Christen's comments (member since Aug 01, 2007)

Christen's comments from the Books I Loathed group.

Totally agree about Friday Night Knitting Club! I just read it for book club and felt like I could've sat there with my check list and marked off every awful chick lit stereotype. Feminist? Check. Wise, older woman? Check. Single mom? Check.

Absolutely nothing in this book was ground breaking, and I was semi offended in some parts at the portrayal of "real" women (only semi because I wasn't all that interested in devoting much energy to such a mediocre book).

And really...can't we get through ONE story about women without cancer killing someone off? What a tired old plot device.

I read both Wicked and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and just couldn't enjoy either one of them. I too was drawn in by the novel (forgive the pun) idea of the fairy tales told from the point of view of the "bad guy". Alas, Maguire's writing is so HEAVY and dark that I just felt sleepy picking up his books. I found myself skipping/skimming/scamming more and more and more until I got to the end. At which point I was glad I had skipped/skimmed/scammed because the end did not redeem the rest of the book.

Sorry, Greg-o, but I just don't dig your writing style. And I don't really like or care about your characters. The End.

Never fear, Jennifer! I liked the Hitchhiker's Guide movie also. LOVE Martin Freeman and thought that the rest of the cast did a "just fine" job. The visuals were totally different than what I had imagined when reading the book, but that was great because it helped me see the book in a whole different light. I thought the movie was funny and fun, just like the book.

Erica - totally agree with you on Ruth. The worst part about Ruth is that she is written the way a man thinks a woman acts and therefore she comes off as ridiculous. Garp in The World According to Garp isn't much better, but that's because he's an unfaithful, wishy washy jackass.

Also, each and every character in Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan. I was actually DISAPPOINTED when they weren't killed.

And of course each and every character in The Jane Austen Book Club. Such a group of pretentious nasty old biddies and the youngens who hang around them deserve misery and heartache. I raise grey hounds? Seriously?? Who are these people!

And finally Delores from She's Come Undone. Ugh. She puts a nasty taste in my mouth from just thinking about her. I tried to feel badly for her, but she's so disagreeable that I couldn't even care about her journey to redemption. Yucky. I have to go wash out with salt water now.

The sex scenes (take your pick, any one of them are creepy nasty) in Lost in the Forest. Call me old fashioned, but I don't think we should romanticize pedophilia. Just the thought of that old loser gives me the creeps. Yuck-o. And it was so *detailed*! Putting the pedophilia aside, I also don't need to read about the parents' sex lives either.

Ok so I can't really say that I hate everything she does because I only read one book she wrote. However, can you really call a book a mystery if someone fakes their death???? How is that a mystery?

I had this same problem with The Westing Game by the way.

This is just really funny to me.... I'm reading through pages and pages of people complaining about what other people choose to do with their time and energy.

Why don't we just live and let live? Why do we have such control issues that we have to try and control totally random people on the internet? Is it really that important that people arrange their books on shelves? Or set their profile to public? Or post books at all?

I don't pretend to understand other people's motivations - especially on the internet - and I find that getting all bent out of shape about what other people choose to do with their lives just makes me crazy.

Take a deep breath, people.

Hey Seth - the bureaucracy is the funny part about earth being destroyed. I liken it to my local government: I'd do something about it if they didn't make it so ridiculously hard to find information about or file a grievance about a project I don't approve of. The thing is...Adams is very clever in his presentation of the destruction of earth. He parallels it with the destruction (due to imminent domain!) of a man's home. No one cares about the man's home except him. Likewise, no one in the universe cares about earth but us. And you don't really have a lot of time to dwell on it since that's just the beginning of the story. And don't worry...there's another earth.

You may want to give Hitchhiker's a try, Seth, before getting all bummed out about earth being destroyed.

It makes me vomit in my mouth a little when I hear people say "convo" - short for conversation. As in "Someone needs to have a convo with her about this." Sometimes they even use it as a verb!! As in "We'll have to convo about that." We'll have to what?!? Are you kidding? If you're too lazy to say the whole word, then I'm not going to devote enough time for a discussion when you're obviously super busy and need to truncate words just to fit everything in!

To follow up on that... "bust a nut". Yuck yuck double yuck-o. Men and their penises...what will they think of next?

