What books do you dislike?

[somethingshiny]

I loved All Quiet on the Western Front. In fact, I''ve collected several first edition novels (English) by Erich Maria Remarque.

 

[reader]

Dislike most fiction, do not like anything by Joyce

But my real book hates are The March of Folly and Madame Bovary

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Iluvcarats - hmm never read The Road. I think BF may have - I''ll have to ask him.

Elrohwen - I don''t think I minded A Thousand Splendid Suns too much, though I can''t really remember the plot so apparently it wasn''t super memorable. I have The Kite Runner but I just haven''t gotten around to reading it. I love Pillars, but I hear you about overhyping books - that happened with the Dune series for me. I had a lot of friends who were really into it in high school and I just never found it that interesting. I did like the prequels, and apparently for true Dune lovers that''s as close to sacrilege as you can get

And I never finished Anne Frank. I don''t know if I was too young when I started it, but it seemed kind of boring (and I feel like a bad person for writing that too!). It just seemed a lot like her talking about that one guy she liked, and so I stopped reading. And I agree for the most part on reading plays - my only exception is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Haven - I totally agree. My English classes in college focused on how the work related to its contemporaries, the history behind it, how the work set the foundation for later works, etc. It was much more of a broader picture learning system than high school.

Monnie - ditto.

Princesss - I was having dinner with my best friends from hs the other night and we were all in AP English together. We were talking about how our teacher was practically in love with one of the students, J, and every time J said something, i.e. "Charles Dickens wrote Great Expectations" our teacher would say, "That is very astute, J!" ANYTHING J said was called "very astute." Your story reminded me of that

ts - Same here for classic Amer. lit! I don''t think I really appreciate American lit at all until I took an American Gothic course in college, which was AMAZING.

somethingshiny - I haven''t read Fahrenheit 451 or War and Peace, though I''ve read a lot of Bradbury''s other work and liked it. I haven''t even attempted War and Peace, lol.

Hest - haven''t read either. I had a list once upon a time of classic books from high school English and I had fun checking off the ones I''ve read, but I have no idea where that list is now! I should Google one.


Df - really? I LOVED All Quiet on the Western Front

Packrat - hahahah Catch-22 is one of my favorite books! I do think that one you have to be in a certain frame of mind to read, as you said.

 

[elrohwen]

Packrat, I love Catch-22 and made DH read it a few months ago. He spent the first half of the book complaining about how much he hated it

but then actually ended up loving it! Haha. I agree that you need to be in the first frame of mind for it. It's also probably a love-or-hate type of book since it's written in such a strong style - if you just don't like that style, you're never going to like the book.

BEG, yes about Anne Frank! It was like reading a 13 year old's diary all about how she has a crush on a guy. I think that if she hadn't been hiding from the Nazis, no one would have ever read her diary or thought it was interesting. So yeah, interesting for historical reasons, but not something I'm really going to read again and again. And for Pillars, I will say that I read it pretty fast and didn't dread picking it up - it was entertaining, but I guess less life changing than what I had built it up to be. I'm always into medievil England though, so it was a good read for that alone.

 

[packrat]

I do believe I''ll have to give Catch 22 another chance! When I''d checked it out from the library it was one of those times where the books I was specifically looking for were out and I thought well, whatever, I''ve been meaning to read this book since HS, I''ll give it a whirl. Prolly not the best circumstances!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 1/4/2010 1:12:45 PM
Author: somethingshiny
To Kill a Mockingbird
Fahrenheit 451
War and Peace (never ever even came close to finishing it)

I read Fahrenheit 451 a few months back and didn''t like it either. It didn''t leave much of an impression - so much the case, that all I can think of as a review of it would be, "it was lame."

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 1/4/2010 1:58:03 PM
Author: packrat
I do believe I''ll have to give Catch 22 another chance! When I''d checked it out from the library it was one of those times where the books I was specifically looking for were out and I thought well, whatever, I''ve been meaning to read this book since HS, I''ll give it a whirl. Prolly not the best circumstances!

I''ve given a few books a second chance and ended up liking them much much more the second time around. Not sure why! Maybe once you know what to expect, you can get into it more.

 

[pierreone]

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. I forced myself through most of it but finally quit 11 pages from the end.

 

[elrohwen]

Oh, Wuthering Heights. I really wanted to like it, but didn''t. Though I blame that on the fact that I read it for HS english class. I want to read it again because I think I''ll like it now.

I also strongly dislike "The DaVinci Code". I felt that was way over-hyped for what was just a thriller with some sketchy religious content. I found it all a bit far-fetched.

 

[Lilac]

I want to start off by saying I absolutely *love* reading. I could sit for days straight just reading and reading.

However... I don''t remember specific titles, but I know I *hated* almost every book I''ve ever had to read for school. I hated the tests, the papers, and discussions, and even the stories themselves when I had to read them for school. To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlett Letter, anything Shakespeare, and so many others were just awful.

