View Full Version : Books to Avoid
There is perpetually a list for good reads, but what about stinkers.
I am half way through a Time Traveler's Wife and :( do not recommend! Plot? Did we forget the basics of writing, strong plot, likeable characters and momentum. Stinkeroni!
Funny, but I actually liked that one. My partner hated Cormac McCarthy's The Road (despite "critical acclaim"). I haven't dared to start it as a result. YMMV of course.
I can't STAND anything by Robert Jordan. I bought the first book in his series, "The Wheel of time"... couldn't even finish it! Ironically, my BF LOVES those books... to each their own, I guess.
Another big author I don't like is Glenn Cook. Another book I bought that I couldn't even finish.....
I find as a general rule that half the best sellers at any point in time are completely unreadable. My current #1 of unreadable authors is Dan Brown.
I think the only redeeming quality of the Da Vinci Code was being able to fully appreciate Stephen Fry's succinct and brilliant review of that book...
"Complete loose-stool-water. Arse-gravy of the very worst kind."
What we like to read is so subjective. Our bookclub read Time Traveler's Wife and though it was an odd book, most of us really enjoyed it and we had a great discussion about it. The next week, we watched the movie...and really enjoyed the contrast. It is always hard to know what someone else will enjoy reading. I give a lot of books a try....but if I am not enjoying it after the first few chapters, then I put it aside and start something new!
Either don't read Starship Troopers or don't watch the movie ;)
I'd probably argue the same for Lord of the Rings but the differences are not nearly as egregious
IshbelRobertson
7-5-11, 5:18pm
Haaa. Someone beat me to nominating Dan Brown!
I honestly TRIED to finish his crappy Da Vinci Code, simply because some of the action was set in Rosslyn Chapel, a place I like very much and know quite well. The book has meant a HUGE influx of tourists who BELIEVE Mr Brown's book (it's fiction, folks, honestly!) - there have been instances of people finding tourists trying to pry up flag-stones or remove wall plaques to find the Holy Grail! I mean.... c'mon!
Another author I was unable to empathise with, despite being told by so many American friends that 'You'll love her books, you being Scottish, and all', was Diana Gabaldon. I honestly TRIED to read her first novel (a time-travel sorta thingy) - but as she wrote it before she even set foot in Scotland, and the historical stuff was fairly crappy, I never finished the first in a large series. I believe she makes a fortune from her novels!
PS - I loved The Road!
interesting how what we hate may be even more idiosyncratic than what we love. Maybe I'll have to try The Road. Thanks, Ishbel.
When I read The Da Vinci Code, I kept asking myself why I was reading the blessed thing, since it was so terrible? But I kept on reading it, so there was something that pulled me into that. The more peculiar thing is that I later read Brown's Angels and Demons, even though every other page I found myself saying, You gotta be kidding....
Don't know whether he has written any more but I am not interested in finding out. My family passed Da Vinci Code around with warnings: this is a terrible book but you might like reading it. It has nothing to recommend it but you still might like it....stuff like that.
Just received my order from Amazon of a book by an author I like: Marian Van Eyk McCain. The title seemed of interest: Downshifting Made Easy--how to plan for your planet-friendly future. Haven't read it yet but the book length makes it more a booklet than a book--it's only 68 skinny pages..so I'm feeling ripped off as it cost a book length price. The other two titles authored by her were three times that length...this one seems slapped together. I'm not a Happy Hiker about this book at all. Would have been okay for a few bucks but not the price I paid...
Middlemarch
Wuthering Heights
I'm mixed on the Harry Potter books. Stories are great, but some of the writing is ugh.
I loved both Time Traveler's Wife and The Road.
Middlemarch
Wuthering Heights
I'm mixed on the Harry Potter books. Stories are great, but some of the writing is ugh.
oh no no no no no no no no no to Wuthering Heights as one to avoid.
You can laugh at it for all of that overheated passion as well as the confusing multiples of Cathys and Heathcliffs, but in the end, it's a tragic love story set in a great place and I can't get it out of my mind.
In my youth I found Jane Eyre accessible and Wuthering Heights to be impossible (though I read them both again and again) but now I find Jane to be flat. I don't find new things in it when I read it now.
I won't argue on Middlemarch, not much of an Eliot fan. The BBC version was ok.
The Harry Potter books needed strong editing that they didn't get, she was too famous after book 2 or so, editors couldn't touch her.
Life of Pi
Afternoons with Morty or whatever it was called
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
I would't even touch any Dan Brown work, knowing I would hate it.
I didn't mind Time Traveller's Wife for a quick read but it had no substance.
Either don't read Starship Troopers or don't watch the movie ;)
I'd probably argue the same for Lord of the Rings but the differences are not nearly as egregious
Read the book if you have any interest in Heinlein - it's his politico manifesto. I agree with don't ever see the movie, though - or any of it's sequels. Horrid.
Read the book if you have any interest in Heinlein - it's his politico manifesto. I agree with don't ever see the movie, though - or any of it's sequels. Horrid.
Ugh, I read the book Thursday night and saw the movie Friday night. I thought it was a brilliant book with an excellent political undertone set in a very dynamic, action-packed story arc. I went to the movie expecting Hollywood to at least have fun with the action and make those elements of the book come alive (exoskeletons, individual egg-shaped landing "pods", portable nukes, intelligent bugs with guns, etc). Instead, I got, well, whatever that was.
