Books That Suck!

[Moss]

A Confederacy of Dunces is an awesome book. A true American classic. Probably one of my top ten favorite books of the twentieth century.

 

 

I also loved this book but I know so many people who could not get through it.

 

This will probably be sacrilege to some people but I could not get through "Dune" at all. Gave up halfway through.

[kimcatch22]

The Time-Traveler's Wife.

 

I was so mad at what a weak female character Clare was. She has no personality and her entire existence revolves around waiting for Henry to come back to her. Even in the book's title, her identity is created in relation to him. It was very disappointing, coming from a female author.

 

I also found it very distracting how she constantly name-dropped Chicago locations, and I couldn't tell if that was because I knew nearly everywhere she was talking about or if it would be distracting to anyone regardless of their familiarity with the places.

[quarter23cd]

I can't believe people listed Moby-Dick! Well, I guess some of the whaling chapters are kind of dry, but its still probably my favorite book.

 

Got to agree with Beloved, though, I'm afraid. Its one of those books I think I wanted to like, but just couldn't--and the fact that I had to write papers on it like 4 times in HS and college makes me think it might be just a tad overexposed. Whatever. I like most of her other books, though, so maybe I'll give Beloved another shot someday.

[Winston Legthigh]

This is one of the worst books I've ever read:

 

 

The story is fairly compelling, but the writing is horrid. Not only is Brown an awful writer, but his editor is obviously an idiot.

As awful as that book was - I was able to complete it. I can't say the same for Angels & Demons. Man that was REALLY awful. I didn't last very long with that one.

[Analogman]

As awful as that book was - I was able to complete it. I can't say the same for Angels & Demons. Man that was REALLY awful. I didn't last very long with that one.

 

And now he has a new one out. I was joking the other day that he must own The History Chanel and a few other channels. I noticed there were various documentaries on that had to do with the subject of his book. And in some cases, they were simply infomercials for his book.

 

He is smart - he took the genre of men's adventure stories/action adventure/historical writing, stole some stuff from other books, mixed them together, and came out on top.

 

* Digital Fortress, 1998

* Angels & Demons, 2000

* Deception Point, 2001

* The Da Vinci Code, 2003

* The Lost Symbol, 2009

 

He has sold over 100 million books so far, I do believe.

 

Those who dislike Moby Dick should check out this version: Moby Dick (DVD)(1998).

[Guest Speed Racer]

Also, I HATED Great Expectations. It ruined my sophmore year of HS English, and turned me off Dickens forever.

 

Through no fault of my own, I came to like Great Expectations. The book was assigned to all freshman at my high school, and my year English teacher was an extremely erratic, unstable man who wore women's shoes and business suits (think that episode of the Office with Michael's suit from Burlington Coat factory). His cats were named Miss Havisham and Jane (as in, Austen), and he had been left at the altar YEARS ago (though we suspected he was so closeted even he didn't know). He would say the weirdest, most inappropriate things in class, "MY those KINKY boot we're wearing Ms. McDonald! Surely we're trying to impress Mr. Waters today, no?"

 

Throughout the course of teaching the book he cried several times, forcing the two aforementioned students to recite pages of the novel in class as he wept.

 

Miss Havisham died my senior year, and he took a semester long sabbatical and subsequently took an administration job so he wouldn't have to teach the book anymore.

 

So it was a pretty fun experience, all told.

[Lammycat]

Are people listing Beloved because it is a challenging book to decipher/follow or because it genuinely sucks? Just curious. Maybe due to one, the other? I enjoyed it.

 

I can easily see this as the citing of Moby Dick on her by a few people but really, it's generally hailed as one of the greatest American novels ever written.The whaling chapters (where Melville goes into sometimes over-bearing detail about the particulars about whaling) was used as a reference at the time as no one had written much on the industry then. I always thought it was a fun read.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Are people listing Beloved because it is a challenging book to decipher/follow or because it genuinely sucks? Just curious. Maybe due to one, the other? I enjoyed it.

 

I thought it was pretty melodramatic and highly...supernatural? Supersitious? in a way I didn't care for. It wasn't my bag, and neither is Morrison's writing style.

 

That being said, I was also peeved that I could only picture Sethe as Oprah, and picturing her will ruin just about anything for me.

[Kevan]

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Awful. Just terrible.

[yermom]

I thought it was pretty melodramatic and highly...supernatural? Supersitious? in a way I didn't care for. It wasn't my bag, and neither is Morrison's writing style.

 

That being said, I was also peeved that I could only picture Sethe as Oprah, and picturing her will ruin just about anything for me.

