The Most Overrated Books Showing 5,151-5,200 of 5,680

[Karen]

Michael wrote: "He's baaack..."

Do you really think it's him?

[Michael]

Can you possibly have any doubts?

[Petergiaquinta]

Sockpuppet?

[Michael]

Charlie McCarthy was no dummy.

[Karen]

Michael wrote: "Can you possibly have any doubts?"

Oh- not now. No question at all.

[Karen]

EdWrite wrote: "Michael wrote: "Charlie McCarthy was no dummy."

Your one liners are un-surpassed."

I thought you were sleeping

[Lizzie]

I somewhat agree because even thought the books are classics that teach valuable lessons, I think grade schools and high schools today may need to be reading different books, because some of the old books do not apply to this time period anymore. Why not read a book that is modern and something they can relate to more?

[Karen]

Lizzie wrote: "I somewhat agree because even thought the books are classics that teach valuable lessons, I think grade schools and high schools today may need to be reading different books, because some of the ol..."

I agree- we need both though. Not all of these books teach lessons and a work of literature does not have to.

[Sarah]

Lizzie wrote: "I somewhat agree because even thought the books are classics that teach valuable lessons, I think grade schools and high schools today may need to be reading different books, because some of the ol..."

This is an interesting idea. I think that maybe some classics could still be taught as well as contemporary literature. I mean, although there is older stuff doesn't mean that it's any less enjoyable to an educated group of students. In a lot of my English classes, my teachers have thrown in books that were published in the last 10 years or so as well as books that are over 100+ years old.

While some of the recent books have been absolute crap (Kite Runner), others have provided a less dated message, so I get what you're saying. Personally, I enjoy the old stuff better, but not all students are like that.

[Mochaspresso]

Sarah wrote: "Lizzie wrote: "I somewhat agree because even thought the books are classics that teach valuable lessons, I think grade schools and high schools today may need to be reading different books, because..."

Out of curiosity, why do you say that "The Kite Runner" was crap?

[Sarah]

Mochaspresso wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Lizzie wrote: "I somewhat agree because even thought the books are classics that teach valuable lessons, I think grade schools and high schools today may need to be reading different ..."

To me, it felt as if it was full of tired cliches and overused plot devices. Also, the twists in the story were a bit too ridiculous for me to just accept them. I couldn't take it as seriously as it was meant to be taken, which is not too good of a sign to me. It just didn't work for me at all.

[Karen]

Sarah wrote;
"To me, it felt as if it was full of tired cliches and overused plot devices. Also, the twists in the story were a bit too ridiculous for me to just accept them. I couldn't take it as seriously as it was meant to be taken, which is not too good of a sign to me. It just didn't work for me at all."

I haven't read this book, but several GR friends who I respect liked it, so I can't dismiss it as crap.

[Petergiaquinta]

I wouldn't call it "crap," but I get what Sarah is saying. Assef should not have popped back in at the end. (I'll leave it there for those of you who haven't read the book yet.) That twist was ridiculous. I'll take it when I'm reading Charles Dickens and not only accept it but enjoy it with him and his fellow Victorian novelists...I'll even take it in a John Irving novel...but not in a contemporary work of realistic fiction on Afghanistan. It should have been just random Taliban; it should have reminded Amir of the abuse and intolerance of his childhood. There could have been all kinds of echoes of the trauma of his childhood, but it should not have been Assef himself. That not only strains credulity in this type of fiction but even ruins it...I'm still not willing to hang "crap" on the novel (Water for Elephants?), but I understand what Sarah means.

[Karen]

Okay, thanks for the clarification. I looked at Sarah's books and she has a great list on her page!!

[Mochaspresso]

Petergiaquinta wrote: "I wouldn't call it "crap," but I get what Sarah is saying. Assef should not have popped back in at the end. (I'll leave it there for those of you who haven't read the book yet.) That twist was ridi..."