Another author I was unable to empathise with, despite being told by so many American friends that 'You'll love her books, you being Scottish, and all', was Diana Gabaldon. I honestly TRIED to read her first novel (a time-travel sorta thingy) - but as she wrote it before she even set foot in Scotland, and the historical stuff was fairly crappy, I never finished the first in a large series. I believe she makes a fortune from her novels!
I think that those that read Diana's books aren't really interested in much more than her descriptions of Jamie.
Bad science fiction. I have read some excellent science fiction (Stephen Baxter, for example, though he may not be to everyone's taste; or Ursula Le Guin). But too many science fiction writers seize on the idea (or the science) and completely forget the characters.
I just waded through Gregory Benford's "The Artifact" which might have made a half-decent short story, but was instead spun out into a far-too-long novel with stereotyped, two-dimensional characters (the type that are wholly defined by one peculiar characteristic, such as being A Smoker or something). And the underlying scientific concept was not even all that interesting. *Sigh*. A total waste of a few bucks and the 5 hours it took to read the thing.
Ironically Benford has written some excellent novels (most notably the Galactic Center series), so this was very disappointing.
Anyway - books I cannot read:
Lord of the Rings. I tried, I really did. I hated it.
Charles Dickens. Forced to read him at school. Never recovered from the emotional scars.
Historical novels as a genre.
Romance novels as a genre.
Harry Potter books. Just don't get the hoopla.
Oh yes, and the Dan Brown books. Made nice, light, implausible movies, but the books . . . awful.
I was never forced to read a Dickens novel at any level of education.
I wonder if he is more revered in Britain than he is here? I get the sense that he's not taken exactly seriously.
I tried Lord of the Rings several times, too, and never made it through, and that was back in the day when I read about anything.
Hey, I don't read genre books-- period! No mystery, no romance, no western, no horror, no sci fi although I do like a good fantasy, but not the genre series ones.
Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Both popular and I've tried but just can't do it. I've tried to watch the movie versions and can't get through those either. I do like the theme music to Harry Potter.
I am sure I will be blasted for this, but...the Twilight books. Sorry. Possibly the worst writing I have ever seen.
Hehehe...I only made it through the first one and that only because I wanted to know what my stepdaughter was reading. I agree, Kat.
I find reviews on GoodReads to be helpful. I wished I had read the review on the Time Traveler's Wife before I spent any time reading it. Especially on a popular book, you get many replies with very specific reasons why it is liked or disliked. This title went one way or the other.
I have read Lord of the Rings a few times. I found that I was able to appreciate it as I got older. This is one of my all time favorite books. The Harry Potter series was also fun at the time. Books one and two were short, the story moved along and transferred well to the screen. Gildaroy Lockhart is one of my favorite characters. Of all the books I best liked book four.
I also didn't like Steinbeck or Melville. Classic American writers, however, even as I got older and the books went on a book club list for the month, I still do not like the stories. There's a thread of awfulness underlying both. I found the characters unlikable and the stories too twisted and long. This might be a feminist response, but there male competitive macho stuff just falls flat for me. That's what I experienced with Dan Brown. I tried to read the book before DaVinici code and stopped 1/4 thru too sexist for me.
I do have to admit a strong affinity for Lord of the Rings... but then I can blame that on my dad. My dad was gone for two weeks every month when I was a kid but I have very fond memories of him reading the Chronicles of Narnia and the Hobbit to me as bedtime stories during the weeks he was home. I've probably read through the LoTR trilogy about 10 times, even though they're not especially deep books, parts are tedious (such as the Ents, although I'm sure many also find deep beauty in their passages) and parts just don't make sense from a story continuity perspective (ala Tom Bombadil)
The Corrections. I tried to read that book 3 times and could never get past the first 100 pages or so.
I still want to make it through Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow. I'm a glutton for punishment. And, I will never ever eat a banana pancake.
IshbelRobertson
7-7-11, 5:52pm
Edna O'Brien,
Lord how I've tried to enjoy her literary works.
Maxamillion
7-7-11, 9:27pm
As much as I LOVE the Harry Potter books, I've definitely got to agree that books four through seven needed a whole lot more editing--especially the last few chapters of Deathly Hallows. Some of the sentence structures and purple prose just made me want to gag. All of the last four could have been cut down in word length and still not lost anything. Order of the Phoenix, which for a long time was one of my favorites, especially drags on in places.
I made it through most of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy...waded through the first two and most of the third. But toward the end, with only about four or five chapters left to go, I just couldn't do it anymore and gave up. Maybe one day I'll go back and read those last few chapters.
I haven't read any of the Twilight books but have watched a couple of the movies and didn't care for them. I found Edward to be stalkerish and creepy, especially with his whole "oh, Bella, stop making me treat you so bad" crap.
