What books do you dislike?

[TravelingGal]

Date: 1/4/2010 10:28:48 PM
Author: Haven

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!

Catch-22 is one of my favorite books. I used to teach it in my junior English classes and my students all loved it, too.
I''d say Catch-22 and The Picture of Dorian Gray were the two books my high school students most loved when I taught them. (I taught DG to sophomores.) They also always liked The Things They Carried up to the chapter about story-truth. Teens don''t like being misled, apparently.

I LOVED Catch 22. My last year at college (and last quarter, I think), I read C-22 in the commons (study hall at UC Irvine) while everyone else was studying for finals. I was surrounded by all these bio major nerds stressing out and there I was, preparing for an exam by reading catch-22. I was sitting there cackling and giggling, and realized, boy was I lucky to be an English major. It was just SUCH a good time.

I''ve never re-read it, but I have thought about it from time to time.


Sabine, we have similar tastes. I hated alll the books you mentioned

 

[AdiS]

Date: 1/4/2010 10:50:37 PM
Author: MC

Date: 1/4/2010 2:51:27 PM
Author: yssie
I really disliked the Twilight series.

Twilight. . .me too. I quit reading it after page 29.

I loved the series (read the first 3 books in less than a week) up to Breaking Dawn. I did finish it, but I didn''t like it. At all.

I love reading, every spare moment I have I spend with a book. Romance, fiction, historical biographies, classics, just bring them on. There are some books that did leave a bad taste in my mouth though.

I hate Crime and Punishment . My God, Dostoevsky really had some serious issues. I felt like my brain was in a grinding vice the whole time I was reading it. Ugh!

And don''t even get me started on Hamlet. This guy Hamlet was one of the most sickening characters I''ve ever encountered. I was moaning "Just kill him already" even before I''d reached the fence with Laertes.

There are more, but these two were the ones that impressed me most (in a negative, don''t-want-to-touch-them-ever again sort of way.)

 

[Liane]

Date: 1/4/2010 7:41:59 PM
Author: elrohwen
BEG, thanks, I''ll look them up. I''m actually not a big historical fiction fan ... I usually like actual history, but well-written (I don''t have patience for long, boring history books even if I have patience for long boring novels

). But I do enjoy historical fiction that''s well researched (which Pillars seemed to be) because at least you can learn a few things along the way.

IMO Ken Follett:history:an Brown:secret societies (and how''s that for a compressed txtspk sentence?). It might look plausible if you don''t actually know much about the subject he''s discussing, but the more you do, the more superficial and unconvincing his version becomes. I dropped out of Follett within the first 50 pages because I just couldn''t suspend disbelief enough to get into the story. Too much about it was wrong.

It''s weird. I''m totally willing to suspend disbelief for medievaloid fantasy novels with a video-game approach to weaponry and medicine, but as soon as an author makes a big deal out of how "authentic" his work is supposed to be, bam! out come the mental dissection tools, and very few books survive that. Follett''s most definitely do not.

 

[oddoneout]

Pretty much everything I had to read for school and all of new popular literature. I love to read but I had to read and have read some real duds.

 

[Clio]

Date: 1/4/2010 11:54:18 PM
Author: IdLikeToBuyAVal
@ Clio re Hemingway - I''m with you! I just finished ''True at First Light'' and it was atrocious. I''m Type-A to the extreme and I HAVE to finish a book that I start and I am not a fan. I liked ''Farewell to Arms'' though...go figure.


Also, this is silly considering the length of the book but I hated ''The Pearl''. Another required reading. I realize it''s the message behind the story but ugh...awful.


I also hated Madame Bovary. Awful AND depressing, what a combo!

I hated Madame Bovary the first time I read it, years ago, but I recently re-read it and liked it much more than I thought I would.

One recent-ish book that I hated - I couldn''t even bear to finish it - was I am Charlotte Simmons. All of the characters were loathsome people, and the Appalachian stereotypes were waaaay overdone.

One book I love that everyone else seems to hate is The Scarlet Letter. Loooove it. I don''t get the To Kill a Mockingbird hate either.

 

[Madam Bijoux]

I can''t stand Norman Mailer or Ernest Hemingway.

