The Alchemist was the last one I read before completely giving up on him. I guess at the time I pushed myself to read his works since he's such a celebrated author around here (where I live) so I wanted to see what fuss was about.Originally Posted by lichtrausch
Same here. I am truly at a loss that why his sugar-coated, cliche-ridden, pseudo-philosophical and psychological works are proving to be so popular.
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"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
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Haha sugar-coated and cliche-ridden indeed. His writing is straight forward with a simple inspirational message underneath. I think he appeals to people who are just starting to get into literature. If that's the case I guess he'll serve as an introduction then they'll move on to bigger things.
Heart of darkness. Bored me, and I found Conrad's style very difficult to get into sync with. I remember having to adjust to Melville, but then really enjoying it in Moby Dick.
Catch-22. Jeez, not funny at all in my opinion. Hated Yossarian.
The Last of the Mohicans. If you've seen the movie with Daniel Day Lewis, then don't bother with the book, as the movie is so far above it as to make any kind of comparison unfair to the movie.
Probably the "great American novel" named The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain.
It's abysmal, and vastly overrated. I can't see how anyone ever made it past page one, but I know I sure tried. When I made it to the end, I realized that the only thing I had gotten out of reading it was a hatred for Huck Finn.
I will try Tom Sawyer, eventually.
Poetaster, you have a companion in masochism!
The worst book I've ever read would be a toss-up between Heller's "Catch 22" and "Our Mutual Friend" by Dickens. Joyce's "Portrait" was heavy going too and, oh, so was Richardson's "Pamela". You can see that I studied these for Literature at University, but that was over 25 years ago.
"Catch 22" just wasn't funny; or, it was funny in a Mel Brooks way - i.e. HE thinks it's funny!!
Somewhere on this thread I think I've listed the worst book that I've read but I must admit that Catch 22 was a complete waste of time. Not only was it unfunny but it seemed to be making a comment about the futility of war in a juvenile sort of way and saying: 'Look how hip I am'.
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
I have to say, the company keeps me going, haha.
'So - this is where we stand. Win all, lose all,
we have come to this: the crisis of our lives'
I thought the Milo Minderbender bits were good.
According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
Charles Dickens, by George Orwell
I just finished reading (and reviewing) Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son. What a waste of time, but I couldn't bring myself to stop in the middle of it. I had to finish to see if it redeemed itself. It did not. Two things that make a great story great were completely void - no interesting characters or captivating plot. Koontz simply made Victor Helios (Dr. Frankenstein) way too smart (he had a machine designed for almost everything - impede aging, accelerate birth, download information directly to the brain, making an army of clones) and bastardized Mary Shelley's characters by placing them two hundred years into the future. If you haven't read the novel, don't even think about it!Koontz is very facile in his use of words, but his storytelling needs some serious modulating.
Shirley by Bronte, I just didin't like it, don't know why just don't.
I hope death is joyful, and I hope I'll never return -Frida Khalo
If I seem insensitive to what you are going through, understand it's the way I am- Mr. Spock
Personally, I think that the unique and supreme delight lies in the certainty of doing 'evil'–and men and women know from birth that all pleasure lies in evil. - Baudelaire
Un-****ing-believable. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is incredible. Maybe it's because you were forced to study it that you didn't enjoy it, I find that sometimes.
At the moment it's a tie with the not funny Catch-22 and the despair inducing Blood Meridian.
I've never read Blood Meridian, but a friend of mine did. The only book I've read by Cormac McCarthy is The Road, which I found to be very good, despite its appalling lack of character development.
Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon.
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