Least-favorite books ever!

[soul alive]

Oh, and Soul Alive, am I a pervert for liking Andrews' Flowers in the Attic series?

Oh, no! The books are pretty well written, from what I can remember. Just some of her ideas that run throughout - incest, etc. - are messed up enough to make me, personally, dislike the books. Liking the books is in no means wrong. Now, if you liked that the characters commit incest, etc., I would be worried about you, lol. (and sorry that it took me a while to reply to that, I had unsubscribed to the thread, and was just reading through it again today.)

I forced myself to read all of the Left Behind books, but now that all the prequels are coming out... I just gave up, it wasn't worth it to me. *sigh*

[silver1ightning]

20,000 leagues under the Sea. I personally thought it so long and boring that I forgot what happens about a week or two after reading. (well, besides that the crew go under water).

[rocklobster]

Oh, no! The books are pretty well written, from what I can remember. Just some of her ideas that run throughout - incest, etc. - are messed up enough to make me, personally, dislike the books. Liking the books is in no means wrong. Now, if you liked that the characters commit incest, etc., I would be worried about you, lol. (and sorry that it took me a while to reply to that, I had unsubscribed to the thread, and was just reading through it again today.)

I forced myself to read all of the Left Behind books, but now that all the prequels are coming out... I just gave up, it wasn't worth it to me. *sigh*

Good idea. Those books are quite anti-Catholic. Read The Rapture Trap by Paul Thigpen and you'll see why I say that. Plus I actually read them. Good thing I have a strong Catholic faith.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Romeo and Juliet. Most definately not a "love story" its rather a story of the "lust and infatuation of two people". it was utterly rediculous and a lame book.

And profiles of courage >_> ugh, that was the worst book ever. As well as this other book that I'm glad I forgot the name of. It was about this kid who was singing the national anthem in class instead of simply reciting it. He get's all into trouble and he decides to be a goof and say "I'm being patriotic" when he really just wants to be an idiot and disrupt the class.

I seriously wanted to tear up that book in 8th grade. No lie

[Sai]

Oh I just read a book called "On studying".. i think. It was by some guy named Jose. It was so bad that i dont even remember any of it and i just read the book last thursday.

[Radical Dreamer]

Great Expectations.

Oh, good! Glad to know I'm not the only one! XD

[Lynx]

i really liked great expectations, it was my favorite dicken's work.

[soul alive]

I know the 'Profiles of Courage' book, MSP. I read that back in high school. I didn't like the book at all, except, I did rather like the ending, since it was rather ironic, that [spoiler]he didn't even know the words to the National Anthem. His humming/making noise along with the song as it was played was just to be annoying, and him being so selfish caused such a big stink that the teacher quit and his whole family had to move.[/spoiler]

[bigsleepj]

Although I'm a big fan of Dickens, i'm starting to think that you shouldn't make / force / compell people read his works.

[ChristianKitsune]

The Phantom of The Opera, and the Pearl come to mind. TPOTO wasn't as good as the movie, and was really dry to me...XP

[Steeltemplar]

Romeo and Juliet. Most definately not a "love story" its rather a story of the "lust and infatuation of two people". it was utterly rediculous and a lame book.

It isn't a book. It's a play ;p

Anyway, you have to understand that in Shakespeare's plays people tend to fall in love quickly. This is because almost all of them take place over a short period of time. It's just one of those matters where you suspend disbelief. So I don't think it is fair to say that Romeo and Juliet did not love each other. Clearly, they did have intense feelings. I mean, they killed themselves for one another. That is pretty serious.

Lust...well, yes, there was some implied fornication between them in the play, IIRC. I don't approve of it either and I should say that it does detract from the value of the work.

Then there is also the aspect of the suicide. While it has a romantic aspect in a way, that of two people whose love is such that they cannot bear life without one another, it is also horribly wrong. Especially from a Christian perspective.

Overall, it is not at all my favorite of The Bard's works. That place definitely goes to Much Ado About Nothing. However, Romeo and Juliet has some beautiful lines in it that I find quite enduring. It is hard to not feel effected by the emotion of certain moments - the longing and love of the balcony scene or the desperate sorrow of the deaths at the end.

