I agree with the whole Jane Austen bit. She has a very weak plot in Sense and Stupidability, and her use of dialogue sucks @ss. Although, if my Literary Classics by Women teacher saw this she'd have a conniption fit. She wants to have Jane Austen's baby.
I agree with the whole Jane Austen bit. She has a very weak plot in Sense and Stupidability, and her use of dialogue sucks @ss. Although, if my Literary Classics by Women teacher saw this she'd have a conniption fit. She wants to have Jane Austen's baby.
I had an English class, and the professor was some sort of feminist or something. ALL of the books I had to read was fvcking pro-feminism.
So I had to read crap from all the top feminists biatches like Susan Sontag...Gloria Steinem. Bleh! That was a long ass time ago, but I still remember the pain.
Another book I really hate is The Sound and Fury by William Faulkner. Talk about run-on sentences. There were sentences in there that lasted like a page long, i kid you not.
Thanks to the English requirements we all have to take in college, I think we've all had to read so totally crappy books that we would never ever read on our own.
So I had to read crap from all the top feminists biatches like Susan Sontag...Gloria Steinem. Bleh! That was a long ass time ago, but I still remember the pain.
Another book I really hate is The Sound and Fury by William Faulkner. Talk about run-on sentences. There were sentences in there that lasted like a page long, i kid you not.
Thanks to the English requirements we all have to take in college, I think we've all had to read so totally crappy books that we would never ever read on our own.
A Farewell to Arms. I just don't like Hemingway's style.
EDIT: I also agree about Faulkner - stream of consciousness is stinks.
EDIT: I also agree about Faulkner - stream of consciousness is stinks.
Don Vito Corleone
Elite
- Feb 10, 2000
- 30,029
- 67
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I am disappointed (if not exactly surprised) that most of the posts here are about books that are true literary classics. The idea that "Moby Dick" could be on a list of anyone's worst books is just sad - it is one of the richest, most fascinating books ever written in the English language.
For me, the worst book I have ever made it all the way through was Thomas Harris' "Hannibal". IMO "Red Dragon" and "Silence of the Lambs" are brilliant for what they are, as is "Black Sunday." "Hannibal" was just dreadful in every way, though - that guy really hit the literary wall.
For me, the worst book I have ever made it all the way through was Thomas Harris' "Hannibal". IMO "Red Dragon" and "Silence of the Lambs" are brilliant for what they are, as is "Black Sunday." "Hannibal" was just dreadful in every way, though - that guy really hit the literary wall.
Originally posted by: Wuffsunie
Yeah, it was Ludlum. My highschool creative writing teacher mentioned Ludlum as a current pulp writer; prolific, has a following, not very talented. Mary Higgins Clark is kindda like that, too. She writes female romance novels that is one pauses to think of the actions of the characters, they will realize they are reading about epileptic mental deficents.
Before trying Starship, try reading Armor by John Steakley. It's what Starship should have beenIt has a few holes in the plot (Just why don't they nuke the bugs from orbit? I don't know.) but is a much better read. Felix's arc is quite gripping.
Nice to see a few others hate the later Rama books, too
I really like Heinlein's books...I adored Stranger in a Strange land and Starship troopers. (Why didn't they nuke the bugs from orbit? The bugs live in tunnels. You ever tried guiding a nuke through the atmosphere of an alien world travelling several times the speed of sound, into a tunnel? No.)
One sci-fi book I just couldn't get into-The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula LeGuin. Good lord, that woman can RAMBLE.
Now I don't particularly apprecciate hidden meaning literature. Just to say where I'm coming from.
Moby Dick was half whale history, half daily monotonous boring drudgery of life on a boat, and about 1% dialogue. The absolute best chapter was where he meets Queequeg, I thought to myself that the book might be interesting. But it was incredibly boring the rest of the book.
Originally posted by: Horus
Originally posted by: Wuffsunie
Yeah, it was Ludlum. My highschool creative writing teacher mentioned Ludlum as a current pulp writer; prolific, has a following, not very talented. Mary Higgins Clark is kindda like that, too. She writes female romance novels that is one pauses to think of the actions of the characters, they will realize they are reading about epileptic mental deficents.
Before trying Starship, try reading Armor by John Steakley. It's what Starship should have been
Nice to see a few others hate the later Rama books, too
I really like Heinlein's books...I adored Stranger in a Strange land and Starship troopers. (Why didn't they nuke the bugs from orbit? The bugs live in tunnels. You ever tried guiding a nuke through the atmosphere of an alien world travelling several times the speed of sound, into a tunnel? No.)
One sci-fi book I just couldn't get into-The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula LeGuin. Good lord, that woman can RAMBLE.
Starship Troopers is one of my favs by Heinlein (who am I kidding: they're all my fav's!); I was so dissapointed when I saw the movie. They corrupted that book beyond all belief. And Stranger is great, too...I just wish he would've written a little more about the Martians and what happened with them).
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress made me tear up at the end when Prof and Wyoh died. I almost totally lost it when he seemed to end the book with Manny dying, too. But then he brought him back into the Time Corps in the later books...also, I don't think I could've stood it if he didn't bring back Mike...I mean, to me, that is one of his greatest characters (along with Woodrow Wilson Smith).
Hidden meaning in literature I don't mind so much. It's hidden meaning in poetry that drives me nuts. How does anyone know what the author was trying to convey (unless he actually wrote it down somewhere)?
Let's see..
Moby Dick -- Too drawn out.
Democracy in America -- If anyone here has read it, it speaks for itself
To Kill A Mockingbird -- It was just 'ok'
A Separate Peace -- Just.. blech
Some books I actually liked:
Animal Farm -- Short and sweet -- very insightful
The Chosen -- Also, very informative, imo.
