Most pointless book you have read

[katelbach]

The killing of Ikemefuna and particularly the ending where Okonkwo's tribesmen turn their back on him, has got to be some of the most heart-wrenching scenes I've ever read.

See that was my problem. I couldn't appreciate these moments as fully as you as i just didn't feel involved in the story at all. Similar to someone on here mentioning that they couldn't get into The Trial, whereas i couldn't get out of it! Glad to see that some of you felt so strongly about the novel though - will inspire me to re-read at some point in my life. Could be that the time/place/context for the reader (me) was as important here in responding to the novel as the content of the novel itself. I could read this again when i'm 70 and think it the greatest work of art i've ever encountered. I'm sure The Catcher in The Rye, The Stranger, Nausea, Amerika wouldn't have the same effect on me now as when i first read them at 17. That said, i should've mentioned this novel in the 'boring' rather than 'pointless' thread really. Still can't think of a pointless one.

Ooh! I can! Stephen Laws - Daemonic. Just awful. Abandoned after about 80 pages when i was aged 15. I didn't read again for 2 years.

[LuggageFan]

Ooh! I can! Stephen Laws - Daemonic. Just awful. Abandoned after about 80 pages when i was aged 15. I didn't read again for 2 years.

Very interesting that you mention him. Years ago, someone on another website suggested that Laws is a very talented writer - so I picked up Ghost Train, which I subsequently enjoyed. I wouldn't say there's anything exceptional about his writing though, but I also wouldn't say he's pointless. Thanks for posting.

[squidy]

I read the first chapter of Twilight. Does that count?
I don't really have the patience to make it through a book that hasn't become interesting after the first few chapters. But if I've actually read through an entire pointless book before, I've forgotten it.

Yeah, but books are so 'trendy' now. It just seems so...either you get chick lit, book-set-in-foreign-country-and-you-will-look-clever-if-you-read-it, the 10 billionth new thriller, the 'philosophical' or 'political' book, etc...

lol, I just started riding the bus again, and you just described the majority of what I see people reading while riding.

[WyattGwyon]

Okay, I'll play. Ulysses by James Joyce and Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann are near the top of my list. Oh yeah, there is this guy name Proust—put his whole oeuvre in there.

Let me dispute a few choices here. Les Miserables is miraculously good. The Brothers Karamazov as well.

As for "modern literature:" I think we are living in a golden age. Revel in it.

[Snowqueen]

I guess it was Tortilla Flat, I found it very boring.