What is the most boring book ever?

[Robert E Lee]

I'd have to go with Moby Dick. Oh God, that was dreadful. I've already posted my thoughts about it on this board.

Herman Melville tries to be interesting and avant-garde by giving us gigantic passages about how to hunt whales and scientific stuff (which is all dated by now) while he leaves the story dangling.

I really hated this book.

[ajoe]

Agree. I read the children's illustrated version, actually, just so to know what the story is all about without torturing myself too much. But even that had me killed for awhile. I don't think the first-person narrator is even necessary!

[AbdoRinbo]

I read the Robert Freeman biography of Robert E Lee, and that just about sapped all my life's ambition right out of me. If you think Moby Dick is dated, heh . . . reading about Robert E Lee will make you appreciate the avante garde in Melville's art, and then make you want to cut your own balls off and flush them down the toilet. Really, it's not a pleasant read.

[Robert E Lee]

I read the Robert Freeman biography of Robert E Lee, and that just about sapped all my life's ambition right out of me. If you think Moby Dick is dated, heh . . . reading about Robert E Lee will make you appreciate the avante garde in Melville's art, and then make you want to cut your own balls off and flush them down the toilet. Really, it's not a pleasant read.

I meant to say "...most boring novel."

[den]

Well... the most recent borefest I tried to get through was Russell Banks' The Sweet Hereafter. Holy crap, couldn't stand it. I thought I would read the book before seeing the much vaunted movie. :-? A case of TMI and poor/lame/cliche/trite character development.

[imthefoolonthehill]

My vote goes to "Crime and Punishment". I know a lot of people love this book, but I think that the author tries to be more intelligent than he is.

er.... was.

[MdaCruz]

Try reading the complete Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America. The book spends an entire chapter explaining the geography of the American continent, and he's not even right. Or for an even more engrossing read try Bryce's The American Commonwealth.

[Jay]

I'd go with Imthefoolonthehill, I haven't read more boring book yet (I even couldn't make myself to read the book to the end, but still, the two thirds I've read weren't nice). It's the only book I didn't finish.

[Robert E Lee]

Well... the most recent borefest I tried to get through was Russell Banks' The Sweet Hereafter. Holy crap, couldn't stand it. I thought I would read the book before seeing the much vaunted movie. :-? A case of TMI and poor/lame/cliche/trite character development.

I've read Continental Drift and Affliction by Russell Banks, and I didn't find either of them boring. In fact, he's probably one of the five best authors out there today.


Well... the most recent borefest I tried to get through was Russell Banks' The Sweet Hereafter. Holy crap, couldn't stand it. I thought I would read the book before seeing the much vaunted movie. :-? A case of TMI and poor/lame/cliche/trite character development.
Oh, and what's TMI?

[den]

Too Much Information... :o :rolleyes: You know, when your lonely neighbour corners you and starts telling you about their recent stomach stapling procedure. :-?

Ok well maybe I'll check out some of Banks' other works, I can be open-minded sometimes.

[Wilfred]

There is no boring pieces of literature. Literature is the essance of our soul and to say that it is boring is the utmost insult to our essance as a supurerior human race.

[AbdoRinbo]

Did you just say 'superior human race'?

[den]

:D I'll take the lesser human race for $800 Alex!



Did you just say 'superior human race'?

[AbdoRinbo]

:D I'll take the lesser human race for $800 Alex!

Heh . . . you've got character, you know that?

Yes, you say things in a very characteristic sort of way . . . I can't quite put my finger on it.

[den]

Of course nothing I've ever written is boring. :D

[AbdoRinbo]

Of course nothing I've ever written is boring. :D

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[den]

Hey Abdo I think a few keys on you're keyboard are stuck... ;)

http://www.officedepot.com

[AbdoRinbo]

Thanks, den . . . I was looking for some new office furnishings, though I'm unemployed. Perhaps it's that whole 'duality of Man' thing that Jung kept referring to?

:D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil: :D :evil:

[albion2k4]

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.

[AbdoRinbo]

Those rows were perfect! Who erased my smilies?!

****ing Nazis.

[imthefoolonthehill]

in case you haven't noticed, Abdo Rinbo, the box in which you type is smaller than the box from which you read, causing a problem with porportions when one is trying to make perfect lines of smileys. No, the nazi's aren't out to get you... it is more likely Santa Claus.... you know he is watching.... all the time... just another name for big brother if you ask me...

[AbdoRinbo]

Nah, ask den--those smilies were lined up perfectly one day and the next day they were all shot to Hell.

Jeez, fool, it seems you are the one watching Santa Claus, pointing out all of his character flaws (nobody sez **** about Santa Claus to my face).

The one thing that distinguished the Nazis from Santa and his elves is that Santa dropped multicolored presents into the chimneys of undeserving children across the world, the Nazis dropped big purple firebombs on deserving Frenchies hiding in hedges while Nazi troops marched past them over the Rhine.

[Munro]

That, and Santa merely doesn't visit any Jews, the fat *** anti-Semitic bastard.

Nazis went a step further and tried to wipe them out completely, anti-semitic bastards.

How come only the Nazis got their come-uppance? Next time I see the jolly fat guy ride through the sky I'm gonna take out my imaginary berretta and BANG

[AbdoRinbo]

He's a Jew-hater, fo sho.

What did Alex refer to the Jews as in 'A Clockwork . . '?

Ah, it was 'Yehewdies'!

[den]

Actually Abdo, I can't honestly remember if said smilies were lined up and none truncated or not, I was just so dazzled by your efforts in the first place. :P

"God is a Republican and Santa Clause is a Democrat", P.J. O'Rourke


Nah, ask den--those smilies were lined up perfectly one day and the next day they were all shot to Hell.

[AbdoRinbo]

This is so typical of my luck--they're back to normal, in perfectly straight rows and columns.

[den]

You're a chronic. :o :P


This is so typical of my luck--they're back to normal, in perfectly straight rows and columns.

[AbdoRinbo]

And you're a Radiohead-creep.

'We all went to heaven on a little row-boat'. :(

[den]

It's this `Mess We're In'... :D

" I said steam, steam, a hundred bad dreams
Going up to Harlem with a pistol in his jeans
A fifty-dollar bill inside a palladin's hat
And nobody's sure where Mr. Knickerbocker's at

Shine, shine, a Roosevelt dime
All the way to Baltimore and running out of time
Salvation Army seemed to wind up in the hole
They all went to heaven in a little row boat
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands"

Tom Waits `Clap Hands'




And you're a Radiohead-creep.

'We all went to heaven on a little row-boat'. :(

[AbdoRinbo]

Argh . . . I hate Tom Waits. Give me David Bowie or The Velvet Underground any day.

[cristo]

About Nazis.What do you know about Nazis? Only that they "don't like jews". What do you know about Oswiecim (Aushwitz and Treblinka). It's easy to laugh at something that not concern us. In my country Nazis mades things that you can't even imagin. It wasn't funny.
I know that it was just a joke, but not good joke.

[AbdoRinbo]

I've been to Germany and Austria, I know all about how you all feel. You're right, it isn't right to joke about Auschwitz. However, the term 'Nazi' has lost all of its meaning aside from its historical significance, but it has now become synonymous with '*******' (and most people separate the two) here in the states.

And I really wasn't joking about Auschwitz, anyway. What the Roman Catholics did to the Babylonians was just as atrocious, but we can joke the Crusades and the Bible-Thumpers now, with the benefit of hindsight.

[cristo]

Evryone can laugh at evrything he want. But I think are better and worse jokes. Maybe you've got right, my knowledge of english is too poor. Maybe that is teh reason of our misunderstanding.

About The most boring book.
I think "Ulysses" of James Joyce. I never finished this book although I tried. Maybe I will try one more time.

[AbdoRinbo]

You should give Ulysses a second try, it is actually pretty interesting (and humorous).

[cristo]

As I sad, I'll try.

[AbdoRinbo]

Hey, cristo . . . .

That's a good idea. :D

[den]

<wondering where next thread of `Six Degrees of Godwin' will show up>

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/legends/godwin/

[Lothwen]

What does it mean boring book? I think that we must be enough young or enough old to read some books. There is nothing like definition of boring book.

[Shea]

What does it mean boring book? I think that we must be enough young or enough old to read some books. There is nothing like definition of boring book.

I agree. Six years ago in high school, I hated reading The Scarlet Letter. Now, I'm re-reading for one of my classes, and loving it! I also developed a greater appreciation for Hawthorne since reading Young Goodman Brown.

[Timothy B]

Lord of the Rings, hands down

[I hate Jane Austen]

I think that Jane Austen's Pride and Predjudice is the most boring book ever written. It is an overrated cheesy romance that appeals mainly to adolscent girls with nothing else to do on Saturday night. If published today, it would be featured at the checkout stand next to Sweet Valley High and Baby Sitter Club books, complete with a lurid cover of Elizabeth swept back in Mr. Darcy's arms and wind blowing through her hair. How did this book ever become "Classic" literature? Does anyone else feel this way?

[Wilfred]

I must strongly disagree with your filtered and base opinion of Prie and Prejudice. THis book is a fine piece of LIterature and to place it on the same level as Sweet Valley High and Baby Sitter books is like comparing dirt to pencils. THis book is perhaps one of the greatest illustrations of human nature that we have in our culture. To say such vile things aboout this work sugguest that perhaps you, "I hate Jane Austen" have not carefully read the book. I highly suggest that you read this book once more to gain a greater understanding of its morals and virtues.

[Shea]

I second that, Wilfred!

[AbdoRinbo]

THis book is a fine piece of LIterature and to place it on the same level as Sweet Valley High and Baby Sitter books is like comparing dirt to pencils.

Becuz if you've got somethin' against dirt and pencils, you've got somethin' against yourself!

[Shea]

Umm... Abdo, I think you missed something.

[litlenani]

Robinson Crusoe by Defoe :evil:

[electric_kool_aid]

Wuthering Heights off the top of my head

[den]

Indeed Wuthering Heights made my eyes bleed. :evil: :( But I loved the movie tho'.

[ihrocks]

I love "Wuthering Heights," but then I've got a big thing for doomed romances, and you get more doom in the book than the film.

The most boring read I ever in encountered was Angela Bowie's memoirs. I got to page 15 and gave up. How you can take the late '60s/early '70s rock scene and turn it into paint drying, I don't know, but she managed it.

ihrocks

[TVS]

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but On the Beach. I think that was the title. It's supposed to be about a submarine that is out to sea during a nuclear war. I did a book report on it in in tenth grade, it went something like this:


On the Beach is about Australian naval personell, and how dehydrated they are. They can't seem to quench this massive thirst. On page 2, a man and a woman drink beer on a beach. On page 14, a two officers order lemonade in a restaraunt. On page 22, coffee is served at a meeting. On page 36, someone drinks a glass of water. On page 48, a glass of limeade is ordered, and, two paragraphs later, a waitress brings it. On page 62, someone brews tea. I must confess, I stopped reading after page 120. Surely, I missed the ordering of the ceremonial apple juice, which must be the climax of the book.

I don't mind books where people actually do things (ie, talk in a restraunt and order and recieve food), but the sheer amount of refreshing via liquid was distracting.

[KLO]

Everything by Marcel Proust that I have ever tried to read I have not been able to finish. I have tried again and again, approaching his work with an open mind, but every time I have been disappointed and bored so much that I put the book down before finishing it--which is extremely unusual for me.

[Isagel]

Blood electric , by Kenji Siratori is probably the worst book I ever tried to read. Can´t decide if its plain dull ur just unreadable.

I quote the first lines -

" <<I record the vital-icon+our chromosome form escape of the suck=blood chromosome::the horizon of the body fluid= murder like the dog that was doen to nude gene= TV/spasm// "

And so on. For 224 pages!