Ditto all of this.

[Griddles]

On the Road Read it twice, god I hate this book.

[bjorn_skurj]

On the Road Read it twice, god I hate this book.

Did you need to read it again to confirm your hatred, or are you a literary masochist?

[Griddles]

My favorite teacher in high school recommended it to me so I read it all in one night, in the spirit of how it was written. I read it again this spring on the suggestion of a friend. I thought maybe it would get better as I got older. Also I live in Denver now, and come from Iowa so many of the places in the book are known to me. It did not help.

 

Another book, nonfiction, that I could not complete is "Good to Great"

[Lodestar]

The last not-so-good book I finished was The Riders by Tim Winton. POV-wise, I thought it was a mess. He did, however, also write one of my all-time favourites, The Turning.

[uncool2pillow]

A Confederacy of Dunces is an awesome book. A true American classic. Probably one of my top ten favorite books of the twentieth century.

QFT, bobbob, I would've hated it in 9th grade too. It's a funny, great book.

[Beltmann]

Huh. Some of my favorite books are listed in here: Great Expectations, A Separate Peace, Beloved...

 

I can't say I "hated" Moby-Dick--its artistic merits strike me as self-evident--but I never warmed to it. That was tough to get through. I suppose it's a great book written for other people.

 

I liked pretty much everything I was assigned in high school or college, to one degree or another. But I do remember one that I hated: Middlemarch. It's the only book in school I never actually finished. Couldn't take it.

[ms. yvon]

Indeed.

well that is clear from your name!

i'm a "confederacy"fan. renic told me that she tried to read it but imagined that ignatius' voice as the comic book guy from the simpsons.

 

perhaps these aren't books that suck, but they are books i hated:

--jane austen: sense & sensibility

--ayn rand: the fountainhead

--emily bronte: wuthering heights

 

also: two friends of mine recommended "the true and outstanding adventures of the hunt sisters." i got 8 pages in and had to bail out. not. for. me.

[cryptique]

On the Road Read it twice, god I hate this book.

Yes. Awful. I don't get what all the fuss was about.

 

I liked pretty much everything I was assigned in high school or college, to one degree or another. But I do remember one that I hated: Middlemarch. It's the only book in school I never actually finished. Couldn't take it.

I had the same experience with Middlemarch. Bleah.

 

perhaps these aren't books that suck, but they are books i hated:

--ayn rand: the fountainhead

I think Rand sucks in general, but yeah, I hated The Fountainhead.

 

Oddly, I kinda enjoyed Wuthering Heights. That probably undermines my man-cred.

[tongue-tied]

This thread is great! I'm never reading again!

[kidsmoke]

I just finished Revolutionary Road, which someone recommended. Not the worst book of all time, but I just found it dry and depressing. I guess I kept reading because I thought something interesting might happen. Even the "big finish" just did nothing for me. And someone thought this would make a good movie? Yikes, I'll bet the movie is even worse than the book!

[isadorah]

 

Another book, nonfiction, that I could not complete is "Good to Great"

 

That book has somehow become the "bible" of the Museum world. I keep being told by directors and department heads to read it. I haven't read it though.

[Beltmann]

That book has somehow become the "bible" of the Museum world. I keep being told by directors and department heads to read it. I haven't read it though.

It's also the bible of many school administrators--it's one of the latest shiny, trendy things to worship and mine for half-assed initiatives.

[Good Old Neon]

It's also the bible of many school administrators--it's one of the latest shiny, trendy things to worship and mine for half-assed initiatives.

 

You might want to slip them a few copies of this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/NurtureShock-New-Thinking-About-Children/dp/0446504122

 

There’s some great stuff on school and educator related subjects, academic performance, cognitive ability, adolescent behavior, both good and bad, etc.

[Good Old Neon]

Was this the one that became the Dicaprio/Winslet movie? My friend told me that she thought of me watching the movie, that Winslet's character reminded her of me. Is that good or bad?

 

I could watch Kate Winslett read from the list of contents on the back of a paint can, for hours on end, and be happy.

[Oil Can Boyd]

I just finished Revolutionary Road, which someone recommended. Not the worst book of all time, but I just found it dry and depressing. I guess I kept reading because I thought something interesting might happen. Even the "big finish" just did nothing for me. And someone thought this would make a good movie? Yikes, I'll bet the movie is even worse than the book!

I actually liked this book, although it certainly was depressing. And I agree on the movie. When I first heard about it I thought "boy is that a bad idea." I suppose I have an easier time with a depressing book than a depressing movie.