10 Books You Can Do Without [Archive] - Literature Network Forums

Sitaram

07-15-2005, 01:26 PM

5.) The Lovely Bones, by Alice Seabold

I saw an old copy for sale in a discount store, and on the cover it quoted the New York Times as saying: A compulsive book, to be read in one sitting.

Now, in my mind, a reader may be compulsive, but a book may only be compelling.

Perhaps I am mistaken in my understanding of the proper usage of the word "compulsive".

A month later, I saw someone reading a more recent edition of the book at an airport. I asked if I might see the cover. Sure enough, they had changed the cover to "cover up" their original grammatical error.

I am searching with google on "compulsive book"

I encounter, so far, out of 800 links returnend, only one which uses "compulsive" to modify "book"

http://www.book-castle.co.uk/emma.php

she has now recaptured that turbulent twelve months in a compulsive book ‘Between Angels and Demons’

Although American Heritage On-line Dictionary does say

Compulsive: Having the capacity to compel: a frightening, compulsive novel.

But I rather imagine that using "compulsive" to modify a thing has only been accepted fairly recently.

What would the difference be, then, between a compelling book and a compulsive book.

The word compulsive has connotes some kind of disorder. If I say that someone had "a compelling reason" to do what they did, I am not hinting that there is something chronically wrong with them.

This is interesting. If I google on "compulsive NOVEL" then I get 300 hits, all with the same usage. But when I search on "compulsive BOOK" then I get 800 hits, but only a handful are examples of "compulsive" modifying "book", while for the majority of hits, "compulsive" modifies a person (the buyer, reader, collector, thief... etc)...

Sorry to be cluttering this thread with a long post which is more about grammer and etymology.

Say, perhaps we should have a forum for grammar, etymology, usage. We could post the 100 most frequently misspelled words, the most common grammatical errors, and interesting things from manuals of style.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Strunk_Jr.

In the original edition, Strunk describes the purpose of the book as follows:

"It aims to lighten the task of instructor and student by concentrating attention ... on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated."
The original was revised in 1935 by Strunk and Edward A. Tenney. After Strunk's death, it was again revised by E.B. White, an editor at The New Yorker who had been one of Strunk's students. This 1959 edition of The Elements of Style (often referred to as "Strunk and White") became the companion of most American writers as well as most college freshmen.

papayahed

07-15-2005, 04:04 PM

The first one that comes to mind is Orlando by Virginia Woolf. I know there's more.......I'll be back!

Jay

07-15-2005, 04:34 PM

Crime & Punishment by Dostoevsky is leading my list (still haven't finished reading that one)

Do I have to have read the book to make it a 'book I could do without'? I'm kind of keeping away from books that look/sound 'dangerous'.

Bianca Fransen

07-15-2005, 05:29 PM

Ah, I cannot think of any.. I know some books I disliked - but then I disliked them so much, because they hit a nerve. So they were actually quite good. Like 'Goodmorning, midnight' by Jean Rhys. A book that I absolutely loathed.. but I still want to reread it some day to see if it still knocks me out.
And many books don't do much for me.. but they are great for one trainjourney.. so I still like them to be written.

mono

07-15-2005, 07:30 PM

Hmmm, so difficult to narrow my list to ten, but here goes (in no specific order, of course) . . .
1. Creation by Gore Vidal,
2. The Celestine Prophecy Series by James Redfield,
3. any poetry collection by Billy Collins (please do not ask),
4. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein,
5. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein (sorry :p),
6. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling,
7. anything by John Grisham,
8. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell,
9. Flowers for Algernon by Keyes Daniel,
10. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (sorry again :p).

merrycollie

07-16-2005, 02:49 AM

The Lovely Bones.

underground

08-07-2005, 11:10 PM

you know, i actually liked the beginning of the lovely bones, and i thought the whole idea of a story narrated by a dead person was sort of neat. plus the heaven in that book is the kind of heaven i'd like to have. ;) but i lost interest after suddenly years went by and the investigation was sort of halted/forgotten. i really thought that the whole story would be about how mr. harvey would get caught, but it became more of the family that was left behind moving on and stuff, and mr. harvey's end was unsatisfying.

i also thought the ending was corny and bad (because the narrator decides to have "you" as an audience), and my least favorite part was when susie for some reason fell down to earth and then instead of pointing out where her body was and stuff, she used the day to have sex with her junior high school crush.

which reminds me. the relationships are also too unrealistic. come on, with a sister murdered or not, it's kind of impossible for a couple fourteen-year-olds to have a relationship that actually last. and for susie and ray to have sex because they happened to have kissed way back when they were fourteen and the fact that susie was in ruth's body... it's just wrong.

i guess it's too happy-ending? i don't know, but apparently if you write about heaven your book is guaranteed to be a best-seller. (*thinking of mitch albom's the five people you meet in heaven and some other book about a near-death experience*)

::edit:: oh, and as for my list, i'll put digital fortress by dan brown for now. i'm sure there are many other books because i tend to read books that i don't like anyway, but my brain is all muddled up now. no wait, i can think of another one: dragonsong/singer/drums by anne mccaffrey. the trilogy was supposed to be good, but i read each one of them without any enthusiasm. :(

Aramis

08-08-2005, 09:58 AM

"Wicked" - by Gregory Maguire (The play rocks, though, so I was very disappointed.)
"The Color Purple" - by Alice Walker

Pendragon

09-01-2005, 08:03 PM

1.) Moby Dick by Herman Melville (You hope the whale swallows the author!)

2.)Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (Then only "great expectation" I ever hoped for was that the book would mercifully end!)

3.)David Copperfield, ibid. (To quote Dorothy Parker "This is not a book to be lightly tossed aside. It should be thrown with great force!"

4.)Anything writen by Stephen King! (Sorry, my opinion does not necessarily reflect, etc. etc.)

5.)The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Unless, mayhap ye be a thesbian! Love to watch a play performed, hate to read them!)

6.)The Poems of Carl Sandberg (Can you say "boring")

7.)Anything by Stephen Crane (He makes Sandberg look interesting!)

8.)Anything by the sisters Bronte (Whole family couldn't write!)

9.)Art Bushwald's so-called humor (He's no Dave Barry, that's for sure)

10.) Upton Sinclair The Jungle Yuck! (I still have a stomach, and the dry heaves aren't funny!)

Aurora Ariel

09-02-2005, 05:15 AM

....Gosh!This question is too difficult for me to answer right now!I'll have to take at least a week to think about this!lol ;)
Considering that there are millions of books I have not yet read or will never get to read it's really hard to pick a top 10!Maby there is a number 1 still lurking somewhere and I will read it in the near future-I may discover my favourite book tomorrow...:)

Themis

09-02-2005, 08:15 AM

1. (Die Kalvierspielerin) The Piano Player - Elfriede Jelinek
2. To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
3. (Das Parfüm) Perfume - Patrick Süskind
4. Any book written by Stephen King (I had to read some for class and I really hated them)
5. (Die Verwandlung) The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
6. Debt of Honor - Tom Clancy (and generally, books by Tom Clancy)
7. The Chamber - John Grisham
8. (Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) The Count of Monte Christo - Alexandre Dumas
9. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
10. (L'étranger) The Stranger - Albert Camus

samercury

09-02-2005, 01:34 PM

Books I could do without (in no specific order)

1. Great Expectations- Charles Dickens (sorry Dickens i usually like your books but...)

2.The Ox-Bow Incident- Walter Van Tilburg Clark (got on my nerves)

3. The Scarlet Pimpernel- Baroness Orczy

... that's all I can think of right now =)

scw1217

09-03-2005, 07:24 AM

I can't stand to not finish a book, but I know there have been several which were so bad I could not bear through them. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your view) I cannot seem to remember their names. I suspect I blocked them out as they were so bad.

I agree with most of the choices listed here, a lot of that being books I would never read in the first place. But, the author that comes to my mind as being unreadable for me was Ernest Hemingway. I read two of his books. The first because everyone said I should and the 2nd to see if it was as bad as the first. I simply could not get into his strange style of conversation. I kept thinking "people do not talk like that".

Another book that pops into my head just now is a children's book I read to my daughter, Fury of the Broken Wheel Ranch. We stuck through it just to find out how it ended, but the descriptions were rather fantastic and the entire story turned into a silly play between us. Great fun and a bonding moment, but not really worth the read.

Nightshade

09-03-2005, 05:05 PM

1) Tale of 2 cities -dickens
2)Color Purple-Alice Walker
3)The Handmaids Tale--Attwood
4) Lovley bones-- Seabold
5) Gone with the wind
6)his dark materials Trilogy -- philip pullman
7) Lord of the Rings
8)A Lady of Quality-- Frances Hodgeson Burnet (the only book/story of hers that I hated)
9) Regeneration trilogy-Pat Barker
10)Jane Eyre

and ive only just started the list tis could go on and on all night

Schokokeks

09-03-2005, 05:19 PM

mhm..."Harry Potter" would surely be on top...after that... :"Harry Potter". And then...mhm..."Harry Potter", I'd say.

Oh, and "The Alchimist" by Paulo Coelho and "Bonjour Tristesse" by Francoise Sagan, wish I hadn't read these...

scw1217

09-03-2005, 08:00 PM

LOL @ Harry Potter.

However, I loved Jane Eyre.

gumption

09-06-2005, 07:14 AM

The da vinci is a great book and so is great expectations! well i thought they were good and i'm 13 and most 13 year olds would turn there noses up at great expectations

I also like harry potter but then again most people love harry potter so i'll shut right up

Sarah's_Chanson

09-06-2005, 09:58 AM

It seems I should strictly avoid Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens, Harry Potter and Jane Eyre!

I read and liked Jane Eyre. Note I said I liked the book, I didn't love it however. I found the 1st ten chapters dull!

Haven't read any of Virginia Woolf, but plan to read some Dickens. Wouldn't consider Harry Potter!

The biggest waste of time in my mind is Lorna Doone by R.d Blackmore. Boring, it drags and I ended up stopping halfway through as I fell asleep!