[den]

Ugh, what horrible stuff. Did you buy this book? Keep the reciept? I'd take it back, with lots of growling.

And here comes opion #429, people please don't try so damn hard to be `cool' and `hip' and `modern' and `different'. It's awful, you write yourself into oblivion with stuff like this.

Maybe people will say, `Well hell, this Siratori guy is way ahead of his time" or somesuch, but it's deliberate and contrived, like painting by numbers, only this guy has jumbled up crosswords or something. UNintelligible. Or maybe you need to be on heroin to comprehend.



Blood electric , by Kenji Siratori is probably the worst book I ever tried to read. Can´t decide if its plain dull ur just unreadable.

I quote the first lines -

" <<I record the vital-icon+our chromosome form escape of the suck=blood chromosome::the horizon of the body fluid= murder like the dog that was doen to nude gene= TV/spasm// "

And so on. For 224 pages!

[Sindhu]

There's only one book I haven't been able to finish though I tried- 3 times! I'm not sure if it's the book's fault or mine, so I won't say "boring book" but the one I certainly can't stand - Dr. Zhivago. I've never got beyond 40 pages!
Um- I actually quite liked Moby Dick. Ditto for Ulysses and Crime and Punishment. And Pride and Prejdice and Wuthering Heights are high on my list of perpetual rereads.

[IWilKikU]

I just finished "A Room With a View." While there was some great characterization and artistic symbolism in it, the plot went nowhere. Forster wrote about things that happened in the story in such a way that they seem significant, but if you think about what just happened, you realize that NOTHING HAPPENED AT ALL!


" <<I record the vital-icon+our chromosome form escape of the suck=blood chromosome::the horizon of the body fluid= murder like the dog that was doen to nude gene= TV/spasm// "


Did anyone else think that this looked like >shudder< E.E. Comings trying to write a novel?
[/quote]

[fayefaye]

I know a book that would win 'most boring book ever' HANDS DOWN. IT IS THE MOST BORING BOOK EVER. My economics book (of course). Unclear explanations, convoluted sentences, it's got it all.

[Zooey]

I cast my vote for Cry, the Beloved Country. While I could appreciate what it was trying to do, I was bored out of my mind the entire time.

And I love Fitzgerald, but gosh, Tender is the Night was a chore to get through!

[Monica]

Which book you have read is the most boring one?

[CBW]

Thus Spake Zarathustra

I don't think it would have been so bad if I would have had more than 5 days to read it. And if I wouldn't have had the biggest jerk for a teacher for who's class I was reading this book. When he asked what was taking us so long to read it and we said we could not understand the book if we read too fast, he said "what's to understand. IT's a book. You never read to understand, just to gain the form of the book." When asked "What is the form of a book?" He points to a chair and says "That is a form." and walks out of the classroom. No one ever understood what he meant by the "FORM" of a book. It doesn't matter to me anymore. I got an A in the class.

[crisaor]

Which book you have read is the most boring one?
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. Had to read it for school, and I hated my teacher for it.

[emily655321]

CBW, your teacher said, "You never read to understand"??? *mouth agape* What a terrible teacher!! What other reason is there to read? Boy oh boy.

Well, it's not a book per se, but I was thoroughly bored when we read "A Doll's House" by Ibsen in school. At least there wasn't much of it.

[Diceman]

Jane Eyre.

I was forced to read that dreck for highschool English. I found it hard to concentrate on the book for want of checking every 5 minutes to see if the paint on the walls had peeled a little further... it was THAT BAD...

[Love to Read]

oh gosh. I just had to read To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf and The Portrait of a Young Artist by James Joyce for my Modern British Literature class and I hated them. I hated them with a passion. They were immensely boring, in fact so much so that I used them to cure insomnia. Okay I'll stop bashing them. I'm sure there are people out there who liked them. They simply weren't my cup of tea.

[ravana]

J.Sand "Consuela"
Bulgakov "Master and Margarita"
They were so boring that my efforts to finish them flew away and I threw those books too far from me.
There was one boring book else by Faulkner, but I don't know its correct name in English. But in translation it sounds as "private residence"

[Ainuvande]

Dickens. Anything by him. I've never had the patience for it.

And Madam Bovary. Couldn't get past the first 20 or so pages for all the capitalization. Read what Sparknotes had to say about it, since it was for a class, and became very happy that I didn't actually read the thing.

[ajoe]

Moby Dicks. And anything by Conrad and Henry James. Not that I ever read any of those completely, of course.

[den]

I agree with you on Joyce's `Portrait' :brickwall It just went on and on and on and on with no plot or point, I kept reading trying to find the pearl, the jewels of wisdom that would compel me to turn the page. I didn't finish it, and that rarely happens to me. Although I was reading it on advice of someone else who obviously doesn't know my interests or taste in lit at all.


I also can't stand reading `fiction' that is rife with endnotes. Of course for the version of Portrait I have it's helpful to have some contextual notes on pronunciation, meaning and /or background on some colloqialisms etc. to derive futher meaning. But put `em as footnotes for gawds sake! 56 pages of them for 272 pages of text, that's about 4 endnotes per page! Really distracting flipping back and forth when you're trying to `follow' the gist.




I'm reading Wild Animus now by Rich Shapero ... it was a freebie give away advance reading copy from bookcrossing.com and omg I can't stand it it's obvious it's his first book, very naive and so cliche ridden I keep tossing it aside.


It's about some guy who wants to be a Dall sheep, consumes daily amounts of lsd to `get into the spirit of' a ram, and goes to Alaska's Mount Wrangell to fulfill his `destiny', dressed up as a ram, cloven hoof shoes and all, whilst his hapless girlfriend waits tables to fund his `spiritual quest' to bring lsd-hazed enlightenment to the masses. :rolleyes:

Can you say flashback? Hello? The 60's called and they want their tired hippy flap-crap back. :lol:

But don't some of you feel compelled to read something sometime, because it was a book given to you? or you heard it was good ... I have to read boring dry scholarly journals and technical stuff for work, and I hated it in school being `sentenced' to reading certain books. I found Lord of the Flies boring too because we studied it in-depth for weeks on end, every comma and semi-colon. It was cool to see the movie though.

Give me Wilbur Smith, James Michener or Anne Rice any day ... when I have to read stuff for work, I need some good history-based escapism too.






oh gosh. I just had to read To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf and The Portrait of a Young Artist by James Joyce for my Modern British Literature class and I hated them. I hated them with a passion. They were immensely boring, in fact so much so that I used them to cure insomnia. Okay I'll stop bashing them. I'm sure there are people out there who liked them. They simply weren't my cup of tea.

[mike401]

pride and prejudice. i read it in high school and detested it, but then again, high school wasn't so great on explaining literature that well. i had to read sense and sensibility for a british lit course in college last year, and to my surprise, it wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be. there is a lot going on besides the soap opera aspects, so maybe i should give pride and prejudice a try again...not too likely anytime soon, though.

[amuse]

*wheedling voice
not even for the forum book club?

[simon]

Diceman I'm with you, Jane Eyre was pitiful and just plain boring.
Same with you Mike Pride and Prejudice didn't do anything for me, nor did Wuthering Heights.

[Kiwi Shelf]

A lot of the books I read in school were really boring
Lord of the Flies
Contents of a Copper Cylinder
Thirty Acres
etc.

Anything else, I probably read and forgot that I didn't like. School books are just easier to recall because you talk about them so much.

[emily655321]

That's a good point. But school does have a unique way of squelching the enjoyability of literature. Although I remember really enjoying Lord of the Flies.

[Koa]

I can't choose...

[Art]

Jane Eyre.

I was forced to read that dreck for highschool English. I found it hard to concentrate on the book for want of checking every 5 minutes to see if the paint on the walls had peeled a little further... it was THAT BAD...

I agree with you, Diceman.

Jane Eyre was such a struggle to read that I didn't even finish it. I just couldn't engage with it at all.

[subterranean]

Another vote for Jane Eyre..the story is very plain. i finished reading it though..

[emily655321]

Splendid avatar, Sub. :D

[amuse]

i second, third, and fourth that.

[simon]

Shall I express the fifth then, or is that already taken?

[Capnplank]

Hmm. "Jane Eyre" wasn't nearly as boring for me as "Daisy Miller" by Henry James, or "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin. It was a freakin' glass bottle full of firecrackers compared to the vast majority of Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" which was essentially a couple hundred pages of binomial nomenclature for underwater whatnots. Yeehawr, let the party begin!
Also, am I the only one that was bored crapless by "Frankenstein"? I'm not really sure why that one bored me so much, but it did, and very well that that.

The only James Joyce I've read so far is "The Dead", which I could hardly bear the first time I had to read it, but thoroughly enjoyed the second time around. Go figure.

[emily655321]

Thank you for Frankenstein! That book was deplorable. I'll forgive it being remembered as a "classic" all these years, since there are worse with that label, but someone explain why it's been given the label "horror"? It was more like "Travels With Sasquatch."

[simon]

It is horror I suppose because it looks at the evils of man which when realized are horrible and bring on shock and outrage. I liked it, but it was alot different than I thought it would be and there were times when wading was the only option.

[Koa]

I loved Frankenstein... I still feel sorry to tears for that poor monster that noone wants :( I sympathised so much that it's even worrying!!!

[ravana]

To see "Jane Eyre" in boring list is unfair.

To realize that it's not translated into my Azerbayjan turkish, yet always upset me.

[Liina]

Hmm...what should I start with... I totally hated "Milkman of Mäeküla" ("Mäeküla piimamees") by Eduard Vilde, I remember that I discussed "Hamlet" although I even managed to read it through. I didn`t get so far with "Lord of the Flies". "King Edipus" by Sophokles was also quite awful although I generally like Greek myths.

[imthefoolonthehill]

either fathers and sons or Crime and Punishment.... try as I might, I can't find Russian authors I like...

[Koa]

oooh fool...I have a hard time finding Russian stuff I don't like... father and sons is on my shelf ready for this summer, but I still have to read Tom Jones for my next exam, and it might be a good candidate for the most boring book prize...

Most of the really unbearably boring books I can think about are Italian... And I do like Italian lit. in general, just maybe I read more of them...or maybe cos a lot of them were not chosen by me ...

[Art]

...Crime and Punishment.... try as I might, I can't find Russian authors I like...

I loved that book.

[EAP]

I just have to second Crime and Punishment. It deserves the title of the most boring book I ever laid my hands on. It is even boring then shakespeare.

Tom Jones, on the other hand, I loved.

[verybaddmom]

It is even boring then shakespeare.
:eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2:

i *stammer* dont know what to *stutter* say to that.
i guess it just shows the unique and fascinating diversity of the forum members, and therefore, i will not argue for the benefits of shakespeare, but accept that we have differing opinions and celebrate that fact.

however, while im here and posting to this thread anyway, i would just like to lend my support to anyone who stated that Jane Eyre was boring as heck. the problem i had with the book was that i made the mistake of first reading Jean Rhys' "wide sargasso sea" which is basically the story of the 'crazy' west indian woman, Bertha. having first read that left me with very very little sympathy for the whiney Jane. the whole book through, i was mocking her in my head
*cut to internal dialogue*
"poor baby...awwww poor poor Jane. you big wuss...lets see you face some real hardship, little whiner" and so on.
ewww...i wouldnt reread that book if someone paid me (well maybe if they paid me well, but i wouldnt like it, and i would mock her the whole way through!)

[atreides]

Wow, so many people said Lord of the Flies *cries*

Its one of my favourite books of all time, probably..in my top 5. And Shakespeare? *cries harder*

anyway, there are many books I have disliked instensely, and probably because I have read them for the wrong reasons and not understood them, like I have seen them in the top 10 books of all time. The Great Gatsby would have to be one of these, a long boring book about '30s socialites, climaxed by a pregnant woman getting run over at the end. I didnt get it.