 

[risingsun]

I couldn't stand The Shack

I know it's been on the best-seller list for years and everyone loves it. It made my teeth hurt!!

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 1/5/2010 10:59:44 AM
Author: Liane
IMO Ken Follett:history:an Brown:secret societies (and how''s that for a compressed txtspk sentence?). It might look plausible if you don''t actually know much about the subject he''s discussing, but the more you do, the more superficial and unconvincing his version becomes. I dropped out of Follett within the first 50 pages because I just couldn''t suspend disbelief enough to get into the story. Too much about it was wrong.

It''s weird. I''m totally willing to suspend disbelief for medievaloid fantasy novels with a video-game approach to weaponry and medicine, but as soon as an author makes a big deal out of how ''authentic'' his work is supposed to be, bam! out come the mental dissection tools, and very few books survive that. Follett''s most definitely do not.

I can definitely see what you''re talking about. Lots of it was very far fetched (I thought the characterizations were pretty unrealistic) but to a large extent the cathedral building seemed well researched (though I know little about how to build a church). And at least there was some history regarding the kings and succession, which is what I was really talking about re: history.

Honestly, I wasn''t able to suspend disbelief or really get into it either, which is why I didn''t like it that much. Like you, I''m better able to suspend disbelief if I know it''s a made up world, instead of pretending to be real. For that reason, I rarely read historical fiction, though I like reading well-written history.

 

[upgrade]

Date: 1/4/2010 6:07:44 PM
Author: Brown.Eyed.Girl

Date: 1/4/2010 6:03:28 PM
Author: upgrade
I forgot to mention my general hatred of ''chick lit'' in my earlier post. There are a few good ones out there but I hated the Bridget Jones books and the Shopaholic books...

Any recommendations? I actually like Shopaholic but can''t stand Bridget Jones. I''d love to find more good ones though!

I like ''Something Borrowed'' by Emily Giffin. I was expecting to hate it and to feel no empathy for the main character, but I read it on a friend''s suggestion and I liked it.

I liked "In Her Shoes'' by Jennifer Weiner and didn''t mind ''The Nanny Diaries'' by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus or ''The Devil Wears Prada'' by Lauren Weisberger. I wouldnt say I loved any of them, but for someone who generally hates chick lit, I thought they were pretty good.

I just couldn''t root for the main character in the Shopaholic books- I only read the first one. I just found her to be so whiny and irresponsible and entitled that I was kind of hoping she''d fall flat on her face.

My sister, however, LOVES the series.

 

[upgrade]

Date: 1/4/2010 6:51:29 PM
Author: princesss

Date: 1/4/2010 6:02:40 PM
Author: TravelingGal

Date: 1/4/2010 12:45:44 PM

Author: princesss

Date: 1/4/2010 12:33:29 PM

Author: upgrade

Don't shoot me... I hated the Lord of the Rings. Just couldn't get into the books enough to finish the series.


I've been trying to read the Outlander series too, because I keep hearing people rave about it but I'm about a quarter of the way through the first book and I keep putting it down to read other things. Does it get better? Because so far, I'm not sold!

For me Outlander picked up between page 200 and 250 - after that, I couldn't put it down!



I hated The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck is too heavy-handed and white hat/black hat for me. I loved the last 6 pages thought - all the subtlety I wanted ran and hid at the back of the book!

I got the sample for Outlander on my Kindle. The first two chapters were BOOOOOOOOORING and there was no way I was going to plow through 200 pages to finally get into it. Ugh.

Haha. I think I only stuck with it because they're my mom's favourite books and she wanted me to read them. But man, once I got into, I really got into it! I own every book, and have two copies of Outlander.

Okay, I'm going to give Outlander one more shot. But not yet... I've ordered a bunch of books that I'm dying to read, so if that shows up while I'm still working on Outlander, it'll just get tossed aside again. When I'm through my new books I'll try it. I really want to like it because I love a good series and the fact that there are so many of them already in existence would make it a great series to plow through.

 

[gardengloves]

Date: 1/4/2010 10:50:37 PM
Author: MC

Date: 1/4/2010 2:51:27 PM

Author: yssie

I really disliked the Twilight series.

