Least Favorite Book

[JBI]

I'd say Saussure or Jakobson were better linguists

Or Chomsky.

[Etienne]

Or Chomsky.

Indeed, that could be the trinity of modern linguistics there.

[mayneverhave]

Or Chomsky.

A native Philadelphian. As was expected...

[Emil Miller]

The Great Gatsby is to books as The Godfather is to movies. Overrated beyond comprehension, and this always leaves the reader/viewer disappointed. Taken in itself, it isn't a bad book at all, but to hear it raved about leaves me expecting novel-writing equal in caliber to Crime and Punishment; wordsmithing equal in caliber to The Picture of Dorian Gray. But what I got was a shallow novel with shallow characters that did little to impress save a few well written paragraphs and a fine ending.

I'm not going to defend Gatsby for the umpteenth time, except to say it doesn't always leave the reader disappointed as you have stated. It's a certainty that the majority of the book's readers think it is a great novel.
Two years ago, a national newspaper in the UK ran a poll on which was their readers favourite book and Gatsby came top.
Trying to compare it with Crime and Punishment and The Picture of Dorian Gray shows a lack of reading experience. It would be difficult to find three more disparate authors than Dostoievsky, Wilde, and Scott Fitzgerald whose styles are so completely different that some people would be bound to reject one or other of the books because they just want to read a story and are not interested in the technicalities of writing.

[Snowqueen]

I have to agree with Gretchen these Harry Potter series have no charm.

[prendrelemick]

Many years ago I read an article in a newspaper about a infamous book. Those who read this masterpiece, (it said) had become Mass murderers or suicides. people became unhealthily obsessed by its dark hidden themes. Its reclusive author had not published a book since. It was a dangerous book, to be read at your peril.

So I was suprised to find it in my local library!

With great trepidation I began to read.....

and what a load of tosh it was. The biggest dissappointment in my literary life, character, plot, narrative, all of it, hopeless. It was called Catcher in the Rye.

[Dr. Hill]

Is this a mild ejaculation? Or an address? I'm puzzled, and not a sir, and do not plan to prefer my own sex any time soon.... although I did learn that there is such a thing as trauma-induced homosexual coupling some years ago.

Hah, it's just an address, I assure you.

[Jason Lycurgus]

A Country of Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett--I don't have any great reason, just not my thing at all

[pjloki]

I hate to go against the trend of naming classic works but the book that I have had at the bottom of the pile is Susan Sontag's "Death Kit". I used to give copies of this friends and relatives as a joke and always got a response on the order of "Where did you find this piece of...". Even worse, the book was lent to me by a friend of mine who couldn't bother to read it himself!

[Captain Trips]

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. That was the most boring and pointless book I have ever read, and I've read some tedious books (currently reading Wuthering Heigths, which almost as bad). Its been a couple of years since I read it but the way I remember it was that nothing ever really happened. She committed adultery and was shamed, then she had a weird kid and was shamed even more. The end.

[*Classic*Charm*]

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. That was the most boring and pointless book I have ever read, and I've read some tedious books (currently reading Wuthering Heigths, which almost as bad). Its been a couple of years since I read it but the way I remember it was that nothing ever really happened. She committed adultery and was shamed, then she had a weird kid and was shamed even more. The end.

Ouch!! Poor Nathaniel..

[Yeahforbooks]

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. That was the most boring and pointless book I have ever read, and I've read some tedious books (currently reading Wuthering Heigths, which almost as bad). Its been a couple of years since I read it but the way I remember it was that nothing ever really happened. She committed adultery and was shamed, then she had a weird kid and was shamed even more. The end.

I pretty much felt the same way about Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. It was such a short book, yet I felt it took me twice as long to read it. I had to read it for a high school English class...it's been about 10 years since I read the book, but I can still remember how painful it was to press on and finish that book from beginning to end. Man goes out to catch a Marlin, tires it out, loses it to sharks, makes it back to shore, rests and begins to think of his next adventure. I'm sure there is a larger lesson to be learned through this story, but I honestly just did not care.

[Karen_Leslie]

Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye comes immediately to mind.

If I'm being completely fair, I've read worse books--I do think Morrison does have some gifts as a writer, even if I'm usually not terribly enamored of her characters or plots-- but this one stands out to me because of the huge gap between my own opinion of it and the buckets and buckets of critical acclaim it has received. Even without getting into the issue of Morrison's self-professed racial agenda, it's a banal book with symbolism about as subtle as an anvil falling from the sky.

[Captain Trips]

Ouch!! Poor Nathaniel..

To be fair I liked The Birthmark and The Minister's Black Veil, so I do kind of like Nathaniel Hawthorne, don't get me wrong. I just didn't like The Scarlet Letter.

[Pf. HS Dimple]

I always find the words DELICIOUS!!!