I still think older literature is much much better then that drivel they call modern novels. Has anyone read anything published in the last few years? I read The God of Small Things because I saw it had won the booker prize or something. So awful. And awful. It didnt help that I am a twin..and..well if you read the ending you will know. The Life of Pi I thought would be an interesting story, but I couldnt get passed a third of the book talking about his zoo. A third!! Atonement was better, but had a bad ending in my opinion.

Modern literature is too much like modern art, dull, lifeless and obscure.

[tommytucker]

the mayor of casterbridge

hardy could have done so much more with the story, but he chickens out all the time. man sells his wife (with daughter), she comes back with different daughter (but same name) 20 years later when he has become mayor of casterbridge/dorchester. promises so much, delivers so little. i read and enjoyed far from the madding crowd. every 50 or so pages he would put something so genius in, that it was worth reading the previous 49 of dorset countryside description. mayor of casterbridge doesnt do this. the ending is nice with 'the will' but i havent got there yet. i cant wait to finish it so that i can start on tess.
casterbridge alternative: he meets and marries the first elizabeth-jane, not knowing she is his daughter. that could have opened lots of worm tins, inviting a very interesting story. im a hardy fan because of madding crowd, but this book bores me silly. although, in his day, jude the obscure was considered too controversial (i have a feeling that will be boring too, but i'll give it a go one day).
tommy.

[atreides]

I was so going to say Mayor of Casterbridge, because out of all the books I was forced to read in highschool, it was the one I hated most. So long winded, and in the end doesnt the book go full circle?

[Miranda]

Well...I love Jane Eyre..and Wuthering Heights! I live in Yorkshire so maybe I am prejudiced. But I love the stories and the way they are written! Dare I say I found The Hunchback of Notredame extrememly boring? But the worst book I ever had to read was Daniel Defoe's 'A Journal of the Plague Year.' Has anyone read this? Although it sounds factual, its actually fictional and I think was one of the first novels published in 1722. It's so wordy and the sentences go on forever...

[Koa]

The Great Gatsby would have to be one of these, a long boring book about '30s socialites, climaxed by a pregnant woman getting run over at the end. I didnt get it.



Aww, same for me.

You also reminded me of how much I hated 'On the road'. It just went on and on and on... pretty pointlessly for me, my problem I guess.

[subterranean]

Splendid avatar, Sub. :D


Well Thank you Em..:D

Meet (late) the rebellious Jim Morrison

[emily655321]

Yes, such an upstanding young lad. :D


Modern literature is too much like modern art, dull, lifeless and obscure.

I'm all agreement.

"I'm no art critic, but I know what I hate." --C. Montgomery Burns

[EAP]

LOL, Am I the only one who dislikes Shakespeare?

But then again the dislike is very subjective, I was introduced to Shakespeare at a very early age, and I just couldn't gulp it down. My dislike was further fueled by the fact that I was urged, even ordered to continue with Shakespeare even If I detested the stuff and couldn't understand the half of it.... A few months ago I tried re-reading Hamlet....to no avail.

But I guess I'll be forced to tackle Shakespeare again for my A-Level's.....

[subterranean]

LOL, Am I the only one who dislikes Shakespeare?

But then again the dislike is very subjective, I was introduced to Shakespeare at a very early age, and I just couldn't gulp it down. My dislike was further fueled by the fact that I was urged, even ordered to continue with Shakespeare even If I detested the stuff and couldn't understand the half of it.... A few months ago I tried re-reading Hamlet....to no avail.

But I guess I'll be forced to tackle Shakespeare again for my A-Level's.....


Well, not really...I only read one shakespeare's books..and it was Shakepeare Sonnets..Not really in to shakespeare my self

[nothingman87]

TommyTucker,
I can't believe that you think The Mayor of Casterbridge was one of the most boring books. That novel had some of the most memorable characters and scenes ever. And if you think Jude the Obscure will be boring, I believe you will be pleasantly surprised. ;) Jude contains one of the most shocking scenes in literary history. (Don't let anyone ruin it for you) I'll promise you that Jude the Obscure is at least 5x the novel that Far From the Madding Crowd is. BTW, have you read The Return of the Native? If so, what'd you think of that?

I submit The House of the Seven Gables as the most boring book I've ever read. Can anyone here give me a reason to look at that dreary book again? Hawthorne just doesn't really do much for me as a novelist. The Scarlet Letter was decent, but he's just much better with short stories.

[tommytucker]

far from the madding crowd was the book which started me using a bookmark on which i could write my favourite bits on and what page i could find them again. for a 300-400 page book i managed to fill two sides of a4. seems quite uneconomical, but those bits were worth waiting for. i tried to do the same for mayor of casterbridge, but already half way through i have two references, both concerning the landlady at the king of prussia who fitted her chair quite well and walks like a keg is moved. that was a long time ago. i know what happens already as i keep an eye on the last page, hoping it will get nearer without me having to read anymore.
i started the princess bride yesterday and have barely put it down since. i expect i'll finish it today or tomorrow. i also read another book while i was hacking through mayor of casterbridge. its really hard work. i dont know about the characters. elizabeth jane hasnt done a great deal, other than look out of her window, behave and obey her father. for me, not the makings of a truly superb woman of character. the mother, shes gone now, is so absent from my memory i forget her name. michael, himself, has not inspired me like the three fellas from 'far from...' (my car is called sergeant frank troy). michaels jersey mistress/fiance whatever you like is just about to join the story (i hope she does something) and farfrae too is almost absent from memory. but the bigger problem is that the story is just so uninspired. its like reading a biography of the real mayor of dorchester in 18**. who reads that? "we got a fair price for the corn today. i would have liked more, but what with things the way they are i was happy enough with three shillings and sixpence."
ive seen the film, jude. does indeed have a quite remarkable moment, but i thought the controversy surrounded this incestual relationship. but apparently not. the 'controversy' was that they werent married. hardy would be laughed out of the room if he went to a publishers with that in this day and age.
just my opinion. hopefully i'll fill one side of a4 with MoC.
tommy.

[emily655321]

LOL, Am I the only one who dislikes Shakespeare?

I'm not a raving fanatic, but I don't find him boring. Some of his stuff is better than others. The humor is fall-off-your-chair funny, but the drama occasionally falls flat. Personally, I can't stomach Hamlet or the Henry's. But Much Ado and Twelfth Night, for instance, I think are brilliant.

[Kiwi Shelf]

I am not a major Shakespeare fan either, some things I like and some things I just think are brutual to have to be put through reading.

[emily655321]

I've read a lot of Shak. in school, but I never felt like I was being "put through" it. Probably because we did a lot of acting with it, not so much sitting-at-a-desk-analyzing-it. Senior year I elected to take a Shakespeare course, so I guess I have a pretty good impression of him. :p

[5Parker]

I loved a lot of the books mentioned here. For example: Wurthering Heights, Portrait of an Artist, A Doll's House. I hated Moby Dick, though. Hate Hate Hated it. Okay, I lie. I hated the first third of it, and then I found myself quite greatful to Spark Notes. It sounds horrible, and I wonder if it wouldn't suck so much if I weren't forced to read it in a crunch. Anyone here find some value to it, other than to spur generations of discussions on which books are long and boring?

[baddad]

Thus Spake Zarathustra

I don't think it would have been so bad if I would have had more than 5 days to read it. And if I wouldn't have had the biggest jerk for a teacher for who's class I was reading this book. When he asked what was taking us so long to read it and we said we could not understand the book if we read too fast, he said "what's to understand. IT's a book. You never read to understand, just to gain the form of the book." When asked "What is the form of a book?" He points to a chair and says "That is a form." and walks out of the classroom. No one ever understood what he meant by the "FORM" of a book. It doesn't matter to me anymore. I got an A in the class.


correct me please if I am wrong.....

The 'form' of a book is the sum of the individual constructive building blocks, the styles and techniques manipulated to arrive at the desired presentation of one's material....nes se pas'?

Speaking of 'forms', it sounds as if your professor is/was a waste of a DNA form. just a little bit of a wingnut as demonstrated by his imperious behaviour. They have drugs for that now.......and the 'gods' put people like that in our lives so that we may learn how NOT to treat others......


LOL, Am I the only one who dislikes Shakespeare?

But then again the dislike is very subjective, I was introduced to Shakespeare at a very early age, and I just couldn't gulp it down. My dislike was further fueled by the fact that I was urged, even ordered to continue with Shakespeare even If I detested the stuff and couldn't understand the half of it.... A few months ago I tried re-reading Hamlet....to no avail.

But I guess I'll be forced to tackle Shakespeare again for my A-Level's.....


Shakespear is meant to be seen. Spoil yourself with a night out, see some live theatre....OR.... Shakespeare is passion......................get the BBC video or DVD version of Othello, Hamlet, etc (available at almost any library worldwide), a big bowl of popcorn and a beverage, turn off the phone and the computer. Lock your doors and pull your blinds. Then grab the remote and see what old Willy has to say about life.
Jeeezzz.....sorry, this probably qualifies as psychological torture to someone forced to understand Willy.......

[Aimee]

I would have to say 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'.
Hugo dwelt too much on the architectural structures of Paris' famous buildings than of the actual story; however I thought the ending was one of the best endings I have ever read...it's just you have to read the whole book to get to it.

[Tabac]

either fathers and sons or Crime and Punishment.... try as I might, I can't find Russian authors I like...

I loved Crime and Punishment ; one of the things I liked most about it was my ambivalence in my feeling about the murderer...whether or not I wanted him to be caught. Of course, I think that is what goes through his mind throughout the book: what's his punishment? From the law or from the horrendous memories he must harbor?

[mono]

I just realized, through this thread, that I LOVE "boring" literature, though the fact comes as no surprise, being a fan of the classics.
I have not read many extremely boring books, while attempting to get in the mindset of any author, but Gore Vidal's Creation seemed a little deceiving; I loved the concept behind it, with famous, ancient Greeks, Romans, and Babylonians as the main characters, but the relatively thick novel seemed to make no progress and just babbled in exaggerated-rhetorical verbosity.

[Jester]

hmmm Moby DIck, I'm on my second year of trudging through it but i willl get it done.... Sohpie's Choice though a magnificent and heart moving story it is nonetheless written in a boring manner, and Mists of Avalon (i love her other books) the one book I gave up reading, twice and still have not finished it

[Bongitybongbong]

Aniaml Farm is the most boring book. easy to read but boring

[subterranean]

Boooooo..............how can u say Animal Farm is boring...?

[Bongitybongbong]

It isn't my tea bag.

[subterranean]

Perhaps, but i have no idea how the story be boring...U only need like 1 or 2 hours (or less) to finish it...besides, the story is great.

[Bongitybongbong]

As I said it's not my tea bag.

[baddad]

Hmmm.... a toss up here between two books.............I'm sure somewhere on this forum I've commented on my feelings towards "War and Peace", a book, I might add, that currently holds the distinction of being the only text I've ever failed to finish reading (800+ pages was as far as I could force myself to read it) but I think my old Human Geography Studies textbook from 2nd year geography wins top prize as THE most boring book ever printed.......

[subterranean]

As I said it's not my tea bag.


Gotcha :rolleyes:

[Jester]

St Martin's guide to writing... absolutly the one book that actually put me to sleep when i tried to read it... no book does that

[subterranean]

well theory books ussualy are like that...

[Icarus]

Ulysses. Positively, absolutely - Ulysses. James Joyce for all the kids out there.

[Jessika]

The Coral Island - R. M. Ballantyne

[Spite]

The biography of Benjamin Franklin....
So bloody boring I literally fell asleep reading it.

[subterranean]

Ulysses. Positively, absolutely - Ulysses. James Joyce for all the kids out there.

I prefer to call it difficult, instead of boring. All Joyce's works are like that (IMO).

