Books That You Detested

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I don't "know" any, but of course the name is familiar, small town and all.

[Britt☮]

Carrie wrote: "I don't think there are any books that I literally "detested". There are some that I didn't like very much. I didn't care for Billy Bud, Sailor or Moby Dick."

Oh my goodness, I LOATHED Billy Budd.

[Carrie]

I had to read it in college; did you?

[Renee]

I made my list on the other thread...but, I'll add some of them here too.

Here on Earth - just did not like it. Something about it was just weird for me.

The Secret Life of Bees - like I said on the other thread - can I have my 4 hours back? I was so DISAPPOINTED!

[NatalyaVqs]

Anything by Nicholas Sparks since I feel like I don't learn anything from them. Also Ahab's Wife, an endless dreary tale.

[Jessika]

Renee wrote: "I made my list on the other thread...but, I'll add some of them here too.

Here on Earth - just did not like it. Something about it was just weird for me.

[book:The Secret Life of ..."

Oh no! What disappointed you about The Secret Life of Bees? It's one of my favorites :(

[Holli]

Mine too Jess!

[Cindy]

Me three! Guess you would have to be in the right mood to read it though.

[Carrie]

me FOUR! :)

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Natalya wrote: "Anything by Nicholas Sparks since I feel like I don't learn anything from them. Also Ahab's Wife, an endless dreary tale."

I loved Ahab's Wife and learned a lot from it, especially about life in those times. Also, Maria Mitchell was a real person, the first woman astronomer.

[Renee]

Ladies...what I disliked about Secret Life of Bees, was that I felt it was too short. I didn't get enough time or insight into the characters. I LOVED the 3 sisters, and would actually love to read a book about them...but, maybe I was disappointed that the book didn't live up to it's hype. Although, maybe I should not have posted it under "books I detested", because I did not detest it, it was okay...just disappointing to me.

[Renee]

Oohh, Marge, I have the Historian. Tried, really tried, but put it away after 40 pages. I keep thinking I will try again one day.

[Youndyc]

The Historian is a really good book, but it requires at least a 100-page investment to get any real movement on the story. But it's a great, creepy tale. I listened to it on audiobook - and it's got to be 20 hours at least!

I hated The Mermaid's Chair - totally lame!!!!! Okay, maybe only 3 exclamation points worth of lame, but still.

[Suze]

Two books come to mind (absolutely could NOT finish, and it has to be really bad for me not to):

Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead (this was picked by the New York Times as a best book
of 2009, what does that say about my taste?!)

Midnight's Children by Salmon Rushdie (yuck)

Renee - my DH and I absolutely loved Ketchikan - it was our favorite Alaskan town. You live in a wonderful place!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Suze - glad you loved Ketchikan. I love living here, but admit it's not for everyone.

[Holli]

Renee, I can see what you mean about wanting more.... I thought the same. I loved what I read so I loved the book but I would have really enjoyed it if it was longer and more in depth too.

[Natalie]

I was BORED by The Shipping News A Novel . I gave up about halfway thru , just skipped to the last chapter to know how it ended .

[Peanut]

Any book where I marked as "read" but have zero stars. Those are usually books I didn't finish because they were so bad.

A few one stars rank with the bad but those I did finish.

[Frannie]

Hi everyone. I'm new here, and have been enjoying this discussion and admiring how you're able to express a point of view without getting ticked at one another. That's a quality most groups don't seem to have.

I have to agree with "Poinsonwood Bible". I finished it, but just barely. Really disliked it. On the other hand, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is one of my all-time favorites. LOVE that book, and have read it at least 5 times. One book that I can't stand, that a lot of people adore, is Silverstein's The Giving Tree. Lord, how I hate that book. Anyone agree or disagree?

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner)]

I loved that book as a child! I'd have to go back and see how I feel about it now.

[Carrie]

Insatiable by Gael Greene. I wanted to love it, she has my dream job for goodness sake, but I never could finish it, still have 3o some odd pages to go. I have NEVER not finished a book, even a required read for school. Just couldn't do it! Corkdork Carrie

[Renee]

Holli wrote: "Renee, I can see what you mean about wanting more.... I thought the same. I loved what I read so I loved the book but I would have really enjoyed it if it was longer and more in depth too."

Exactly!!

[Laura]

Franny wrote: "Hi everyone. I'm new here, and have been enjoying this discussion and admiring how you're able to express a point of view without getting ticked at one another. That's a quality most groups don't s..."