If I hadn''t already developed a love for reading outside of school I would have been totally turned off reading because of the school''s book choices. It''s really a shame because I know so many people who hate reading because of being forced to read those books in school.

Luckily my mom always read with me and took me to the library, which is why I love reading so much now.

 

[yssie]

I really disliked the Twilight series.


Two of my favourite books are vanity fair and the picture of dorian gray - so they weren''t exactly my style to begin with. I found the personalizations unbelievable to an extreme and the plot overextended and unineteresting. My friend loves Twilight and everything associated with it, though - books, movies, parahpernelia, so I got through it for her - and to see what the fuss was all about (I still don''t, though..). Took me the better part of a month.



Ditto assigned reading - I didn''t like catcher in the rye when there was a 20pg term paper looming, but I really enjoyed it the second time round, when I read it for myself.

 

[Clio]

The Awakening. God, how I hate that book.

 

[Liane]

It takes a lot to make me hate a book. There are fewer than 10 books I''ve read in my entire life that I''d actually say I "hate." Ulysses, though, definitely tops that list. Good god what an unreadable slog of banality and unpleasantry that was. It didn''t surprise me in the slightest to find out that Joyce had a poop fetish.

The Awakening is also a good call. Not on my top-10 loathing list, but FI picks that one out as his most-hated all the time.

I like East of Eden, but Grapes of Wrath is painful and the ending is just

.

(and yes, all of those were on assigned reading lists, so there is definitely something to the argument that assigned reading lists make even book-loving kids hate reading.)

 

[April20]

Cannot read James Joyce for anything. I''ve got no clue what that dude was trying to say! Talk about all over the place. Darn stream of consciousness writing.

I have a hard time reading a lot of the "classics" that we''re all supposed to love. Maybe because it requires me to think more than modern books do due to the structure of the language. I dunno, but I just don''t have the energy for any of them except the ones I love already.

 

[April20]

Date: 1/4/2010 2:09:36 PM
Author: elrohwen
Oh, Wuthering Heights. I really wanted to like it, but didn''t. Though I blame that on the fact that I read it for HS english class. I want to read it again because I think I''ll like it now.

I also strongly dislike ''The DaVinci Code''. I felt that was way over-hyped for what was just a thriller with some sketchy religious content. I found it all a bit far-fetched.

I haven''t read this yet, but I did read The Lost Symbol. I felt like the first 7/8 of the book has detail and intrigue and plot twists and then all the sudden he went "Oh crap, I''ve been writing this for 6+ year and I''m past deadline. Here you go assistant, write me an ending". I didn''t think the ending matched the rest of the book at.all. I felt like I''d wasted my time in reading it.

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 1/4/2010 3:50:59 PM
Author: April20

Date: 1/4/2010 2:09:36 PM
Author: elrohwen
Oh, Wuthering Heights. I really wanted to like it, but didn''t. Though I blame that on the fact that I read it for HS english class. I want to read it again because I think I''ll like it now.

I also strongly dislike ''The DaVinci Code''. I felt that was way over-hyped for what was just a thriller with some sketchy religious content. I found it all a bit far-fetched.

I haven''t read this yet, but I did read The Lost Symbol. I felt like the first 7/8 of the book has detail and intrigue and plot twists and then all the sudden he went ''Oh crap, I''ve been writing this for 6+ year and I''m past deadline. Here you go assistant, write me an ending''. I didn''t think the ending matched the rest of the book at.all. I felt like I''d wasted my time in reading it.

I have some pretty strong feelings about Dan Brown''s ability as an author in general, so I''m not surprised

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I agree with many others on this thread--didn''t love The Grapes of Wrath, Catch 22, To Kill a Mockingbird (though I haven''t read it since high school) or Catcher in the Rye. I wasn''t a big fan of the Great Gatsby, either, but I think I was expecting too much. And I really hated the Twilight series...I just genuinely disliked the characters.

As much as I hate to admit it, I''m not a Jane Austen fan. I don''t hate her books, but I don''t love them, either.

I love Tolstoy (Anna Karenina is one my five favorites),but never made it through War and Peace. I keep forgetting which character is which. I also have a copy of Ulysses, but it''s just way too far over my head.

I''ve tried to read all of the classics, but many I simply forgot about as soon as I read them. Wuthering Heights, Vanity Fair, Madam Bovary...I think I''m guilty of reading them too fast. I tend to go into "skim" mode unless I''m really into the book.

 

[dragonfly411]

brown eyed - I actually was excused from finishing it in class because I simply couldn''t get past the part where the horse is running around as it is dying. I''m sorry but that was just too much for me

. Normally I''m not overly sensitive about books, but that did me in lol

 

[vc10um]

I HATED The Sun Also Rises.