[Oliver Twist]

The most boring I've read was a book I had to read for my English class- A Seperate Peace. I hated that book! :p

[Spite]

I think I know that one, besides books we are Forced to read like slaves in some kind of prison in which we are poked with sticks made of meat is never good

[Rumble]

The biography of Benjamin Franklin....
So bloody boring I literally fell asleep reading it.

What?! That's one of my favourite books!

Most boring book--The French Lieutenant's Woman comes to mind. Gross.

[Diceman]

What?! That's one of my favourite books!

Most boring book--The French Lieutenant's Woman comes to mind. Gross.
What?! That's one of my favourite books!

À chacun son même, I guess...

[Isagel]

[QUOTE=Diceman]What?! That's one of my favourite books!

QUOTE]

I thought like that numerous times while reading this thread. Except when reading about Joyce. I just never liked his books. Sometimes I dislike them so much I´ve started to think that I just do not like Joyce himself. It´s not that I do not like complicated books. I do. But it´s something that his style of writing makes me feel that I did not like.

But I have been mistaken before. I used to think that I did not like Steinbeck.
I vividly remember a part from Grapes of wrath where a turtle crosses the road. I my memory this part takes several pages, an endless, boring chapter. I do not know if that really is the case. I also tried reading The Moon is down, and fell asleep. Now I reread it and it is magic. It´s a great story. Never tried to read Grapes of wrath again, though.

[Zooey]

Dickens. Just not my thing, I suppose, as I know some people that really get into his books. But then I'm the one who finds Woolf and Robbe-Grillet endlessly fascinating...

Had a difficult time with Heart of Darkness, but at least that one I appreciated what it was going for even if I didn't necessarily enjoying reading it.

[C.Y. Ellis]

12345

[avid reader]

in my high school english class we have read some pretty bad stuff. This ones that stick out for me as being the worst are...

Heart of Darkness
Old Man and the Sea
Jane Eyre
The Scarlet Letter

but i have to give my teachers some credit, i mean, we are reading To Kill a Mocking Bird now, so they do have some taste

[Rechka]

I can't remember who said this but I think it was Jorge Luis Borges, "if a book does not grab you leave it, it was not written for you."

[subterranean]

Dickens. Just not my thing, I suppose, as I know some people that really get into his books. But then I'm the one who finds Woolf and Robbe-Grillet endlessly fascinating....

Well same here, but I find Tales of the 2 Cities quite interesting to read.

[Zooey]

The Scarlet Letter Read it again some day, you may be surprised. I hated it in high school, but was surprised at how much I enjoyed it reading it again in college. There's so much there that is easy to miss the first time around.

Starting Jane Eyre this week for the first time, we'll see how it goes.

[R. Schmidt]

Jane Eyre is one of my favorites! I saw some less than favorable reviews of it on this thread, but I think a lot of people don't realize how funny it is at times! Charlotte Bronte has a sneaky sense of humor, and you really have to keep an eye on what she's doing . . . anyway, I hope you like it as much as I did.

[imthefoolonthehill]

I hated reading Great Expectations.

Looking back on it though, I love thinking about it.

[shortysweetp]

fool i agree i hated reading great expectations. I just recently read jane eyre and loved it. I didn't like Wuthering Heights though. and one that i just dont like is Dr. Phil (my mother in law gave it to my husband to read). I love the majority of classics but i didnt in high school. I am very grateful for my senior english teacher making me read Pride and Prejudice for it is now one of my favorite books and Austen my favorite author. Madame Bovary is slow and a little boring but i find her character interesting, along with all her relationships.
Beowolf was boring for me.

[mister_noel_y2k]

id have to say that the worst book ever written is "the virginian" by owen wister and following that closely are "an american tragedy" by theodore dreiser, "the monk" by matthew gregory lewis, "the well of loneliness" by radclyffe hall and "on the road" by jack kerouac.

apart from kerouac the other books were ones i had to read for university and i have to say that i think forced reading tends to make the reader dislike the book and the subsequent weeks of close reading hardly help either. even good books like "to kill a mockingbird" and "the remains of the day" can become terribly dull and annoying when forced to be sat down and read and then talked about in detail. years have passed and ive re-read "t.k.a.m.b" and "t.r.o.t.d" and have to say theyre wonderful books. damn you educational system! but no excuses for kerouac or william burroughs' "naked lunch" those were arty farty pieces of pretentious mental masturbation. :banana:

[Ia Nabu]

Boring books ... The Russian classics spring to mind, I think I've only ever been able to finish one Russian book. But then again, I haven't started more than three anyway.

Other classics I hated were Catcher in the Rye, which was just appallingly annoying and boring to me. Charles Dickens bores me, as well as Toni Morrison's Beloved and Joseph Conrad's Nostromo. Oh yeah, and this quite new book by Chuck Palahniuk, Choke. It was dreadful.

[monaliza]

i think that reading novel are more boring than drama,the same also at being forced to read a book (either novel or drama) at school or college,right?
well,about me,i get bored with Fielding's Joseph Andrews and more or less Dicken's David Copperfield

[Nemi]

The Shipping News. I can't remember who it was by, but it was the only book I can remember giving up on. It took me about 3 weeks to get trhough a chapter, a size whch I should have been able to get through in 15 minutes normally.

Oh, and Life of Pi was utter crap. If it WAS a true story, it would have been cool, but it obviously wasn't. Some books can make you believe in fairys, this book couldn't even make me believe there was a boy whos father owned a zoo.

Oh, and catcher in the rye was also a huge let down. It hasn't aged well, it is not timeless. For it to be vaguely interesting you have to have an understanding of the mindset at the time, and other literature around then. As a standalone book, it fails now. In my opinion, of course.

[Adelheid]

I usually read through any book in no time, but I found Kim by Rudyard Kipling and Robinson Crusoe the most boring I could find! I couldn't even get through half! Ahhh! my brother is killing me for that remark about Robinson Crusoe!! :rage:

[Molko]

I had to read this Tim Winton novel once for school. It was very weird and nonetheless extremely boring

[JadedMinx]

lol, we had to read him aswell, personally i loved him, everyone else hated it (so i think i'm the odd one out)

[JadedMinx]

Howards End, i hated this book, it was so boring and a labour to read, though i had read it for school, which is a bit of a kill joy....

[Up Country]

Well, I've been hanging around this forum for many weeks, and I'll make this my first posting.

Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind.

Ever since I was a child, I had been drilled repeatedly by my grandmother, my mother, my aunts, and my sister to read this book. I refused simply because I had been forced to watch the movie so many times and the line, "Miss Scarlett I don'ts know nothin' 'bouts birthin' no babies" reverberated through my conscious, making me snicker at the melodrama, but one summer five years ago, I gave it a shot and read all 754 pages of it in paperback--it was a masochistic struggle to get through all of it. I don't know, but I wasn't impressed, not by the critics and not by all the blurbs. As civil war novels go, I found many much better like Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, and especially MacKinley Kantor's Andersonville. The whole idea of a Southern Belle rambling around attempting to keep Tara in her hands struck me as downright fairy talish. The dialogue between the slaves and the white folks almost ludicrous and ridiculous. I didn't find the novel convincing, and after I read it, my aunt asked my opinion of it, I said, "I didn't like it." and she quickly went into a rant telling me that "Scarlett was a strong woman" and that was pretty much the reason I didn't like, she claimed.
I attempted to state otherwise, but finally relinquished with "Tommorow's another day," and never said one word about Gone With the Wind since--until now. I hated it!

[Amra]

Oh, I loved Gone with the wind. I guess many other factors that influence us at the time we read a book, help form our opinion of it. I was probably 15 when I read it, and loved it so much that I felt a sense of loss when I finished the last page. I was completely convinced that I will never read a better book in my life. :D I made the ultimate mistake of reading the horrific sequel named "Scarlett" (i forgot the author...) simply because I wanted Rhett and Scarlet to end up together. I didn't care much about the war but was mostly grasped by the romance of Rhett and Scarlet. I guess being a 15 year old teenager hopelessly in love, might have clouded my judgment about the book somewhat. However, I still like to think of that book, and it always brings memories back....sigh.. ;)

As for what I find to be the most boring book, I would probably say "One Hundred Years of Solitute" by Garcia Marquez. It is supposed to be this great book and I have attempted to finish it for the last 8 years, but never came even half way through. I just can't get into the story and don't find the magic or the depth it is supposed to have. Can anyone convince me otherwise, so I can find motivation to make another attempt?

[durbin]

Dear Amra,

I'm a new member and I've read your mail now. I also loved Gone with The Wind" . You probably know they made a contest and now there is a second book "Scarlet" and it's also good. But one of my favourite authors is Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I think you schould try to read the novel "One Hundred Years of Solitute". I think this is his best novel. But first you can try to read the "Red Monday". It's shorter.
The most boring book of my life is "Ulysses" by James Joyce. I read 1/2 of it but I don't think that I would finish it.

[SleepyWitch]

Heart of Darkness - well it wasn't exactly boring, bur very oppressive.. and the description of the rain forests reminded me of spinach in brine, yuck.
Emma - no offence, but i sooooo hate Jane Austen... :rage: I like her wit, but nothing ever happens in her books... it's not only that there's no exterior action... but also the characters are so shallow.. i mean all the 'issues' they discuss are just so ridiculous (Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice is the only Austen character i've liked, so far, coz he's grumpy and not as silly as all the others). I s'pose people were like that in Austen's days, but that doesn't mean i wanna read about it :(

[rodanho]

anything by james joyce and virginia woolf is boring . i just cannot put up with that terrible style. and also, joseph conrad with his sea stories. a tale of two cities are rather boring, too. actually historic novels are often so .

[amuse]

omg, what a difference! i love historic novels!

[mono]

anything by james joyce and virginia woolf is boring . i just cannot put up with that terrible style. and also, joseph conrad with his sea stories. a tale of two cities are rather boring, too. actually historic novels are often so .
Some of these I can fully understand. I have yet to read any Joseph Conrad, but many, many people claim to find James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Charles Dickens very boring.
I love them all, personally, especially Virginia Woolf, but she wrote with so much empathy and far more passion than the average author, which, I think, could confuse many readers.
Some historical novels, yes, I can see the downside. I have enjoyed most of them, especially several Russian works, but, for example, I could never read Gore Vidal's Creation over again. :(

[mingdamerciless]

Laurie Lee - i actually couldn't finish it, which is incredible for me. Also Strange meeting - Susan Hill. It wasn't boring as such but I found it incredibly tedious, with little underlying meaning. The plot was just too . . . simple. I had to study it at school and write a 13 page essay. I did not have fun.

[Hazel-Ra]

I'm sure many will disagree with me on this, but the most boring book I've ever read was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne. I read this after getting really into H. G. Wells while I was a teenager, and I had heard that many argued over which was the better sci fi writer, Jules Verne or H. G. Wells.

In fairness, most of the book was actually very good, and very suspensful, but when I reached the end, it seemed as though he'd reached his wits' end and just couldn't be bothered to come up with a better ending! I have never, to this day, been more disappointed with a book's ending.

[Pensive]

Emma - Jane Austen (I liked P&P a lot but I found Emma quite boring)

A Mid Summer Night's Dream - William Shaky Shocky Shaken Pear.

[blp]

[QUOTE=mono I have yet to read any Joseph Conrad[/QUOTE]

A treat in store.

This thread is an eye-opener. Here I was expecting a list comprised of Robbe-Grillet, Perec, Beckett &c. (all authors I like, by the way) and instead we get all these writers who consummately practice the soul stirring stuff those writers eschew. Jane Eyre? Jane Eyre? Heart of Darkness? I don't even know where to begin except to say that these books absolutely rocked me.