Recently I picked up a book at the local library that had some really good reviews but was just sooooo bad. A Discovery of Witches. The plot sounded really interesting and intriguing and the book was pretty decent for the first hundred pages or so. But it went tragically downhill from there. By the middle of the book (three hundred pages in; it was a six hundred page book) I couldn't take anymore and just started skipping ahead just to see if anything happened. Nope...nope...nope. Just lots of angsty "I can't do anything without my vampire lover (aka dictator) telling me I can." The woman literally went from a strong character to a quivering pile of mush (I do mean literally--the woman turns into a fountain of water from all her weeping). She was completely helpless from about page three hundred onward. Which was around the point that the plot was pretty much abandoned to focus on the angsty vampire relationship that went absolutely nowhere. I couldn't finish it. Thank goodness I got it at the library instead of buying it. I did however, really enjoy reading the 1-star and 2-star reviews of it on Amazon--some funny stuff there.
Haaa. Someone beat me to nominating Dan Brown!
I honestly TRIED to finish his crappy Da Vinci Code, simply because some of the action was set in Rosslyn Chapel, a place I like very much and know quite well. The book has meant a HUGE influx of tourists who BELIEVE Mr Brown's book (it's fiction, folks, honestly!) - there have been instances of people finding tourists trying to pry up flag-stones or remove wall plaques to find the Holy Grail! I mean.... c'mon!
Another author I was unable to empathise with, despite being told by so many American friends that 'You'll love her books, you being Scottish, and all', was Diana Gabaldon. I honestly TRIED to read her first novel (a time-travel sorta thingy) - but as she wrote it before she even set foot in Scotland, and the historical stuff was fairly crappy, I never finished the first in a large series. I believe she makes a fortune from her novels!
PS - I loved The Road!
Ditto to both: "The Road" (loved it) and "The Da Vinci Code (hated it). Also hate almost all the new stuff by Stephen King - who's horror and style I use to love - now it's just long winded dialouge with bad endings. Still think he's "The King" of short story horror though. I also loved the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy as well as the movies - which I thought did justice to the books - but generally HATE most fantasy books. Couldn't stand the Harry Potter books and movies,as well as the Narnia or Twighlight stuff. I think I like fantasy and horror that is dark, evil and deadly. No pallid kindly vampires and gentle werewolves going around all swoony, mushy, and love sick for some girl. I want my creatures blood thirsty, evil, and horrifying!
Ugh, I read the book Thursday night and saw the movie Friday night. I thought it was a brilliant book with an excellent political undertone set in a very dynamic, action-packed story arc. I went to the movie expecting Hollywood to at least have fun with the action and make those elements of the book come alive (exoskeletons, individual egg-shaped landing "pods", portable nukes, intelligent bugs with guns, etc). Instead, I got, well, whatever that was.
And there's always the animated TV show cartoon you can watch if you didn't get enough :-)! I loved the book and semi-hated the movie. Since I'm a Sci-Fi addict I'll watch anything to see the special effects but I'm more selective in what Sci-Fi I read. Although I kind of liked the animated cartoon version. You can see the cartoon version on U-Tube. It's like the movie though and not the book.
IshbelRobertson
7-8-11, 5:08pm
Also dislike Sir Walter Scott.
Now, as a Scot, whose home city is Edinburgh, where SWS was educated, that might sound like heresy... but BLECH!
...I am half way through a Time Traveler's Wife and :( do not recommend!... Oh, dear. I loved the Time Traveler's Wife. I cried substantial tears at the end, but maybe that's for the same reason I like "chick" movies. Love the uncommon romantic stories!
early morning
7-8-11, 11:10pm
Funny what people do and don't like. :) Personally - I really dislike Stephen King. Ditto ALL true crime books. And James Patterson, although the first few Alex Cross books were entertaining. I was ok with Dan Brown- pretty funny stuff, overall. I enjoy Tolkien over and over again - although some of it is really jarring (like the aforementioned Tom Bombadil). I discovered George Eliot in middle school, and loved her books, especially The Mill on the Floss, and Middlemarch. Maybe I need to revisit them, and see if that's still true. I read the Twilight books to see what my students liked in them, and I thought they were pretty flat. Ditto the current trend of "urban teen fiction" - at least the stuff I've found.
My list:
Harry Potter
Left Behind Series
Alice in Wonderland
Twilight
Lord of the Rings
Either I tried to read and just couldn't or they sound so dreadfully unappealing that I didn't even try.:-)
Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are favorites of mine. I would never read Left Behind, and Twilight was cringeworthy. I never did read Alice.
Haaa. Someone beat me to nominating Dan Brown!
Another author I was unable to empathise with, despite being told by so many American friends that 'You'll love her books, you being Scottish, and all', was Diana Gabaldon. I honestly TRIED to read her first novel (a time-travel sorta thingy) - but as she wrote it before she even set foot in Scotland, and the historical stuff was fairly crappy, I never finished the first in a large series. I believe she makes a fortune from her novels!
PS - I loved The Road!
See, I liked her first book. But then. She wrote another one. And another one. And... I read 2 and 3 and hated them. I like an "ending". I don't mind a series on occasion, if I know it's a series at the beginning.
My most recent yawner: Under the Tuscan Sun. Ugh.
The Storyteller
7-14-11, 9:15pm
Navada Barr books
Sue Grafton books
Mysteries in general
Water for Elephants
The Women, by TC Boyle, although I love his other stuff
Anything by John Grisham written after The Pelican Brief
Loved The Road as well
I should admit The Da Vinci Code was one of my guilty pleasures. I knew I should dislike it somehow but couldn't. Didn't much care for his other books, though.
