I didn't like Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. I thought the writing was patronising, shoving some kind of philosophical lesson down the reader's throat at every opportunity - although to be honest I just found it pretty vacuous.
I also thought Alice Walker's The Color Purple was overrated. I didn't get the fuss about it when we had to study it once and I found it boring.
didn't bother to finish reading The Sea by john banville and The time travellers wife. waste of my time and money :yawn:
I ended up skim reading The Sea to see how it ended. You did not miss out by not reading to the end. It won the Booker as well didn't it?
I'd also add Black Dogs by Ian McEwan which had no plot of which to speak. I also didn't like Enduring Love or Atonement so I avoid his books now.
Read The Book of Human Skin a while ago and it was awful, so predictable and all the characters were really 2D. It really annoyed me that the channel 4 book club loved it.
Twilight Novels :yawn:
I used to love watching Sex And The City but I couldnt finish the book.
I found Jilly Coopers Pandora and Jump! very hard to get through. Some of her books get very repetitive after a while.
I couldnt finish Wuthering Heights!! I never got it.
The Lord of the Rings was very boring.
Catch22 is I think the only book i've ever given up on. truly awful.
Arrgh! I loved that book - found myself often thinking about it.
Do I have to admit to this? Oh dear. Okay - loved Anne Rice's Interview with A Vampre - so read Sleeping Beauty. I knew it was *ahem* different - but not that it was pornographic crap, which wasted a brilliant writer's gifts. I got half-way though the book and threw it across the room in disgust. Not at the content - there's nowt wrong with erotica - as much as the fact that she had wasted her gifts
Definitely 'The Hobbit' for me - I forced myself to finish it but a piece of me died inside with every page turn! There was a book I had to read in school for Higher English called 'Sunset Song'. Can't remember who wrote it but it was dire.
Can't believe someone said they hated 'Death of a Salesman'! I loved that and 'All my Sons'.
About Paul Connolly growing up in a childrens home in the 1970s and how he turned his life around. Most of the stories he tells about the home happened to other kids and not him. Later in the book he says he only beat people up who deserved it but then says he would often hit people just for looking at him the wrong way so he comes across as a violent thug.
A friend lent me this, I finished it because I was hanging on thinking it had to get better, it didn't. The only book I remember finishing and being shocked at how bad it was! I was actually quite angry about it
I love this thread, until now I have felt like the only person ever who didn't love Time Travellers Wife. The Ukranian Tractor book I managed a few chapters before giving up,
I rarely give up on a book - I actually read War and Peace all through - but those two in particular were not for me.
I couldn't finish that either.However I did finish One Day and was then annoyed at myself for spending time on such crap.
Completely agree. A story about a woman in love with a cold man who keeps his first secret mad wife locked in the attic. The man finally gets together with the woman because he is blind and doesn't think he could do any better. I had to do this book at GCSE and the coursework was describe Rochesters charachter. I was not complementary about him and when the teacher looked at she td me to rewrite it if I wanted a decent grade. So much for having your own opinions on literature!
The man finally gets together with the woman because he is blind and doesn't think he could do any better.
That's not why Rochester got together with Jane; you either don't know the plot well enough or have not recalled it properly. We studied this in my '19th C novel' module on my degree. Rochester had been in love with Jane for most of the time that she had lived at Thornfield. He had still wanted to be in a relationship with her even after they couldn't marry because Jane found out about the wife in the attic. So it's actually a love story (as well as drawing on myth and various other genres) which is why it appeals to so many women. Whether or not you find that irritating is a different issue but Rochester certainly didn't only decide to be with Jane after he became blind!
Completely agree. A story about a woman in love with a cold man who keeps his first secret mad wife locked in the attic. The man finally gets together with the woman because he is blind and doesn't think he could do any better. I had to do this book at GCSE and the coursework was describe Rochesters charachter. I was not complementary about him and when the teacher looked at she td me to rewrite it if I wanted a decent grade. So much for having your own opinions on literature!
You failed to understand the character and didn't read the book adequately. The teacher picked up on your failure to comprehend the book and tried to help you. Instead of thanking your teacher for giving you a hint, you come on a board and repeat the utter garbage that you presented to your teacher. What you write about Rochester isn't an opinion that deserves respect, it's just proof that you weren't paying attention. Don't dress it up as the teacher trying to force you to like Jane Eyre, claiming it a violation of your right to hold an opinion, when it's just a question of ignorance in need of correction.
Definitely 'The Hobbit' for me - I forced myself to finish it but a piece of me died inside with every page turn! There was a book I had to read in school for Higher English called 'Sunset Song'. Can't remember who wrote it but it was dire.
Can't believe someone said they hated 'Death of a Salesman'! I loved that and 'All my Sons'.