The only explanation I can come up with is that people are being given this stuff too early and with too little help. I only really enjoyed Shakespeare's comedies until I did Troilus and Cressida (with bloody good teaching) aged nineteen.

I also relate to and sympathise with the person who had that bit of bother with their teacher over Zarathustra. I can't even begin to imagine reading that book and getting anything out of it as a teenager. I read it in my thirties and still struggled. The incident with the teacher reminds me of a time when an equally discombobulated didact gave a group of us callow seventeen year olds a Larkin poem to read and then asked for reactions. Partly just to fill the total silence that followed, I said that it hadn't really 'moved' me. 'That is totally irrelevant', came the furious response.

Non-boring yet educationally worthwhile books for teenagers then? I can only guess and dimly remember really. 1984? Catch-22? I would say Catcher in the Rye, which I loved at age 13 as much as at age 23, but there's always someone who can't stand it. Le Grand Meaulnes? I dunno. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino? Borges? Milan Kundera? Paul Auster? Please please, nobody say Terry Pratchett.

My own list of stinkers:

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon - trying way too hard
Mao II by Don DeLillo - read almost anything by De Lillo rather than this. Libra, White Noise, Players are all great, but this is just a dull pointless trudge and worse, it's a book about a writer
The Vivisector by Patrick White - a book about a writer disguised as a book about a painter
London Fields by Martin Amis - portentous bilge from start to finish, promises lots of 'meaning' about nuclear bombs and the way we live now, ends up just vaguely, lazily, using a woman as a symbol for all the evil of the world. The central characters are all cheap, easy, badly observed cariacatures. I need words I'm not allowed here to fully express my loathing for this book, but 'boring' is definitely a step in the right direction
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie - his style is terrible and the whole book's just a bad rip off of Marquez's excellent and genuinely original 100 Years of Solitude
Love in the Time of the Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - everybody has off years
But in with a bullet at number 1:
Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit

[Unspar]

Whoa whoa, let's slow down here blp. Maybe everybody's got a different understanding of boring, but you're going to throw Midnight's Children on that list and keep Heart of Darkness off it? HoD is hands down my favorite book, and it's one of two books I've ever reread, and I wrote my undergrad thesis on it, but it's easy to admit that it's a boring read to an average reader. It's so much about atmosphere and almost nothing interesting happens. I've tried to explain to people what I love about it, and all the reasons I come up with are largely about personal perspective and suggest to me that it's an exception to the rule to enjoy reading it.

And MC boring? The only reason I could see someone saying that is because it's long. It's got superpowers! And if that's not enough, it's got tons of variety and is incredibly insightful in its exploration of India's history and independence. As far as being a ripoff of 100 Years, then everything magical realism is a ripoff of 100 Years. The stories are different, the conflicts are different, the narrative style is different, the intention is different, and the structure is different. The similiraties are either coincidental or common to all magical realist works--multi-generational, metaphor for nation, supernatural elements combined with natural.

If you want to see a real ripoff, compare Midnight's Children to Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex. The structures are exactly the same (book and chapter modes, narrative point-of-view and construction), the plot is remarkably similar (grandparents relocate, contrast between life of parents and children living in new land, protagonists have hybrid identities, protagonists not accepted by community, protagonists run away from home and develop independent identities), and the metaphor for the nation is exactly the same (single character with unique characteristic becomes picture of national experience during tumultuous time in history). I hated Middlesex because it was so deeply derivative.

I don't mean to pick a fight, or if I do, I don't mean to pick an ill-spirited fight.

[blp]

No ill spirit taken.

Come to think of it, some of what you say about MC and Middlesex could also be said to be similar to Gunter Grass' The Tin Drum, which also predates MC.

I read MC a long time ago, so it's maybe unfair of me to include it. But my memory of reading it is so unpleasurable, I have no desire to try again. And I don't think it was because I failed to understand it.

Heart of Darkness is, quite apart from all its other merits, incredibly beautifully written. Same is true of a number of the other books people have been listing here, especially Jane Eyre, but also To the Lighthouse and Ulysses. But you're right. Maybe my understanding of boring is different from a lot of other people's if narrative paciness is not my only criteria for not being boring. Ugh, what a convoluted sentence.

[higley]

Unfortunately, blp, I also found Jane Eyre to be awfully boring, mostly because I simply thought the protagonist herself was uninteresting.

What's considered "boring" is completely subjective. You should see me try to convince someone that baseball is the most wonderful sport in the world... ;)

[blp]

Well of course it's subjective. This is about the most overtly subjective thread I've ever seen here and I kind of love it for that. I'm not trying to convince anyone to like the same books as me. Just a bit flabbergasted.

But also, though I'm not a teacher, I think it raises interesting questions about teaching. I think my best experiences of being taught have involved being pushed somewhat reluctantly to understand and enjoy things I wasn't favourable towards. I think it's a shame if some readers here read great books and didn't have the capacity to do anything but give up with a yawn or, worse, were actually taught them at school, but in such a way as to kill rather than awaken interest. No idea what the solution to that one is. As I say, I myself am not trying to convince anyone - because I wouldn't know how.

[mingdamerciless]

I'm sure many will disagree with me on this, but the most boring book I've ever read was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne. I read this after getting really into H. G. Wells while I was a teenager, and I had heard that many argued over which was the better sci fi writer, Jules Verne or H. G. Wells.

In fairness, most of the book was actually very good, and very suspensful, but when I reached the end, it seemed as though he'd reached his wits' end and just couldn't be bothered to come up with a better ending! I have never, to this day, been more disappointed with a book's ending.

Yeah I know what you mean, it does seem a bit of a let down after such an incredible journey, but I just found it fascinating that such a book was written so long ago. Both Jules Verne and H.G Wells were so ahead of their time. I think I probably found 20,000 LUTS ok because i read it not looking for a good, enjoyable novel but just to be amazed by the content.

[Ryduce]

Of all the many many books I've read there are two which have always put me to sleep.Yall might disagree,but the two most boring books of all time are GREAT EXPECTATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE SCARLETT LETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!









These books have actually made me consider suicide.Sorry if you like them,but it is all a matter of opinion.

[rachel]

I think I understand what you mean.I love Charles Dickenson but a few of his works, that being one of them made me feel severely depressed.
The scarlett letter simply reminded me of some people I knew who were like non stop vigalantes and had to crucify everyone on earth no like them. dreadful
But why are you telling us this. Is it that you were supposed to read them and hand something in but didn't, I don't understand
And hullo, I don't know you but I give you a belated welcome to this excellent forum.

[Ryduce]

Thank you for the welcome.

[chmpman]

I have not read much by Chekhov, only The Cherry Orchard and a short story whose name escapes me. I found The Cherry Orchard very boring (a play, not a novel), but I fear I may have missed the meaning, if there really is one deep inside. Usually I can make it through most readings (this was something for a class) and at least appreciate what the author was attempting, but this one just didnt do it for me.

[bluemonkey]

I have not read much by Chekhov, only The Cherry Orchard and a short story whose name escapes me. I found The Cherry Orchard very boring (a play, not a novel), but I fear I may have missed the meaning, if there really is one deep inside. Usually I can make it through most readings (this was something for a class) and at least appreciate what the author was attempting, but this one just didnt do it for me.

The Cherry Orchard's primary function was to illustrate the conflict that arises between the new rich and the old rich. Another major theme was to highlight people's inability to adapt and change. I do not know if that helps you any, but I found it boring as well. I liked the message, I just didn't like how it was presented.

[Fontainhas]

Oh oh! I've got it I've got it!!! The Waves by Virginia Woolf takes the cake. I have to admit that it is a great book, but Virgem Maria, it is booooring.

[Scheherazade]

Oh oh! I've got it I've got it!!! The Waves by Virginia Woolf takes the cake. Anything by Woolf would do the trick!

:p

[Fontainhas]

Anything by Woolf would do the trick!

:p

Hey. Mrs. Dalloway wasn't too bad! I mean...it was a bit booring.... :p but I read it!!

[The Unnamable]

I also relate to and sympathise with the person who had that bit of bother with their teacher over Zarathustra. I can't even begin to imagine reading that book and getting anything out of it as a teenager. I read it in my thirties and still struggled. The incident with the teacher reminds me of a time when an equally discombobulated didact gave a group of us callow seventeen year olds a Larkin poem to read and then asked for reactions. Partly just to fill the total silence that followed, I said that it hadn't really 'moved' me. 'That is totally irrelevant', came the furious response.


But also, though I'm not a teacher, I think it raises interesting questions about teaching. I think my best experiences of being taught have involved being pushed somewhat reluctantly to understand and enjoy things I wasn't favourable towards. I think it's a shame if some readers here read great books and didn't have the capacity to do anything but give up with a yawn or, worse, were actually taught them at school, but in such a way as to kill rather than awaken interest. No idea what the solution to that one is. As I say, I myself am not trying to convince anyone - because I wouldn't know how.
I’ve been thinking about these issues for nearly twenty years and have come to the same conclusion I’ve come to with regards to Jane Austen - that some people get it and some don’t. The most inspirational teacher on earth wouldn’t be able to encourage an appreciation of Literature in those who aren’t burdened by a moment’s reflective thought. As that seems to be the majority, the news isn’t good.

I once started with a new sixth form group (17 years old) and instead of going through the usual induction programme, simply gave them a sheet of A4 paper and asked them to write down all the things that mattered to them. As you would expect, the response was hesitant and uncertain. When someone finally started writing, others reluctantly followed. Those lacking inspiration looked around at what others had written. To know what mattered to them, they felt it necessary to see what supposedly mattered to others. The system of education does this. Even something as fundamental as what matters to us as individuals can be seen as just another test of our competence. It’s very difficult to break out of that.

I can remember clearly what it was that set me off reading. It was being taught Lord of the Flies when I was 14 by the best teacher I had. He didn’t teach it in the way that would be considered effective today. He mostly drew analogies with events and situations from our own lives as well as the world at large. He seldom set essays, gave very few notes and spent most of the lesson either amusing us or asking us difficult questions. Just a few years earlier I had seen episode 20 of The World at War. I always remember that it was episode 20 as I can picture the sub-titles at the programme’s opening – ‘Episode 20 – Genocide’. It was first shown without a commercial break. It affected me profoundly and I wanted answers. I hadn’t given God much thought before that but I think that’s when the idea finally died for me. Golding’s exploration of the human capacity for evil made sense to me. Suddenly I didn’t feel alone in my tormented adolescence.

Other students did not respond to his teaching in the same way. They liked, admired and praised him but he didn’t inspire them in the way he did some of us. So when you say that you had good teaching of Troilus and Cressida, what do you mean? Did it help you understand the play or did it lead you to believe that plays matter? Was it something else? I’ve tutored a few Oxbridge English applicants and helped some of them get there but the best teaching I’ve done could not be measured by the kind of assessments so important now.

The situation has worsened considerably in the past fifteen years. With the commodification of education, students have become customers armed with consumer rights. No longer do they have to live up to the subject, it now has to meet their requirements, chief among which is that it’s not too demanding and can be fitted around their social life. This is supposedly more egalitarian. Paradise Lost has to compete for attention with Buffy, both at home and on the curriculum.

I’m glad you said, “I think my best experiences of being taught have involved being pushed somewhat reluctantly to understand and enjoy things I wasn't favourable towards.” Most students aren’t as forgiving as you. Fortunately enough of them are to make me get out of bed in the mornings.