PistisSophia

09-10-2005, 10:54 PM

Fortunately or not, I have very peculiar needs and after a page or two, I know well enough to put the dern thing down!!!

Know thyself?

Darlin

09-11-2005, 05:50 AM

The da vinci is a great book and so is great expectations! well i thought they were good and i'm 13 and most 13 year olds would turn there noses up at great expectations

That you're 13 and reading the classics is admirable. I have several books by Dickens in my library and have never once been inclined to read any though I obviously planned to when I bought so many of his books. One day I'm sure I will but for now I'm neutral though I'm partial to the Harry Potter series, find 'em quite entertaining and I'm considerably older than 13.

Essentially to each his own. No one ever agrees with everyone but it's so commendable everyone's reading. Btw, I'm really enjoying this thread, it's confirmed some of my own suspicions regarding some author's and books I could do with out though I am rather partial to the Brontë's and Dumas and Tolkien! Lol!

sir_alex

09-11-2005, 04:27 PM

6. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling,
7. anything by John Grisham,

OK, I know this is your opinion, but COME ON! The Harry Potter books are kinda overrated, that I know, but the writing's OK, and John Grisham is a terrific writer!

B-Mental

09-13-2005, 09:34 AM

2. To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
4. Any book written by Stephen King ( ...I really hated them)
5. (Die Verwandlung) The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
7. The Chamber - John Grisham
9. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

Themis beat me to these, and because of my loathing for King, Koontz, and (K)Clancy (the KKK of literature) I am way over ten!

PistisSophia

09-13-2005, 12:01 PM

A Tale of Two Cities, bring me the Cliff notes....zzzzzzzzz

The Power of Now...Tolle, yeah, Zen rehashed.

100 people who are screwing up America.....biased and lousy.

The Botany of Desire....Pollack...got it for my spouse; a biology major; says the author must be smoking the draperies...ahem.

Scheherazade

04-24-2006, 08:45 AM

Here is my list so far:

1. The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

2. Mrs Dalloway by Woolf

3. As I Lay Dying by Faulkner

4. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

5. On the Road by Jack KerouacI would like to remove As I Lay Dying from my list.

Xamonas Chegwe

04-24-2006, 01:45 PM

I don't think there's a list here that doesn't have at least one worthwhile book in it - Heart of Darkness? On the Road? Dorian Gray? Please people - all of these (and Harry Potter too) have either moved me, made me think or entertained me. In fact, all of these (except Potter, which merely entertained) have done all 3.

I could certainly live without James Patterson though - there is a worthless author.

Pensive

04-24-2006, 11:29 PM

[QUOTE=Beaumains]Flowers in the Attic, by V.C. Andrews (incest is not a good thing)QUOTE]

I think that incest is an horrible thing. That was the reason which made me not to read its second part. When I started Flowers In The Attic, I found it really interesting but then what happened, I found it yucky....and wanted to stop reading the book but then I was curious for the end....but I will not call it a worthless novel though it was really very sick.

Idril

04-26-2006, 01:38 PM

"Wicked" - by Gregory Maguire (The play rocks, though, so I was very disappointed.)

I didn't mind Wicked, I didn't love it, but I didn't hate either...however...his take on the Snow White tale, Mirror, Mirror I most definately could've done without. That book was just bizarre and not in a good way. :rollseyes:

And I could've done without the two extra Amy Tan books I bought. I loved Hundred Secret Senses so I got a couple more but I discovered that if you've read one Amy Tan book, you've read them all so the the second two were completely superfluous.

Woland

04-26-2006, 01:58 PM

Leo Tolstoy
Alexandre Dumas
Jane Austen
George Elliot
Dickens, save Oliver Twist

That should be more than ten books :yawnb:

Also anything by Ayn Rand.

EAP

04-27-2006, 04:42 PM

Ulysses - James Joyce (pretentious crap of the worst kind)
100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (meh. It wasn't as bad as some of the other books mentioned here, still deserves a place due to its rep which is unwarranted in the extreme)
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky (Dostoevsky is one of the wittiest authors I have ever read and I refuse to believe this piece of cow turd was penned by him)
Silas Marner - George Elliot (I love Mill on the Floss. This book is about as interesting as watching paint dry, needless to say, it's one of the best cures of insomnia out there)
Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy (Unlike a lot of others I love reading Hardy's prose. His characters, OTOH, are a totally different kettle of fish)
Crossroads of Twilight - Robert Jordan (self-explainatory, really)
Misery - Stephen King (I love most of King's works - this, IMO is the weakest)
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (This is one of the only of the only two novels, which as a child looking to devour anything and everything I could get my greedy hands on, wasn't able to finish)
Emma - Jane Austen (Seriously, Emma works much better in the movie format. Austen was a wicked satirist but this one is way too surcose ladden even for the likes of me)

cateye515

04-27-2006, 05:09 PM

i have one and i am sure no one has heard of it...

Scheherazade

04-27-2006, 05:13 PM

i have one and i am sure no one has heard of it...It is a relief, I guess, that your name won't appear in this thread then! :p

davoarid

05-11-2006, 04:04 AM

I would like to remove As I Lay Dying from my list.

I was just going to ask about that. I just finished reading it a week ago, and found it absolutely fascinating.

Erna

05-11-2006, 05:35 PM

- The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky (still reading it, but don't actually know why, it's quite boring)
- Die Schachnovelle (Chess) by Stefan Zweig (partly because I had to read it for German class and I'm not good at German, but also the story is awfull. I somehow am not interested in somebody learning complete chess games by heart and playing against himself ("Ich Weiss, Ich Schwarz"))

Scheherazade

05-11-2006, 05:46 PM

I was just going to ask about that. I just finished reading it a week ago, and found it absolutely fascinating.I can only say that I did not understand the book when I first read it many many moons ago. Yet second time round, I really enjoyed it. I think Faulkner has a twisted sense of humour.

There is a thread devoted to Faulkner if you would like to check out:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16086

bootyqueen

05-16-2006, 08:40 AM

I'm suprised so many people in here have read Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein... It was given to me by a girl I work with, she said it was soooo good, so I read it and absolutely loathed it. I don't think I even finished it. Bleh. I didn't realize it was such a widely read book, I didn't know the author so i thought it was just some random crap book you would find at a used bookstore. (Actually, now that I think about it, it is.)

I also really disliked A Handmaid's Tale by Atwood. IMO, a lot of fuss about nothing.

Let's see... what else... oh yes, Silas Marner put me to sleep on numerous occasions...

Boris239

05-16-2006, 11:20 AM

It's kind of shocking to read that we can do without "Crime and Punishment", "Idiot" or "A Hundred yeras of solitude". All three are among my favorite books ever.

Redshift

05-18-2006, 10:42 AM

Yeah, why all the Dostovesky hate? I'd be careful of laying the blame at his door and not the translators.

Topic? Um, The Bible, probably.

Bysshe

05-18-2006, 12:00 PM

The only book I can think of off-hand that I really hated was A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer. I finished it thinking "what a waste of time". I only bought it for 50p, but I still felt cheated.

I couldn't bring myself to finish On the Road, either. I was convinced that I was going to like it, so I ended up very disappointed.

And although I probably haven't read enough to judge, I'm not a fan of Dickens.

BeingaBunny

05-18-2006, 08:50 PM

I could do without The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. Yep, that's my ten books right there. The world would be a better place without them.

Theshizznigg

05-24-2006, 02:22 PM

I can't honestly say that I've ever hated a book, to the point of wishing to be rid of it.
I can't really ever say I've hated a book. Yes I found books to be boring in places, but that in my opinion does not make them a bad book, its just means that they require a re-adjustment of my thinking to the point where the book is enjoyable.
If I had to point the finger, then I could quite honestly say that the Dungeon series by Philip Jose Farmer was brilliant, up to the last novel.
Since each novel was wrote differently, by four different authors, (It complicated.)
I was dissapointed with the last authors efforts.
To put it quite bluntly, he tore the story a completely different ***HOLE.
I could not make hide nor hair of it.
The characters in the former books acted completely disconected, things weren't explained at all, they just coasted along, and the ending was complete and utter CRAP!
No I was quite put out when they let the author of the last book completely ruin the series, the story and plot arc that had been so deliciously building since the third book, and even the characters, damned character development was all shot to hell!
Everyone acted like they hadn't spent the last year down in that hell hole of a place, the main character reverted from a clever gentleman to a complete baboon and womanizer. I could go on and on.
Do yourself a favour if you read the dungeon series, stop at book five and make up your own ending. If you want dissapointment in cartloads then read the sixth.

cuppajoe_9

05-24-2006, 06:48 PM

10.Fahrenheit 451[/I] by Ray Bradbury (sorry again :p).Bradbury is a decent writer, and he seems quite smart, and he has some really good ideas. But does he have to be such a jerk?

P.S. I would like to take this oportunity to challenge everybody who said A Tale of Two Cities or Crime and Punishment to a fight.

fitzgolden

05-27-2006, 02:12 AM

very interesting thread.. in lots of posts there are books/authors i like, or even love.
I never keep reading a book if I'mm not enjoying it - life is too short, and there are too many books to be read, to waste time on stuff you don't like.
Here's a few that spring to mind:
1. anything by John Grisham
2. "chick lit"
3. A Hundred years of Solitude - and all his others
4. all of Ayn Rand's oeuvre
5. Ulysses - yeah, I did finish that, but only cos I had to
6. The Color Purple

mono

05-28-2006, 02:01 PM

Bradbury is a decent writer, and he seems quite smart, and he has some really good ideas. But does he have to be such a jerk?

P.S. I would like to take this oportunity to challenge everybody who said A Tale of Two Cities or Crime and Punishment to a fight.
I agree, cuppajoe, as Bradbury does not seem a horrible writer necessarily . . . just far from my favorite. :D
And with your second statement, I furthermore agree, especially with Crime and Punishment. :brow:

Chava

05-28-2006, 02:48 PM

I just read great expectations, and i must say i loved it! it's hilarious!, and as usual dickens is a great author!