Lewis Grassic Gibbon wrote Sunset Song. It was a set text for my higher English as well. I was about crying every night trying to plough my way through it. I genuinely had NO IDEA what it was about. I saw a TV adaptation of it and it was equally awful and I still couldn't make head nor tail of it.
You failed to understand the character and didn't read the book adequately. The teacher picked up on your failure to comprehend the book and tried to help you. Instead of thanking your teacher for giving you a hint, you come on a board and repeat the utter garbage that you presented to your teacher. What you write about Rochester isn't an opinion that deserves respect, it's just proof that you weren't paying attention. Don't dress it up as the teacher trying to force you to like Jane Eyre, claiming it a violation of your right to hold an opinion, when it's just a question of ignorance in need of correction.
What a horrible, snobbish and patronising reply!. To say that my opinion is utter garbage and doesn't deserve respect just shows what a nasty person you are. I didn't like the book or the charachter so I gave my opinion and reasons why I didn't like the book and the charachter. A lot of people have just put book names on hear without explanation, are their opionions also utter garbage? Just because it is obviously one of your favourite books doesn't mean that everyone has to like it.
That's not why Rochester got together with Jane; you either don't know the plot well enough or have not recalled it properly. We studied this in my '19th C novel' module on my degree. Rochester had been in love with Jane for most of the time that she had lived at Thornfield. He had still wanted to be in a relationship with her even after they couldn't marry because Jane found out about the wife in the attic. So it's actually a love story (as well as drawing on myth and various other genres) which is why it appeals to so many women. Whether or not you find that irritating is a different issue but Rochester certainly didn't only decide to be with Jane after he became blind!
Maybe I didn't read it properly then, to be honest by the end I was pretty bored with the book so you may be right. Anyway, I don't plan to reread the book to see if I was wrong.
Any thing by Guy N Smith, struggle with Steven King. Gave up on Harry Potter after 2 nd book.
Will now run away and hide:D:D
I don't think Guy N Smith books are meant to be taken that seriously, they are basically cheap throw away horror books, and sometimes so bad its funny.
I do remember that one book had a scene that was set about a mile from where I live, that made me smile (easily pleased I know!)
To say that my opinion is utter garbage and doesn't deserve respect just shows what a nasty person you are.
Thanks again. You must like me.
I didn't like the book or the charachter so I gave my opinion and reasons why I didn't like the book and the charachter. A lot of people have just put book names on hear without explanation, are their opionions also utter garbage? Just because it is obviously one of your favourite books doesn't mean that everyone has to like it.
I haven't criticised anyone for not liking Jane Eyre, that's their right to do so. I have no issue with someone not liking it, but I do take issue with people who misrepresent a story because they couldn't be arsed to read it properly, then get all shirty because a teacher, who's giving their time to educate, calls them up on their wanton ignorance. Don't blame the teacher for supposedly not allowing you to have "your own opinions on literature", when your own opinion was found wanting by your own hand. The teacher seems to have had a valid reason for rejecting your work. Some humility can go a long way...
Anyway, I'm done with this. Have the last whinge if you must.
I haven't criticised anyone for not liking Jane Eyre, that's their right to do so. I have no issue with someone not liking it, but I do take issue with people who misrepresent a story because they couldn't be arsed to read it properly, then get all shirty because a teacher, who's giving their time to educate, calls them up on their wanton ignorance. Don't blame the teacher for supposedly not allowing you to have "your own opinions on literature", when your own opinion was found wanting by your own hand. The teacher seems to have had a valid reason for rejecting your work. Some humility can go a long way...
Anyway, I'm done with this. Have the last whinge if you must.
I ended up skim reading The Sea to see how it ended. You did not miss out by not reading to the end. It won the Booker as well didn't it?
I'd also add Black Dogs by Ian McEwan which had no plot of which to speak. I also didn't like Enduring Love or Atonement so I avoid his books now.
Read The Book of Human Skin a while ago and it was awful, so predictable and all the characters were really 2D. It really annoyed me that the channel 4 book club loved it.
I read The Sea, and apart from a very vague sense of the plot, can barely remember reading it - it was that memorable. Not.
I haven't read anything by McEwan since Saturday. I did end up finishing it, but that book really did make me reconsider my never giving up on a book stance. Life is really too short sometimes.
Comments
I also thought Alice Walker's The Color Purple was overrated. I didn't get the fuss about it when we had to study it once and I found it boring.
I ended up skim reading The Sea to see how it ended. You did not miss out by not reading to the end. It won the Booker as well didn't it?
I'd also add Black Dogs by Ian McEwan which had no plot of which to speak. I also didn't like Enduring Love or Atonement so I avoid his books now.
Read The Book of Human Skin a while ago and it was awful, so predictable and all the characters were really 2D. It really annoyed me that the channel 4 book club loved it.
I used to love watching Sex And The City but I couldnt finish the book.
I found Jilly Coopers Pandora and Jump! very hard to get through. Some of her books get very repetitive after a while.