“To direct a student’s attention towards that which, at first, exceeds his grasp, but whose compelling stature and fascination will draw him after it. Simplification, levelling, watering down, as they now prevail in all but the most privileged education are criminal. They condescend fatally to the capacities unbeknown within ourselves. Attacks on so-called elitism mask a vulgar condescension: towards all those judged a priori to be incapable of better things.”
Steiner


Referring to the relationship between teacher and student: “It's about the opposition... It's about what gets rubbed off between the persistence of the one and the resistance of the other. A long hard struggle against a natural resistance.” (239)
Waterland

[Virgil]

I’ve been thinking about these issues for nearly twenty years and have come to the same conclusion I’ve come to with regards to Jane Austen - that some people get it and some don’t. The most inspirational teacher on earth wouldn’t be able to encourage an appreciation of Literature in those who aren’t burdened by a moment’s reflective thought. As that seems to be the majority, the news isn’t good.

Not that I'm making fun, (actually it was an interesting post from a teacher's perspective) but I couldn't help thinking about the Pink Floyd song:


Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 (Waters) 3:56

We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

"Wrong, Do it again!"
"If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you
have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?"
"You! Yes, you behind the bikesheds, stand still laddy!"

;) Kids will be kids. It's hard to understand another's mind, what motivates them, what inspires them. It's doubly hard when they are seventeen and have hormones raging.

[EAP]

^

I am tempted to write ZINGGGGGGG! but that'd probably be too 17'ish of me. :p

Condescension begets flippancy.

That's a moment's reflective thought for you.

[The Unnamable]

Condescension begets flippancy.
Hoyday, a riddle! Was it inspired by "As you sow, so shall you reap."? Aphorisms are a marvellous vehicle for profundity. :D


That's a moment's reflective thought for you.
Not for me. But if it qualifies as such for you, then you take it.

[The Unnamable]

;) Kids will be kids. It's hard to understand another's mind, what motivates them, what inspires them. It's doubly hard when they are seventeen and have hormones raging.
On the contrary, I know exactly what motivates them when they are seventeen and full of hormones – it’s very similar to what motivates you when you are forty and full of hormones.

I do like Pink Floyd but I hate that song (the whole album is little more than adolescent whinging). It’s hard to take a bunch of Oxbridge educated, middle class rock stars telling the rest of us that ‘we don’t need no education.”

I’ve been trying to persuade one of my students to post on this forum. She occasionally reads it – although she does tend to confine herself to the bits by and about me – and laughs at the perception of me. I’ve given her my permission to tell it as she sees it. She can’t type at the moment because I stamped on and broke all of her fingers for not underlining the heading for her essay.

[PeterL]

I’ve been trying to persuade one of my students to post on this forum. She occasionally reads it – although she does tend to confine herself to the bits by and about me – and laughs at the perception of me. I’ve given her my permission to tell it as she sees it. She can’t type at the moment because I stamped on and broke all of her fingers for not underlining the heading for her essay.

Try a little harder. Tell her that we greatly desire her contributions. The heading should have been bold, not underlined.

[kmwmn]

Ulysses. Positively, absolutely - Ulysses. James Joyce for all the kids out there.
I agree absolutely.

and Orlando - Virginia Woolf

[chmpman]

Bluemonkey:
"The Cherry Orchard's primary function was to illustrate the conflict that arises between the new rich and the old rich. Another major theme was to highlight people's inability to adapt and change. I do not know if that helps you any, but I found it boring as well. I liked the message, I just didn't like how it was presented."

These are things I noticed, but I also just didn't like the way it was presented, and felt like there should have been more of an underlying meaning than what this amounts to, as it was portrayed (rather uninterestingly to me) in the play.

[Virgil]

I’ve been trying to persuade one of my students to post on this forum. She occasionally reads it – although she does tend to confine herself to the bits by and about me – and laughs at the perception of me. I’ve given her my permission to tell it as she sees it. She can’t type at the moment because I stamped on and broke all of her fingers for not underlining the heading for her essay.
Oh, I would die to communicate with someone who actually knows you in person. But given that she's a student of yours and dependent on getting a grade from you, how honest is she really going to be? She'll probably tell us you're a sweet cuddly fellow, but lord knows what she tells her girlfriends after class? :D

[rachel]

I would like to think this forum actually exists when that student of Unnameable graduates and can speak for herself with no regard to what her former teacher thinks or can or cannot do about her thoughts.
Somehow though, unless I am greatly mistaken, she will say he was very incredible, a stellar teacher and a great human being.(oh be quiet Unnameable, quit trying to change my mind about you. You might be 'in your face' strong and pushy, but I am quite unmoveable myself when I believe something to be true. your eyes don't lie )

[_Pamela_]

Ok here goes:

Persuasion by Jane Austen= captain fred and anne elliot meet, anne is persuaded not to marry, fred leaves the town(this happens in the first 4 chapters). for the next 30 something chapters u learn abt every single person that lives in the town, for instance people who happened to break their legs. In the last few chapters fred returns and anne and fred get married.End. (Enough said)

Must agree with the posts about Lord of the Flies. It was unbearable. It tells u the history of the whole setting(eg. leaves, trees, coral reef) and it has a kid called piggy. once again enough said.

To the lighthouse= about a family, they go to lighthouse, an artist starts a painting. after most of the book(ironically called "Time passes"), mum has died and artist goes back to lighthouse and finishes the painting.

Recommended book i found fascinating: [/B]Brave New World, Huxley . Makes you think. Enough said. :nod:

Hope ive spared some people from the loooooooooooooong and utterly boring task of reading the first 3 books. There's more, but these are by far top of the list.

[malwethien]

hmmm...just off the top of my head... Jane Eyre, Emma, The Rule of Four, The Shipping News (I think that's it for now...I'm sure I know more) :)

[MissJaneEyre19]

i can't BELIEVE that you think jane eyre is one of the most boring books you've ever read. you're insane!

i'm going to have to say The Great Gatsby. terrible.

[malwethien]

i can't BELIEVE that you think jane eyre is one of the most boring books you've ever read. you're insane!


Well actually I never finished reading Jane Eyre so I don't really know if IS boring or not. But I did attempt to read it...twice...and twice I got as far as the first few chapters but had to stop because I found it boring. Whether or not it gets better after the first few chapters, I have never discovered.

[MissJaneEyre19]

i think you should try again, you won't regret it! it's such a good book, i promise. ;)

[malwethien]

i think you should try again, you won't regret it! it's such a good book, i promise. ;)

alright then...when i finish reading it...you'll be the first to know :lol:

[daddysfiddler]

The Scarlet Letter. It probably wouldn't be as bad if we hadn't analyzed it as much as we did in school, but whatever, I didn't get a whole lot out of it. <><

[rhei_27]

I was bored reading the "Scarlet Letter" but it was ok...

[Gibran]

Dicken's Pickwick, completely boring.

[IrishCanadian]

Wow ... i go away for about five days and theres a whole bunch of new users. Hey there everyone!

[Bysshe]

I enjoyed Lord of the Flies, and I thought Jane Eyre was okay...they seem to be two of the most hated books. And I loved the Catcher in the Rye.

I made the mistake of reading 'A Child called it' a while ago. Luckily it was quite short, so it didn't waste too muchof my valuable reading time, but I really hated it.

I haven't really read enough to judge, but from what I have read, I find Dickens very dull.

[hera-on-earth]

well, the most boring book i ever ever read was Robinson Crusoe....never got round finishing it!!!! on top of that, i had a very boring professor talking about it!!!!! it was like uuughghghgh!!!!!!!!!

to top it all i had this course on the Fallen Woman literature(if u can call it proper literature at all!!!). it had books ranging from George Eliot's "Adam Bede" to Gustave Flaubert's "Madame Bovary"....and "Scarlet Letter", Hardy's "Tess of the d'Ubervilles" (i loved that novel before i studied it for this course!!!)....and to top all that I had Mrs. Gaskell's "Ruth"!!!!!! im sure to gain sympathy!!!!


I'm not a raving fanatic, but I don't find him boring. Some of his stuff is better than others. The humor is fall-off-your-chair funny, but the drama occasionally falls flat. Personally, I can't stomach Hamlet or the Henry's. But Much Ado and Twelfth Night, for instance, I think are brilliant.
i guess i'll differ with people who do not like Hamlet....i think after Macbeth it is Shakespeare's best tragedy. though im sure King Lear and Othello count too. It is Hamlet's character and his moral conflict within himself that actually engages one's interest. the way he battles with himself...he almost seems schidzophrenic....a character that has some very strong attraction and tensions within and without!!! all those who dont like Shakespeare are entitled to their respective opinions but i think one can only appreciate him if read in the right way and under some great guidance!

I see lots of folks disliking "Wuthering Heights" on this thread....but i love the character of Heathcliff. there is something very dark, dangerous and attractive about him. i also love the book "Gone With The Wind". Rhett Butler has become my classic idea of a hero. though one can also appreciate Scarlett O'Hara's never-say-die attitude.


I hated reading Great Expectations.

Looking back on it though, I love thinking about it.
I Love Dickens!!!! his "A Tale of Two Cities" is the best!! i also love "Hard Times" and "Great Expectations" though the character of Pip sucks!!

After reading "Pride and Prejudice" one will agree "Emma" is irritating!!!

[Marloo]

Anything by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

[PoeticPassions]

I cast my vote for Cry, the Beloved Country. While I could appreciate what it was trying to do, I was bored out of my mind the entire time.

And I love Fitzgerald, but gosh, Tender is the Night was a chore to get through!

Oh, Tender is the Night is my favorite Fitzgerald... ay, how it stings ;) but to each his own :)

I would say most Hemingway works are pretty dry and boring... also, every time I try to read it, I just cannot seem to get through it-- Heart of Darkness I feel like many people might think that's blasphemous, but my god, Conrad is just so unexciting....

[sixsmith]

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers.

[Wilde woman]

Wuthering Heights off the top of my head

Really? I've heard Wuthering Heights called a lot of bad things...poorly written, melodramatic, two-dimensional, a rough precursor for Jane Eyre, but never EVER boring. I've found that people either love or hate the book (personally I love it) but they've all, without exception, had strong reactions. I've never heard anyone say 'eh'.

I'll agree that I don't remember Moby Dick being too exciting a book, but then again, I read it in the 10th grade. I doubt my reaction reading it now would be the same.

Okay, I'll say it. Dickens is a boring writer to me. I can never get sucked into his novels. I was bored sick by Great Expectations in high school. I've started and stopped read Oliver Twist (which is, I'm told, his most accessible novel) at least three times. And I've never gotten past chapter three of A Tale of Two Cities. I just don't understand his appeal.

[PoeticPassions]

Really? I've heard Wuthering Heights called a lot of bad things...poorly written, melodramatic, two-dimensional, a rough precursor for Jane Eyre, but never EVER boring. I've found that people either love or hate the book (personally I love it) but they've all, without exception, had strong reactions. I've never heard anyone say 'eh'.

I'll agree that I don't remember Moby Dick being too exciting a book, but then again, I read it in the 10th grade. I doubt my reaction reading it now would be the same.

Okay, I'll say it. Dickens is a boring writer to me. I can never get sucked into his novels. I was bored sick by Great Expectations in high school. I've started and stopped read Oliver Twist (which is, I'm told, his most accessible novel) at least three times. And I've never gotten past chapter three of A Tale of Two Cities. I just don't understand his appeal.


I agree with Moby Dick since I could barely get through it, but I was also pretty young when I read it, perhaps middle-school, so I probably missed a lot of the point...

But I for sure agree with Dickens. I actually loved Great Expecations when I read it in high school, but have never been able to get through Oliver Twist or A Tale of Two Cities... I keep giving him a chance, he is unable to capture my attention every time.

[Pecksie]

My vote goes to "Crime and Punishment". I know a lot of people love this book, but I think that the author tries to be more intelligent than he is.

Hmmmm... I found it very, very interesting. Gripping, actually.

I'd say the most boring novel I read of late is 'Austerlitz', by W. G. Sebald. I know he's something like a cult novelist, but for the life of me I couldn't make heads or tails of it :(

[The Comedian]

I'm going to sound like a barbarian here, but most marriage plot novels bore me to distraction. I remember having to endure Emma as an undergraduate. . . .probably the boring reading experience I've ever had. But I was much younger then; I might have a different view now.