Tara - my boss would TOTALLY tilt her head to the side when she would say "I understand that..."!! I think it might be obligatory to coordinate the head tilt with the phrase. But she also slathered all this attitude all over it...like she just couldn't believe how stupid I was. But then, she was a "c" word. :D

Speaking of which, here's my contribution on the "c" word. I try not to even let the person who said it notice that I heard them because I think, like Xysea said, they are usually using it to get power in some way. Of course, I have also been socialized to be shocked by it...so it's a struggle.

On the British note, I do find myself less offended when it's said by a Brit...Lord knows why! My boyfriend thinks it's really sexy to hear a British woman say "cock and balls"...again, Lord knows why, but I have developed an excellent British accent just for that one phrase. ^_^

I loathe in all forms whenever someone says "I understand that" usually followed by "but..." after you've been trying to explain something to them. Do you?!? Do you understand that?!?! Do you really?!?! My former boss used to do it just to be a hateful know-it-all and I told my boyfriend who promptly started using it against me. Now whenever I hear someone say "I understand that" it sends shivers down my spine. What an awful, know-it-all, grating way to make someone else feel badly about themselves for trying to be helpful.

I liked Frankenstein, but I'm just throwing out some "change a mind" reasons here, not bashing anyone's right to loathe it. I kept in my head the whole time the idea that Shelley was telling this story in a dark room trying to win a scariest story contest among celebrated authors of her day. That thought set the perfect mood.

I was also really surprised at how badly Hollywood has interpreted the story over the years. I see all those lame Frankenstein's Monster Halloween decorations, and I think that the sentiment of fear that's meant to be inspired by them is exactly what the book was warning against. The Monster is supposed to be the externalization of our own lonliness and feelings of isolation, but here we are still saying "fear this thing! look how hideous it is!". Although I guess that's a little tough for a two year old to grasp. :)

I was just surprised by the story I guess. Shelley managed to create two anti-heroes and I was not really happy to cheer either of them on. I was really disgusted with Dr. Frankenstein (as the reader should be) for his cowardice and lack of foresight. I was also disgusted with the Monster because y'know violence ain't the answer, man. It made me think, and it still makes me think, which is pretty impressive for a little lady and her short story.

This isn't a phrase I loathe, but I loathe the person who loathes it. My friend's old boss would freak out on her if she ever wrote the words "on Friday" or any other day. She would say "You can't sit on a day!" So it should just say "The fundraiser will be held Friday" rather than "The fundraiser will be held on Friday". While this distinction makes sense, I think she was just being overly critical. But then, the woman was a horrible beast of a human being.

Eloise - following up on that, IMPACTFUL.

I didn't say it wasn't a word...just that it drives me crazy. I'm buying people who use it a dictionary because I want them to learn better words than that one. Only through expanding their minds can we hope to give them a future! Or possibly if they are mentored....

Maybe I should start a new thread "Punctuation I loathed".

I'm gathering books for a project I have to do, and I swear to God one of the book has an exclamation point in the title!! WHAT?!? "Masterful Coaching!" does not deserve any added excitement. I hate when they try to make business books exciting by putting lots of lame analogies that they call "models" and strong punctuation in them.

Also, another annoying habit these authors have is the super sized subtitle. What is with that? Masterful Coaching: The Art of Building Relationships and Creating Strong Processes to Grow Your Business and Retain Your Employees. There is no need for that.

Line up, authors, I'm going to slap each one of your hands. Bad author! Bad!

Oh Jackie - talk to me about "Irregardless". I always try to keep a straight face, but whenever someone says it I get the feeling that I'm looking at them as if they're the most stupid person on the planet. I can't help myself. Irregardless....bah. <buys each person who uses that word a dictionary>

Thank You for Smoking is a book?? Interesting...very interesting. I didn't buy Katie Holmes as a "reporter smarter than a tobacco lobbyist" for one second. I can see how the pacing would unfold very well in book form. It felt rushed in the movie. Thank you, Cheri, for the tip and for the awesome lists!

Excellent comment, Kay. Cathy and Heathcliff are indeed monsters...although wouldn't it be nice if monsters loved each other and made each other miserable and left the rest of us out of it?