The Storyteller
7-14-11, 9:27pm
Hey, I don't read genre books-- period! No mystery, no romance, no western, no horror, no sci fi although I do like a good fantasy, but not the genre series ones.
I tend to agree with that in general, but occasionally a book that is technically of a genre that transcends that genre. It is story before it is genre. Never Let Me Go for sci/fi and Lonesome Dove for westerns, for example.
oh agreed, I read Never Let Me Go but it's by a literary author.
I loved Jonathan Strange, it's not classic fantasy.
I loved Water for Elephants, but it was terribly sad.
I am a high school English teacher and am compelled to add my two cents to this discussion! Many of the examples given are titles that are often part of the high school literary cannon (Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, etc). Reading these novels as an adolescent can be so different from reading them as an adult. I am always sad when people dismiss an author's works based on a bad memory from HS or MS. I remember hating Huck Finn when I was a sophomore in HS. But reading it as an adult is a whole other experience. With a more complete understanding of the context of that novel, I am much more appreciative of the work as a whole.
So, don't base your feelings on adolescent memories; give Dickens, Bronte, etc another try! ( Okay, you can skip Melville...I will never be a fan of Moby Dick or Billy Budd.)
Sad Eyed Lady
7-17-11, 11:44am
I should admit The Da Vinci Code was one of my guilty pleasures. I knew I should dislike it somehow but couldn't. Didn't much care for his other books, though.
This brings up a question for me: Why should you feel as if you SHOULD dislike it somehow? I think we are too conscious today of what we should or should not like, do, want or desire. Afraid of being politically incorrect I guess. Storyteller, I am not criticizing you here, I don't intend that at all, but when I read that statement I thought of the bigger picture of how this does sometimes influence how we feel about something. I remember when Robert Wilder published "Bridges of Madison County" and the critics derided him completely for it. The public, in general, liked the book. I read it, as I have all his books, and by far his best is a collection of essays he wrote called "Old Songs in a New Cafe". The man can write. Critics have opinions just as we do, but we are entitled to ours too. I guess my point is, in whatever area, enjoy without thinking if you should or should not enjoy it based on popular opinion.
The Storyteller
7-17-11, 12:18pm
This brings up a question for me: Why should you feel as if you SHOULD dislike it somehow?
Because it's junk fiction. Granted, enjoyable junk, but junk all the same. And that is my opinion about it. I don't like junk in general, although many people like it just fine. This one was an exception for me.
And actually, most literary critics disagree with me on that. It received rave reviews for the most part.
I should admit The Da Vinci Code was one of my guilty pleasures. I knew I should dislike it somehow but couldn't.
I loved it. Read it in one sitting, which is rare for me.
Sad Eyed Lady
7-17-11, 2:18pm
Because it's junk fiction. Granted, enjoyable junk, but junk all the same. And that is my opinion about it. I don't like junk in general, although many people like it just fine. This one was an exception for me.
And actually, most literary critics disagree with me on that. It received rave reviews for the most part.
Oh I understand your statement now - your own self-imposed "should not like it". That makes sense! BTW, I read it too and felt it was "okay" but way too much adventure for me - what I refer to as "running and jumping" - narrow escapes and they're off again!
IshbelRobertson
7-17-11, 6:16pm
Re Da Vinci Code.
I remember being in Rosslyn Chapel and watching foreigners trying to pry up flagstones (how dare they?!) and to remove wall tablets to 'find' the holy Grail...
Ive also attended services there which have been interrupted by coach parties from the USA and Germany (and other countries) who were not interested in the history of the Chapel, but only in the crappy story by Dan Brown.
... I remember when Robert Wilder published "Bridges of Madison County" and the critics derided him completely for it. ....
yes, that is a book that should dislike but I did like it, much to my surprise.
Because it's junk fiction. Granted, enjoyable junk, but junk all the same. And that is my opinion about it. I don't like junk in general, although many people like it just fine. This one was an exception for me.
And actually, most literary critics disagree with me on that. It received rave reviews for the most part.
I'm a big fan of junk :-)! Proudly read it and watch it. Life's too short not to have some fun and entertainment value in it. Learn' tain't everything! Of course "Hitchhiler's Guide to the Universe" et al is my guilty pleasure. It's my pick-me up junk book (not the movie - UGH UGH UGH) whenever I feel down. Pure, enjoyable fun junk!
The Storyteller
7-19-11, 6:38pm
I'm a big fan of junk :-)! Proudly read it and watch it. Life's too short not to have some fun and entertainment value in it,
I think that is just fine. I endorse such for others entirely. It's just that, for me, there is so much quality stuff out there that I also find entertaining, why waste my time on crap? :)
Hitchhiker's Guide isn't crap. It's well crafted and witty. Ok, it's not taught on college campuses, but 99.9999999999999% of the titles published are not taught by professors or analyized in dissertations. Critics like the Hitchhiker's Guides.