I guess I can understand how being forced to face your childhood demons can be viewed as cliched and an overused plot device, but I don't know if I agree that it should have been random Taliban rather than Assef. The whole point was that those two had history. It seems to me that taking away that element would have made the story less credible rather than more.

[Sarah]

Petergiaquinta wrote: "I wouldn't call it "crap," but I get what Sarah is saying. Assef should not have popped back in at the end. (I'll leave it there for those of you who haven't read the book yet.) That twist was ridi..."

Maybe my assertion was a little extreme. I just didn't see much that was redeeming about the Kite Runner, so to me it was just not a good book. That bit with Assef at the end was so ridiculous that it almost felt silly- that was the deal breaker for me. You know what really sucks, though? There were a lot of opportunities for the Kite Runner to be good and I feel that the author really missed out on some moments that could have been truly profound. Truly lamentable.

Perhaps it can be respected if it is within someone's tastes, but it's not for me.

[Kallie]

Sarah wrote: "Petergiaquinta wrote: "I wouldn't call it "crap," but I get what Sarah is saying. Assef should not have popped back in at the end. (I'll leave it there for those of you who haven't read the book ye..."

I agree. The early passages in Kabul were pretty good, but those ending scenes with Assef were melodramatic, and the character became very one-dimensional. I was left with a negative impression of the book.

[S.W.]

Damn...I haven't read it and I'm feeling terribly left out of an interesting conversation. I thought this thread was dead but alas, "It's Alive! It's Alive!"

[Mochaspresso]

My local barnes and noble has the paperback in the bargain section for $6

[Sarah]

Karen wrote: "Okay, thanks for the clarification. I looked at Sarah's books and she has a great list on her page!!"

Thanks, by the way! :)

[Karen]

Sarah wrote: "Karen wrote: "Okay, thanks for the clarification. I looked at Sarah's books and she has a great list on her page!!"

Thanks, by the way! :)"

Oh your welcome- I like to explore what others read, and you have some books on your page I' m interested in.

[benita]

We read "Catcher in the Rye" in English class and I was so excited to finally read this since I'd heard so much about it, etc. and I was so disappointed.... Ugh, hate when that happen...

[S.W.]

Sometimes the classics can't live up to all the hype but don't give up on them. In twenty years, you may reread CitR and find it incredibly poignant. Some books take awhile to sink in and others may not sync with your current state mind or stage in life. Take a look at Julie Schumacher's Dear Committee Members. It's a little epistolary novel about a bitter English Prof whose writing career has devolved into ceaseless requests for letters of recommendation. The climax snuck up on me and caught me totally unprepared.

[Lizzie]

Wow, Im surprised the Cather in the Rye is my favorite

[Karen]

Lizzie wrote: "Wow, Im surprised the Cather in the Rye is my favorite"

I am surprised too- it is a great book

[Monty J]

Benita wrote: "We read "Catcher in the Rye" in English class and I was so excited to finally read this since I'd heard so much about it, etc. and I was so disappointed.... Ugh, hate when that happen..."

Maybe this will help: http://jdsalinger-heying.blogspot.com...

[Mochaspresso]

This seemed to be the most fitting place for posting the following link. It actually may have already been posted. (I didn't bother to check. If so, my apologies). I came across a NY TImes article about which books you would remove from the literary cannon if you had the power.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/...

I think I would be far more interested in ensuring that certain book be added rather than taking some out. The Canon needs a multicultural injection first and foremost.

[Petergiaquinta]

It's an interesting question, but James Parker, what a kook. If you want to remove a Romantic from the canon, pick either the esoteric P Shelley or the smarty pants Byron. Both are more interesting as people than as poets. But I wouldn't want any of them removed...I say let's give the heave-ho to dusty old be-wigged John Dryden. Would any of you miss him?

But at least Parker played the game...why couldn't Francine Prose have committed to one name and run with it? Cowardice, I say!

[Danielle]

I have a question for you. Who is in charge of this Canon? Who really decides what book and author will be add or removed?