Inga

05-28-2006, 05:28 PM

This is an interesting thread although it can hardly be considered as objective.
However I can really do without Stendhal's Le rouge et le noir.
I would also put books by Jelinek on my list and when I read Madame Bovary many years ago, I disliked it, but I don't know how this would be now...
I'm sure there are more books I could do without, but they just don't want to come to my mind. Probably because I already completely forgot about them.

I actually like Dostoevskij's work who was named sometimes here, although I admit that I didn't like the end of Crime and Punishment so much.
Concerning Harry Potter, come on, I know this hype about the books might be too much, but J.K. Rowling has a good writing style and the books are entertaining.

enskyment

05-29-2006, 02:29 PM

10.)Sinclair Lewis' Cannery Row (I still have a stomach, and the dry heaves aren't funny!)
Wasn't that John Steinbeck? I love that book.

EAP

05-29-2006, 03:08 PM

P.S. I would like to take this oportunity to challenge everybody who said A Tale of Two Cities or Crime and Punishment to a fight.

Challenge accepted!

Ray Bradbury is among the best authors of the 20th century. ;)

Pendragon

05-29-2006, 04:32 PM

Wasn't that John Steinbeck? I love that book.
www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Steinbeck/row.htm

:blush: Yes! You are correct, I meant Upton Sinclair's The Jungle of course! Duh, what was I thinking? :confused: See the Edit.

BeingaBunny

05-29-2006, 04:54 PM

P.S. I would like to take this oportunity to challenge everybody who said A Tale of Two Cities or Crime and Punishment to a fight.

lol, you are awesome! :lol:

Truth Untold

05-30-2006, 01:09 PM

I agree with each to his own. i have loved many books mentioned here like Dickens, Dumas, Da Vinci, Harry Potter and esp The Scarlet Pimpernel!
Begad! That elegant Sir Percival Blakeney Baronet is a genius!
I wouldn't say i hated any books but there are some i didn't care for.

A Round Heeled Woman - Jane Juska (slow and a bit boring for me)
Water Babies - i never got into it
Stephen King stuff
Inspector Morse novels
Agatha Christie (i managed about three)
Lord of the Rings trilogy

there aren't that many i don't like

Hyacinth Girl

05-31-2006, 02:08 PM

YAY!!! I am not the only person on the face of the earth that thought Ulysses was the most evil book ever written! Honestly, I have read books I did not like (De Lilo's Mao II comes to mind), but never have I despised a book so much as Ulysses. In fact, I just moved into a new place, and it is sitting in my fireplace, ready to burn. . . :brow:

Psycheinaboat

05-31-2006, 02:57 PM

The only Bradbury book I have ever read was Let's all Kill Constance and I couldn't even finish it. It was terrible! The writing was extremely poor.

I do not mean to judge Bradbury too harshly based on only one book, but it was really, really bad.

YAY!!! I am not the only person on the face of the earth that thought Ulysses was the most evil book ever written! Honestly, I have read books I did not like (De Lilo's Mao II comes to mind), but never have I despised a book so much as Ulysses. In fact, I just moved into a new place, and it is sitting in my fireplace, ready to burn. . . :brow:

LOL! Don't burn it. Just send it to me. :)

Hyacinth Girl

05-31-2006, 03:29 PM

LOL! Don't burn it. Just send it to me. :)
He he he - do you want the supporting "Ulysses Annotated" to accompany that? It's on the burn pile as well. . . .

superunknown

05-31-2006, 06:50 PM

Idril

05-31-2006, 09:27 PM

You can do without Dave Eggers's "You Shall Know Our Velocity." "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" is pretty good (although it really starts dragging at the end) but "Velocity" is really mediocre, nothing particularly stands out.

That's too bad because I liked A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and I've seriously considered giving Velocity a try but maybe I wait with that.

Psycheinaboat

05-31-2006, 10:51 PM

Has anyone read any of the Best American Nonrequired Reading series edited by Dave Eggers?

I've been curious, but have not purchased any of them.

Pendragon

06-01-2006, 07:44 AM

I agree with each to his own. i have loved many books mentioned here like Dickens, Dumas, Da Vinci, Harry Potter and esp The Scarlet Pimpernel!
Begad! That elegant Sir Percival Blakeney Baronet is a genius!

there aren't that many i don't likeBehold! A vote for The Scarlet Pimpernel! And here I thought I was probably alone in advocating him. And Baroness Orczy has a short-story detective called The Old Man in the Corner that if you ever get a chance to read the series do so. They are great!

I also like the madcap adventures of one Doctor Cristopher Syn, alias The Scarecrow by Russell Thorndyke. Not at all like the Disney Movie, I assure you. :D :nod:

smoothherb

06-02-2006, 04:04 PM

hard times- charles dickens
despartion-stephin king(I do like some stuff by king the stand is amazing)
naked prey-john sanford
stone angel(not sure the authors name)
kingcon(stephan j cannel)

poetru_fanatic

06-03-2006, 09:26 PM

In no particular order:

1. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (poorly written and absurd)

2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger (I've never identified with angst)

3. Flowers in the Attic, by V.C. Andrews (incest is not a good thing)[/I]

4. The Dark Tower , by Stephen King (the story lost me completely)

...And that's really all I can think of at the moment. I guess I've been lucky in choosing what I read.

You really feel that way about V.C. Andrews? Yeah incest is not good but think about it. V.C. Andrews has opened peoples eyes to whats going on in our modern day world and we can't ignore it. I think her books are really good and if you read the rest of the books in the series you might get why the incest is in the first book... Picture being locked away in an attic for four years being a teenage male and a teenage female. Im not saying that if I was in that situation, I'd commit incest... But.... Oh nvm I'll just get repetitive if I keep going. I hope you see my point. But it's just my opinion

--Jenna

The da vinci is a great book and so is great expectations! well i thought they were good and i'm 13 and most 13 year olds would turn there noses up at great expectations

Hey yeah.... Im 15 and I love The Da Vinci... It's amazing. Opens your eyes to concets you'd never really think of. And since your 13 and have read it, I've got respect for you. Not very many 13 year olds would have read it. But you got good taste.

kashka

06-04-2006, 07:06 AM

I think most of my favourite books have been mentioned in this thread so far :D

I'm struggling to come up with a list for a number of reasons, primarily because even when I don't enjoy a book, I can usually understand why it would be considered a classic/ground breaking etc.

for example, all that i've read of Atwood i've disliked, but I can see how people appreciate how cleverly she writes (not to my tastes however). There are also cultural factors to be taken into consideration, which doesn't make all books travel as well as others.

My only nomination would be Dan Brown, for the poor quality of english.

Jesourirai

06-04-2006, 09:20 AM

Leaves of grass (or any poetry by Walt Whitman for that matter)
The Lord of the Rings (apologies)
Great Expectations (Trying to read it was like trudging through quicksand)

But I'm not going to waste valuble time book bashing, for, as the late great Mr. Gunther Grass would say-- "Even bad books are books, and therefore sacred."

Chava

06-04-2006, 10:38 AM

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley when it's translated to danish... never have i read anything so crass and poorly translated. it really distressed me while reading, so i ditched it and read the original, i was so relieved that i read it all in one day. :)

Pensive

06-04-2006, 12:27 PM

You really feel that way about V.C. Andrews? Yeah incest is not good but think about it. V.C. Andrews has opened peoples eyes to whats going on in our modern day world and we can't ignore it. I think her books are really good and if you read the rest of the books in the series you might get why the incest is in the first book... Picture being locked away in an attic for four years being a teenage male and a teenage female. Im not saying that if I was in that situation, I'd commit incest... But.... Oh nvm I'll just get repetitive if I keep going. I hope you see my point. But it's just my opinion

--Jenna

Though I have not read the other books in the series, I could not get into the second one (Petals on the wind....was its name probably?) but I will agree with you here that it is very difficult to control yourself when you are locked away in an attic for four years. I will consider Flowers In The Attic a very good novel.

Manfred

06-04-2006, 05:44 PM

I'm sort of dismayed to hear such great works as A Tale Of Two Cities and The Picture Of Dorian Gray denigrated, but to each his own. My personal five are:
1. The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
2. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
4. Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
5. The Grapes Of Wrath, by John Steinbeck

Chava

06-06-2006, 03:40 PM

Oh and may someone calmly explain to Ruth Rendell taht her books are crap, and that she should stop writing them, and that she has no talent, and that her narrative is completely predictable, and that "it's like a mouthfull of something-too-hot-to-swallow". NO!!!
Not literature! (goes away and grumbles in a corner)

chatnoir1311

06-06-2006, 05:32 PM

The great Gatsby - Fitzgerald (just boring)

anything by Tolkien (In my opinion he is not at all a good narrater)

The catcher in the Rye - Salinger ( nice story , but a 2 years old could have written it way better than Salinger did ! I'm shocked for my live that somebody call that book Literature )

nearly anything by Dickens and Paulo Coelho (Dickens writes so unreal and Coelho thinks he's a great Poet and very sagely when he writes such crab as The Alchimist , sorry , really had to say that)

Quote:
"Not very many 13 year olds would have read it."

Oh , really ?! Almost everyone of my circle of acquaintances (and me too) read and loved it and we are nearly all around the age of 13.

Pendragon

06-06-2006, 07:30 PM

Leaves of grass (or any poetry by Walt Whitman for that matter)

I fully agree with Leaves of Grass. I once jokingly referred to it as "The consummate pot-smoker's guide to weed", but I really wonder how dear Old Walt managed to write it without being wasted on something. I couldn't read it under torture! :D

http://www.smiliegenerator.de/s30/smilies-10859.png

cuppajoe_9

06-07-2006, 12:50 AM

I'm sort of dismayed to hear such great works as A Tale Of Two Cities and The Picture Of Dorian Gray denigrated, but to each his own.
5. The Grapes Of Wrath, by John SteinbeckI'm a bit speachless, actually. What's wrong with The Grapes of Wrath?