Anything by VC Andrews, now, that is crap. She's been dead for what, a decade? and still the VC Andrews machine is still pumping out novels.
rosarugosa
7-19-11, 9:00pm
Hitchhiker's Guide rocks! I love that series. Doug Adams was one of my heroes.
I remember my father-in-law (who was a bit of a book snob) telling me years ago that he never read anything that everyone was reading on the subway. I told him that he was still allowing the masses on the subway to dictate his choice of reading material, just kind of in reverse. ;)
If I like a book, then I would never categorize it as junk. I think of fun, lightweight literature as more like potato chips. Yummy, but not as a steady diet.
Iris Lily and Rosarugosa (the 2 flower girls) you are 2 hoopy froody gals who really know where your towel is :-)! I agree. I was being self-effacing (is that the right word - not sure since I only read crap :-)!). I love all them all.
So long and thanks for all the fish... Lindi - a fellow towel bearer in arms!
Reading Stephen King's book It was the biggest waste of time and I've never read another of his books since. I only finished it because I kept hoping it would get better. His older stuff was OK.
Being forced to read a classic or two in school is a shame because I think you really appreicate them later in life. I absolutely LOVE Dickens, Hardy, actually just about anything old and English. Wish I paid more attention to the Shakespeare we had to read.
Just recently read a book by Robin Cook. The dialogue was totally unbelievable---no one speaks like that.
Pony mom, I had a similiar experience with It. I was going through a Stephen King period, reading everything I could get hands on in the late 1980s, I think, and I started It and just could not do it anymore. It was so repetitive; scary as heck, yes, but that was all. I think I had just gotten to a place where I didn't want to ONLY be scared out of my wits but a little more something would have helped! So, perhaps unfortunately, I quit about 3/4 through and haven't read King since. I understand he's got lots of other stuff, of course, but I just have not been able to go back.
I think the movie, The Shawshank Redemption, which I really like, is based on one of King's short stories and for a brief moment I thought about locating it and others to read but then maybe the memories of It returned (!) and the idea left me.
I just read a local production; locally written and self published, and now I have huge regard for the editing process. I don't think I was quite aware of how disruptive it is to read a poorly edited piece of work. Editors, I salute you!
Reading Stephen King's book It was the biggest waste of time and I've never read another of his books since.
"It" - UGH!! Possibily the worst book ever! And pretty much everything else he's written since then - and a few before - too. But I like his older (much older) stuff and am a HUGE fan of his short stories - very innovative ideas - so that's really the only thing I read of his. But unfortunately his recent short stories are going the way of "It" et al - too long, too boring, crappy endings, just bad.
The Storyteller
7-22-11, 2:52pm
I think the movie, The Shawshank Redemption, which I really like, is based on one of King's short stories and for a brief moment I thought about locating it and others to read but then maybe the memories of It returned (!) and the idea left me.
I would encourage you to give it another shot. King's novellas are much better than his full length books, in my limited experience with things King. Both Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and The Body (on which the film "Stand By Me" was based) are excellent and are contained in the collection Different Seasons. It also contains Apt Pupil, which was also made into a film, but I never got around to reading that one.
The Storyteller
7-22-11, 2:56pm
If I like a book, then I would never categorize it as junk. I think of fun, lightweight literature as more like potato chips. Yummy, but not as a steady diet.
A good analogy, actually. I would never consider potato chips anything other than junk food, no matter how much I enjoyed them. :)
Hey Storyteller, agreed! The best King book I ever read was Night Shift (I hope that's the title) that was short stories. That was, oh, what, 30 years ago? He's been running on empty for 25 years.
I think King reached his Zenith with The Stand and his collaboration with Peter Straub on The Talisman. It's all been downhill from there although I must admit I continued reading up to Rose Madder. Started it and couldn't finish.
ps
The Dark Tower Series was pretty good too.
The Corrections. I tried to read that book 3 times and could never get past the first 100 pages or so.
Oh, yes. And Freedom and Strong Motion. Twenty-Seventh City was OK though.
Hated Moby Dick.
Harry Potter series was OK, as it was a place to connect w/ the kids.
Narnia bugs me because if you are going to write about something as blatantly spiritual as God and resurection, then man up to it and write it as non-fiction, not some namby-pamby make-belive story.
Peter Pan! Really!?! Could it be more immature or sexist?
Pride and Predjudice (sorry Tradd) What every strong minded woman needs is a rich, arrogant man to convince her she is missing sex. Blech.
Hanging myself out to dry here--what I loved as a child: Harriet the Spy, a tame biography of George Washington Carver and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's On Death and Dying (ok, I was a strange child.)
Fiction I love as an adult: Anna Karenia, The Devil Wore Prada, The House of Seven Gables--OK, I'm still strange. :)
Fawn, I too loved Anna Karenina. Have you read any Wilkie Collins, like The Woman in White and Armadale? You kinda get sucked in to his stories and characters too.
I'm glad a few others here hated King's It. Do we really need another reason to be terrified of clowns? His book The Shining really gave me the heebie jeebies when I read it as a teen---the moving topiary was creepy!!
Fawn, I *loved* Harriet the Spy! And I love Anna Karenina. Have you read the translation by Richard Pervear and Larissa Volokhonsky?
For me, the Twilight series....not very good writing. Next...too much hype over The hunger games series.
