Timewaster's Guide Archive
Departments => Books => Topic started by: Jhaeli on December 20, 2007, 01:27:24 PM
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Alright, we've been talking about books we do like. However, everyone's had to read a book they disliked or maybe disliked at one point, then enjoyed it when they came back to it later.
I can think of a few from high school especially. One example of one that I still dislike is Death of a Salesman. We had to do it one in both grade 11 and grade 12 as a part of our study of modern tragedy. I honestly can't stand that book though. The main character comes across as pathetic, rather than heroic, and I couldn't identify with him at all - thus there was no sympathy at the climax of the book (don't want to spoil it!). One that I ended up liking after I read it was Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. It's so dark and hard to get through at first, but I appreciated it after I finished the whole book.
What about you?
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Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. Gah don't even get me started.
/me is sure that won't gain me many friends, but feels secure in his position anyway
also, anything by Stephen King, especially The Stand. Talk about careless writing. So many stupid stupid errors he could have fixed with all of 5 minutes research in any library (the Internet wasn't big when it was written). He didn't care enough about what he was writing to bother looking up that there actually *is* an Air Force base right there in Vegas, so why the heck should I care enough to spend my time reading the stupid thing?
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George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire.
Never before have I encountered such an inconsistent world in a major fantasy work.
Ancient language peppered with modern invective?
Characters killed for no reason then brought back with even less explication and absolutely no foreshadowing?
A religious system void of the concept of heaven or hell, and then characters tell each other to, "Go to hell"?
Takes a truly wonderful world and causes it to be unbelievable. I am not a fan.
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Ruins of Ambrai by Melanie Rawn. I hate books that actually make me want to go in and kill characters. This hatred is usually reserved for well-written books, since poorly written ones don't engage me enough to care.
The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde. I have kind of a love-hate relationship with this book. I thought it was really interesting, but reading it made me feel like I did before I went on Prozac.
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George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire.
Never before have I encountered such an inconsistent world in a major fantasy work.
Ancient language peppered with modern invective?
Characters killed for no reason then brought back with even less explication and absolutely no foreshadowing?
A religious system void of the concept of heaven or hell, and then characters tell each other to, "Go to hell"?
Takes a truly wonderful world and causes it to be unbelievable. I am not a fan.
Hallelujah!! Another person who isn't a Martin fan!! For a long time, I thought I was alone in the world. But I'm not!! It is such a happy feeling, I could just cry. *sniff*
*clears throat*
Anywho, I absolutely hated Animal Farm by George Orwell. Of all the books I had to read in high school, that one is my most hated book.
Also in this category:
Curse of the Mistwrath by Janny Wurts. Such a promising plot blown all to pieces.
Anything by Ed Greenwood. I'm sorry, he may have helped to create a brilliant and sprawling land of fantasy, but the man cannot write! Plus in all his books, the characters are the same. Different names, different builds, same personalities.
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Anywho, I absolutely hated Animal Farm by George Orwell. Of all the books I had to read in high school, that one is my most hated book.
Also in this category:
Curse of the Mistwrath by Janny Wurts. Such a promising plot blown all to pieces.
Anything by Ed Greenwood. I'm sorry, he may have helped to create a brilliant and sprawling land of fantasy, but the man cannot write! Plus in all his books, the characters are the same. Different names, different builds, same personalities.
I did 1984 by Orwell. Took me a little bit to get used to. It's a lot more fun discussing the themes and philosophy around those kinds of books than actually reading them; personally, I think those books were intended to be analysed, not enjoyed.
For your second point, I hate to say it, but I felt the same way about David and Leigh Eddings' new series, The Dreamers. I do enjoy reading them, but the same quality isn't there anymore. Too many of the characters are rather two dimensional and you can see repeated mannerisms and idioms through the series and from previous series. I know Eddings can write, not quite sure what happened.
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I agree with you on the Dreamers. I thought about posting that too, but figured I had said enough. He's early books have a special place in my heart having read them in my early days of reading. His later series though...blah! I was very disappointed.
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Yes, death to Ed Greenwood!
Also, why the hell are the Dragonlance books bestsellers? It's like they... nevermind, I don't want to talk about it anymore.
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FWIW it seems to me that Orwell's 1984 was written to approximate the experience of being watched by big brother so it is altogether a natural experience to feel odd while reading this book.
Of course - I could be wrong ;)
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I, basically, can't stand Katherine Kurtz. It's not that I dislike the story or that she isn't a good author. It's her writing style and the pace of her books, they just rub me the wrong way.
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Da Vinci Code. Bad history, bad writing.
The Little Prince is an interesting one. I read it as a small child and didn't like it at all. When I got college-age and read Le petit prince in French, however, I loved it. It is currently my favorite book.
The Old Man and the Sea. (granted, I read that one in high school, so…)
The Celestine Prophecy
East of Eden
The Prince of Nothing (The Darkness that Comes Before). The world-building isn't bad, but the book was horrible otherwise, and the random gratuitous sex and violence more than made up for any small virtues the book may have had.
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The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
How one law student can make connections between things that fully trained lawyers and federal agencies couldn't is beyond me. And Grisham changed the pov character 3 times in a single paragraph right in the middle of the climax. I think I must have read that paragraph 20 times before I finally figured out who was saying what.
