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I think there's a brilliant book in Moby Dick, there just happens to be a whaling manual and a whale encyclopeadia in there too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodo25
I remember reading Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and I liked it, except for the discription of every single life form he encoutered under water.
Despite its crucial contribution in American history, I am having difficulty finishing The Federalist, I started it over a year ago. Other books I could not finish: The Fall of Napoleon by Michael V. Leggiere, DaVinci Code, and above all, the Bible.
The Da Vinci Code was not a good novel, but it was entertaining to an extent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Serena03
I found Washington Square pretty bad, but there are a lot of books i've yet to read so I can't say that it is the most boring.
General Patton once wrote a book about his experiences in WWII and it was dreadful. I do not know why it was published.
Well I'm new here, but I'm amazed that anyone mentions Moby Dick. Here's a selection of the "boring" part of Moby Dick:
Chapter xxxii - CETOLOGY
Now the various species of whales need some sort of popular comprehensive classification, if only an easy outline one for the present, hereafter to be filled in all its departments by subsequent laborers. As no better man advances to take this matter in hand, I hereupon offer my own poor endeavors. I promise nothing complete; because any human thing supposed to be complete, must for that very reason infallibly be faulty. I shall not pretend to a minute anatomical description of the various species, or - in this place at least - to much of any description. My object here is simply to project the draught of a systematization of cetology. I am the architect, not the builder.
[And Melville goes on for a while and concludes]
. . . . Finally: It was stated at the outset, that this system would not be here, and at once, perfected. You cannot but plainly see that I have kept my word. But I now leave my cetological System standing thus unfinished, even as the great Cathedral of Cologne was left, with the crane still standing upon the top of the uncompleted tower. For small erections may be finished by their first architects; grand ones, true ones, ever leave the copestone to posterity. God keep me from ever completing anything.
I admit that the first section is a bit strange, and nothing much seems to be happening. But the second? Is that really so boring? It seems to me one of the most exciting passages ever written. The whale is a mystery, and human understanding of the whale's body (which is a metaphor for both the natural world and the workings of God's mind) must always be incomplete.
Christ, was going to start on Moby Dick the other day! Sack that off. For me there aren't many i found so boring - perhaps i'm just very tolerant. I found Erewhon by Samuel Butler really started to drag in the second half, but it was still interesting on the whole. I also realised recently that i had read Atomised by Michel Houllebecq a couple of years ago yet can remember ABOLUTELY NOTHING about it. Not a good sign. I remember being bored by Hesse on 2 occassions as well (Demian and Siddhartha), though again not entirely. Yet to find a completely meritless novel, but i will continue to live in fear.
Ulysses, by Joyce. I read about half of it, then gave up due to the utter insignificance of it.
Cecilia by Fanny Burney. I could not concentrate while reading it. Fell asleep.
In all honesty, the Holy Bible.
To me, most literature is boring, LOL.
I love non-fiction, but with fiction, I prefer short stories or pulp.
I guess the most boring I've read was Red Badge of Courage.
I read Moby Dick last month and find it a very interesting read, even the facts about Cetology! But, mostly, it's a great adventure story. I can't see how anyone could find it boring. I agree with the negative comments about Ulysses & The Bible! For me, they tie with Proust for 'most boring'.
Hands down: the most boring book ever: 'EAT, PRAY, LOVE'
I COULDN'T WAIT TO FINISH READING THIS NOVEL, AND THE MOVIE WAS EVEN WORSE!
Jack Welch's autobiography(former CEO of GE) was tough to get through. It was not necessarily boring, but he sure was. Endless stories of firing people who had crossed him in the past and talking of his greatness.
And, oh yea, alot of stories about how he thought he made a mistake, but then it turned out to be a great thing in the end.
It's the only autobiography that I did not finish.
Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Totally pretentious and boringly macho. By the end I knew nothing more about Zen or Motorbikes than at the beginning. And was sick of the pompous twit.
I hated that book. I agree with you. I could brave the movie. Good to her it is as bad as the book. I'll avoid it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tournesol