I couldnt finish Wuthering Heights!! I never got it.
The Lord of the Rings was very boring.
about 800 pages as I recall - got to about P700 and gave up.
Arrgh! I loved that book - found myself often thinking about it.
Do I have to admit to this? Oh dear. Okay - loved Anne Rice's Interview with A Vampre - so read Sleeping Beauty. I knew it was *ahem* different - but not that it was pornographic crap, which wasted a brilliant writer's gifts. I got half-way though the book and threw it across the room in disgust. Not at the content - there's nowt wrong with erotica - as much as the fact that she had wasted her gifts
You couldn't even make the last 100?:p
Noooooooooooooo!!!! :eek:
Can't believe someone said they hated 'Death of a Salesman'! I loved that and 'All my Sons'.
The Most Amazing True Story You'll Ever Read.
About Paul Connolly growing up in a childrens home in the 1970s and how he turned his life around. Most of the stories he tells about the home happened to other kids and not him. Later in the book he says he only beat people up who deserved it but then says he would often hit people just for looking at him the wrong way so he comes across as a violent thug.
His Dark Materials Trilogy read these as part of a reading group and had lost the will to live by the end of the third one!
On the other hand To Kill a Mocking Bird is one of my all time favourite books and I also loved The Time Travellers Wife and Atonement
A friend lent me this, I finished it because I was hanging on thinking it had to get better, it didn't. The only book I remember finishing and being shocked at how bad it was! I was actually quite angry about it
I couldn't finish that either.However I did finish One Day and was then annoyed at myself for spending time on such crap.
Completely agree. A story about a woman in love with a cold man who keeps his first secret mad wife locked in the attic. The man finally gets together with the woman because he is blind and doesn't think he could do any better. I had to do this book at GCSE and the coursework was describe Rochesters charachter. I was not complementary about him and when the teacher looked at she td me to rewrite it if I wanted a decent grade. So much for having your own opinions on literature!
That's not why Rochester got together with Jane; you either don't know the plot well enough or have not recalled it properly. We studied this in my '19th C novel' module on my degree. Rochester had been in love with Jane for most of the time that she had lived at Thornfield. He had still wanted to be in a relationship with her even after they couldn't marry because Jane found out about the wife in the attic. So it's actually a love story (as well as drawing on myth and various other genres) which is why it appeals to so many women. Whether or not you find that irritating is a different issue but Rochester certainly didn't only decide to be with Jane after he became blind!
You failed to understand the character and didn't read the book adequately. The teacher picked up on your failure to comprehend the book and tried to help you. Instead of thanking your teacher for giving you a hint, you come on a board and repeat the utter garbage that you presented to your teacher. What you write about Rochester isn't an opinion that deserves respect, it's just proof that you weren't paying attention. Don't dress it up as the teacher trying to force you to like Jane Eyre, claiming it a violation of your right to hold an opinion, when it's just a question of ignorance in need of correction.
Will now run away and hide:D:D
Lewis Grassic Gibbon wrote Sunset Song. It was a set text for my higher English as well. I was about crying every night trying to plough my way through it. I genuinely had NO IDEA what it was about. I saw a TV adaptation of it and it was equally awful and I still couldn't make head nor tail of it.
What a horrible, snobbish and patronising reply!. To say that my opinion is utter garbage and doesn't deserve respect just shows what a nasty person you are. I didn't like the book or the charachter so I gave my opinion and reasons why I didn't like the book and the charachter. A lot of people have just put book names on hear without explanation, are their opionions also utter garbage? Just because it is obviously one of your favourite books doesn't mean that everyone has to like it.
Maybe I didn't read it properly then, to be honest by the end I was pretty bored with the book so you may be right. Anyway, I don't plan to reread the book to see if I was wrong.
I don't think Guy N Smith books are meant to be taken that seriously, they are basically cheap throw away horror books, and sometimes so bad its funny.
I do remember that one book had a scene that was set about a mile from where I live, that made me smile (easily pleased I know!)
Thanks.
Thanks again. You must like me.
I haven't criticised anyone for not liking Jane Eyre, that's their right to do so. I have no issue with someone not liking it, but I do take issue with people who misrepresent a story because they couldn't be arsed to read it properly, then get all shirty because a teacher, who's giving their time to educate, calls them up on their wanton ignorance. Don't blame the teacher for supposedly not allowing you to have "your own opinions on literature", when your own opinion was found wanting by your own hand. The teacher seems to have had a valid reason for rejecting your work. Some humility can go a long way...
Anyway, I'm done with this. Have the last whinge if you must.
Block
I read The Sea, and apart from a very vague sense of the plot, can barely remember reading it - it was that memorable. Not.
I haven't read anything by McEwan since Saturday. I did end up finishing it, but that book really did make me reconsider my never giving up on a book stance. Life is really too short sometimes.