Manfred

06-07-2006, 07:24 AM

I'm a bit speachless, actually. What's wrong with The Grapes of Wrath?

It's dull, depressing, wordy, meandering.
No problem if you like it, many--even most--people do. But I don't personally care for angst-ridden tales of eternal optimism. This novel sounds hokey and simplistic to me, and it espouses values that feel like conservative propaganda.

luv

06-07-2006, 08:53 AM

I saw the best books but now lets name some of the books you regretted reading...

Taime

06-08-2006, 11:53 AM

Mmm...worst books.

Obviously Dan Brown- The Da Vinci Code has to be there (ludicrous plot/poorly written).

Kate Mosse- Labyrinth (see above).

Stephen King- Cell (Characterization was poor, story lost impact about a third of the way through and tailed off to a less than thrilling conclusion).

Patricia Cornwell - Trace (Always something of a hit or miss affair-this novel though was probably her worst-sluggish and drawn out with a poor ending).

And last...but by no means least... 'Industrial Magic' by Kelley Armstrong.

cuppajoe_9

06-09-2006, 02:33 AM

It's dull, depressing, wordy, meandering.
No problem if you like it, many--even most--people do. But I don't personally care for angst-ridden tales of eternal optimism. This novel sounds hokey and simplistic to me, and it espouses values that feel like conservative propaganda.I strongly disagree with dull. Depressing, wordy and meandering are all accurate, but none of them mean 'bad'.

Conservative propaganda? That's interesting. It reads quite a bit more like anarcho-communist propaganda from where I'm sitting (and I'd know). Grapes is one long critique of capitalism, specifically the divisiveness of the property system. What feels like conservative propaganda to you?

Hope I'm not getting too political for the mod-squad here.

Manfred

06-09-2006, 07:15 AM

I strongly disagree with dull. Depressing, wordy and meandering are all accurate, but none of them mean 'bad'.

Conservative propaganda? That's interesting. It reads quite a bit more like anarcho-communist propaganda from where I'm sitting (and I'd know). Grapes is one long critique of capitalism, specifically the divisiveness of the property system. What feels like conservative propaganda to you?

Hope I'm not getting too political for the mod-squad here.

Tomorrow's a better day, there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, if you work harder you'll succeed; these messages seem somewhat contrived to me. Of course, "Grapes" was written in another age, so I could be wrong.

I never meant to imply that this was a bad novel, by the way, merely one that I didn't personally enjoy reading. Outlooks and opinions are a dime a dozen, and every reader is free to express their own. Appreciation is not necessarily the same thing as enjoyment.

Eufrosyne

06-10-2006, 02:28 PM

*David copperfield... Maybe i dont understand it
*Anything by Terry Pratchett (Except Good Omens, but Neil Gaiman wrote it too)
*Lotr- I never even finished them
*The Scarlet letter- Read it for English class and i wish i hadnt
*Anything by Virginia Andrews

Cant think of any more now...

cuppajoe_9

06-10-2006, 04:33 PM

Tomorrow's a better day, there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, if you work harder you'll succeed.The way I remeber it they all *SPOILERS* starve to death at the end after working as hard as they possibly could.
I never meant to imply that this was a bad novel, by the way, merely one that I didn't personally enjoy reading. Outlooks and opinions are a dime a dozen, and every reader is free to express their own. Appreciation is not necessarily the same thing as enjoyment.Fair enough, but I think one of us is interpreting this particular book very weirdly.

Manfred

06-11-2006, 07:59 AM

The way I remeber it they all *SPOILERS* starve to death at the end after working as hard as they possibly could.Fair enough, but I think one of us is interpreting this particular book very weirdly.

Really, I had no desire to interpret the novel, I just didn't enjoy it.
I've always found that trying to ferret out an author's meaning gets in the way of the flow of the story. It either comes to you as you read, or it doesn't. I never enjoyed this exercise when I was in school, and still don't. It gives me a headache.
Still, every novel is worth reading--or at least a glance. I'm glad you enjoyed this one.

By the way, have you read "Elmer Gantry," by Sinclair Lewis? That was a novel I enjoyed quite a lot; Lewis is great at scathing satire.

cuppajoe_9

06-12-2006, 06:39 PM

By the way, have you read "Elmer Gantry," by Sinclair Lewis? That was a novel I enjoyed quite a lot; Lewis is great at scathing satire.Consider it on my list.

Pensive

06-17-2006, 11:40 AM

So many people dislike Stephen King. :eek: :confused: :eek:

cuppajoe_9

06-17-2006, 01:54 PM

So many people dislike Stephen King. :eek: :confused: :eek:
And reasonably so.

Pensive

06-18-2006, 04:45 AM

And reasonably so.

Oh well, not reasonably actually, ah well, it is a matter of opinions.

cuppajoe_9

06-19-2006, 01:21 AM

What I mean is that while King doesn't sink to the level of, say, Danielle Steele, he's hardly Dickens.

Taliesin

06-19-2006, 04:44 AM

Well, at the moment there are just two books in our list at the moment. "Milkman of Mäeküla" by Vilde. (don't worry if you haven't heard of him, an estonian writer and not a very good one)
This book really rises to new levels of boredom. Thought and eye quite often slip to more interesting matters (door, wallpaper, ceiling for example) An awful read. There is much better estonian fiction around, so, if you can, don't read the beforementioned book.

There is a funny side-story to this book. In soviet times, posters of new movies were put up in bus stops in the country, but poster meant just the name of the movie and where and when.
So, these posters were written in russian and they misprinted one letter, so that it didn't mean "Milkman of Mäeküla" but "Savateur of Mäeküla" So, the local russians went to the cinema and expected to see some action, but instead they saw two hours of a man blating about "Should i take these milks or not?" and really felt like being foisted off.

As for foreign terrains for us, we name "Love in the Time of Cholera" It should take advice from the quote: "More matter, less art!". We managed to hack us through the first chapter, but we don't want to read it again. It was glittery and sparkly with love, but we found no evidence of decent plot nor could we find much to think about. Foreign terrain, we are afraid
"100 Years of Solitude " was much, much better.

There are other books that we misliked, but we wouldn't say that they are so bad.
"Red and black" could also belong in this list. The main reason why we disliked it was that we simply couldn't read it - you see, one usually empathizes most with the protagonist, but the protagonist there was such a hypocrite that we put the book down after 50 pages.

Bastet

06-19-2006, 06:39 AM

1.) Moby Dick by Herman Melville (You hope the whale swallows the author!)
4.)Anything writen by Stephen King! (Sorry, my opinion does not necessarily reflect, etc. etc.)

I couldn't agree more! I'll be back with more though...

What about Tom Stoppard's "Travesties"? I'm not a big fan of such an radical display of postmodernism. However, I have the feeling that this is one of those books that you either love or can't stand... opinions please?

shin

06-19-2006, 02:24 PM

100 people who are screwing up America.....biased and lousy.

Agreed, that book's laughable.

Behemoth

07-04-2006, 03:08 PM

10 Books you could do without (in my humble opinion)

1. Wuthering Heights ~ Emily Bronte(..ducks to avoid rotten vegetables being thrown..)

2. The Catcher in the Rye ~ JD Sallinger

3. The Iliad ~ Homer (..again with the veg..)

4. The Handmaid's Tale ~ Margaret Atwood

5. Mansfield Park ~ Jane Austen

6. The Da Vinci Code ~ Dan Brown (yeah, I know I voted for this in the best 10 as well, but i'm beginning to feel that this was a little misguided...it's all hype and no trousers, if you ask me)

7. ANYTHING by Keats

8. Mrs Dalloway ~ Virginia Woolfe

9. Romeo and Juliet ~ William Shakespeare

10. HARRY POTTER!! Yeah, I know, I know... :brow:

literaturerocks

07-06-2006, 05:42 PM

in the seventh grade (which i just finished..for those of you overseas im 13 if that helps to understand) we had required reading of a book called deathwatch..though i know it is not a classic or anything like that or even close to being called literature i had to mention it. this book was by far the most worthless waste of my time in my life. if you read this book you will want to burn it by the time your done.. the plot is so outrageous and dumb that i was just stunned..ill give it one thing..for about three pages it was suspensful and i was hoping it would get better..i was wrong...truly a worthless read..but i havent found many others like that and i love to read..right now im reading the brothers karamazov and its amazing :) dostoevsky is amazing..next im going to read brave new world..i hope its as good as the brothers and i know that it cant be as bad as deathwatch haha

::edit:: also..the da vinci code was thought provoking but it sucked..almost exact same plot as angels and demons (which i liked) but its all hype and is just not very good....but by the way im reading the inferno by dante(while im reading the brothers) and it too is amazing..epic poetry is amazing! :banana:

snowangel

07-06-2006, 06:16 PM

I hated Lolita by Nabokov. Can anyone explain to me the popularity of this book becasue I just never got it? I thought it was sick and so so very wrong.

grace86

07-06-2006, 07:26 PM

Ugghh...

I think Pendragon mentioned The Jungle. That book made me sick to my stomach, but I still respect it. It just carried on and got worse and worse and then I began to wonder what in the world I was reading it for.

Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis, I got nothing out of that. I read probably 98% of the book and cannot remember a thing.

But then again I had to read both of these for a history class, it made for a dull semester - but I will probably venture into these again. Do not get me wrong though, I did not hate these books, they were just unbearable and not quite necessary to me.

Manfred

07-07-2006, 07:05 AM

grace86

07-07-2006, 11:21 AM

Well Manfred, I do hope I did not scare you out of reading them. Good luck.

Manfred

07-08-2006, 08:48 AM

No, no, Grace, both of them have long been on my summer reading list, along with "Cat's Cradle," by Kurt Vonnegut and "Double Indemnity," by James M. Cain.
In fact, I began reading "Babbitt" a couple of days ago. Kind of slow going, I have to admit.

Whifflingpin

07-10-2006, 09:28 AM

"The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana" - Umberto Eco. Unless you want to enter a quiz with "Italian Juvenilia 1936-1946" as your specialised subject, you can quite safely do without this book.

