Books you dislike or used to dislike?

[Jhaeli]

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?

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

Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. Gah don't even get me started.

* EbenEhlers Scrooge 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?

[Insomnius]

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.

[Sigyn]

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.

[Azhev]

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.

[Jhaeli]

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.

[Azhev]

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.

[Ratlord12]

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.

[Insomnius]

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

[Lightningfall]

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.

[The Jade Knight]

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.

[pengwenn]

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.

[Asundar]

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.

[Nessa]

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.

[charity]

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.