Of course, everyone has their taste. If it didn't speak to you, that's cool. But I just wanted to address the "love story" vs. "lust and infatuation" aspects.

[DrNic]

The Duchess of Malfi, I know it's a play but it is one of the worst plays. Really badly thought out and unbelieveably poor.

[Linksquest]

This is an interesting thread... there have been some... but i would associate that with a lack of good teaching (pertaining to those books taught in class). I have a saying I have made "The greatest book in the world can be rendered dull at the hands of a bad teacher." When you HAVE to read something... it's harder for me to get into it. Summer reading books... sometimes I wonder if they choose the bad ones on purpose to punish students...

But... can anyone say that the books assigned that they didn't like might have seemed better if they had a better teacher teaching it?

[MomoAdachi]

Bridge To Terebithia by Katherine Paterson(boring and depressing)
Maniac McGee by Myrna Peters(I don't remember any of the details, but I know I hated it when I read it in the sixth grade)
How To Eat Fried Worms(it grossed me out big-time!) by Thomas Rockwell
Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford(tell-all books...who needs 'em?)
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis(No offense, all you Narnia/Lewis fans, but I found this one really deep and hard to follow)
Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls(not girlie enough for me!)
My Side Of The Mountain by Jean Craighead George(see above)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte(waaaaay too long for me!)
Animal Farm by George Orwell(too political and too weird for my taste)
Aquamarine by Alice Hoffman(IMHO, quite possibly the worst mermaid book ever written...)
Dark Angel: Before The Dawn by Max Allan Collins(too much unnessasary swearing!)
The original Little Mermaid story by Hans Christian Anderson(too disturbing and deep; I soooo prefer the Disney version!)
Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine(I prefer Sweet Valley High )

[Linksquest]

[quote="MomoAdachi"]Bridge To Terebithia by Katherine Paterson(boring and depressing)
Maniac McGee by Myrna Peters(I don't remember any of the details, but I know I hated it when I read it in the sixth grade)
How To Eat Fried Worms(it grossed me out big-time!) by Thomas Rockwell
Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford(tell-all books...who needs 'em?)
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis(No offense, all you Narnia/Lewis fans, but I found this one really deep and hard to follow)
Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls(not girlie enough for me!)
My Side Of The Mountain by Jean Craighead George(see above)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte(waaaaay too long for me!) ]


O_O... you mentioned a few classics in that list... as well as a large range in variety... what kind of books DO you like.... >_>

[the_lizardqueen]

The Phantom of The Opera, and the Pearl come to mind. TPOTO wasn't as good as the movie, and was really dry to me...XP

I know what you mean. It's not that it's a 'bad' book persay but it's certainly a completely different beast from the musical. I can see how it may dissapoint ALW fans, but it's still a pretty good read if you can totally disassociate it from the musical.

*reads MomoAdachi's list*

EEP!

*grabs Bridge to Terebithia and Jane Eyre and flees*

What can I say? Bridge to Terebithia still makes me all misty-eyed to this day and I adore Jane Eyre's ugly-difficult-odd people in love

[MomoAdachi]

O_O... you mentioned a few classics in that list... as well as a large range in variety... what kind of books DO you like.... >_>

See my entry over at the favorite books/authors thread. I read so much great literature in school that now I'm all about Sweet Valley High, Meg Cabot, Judy Blume, etc.

[Doe Johnson]

My updated list of least favorites:
Wonderful, Wonderful Times (Die Ausgesperrten) by Elfriede Jelinek
Dune by Frank Herbert
Quest for Christa T. (Nachdenken über Christa T.) by Christa Wolf
Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

I can't believe I used to have Steppenwolf on this list...just goes to show that when you've read a lot more books, some of them that you didn't care for earlier become much much better. Wonderful, Wonderful Times and Dune I actually disliked and almost make me wish I didn't read; Quest for Christa T. and Silmarillion I simply found unbearably boring.

[Tancos]

James Fenimore Cooper, The Prairie. I had to read it for a literature class. Ugh. Cooper was one wretched writer. It took me a month to force my way through it, and I am not a slow reader.