Twilight. . .me too. I quit reading it after page 29.

The thing is, having eternal life, and wandering endlessly through high school cafeterias, mesmerizing nubile young things with your preternatural beauty and hidden mystery , i mean, come on,..... I just could not buy into it. The book had to stop, and I love a good vampire novel or series

 

[Blackpaw]

I hated the bridget jones book - ack and ill never get that time back...

hated the da vinci code...

and for some reason ive always had trouble with dickens. Ive only ever managed the Christmas Carol, but have tried a couple of others more than once, but just cant manage them

im not sure why as ive read plenty of authors from his time without a problem.

 

[Gypsy]

How funny. I liked most of my assigned reading (many stories which are listed here as cannot stands for others) and even signed up for MORE assigned reading in college by majoring in English Lit and taking a ton of Comp Lit courses (almost enough for a minor if I recall).

The ONE notable exception in the assigned reading that I just DID. NOT. LIKE. was Heart of Darkness. Oh, and Lord of the Flies, that one nauseated me, literally.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Icekid - Same here about stream of consciousness! Ugh.

TGal - the Shopaholic protagonist is SO exasperating at times. Well, a lot. Though I do enjoy the series for the most part (I didn''t like Shopaholic and Sister as much though). Reading the series really made me want a Denny & George scarf so I was sad when I found out it was a fictional designer!

(Oh and the story of you laughing in the commons reading Catch-22 - lol! I was like that in B&N in college, reading Oscar Wilde''s The Importance of Being Earnest!)

Monnie - lol.

Princesss - well I trust your taste, girl, so I''ll give Outlander one more try!

Elrohwen - if you like well researched historical fiction, I would also recommend Alaska or Hawaii by James Michener and the Asian Saga (starting with Shogun) by James Clavell. Excellently researched, the characters done very well, and great writing. They are LONG books though!

Garden - I was finishing Twilight with teeth gritted!

Clio - Hemingway is BF''s favorite author but for some reason, his writing style just doesn''t click with me

TravelGoddess - are Stephanie Plum''s books similar to the Shopaholic ones? I''ve never read any of hers but I did like Shopaholic. I started it when one of my best friends was getting married and she read Shopaholic Gets Married so I started reading it too

And I have the first book of the Gunslinger series since I''ve heard so many great things about it (and I have The Stand too) but never got around to it. I didn''t like Salem''s Lot so it kind of turned me off of King''s books (the only one I liked was Eyes of the Dragon).

Cehra - love The Hobbit! And I love the LOTR movies but just couldn''t really like the books.

Sabine - I had to read Billy Budd for my first college philosophy course, Intro to Ethics, and really really hated that book.

Packrat - What''s it about? Maori?

OUpeargirl - Is Watership Down the book about the bunnies?

Haven - I''m with you - I asked BF which book he would bring if he was to be stranded on a deserted island for 10 years with only one book. He couldn''t answer; mine was Catch-22. The Picture of Dorian Gray was also a great one.

Katamari - It''s hard to say for me. I don''t have an attachment to articles, etc. and I rarely got assigned fiction in non-Lit classes. I did get assigned Billy Budd in Philosophy and didn''t like it, but part of it is I just don''t like moral philosophy. I think for me, it''s more that these were assigned in high school to be endured...not enjoyed. Whereas in my college courses, after the required courses, I took ones I enjoyed so the assigned reading wasn''t a chore, y''know?

SS - Ha, I''m not even attempting War and Peace

VR - Really about Eco? Darn, I''ve been meaning to pick up The Name of the Rose for a few years now.

Val - The Pearl sounds SO familiar...and yet I can''t place it. I guess if I was assigned it once upon a time, it didn''t leave much of an impression

sbde - Ick. I can''t deal with Ayn Rand.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Adi - lol. I made it through about 20 pages in Crime and Punishment in high school. This was during my "I''m going to edify myself and reading classics on my own" phase. Didn''t last long

Liane - Really? What details did Follett get wrong? I''m genuinely curious since I don''t know much about the period (or cathedral building).

Odd - What duds?

MadamBijoux - What books have Mailer written?

Risingsun - lol. I''ve never read it- what''s it about?

