Books I Loathed discussion
What was I thinking?


Tom Robbins. Although Another Roadside Attraction has sentimental value (see comment about being high above.)

Terry Brooks Shanara books: Elfstones; Sword; and Song.
These were my first forays into fantasy literature. At the time I loved them. Now, I cringe in shame. No slight to those who still enjoy it, I can't really take the fantasy genre right now.
Maybe by changing jobs I can enjoy the genre again...
LOL. I was just writing my review of Illusions and Jonathan Livingston Seagull, both of which I adored as a child, only to grow up and find that they are shmaltzy new-age crap.
I'm relieved to hear people outgrow Tom Robbins.
I'm relieved to hear people outgrow Tom Robbins.
Catcher In The Rye
The first time I read it, I was 17, and I loved it. I thought it was hilarious. Used it as the basis for an English term paper I did in college.
Second time through I was in my 30's. Thought Holden was an insufferable little brat who needed some tough love and suspension of his allowance.
Third time was just a few months ago. Holden is pathetic but funny in that way teenagers who can often come up with a unique insight or two are clever. Made me more sad than anything else though.
The first time I read it, I was 17, and I loved it. I thought it was hilarious. Used it as the basis for an English term paper I did in college.
Second time through I was in my 30's. Thought Holden was an insufferable little brat who needed some tough love and suspension of his allowance.
Third time was just a few months ago. Holden is pathetic but funny in that way teenagers who can often come up with a unique insight or two are clever. Made me more sad than anything else though.

Just a side note on CITR: One of my favorite books, the young adult novel "Celine" by Brock Cole, has some hilarious insights by the titular character on dear Holden. I never read CITR because of this book.


But my real shame comes from "The Dive From Clausen's Pier" by Ann Packer. I read it when I was 20, and coming off a melodramatic relationship. I devoured it, and described it to my father as "so good I want to tear the pages out and roll around in them." I related so strongly to the main character. Then I bought it for a friend for Christmas, and decided to re-read it at 22, and I was so ashamed I had forced someone else to read it. Not that it was awful but I desperately wanted to slap some sense into Carrie, the main character, and I wanted to go back and slap some sense into my 20 year-old self!

Then I grew up. And I tried to read his stuff again and realized that he's a mysogenist and an arrogant ass. And all of his books, every single one of them, the same elements. It's not a series, John. And he elevates novel writing to the status of like cancer research. I know books can change people's lives, but they probably can't save them. So now I am ashamed. So very ashamed.


But I do know that I have re-read some beat poetry recently, and my initial reaction was "go get a job or volunteer, you big *^$*#*# whiners!"

Carol, I sometimes think that Dave Eggers and his ilk weren't born but rather sprung from the collective head of the Beat Generation. They all need to quit showing off and do something useful.


I did a similar thing with the movie "Last Tango in Paris" - watching in first in my early 20s, then in my 30s, and most recently in my 40s. In my 20's I related to Maria Schneider's character, in my 30's to Brando's, and the last time I saw the whole picture.

Regarding The Dive from Clausen's Pier: I read it in my early thirties and I really loved it. After reading Hope's comment, I wonder what I would have thought in my early twenties. The protaganist probably would have annoyed me-- I would have wanted a tougher, stronger heroine. But I just had such compassion for this girl caught up in circumstances that must have been so overwhelming to a teen.

Of course later in the Anne series when Anne and Gilbert are happily married and have been for like ever, she tries to throw a little hiccup in by having Gilbert chatting with this attractive woman at a dinner party. The hiccup was just a ploy though. I saw right through it. Anne and Gilbert weren't going anywhere.



But then I feel kind of funny, since even though I have fond remembrances of Tom's books, I wouldn't necessarily recommend them now. I think Sherri is right that some books are perfect for some stages of life but not others, but I don’t know how to deal with this when I give them a star rating, particularly with books I don't remember well enough to write a full review for.
I'm curious how others rate books like this - do you rate them with the innocence of your past self, or the superior literary tastes of the current you?

