There are things I haven't finished, a LOT. I pick up a book and try to read it and just can't get into it. That doesn't mean it's not worth reading. So I can't honestly name those books, I suppose unless I've gotten at least halfway through them.
That being said, there are some that I've finished or almost finished that were awful.
The Jewels of Aptor by Samuel Delaney was horrible. I don't even know what the damn thing was supposed to be about. It seemed so random. Maybe I just didn't get it.
Altered Carbon, which I read solely because of its popularity and reputation as a genre-builder. I've come to realize, though, that cyberpunk just isn't my thing. It was good in that I could see its worth in that respect, but that's as far as it went.
And speaking of genres that are turn-offs, urban fantasy is pretty dull for me as well. Angel of Darkness by de Lint was one of those for me. It was meh, I read it all, but it didn't capture me the way I'd hoped it would.
Classics also very rarely interest me. There are a lot I won't even attempt to read. Some things I couldn't finish despite them having been assigned in classes, like The Metamorphosis and Heart of Darkness. In fact, the latter is probably my least favorite book ever. I have it on my to-read shelf because I just feel like I have to force myself through it one of these days.
Let's not forget the pile of crap that was Crossroads of Twilight. As much as I love Jordan, that book was obviously written for one reason- to make money. More happened in the prologue of the next book than the entirety of that one.
There are tons more, but those are the first things that come to mind. A lot, huh.
That being said, there are some that I've finished or almost finished that were awful.
The Jewels of Aptor by Samuel Delaney was horrible. I don't even know what the damn thing was supposed to be about. It seemed so random. Maybe I just didn't get it.
Altered Carbon, which I read solely because of its popularity and reputation as a genre-builder. I've come to realize, though, that cyberpunk just isn't my thing. It was good in that I could see its worth in that respect, but that's as far as it went.
And speaking of genres that are turn-offs, urban fantasy is pretty dull for me as well. Angel of Darkness by de Lint was one of those for me. It was meh, I read it all, but it didn't capture me the way I'd hoped it would.
Classics also very rarely interest me. There are a lot I won't even attempt to read. Some things I couldn't finish despite them having been assigned in classes, like The Metamorphosis and Heart of Darkness. In fact, the latter is probably my least favorite book ever. I have it on my to-read shelf because I just feel like I have to force myself through it one of these days.
Let's not forget the pile of crap that was Crossroads of Twilight. As much as I love Jordan, that book was obviously written for one reason- to make money. More happened in the prologue of the next book than the entirety of that one.
There are tons more, but those are the first things that come to mind. A lot, huh.
Atheism is a religion like abstinence is a sex position. - Bill Maher
So...what books DON'T you like?
06/09/2009 04:57:28 AM
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I have a couple I really disliked
06/09/2009 05:28:38 AM
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Some examples
07/09/2009 08:25:37 PM
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You think Battlefield Earth is bad, try reading his Mission Earth series. *NM*
08/09/2009 02:09:22 AM
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I read those in high school. I liked them. Stupid comic escapism. *NM*
08/09/2009 02:18:31 AM
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I read them when I was in high school too...at least the first 3 or 4
08/09/2009 02:47:12 AM
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Re: I read them when I was in high school too...at least the first 3 or 4
08/09/2009 04:18:07 PM
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Re: I read them when I was in high school too...at least the first 3 or 4
08/09/2009 06:26:00 PM
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No, thanks. I think all my masochism got spent on Terry Goodkind *NM*
08/09/2009 07:25:41 PM
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Political polemics, for one. Utopian novels, for another.
06/09/2009 05:29:54 AM
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I don't have enough hours in the day to detail this or something even worse
06/09/2009 05:45:35 AM
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Oh, a lot of things. But I wonder.
06/09/2009 07:00:34 AM
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Re: Oh, a lot of things. But I wonder.
06/09/2009 07:05:51 AM
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Oh plenty
06/09/2009 09:37:23 AM
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I hated Wuthering Heights more than Jane Eyre, but I hated Jane Eyre, too. *NM*
06/09/2009 02:54:49 PM
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I like all books I have ever read.
06/09/2009 12:09:51 PM
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Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. In Ye Olde English, it's harder to translate than ancient Greek. *NM*
06/09/2009 05:07:49 PM
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The Canterbury Tales are not Old English. They are Middle English.
06/09/2009 05:59:59 PM
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Indeed, translating old english, and reading middle english are very very different
06/09/2009 07:11:13 PM
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As I'm translating some ancient Greek right now, I call bullshit on that. *NM*
06/09/2009 08:45:46 PM
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I was going to, but I felt I had already been pedantic enough. *NM*
07/09/2009 02:34:04 AM
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The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
06/09/2009 05:58:39 PM
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Catcher in the Rye and Heart of Darkness, among the "classics." *NM*
06/09/2009 08:15:12 PM
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Vellum by Hal Duncan and The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
06/09/2009 08:16:12 PM
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Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
06/09/2009 08:24:07 PM
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I liked a Portrait of the Artist, personally, though the (lack of real) punctuation grated *NM*
07/09/2009 12:18:50 AM
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I didn't mind Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog...I mean Man
07/09/2009 02:40:14 AM
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What?
06/09/2009 08:28:17 PM
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Oh, and maybe it was lost on me, but I never got much joy out of War and Peace
07/09/2009 12:22:48 AM
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Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell.
07/09/2009 12:54:41 AM
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Don't flame me for saying it....
07/09/2009 04:49:40 AM
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One last one: Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley *NM*
07/09/2009 07:44:48 AM
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Have you ever seen the mini-series?
07/09/2009 05:42:45 PM
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Never have I seen such good acting in such a dreadful movie/mini-series.
07/09/2009 05:44:47 PM
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I love really really bad TV movies sometimes....they make for lots of laughter
07/09/2009 06:06:38 PM
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Actually, you might like it. As in, think it's good.
07/09/2009 06:11:14 PM
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I had a couple of issues with the book that I could easily see being removed from the movie
07/09/2009 07:01:40 PM
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A Confederacy of Dunces.
08/09/2009 06:13:59 AM
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Crap. That's two people now.
09/09/2009 01:42:40 AM
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Hitchickers guide to the galaxy and The Good earth by Pearl S. Buck
09/09/2009 01:07:01 AM
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