Finnegans Wake and anything by Gertrude Stein. Both utterly incomprehensible.
Finnegans Wake and anything by Gertrude Stein. Both utterly incomprehensible.
In 'serious' literature camp. Henry James' "The Wings of a Dove" is now, for me, tying with the Bible, Lucretius, Joyce's Ulysses and Proust. Desert island reading if the island is in hell...
How can you know if something is good or bad? Who could have thought Montaigne could be so good and Lucretius so bad, or that Dickens could be so good while Henry James is so bad? Guess you just have to read fifty pages and then give up if it feels like shovelling mud on the banks of the Styx. Helps to lose opinions like "James is a classic, I *should* read him."... Doesn't make the next hundred pages any better!
Dickens is good????????????????????????
interesting....
Latest Blog: An Impassioned and Immediate Response to Dan Hodges, Political Writer, Daily Telegraph.
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As you like it - Shakespeare sold out
My least favorite book by far is John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. It's really a shame, too, because the book started out with this really nice poem by Bunyan. But then the man descends into this abject, ridiculous allegory. I understand, the point of the novel was to teach readers how to be good Christians, but really, it gets to be a bit much. The constant quoting of the Bible I can handle--I've really got to accept the work for what it's trying to accomplish--but I'd also been told that it also worked as an adventure novel. And it is the furthest thing from interesting in that respect.
A much better novel with a religious undertones is Journey to the West. You've got all the desire to teach people how to live morally, but at the same time you've got fun adventures filled with interesting characters. In contrast, what does Bunyan give his reader? Other than cardboard characters and heavy-handed allegories, he doesn't give much.
I'll admit, there's one redeeming aspect. Some of the phrases he used, such as the "Slough of Despond," and "Vanity Fair," were really pretty good. However, five interesting words and one good poem do not a good book make. Therefore, I'm going to have to label Pilgrim's Progress as a FAIL.
Last edited by Joyeuse; 11-02-2010 at 07:25 PM.
My super hero serial
"The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others."
Van Gogh
James is hit-or-miss with me. I took a class and found I enjoyed about half of what we read, and could barely finish half. Then I looked at the publication dates of the works I liked and the works I didn't like.Originally Posted by mal4mac
Turns out the works I enjoyed were all his early to middle works, while the ones I didn't like and found dreadfully boring all fit into his later period works.
"You understand well enough what slavery is, but freedom you have never experienced, so you do not know if it tastes sweet or bitter. If you ever did come to experience it, you would advise us to fight for it not with spears only, but with axes too." - Herodotus
https://consolationofreading.wordpress.com/ - my book blog!
Feed the Hungry!
I love these 'The worst I've ever read' posts ....
They always contain works which are generally considered among those which the well-educated person should certainly read. They may not be the best, but they certainly provide a base for expanding literary capabilities. And they separate the seasoned reader from the dilletant. They also give the frustrated reader a podium for venting his/her feelings which heretofore have not been expressed.
the worst book I ever read is propably the one I was forced to read for english major... kate greenville's the secret river....
quite philosophical content but awfull stile... awfull!
and I read a book that made me skipp a houndred pages ('t was melmoth the wanderer from oscar wilds grand uncle...) and the secret river is even worse
no matter what the NEW YORKER says, don't try it!!!!
Friends help you move. Good friends help you move bodies.
'Dharma bums' jack Kerouac, I've explained why on other threads.
'Wasp Factory' iain banks, really not my thing at all, not that I read the whole thing so maybe it got better, since some people seem to like it.
'The Lovely Bones' alice sebold, for obvious reasons.
The worst book I've ever read is a biography of Charles Wesley. I can't even think of the author. It was so badly written and just plain dull that it was a real chore to read it.
Dostoevsky gives me more than any scientist.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. - Albert Einstein
New Moon by Stephanie Meyer. **Yawn**
Exit, pursued by a bear.
God, I read so much dire crud when I reviewed books.
One of the worst was "Beat the Reaper" by Josh Bazell, which was basically just a literary penis enlarger. I was also forced to read various chick-lit bestsellers and it made me depressed how these gender stereotypes (which I find negative), both male and female, are preserved and strengthened through books. "Bergdorf Blondes" one of them was called. Oh the HORROR!
I found both 'Mere Christianity' by C.S Lewis and 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins to be very instructive in how to conduct a terrible argument based on ill drawn conclusions, but not very enjoyable. And while I'm sure that I have read worse books than these two, none have made as ugly an impression on me.
I utterly loathed Robinson Crusoe, I know it is one of the first novels in english, yet Defoe's writing and style was pretty much like the Dan Brown of the 18th century.
Also Have to agree that Dawkins The God Delusion, was quite ridiculous, it seems like in the book he assumes we are all of a highly limited intelligence, as most of his arguments are quite laughable. And seeing interviews of him doesn't help this image I have. His entire book, can be outdone by one Shakespeare quote, "there is more in heaven and earth Horatio, than your philosophies can dream of"
Pillars of the Earth
Wooden characters, horrible coincidences and unlikely happenings, if this writer is so "good" then I am James Joyce!
"The farther he goes the more good it does me. I don’t want philosophies, tracts, dogmas, creeds, ways out, truths, answers, nothing from the bargain basement. He is the most courageous, remorseless writer going and the more he grinds my nose in the sh1t the more I am grateful to him..."
-- Harold Pinter on Samuel Beckett
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