Wow Franny, we're soulmates! lol I kind of like The Giving Tree, but I don't think it deserved all the hype.

[Laura]

Youndyc wrote: "The Historian is a really good book, but it requires at least a 100-page investment to get any real movement on the story. But it's a great, creepy tale. I listened to it on audiobook - and it's ..."

Hmm. I've tried it twice. I'll have to make a mental note on the 100pp, maybe try it again next October.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I finished The Historian, but I had to get to within 100 pages of the end before it started moving for me. I wouldn't list it as one I detested, but . . .

[Vikki]

Laura wrote: "Youndyc wrote: "The Historian is a really good book, but it requires at least a 100-page investment to get any real movement on the story. But it's a great, creepy tale. I listened to it on audio..."

I'm with you I've tried it twice and I did get through the first 100 pages the second time and was only more annoyed that I gave it a second chance!

[AngieA]

This thread keeps reminding me of books I had forgotten I've read, like Mermaid's Chair (waste of time)A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which I can't remember liking or not, so will read again, and the Giving Tree, a little too sappy for my taste.

[Christy]

Two books that my book club picked that I couldn't stand:

1. On Beauty - The Goodreads description of this book describes this book as, "Full of dead-on wit and relentlessly funny," but I don't recall laughing even once.
2.The Corrections - I just didn't like anything about this book.

It scares me to hear that some of you disliked The Help. This is a current book club pick that I was hesitant to read and your comments haven't increased my confidence that this is going to be a book I'll like.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Christy wrote: "It scares me to hear that some of you disliked The Help. This is a current book club pick that I was hesitant to read and your comments haven't increased my confidence that this is going to be a book I'll like."

While I was one who couldn't get past but a few pages, there are many in this group who rated this their best of 2009.

[Carmen]

I disliked The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I gave it 90 pages, all the while looking longingly at my to-read pile. I'm not fond of the concierge character who looks down on others for their (perceived) lack of intelligence, all the while pretending to be dumber than she really is. And the the girl came across as a spoiled rich kid who has no real problems so she has to invent some life-or-death drama.
Also, the writing was a bit too congested. So many words to say so little.

[Lynne]

Rebekah wrote: "As mentioned in numerous places, I really, truly, did not like Sophie's World at all. Gulliver's Travels is right down there at the bottom of my list, too; along with Ethan Frome and The Awakening..."
I have Ethan Frome on my TBR list why did you hate it?

[Kate]

Rachelle wrote: "Carrie wrote: "Forgot about The Poisonwood Bible. Sucky."

I second that. I couldn't read more than three sentences without falling asleep. That book had no point to me. I tried. I re..."

I third the hatred for "The Poisonwood Bible." It was AWFUL. First book I never finished.

[Donna]

As I Lay Dyingby Faulkner i still don't get it after reading it twice. Your mother may be a fish but certainly people with this mentality aren't interesting to me.

Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy if you're into graphic unnecessary violence with a western setting then this is your book. Otherwise steer clear. Two of the gals in my book group who read it said they had nightmares about it and quit reading it 100 pages in. I kept trying to find some redeeming value to it and just couldn't.

I liked the first 2/3 of Poisonwood but couldn't handle the last 1/3.

Ethan Frome is just plain depressing... you want to kill yourself after reading it.

I love The Help (50 pages left to finish it), but i was a white pre-teen from a very conservative northern family in that era and spent a great deal of time shocking people with my "radical" views about how MLK was right and how Jim Crow laws were cruel.

[Lori]

I hate that so many people dislike the Historian, I loved it! I listened to the audio book and it was not a good book for that! I am going to go back in and reread it b/c I think I missed too much by not actually reading the text.
I don't detest The Time Traveler's Wife, but I just read it for another bookclub and I just couldn't even finish it! I had heard so many good things, but I really didn't like the book. I enjoyed the characters, but so many things that happened bothered me and were so bizarre that it creeped me out. I finally had someone tell me how it ended, so I could just put it away!

[Diane]

There are few books I positively loathe. These are the books I disliked most:

The Mermaid Chair (as mentioned previously)
The Jane Austen Book Club
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Love in the Time of Cholera

[Jenny]

Some books I hated while I was reading them:
The Crying of Lot 49
The Reader

I can't really put my finger on why. I had to force my way through them even though they're both really short. I'm sure the adultery/pedophelia didn't help.

