Books you dislike or used to dislike?

[Sigyn]

A lot of people don't care for the Rincewind books by Pratchett, but if you don't like Wee Free Men then Pratchett probably isn't your style.  As for the Witch World books, try the first one.  If you don't like that one then you probably won't like the rest either.  It's the best one, in my mind.  And does anyone actually like The Pearl?  I always figured that was the Steinbeck they made us read because it was short, not because it was good.

[charity]

What's the name of the first Witch World book?

And I did like the Wee Free Men themselves, they were funny enough to make me laugh out loud but then it got a little weird when she was running through the forest trying to find her brother. And I did find Death funny.

I don't understand why anyone likes Steinbeck, I've had to read several things by him over the course of my years and I'm still trying to figure out why he even made the list. It's almost like watching Citizen Cain. I mean it gets on the list of best movies of all time and what is it but this wierd movie you finish watching and wish you hadn't wasted the time. Same with Steinbeck IMO. And what kind of education system do we have that a 9th grader is required to read The Pearl!?

But that's just me ranting. My sister is far more inclined to such books, she loves Bradbury, 1984 is one of her all time favorites. Me, I think I'll stick with my little list of genre's.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I find Of Mice and Men to be one of the most interesting works of American literature.

And I assume you mean Citizen Kane. THough Citizen Cain has a startlingly large number of fascinating possibilities

[Sigyn]

The first book is Witch World.  As for Steinbeck, I've read two things I liked by him: Travels with Charley and The Moon is Down.  And I like Citizen Kane, though that's possibly because I studied it in a class that I really enjoyed.

[charity]

Kane.. Cain... easy to confuse 

[White]

Have to agree on the David Eddings thing. The fact that he actually listed his basic formula in the start of the compnion book the Rivan Codex (including stereotypical elements like quest, people in the quest, item quested after ect) ... You'd think he'd snap at that point and make extra sure that his books didn't all wind up being too similar you know? especially since he has also said how when he's writing one character he feels like he's writing Sparhawk (etc...).

And it's sad how when he started listing his wife as a co-author it was for the dreamers series which was a bad average of every similar element and character in all his other stories - one hoped this would have meant new life into his work or whatever or maybe it was just an attempt to try and inspire new interest. I know I sound cynical, but I just really feel betrayed when he's clearly laid out and realised it seems the similarities of his stories and then does nothing about it.

*le sigh*

And yes, Terry Pratchett's work can be a little hit or miss sometimes, but it's still more consistent than most authors and he's created a laregly enjoyable and interesting world.
Mort, Going Postal and a number of others are stand out favourites.

My darling friend who introduced me to his books recommended starting with MORT and I have always found that to be a very good startign point to recomment to others as well.


And if you think your High school reading sucked, try living in Australia. In English (though not english lit as much - which is the other english option for years 11 and 12 - THANKFULLY!) they conctantly try to pawn off australian authors onto you.
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Tim Winton sucks and is a pervert. The fact that every australian who has been through highschool can say that is a testement to this fact.
There were a couple others who are bad too, I think they had the common decency to oublish fewer texts though.

Sadly the good authors in australia (such as Emily Rodda and Graeme Base) tend to right more children/young adult and fantasy.

[Tekiel]

Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man.  First person pov that should NEVER be used.  I actually read through the sex scene and never even registered what was happening till everyone started talking about it the next day at class.

Also (please don't hit me) The Once and Future King.  The thought of all those soon-to-be knights tying a little girl up to a tree to lure a unicorn so they could kill it . . . ugh, not my favorite part.

I'd add Wizard of Earthsea, but I haven't been able to get past the first part of the story the last four times I started it.

[charity]

my brother in law says that when I get around to reading earthsea (it's in my pile  ) to just not even read the third one. He said it doesn't add to the story at all and probably detracts from it.