We can fantasy on being in charge. The Canon would be certainly very different. But our fantasies won't change anything on this list.

In this era of globalization, I agree with Mochaspresso, the Canon should be more open to the world.

[S.W.]

We should form a canonical committee and come up with rules and a nomination process like the NFL does for the Hall of Fame. The French already do this to a certain extent in the Pantheon.

1) only deceased authors
2) must be voted in
3) have multicultural/ethnic subcategories as well as various genre categories to be diverse and inclusive

This introduces another equally important question: who would be qualified to serve on the committee?

[Petergiaquinta]

Oh come on, stop being Francine Prose and play Mocha's game! Let's breathe some life back into this thread!

[Petergiaquinta]

Or the New York Times' game, I suppose...

[Mochaspresso]

I don't know about an "only deceased authors" rule. That means that "To Kill a Mockingbird" would be excluded.

[Mochaspresso]

In the case of who would be qualified to serve on such a committee, I envision a mix of academics, educators and journalists/critics...maybe even open it up to bloggers as well. That would be interesting!!! Harold Bloom debating the merits of a book with a HS english teacher and a blogger would be an interesting conversation. (...or maybe I am just a total nerd.) :)

[Petergiaquinta]

Any conversation with Harold Bloom would be interesting...but you're obfuscating, Mocha! Let's start tossing folks off the canon. I vote for Dryden.

And yeah, let's limit it to dead people. Harper Lee has gotten enough literary abuse this month.

[S.W.]

OK...I'll play. I really hate Ezra Pound and I chuckled when Parker mentioned his frustration with Pynchon. There are lots of people "Better Than Ezra." The smarter I get, the more I'm learning to appreciate James Joyce but Ullyses went completely over my head.

[Petergiaquinta]

Nice choice...I toyed with the idea of suggesting Joyce, but I don't want English majors with pitchforks and torches outside my house tonight. That kind of thinking could result in a mighty strong response, and Joyce has done a lot for the literary world. (I even considered saying T.S. Eliot!)

But Joyce and Eliot have given us much worth keeping and reading today, and that's probably not the case with Pound. So if I get a vote on this academy we're putting together, I'll second that one. Plus, he was a fascist and a nutbag...

[Mochaspresso]

I have to think about who I would kick off. I truly want my reasoning to be more profound than "because I hated it". But, I'm thinking that my first choice might be Melville.

....ducking...

[Petergiaquinta]

The pitchforks are on their way to your house now!

[S.W.]

I think my hatred of Pound begins with the pomposity of his poems and their disjointed, cobbled together nature. The only message I could extract was that this bloody author is a well read fellow who has no shame in showing off all his erudition. He freely used multiple different languages both dead and alive often in the same sentence. The footnotes were longer and perhaps more enjoyable to read than the poems themselves. Basically, Pound makes me feel stupid and for that I "hate" him!

[Gary]

OK, I have two (and one less... maybe) controversial nominations for the "Ixnay from the Annoncay" game:

Moby Dick.

::gasps::

"But man versus nature!" you say. "And it's all Moby and Dicky with the revenge and obsession. And maybe the whale is God and 'Call me Ishmael' and stuff."

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Underwelmed. My issue with the whale book is threefold: First and foremost, it's a very fat piece of work. I'd eliminate it simply because of the bang for buck (value for verbiage) ratio. I have a whole rant about the flabbiness of the story--which I'll spare everyone--but MD is the only book I've actually recommended people read an abridged version of. For the time and effort of reading it, people could get at least two, maybe three, other books read that would accomplish a comparable goal--and I'd throw in some short stories and some verse to round things out.

Second, its relevance has shifted. Yes, whale hunting was a very important industry historically, but the Romance of the whale hunt is essentially viewed as alien these days--and well it should be. Sure, there's role for the historicity of such a thing, but I'd argue there are many, many books that could occupy that role without going going into literature that glorifies the extinction of other (sentient) beings.