Maxamillion
7-23-11, 3:51am
I loved the first two Hunger Games books...but hated the last one, especially the ending. The whole last half of the book was disappointing but the ending especially so.
I would encourage you to give it another shot. King's novellas are much better than his full length books, in my limited experience with things King. Both Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and The Body (on which the film "Stand By Me" was based) are excellent and are contained in the collection Different Seasons. It also contains Apt Pupil, which was also made into a film, but I never got around to reading that one.
"The Green Mile" was also a good S. King short story made into a good movie (Tom Hanks). Worth watching and reading IMHO. They also made "'Salems Lot" (probably my favorite king book - my first I think) into a movie that I think was pretty good. Other books to movies weren't so good - "Christine", "Cujo", and a bunch more. I personally like his character development since he writes like real people (at least people I know :-)) talk. But yeah, great short stories, great first horror stories, now crappy longgggggg horror stories.
Some years back, a colleague told me that Stephen King was an alcoholic, and that he ended up in rehab. I noticed that his books went dowhill after that, so perhaps that's what happened.
I won't read anything by Danielle Steele. Two was enough, and I couldn't tell those two apart. I'm also getting tired of novels whose main character suffered childhood sexual abuse. I know it happens and it's horrible, but enough already.
rosarugosa
7-23-11, 9:38pm
Well I made my comment as someone who has a great deal of affection for potato chips. But I do have enough nutritional knowledge to understand their place in the scheme of things.
I am currently reading Discovery of Witches. I'm not quite sure why. It is like a cross between Harry Potter and the Victoria Holt novels I read in high school. Neither is intended as a compliment.
I generally read primarily what my manager reads. She buys a ton of books, generally has tastes compatible with mine, and I'm number 1 on her loan list. I consider this to be a bona fide fringe benefit of my job - she loans me literally hundreds of dollars worth of new releases every year. She has recently loaned me such goodies as The Room, You Had Me at Woof, The Art of Racing in the Rain, The Help, and The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. So I guess I'll forgive her for Discovery of Witches :)
rosarugosa
7-23-11, 9:40pm
Oh, and how about On the Road by Kerouac? I'm about to throw in the towel on that one I think.
Some years back, a colleague told me that Stephen King was an alcoholic, and that he ended up in rehab. I noticed that his books went dowhill after that, so perhaps that's what happened.
I won't read anything by Danielle Steele. Two was enough, and I couldn't tell those two apart. I'm also getting tired of novels whose main character suffered childhood sexual abuse. I know it happens and it's horrible, but enough already.
I just read online that he was into alcohol and drugs when he was younger - in his "good" writing days. So guess that's not his problem. Maybe it was getting sober :-)!
...Narnia bugs me because if you are going to write about something as blatantly spiritual as God and resurection, then man up to it and write it as non-fiction, not some namby-pamby make-belive story...
Maybe, agree to some extent. I remember the joy of discovering The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe as a kid, but as the series went on, it got less interesting, I suppose because it was too preachy.
But that first book was great, imagine a whole magical world in the back of a closet! I loved that and took it literally as the fantasy that was presented.
Same for George McDonald's The Princess and the Goblin which was very cool, but his later books--again, preachy. I was sensitive to that even as a kid and I remember being mad that the author couldn't replicate those great first books.
Peter Pan! Really!?! Could it be more immature or sexist?
Now on this I disagree. Peter Pan has some droll writing. "Arch" I might call it. It still makes me laugh when I think about the parts I have memorized.To this day I picture myself putting a cool cloth to my head (just like Father when he was doing The Accounts) when I am puzzleing out something complex.
I'm a fan of British kiddie lit, and I spent time in the small Scottish home towns of both McDonald and Barrie, on my literary tour many years ago. Enjoyed it.
To those of you who gave up on Stephen King early: you might want to give Needful Things a try. It's one of my favorite later things of his. Also can't remember who it was who read Different Seasons but skipped Apt Pupil but that is a truly creepy story. I didn't know it had been made into a film. I wonder if they ruined it.
In other news: I couldn't make it past the first few pages of A Confederacy of Dunces even though I know lots of people love it.
Also I can't stand any Dickens. Had to read Great Expectations in High School and hated it. He spend soooo looong on descriptions of everything I kept losing the story line!
I'm not afraid to stop reading a book if it doesn't grab me.
crunchycon
12-20-11, 7:17am
( Okay, you can skip Melville...I will never be a fan of Moby Dick or Billy Budd.)
Thank you, thank you. Billy Budd just depressed me no end, and I can't get past Chapter 2 of Moby Dick, even though I think I should:(.
iris lily
12-20-11, 11:59am
Ken Follet is on my "never ever read" list. I just watched the first dvd episode of Pillars of the Earth and didn't realize this popular tv series was based on Follett novels. Now I'm trying to decide whether to go forward with it--ok, one more episode perhaps to see if it is worth it. Great casting, great art direction--but so far lame characterization and plot. The evil guys are evil, the goodie goodie guys are good, and what is interesting about that?
iris lily
12-20-11, 12:00pm
Thank you, thank you. Billy Budd just depressed me no end, and I can't get past Chapter 2 of Moby Dick, even though I think I should:(.