"A new theory of Vision" by Berkeley. I'm sure it was a work of genius, but I can do without it. You are welcome to my copy (if you send me the postage!)

Half of the books by John Irving. The other half are absolute masterpieces, so you'll have to read them all to find out which are which (unless you've read half of his books and found them all to be masterpieces, in which case you can stop reading him now.)

"Handy Andy" by Samuel Lover. Have you read it? No? Will you ever? No? That just proves that you can do without it.

Anything by H. P. Lovecraft - dull, dull, dull. Writing style modelled on the worst of the minor Victorians. Is there supposed to be suspense? Not as much as you'd need to hang a sock.

alshadai

07-10-2006, 10:07 AM

1. The Davinci Code, Dan Brown - well, I suppose this one doesn't need much explanation now, does it? I despise any simple book that makes stupid people feel like they are smarter than me. I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy Angels and Demons though.

2. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand - Only because I have never found the time to read it and I think I would be a better person if I actually did make it through. This inner battle would not be a problem for me if the book simply did not exist.

3. The Hunted, Richard Matheson - Ugh, ugh, ugh! I really did not want to read about the authors fetish of getting raped in the middle of the woods through his self inserted main character. In fact, I put it down at that point.

4. The Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice - My 12 year old niece is being corrupted by these right now and I can't stop it :( One minute she's reading Harry Potter and the next minute she's reading about incestuous vampires. I don't think I would have as much of a problem with this books if they weren't always targeted to those in middle school.

5. Fanfiction - It's not a book...but still a literary style I can definitely do without.

6. The Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan - Way to take such an awesome first book and RUIN EVERYTHING TO MAKE SOME MONEY. I don't even -like- fantasy. :(

7. Gulliver's Travels, Johnathan Swift - Do you think this man ever meant to write a literary masterpiece? He just wanted to make some money. Seriously, he writes about things in the middle of the book that he completely forgot about in the beginning. The first modern novel? Perhaps if you think in terms of discount paperbacks.

I have to agree with the earlier John Irving comment... half are masterpieces and half are just entertaining crap. Until I find you was an absolutely horrific book but was somehow still very entertaining. Must have been all the sex. I felt like I was reading Catholic School Boys Gone Wild.

I was also very close to saying Harry Potter. I chose not to because as much as I hate to admit it...this book is actually getting kids to start reading again.

Idril

07-10-2006, 02:20 PM

I have to agree with the earlier John Irving comment... half are masterpieces and half are just entertaining crap. Until I find you was an absolutely horrific book but was somehow still very entertaining. Must have been all the sex. I felt like I was reading Catholic School Boys Gone Wild.

Is that his new one? I haven't read it yet but I had planned on it. I, too, know the highest highs and lowest lows of Irving and if this new one is going to be on the level of Son of the Circus then I will gladly skip it.

alshadai

07-10-2006, 02:29 PM

Is that his new one? I haven't read it yet but I had planned on it. I, too, know the highest highs and lowest lows of Irving and if this new one is going to be on the level of Son of the Circus then I will gladly skip it.

I haven't read Son of Circus. I enjoyed Until I Find You...but it took place of my guilty pleasure novel that I read once every two months. It is absolutely -filled- with sex and stereotypes!

I just finished reading some reviews on amazon regarding Son of the Circus and yes it does seem like they are along the same lines. Just replace circus members with movie stars, catholic school, tattoo artists, and prostitutes.

Neruda

07-13-2006, 09:27 PM

the da vinci code can not is in the list!!! it's not literature!!

Kelly_Sprout

07-13-2006, 11:48 PM

According to the Library of Congress Home Page, they have over 29 million books sitting on over 500 miles of shelf space. Hmmmm.... The ten I live without.... Let me think....

The difficulty for me is that I can't name a single book that I have ever read and then panned or regretted. There are millions of books that I have no interest in reading and there are a dozen or maybe a dozen and a half that I've picked up but never finished. These of course would include such books as my father's electrical engineering text books and virtually every dictionary I've ever held in my hands.

Now, as to books that I've read that have had an impact on my thinking, stay in my memory, and sit on my book shelves, I could name hundreds upon hundreds of them. These would include the collected works of Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, the collected works of fiction of Isaac Aismov (though his scholarly books sort of belong to the same the class of literature that my father's textbooks belong to), miscellaneous classical authors and titles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's series about his fameous detective, Sherlock Holmes, ... well, you get the idea. I can't name just ten good books and I can't name any horrid books.

I sort of have to settle begrudgingly for naming favorite authors. Here are just a few of the many more I could list: Arthur C. Clarke, Michael Crichton, Robin Cook, Edgar Allen Poe, Jack London, Laura Engalls Wilder, etc., etc.

Oh, OK, I'll name three specific book in particular as "Must Read": "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee", "Black Like Me", and "102 Minutes".

mono

07-14-2006, 02:23 PM

the da vinci code can not is in the list!!! it's not literature!!
Though I have never read The DaVinci Code, I think your comment seems debatable, Neruda, especially regarding the definition and classification of literature. Indeed, the story consists of fiction (though some would debate with this, too), it gained publication as a book, many call Dan Brown an 'author' - what classifies this as not literature?
Another member began a thread of this topic; perhaps you can visit this thread (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18223), and we can discuss this more. :nod:

mtpspur

07-20-2006, 02:31 AM

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. Was there ever such a sad and dismal menage a trois in literature?

All other books fail as far as wanting to get rid of them. Came away with no edification of the soul or lesson learned.

Runner up: Louise de la Valierre by A. Dumas. Had read all of the 3 Musketeers saga except this portion and when I finally filled in the gap I discovered there's a reason it's not mentioned often. Another boring who cares romance of King Louis marking time until Man in the Iron Mask. Read only if you want bragging rights for "Read them all".

Mary Sue

07-20-2006, 06:36 AM

Anything by Thomas Hardy. Yes, he's a great writer, I don't dispute that. But his fatalism is just too hard for me to take. In a Hardy novel nobody wins. Nobody even has a chance. The universe is a cold, uncaring place, and the Immanent Will'll get all of us sooner or later. Seemingly trivial circumstances, COINCIDENCES, will always conspire against human happiness. I myself prefer a less dead-end philosophy. I may have my illusions...but if they ARE illusions, let me keep them! T. Hardy is bad for my health.

mono

07-20-2006, 01:59 PM

Anything by Thomas Hardy. Yes, he's a great writer, I don't dispute that. But his fatalism is just too hard for me to take. In a Hardy novel nobody wins. Nobody even has a chance. The universe is a cold, uncaring place, and the Immanent Will'll get all of us sooner or later. Seemingly trivial circumstances, COINCIDENCES, will always conspire against human happiness. I myself prefer a less dead-end philosophy. I may have my illusions...but if they ARE illusions, let me keep them! T. Hardy is bad for my health.
I understand what you mean, Mary Sue; many of Thomas Hardy's works have some elements of hopelessness, depression, various ethical dilemmas, and, in a way, to a lesser degree, absurdism.
Of course, I have read only two of his works, besides his poetry, Jude The Obscure and, presently reading, Tess Of The D'Urbervilles; I cannot deny his poetic style in prose, amazing twists of plot, and artistic writing styles, but can certainly see how his artform would not appeal to some readers. Then again, some of my friends say I like too much of the dark, depressing literature! :lol:

Scheherazade

07-20-2006, 02:44 PM

Anything by Thomas Hardy. Yes, he's a great writer, I don't dispute that. But his fatalism is just too hard for me to take. In a Hardy novel nobody wins. Nobody even has a chance. The universe is a cold, uncaring place, and the Immanent Will'll get all of us sooner or later. Seemingly trivial circumstances, COINCIDENCES, will always conspire against human happiness. I myself prefer a less dead-end philosophy. I may have my illusions...but if they ARE illusions, let me keep them! T. Hardy is bad for my health.Hear, hear!

I have read quite few of Hardy's books and I find myself liking them less and less by each book. Hardy spent a great a deal resenting his own life and it is possible to feel the same in his books and characters. They are, in my opinion, written so that the reader will not help saying 'Aww, poor thing(s)'. I find their helplessness and fatalistic attitude depressing (if not annoying).

Idril

07-20-2006, 03:45 PM

Hear, hear!

I have read quite few of Hardy's books and I find myself liking them less and less by each book.

I've only read one Hardy book, Jude the Obscure but I felt the same way about that one. It was certainly a powerful book but at the same time I felt so manipulated by Hardy, all these horrible things happen to Jude and they happened because Hardy wanted them to, there didn't seem to be anything organic about it, if that makes any sense. The characters were so miserable but yet never did anything to improve their lot, they were frozen in their self pity and that is not enjoyable reading for me. I've often thought I should try another Hardy novel to see if perhaps another one will suit me better but it sounds like that's not going to be the case. ;)

Danika_Valin

07-20-2006, 08:12 PM

SleepyWitch

07-25-2006, 03:45 AM

hum, I tend to avoid the books i won't like in the first place... but there's still a handful of books i could do without (which doesn't mean that they are bad books)..
1. anything by Jane Austen (yep, she's a good writer and i like her irony, but the stories are sooo predictable and boring and i just don't care if the girl is gonna marry guy X or Y, it doesn't make any difference)
2. Da Vinci Code (never read it, to be honest)
3. what's her name.. Charlotte Link? Carolin Link? she writes crime stories.... boooooring
4. The Great Gatsby... it's a nice book but our teacher in school made us analyse it for about 10 weeks in a row... blabla American dream, blabla bla... green light, blabla... blabla

Adelheid

07-25-2006, 05:10 AM

1. Da Vinci Code
2. War and Peace
3. Kim by Rudyard Kipling (the most BORING book i ever read.. never finished it, and took the longest to read to where I stopped)
4. Riding the snake (the storyline is stupid, although some parts may be true)

Can't think of any others.