Thinking it was because I was force-fed it by a teacher I didn''t like, I tried it again.

Nope. Still awful. In fact, I''m not sure hate is a strong enough word.

Not a fan in general of Hemmingway or Faulkner.

Also hated Twilight and the rest of the series.

I am, however, one of the only people I know who liked Wuthering Heights.

 

[zoebartlett]

I agree with those who said essentially that required (often) reading in high school doesn''t do much to instill a love a reading for students. At the high school where my mom teaches, they''ve backed off some of the classics and brought in current books that high school kids could relate to more. One that comes to mind is "My Sister''s Keeper." It''s a controversial book to some, but it''s brought out a lot of great discussions about what kids feel is right or wrong. I think part of the problem is that times have changed so much, and kids can''t relate at all to what people are going through in certain classics. I think classics can be great, but I remember reading Canterbury Tales and Beowolf and HATING them. I saw absolutely no value in reading them in high school, and I got nothing out of them (I hate to admit that but it''s true).

 

[rierie26]

Turn of the Screw by Henry James.

. I spent a whole quarter during Freshman Rhetoric just reading, discussing and analyzing this book. One quarter of pure torture.

 

[zoebartlett]

Other books I dislike:

** Lord of the Rings series (I''m not a fan of fantasy and that genre)
** Harry Potter (same reason as above)
** Most high school required reading -- because what 15-18 year old can relate to most subjects in these books? None of my high school English teachers (that I remember) attempted to relate what we read with current events and what was going on in our lives.
** I''ve never actually read Faulkner, James Joyce, Tolstoy, and most Steinbeck books (except Of Mice and Men), but I KNOW I wouldn''t like them. Too dense and hard to get through -- not going to bother. I''m sure there are many others that fall into this category.
** The DaVinci Code and any of Dan Brown''s books
** I only got halfway through the third Twilight book before putting it down. I can''t get myself to finish it or the rest of the series.

I''m not sure what genre this would be but the category of books that "Clan of the Cavebear" (and others in the series) fall into. I WILL NOT read any book that I need to constantly refer to a chart in order to get through.

 

[rainwood]

I didn''t like ''Gone with the Wind'' - book or movie.

I can''t read any of Shakespeare''s plays. They were crammed down our throats in school, but I still have a hard time appreciating Shakespeare, even in the theater. Teachers should never make 7th and 8th graders stand up and act out the plays. It was excruciating, not least of which because the girls usually had to play men. Yes, I was Marc Antony, and I''m still embarrassed about it.

I hated the first 50 pages of ''The Shipping News'' but stuck with it and ended up enjoying the book as a whole.

There was a National Book Award winner by William Gaddis that I just couldn''t finish. I hated it so much I''ve blocked out the title! It was absolutely terrible, written in a virtually unreadable style. At least 100 pages were of an intentionally bad play, and the rest was all dialogue with no indication of who was saying what. No quote marks, no attribution, and the characters weren''t distinctive enough to tell them apart by voice. How it won such a prestigious award is a mystery to me.

Dan Brown is a good storyteller- his books are page turners - but a terrible writer. His descriptions of settings are wonderfully detailed, but his characters are flat and the dialogue is awkward. And I find his endings unsatisfying.

 

[princesss]

Date: 1/4/2010 4:08:43 PM
Author: dragonfly411
brown eyed - I actually was excused from finishing it in class because I simply couldn''t get past the part where the horse is running around as it is dying. I''m sorry but that was just too much for me

. Normally I''m not overly sensitive about books, but that did me in lol

Really? They excused you from required reading? Or did you just get to finish it at home away from other kids?

Not trying to belittle your feelings at all (we all get overwhelmed sometimes, and I''m especially prone to it) - I''m just blown away that teachers would excuse a kid from required reading.

 

[somethingshiny]

Oh, I can''t believe I forgot!!! Moby Dick. I believe I despise this book more than any other ever written. I have TRIED to read this dang thing several times over the past decade. "Call me Ishmael" is about all I remember. It''s so rambling and hard to follow, and I can''t stand that he keeps calling the whale a fish!

about Fahrenheit 451. Besides the fact that the book was, as MC so eloquently put it, "lame," it basically just irritated me. While reading it I kept thinking, "okay, so the author is actually speaking of my generation as if we''d allow these things to happen." And the fact that 40 years ago people were actually SCARED that something like that may happen just makes me angry that these people thought so little of the next generations.

 

[Ara Ann]

I love historic fiction (even a good, historic romance)...so a few years ago, when Oprah''s book club was a big deal, she was pushing The Pillars of the Earth. I figured it was up my alley, so I got it for Christmas! Well...it''s close to 1,000 pages long. I also love a good, long book and was ready to love it. But I hated it. I kept reading because I felt surely it would get better, lol, at some point during the 970 plus pages... IMO, it never did. Was a huge disappointment.