[Julie]

AngieA wrote: "This thread keeps reminding me of books I had forgotten I've read, like Mermaid's Chair (waste of time)A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which I can't remember liking or not, so will read again, and the Gi..."

Maybe you forgot about them because they really weren't that good. I don't always remember stuff about books that I didn't enjoy.

[Jessie Marie]

I absolutely loathed The Passage. Seriously, I want my time and money back. I was too excited for this book, I think and it just left me disappointed...

I second The Memory Keeper's Daughter. I don't really remember why I didn't like this book as much as I didn't like it. I just never got attached to the people and therefore, never truly cared what happened. =/

[Veronica]

Jessica wrote: "I absolutely loathed The Passage. Seriously, I want my time and money back. I was too excited for this book, I think and it just left me disappointed...

I second [book:The Memory Ke..."

I just bought The Passage. Its no good?

[Becomingme]

Veronica, I think it depends on your style of reading and what you like, me I LOVED The Passage. There seems to be a love hate with the book.

Books I detest, well The Hunt for Red October (and pretty much of most Clancy books)
Daughter of Joy
Riven: a Novel
Miss MatchMiss Match

The latter 3 were extremely tediously preachy. Yeah I knew going in they were by some Christian lit publishers, and I can mind that a bit, but as long as the story is good and doesn't get all Cartman "Christian Rock Hard"(South Park) I'm cool, but these did, overly so, and I couldn't really stomach it, the last one I didn't even finish. The author didn't even try and MAKE it believable.

[Regine]

I hated The Old Curiosity Shop. This book has turned me off Dickens for the next little while. The characters were one-dimensional. Little Nell was kind and innocent to the point of nausea, and Quilp was a caricature of a cockney villain.

I also really disliked She's Come Undone.

[Rachel]

Billy Budd- had to read it for high school. Cruel and unusual punishment! Also read Moby Dick in college, the teacher said we could skip the detailed whaling parts (thank god!)
I just could not get through the Lisa See book, about the something flower and the secret fan. Apparently, I have a major squick about foot-binding. Just couldn't get through this book. Every time I read a scene, my feet would hurt and I had to put the book down. Finally gave up on it.

[Megan]

Eat, Pray, Love
On Beauty
Life of Pi
Middlesex

I am now wondering if it is a coincidence that 3 out of 4 books that made my detest list are listed as 1001 Books to Read Before You Die. :-)

[Viola]

I hated The Gargoyle. I know there are a few ladies here on CoL who loved it, but I don't see the appeal. I was so happy to be done with the book so I could move onto something else.

[Jessie Marie]

Veronica wrote: "Jessica wrote: "I absolutely loathed The Passage. Seriously, I want my time and money back. I was too excited for this book, I think and it just left me disappointed...

I second [..."

I loved the first third of The Passage. It was engaging and interesting and kept me up at night. The characters were well developed and the monsters were terrifying. And then it switched and the original characters from the first third totally disappeared (except for a couple minor mentions...) and new characters were introduced. It was like a totally different book from that point on. And I didn't like it. The plot was obnoxious and dragged on the last bit. I was glad for it to be over...

[Regine]

Megan wrote: "Eat, Pray, Love
On Beauty
Life of Pi
Middlesex

I am now wondering if it is a coincidence that 3 out of 4 books that made my detest list are listed ..."

Some of my favourites are on that list, and I've discovered a bunch of new books that I love because of it. The 1001 covers A LOT of books, so eventually, you're going to run across something you won't like.

Generally, Life of Pi is usually a hit or miss with most people.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I started Life of Pi several years ago and got only about 60 pages in, when I set it aside. I still have it, and think perhaps I should give it another shot, but ...

[Viola]

On that note, I don't get Life of Pi. I too tried reading it, but it was SO SLOW that I had to put it down. Still, I'm curious as to why others praise it as much as they do. I just don't get it, and wonder if I'm missing out. Maybe I'll try it again later.

[Jennifer]

Her Fearful Symmetry
Wuthering Heights
Wicked
Three Junes

Those are ones I've started and never finished. I'm also going to add Dreaming in Cuban, but sadly for me I did finish that one. There are also several authors I just can't read because I don't like their writing styles.

[Shelley]

Most hated? Any "popular" novel I pick up that has dialogue that sounds like TV. No two human beings ever talked together in that way in the entire history of mankind.


Shelley
Rain: A Dust Bowl Story
http://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.com