But generally, if the plot of the novel is "the course of true love never did run smooth" I'm going to be looking for something else to read quite quickly. :)

[Emil Miller]

I don't read boring books, because I check them out beforehand and buy accordingly, and that is why I have managed to avoid wasting time on Beckett, Joyce and other writers who seem to be presenting a philosophical view of life when there are already many books on philosophy for those who are so inclined. I prefer writers who inform me about the human condition without people sitting in dustbins or holding interminable interior monologues on their totaly uninteresting lives.

[The Comedian]

I don't read boring books, because I check them out beforehand and buy accordingly, and that is why I have managed to avoid wasting time on Beckett, Joyce and other writers who seem to be presenting a philosophical view of life when there are already many books on philosophy for those who are so inclined. I prefer writers who inform me about the human condition without people sitting in dustbins or holding interminable interior monologues on their totaly uninteresting lives.

I do like reading your posts Brian Bean -- They're not boring. :)

[blp]

I don't read boring books, because I check them out beforehand and buy accordingly, and that is why I have managed to avoid wasting time on Beckett, Joyce and other writers who seem to be presenting a philosophical view of life when there are already many books on philosophy for those who are so inclined. I prefer writers who inform me about the human condition without people sitting in dustbins or holding interminable interior monologues on their totaly uninteresting lives.

Sorry, but that's silly. You can't 'check a book out beforehand' because you can't know what it's going to be from someone else's description - which is probably how you've managed to get Beckett and Joyce so wrong. (Reading either of these two and reading philosophy are entirely different things.) The only way to know what a book is really like is to read it. You can't, unfortunately, even really do it by reading bits of it. There are quite a few books I didn't really get while I was reading them, or even disliked, but at some point, during the reading or after, something changed and I became very glad I'd read them.

[norman931]

I teach High School English, and, to my students, everything is boring.
I have to say a word or two in defense of Moby Dick. I quite enjoyed the book, as well as most of Melville's other work. Of course, I was a sailor for 4 years, so I had more of an interest in the seafaring bits.

[Emil Miller]

Sorry, but that's silly. You can't 'check a book out beforehand' because you can't know what it's going to be from someone else's description - which is probably how you've managed to get Beckett and Joyce so wrong. (Reading either of these two and reading philosophy are entirely different things.) The only way to know what a book is really like is to read it. You can't, unfortunately, even really do it by reading bits of it. There are quite a few books I didn't really get while I was reading them, or even disliked, but at some point, during the reading or after, something changed and I became very glad I'd read them.

One of the things I enjoy about this forum is that there have been some lengthy extracts from readers commenting on authors that they like. In reading them I have been able to decide whether I would like to read that particular author and, in the cases I have mentioned, I have decided not to.
Some years ago I tried reading Kafka's The Trial, and I just could not finish it .The story just did not interest me enough to continue past the half-way mark and the premise of the book was already known to me from reading various criticis over a number of years. I have not read Kafka since but I doubt if my view would be different now.

[PoeticPassions]

One of the things I enjoy about this forum is that there have been some lengthy extracts from readers commenting on authors that they like. In reading them I have been able to decide whether I would like to read that particular author and, in the cases I have mentioned, I have decided not to.
Some years ago I tried reading Kafka's The Trial, and I just could not finish it .The story just did not interest me enough to continue past the half-way mark and the premise of the book was already known to me from reading various criticis over a number of years. I have not read Kafka since but I doubt if my view would be different now.

I think Kafka has a lot more to offer than most people give him credit for... I would suggest that you read some of his parables, such as "The Hunger Artist." I used to have a dislike for Kafka, but over the years, and as I have gotten to know his works better and have contemplated them and interpreted them in many ways, I feel a certain draw to him. In any case, I think that obviously we all have our likes and dislikes, and I am not here to change anyone's opinion, just merely offering a recommendation :)

[Emil Miller]

I think Kafka has a lot more to offer than most people give him credit for... I would suggest that you read some of his parables, such as "The Hunger Artist." I used to have a dislike for Kafka, but over the years, and as I have gotten to know his works better and have contemplated them and interpreted them in many ways, I feel a certain draw to him. In any case, I think that obviously we all have our likes and dislikes, and I am not here to change anyone's opinion, just merely offering a recommendation :)

Thanks for the recommendation but I think that there is a style of writing that I am temperamentally unsuited to. The likes of Joyce, Becket , Kafka etc, who seem to be the literary equivalent of abstract painting, do not conform to my idea of what constitutes readability. I don't say that they are without literary merit but they are just not my type of writers.

[sixsmith]

Thanks for the recommendation but I think that there is a style of writing that I am temperamentally unsuited to. The likes of Joyce, Becket , Kafka etc, who seem to be the literary equivalent of abstract painting, do not conform to my idea of what constitutes readability. I don't say that they are without literary merit but they are just not my type of writers.

I tend to hold a similar view though i find Kafka far more accessible than either Beckett or Joyce. Mind you The Trial was aptly named.

A couple of people have mentioned Crime and Punishment and i have to concur. Utterly dull.

[Phangirl7]

I am currently reading a Science Fiction anthology. I've read 13 of the stories, and have only liked 2. I either don't understand the rest or just don't like them. I'm not a huge fan of SF. One of the stories was in Space and it was just boring with a capital B. It just dragged on and on and I kept thinking,'when is this going to be over?'
P.G.7.

[j.k.taylor]

honestly, i can't stand Dickens. i can't understand his appeal, nor how his books
can be read for pleasure. i've only read oliver twist, a tale of two cities, and the christmas carol. maybe i've missed the 'good' ones, but i doubt it.

[Jack Fields]

I think, that the most boring book which was ever written is Mein Kampf (My Struggle) by Adolf Hitler. Seriously it is very chaotic and some whole paragraph are completely nonsense. And I don´t mean only in ideological way, but he was not able to avoid skipping from one thought to another, or skipping in time, like from his childhood back to the future without explanation.

[Babyguile]

To threadstarter - I completely sympathise. I really dislike authors who digress far too much and loose the essence of a story. We can lecture ourselves through various ways, we want to read a good story. Because that's what a book must first be. It is insulting for an author to be so tactless in their digressions and not realising that a good book combines them with an involving plot.

Spies by Michael Frayn. Absolutely heinous. Left a bitter taste in my mouth with a C in my A-level exam. Damn him and his book.

[Emil Miller]

I think, that the most boring book which was ever written is Mein Kampf (My Struggle) by Adolf Hitler. Seriously it is very chaotic and some whole paragraph are completely nonsense. And I don´t mean only in ideological way, but he was not able to avoid skipping from one thought to another, or skipping in time, like from his childhood back to the future without explanation.

This a book that I have been meaning to read for some time. For many years it was banned in Europe but it has been available for about thirty years in the UK. The other book that would be interesting to read is Hitler's Table Talk: a collection of reminisences from Martin Borman and others among Hitler's circle. Apparently, Hitler was a great conversationalist who would spend much time during the early hours of the morning discussing the events surrounding the rise to power of the Nazi party, and his comments were noted and recorded by certain members of his entourage.

It is important to note that Hitler did not sit at a desk to write Mein Kampf, it was dictated to Rudolf Hess while Hitler was serving a prison sentence in Landsberg Prison, Bavaria. Hence the well-known disjointed style of the writing.

[bounty]

I'd have to go with Moby Dick. Oh God, that was dreadful. I've already posted my thoughts about it on this board.

Herman Melville tries to be interesting and avant-garde by giving us gigantic passages about how to hunt whales and scientific stuff (which is all dated by now) while he leaves the story dangling.

I really hated this book.

agreed!

[kilted exile]

Thanks for the recommendation but I think that there is a style of writing that I am temperamentally unsuited to. The likes of Joyce, Becket , Kafka etc, who seem to be the literary equivalent of abstract painting, do not conform to my idea of what constitutes readability. I don't say that they are without literary merit but they are just not my type of writers.

Going to agree here regarding Joyce. My reading is purely for enjoyment & relaxation (have no real interest in examining language or literary techniques) as a result if a books storyline doesnt catch me I will generally put it aside and grab something else instead.

I have tried Joyce a few times but he has always bored the hell out of me (same with Ms Austen)

[sinskeep]

Moby Dick gets my vote

[regularjoe]

Without a single doubt: Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

[ksotikoula]

I didn't like "The portrait of a lady" by Henry James. Too wordy, way too confused sentences and with a stupid heroine presented as clever. The end also was so disappointing and kind of masochistic. I've also read "The turn of the screw" (also in translation-I was too bored to read him in English). It was a little better because it was much more brief but still, I didn't like his characterizations nor his general style.

I used to think Hemingway boring too, but I am starting to get a better opinion about him after his "To have and to have not". "The old man and the sea" was a little boring, since fishing is not to my taste :p and "For whom the bells toll" was too heavy for my age then. I must give it a try again :).

I understand how Dostoevsky can be difficult or dull, but at least he had a point to make. "The portrait of a lady" had none.

I also find Dickens boring. I never liked "Oliver Twist" because of the false sentimentality, Copperfield was a little better and "Great expectations" (which I also managed to read only in translation) was interesting due to his female characters Estella and Mrs Hawisham (sp?). The fact is the man uses too many secondary characters to the point you get lost (I remember searching for a quarter who was the gentleman that took David for a walk to find out in the end it was a servant of his aunt 50 pages back!). So although I like his themes I never managed to like his writing.

[kelby_lake]

The Old Man and the Sea was VERY boring. I couldn't finish it.

[Scheherazade]

The Old Man and the Sea was VERY boring. I couldn't finish it.Not To Kill a Mockingbird?

:p

[kelby_lake]

Not To Kill a Mockingbird?

:p

God, why did she bother with Part 1? Or at least the majority? I couldn't care less about kiddies rolling around in tyres. Maybe many a Southerner can identify but hell, I don't come from there, and I didn't care.

[Pryderi Agni]

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE!!!

It's the most boring book ever!!

Seriously, though, a book which starts with a statement like (I quote from memory) "A man in a suitable position in life has need of a wife," is bound straight for the trashcan.

[kelby_lake]

It's great! That's sardonic ironic humour, silly. Anyway, everyone knows the first line:

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in posession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

I could do with one of them!

[maraki16]

well, i think it was 'wuthering heights'. i did not make it further than the 50th page i think. i don't know why, but for some reason i found it boring when i tried to read it. and the language was also difficult- i was reading it in english. maybe i will try to read it again some day.

[theoryofsilence]

the most boring book... ??? really is there such a thing?? i mean when you read you always find a way to make it lively. reading isnt boring.. only when you hate it (an i dnt see how people can) i love to read.

but is there really such a thing as a boring book? 'wuthering heights' yes it is a hard book to read even to americans. im in the tenth grade an i have read it all through within two days. 'to kill a mocking bird' yes it has its borign times. but dont all books? even the most literate books by the most famous writers EX. Laurell K. Hamilton; has some boring parts in her books. you cant blame writers or yourselves for saying there are books that are boring. for there really is no such thing as a boring book. i have read books on cival wars an true accounts on peoples lives an i found them fascinating. you learn more an more with each book you read. no matter how 'boring' you may say. for i believe there really is no such thing as a boring book.

[Frizzy_Frog]

There is no boring pieces of literature. Literature is the essance of our soul and to say that it is boring is the utmost insult to our essance as a supurerior human race.


Not everything that is written deserves to be called Literature...

As odd as this probably sounds, I can't seem to get through Three Musketeers. I always find myself falling asleep haha

[theoryofsilence]

quote: Not everything that is written deserves to be called Literature...

that is true.. but it doesnt mean that they are boring does it???