 

[dragonfly411]

Date: 1/4/2010 4:52:11 PM
Author: princesss

Date: 1/4/2010 4:08:43 PM

Author: dragonfly411

brown eyed - I actually was excused from finishing it in class because I simply couldn''t get past the part where the horse is running around as it is dying. I''m sorry but that was just too much for me

. Normally I''m not overly sensitive about books, but that did me in lol

Really? They excused you from required reading? Or did you just get to finish it at home away from other kids?


Not trying to belittle your feelings at all (we all get overwhelmed sometimes, and I''m especially prone to it) - I''m just blown away that teachers would excuse a kid from required reading.

completely excused. I read a different book instead. I explained to the teacher that a) I rode horses and b)I didn''t feel comfortable reading about animals dragging their body parts around

 

[princesss]

Date: 1/4/2010 5:10:13 PM
Author: dragonfly411

Date: 1/4/2010 4:52:11 PM
Author: princesss

Date: 1/4/2010 4:08:43 PM

Author: dragonfly411

brown eyed - I actually was excused from finishing it in class because I simply couldn''t get past the part where the horse is running around as it is dying. I''m sorry but that was just too much for me

. Normally I''m not overly sensitive about books, but that did me in lol

Really? They excused you from required reading? Or did you just get to finish it at home away from other kids?


Not trying to belittle your feelings at all (we all get overwhelmed sometimes, and I''m especially prone to it) - I''m just blown away that teachers would excuse a kid from required reading.

completely excused. I read a different book instead. I explained to the teacher that a) I rode horses and b)I didn''t feel comfortable reading about animals dragging their body parts around

Wow. You had a very understanding teacher!

 

[dragonfly411]

Fortunately yes. In general our school was a bit understanding, especially when it came to graphic content. We were asked to read another book that was really heavy with swearing, and many opted out and asked to read something else. I read it, I don''t mind that.... but animals dragging body parts... no thanks.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Elrohwen - If you''re into medieval England, I would try to find Ellis Peters'' Brother Cadfael series if you haven''t already. Most of the books are out of print right now, but the library might have them - I got really lucky and managed to pick up the whole series on ebay after reading Pillars. It''s a really great fun series. And I like Da Vinci Code well enough, like Angels and Demons better, but I like suspenseful but not always truthful thrillers

For example, I love James Rollins'' books for the sheer brain vacation I can take while reading them, lol.

Packrat - you should! It''s such a great read IMO - though the sequel, Closing Time, was truly awful.

Pierreone - I haven''t read Jude the Obscure but I do remember I liked Hardy''s Far from the Madding Crowd. But I think I was one of the few who did like that one

Lilac - Shakespeare is tough! I didn''t appreciate it at all until college when I had a truly inspiring and eloquent Brit Lit I professor to teach it. I don''t know if my love for Shakespeare would have developed without that professor''s insights. And I definitely believe in instilling a love for reading outside school - my parents indulged ALL my book whims, even stuff like the Babysitters Club, because they realized that any reading was good because it helped developed my reading habit. And honestly, I pick up weird random bits of knowledge from some fluffy books at times that impress BF when we play Jeopardy!

Yssie - I HATE Twilight. Made myself get through the first book because I had bought it but it was so awful. I really disliked all the characters, especially Bella.

Clio - Ooh I liked the Awakening, but again I had a great prof. Though I liked The Age of Innocence better I think.

Liane - I feel ya on James Joyce!

April - I feel like I should read more classics, especially since I was an English major, but I really don''t read them as part of my normal reading life. I need a professor to discuss the books with and a class for them. I''m in a seminar on gender, lit and law though so I get to read some fairly unknown classics this year, though! And I wasn''t a fan of The Lost Symbol

NEL - I forgot - wasn''t a fan of The Great Gatsby either.

DF - seriously?! Wow, that is one understanding teacher. I couldn''t imagine mine from high school or college ever excusing a student from reading a book because of emotional trauma - unless it was something like reading an abuse or rape scene or something. Not to minimize your feelings about the horse dying - it just wouldn''t have happened in my school.

VC - I''m not a Faulkner fan, though I''m ok with Hemingway. I don''t love him though- whereas BF, who is NOT a classics reader, loves Hemingway.

Zoe - Hehe I love The Canterbury Tales and Beowulf, but I didn''t encounter them until college. I think I had greater appreciation for them then.

Kitcha - cute kitten! I love Turn of the Screw, but I can see why you wouldn''t if you had to spend the entire quarter on just that one book! Unless it''s something really long, like the Canterbury Tales or The Faerie Queene, it''s hard to imagine spending the entire class just one work.

Rainwood - I''m kind of ashamed to admit I''ve never seen Gone with the Wind or read it.

Ara - aww that''s too bad! Maybe too hyped up?