[Animus Seed]

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis(No offense, all you Narnia/Lewis fans, but I found this one really deep and hard to follow)

BLASPHEMY! Ahem. Just kidding. No offense taken]Dreamcatcher[/I] by Stephen King. I read the whole thing!!!! THE WHOLE THING!!!! I kept thinking to myself, "It can't suck this bad for 600 pages, it will get good soon any minute now, I know it..." every page until I got to the end. And the swearing made my eyes burn, but that's my own fault for not putting it down right away.

I
Can
Not
Stand
Mr. King's
Writing.

Every word drips with arrogance. I get a mental picture of him sitting at a typewriter (because of course he's too good for a word processor) thinking "O What a Genius Am I!" Do you know he actually said, "It's just a fake Dracula"... in reference to The Lord of the Rings?! *Sigh*

Okay. I'm done. Carry on.

[Bobtheduck]

The Iliad was a waist of time o and harry poter sorry if there are some fans but I hate those books I read the first the first one and I mean I hated it so bad I didnt even see the movies not one.

The first one is pretty bad, actually... She gets better as she writes. Half Blood Prince is one of my favorite books (actually, I like them from Azkaban on... In my opinion, the first two movies > the first two books, but then it reverses, and yet, still, Goblet of Fire is the best of the movies...)

Ok, this is a comment in progress, because I am somewhat determined to finish it, but so far... That Hideous Strength is so incredibly boring... I loved the first two books so much (Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra) but I simply can't get into the third one... I'm on somewhere around page 100... I've got a long way to go, and I can't bring myself to pick it up again, but I want to like it... I really do... I won't forgive myself if I don't finish this story, not only for being a book I started and didn't finish, but for being a series I started and didn't finish...

So, it's not my least favorite book, but it has been (for the 100 pages I read) very disappointing... I am, like, 75% sure my opinion will change once I finally read it, though I may have to start over (I probably forgot a lot) so I have to get through that boring 100 pages again...

[soul alive]

I also struggled through That Hideous Strength. But, if I remember correctly, there are two sections to the book, and the second is much better. The first is just so slow moving that it is hard to get through, but the second is worth hacking it through the first. The book is quite a bit different from the first two, it doesn't even seem to be from the same series sometimes.

[Phantom_Sorano]

Yeah the Illiad wasn't good....the Odyssey was though...other least favorite books would include...the Dove, Life of Pi....and Eragon.

[Linksquest]

As I lay Dying by William Faulkner was horrendous!

[Phantom_Sorano]

Really? Hmm...one of the worst books you can read is the DaVinci Code....ha!

[MomoAdachi]

Well, blasphemous as it may be, it's pretty hard to deny that TDVC is a very well-written and suspenseful book.

[Steeltemplar]

Well, blasphemous as it may be, it's pretty hard to deny that TDVC is a very well-written and suspenseful book.

Is it? I understand there are a number of secular critics who seem to think it quite poor. It is, of course, a matter of opinion to an extent. People have their tastes. However, I would not call it a universally acclaimed book by any stretch.

[the_lizardqueen]

Is it? I understand there are a number of secular critics who seem to think it quite poor. It is, of course, a matter of opinion to an extent. People have their tastes. However, I would not call it a universally acclaimed book by any stretch.

I concur. It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't great. I just finished reading it last night. It managed to maintain my attention for the most part and it certainly was suspenseful and surprising at points. But there are a large number of non-controversial suspense/thriller/mysteries that are just as interesting to read.

The religious backlash is the only thing really elevating Da Vinci Code beyond the rest of it's kind :/

Years from now, I doubt that I will remember anything particularly life changing or beautiful about it. Unlike the books that have stayed with me as favorites throughout the years.

[Tancos]

The Prairie, by James Fenimore Cooper. I had to read it for an American literature class, and it took me a month to slog through the drivel. Cooper must have been paid, not by the word, but by the pound; he'll never use one word when 500 will do. To put my difficulty with Cooper's prose in perspective, note that I read Patricia McKillip's entire Riddlemaster trilogy in one (long) sitting.

As I Lay Dying was the Faulkner book I liked best. Faulkner is not for everyone, but if you have the patience he's a very interesting writer.

[beau99]

A Tale of Two Cities - Had to read it in high school, but I couldn't finish it because it was too dang long.

The Stranger - Existentialism + me = no.