The House of the Seven Gables -- It was a little dry, but I loved the symbolism.
Moby Dick -- Too drawn out.
Democracy in America -- If anyone here has read it, it speaks for itself
To Kill A Mockingbird -- It was just 'ok'
A Separate Peace -- Just.. blech
Some books I actually liked:
Animal Farm -- Short and sweet -- very insightful
The Chosen -- Also, very informative, imo.
The House of the Seven Gables -- It was a little dry, but I loved the symbolism.
usually i love or at least appreciate everything i read (and i read a LOT) but i just cant stand anything by dickens.... he could write 10 pages describing a lamp and it just bores me to death. i have tried reading more than one novel (oliver twist/a tale of two cities/a christmas carol/great expectations/started david copperfield) but i havent liked any of them.
also, we had to read fahrenheit 451 for my hs freshman honors english class and i dont know how i got thru the whole thing.... it wasnt long or anything but just so crap it wasnt even funny; the idea worked, it was just the way he wrote it .... i've heard that other stuff he's written is better but i'm biased against him.
not the biggest fan of hemingway -- didnt mind a farewell to arms or the old man and the sea too much but the sun also rises was excruciating
also didnt like wuthering heights; what was the pt? cathy was an annoying brat and heathcliff was a total asshat, what great heroes
also, we had to read fahrenheit 451 for my hs freshman honors english class and i dont know how i got thru the whole thing.... it wasnt long or anything but just so crap it wasnt even funny; the idea worked, it was just the way he wrote it .... i've heard that other stuff he's written is better but i'm biased against him.
not the biggest fan of hemingway -- didnt mind a farewell to arms or the old man and the sea too much but the sun also rises was excruciating
also didnt like wuthering heights; what was the pt? cathy was an annoying brat and heathcliff was a total asshat, what great heroes
Die. Now.
As far as bad books go, the only example of a book I've actually hated is The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This perturbs me, as I'm an English major. Oh well.
Just about anything they made me read in school.
Particularly:
Tess Of The D'Urbervilles
The Scarlet Letter
Moby Dick and Billy Budd
Those stand out as awful books. I cannot fathom why they are considered classics. Whatever meaning they may have had is lost in the awful writing style that was considered "hip" in those days. In high school I often joked that so-called "classics" are the awful books that you are made to read in school so that you don't have enough time to read anything worthwhile.
There were a few exceptions that I didn't hate:
The Pearl
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
The Chosen
The Great Gatsby
The Crucible
I read constantly as a kid, and I liked what I was reading. I didn't need teachers to tell me to read other stuff, and what they chose was bad, bad, bad.
Particularly:
Tess Of The D'Urbervilles
The Scarlet Letter
Moby Dick and Billy Budd
Those stand out as awful books. I cannot fathom why they are considered classics. Whatever meaning they may have had is lost in the awful writing style that was considered "hip" in those days. In high school I often joked that so-called "classics" are the awful books that you are made to read in school so that you don't have enough time to read anything worthwhile.
There were a few exceptions that I didn't hate:
The Pearl
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
The Chosen
The Great Gatsby
The Crucible
I read constantly as a kid, and I liked what I was reading. I didn't need teachers to tell me to read other stuff, and what they chose was bad, bad, bad.
yllus
Elite Member & Lifer
- Aug 20, 2000
- 20,577
- 432
- 126
Starstrike by W. Michael Gear was rather awful. He uses the most cliched stereotypes you'll ever read and the effect is utterly hilarious. His Israeli Defence Force characters make constant, repetitive Holocaust references - constant meaning EVERY SINGLE SENTENCE THEY SPEAK. His Americans all come from the mean streets of ____ and escaped from a life of ruin through the military. His Russian male officers are completely obsessed with politics and the Russian women voluptuous sex-starved animals. Worst sci-fi I've ever read.
Tom Clancy's Op-Center: Mission of Honor by Jeff Rovin. A disgrace to Clancy's one respectable name. I mean, where to begin? The savvy strategic team at Op-Center runs around like chickens with their heads cut off, the elite Striker commando team is disbanded and on top of all of that, voodoo magic and prophesies? State of Siege was the last great Op-Center book, though incredibly dogmatic and insulting to the UN. Line of Control was boring, and this book just sealed the series' fate. I'm afraid to read on at this point.
Tom Clancy's Op-Center: Mission of Honor by Jeff Rovin. A disgrace to Clancy's one respectable name. I mean, where to begin? The savvy strategic team at Op-Center runs around like chickens with their heads cut off, the elite Striker commando team is disbanded and on top of all of that, voodoo magic and prophesies? State of Siege was the last great Op-Center book, though incredibly dogmatic and insulting to the UN. Line of Control was boring, and this book just sealed the series' fate. I'm afraid to read on at this point.
I cannot fathom why anything by Robert Heinlein is listed in this thread, the man was a genius. Time Enough for Love, Stranger in a Strange Land, and the Puppet Masters are three of the most brilliant peices of clever social commentary via scifi that I've ever read. It carries a little bit of date as with most of his work, but I don't think it detracts.
Schadenfroh
Elite Member
- Mar 8, 2003
- 38,416
- 4
- 0
someone on the forums would have to read it in order to say that its the worst they have ever read
and from the looks of this place, the number of people who have read it thru is minimal
Sense and Sensibility - Austen
The Sound and the Fury- Faulkner
The Turn of the Screw- James
UNbearable to read these.
The Sound and the Fury- Faulkner
The Turn of the Screw- James
UNbearable to read these.
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