Charles Darnay

07-25-2006, 04:59 PM

Ten "Books" You Can Do Without:

1. Cry the Beloved Country - Alan Paton
2. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
3. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
4. Dr. Zhivago - Boris Pasternak
5. Waiting - Ha Jin
6. Egalia's Daughters - Gerd Bratenburg
7. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
8. Candide - Voltaire
9. Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett
10. Call of the Wild - Jack London

I'm surprised to see Three Musketeers on one of these lists.... I find that it was a ery good edition to 19th century French literature and an amazing novel, but everyone has their own opinion

stlukesguild

07-25-2006, 05:47 PM

1. Steven Crane- "Red Badge of Courage"- I really like Crane... but was forced to read this thing 3 times in my years during my school years and never wish to see it again.

2. Anything recommended by Oprah- with the obvious exception of "Anna Karenina"... but that was an definite fluke. I want nothing to do with the sappy notion of literature as some sort of feel-good therapy.:(

3. Any autobiographies by (and almost all biographies of) popular icons: sports icons, rock stars, film actressed, tv actors. I think most Americans read this c*@p because they want to find out that the rich and beautiful are really having a horrible life. I can't be bothered.

4. Sylvia Plath, Adrienne Rich, most of Ginsberg... I can't stand that gushing confessional ilk of modern poetry. Give me Anthony Hecht, Richard Wilbur, or Charles Simic anyday. If I want confessions I'll turn to Rousseau, Montaigne, or Anthony of Hippo.

There's plenty more but I'll need to think about which ones I despise the most.

mono

07-26-2006, 02:58 PM

3. Any autobiographies by (and almost all biographies of) popular icons: sports icons, rock stars, film actressed, tv actors. I think most Americans read this c*@p because they want to find out that the rich and beautiful are really having a horrible life. I can't be bothered.

. . . If I want confessions I'll turn to Rousseau, Montaigne, or Anthony of Hippo.
Though you specified you dislike autobiographies of 'sports icons, rock stars, and actors/actresses,' I find this interesting that you would enjoy Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which practically functions like an autobiography. Though he did not own all of the glamour and admiration of sports icons, and the like, he certainly had the fame during his time, particularly in politics and philosophy; many people of his time even called him a contemporary Voltaire.
Though I, too, loved Rousseau's Confessions, and tend not to read autobiographies of sports icons, rock stars, etc., I would never disdain the fact that they may have had equally interesting lives as Rousseau, for example.
Oh well, just a thought. ;)

Scheherazade

07-13-2010, 04:45 AM

Updating my list (in no particular order):

1. The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

2. Mrs Dalloway by Woolf

3. The Alchemist by Coelho

4. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

5. On the Road by Jack Kerouac

6. The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass

mal4mac

07-13-2010, 05:42 AM

Updating my list (in no particular order):

1. The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

I read that last month. It was wonderful! Is it a general Hardy phobia, or just that novel? If the latter I can't see why, it seems to stand up well against the others. He does come on rather strong with the classical references in "Return", and I was glad I was reading the Norton critical edition. The footnotes were essential...

2. Anything recommended by Oprah- with the obvious exception of "Anna Karenina"... but that was an definite fluke. I want nothing to do with the sappy notion of literature as some sort of feel-good therapy.:(

Reading Anna Karenina made me feel good...

dafydd manton

07-13-2010, 12:29 PM

Not sure I could come up with ten, but there are four that stick out like a nun at a Guns 'n' Roses concert.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy. (Life just isn't long enough to read anything whereby the author never uses one word where fourteen will do.)

The Harry Potter Series (Pass the bucket!)

The Da Vince Code. (Almost as daft as Winnie The Pooh, just as believable but not as well crafted.)

The Book Of Mormon. (Funnier than Spike Milligan, but that's all.)

If, in a moment of manic depression, I think of anything else, be assured I shall bore you with it.

Scheherazade

07-13-2010, 01:09 PM

I read that last month. It was wonderful! Is it a general Hardy phobia, or just that novel?It's a little bit of both. Instead of typing it all over again, I will copy what I said in previous page:
I have read quite few of Hardy's books and I find myself liking them less and less by each book. Hardy spent a great a deal resenting his own life and it is possible to feel the same in his books and characters. They are, in my opinion, written so that the reader will not help saying 'Aww, poor thing(s)'. I find their helplessness and fatalistic attitude depressing (if not annoying).Native is the last Hardy novel I have read and for me it was rock-bottom as far Hardy was concerned.

acdouglas92

07-13-2010, 01:19 PM

Here goes (these really are my all time favorites at the moment, and they are ranked in order from best to worst):

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
1984 by George Orwell
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson
Watership Down by Richard Adams

HAHA...well I do believe I read this incorrectly!! As those are the books I CAN'T do without, I will now come up with a few that I CAN live without! Sorry!

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
Hamlet by William Shakespeare (overrated in my opinion)
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Two Towers [Lord of the Rings Trilogy] by J.R.R. Tolkien (dulls in comparison to the other two)
Anything with Jane Austen's signature on it! (I apologize to those Pride and Prejudice fans)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoevsky
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Beowulf (Seamus Haney translation?)
The Canterbury Tales by Goeffrey Chaucer

PrimordialBeast

07-13-2010, 01:51 PM

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (I understand Vonnegut as the great postmodern satirist but in my personal opinion his stories are awful)

The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky ( I enjoyed it all the way up to the courtroom drama and couldn't take anymore of it, also his single person 6+ page long uninterrupted and unbroken dialouges kill me)

Franny and Zooey by Salinger (felt like I was reading a bad episode of some teen drama like Degrassi)

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (not even half way through it but I'm so bored with it)

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (the over abundance of Yuppie lifestyle is brutal itself)

Also couldn't get past the first 10 pages of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by Joyce

The fact that everyone here has hated on Dickens relentlessly has me nervous I picked up both David Copperfield and Great Expectations from Goodwill not too long ago because I'd like to see what Dickens is like but now I don't know, I'll try I geuss.

spookymulder93

07-13-2010, 02:24 PM

For Whom the Bell Tolls. It took me like 3-4 months to get through that novel and that's only because I don't like giving up on things. That is definitely the most boring book that I have ever read. Even my Economics textbook was more interesting than it.

LitNetIsGreat

07-13-2010, 03:01 PM

Hmm, some books I'm not keen on (apart from the obvious trash):

10,000 Years of Solitude (or so it seemed trying to read it)
Beloved by Toni Morrison, postmodern rubbish :smilewinkgrin:
Nights at the Circus by Anglea Carter, as above
Pamela by Samuel Richardson, or anything by Samuel Richardson I suppose, dull
The Secret History by Donna Tart, rubbish
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, completely overrated
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, forced to read this junk!
The Island by Victoria Hislop, as above
Naked Lunch by William Burroughs, silly

Ian Rankin, Philip Pullman, Paulo Coelho and the like, rubbish, overrated.

spookymulder93

07-13-2010, 04:45 PM

The first 100 pages of One Hundred Years of Solitude is all you need to read. The next 300 are basically the same thing over and over again.

Darcy101

07-13-2010, 06:43 PM

Anything by Thomas Hardy. Yes, he's a great writer, I don't dispute that. But his fatalism is just too hard for me to take. In a Hardy novel nobody wins.

hear hear

Far from the madding crowd ( i just dont care!!!! and dont like any of the characters) they are all miserable tits!!

mikemaster70

07-13-2010, 10:11 PM

I pretty much only have four: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Killer Angels, The Pearl, and Johnny Tremain. The main reason I say these four is because I just found them completely and utterly boring. The only one I actually finished was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the other three i couldn't bear to finish, I'm just proud I was able to get a little more than half way through with them. Not that I have anything against the concepts in the books, because I think they're all very good, it's just the style that was, frankly, not my cup of tea.

spookymulder93

07-13-2010, 10:33 PM

The Pearl is only 90 pages. It's like a short story.

antiprefix

07-14-2010, 12:42 AM

Anyone who says The Catcher in the Rye is absolutely wrong.

DanielBenoit

07-14-2010, 01:53 AM

These threads are interesting in that they emulate the subjectivity in our tastes.

Moby-Dick, One-Hundred Years of Solitude, Huck Finn I can do without? Hell no! And Hardy? I love Hardy. He is a better poet than a novelist, though his shifting between rural and Victorian settings in his novels are highly skilled and the creeping dark naturalism which underlines both his prose and poetry is quite appealing.

And yes, I know that Twain screwed up the ending of Huck Finn, but my God, only a handful of American writers have equaled the sheer beauty and humanity of the last 300 or so pages.

For me it is: anything by Rand, Dryden (both whom I find just obnoxious, the latter much less so), Kipling, Farenhiet 451 and some others. But I really can't say that they are so bad that I can do without them, even Rand has her virtues.

That said, here's a novel I think all of humanity can live without: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turner_Diaries

Delta40

07-14-2010, 06:04 AM

Man I have to read 100 years of Solitude in second Semester - this sounds painful!

The Harry Potter series
Every Mills & Boon and Harlequin romance
War & Peace
Lord of the Rings
Peter Pan
Alice in Wonderland
Every Bryce Courtenay book (except Aprils Fool)
How to be a successful writer etc etc
Twilight series
Northanger Abbey

Emil Miller

07-14-2010, 06:58 AM

DanielBenoit

07-14-2010, 12:32 PM

Without naming specific books I would gladly forgo those about the following:

1. Vampires

2. Teenagers

3. Boy wizards

4. Beatniks

5. Spurious religious revelatory thrillers.

6. Regurgitated Norse sagas.

7. Most science fiction

9. All fantasy novels.

10. Celebrity biographies.

Hahaha, that pretty much sums it up. No. 4 is probably the only one I can disagree with.

IceM

07-14-2010, 08:35 PM

Candide is the first one that comes to mind. I'll update this as I sort through my bookshelves.