Third, it's been done before. In fact, "man versus nature" might very well be the theme of any number of myths, legends, novels and stories before and after MB. The book does stand out for the creation of Ahab as a character (though, again, I'd argue: been done before) and the existence of a giant white whale as a foe/symbol, but it's more of a placeholder in literature than the invention it is characterized as.

Second major book to shoot out of the canon: Gone with the Wind. Some folks might say this one isn't part of the canon, in which case feel free to ignore my objection to this half-assed fantasy post-facto rationationization of Southern culture, the causes of the Civil War, ideal femininity and the patriarchal benevolence of white aristocracy.

The Big One that needs to get shot out of the literary canon, however, has to be the elephant in the room... the Dark One, that Who Shall not be Named in polite company, the Queen of Fallacious Reasoning and Faux Philosophy: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn (don't call me "Ann") Rand.

[E.D.]

Oh Gary...., now you've done it. They will come. I hear them already..., "...why do you hate freedom?.."..., "..why do you lack the ability to discern truth?.."...

I'll sprinkle some Dickens on the threshold.., but it may not be enough. :}

[Gary]

They may even cancel my membership at the country club....

[Petergiaquinta]

But Ayn Rand has never been and never will be in the canon...that's just horseshit and it's always been horseshit.

Moby Dick, though? Sigh...but it's your pick.

However, if you want to get rid of an even fatter novel with less relevance today than Moby Dick, why not trade it in for Ulysses and rid the canon of that unreadable monstrosity?

[S.W.]

I'll second the Ayn Rand nomination (if she was ever in the canon in the first place). Unskilled writer's have no place among the exalted. Her books were recommended to me by a staunch libertarian. After I slogged through the sacred trilogy (Atlas, Anthem and Fountainhead), I asked him why he thought they were so good and he said, "I dunno? I never read them."

Good job, Mocha! You've got the old team back together. I'm still waiting for Mark & Monty J to chime in.

[Karen]

S.W. wrote: "I'll second the Ayn Rand nomination (if she was ever in the canon in the first place). Unskilled writer's have no place among the exalted. Her books were recommended to me by a staunch libertarian. After I slogged through the sacred trilogy (Atlas, Anthem and Fountainhead), I asked him why he thought they were so good and he said, "I dunno? I never read them."

LOL !! Funny.

[Karen]

Petergiaquinta wrote;
"However, if you want to get rid of an even fatter novel with less relevance today than Moby Dick, why not trade it in for Ulysses and rid the canon of that unreadable monstrosity?"

If I can read it you can- I didn't really get most of it though. The ending was good.

[Petergiaquinta]

I'm working on it, 34 years and counting...last month I finished the lengthy surrealistic play section (Circe?). Boyoboy that part's a head scratcher. And it goes on for over 100 pages!

[S.W.]

The only connection I was able to make with Ulysses was Sally Kellerman's brilliant rendition of Molly Bloom's Soliloquy from Rodney Dangerfield's Back to School Movie. I ordered The Great Courses lecture series on Ulysses so I haven't given up yet ...don't light the fuse on poor old Joyce. Besides, Portrait of an Artist and Araby were both exceptional.

[CD]

I've got one that I'd throw out given half a chance (and have 'tossed' for myself), The Scarlet Letter.

Why? For some of the reasons that in my case are from personal experience see ( https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) which is my review justifying my 1 star rating.

Bottom line it is outdated, not well taught or only taught as a personal favorite of some instructor who has little hope of relating the mores of 18th and 19th century to the modern world.

Then we can strike Adam Bede for being this 19th century rendition of all things moral and wonderful and the horrors that only women can inflict via their actions.

We can strike Harold Bloom from the Canon too, or launch him out of it towards some safety net similarly to a circus clown. I find him as insufferable now as he was forty years ago at his peak when I first had to personally 'experience' his wisdom. Give me the other Bloom, Allan Bloom, any day.