I saw this thread, and I thought "American Psycho"!!! It's got a couple of votes already. The only book I ever threw in the bin... can't exactly remember why, but there were many reasons. A review said that it had managed to offend just about every social group in America...and Brett Easton Ellis once claimed he had a "blast" writing it. Hmm, he had a blast writing repeatedly about torturing women to death in a variety of gruesome ways for little point relative to the story.:mad:
The central character was a violent psychopath in an overpaid PR non-job in the 1980's. The yuppie culture he lived in was so shallow and greed-filled that no one noticed he was a maniac. A good premise for a novel, unfortunately written by a pratt. Have you seen the film? It's pretty good, better than the book!
I also thought "The Time Travellers Wife" was alright. The romance part was uninspiring but the time travelling was really well thought through. There was a Rachel McAdams film about that one. Anyone seen it? Was it any good?
I can't believe we've got to page 2 without anyone mentioning Dan Brown.
I have to credit the man with making millions but the fact he did so writing unmitigated crap for people with the reading age of a 3 year old makes me sad.
They are trashy and very overrated, but at least they're readable.
I've never read a book all the way through that I didn't end up liking.
I was forced to read death of salesman in school, and I didn't like it at all. But I seem to remember it's not a novel but a play. Still it was a load of bull.
it's a pile of crap imo. well written I guess, I can't fault it in that department. I just hated it. it's boring, and pathetic and the movie we were shown was even worse. It's not my idea of a good read, or play. Dull, and rather pointless. Yes, I get the whole message behind it. Biff and Happy were incestious gay lovers.:p
I give it a 3/10, only becuase everyone laughed, everytime someone had to say Biff, Willy or Happy when we had to read it out in class.
My dad seems to think it's a really good play.
dumbed down pile of nonscense imo
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.
Lots of people's favourite books in this thread! Catcher in the Rye should never be read by anyone past adolescence. As a teenager I might have identified with Holden - or maybe not. Reading it in middle age I just wanted to shake him hard and ask if he really wanted to kill his mother. Catch 22 I finally finished this year, having read the first chapter 30 years ago and then given up. I can accept that it's a well written book that's meant a lot to people who are totally different from me. Nothing could make me actually like it.
Rebecca and Middlemarch are absolutely fantastic.
My adolescence was blighted by studying Tess of the d'Urbervilles for A level. How I wish Thomas Hardy had only written poetry! I finally forced myself to finish Wuthering Heights at the third attempt. Now I need never look at it again. I am aware that probably millions of people adore it. (I quite like Jane Eyre.) I also detest John Steinbeck's prose style, so The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men would have to go on my worst books list.
Lots of people's favourite books in this thread! Catcher in the Rye should never be read by anyone past adolescence. As a teenager I might have identified with Holden - or maybe not. Reading it in middle age I just wanted to shake him hard and ask if he really wanted to kill his mother. Catch 22 I finally finished this year, having read the first chapter 30 years ago and then given up. I can accept that it's a well written book that's meant a lot to people who are totally different from me. Nothing could make me actually like it.
Rebecca and Middlemarch are absolutely fantastic.
My adolescence was blighted by studying Tess of the d'Urbervilles for A level. How I wish Thomas Hardy had only written poetry! I finally forced myself to finish Wuthering Heights at the third attempt. Now I need never look at it again. I am aware that probably millions of people adore it. (I quite like Jane Eyre.) I also detest John Steinbeck's prose style, so The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men would have to go on my worst books list.
Ah you see, we're total opposites because Middlemarch was too dry for me, but I loved 'doing' Tess of the d'Urbervilles for A Level.:D
I find American writers not very skilled compared to European ones, or interesting as a rule but I do like Steinbeck.:D
Wow! Most of my all-time favourite books always seem to crop up all the time on these threads! Understand why most of them do figure I suppose though, with the exception of 'Rebecca' which I only recently got round reading - such a rightly influential novel, with every single word adding something to the narrative - what's not to like??
My worst book would have to be 'Carrie' by Stephen King. A quite dreadful novel, and his general popularity has bemused me for many years. Uniquely I find him the only author where film adaptations are consistently much better than the original book e.g. The Shining, Misery etc.
The worst books I have read all the way through are "The Da vinci Code" which is the literary equivalent of a dodgy burger from a late night burger fan - it just left me feeling dirty; and 'Twilight' which I forced myself to read to see what my teenage daughter was so excited about - jees, that was tedious - "He's gorgeous. I hate him. I love him. I can't have him" - repeat x 50, and then squeeze the interesting bits into the last 2 chapters.
I have completely failed to finish 'Atonement' becuase nothing happens, in a very lovely prose; and 'Catch-22' because it fails the first test of comedy (it doesn't make me smile, let alone laugh)
I'm reclaiming 'A Short History of tractors in Ukrainian' - I really enjoyed that. And the 1st Thomas Covenant series.