My mother kept a box of books under the basement stairs when I was in grade school; thus, my love affair with Sidney Sheldon. Now I can't even bring myself to add his books to my Good Reads shelves. Ick.

Now, 20 years and a one degree in religious studies later, I blush. And when the Da Vinci Code came out I just rolled my eyes. I know what Dan Brown was reading before he picked up his pen.
The world would be a much more interesting place if all these conspiracy theories were really true. But alas, I think we are too endeared to gossip to keep a secret that well, for that long.


And my literary tastes are apparently not superior to when I was younger; I adore Neal Stephenson's big silly novels and think A Heartbreaking Work... is amusing and uplifting.


That’s what makes the Castaneda books so sticky, I think. There are some powerful nuggets of truth embedded within all that mythology, which make it tempting to believe all the rest. But I wonder how well the books would have sold if Castaneda—and his publishers—had been more honest about their origins.

Flash forward 20 years, when I moved Castenada from the 200s (Religion) to Fiction in the library collection where I work. Some people were incensed! But then, these are the same people that got all bent out of shape when I moved "Roots" and "Go Ask Alice" from BIO to FIC, too.


I've only read one of his books: "A Son of the Circus". Irving fans say it's the only one they disliked; I liked it. However, I have no interest in reading anything else of his.


Now I'm too embarrassed of it to even put it on my shelf. Youthful idealism just makes me feel naked.

But I *really* liked the comments about Eggers, Heinlein, and the Last Tango in Paris. So true. So true.

Now looking back, I wonder why my mother didn't take those books out of my hands. Just kidding, but I do completely understand why my mother had a look of shock on my face when I defended the incest between the characters in the Flowers in the Attic series. I reread Flowers in the Attic when I was 26 and only got through 30 pages before throwing it against the wall in complete disgust. Well written literature? I don't think so. I am embarassed to admit that I read those books and, until now, had tucked that knowledge away never to be revealed. Oh well, *shrug* we all make mistakes and (hopefully) learn from them. I saw a new VC Andrews book in the magazine aisle at the grocery store. I hope her ghost writer is getting a lot of money for all those books he/she has put out!


They always made the wrong choice. Heinlein, not Asimov. Louis L'Amour, not McCarthy (though I don't like McCarthy) or McMurtry. Ludlum, not Le Carre. Mitchell, not Austen. Patterson, not Chandler.
My mother read romance novels, the *really* light and fluffy ones. She thought Gone with the Wind and Forever Amber were hi-falutin' literature. She liked Gone with the Wind 2 (Scarlett). My dad read bad SF and bad Westerns. They discovered Clive Cussler a few years ago and were in Heaven.
Anyway, everything I read for about 12 formative years, believing that the good stuff was "too hard, and not fun."
TK Kenyon
"Still shaking it off"
Author of *RABID: A Novel*
Which my parents do
Pretend to like to be nice
But really they don't.


I'm a meek little librarian now, and my students seem embarrassed by the fact that they love Danielle Steele et.al. I'm just thrilled they are reading something not assigned to them. I figure they'll probably snap out of it one day...

I hated Great Gatsby (15 years ago) seeing that everyone raves about it, I may need to try it again with my mature tastes...

I don't like his wrestling and bear books all that much either, but I do really like his A Widow for One Year. For one, thing the female characters were more richly drawn.

I tried to read another VC. Andrews book later on, I can't remember which series, but I just hated the heroine of the story. Then I found out that VC didn't even write it. That she had died and someone had written it from her notes. They didn't do a very good job.

Red Evans author On Ice. To order HERE!


One that springs to mind for me is "Illusions" by Richard Bach. Admitedly, I was 13 years old when I read it for the first time, but I thought it was so incredibly profound at the time. When I read it again years later I actually felt my cheeks burn to remember how many people I'd raved about it to.
Anyone else?