book discussion
topic: There's No Worse Thief than a Bad Book
(showing 1-25 of 49)
date
Sorry, I messed up on the title the last time I tried to start this discussion.
The Historian is a book that truly lived up to that Italian saying--I was angry at myself for every second I spent reading it. When I was done, I took out a calligraphy pen and inscribed the title page: "To Whomever Has the Misfortune to Read this Book Next--I curse you to many hours of frustrating stupidity and plodding plotting and wafer-thin characterization. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!" and then left the thing out in the street.
Besides such obvious candidates as
The Da Vinci Code and
The Celestine Prophecy, what other books have you found truly, despicably hateful? And what are the subtle, or not so subtle, factors that make a bad book bad to you?
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Having been written past approx. 1925 usually does it for me in terms of not being able to stomach a book.
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message 3:
by
Coco
(last edited 09/15/2007 10:43PM)
09/15/2007 10:42PM
I realize hate is a strong word, but I HATED A Confederacy of Dunces. Not a single character did l like and the whole time I kept hoping that Ignatius would get hit by a bus or die some other painful death.
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The Historian - it was the story structure that moved me over the line from 'didn't like' to 'hate.' There's nothing like a story within a story that is so distracting (i'm referring to the 'letters' that were just too detailed) that it keeps you from appreciating the story being told.
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Cheers to that. I had a co-worker who raved about this book and it only made me want to kill myself so it would be over. I got into one of those "I will finish this book because I am smarter than it" battles with it. I finished it but, in retrospect, wish I hadn't wasted the time.
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thoroughly enjoyed it.
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It took me forever to get through Confederacy of Dunces, but I did enjoy it. I mean, it was funny. Not funny enogh to inspire me to pick it up very often, but somewhat funny. It's probably in my "read it once, but probably not again" pile.
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I finished Stranger in a Strange Land and threw it across the room. I hated that book. I hated the misogyny rampant throughout, culminating in the line "you know, rape is almost always the fault of the woman" spoken BY A WOMAN.
Mostly I dislike pretentious books or books dripping in misery for no other reason than the author feels that that's what good fiction should read like. If that makes sense. For example I offer up A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley.
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Oh no, I just started The Historian and now I'm nervous...
The one book I remember HATING was The Virgin Suicides. And I can't even remember why (I read it a few years ago), but I hated it so much that I won't even consider reading the author's other books.
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Always form your own opinion about a book. Then, if you wish, you can throw it across the room.
Personally, I found the Historian a very interesting read. I thought it was clever and mysterious. Obviously, others found it difficult and tedious.
I would like to know what you really think,when you're finished.
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message 11:
by
Jennie
(last edited 12/29/2007 07:37PM)
12/29/2007 07:36PM
Ha! I'm glad I'm not the only one who hated A Confederacy of Dunces. I could only get through about 20 pages of the book, and I NEVER put a book down.
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I too am relieved to find I am not the only person to develop a hatred for A Confederacy of Dunces. I hated every character in it and didn't make it past about 50 pages. I've had a bit of an inferiority complex about this considering how consistently that book shows up on "Best" and "Must Read" lists but it wasn't worth my time.
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message 13:
by
Chuckell
(last edited 01/03/2008 10:32AM)
01/03/2008 10:32AM
YES, Jackie--
The Virgin Suicides was intolerable. Hateful. Agonizing. I vowed never, ever to read another Jeffrey Eugenides book as long as I lived. . . . A promise to myself which, I am happy to say, I eventually broke when I read
Middlesex--and loved, loved, loved it! Weird, huh?
I also vowed never to read another Tom Robbins book after forcing my way through
Still Life with Woodpecker in junior high in an attempt to impress a girl. But years later I broke down and--in an attempt to impress a girl--read
Skinny Legs and All. And may I just say I was right the first time around: Tom Robbins is the WORST.
One might argue that reading bad fiction was never the kind of thing that impressed anyone, anyway, but oh well.
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I totally agree with you, Chuckell. I do lump together The Da Vinci Code and The Celestine Prophecy. The difference is, I stopped reading after about 100 pages when I realize that I am being robbed - of time, brain cells, etc.
What makes a bad book: characters that are flawed - completely unreal, and not fantastical; situations that cannot exist in reality (again, excluding fantasy); poor research on the author's part. I read a book years ago that had a so-called Mexican female gang member that lived in the inner city of L.A. The author had her speaking heavily accented Spanglish, but did not bother to use any real life basis for the made-up words. It lacked authenticity. I should know, as I speak it myself.
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I heard once, subtract your age from 100, and that's the number of pages to give a book you don't enjoy before you give up on it forever. Makes sense to me. There are too many good reads out there to waste your time on, say, The Magic Mountain or V.
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Jackie, you should really give Eugenedes another chance. Middlesex is really good and quite different from The Virgin Suicides. In fact it's one of my favorites--probably good that I read it before I read The Virgin Suicides!
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Sorry, but I loved the DaVinci Code. I found myself wanting to find time to Google all the works of art and the places mentioned. As to the plot, well, it was queasy in places but it still kept me engrossed. Books like this that are based on religious beliefs,experiences, historical references, etc., capture my interest. I've enjoyed reading many of the "Templar" type books only because they've made me aware of a part of history/religion I was unaware of.
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I thought the book would never end! It started out ok and for a while I wanted to see how things would turn out. At some point I just refused to give up on it--in retrospect, yes, I should have tossed it and moved on...
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everyone's felt that, i want to finish but its too damn slow!
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I'm sorry to disagree with so many of you. However, with a master's degree in reading and almost ten years of teaching writing experience, I must say that Kostova has one of the most engaging writing styles I have seen in a long time. I thought this book was absoulte magic, especially compared with the amature writing we have seen in other recent vampire books (Twilight). I can't believe anyone wished for it to end. I am desperately waiting for Ms. Kostova to write another novel.
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Jackie, I agree with you--I totally hated The Virgin Suicides. However, Middlesex is one of my favorite books. I also wasn't such a fan of Michael Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, but loved The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.
As for a book I hated--The Kite Runner, hands down. The fact that it was set in Afghanistan was the only interesting thing about it to me. I do not get why people love this book. All of the melodrama and the ridiculous plot left me cold.
On a fluffier note, I also hated Jemima J, by Jane Green. I can't even explain why--it just filled me with an almost irrational anger.
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Confederacy of Dunces and the Historian were both highly recommended to me. But at least I got through the Historian, though there were quite a few pages I skimmed. I Hated Confederacy.
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I will never understand why people waste their valuable time reading a book they hate when there are so many good books out there waiting to be read. I always give a book a good chance but if after a third of the way through I still hate it, not just the characters but everything about it, I just put it down and don't think about it again. BTW, I loved Kite Runner but was not so crazy about Thousand Splendid Suns although I did read it all.
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No one can doubt the Historian is superbly written but it does get boring half way through. Its a problem with the storyline not writing style.
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I'm with you. Never before have I been so utterly disgusted by a human being--literary or real life... Don't you wonder, though, if that was the whole point of the book? I think so. I don't think we were supposed to like Ignatius. But the fact of the matter is, by the time I got to the end, I really DID want him to get away with what's-her-name so he didn't get locked in an asylum for the rest of his life. I hate myself for that...
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