What is the most boring book ever?

the mayor of casterbridge

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

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

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

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Originally Posted by atreides

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

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Aww, same for me.

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

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Originally Posted by emily655321

Splendid avatar, Sub. :D

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Well Thank you Em..:D

Meet (late) the rebellious Jim Morrison

Yes, such an upstanding young lad. :D

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Originally Posted by atreides

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

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I'm all agreement.

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

LOL, Am I the only one who dislikes Shakespeare?

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

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

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Originally Posted by EAP

LOL, Am I the only one who dislikes Shakespeare?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Originally Posted by EAP

LOL, Am I the only one who dislikes Shakespeare?

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

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

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

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

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Originally Posted by CBW

Thus Spake Zarathustra

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

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

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

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

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Originally Posted by EAP

LOL, Am I the only one who dislikes Shakespeare?

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

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

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