Middlemarch? Yeah, Let's hear it for Mr Casaubon ,,,,,,
Thomas Hardy, no thanks. Especially those dire poems narrated by talking dogs .......
Some of Hardy's love poems (to his spectacularly ugly dead first wife) are remarkable. I like some of the earlier Hardy novels too, that most people don't like so mayhbe I have weird taste when it comes to Thomas Hardy.:D
Moby Dick, 12 pages describing the ships decking ugh I hated it. Followed very closely by a clockwork orange, seriously grated me!
You reminded me of the Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers. It's supposed to be an adventure novel about the secret preparations of a German invasion of England in the early 1900s, which sounds like fun. But more than half of it contains mind numbing details about yachting navigation in northern Germany. It's a yachting fan classic apparently!
Fortunately most books I've read I have enjoyed but one book I disliked was 'Chasing Harry Winston' by Lauren Weisberger. My friends recommended 'The Devil Wears Prada' book to me ( which is by the same author) but when I went to buy the book there was none in stock so I decided to get 'Chasing Harry Winston' as they seemed quite similar. A light easy read, chick lit etc. But I just couldn't bring myself to like the main characters/protagonist. They were shallow,vapid bimbos who I couldn't care less about eventually I abandoned the book. My mum said she would have a read of it as she had nothing else left to read and even she after a week or so told me that she found the main characters unbearable and unappealing so she stopped reading the book too. I don't know where it is now probably collecting dust somewhere!:p
Comments
The central character was a violent psychopath in an overpaid PR non-job in the 1980's. The yuppie culture he lived in was so shallow and greed-filled that no one noticed he was a maniac. A good premise for a novel, unfortunately written by a pratt. Have you seen the film? It's pretty good, better than the book!
I also thought "The Time Travellers Wife" was alright. The romance part was uninspiring but the time travelling was really well thought through. There was a Rachel McAdams film about that one. Anyone seen it? Was it any good?
Catch 22 and Catcher in the Rye I just thought were over-rated.....but I wouldn't go as far as describing them as the worst books I've read.
They are trashy and very overrated, but at least they're readable.
I was forced to read death of salesman in school, and I didn't like it at all. But I seem to remember it's not a novel but a play. Still it was a load of bull.
it's a pile of crap imo. well written I guess, I can't fault it in that department. I just hated it. it's boring, and pathetic and the movie we were shown was even worse. It's not my idea of a good read, or play. Dull, and rather pointless. Yes, I get the whole message behind it. Biff and Happy were incestious gay lovers.:p
I give it a 3/10, only becuase everyone laughed, everytime someone had to say Biff, Willy or Happy when we had to read it out in class.
My dad seems to think it's a really good play.
dumbed down pile of nonscense imo
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 have managed to get to the end of it more than once but only for courses I was on at the time. I love 'Mill on the Floss' though.
Rebecca and Middlemarch are absolutely fantastic.
My adolescence was blighted by studying Tess of the d'Urbervilles for A level. How I wish Thomas Hardy had only written poetry! I finally forced myself to finish Wuthering Heights at the third attempt. Now I need never look at it again. I am aware that probably millions of people adore it. (I quite like Jane Eyre.) I also detest John Steinbeck's prose style, so The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men would have to go on my worst books list.
Ah you see, we're total opposites because Middlemarch was too dry for me, but I loved 'doing' Tess of the d'Urbervilles for A Level.:D
I find American writers not very skilled compared to European ones, or interesting as a rule but I do like Steinbeck.:D
Meyer wrote a "fair" Holmes pastiche - The 7 per cent Solution - and of course, rescued Star Trek!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_West_End_Horror
Thomas Hardy, no thanks. Especially those dire poems narrated by talking dogs .......
My worst book would have to be 'Carrie' by Stephen King. A quite dreadful novel, and his general popularity has bemused me for many years. Uniquely I find him the only author where film adaptations are consistently much better than the original book e.g. The Shining, Misery etc.
I have completely failed to finish 'Atonement' becuase nothing happens, in a very lovely prose; and 'Catch-22' because it fails the first test of comedy (it doesn't make me smile, let alone laugh)
I'm reclaiming 'A Short History of tractors in Ukrainian' - I really enjoyed that. And the 1st Thomas Covenant series.
Some of Hardy's love poems (to his spectacularly ugly dead first wife) are remarkable. I like some of the earlier Hardy novels too, that most people don't like so mayhbe I have weird taste when it comes to Thomas Hardy.:D
The Ice Cream Girls - Dorothy Koomson, shockingly bad with so many plot holes. Avoid.