere through even the worst of times, and I know she abhored all 800 pages of The Quincunx by Charles Palliser. Apparently it's the epitome of slow, and to make matters worse the story arcs over two generations. The only good thing about it is the use of that word in the title - neat word, but that's it apparently.

One we disagreed on was Silk by Caitlin R. Kiernan. We're both fans of Mr. Gaiman, and he'd given it a good review. I liked it, and the more I thought about it the more I liked it, but she was of the opinion that it was "one of those damned artsy books that just confuses you into thinking it's deep."

Draconysius · 05-12-2006, 07:02 AM

The only books I resent are those movie-adaptation novels, wherein a film is transferred from the screen to a book. Sometimes these films originally came from books, aswell! I hate them so MUCH!

They're usually no more than one hundred pages, and as such, they tend to exclude the few portions of the movie that were worthwhile.

angel011 · 05-13-2006, 02:34 PM

I just remembered the one I really hated: The Sorrows of Young Werther. Oh-so-sensitive whiny disgusting freak (the main character, I mean).

disorder · 05-13-2006, 08:31 PM

I really couldn't get into The Da Vinci Code. I read the first chapter and had to put it down out of pure boredom.

Circle V · 05-13-2006, 09:39 PM

And the first chapter was the good one!

WolfMoon · 05-15-2006, 09:43 AM

I could barely get through the first book in 'The Chronicles of Narnia' and never read any of the other ones. Too boring.

I also hated just about every book or story that I had to read for school. Fortunately, I don't remember them anymore.

Circle V · 05-15-2006, 04:42 PM

Reading books for school always sucks, since you're forced to read at an artificial pace. I either read the whole book quickly and try to recall the early parts for tests (very difficult, by the way) or simply stop reading. A lot of books that I otherwise would have enjoyed have been ruined this way-- The Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird... thankfully, I was able to read all of Fahrenheit 451. My teacher seriously pissed me off when he said that he didn't like 451, but that he had to teach it to us anyway. It may have just been that he was an unsavory person in the first place.

Magpie_Tendencies · 05-15-2006, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by disorder

I really couldn't get into The Da Vinci Code. I read the first chapter and had to put it down out of pure boredom.

I couldn't stand The Da Vinci Code either. I really liked Angels and Demons though and I thought that it was much better.

I hated Northern Lights. All my friends reccommended the series and I struggled through the first book and didn't bother with the rest.

I also didn't like the John Marsden series 'Tomorrow when the war began'. I red the first book and then they killed off my favourite character so I didn't read the rest.

Sobeh · 05-15-2006, 04:59 PM

The only book for school I disliked reading was Pride and Prejudice, but it ended up giving me bragging rights to the women I know who liked the A&E adapatation (so much better than the movie poor Kiera was cast for - those were some fugly actors).

Most of the ones I've been forced to read I really like, and I don't let some trashtastic instructor ruin it for me. Of course, I was lucky to have mostly great English instructors in high school, so that is probably the biggest factor. I read books fast anyways - the one thing I hate is when the class was called on to read aloud - no one, and I mean no one, would anticipate people who read that slowly and that poorly being that far along in their education.

There was one guy who had to read a passage where there was a list of something, I don't know what it was... "red, blue, green, etc." The teacher then asked, okay so, what is an example of color? (this wasn't it but it suffices for the example). Anyway, this guy responds "Umm..... etcetera?" I wanted to beat him about the face.

...

Oh, and I liked The DaVinci Code, but then religion is kinda my thang. I could rant all day about the knobs who take it literally or feel their faith threatened by it, however. Good hell.

Kinflame · 05-15-2006, 06:50 PM

I labored through Interview while at the same time loved it.

I couldn't put it down but at the same time really wanted to. Same with other Anne Rice, I've read Blood and Queen. His Dark Materials did kick major ASS it must be said.

Least favorite book ever, probably 'The Case For Christ', a blatantly bullshit novel investigating the truth of Christ's claim to be the son of God. Apparently reveals physical evidence as to his being the son of God. Read most of it and couldn't finish such a piece of lying shit. Looked up most of the references, and they turned out to be either way overexaggerated or just nonexistent.

Virulent Dryad · 05-18-2006, 02:10 PM

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. That was just a waste of time, Stephen King's imagination seemed to be dwelling elsewhere.

spookypurple · 05-18-2006, 02:20 PM

Anything by Thomas Hardy. He's a great writer and heavens knows how I've tried, but I just can't enjoy his books.

maggot · 05-18-2006, 02:37 PM

As illiterate as I'll sound, To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm sorry. It's just... It's just so BORING

spookypurple · 05-18-2006, 02:45 PM

Why illiterate? You read it, didn't you?