I read this series by Elizabeth Haydon... Symphony of Ages. So she makes a second series to go with the first and right in the middle of this book (I think it was Elegy for a Lost Star) is this horrible scene, I mean you don't see it coming at all and blithely read right through it before you realize what you've done and then you wish you could scrub your brain with bleach and steel.

Then again, her stuff isn't what I'd call 'clean' either, but I'd invested all this time I felt I ought to keep going, until that part, I haven't even considered reading her newest one.

Another one that I read, but I think this is a series of books I read in one of those all in one books, was the 'Deeds of Paksinarion'
Now it wasn't that bad, I was waiting for some sort of love story that never showed up, but for the most part it was pretty okay, I even found one part very poignant. However, she (Elizabeth Moon) has this torture scene near the end of the book that drags on forever! Probably a chapter at least, she goes into such detail and the whole while you just wish you could skip it and move on, but you know she's gonna drop something hugely important into the middle of it (which she does). That really annoyed me, I don't do well with violence, it gives me bad dreams 

[Pygmalion]

Also (please don't hit me) The Once and Future King.  The thought of all those soon-to-be knights tying a little girl up to a tree to lure a unicorn so they could kill it . . . ugh, not my favorite part.

Yikes, I agree with that one!

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad... bleh. I do not understand why people like that novel.

Also O Pioneers by Willa Cather. I'm still not sure what the whole point of that one was...

Oh, and Terry Brooks' Sword of Shannara. It's really quite amazing how he managed to pack every fantasy novel cliche into one nice compact volume. I want the hours I spent reading it back.... I should have just stopped after the first few chapters, but I have this neurotic need to finish books once I start them. Perhaps it's a naive hope that they will get better.

[skibocastle]

I like almost all books.  I can generally ignore inconsistencies in the research and enjoy the story, but there are a couple of authors whose books I couldn't get through.

Melanie Rawn - I can't rememberthe exact book, I put it down after a short time because the spelling and typos were so horrible.

Sara Douglass - I've tried twice to pick up one of her books, most recently The Serpent Bride, and lost interest after about a 100 pages.  I can count on one hand the number of books that I've been unable to finish in my life and for 2 of hers are on that list.  I know I won't pick up a third.

[Azhev]

Oh, and Terry Brooks' Sword of Shannara. It's really quite amazing how he managed to pack every fantasy novel cliche into one nice compact volume. I want the hours I spent reading it back.... I should have just stopped after the first few chapters, but I have this neurotic need to finish books once I start them. Perhaps it's a naive hope that they will get better.

Sword of Shannara is pretty much a reiteration of Lord of the Rings and all that.  Thankfully, though, his Elfstones of Shannara (the book right after) is one his best, in my opinion.  And the rest that follow are good too (though if you want his best, read his Word and the Void series.  Classic)

[Pygmalion]

Thanks for the recommendation. If I can ever get up the gumption to pick up a book by Terry Brooks again, I might give it a shot.

[Bryant]

I wouldn't recommend Terry Brooks to anyone. I felt like every book of his that I read was actually the exact same story with the exact same characters and exact same locations, except the names were different, the fat people were skinny, the skinny people were fat, the mountains were valleys, the valleys were mountains, etc. It's like all he did was polarize every unimportant aspect, and then leave everything else the same.

[charity]

i couldn't finish the second shannara book.

[Azhev]

I wouldn't recommend Terry Brooks to anyone. I felt like every book of his that I read was actually the exact same story with the exact same characters and exact same locations, except the names were different, the fat people were skinny, the skinny people were fat, the mountains were valleys, the valleys were mountains, etc. It's like all he did was polarize every unimportant aspect, and then leave everything else the same.

Hmmm...I'm sorry you feel that way.  Terry Brooks is one of those authors that helped me love to read.  I don't see the repitition/polarization you mention, but I guess that goes to show you that everyone is different with their likes and dislikes. 

I still standby the fact that his Word and Void is by far his best series.

i couldn't finish the second shannara book.

That's his best Shannara book too, according to many of his fans.