My Antonia by Willa Cather
I didn't think I would like this book (had to read it for a college class) but by the time I finished I loved it. It wasn't one that I just couldn't put down but after I finished it I was glad I had read it.
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
I stopped reading this book with only 40 pages left to go. I just couldn't take it anymore. I don't remember what it was exactly (I read it many years ago) but I just couldn't read those last 40 pages. Up until then I've loved everything of Bradbury's that I've read. Now I'm a little more cautious.
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I'm mostly a fantasy buff, so I'll keep my list restricted to that. Truth be told, I could go on and on and on about many classics and how much I dislike many of them.
In no particular order, fantasy I despise and loathe, greatly:
1. David Eddings - Pedantic, shallow and irritating characters. Poorly developed world and magic system.
2. Stephen Donaldson - I read the first few pages of White Gold Wielder...very dry and boring. I'm usually not that impatient with a book (at least read out to the middle of the book or so), but Donaldson made me snore.
3. George RR Martin - Hated it. Inconsistent world, uninspiring characters, WANTON RAMPANT VIOLENCE IS NOT A SELLING POINT PEOPLE.
4. Terry Goodkind - Wizard's first rule was good. After that, it was just a series of plagiarism, preachy ranting, and poorly written and constructed plot. Also, see above. Rampant and unwarranted violence and torture just desensitizes and turns fantasy into gruesomely unrealistic.
5. Tad Williams Memory Sorry and Thorn series - A race of midget eskimos with big mouths do not... Never. No. Sorry.
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Stranger in a Strange Land
I grok that it's acclaimed as one of the best sci-fi books ever written, and even added an important word to the geek lexicon, but the story just bugged me.
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Great! I just bought an Ed Greenwood book! should I send it back? You guys aren't giving me much hope for it.
I would like to add to this list (and hope the poor authors never come across this page)
I loathed
The Pearl (which I was required to read in 9th grade).
But recent books would be
The Stolen Child by Donohue (I think that's who wrote it) It's not worth buying, so don't.
and then there was this one called
Silver May Tarnish
--- which is by Lyn McConchie and Andre Norton (except I think Andre Norton is dead, so it must just be one of those that they stuck her name on) Everyone tells me to read the Witch World books so I picked up this one and I can't imagine I got a good one since the entire time I was reading it I kept thinking (in a very unprideful way) I can write better than this! So I was very disappointed in that book.
Another group of books everyone keeps telling me to read is the Discworld books
"Oh, they're so funny!" they say, "You need to read them!" they go on.
So I bought Rincewind, and it was...okay, I guess.
"Oh, you got the wrong one!"
"I read three."
"But Rincewind is nothing, read another!"
So I read The Wee Free Men. which I admit was funnier than Rincewind, but still... okay.
And what do they say?
"Oh, no, you read the wrong one!"
I'm starting to be a little skeptical here...
It might be noted that I have a bit of trouble reading books others suggest, I don't know why... maybe it's residual from being forced to read things like The Pearl. So when I do read something someone's suggested, I'm really putting myself out there, forcing myself to open the book just to be nice and then I get ones like these. It's frustrating.
Oh and The Forest House (a prequel to the Avalon books) I hated that one!
PS I actually like the Belgariad and the Mallorean, but that's it by him... they get a bit tedious beyond those ones.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Kane.. Cain... easy to confuse ;)
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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.
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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.
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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 :-\
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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.
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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.
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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)
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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.
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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.
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i couldn't finish the second shannara book.
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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. ;D
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. ;)
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I just read 'The Assassins of Tamurin' by SD Tower (which I know was on here as a bad book). I'm gonna have to say that if it weren't for the insane amount of details... I'm talking over the top, I don't care what the stupid flower looked like kinda details... it might have been good.
But then again, they made the one lady (antagonist) so manipulative and the MC so blithely unaware that I wanted to scream in frustration. I don't think I've ever run into a character I was so happy to see 'get it' than in that book.
I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone.
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I would have to agree with you there, charity. I just checked it out from the library earlier this week. I was hoping that review was a little harsh, but it was actually spot on. The Assassins of Tamurin had such potential, but feel very flat.
One good thing is that it was a single novel, and not part of a series. This way, I don't feel bad for not picking up the rest. ;D
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lol am i alone in trying to forget the bad books I've read? I guess if i just picked up a really bad one it would be fresh in my memory...or maybe if the books so scarred you it left an indelible mark on your very soul...
No to add something to the conversation i just picked up Retribution by Lee Vance, his debut thriller. I hated it. The main character spends pretty much the entire book in a rage, all the cops are bad guys, etc. Also he gets all righteous and indignant when he was accused of cheating on his wife, when really he was...I couldn't finish it.
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Ummm, let's see, books I dislike... Well, I thought Prophet of Yonwood was definitely a step down from City of Ember and People of Sparks, I'm not sure what I think of how Eoin Colfer keeps spewing out more of Artemis, even though I love him, poor Artemis has been through a lot I thought it was time to retire him. But none of these books I really dislike per say. I really hated "Dear Nobody," which we had to read in school, all the pregnant teen drama didn't do it for me, and the characters were just being dumb with eachother, ummm I also didn't like "Alive," very much (I also had to read that in school), and "A Night to Remember," another non fiction one about the Titanic (which I also had to read for school). I think I do a pretty good job of picking books I like because most of the books I pick for myself are enjoyable.