Lit major here, have never read Moby Dick and am proud of that.:laff:
treehugger
12-20-11, 12:45pm
Great casting, great art direction--but so far lame characterization and plot. The evil guys are evil, the goodie goodie guys are good, and what is interesting about that?
That is exactly how I felt about that miniseries, and I even watched it all the way through to the end. I dearly love Ian McShane but he was criminally misused.
Kara
Ken Follet is on my "never ever read" list. I just watched the first dvd episode of Pillars of the Earth and didn't realize this popular tv series was based on Follett novels. Now I'm trying to decide whether to go forward with it--ok, one more episode perhaps to see if it is worth it. Great casting, great art direction--but so far lame characterization and plot. The evil guys are evil, the goodie goodie guys are good, and what is interesting about that?
I think you should give it a shot. We began that series over a year ago while on the road for several weeks in the motorhome, and only finished the last 3 hours last week. We both loved it.
iris lily
12-20-11, 1:23pm
I think you should give it a shot. We began that series over a year ago while on the road for several weeks in the motorhome, and only finished the last 3 hours last week. We both loved it.
oh ok, I'll try that 2nd episode but it had better get better! I am picking up Deadwood Season 1 at the Library today, one you recommended.
oh ok, I'll try that 2nd episode but it had better get better! I am picking up Deadwood Season 1 at the Library today, one you recommended.
I think you'll love Deadwood after allowing the characters to progress through the first few episodes. Even the minor characters are richly drawn and provided memorable dialog.
treehugger
12-20-11, 1:58pm
I think you'll love Deadwood after allowing the characters to progress through the first few episodes. Even the minor characters are richly drawn and provided memorable dialog.
Deadwood is a quality show. I totally agree about the richly drawn characters and memorable dialog. That show is, of course, why I love Ian McShane. His (Deadwood) character is very, very bad, but also has a human side and shows moments of grace and compassion. I like my pro- and antagonists nuanced, thank you very much. :)
Kara
There is perpetually a list for good reads, but what about stinkers.
I am half way through a Time Traveler's Wife and :( do not recommend! Plot? Did we forget the basics of writing, strong plot, likeable characters and momentum. Stinkeroni!
I could not disagree more. It's one of my faves of all times. I was just captivated by it.
oh agreed, I read Never Let Me Go but it's by a literary author.
I loved Jonathan Strange, it's not classic fantasy.
I got about 400 pages through Strange, and just couldn't take it anymore. I.e. bored.
I couldn't get through Time Traveler's Wife either. I found it boring and repetitious. I've friends who loved it, though. Thank goodness we all have different tastes, yes? Would be a dull world with only vanilla ice cream.
Because it's junk fiction. Granted, enjoyable junk, but junk all the same. And that is my opinion about it. I don't like junk in general, although many people like it just fine. This one was an exception for me.
And actually, most literary critics disagree with me on that. It received rave reviews for the most part.
Define junk. I think the phrase, "one man's trash is another man's treasure" applies to literature as well.
Or rather - I would love hear a definition of "nutritious" fiction.
I loved it. Read it in one sitting, which is rare for me.
I loved this one, too - and I liked Angels and Demons even more (oh, the horror!).
Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Both popular and I've tried but just can't do it. I've tried to watch the movie versions and can't get through those either. I do like the theme music to Harry Potter.
Golly Gosh. I like both. But never CS Lewis.
Also I can't stand any Dickens. Had to read Great Expectations in High School and hated it. He spend soooo looong on descriptions of everything I kept losing the story line!
I'm not afraid to stop reading a book if it doesn't grab me.
I'm not particularly fond of Great Expectations. Bleak House is so much better. Or David Copperfield. Or The Pickwick Papers.
I loved Harriet the Spy, too -- I think that was my first real introduction to fieldwork ethics, and part of the reason I became an anthropologist!
Was forced to read Middlemarch in high school and HATED it the first time, but actually kind of liked it when I went back to review it prior to IB exams.
HATED Twilight. Which was a bummer because I am from the Northwest and I love vampire stuff, and thought the movies were ok. But the writing is just awful. And nobody can top Interview with the Vampire, which is one of my all-time favorite books EVER. Movie and follow-on books sucked though.
Funny the comments about VC Andrews. I was so into her messed up incestuous family "Flowers in the Attic" books when I was a young teenager. Wonder what that was all about?
HATE HATE HATED Reading Lolita in Tehran. The narrator just struck me as so pompous and ridiculous. A shame, because I really wanted to like it.
lhamo
I can't really think of any book I'd recommend to avoid -- but likely if someone asked me if I'd read "so and so book" and if I hadn't liked it I'd say so.
But, generally speaking, I'm totaly not into romance novels AT ALL, also called "bodice rippers" ... Read them in my younger days, of course, which were (shortened) in Redbook magazine. Quite tame by today's standards, of course.
Also, I loved science fiction when I was younger, especially Ray Bradbury. More science fantasy than science fiction tho. I still have all of his books, which I'll occasionally re-read. Now, I'm not interested in science fiction at all -- bug-eyed monsters and such. No thanks. I did enjoy the books that explored social issues from that other-world perspective tho.