[Tabac]

I cast my vote for Cry, the Beloved Country. While I could appreciate what it was trying to do, I was bored out of my mind the entire time.

And I love Fitzgerald, but gosh, Tender is the Night was a chore to get through!
I've read Beloved Country several times, and I can't get through the first page without tears coming to my eyes. I love it.

[Zee.]

I think that Jane Austen's Pride and Predjudice is the most boring book ever written. It is an overrated cheesy romance that appeals mainly to adolscent girls with nothing else to do on Saturday night. If published today, it would be featured at the checkout stand next to Sweet Valley High and Baby Sitter Club books, complete with a lurid cover of Elizabeth swept back in Mr. Darcy's arms and wind blowing through her hair. How did this book ever become "Classic" literature? Does anyone else feel this way?


Wow.
See it's beliefs like that which give Pride and Prejudice the title "chick lit"
Mr Darcy and Elizabeth's relationship is only a minor component of that entire novel.
It was brilliant. Not only was it brilliant but it was interesting and so enjoyable to read. In fact i'm reading it now. Winter nights, hot tea, Pride and Prejudice = ah yes please.


There is no boring pieces of literature. Literature is the essance of our soul and to say that it is boring is the utmost insult to our essance as a supurerior human race.

Says the person who has probably yawned on numerous occasions whist reading literature.
Don't lie, i know it's true!

[A Siege]

It is important to note that Hitler did not sit at a desk to write Mein Kampf, it was dictated to Rudolf Hess while Hitler was serving a prison sentence in Landsberg Prison, Bavaria. Hence the well-known disjointed style of the writing.

Yes, but I've read that the unpublished sequel to Mein Kampf, which I think was written rather than dictated, was also desultory.

[Scheherazade]

R e m i n d e r

Please keep in mind that it is ideas that we discuss, not the people behind them.

If you feel unable to refrain from personalising arguments, please feel free to ignore this thread.

Posts with inflammatory message will be deleted without further notice.

[Emil Miller]

Yes, but I've read that the unpublished sequel to Mein Kampf, which I think was written rather than dictated, was also desultory.

That may be true but, as the book wasn't published, it may not. You shouldn't believe everything you read about Hitler.

[regularjoe]

I also find Dickens boring. I never liked "Oliver Twist" because of the false sentimentality, Copperfield was a little better and "Great expectations" (which I also managed to read only in translation) was interesting due to his female characters Estella and Mrs Hawisham (sp?). The fact is the man uses too many secondary characters to the point you get lost (I remember searching for a quarter who was the gentleman that took David for a walk to find out in the end it was a servant of his aunt 50 pages back!). So although I like his themes I never managed to like his writing.

Personally, I love Dickens. There is something very realistic and honest about the way he writes. His commentary strikes me as being heartfelt and never pendantic. His work is never cold and never void of any meaning. Oliver Twist is great. I really love the characters. you cannot EVER forget people like Fagin, the artful Dodger, Oliver himself, Mr. Bumble etc...

Some of his books are better than others: I didn't like The Old Curiosity Shop and A Tale of Two cities was not exactly as good as his other works. (though, it certainly wasn't bad).

[ksotikoula]

I really hope that someday I will come to like Dickens too or some of his work. So far his style has not appealed to me, but in the future I intent on trying to again to see if there will be any change :). He is not a classic writer for nothing, I just hope to find that something in him to intrigue me.

[MarkBastable]

I think there's an argument to be made for either Steinbeck or Tolkien having churned out some of the most stupefying prose in the English language, though Melville runs them pretty close.

But just when you think that you've managed to decide between them, you realise that the choice is irrelevant because the winner, once you remember him, is clear.

He romps home by several lengths, not simply because he wrote a dull book, and not even because he wrote an entire string of dull, dull, dull books - but because, despite their apparent intention to explore every facet of the human condition in all its myriad aspects, the novels and the short stories - yea, even the poetry - in short, the entire oeuvre manages to avoid expressing the slightest glimmer of wit, the faintest echo of any sense of humour, irony, fun or even light-heartedness. It's all unrelenting and self-indulgent gloom. It's adolescent and sulky and petulant, and you just want to send him to his room until he gets over it.

I speak, of course, of the work of DHLawrence, the po-faced old miserymonger.

[Scheherazade]

I speak, of course, of the work of DHLawrence, the po-faced old miserymonger.Interesting description of Lawrence there! :D

[mtpspur]

I have never ever had a reason to change my mind about Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. Would have the death of soap opera if it had ever been made a TV presentation. Now on a particularly gloomy day I would add Wuthering Heights to the list except I have never been able to finish it. Perhaps the fact I was reading it while visiting my father-in-law in which it turned out to be the last time I ever saw him this side of the grave has an impact on that evaluation. Got about half way through and I have to like a character in order to car and Heathcliff just didn't do it for me.

[Dark Muse]

As of right now I have to say All the King's Men. That book was near torture to try and read. When I first started it I thought to myself, I do not think a person could write a book more boring if they were trying to.

It moves very slowly, and virtually nothing really happens, and it has long rambling passages that serve no true purpose.

[jinjang]

In my humble opinion, there are books for male and female readers. I am sure there are exceptional males and females who do not belong to my generalization. There are also exceptional books that attract both males and females or that dispel both males and females. The perfect storm by Junger was obviously well-written. But, when he started describing details of fishing tools, I could not go on. It was equivalent to reading sports magazines. The same way many great books are lost to me, a female.

Here are some that drive away female readers: Mobydick, many of Hemingway except his short stories, all of James Joyce, hardcore science fictions

Here are some that put male readers to sleep: Jane Austen, Henry James , recent Cohelo books like the Witch of Portobello

[MissScarlett]

The Shadow of the Wind is the most boring book I've ever almost read. It's not the worst in terms of writing, but it's been the most boring for me.

[pinkkdaisy]

There is no boring pieces of literature. Literature is the essance of our soul and to say that it is boring is the utmost insult to our essance as a supurerior human race.

no-one said 'it' is boring- we are talking about particular novels that are boring. the only simple way to define what you mean by 'literature' or 'a novel' as opposed to a 'prose work of fiction' is to talk about which works have been called 'literature' or 'novels' by their authors- if literature and boredom are mutually exclusive, then boring 'novels' are not novels.

I agree with your statement about literature while it pertains to literature as a whole, but I think novels can be very literary, or work as literature in very complex ways, and still not interest one or other particular reader


I think that Jane Austen's Pride and Predjudice is the most boring book ever written. It is an overrated cheesy romance that appeals mainly to adolscent girls with nothing else to do on Saturday night. If published today, it would be featured at the checkout stand next to Sweet Valley High and Baby Sitter Club books, complete with a lurid cover of Elizabeth swept back in Mr. Darcy's arms and wind blowing through her hair. How did this book ever become "Classic" literature? Does anyone else feel this way?

I can see your point about its not deserving to be a classic, but I think its the satire in it that makes it good literature. It is quite indulgent- I think novels considered 'classics' ought to be innovative, either in a literary way, or in their treatment of a particular subject matter- Jane Austen isn't innovative in either way, but I would argue that it can boast being an excellent social critique of regency society


Oh, Tender is the Night is my favorite Fitzgerald... ay, how it stings ;) but to each his own :)



can I ask you what you liked about it?
because I was going to mention that as one of the most boring books I'd ever read

the most boring book of all I've read that claims to be a novel is Bonjour Tristesse- that was the most self-indulgent, air-headed drivel I have ever read- and it really makes me despair that that book is generally considered literature!


I've never heard anyone say 'eh'.


I don't think there's anything indifferent about calling a book 'the most boring I've ever read'
I think there is passive boredom, where the reader for whatever reason has not understood the merit of a book, and boredom that is the result of a considered opinion that a piece of literature is pointless, nonsensical or void of meaning.

ps: I have to agree with you about Dickens



Some years ago I tried reading Kafka's The Trial, and I just could not finish it .The story just did not interest me enough to continue past the half-way mark and the premise of the book was already known to me from reading various criticis over a number of years. I have not read Kafka since but I doubt if my view would be different now.

I think Kafka really has to be read in german. I find the way german works in literature the most interesting aspect of reading german literature- I would argue that most great works of german literature (Mann, Brecht, Goethe) are the same- lose the language and you lose the essence- they are usually purely intellectual- the story tends not to be interesting in its own right- it is a means to an end

[sharpie]

I'm not sure it was the most boring, but just finished it and well..... it was boring lol

The Immoralist - Andre Gide

[Emil Miller]

I think Kafka really has to be read in german. I find the way german works in literature the most interesting aspect of reading german literature- I would argue that most great works of german literature (Mann, Brecht, Goethe) are the same- lose the language and you lose the essence- they are usually purely intellectual- the story tends not to be interesting in its own right- it is a means to an end


I was reading it in German but I never found Mann or Goethe boring in the original language.

[African_Love]

Off the top of my head, The Tommyknockers by Stephen King (I never finished it) and Almost Adam by Petru Popescu. I never finished The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or Red Mars by Kim Robinson either (I will probably finish the latter when I have nothing else to read, I don't know about the former).

I say that these novels are boring only in comparison with more interesting works of fiction but if I have nothing else to do, I can read any novel. I'll only stop reading a novel if there's something more interesting that I want to start. Unlike boring tv shows or boring movies, even boring novels require that you exercise your imagination in a way that tv/movies do not. This is why I love to read, it's my favorite past time.

[dfloyd]

a burden to read. I agree with Dark Muse. However, I got through it. Parts of it are good, but it is one of those books which should have been severly edited. See the movie instead; the older one which garnished an academy award for best actor for Broderick Crawford. It moves at a much faster pace.

[DanielBenoit]

Anything by Aristotle. His works are just too well inherited in the Western mind, that their influence drains out any sort of fresh feeling of knowledge. Plus, they are incredibly dry and repitious.

Plato would've been the same way if it were not for the charm of Socrates.

[Zee.]

I've started on "The Shining" and it's boring the hell out of me

[r0land]

"Anton Reiser" by Karl Philipp Moritz.

Don't know if there's an english translation .. you wouldn't miss much though. ;)

[Tyrionforprez]

Great Expectations. Puts me to sleep every time.

[mal4mac]

Off the top of my head, The Tommyknockers ...

Thanks for the reminder. That was so bad! Boring and really took the science out of science fiction.



Okay, I'll say it. Dickens is a boring writer to me. I can never get sucked into his novels. I was bored sick by Great Expectations in high school. I've started and stopped read Oliver Twist (which is, I'm told, his most accessible novel) at least three times. And I've never gotten past chapter three of A Tale of Two Cities. I just don't understand his appeal.

A Tale of Two Cities is his weakest novel in IMHO, but still worth reading and the other two are really great. Maybe reading good critics can provide a kick start? Like:

http://www.newstatesman.com/200212020040

[Kafka's Crow]

Great Expectations. Puts me to sleep every time.

After a BA and two MAs in English Literature, I am ashamed to admit that I have failed to finish even a single novel by Dickens, not even for course-work. I just can not read Dickens. Give me War and Peace or The Brothers Karamazov (both of them huge books) and I would read them happily cover to cover, I can read Ulysses again and again (I have lost the count of the times I have re-read this one book) but I can not read Dickens to save my life.

[mona amon]

I find George Elliott's books so boring that I've never been able to read any, except for Middlemarch (I liked that one).

The most boring book I've ever read was Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus. Aaaaargh! Of course, it was kind of interesting at the same time, or I'd never have bothered. :)

[mal4mac]

The most boring book I've ever read was Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus. Aaaaargh! Of course, it was kind of interesting at the same time...

That was my reaction to it! This was the first book by Mann I attempted to read. I later read Buddenbrooks and found that not boring at all. With certain books by certain writers I think it's difficult to get anywhere without enough 'background'. I think Mann's Faustus might be one of those... How do you get enough background?