Author Topic: What not to read  (Read 11509 times)

Bookstore Guy

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Re: What not to read
« Reply #30 on: April 28, 2006, 02:40:05 AM »
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

the pacing is terrible, and the motivation behind Dracula's evil plan made me laugh incredibly hard...until i realized she was serious - i then threw the book across the room.

I discourage people from buying it at my store.
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Entsuropi

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Re: What not to read
« Reply #31 on: April 28, 2006, 07:01:36 AM »
I read most of the historian. Got to the last quarter, then just lost interest - the pacing was bad, like you said, and the way she'd written it made me lose interest in the most important of the plot-lines.
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Re: What not to read
« Reply #32 on: April 28, 2006, 07:51:39 AM »
Are you sure 3 Musketeers and Monte Cristo were written by the same person actually?  From what I understand, Dumas had lots of other people write most of his books for him and then would go over them to add his own touches.  I should go look that up.  Could be that both were written by the same ghostwriter though, but that might be hard to prove unless Dumas himself said they were both from the same person.
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darkjetti81

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Re: What not to read
« Reply #33 on: April 30, 2006, 01:52:48 AM »
Lullaby, by Chuck Palahniuk

I enjoyed reading "Fight Club" and "Survivor," but I thought "Lullaby" had a terrible ending.
It was an interesting plot, but it started dragging at the end, and it left you feeling frustrated.

"Salem's Lot", by Steven King

Yep, I said it.  I had been told how "great" this novel was, so I decided to read it.  Umm...  SUCKED.  This is the fourth novel I've read by him, and I am growing more and more unimpressed by King.  In short, I think he's "pop-culture" and over-rated.


Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: What not to read
« Reply #34 on: April 30, 2006, 07:25:35 PM »
Quote
Are you sure 3 Musketeers and Monte Cristo were written by the same person actually?  From what I understand, Dumas had lots of other people write most of his books for him and then would go over them to add his own touches.  I should go look that up.  Could be that both were written by the same ghostwriter though, but that might be hard to prove unless Dumas himself said they were both from the same person.

Wikipedia says:
Quote
Dumas made extensive use of the aid of numerous ghostwriters of which Auguste Maquet was the best known. It was Maquet who outlined the plot of The Count of Monte Cristo and made substantial contributions to The Three Musketeers and its sequels, as well as several of Dumas' other novels. When working together, Maquet proposed plots and wrote drafts, while Dumas added the details, dialogues, and the final chapters.

So it would seem they're by the same guys.
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Re: What not to read
« Reply #35 on: May 01, 2006, 12:25:41 AM »
I agree, Salem's Lot did nothing for me. Even when I tried to go back and read it for the Dark Tower tie-ins, I just couldn't stomach it.  Of course I never really liked "Carrie" either.  I think his writing has improved vastly over the years.
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darkjetti81

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Re: What not to read
« Reply #36 on: May 02, 2006, 05:03:30 PM »
Yeah.  I mean, you can't negate the fact that he did write "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile."  Those movies Rocked!  
I guess I just expected more from his novels.  But I HAVE only read four of them out of the hundred or so that he's published.  :)    

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Re: What not to read
« Reply #37 on: May 03, 2006, 08:59:31 AM »
The only King I've ever liked reading was (kinda) The Green Mile. I liked it, but I wasn't wowed. Salem's Lot and The Stand did more than disappoint me. Well, SL just disappointed. The Stand bothered me so much I wanted to cut each page into the shape of Stephen King and burn it in effigy.

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Re: What not to read
« Reply #38 on: May 08, 2006, 10:09:20 PM »
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

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Re: What not to read
« Reply #39 on: May 10, 2006, 10:51:53 AM »
Seconded.
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Re: What not to read
« Reply #40 on: May 10, 2006, 12:27:16 PM »
All in fvor?

fuzzyoctopus

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Re: What not to read
« Reply #41 on: May 10, 2006, 01:03:14 PM »
Well, can I still watch the movie?
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Re: What not to read
« Reply #42 on: May 10, 2006, 02:29:03 PM »
Only because it has Tom Hanks in it.
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fuzzyoctopus

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Re: What not to read
« Reply #43 on: May 10, 2006, 02:36:35 PM »
Don't like Tom Hanks much, but it has Amelie in it.
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Re: What not to read
« Reply #44 on: May 11, 2006, 07:06:16 AM »
I'm actually very curious to see what Ron Howard does with the book.  There were a few very lame parts, and I'm hoping that he will be able to smooth them out.  Without Brown's clunky writing and occasional lapses in logic, this could actually be a good story.
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