I also didn't enjoy most of the books I had to read in high school, and I do realize now that it was just my stage in life, or something like that. But I don't have the time or energy or desire to re-read them. I'll watch them on Masterpiece Classic, tho.
But to whoever it was who posted about not liking Steinbeck -- I absolutely LOVE his books (and also have all of them) which I do re-read often, especially his books of short stories (The Long Valley and The Pastures of Heaven). The Grapes of Wrath is my family's story, and East of Eden is an area where I was born and lived for awhile, and I know it well. He's my Big Guy Author.
Basically I like mystery/suspense novels that challenge me, and right now I'm into Michael Connelly books. Really enjoy them.
English was one of my several potential majors, but literature classes left me cold. Please don't tell me what to read...The worst stuff was in Honors English, where the instructor had a fetish for nineteenth-century Christian-themed tomes. I spiced things up by doing term papers comparing them to James Baldwin. Honestly, I can't remember a single title from the reading list, which could have been called "What Fresh Hell?" as far as I was concerned. Subsequent classes were marginally better. I didn't much mind Buddenbrooks or Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, but Henderson the Rain King was torture. What 20-year old really gives a damn about some old guy's mid-life crisis? Not I, and I wasn't shy about panning it, which didn't do anything for my grade in that class.
Stephen King lives in an ugly world; the only character of his I ever liked was Christine. But I thought The Mist was pretty good. Never go to the grocery store on a foggy day...
In general, I avoid books that are best sellers or ones that are supposed to be good for me. Hemingway? Really? Best thing about Papa was his cats, IMO.
Apt Pupil but that is a truly creepy story. I didn't know it had been made into a film. I wonder if they ruined it.
I saw it. Despite having Ian McKellen as Dussander, it wasn't exactly great. Here's the trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGt4pPK6Zak).
I'm another Deadwood fan. It's good from the beginning, but about four or five episodes in, they all just click, and from then on it's amazing. One of the best ensemble casts I've ever seen, with the spectacular Ian McShane leading the way.
Oprah's Biography by Kitty Kelley (http://www.amazon.com/Oprah-Biography-Kitty-Kelley/dp/0307394867), sure I understand that being in the limelight causes a lot of envy but the real truth about Oprah from so many people really made me sober up about this Queen of Television. I made it into the second chapter and than I was so appalled I brought it back to the library. I really liked Oprah before.
I love Ian McShane from Lovejoy, which you can get in parts on youtube. In fact, I have always loved Ian, long before he was a bad boy.
IshbelRobertson
1-2-12, 7:15pm
I had to read a lot of Dickens both at school and university and found him hard going!
I have just downloaded ALL Dickens' works onto my Kindle (for the princely sum of 99 pence) and have made it one of my resolutions to read all his novels - starting with The Old Curiosity Shop (I hated it when I was a school-girl, and couldn't wait for Little Nell to kark it!) We'll see how it goes...
There was a new version of Great Expectations on the BBC over Christmas. Gillian Anderson was, in my opinion, absolutely great as Miss Havisham (but opinion seems divided on that topic here) - and there will soon be a new series of Edwin Drood, too. Riches, indeed!
I was chuckling through the whole discussion! I liked Time Traveler's Wife, sort of mediocre on Da Vinci Code (but couldn't even get past the first couple pages of the next one), like Hitchhiker's Guide but sputtered after about book 3 of the series when it started just getting really trippy. Sputtered on Lord of the Rings but probably because the movies had come out and DH had to see them on opening day so by that point there was no point in finishing.
The one I really hated, though, was Life of Pi. I wanted to throw it across the room and get my hours spent reading it back.
Other books: cannot even start romance novels. I've tried. They suck. I didn't even try with Twilight or any of those. Life is too short.
[QUOTE=leslieann;32169]When I read The Da Vinci Code, I kept asking myself why I was reading the blessed thing, since it was so terrible? But I kept on reading it, so there was something that pulled me into that. The more peculiar thing is that I later read Brown's Angels and Demons, even though every other page I found myself saying, You gotta be kidding....
Don't know whether he has written any more but I am not interested in finding out. My family passed Da Vinci Code around with warnings: this is a terrible book but you might like reading it. It has nothing to recommend it but you still might like it....stuff like that.[/
I got through it but the writing was not good. My dh loved it and went on to read quite a bit of non-fiction about Davinci the church etc.
domestic goddess
2-9-12, 2:00pm
Isn't it funny how many different reasons we can have for reading a book? I've read some real stinkers that met some kind of need of mine at the time, and later took another look at them and wondered "What was I thinking?" Yet at the time, it was just what I needed, for some reason.
So I could probably come up with a long list of books to avoid, but I (mercifully) can't remember them.
I find as a general rule that half the best sellers at any point in time are completely unreadable. My current #1 of unreadable authors is Dan Brown.
I think the only redeeming quality of the Da Vinci Code was being able to fully appreciate Stephen Fry's succinct and brilliant review of that book...
"Complete loose-stool-water. Arse-gravy of the very worst kind."
Ha!! That's awesome!
I love Ian McShane from Lovejoy, which you can get in parts on youtube. In fact, I have always loved Ian, long before he was a bad boy.
Did you ever see him as Benjamin Disraeli on Masterpiece Theater? OMG, that's when I fell in love with him.
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