Madame X

07-15-2010, 06:34 AM

Without naming specific books I would gladly forgo those about the following:

7. Most science fiction

Hey, the Dune series is actually pretty good. At least, the ones that Herbert Sr. wrote himself. :angel:

mal4mac

07-15-2010, 07:15 AM

Anything by Thomas Hardy. Yes, he's a great writer, I don't dispute that. But his fatalism is just too hard for me to take. In a Hardy novel nobody wins. Nobody even has a chance. The universe is a cold, uncaring place

So reality is just too hard for you to take? Well you better - it's reality! In the end none of us win 'cause we're all dead eventually. Often by *really* nasty means that make the fate of Hardy's characters seem quite quick and easy (thinking of "Jude" and "Return" here...)

The temperature of distance sapce is 3 Kelvin, so it's definitely cold. I don't see cosmic gas bouncing any babies, so it's definitely uncaring.

That's what is great about Hardy! He faces reality squarely in the face and puts it on the page.

Having said that, he is a tough read, so although I want to read (and re-read) him, I don't really wan to read him every day.

I may have my illusions...but if they ARE illusions, let me keep them! T. Hardy is bad for my health.

Illusions are bad for your health. What happens if your son turns into Raoul Mota? Or if you get a serious wasting disease? As the stoics pointed out long ago, it's better to face these things, then you realise you *can* live through them. And how to live through them.

So one of Hardy's great attributes is that he provides useful exercises in stoicism, before you have to face the dark night yourself. Like practising sums years before filling in your tax form this is all very useful.

Hardy also, of course, provides so much more than this. Beautiful descriptive writing, for instance, which sort of reveals that it isn't *all* gloom and doom - even in the midst of gloom and doom - there is at least *some* beauty.

hum, I tend to avoid the books i won't like in the first place... but there's still a handful of books i could do without (which doesn't mean that they are bad books)..
1. anything by Jane Austen (yep, she's a good writer and i like her irony, but the stories are sooo predictable... blabla

I'm reading Emma at the moment and it's going really well. Austen's not just a good writer, she's a great writer, and her irony is as good as it gets. I think you're right about predictability, at least in the broad sense, at least so far. But it's wonderful how she describes how the predictable occurrences come about. These create great suspense - you *know* that "so and so" loves Emma when she is trying to set him up with her friend and you *know* that's going to lead to tears - but she makes it all happen in such exceedingly funny and interesting ways that you are left in tenterhooks waiting to see *how* it is going to happen.

After my recent failure with a 'book I can *really* do without' - Ulysses - I'm trying to recover by reading classics famous for *not* being a hard slog - Emma fits the bill! (It follows on nicely from Huck Finn...)

Three Sparrows

07-15-2010, 12:52 PM

Katherine Mansfield Short Stories. I can't believe I bought that thing. Any thing written by Dryden or Defoe.:yawnb:

ariella

07-27-2010, 02:01 PM

you know, i actually liked the beginning of the lovely bones, and i thought the whole idea of a story narrated by a dead person was sort of neat. plus the heaven in that book is the kind of heaven i'd like to have. ;) but i lost interest after suddenly years went by and the investigation was sort of halted/forgotten. i really thought that the whole story would be about how mr. harvey would get caught, but it became more of the family that was left behind moving on and stuff, and mr. harvey's end was unsatisfying.

i also thought the ending was corny and bad (because the narrator decides to have "you" as an audience), and my least favorite part was when susie for some reason fell down to earth and then instead of pointing out where her body was and stuff, she used the day to have sex with her junior high school crush.

which reminds me. the relationships are also too unrealistic. come on, with a sister murdered or not, it's kind of impossible for a couple fourteen-year-olds to have a relationship that actually last. and for susie and ray to have sex because they happened to have kissed way back when they were fourteen and the fact that susie was in ruth's body... it's just wrong.

i guess it's too happy-ending? i don't know, but apparently if you write about heaven your book is guaranteed to be a best-seller. (*thinking of mitch albom's the five people you meet in heaven and some other book about a near-death experience*)

TOTALLY AGREE..I know this is from years ago but 'the lovely bones' is just ridiculous and way too nauseating actually. I tried to imagine who would or could actually like & enjoy the whole thing. :ack2: :puke: :ack2: :puke: :confused:

LMK

07-27-2010, 03:04 PM

A few of books I could do without, though I would not suggest others not experience them; Picture of Dorian Gray, Moby Dick, Water fo the Elephants, Don Quixote, House of the Seven Gables, Love's Labor Lost (among other but not all Shakespeare plays), there are others, but these are what came to mind without too much thought.

LuggageFan

07-27-2010, 04:08 PM

Catcher in the Rye. :Yawn: :puke:

4. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

Agreed. I read it, but as I recall, it was just a really weird book with no useful nuggets of wisdom whatsoever.

stlukesguild

07-27-2010, 05:04 PM

Do we measure the merits of a work of literature based upon the number of useful nuggets of wisdom conveyed?

spookymulder93

07-27-2010, 05:29 PM

Do we measure the merits of a work of literature based upon the number of useful nuggets of wisdom conveyed?

According to the Stephen King thread we do.

LMK

07-27-2010, 08:57 PM

Do we measure the merits of a work of literature based upon the number of useful nuggets of wisdom conveyed?

Personally, I do not.

P.S.
I enjoy Stephen King's writing.

LuggageFan

07-28-2010, 02:31 PM

Do we measure the merits of a work of literature based upon the number of useful nuggets of wisdom conveyed?

Not always, maybe not even most of the time, but most great works of literature have something useful/wise to say about the human condition, is that not so?

A book can also be meaningless, as Stranger was, but it could make you feel deeply, and thus, be redemptive on that level alone. Stranger was just confusing to me, left me dry and that was just a big waste of time, IMO, except for the merit in being able to say honestly that I read it (big deal).

For example, there is another active thread here asking about books that make you laugh. Terry Pratchett's Discworld books INVARIABLY make me laugh out ****ing loud, :D , but have a I learned anything from them? In one sense, no, but I treasure each of them greatly for his ability to write things that make me smile and laugh.

Heteronym

07-28-2010, 05:06 PM

Ulysses, James Joyce
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
Naked Lunch, William Burroughs
On the Road, Jack Kerouac
The Atrocity Exhibition, J.G. Ballard
The Road, Cormac McCarthy

Hm, funny, only after composing this list did I notice I only included Anglo-American authors. Let me assure you, I'm not that prejudiced against the English-speaking world :blush2:

FemaleQuixote

07-29-2010, 08:05 PM

Here's my list:
1. Twilight(I really wish time machines existed so I could undo the few hours it took me to read that.)
2. Kite Runner(I believe I would have liked this book better if my AP english teacher hadn't shoved it down our throats for over four months. Truth, I swear. She spent more time on that novel than Hamlet.)
3. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
4. Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare
5. To Kill A Mockingbird

Technophile

07-29-2010, 09:28 PM

Pick any 10 modern books. Because I'm dyslexic, e-books are the only comfortable way for me to read. The only way I can afford that is if the books are free. So the Public Domain is the only choice.

Isla

08-01-2010, 03:00 AM

1. I agree with all of you in the opinion of "Anything by Ayn Rand."
2. For Whom the Bell Tolls (It's a beautiful title but I loathed the novel, there are so many other fantastic books about the Spanish Civil War, in my opinion, that Hemingway's came off rather uninformed and weak).
3. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
4. Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley (The Sequel to Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind)
5. Twilight

Hmm..now I'll descend into non-fiction

5. Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health
6. The Bell Curve
7. Anything by Alex Jones
8. Dangerous Nation by Robert Kagan

Oops, got to eat, I'll have to add more later!

Scheherazade

10-06-2012, 03:57 AM

Minna29

10-06-2012, 05:40 AM

Women in Love DH Lawrence :mad2:
The Alchemist Coelho
wow cant remember the rest!

Oh yes Tale of two cities Dickens.
Shirley and Villette by Charlotte Bronte.

Emil Miller

10-06-2012, 07:02 AM

All seven of the Harry Potter books
Finegans Wake
On the Road
Anything by Faulkner

Volya

10-06-2012, 07:35 AM

I do not understand why there is so much negative opinion towards the Catcher in the Rye and Dan Brown. I have not read The Da Vinci Code, but Angels and Demons seemed fine to me.

Emil Miller

10-06-2012, 07:57 AM

I do not understand why there is so much negative opinion towards the Catcher in the Rye and Dan Brown. I have not read The Da Vinci Code, but Angels and Demons seemed fine to me.

Well you wouldn't catch me reading J.D.Salinger, in the rye or anywhere else for that matter, but it has been frequently referred to as an important American novel on this forum. As for dear old Dan Brown, he has been castigated (I believe that's the right expression) for being such a bad writer for the simple reason that he is, but it's possible that one would need to be somewhat older than 15 to arrive at that conclusion.

LitNetIsGreat

10-06-2012, 08:18 AM

Emil Miller

10-06-2012, 09:05 AM

Dan Brown must rank as one of the worst writers I have had the misfortune to read (had to read it for a uni topic on popular literature). I rank him alongside the likes of Richard Laymon and Clive ****ing Cussler - what a bag of crap! Even in my late teens (I was late to the reading game) I knew this to be the pile of ****e it really was. I then put down that crap and picked up Wilde.

The moment the ballyhoo kicks in on a book's promotion, I know instinctively that I don't want to read it but the thought of being obliged to read Dan Brown is pretty awful.

LitNetIsGreat

10-06-2012, 09:16 AM

Yes it wasn't the high point of my degree by a long shot.

Volya

10-06-2012, 12:43 PM

I understand that of course, he's not up to the level of all the famous classic authors. But he's hardly any worse than a lot else that gets published nowadays, why single him out?

mona amon

10-06-2012, 01:10 PM

1. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel (I found the style annoying and boring and didn't get anything out of it)
2. The Cleft - Doris Lessing (Utter drivel. Ought never to have been published)
3. Run - Ann Patchett (Too politically correct, and utterly lacklustre)

I don't really regret the time I spent reading the Da Vinci code and New Moon by Stephanie Meyer. I knew they'd be really bad, but just wanted to satisfy my curiosity, so I'm not including them.