Upgrade - thanks! I will definitely check them out!

Blackpaw - Really did not like A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens just doesn''t do it for me. Eh.

Gypsy - lol Gypsy. It''s weird - I didn''t like the majority of my readings in high school but I still liked the class enough to become an English major in college too

And ugh, agree with you on Heart of Darkness.

 

[packrat]

This is the only blurb about Maori I can find:

One man . . . on the journey of a lifetime. Ship captain and adventurer, his name was Robert Coffin. The native Maori called him Iron Hair. His women called him by other names. In the raw wilderness of New Zealand he had come to forge a nation at the end of the known world . . . only to encounter triumph and tragedy beyond his wildest dreams . . .


I didn''t get very far in it, and it was several years ago so all I remember is I couldn''t get into it. I was disappointed b/c I enjoyed the heck out of the other books of his I''ve read. It''s an Epic novel and I''ve read others and liked them so I''m unsure why not this one. Maybe b/c his other books are more sci-fi and this wasn''t?

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Date: 1/8/2010 11:53:36 AM
Author: packrat
This is the only blurb about Maori I can find:


One man . . . on the journey of a lifetime. Ship captain and adventurer, his name was Robert Coffin. The native Maori called him Iron Hair. His women called him by other names. In the raw wilderness of New Zealand he had come to forge a nation at the end of the known world . . . only to encounter triumph and tragedy beyond his wildest dreams . . .



I didn''t get very far in it, and it was several years ago so all I remember is I couldn''t get into it. I was disappointed b/c I enjoyed the heck out of the other books of his I''ve read. It''s an Epic novel and I''ve read others and liked them so I''m unsure why not this one. Maybe b/c his other books are more sci-fi and this wasn''t?

Ahh I see. I might''ve tried to read it before the NZ trip but now...I think I''ll pass

Thanks for the review!

 

[IdLikeToBuyAVal]

Val - The Pearl sounds SO familiar...and yet I can''t place it. I guess if I was assigned it once upon a time, it didn''t leave much of an impression

The Pearl (Steinbeck) was about a poor fishing village kid who dives for oysters and finds an enormous pearl in one. The pearl is very valuable and creates all sorts of problems for the family.

Synopsis: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Pearl/John-Steinbeck/e/9780140177374/?itm=1&USRI=the+pearl

 

[mrscushion]

Date: 1/4/2010 1:12:21 PM
Author: ts44
How about Faulkner? As I Lay Dying? I wanted to die reading the book. Even my high school honors english teacher hated it. We did it as fast as we could and moved on.

I HATE Faulkner, particularly As I Lay Dying.

 

[risingsun]

BEG~The Shack is a novel about a man finding God after the murder of his daughter. For me, the author/protagonist''s spiritual journey was bereft of an emotional, intellectual or spiritual backbone. It didn''t resonate with me or provide any new insights or plant any seeds.

 

[Christiana]

Well, generally speaking, I dislike science fiction and some sort of pseudo-philosophical novels. Pretty boring, imo

 

[Haven]

Date: 1/8/2010 11:57:51 PM
Author: mscushion

Date: 1/4/2010 1:12:21 PM
Author: ts44
How about Faulkner? As I Lay Dying? I wanted to die reading the book. Even my high school honors english teacher hated it. We did it as fast as we could and moved on.

I HATE Faulkner, particularly As I Lay Dying.

My favorite college prof was a Faulkner scholar, so I took all of the classes he taught. I do like Faulkner, but I think I was first turned on to him because a role model of mine was so very enthusiastic about his work.

 

[VRBeauty]

Date: 1/8/2010 3:30:28 AM
Author: Brown.Eyed.Girl
<>TGal[/b] - the Shopaholic protagonist is SO exasperating at times. Well, a lot. Though I do enjoy the series for the most part (I didn''t like Shopaholic and Sister as much though). Reading the series really made me want a Denny & George scarf so I was sad when I found out it was a fictional designer!

I didn''t care much for Shopoholic ad nauseum (although I have read much of the series

) -- talk about a characters not growing or changing! -- but I did like Sophie Kinsella''s Undomestic Godess a lot. Maybe because I related to the "undomestic" part?