Volya, it must be something to do with Dan Brown's impressive sales figures.

Emil Miller

10-06-2012, 01:52 PM

I understand that of course, he's not up to the level of all the famous classic authors. But he's hardly any worse than a lot else that gets published nowadays, why single him out?

It's because his books sold through a massively hyped publicity campaign that had nothing to do with literary merit but everything to do with marketing. Of course there are others whose books are as bad but it's only occasionally that publishing houses will go out on a limb and start a bandwagon rolling depending on the subject matter i.e. vampires, wizards, the occult, conspiracy theories etc.
It works on the basis of 'If everyone else is reading it then it must be good.'
Of course, everyone else isn't reading it but sufficient numbers of people have fallen for the hype to make it appear that they are and it takes off from there.

Scheherazade

10-06-2012, 02:51 PM

Without naming specific books I would gladly forgo those about the following:

1. Vampires

2. Teenagers

3. Boy wizards

4. Beatniks

5. Spurious religious revelatory thrillers.

6. Regurgitated Norse sagas.

7. Most science fiction

9. All fantasy novels.

10. Celebrity biographies.

All seven of the Harry Potter books
Finegans Wake
On the Road
Anything by FaulknerWatch out, Emil! You are showing signs of mellowing.

Emil Miller

10-06-2012, 03:16 PM

Watch out, Emil! You are showing signs of mellowing.

I had forgotten that list but, with a nod to Faulkner, I'm going to include Southern Gothic.

Mr.lucifer

10-06-2012, 04:24 PM

i bet Emil's punishment in hell would be forced to live in a world where everyone speaks like they were Finnegan's wake characters.

kev67

10-06-2012, 07:08 PM

The Island of the Day Before - Umberto Eco
Focault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

Mutatis-Mutandis

10-07-2012, 12:28 AM

i bet Emil's punishment in hell would be forced to live in a world where everyone speaks like they were Finnegan's wake characters.

Yeah, plus they're all hipsters who are speaking ironically.

I bet I'd love Emil's Hell.

As for me, the first book that came to mind was Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Emil Miller

10-07-2012, 07:38 AM

i bet Emil's punishment in hell would be forced to live in a world where everyone speaks like they were Finnegan's wake characters.

Judging by some of the contributions to this forum, some of them do.

LitNetIsGreat

10-07-2012, 07:49 AM

I understand that of course, he's not up to the level of all the famous classic authors. But he's hardly any worse than a lot else that gets published nowadays, why single him out?

I didn't, I lampooned Laymond and Cussler as well and yes there are many others as bad as them I expect.

Ser Nevarc

12-11-2012, 09:21 PM

Ten books written by Elizabeth Bishop

Buh4Bee

12-11-2012, 10:14 PM

In Scher's original post:

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

I have to agree that I could have been fine never having read this book. I was never able to really appreciate this book, given its iconic level. I found the story to be interesting, but the writing was nothing special.

krishna_lit

12-12-2012, 01:11 AM

The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (poorly written and absurd)

I loved Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code also, I'm a big fan of the symbologist Robert Langdon. I don't understand why many people say it's absurdly written though.

Buh4Bee

12-12-2012, 04:02 PM

It's popular fiction , but it does exemplify traits of great writing. I listened to a recording of the The DaVinci code on a long car ride and I couldn't believe how poorly written some of the sections were. It's not a well written book. The poor writing distracts the reader from the story. It was irritating.

ChicagoReader

12-13-2012, 12:32 PM

1. Jayne Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (Boring and couldn't care less about subject matter)
2. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller (Joke was barely funny the first time, let alone the tenth and hundreth times)
3. The Savage Detective - Roberto Bolano (started off great but then turned into a giant list of obscure Latin writers)
4. Underworld - Don DeLillo (Again, great start but then it meandered for me, could have been much shorter)
5. JR - William Gaddis (Had to read it twice and oh my do I hate this book)
6. All of the Grimm's Tales
7. Sanctuary - William Faulkner (Gritty crime noir? BS!)
8. Armies of the Night - Norman Mailer (far too self-indulgent)
9. Train Dreams and Tree of Smoke - Denis Johnson (flat, just interesting enough for me to finish)
10. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys (See #1)

qimissung

12-13-2012, 01:24 PM

The Red Pony and The Pearl. I hate them with all my heart.

ralfyman

12-14-2012, 11:37 AM

Dante's Divine Comedy

The Norton Shakespeare

Milton's works collected in an Everyman edition

Boccaccio's Decameron

Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude

Eco's The Name of the Rose

Cervantes' Don Quixote

The Bhavagad-Gita

The King James version of the Bible

Melville's Moby-Dick

Pierre Menard

12-14-2012, 12:05 PM

ralfyman

12-15-2012, 10:30 AM

Just kidding! Those are my favorites.

Strangely enough, the ones I think I might do without are the ones I have spent on the most:

Faulkner - around a dozen Library of America volumes, but I'm still struggling with Sanctuary, although I like the short stories

The Aubrey-Maturin series - I have the four-volume box set, but can't get past a third of Master and Commander, and I don't know if I will still have the energy to read the rest (but I liked the movie)

Bolano - I liked Nazi Literature in the Americas but can't seem to get past through the first few pages of 2666, and I bought two of his other works.

Fowles - I enjoyed the first half of The Collector but not the second, and I can't find the energy to try The Magus, although for some reason I liked the movie (although I think watching it once is enough)

Burroughs - I have four of his works, plus the recent hardcover of Naked Lunch, but lately I've had much less energy enjoying postmodern lit.

Cabrera Infante - I tried Tres Tristes Tigres but could not go beyond the first few pages

Eco's Foucault's Pendulum - I got to finish it after a second attempt at reading it around two decades later; I enjoyed his other works more, esp. Name of the Rose

Pynchon's Mason & Dixon - probably shouldn't be in my list because I did like the few pages I read, but I'm not sure if I should read one of his other novels instead; I did get the hardcover cheap, though

LaMaga

12-15-2012, 12:31 PM

Origin of species
A Brave New World
Slaughterhouse 5
On the Road
The Stranger
Ana K
Brothers K
David Copperfield
A Tale of two cities
2666

Eiseabhal

12-26-2012, 05:53 PM

Anything by Bryce Courtenay. His writing is so right- on politically correct it is banal. There is also rancidly vulgar sex out of the Pornographic Writer's Manual that doesn't even make it as far as funny.

Christina Chen

03-05-2013, 01:40 AM

I hated 1) Brave New World with all my heart and it made me nauseous, but I have to say it was definitely thought-provoking, and is well-written as literature. It was just that I would have rather not thought about it...Same goes for 2) Lord of the Flies.

3) The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers I found to be rather dull. I finished it (I kind of had to for an English project) and say the point, but it was a pain reading it. I also tend to stay away from 4) anything by John Steinbeck because of terrible experiences reading The Pearl and Of Mice and Men, though I would be willing to give East of Eden a chance.

5) The Great Gatsby. It's not like it was a terrible book, nor was it a waste of time, but I just couldn't stand it at times. Maybe having to write pages after pages of analysis on it had something to do with it.

I didn't necessarily hate it, but I never understood all the hype about 6) Romeo and Juliet.

That's it for the great works of literature. Even though I didn't like them, I recognize their literary value. But entire 7) Twilight series and 8) volumes 4-7 of Maximum Ride were just absolutely unnecessary.

On the other hand, I love Virginia Woolf unlike a lot of people who posted here. I can kind of understand why people don't like her works though...they are quite hard to read. I really love her stream-of-consciousness style and flow of language, but that's a matter of personal taste.

grechzoo

03-05-2013, 05:29 AM

Pynchon's Mason & Dixon - probably shouldn't be in my list because I did like the few pages I read, but I'm not sure if I should read one of his other novels instead; I did get the hardcover cheap, though

M&D along with Gravity's Rainbow and Against the Day are the three of his monolithic masterpieces. It wont hurt to start there.

Babyguile

03-05-2013, 03:28 PM

The latest book I failed to finish was Oliver Twist. Dickens used an entertaining amount of satire and irony in the first fifty pages of the novel. This tone vanished soon however and was not replaced with anything interesting: dull characters, no humour in the diologue, etc. I couldn't believe this was the same author who penned David Copperfield when you look at how vibrant and alive those characters were. I also didn't like the idea that there was something interesting and affectionate about thugs and criminals; I wanted to stab them all in the eyes (apart from Nancy).

I'm sorry for those who love this book as my comments probably sound very immature. I think the fact that I knew the plot so well due to the fabulous musical meant that I was always going to struggle to engage with this book.

ennison

03-06-2013, 07:43 PM

I'm always adding to my dud, damned and dismal books list. Too many to mention and some are highly thought of here. The grottiest are modern Scottish.

chrisvia

03-21-2013, 09:14 AM

For me, it'd be any book one would find on display at the grocery.

Jassy Melson

03-24-2013, 03:03 PM

Mein Kamph - Hitler's "masterpiece." Need I say more? One of the most boring books I've ever read.
Cell by Stephen King - The King is beginning to repeat himself.
Finnegan's Wake - Probably the most imcomprehensible book ever written. The fact that Joyce deliberately tried to be obscure tells on him. This is one of the most overrated books ever written.
The Life of Charles Wesley - The author's name escapes me. Next to Mein Kamph, the most boring book I've ever read.
Tarantula by Bob Dylan - A bunch of self-indulgant drug-induced claptrap.
Growing Up at Thirty-Seven by Jerry Rubin - One of the darlings of the radical left shows why most radicals right or left make poor writers.
Revolution for the Hell of It - Abbie Hoffman's Yippie Manifesto reads like an infantile fairy tale.
Gloria Steinham's Revolution from Within - Another in the long list of radical leftists who are convinced that whatever they write is sacred. Magical thinking from the Queen of Cold.
The Wind in the Willows - A failed attempt to personify nature falls flat on its face and becomes a sentimental mish-mash.
Listen to the Warm - Rod McCuen's collection of sickly sweet lyrics makes Barry Manilow look good.