Top 5 books you would not recommend

[KAY]

Everyone has at least 1 book they couldn't believe they were sat there reading. You maybe felt you should finish it for what ever reason or had to pack it in it was so bad. What were yours? Should be easier than top 10 favourites. So In no particular order:


1) Mrs Dalloway( viginia Wolfe)

2) The ring masters daughter ( Jostein Gaarder)

3) Surfacing ( Margaret Atwood)

4) Notes of a small Island ( Bill Bryson)

5) If on a winters night a traveller (Italo Calvino)

[Liz]

4) Notes of a small Island ( Bill Bryson)

Ah, now I really enjoyed that one.


The one book I couldn't stand, however, was The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne. I found it to be a complete waste of reading time.

[Louiseog]

Ah, now I really enjoyed that one.


The one book I couldn't stand, however, was The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne. I found it to be a complete waste of reading time.
Now I enjoyed that !!
Captain Correlli's Mandolin did nothing for me

[Janet]

2) The ring masters daughter ( Jostein Gaarder)
Hmmm - we're reading 'The Christmas Mystery' by him for my next real-life Bookworms meet - I hope it's better than this one!

I loved Notes From A Small Island!


For me:

1. Catcher In The Rye (and I read it as an adult, not at school!) - J D Sallinger

2. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith - zzzzzzzzzz :sleeping-smiley-009

3. Too Good To Be True - Sheila O'Flanagan (It was! ;) )

I can't think of any more at the moment!

[princessponti]

In no particular order as I wouldn't recommend any of them!

- The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (most recent icky book)
- The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
- The Beach - Alex Garland
- Does My Bum Look Big in This? - Arabella Weir
- The Rats - James Herbert

...of which I think I only managed to actually finish Dorian Gray!

[KAY]

Ah, now I really enjoyed that one.


The one book I couldn't stand, however, was The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne. I found it to be a complete waste of reading time.




I really loved Bill Brysons "Neither here nor there" because i was given an insite into europe, and felt i learnt loads from it plus it was quite funny, so notes from a samll island was a great let down.Probably because i live in england so i felt he couldn't tell me much i didn't already know.

[KAY]

In no particular order as I wouldn't recommend any of them!

- The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (most recent icky book)
- The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
- The Beach - Alex Garland
- Does My Bum Look Big in This? - Arabella Weir
- The Rats - James Herbert

...of which I think I only managed to actually finish Dorian Gray!


This book Dorian Gray, many people on this site have talked about it saying how great it is. What is it about? What didn't you like about it. I thought i may try it because so many were enthusiastic about it

[Mia]

2. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith - zzzzzzzzzz :sleeping-smiley-009

I enjoyed that one! :mrgreen:

Mine would be:

1) Wuthering Heights - Bronte
2) Far From the Madding Crowd - Mr Depression himself (Thomas :censored: Hardy)
3) The Taking - Dean Koontz
4) Bag of Bones - Stephen King
5) Anne of Green Gables - Montgomery(?)

[Kell]

1. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
2. The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason
3. Falling Sideways by Tom Holt
4. High Society by Ben Elton
5. Things We Knew Were True by Nicci Gerard

None of them remotely lived up to even my most meagre of expectations - incredibly disappointing all round.

[Mia]

1. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

I've got that on my TBR pile, where it's been languishing for the last couple of years. I let myself be swayed by Richard & Judy for the first (and hopefully the last) time and bought it, though I would never normally read that kind of thing. It sounds very depressing, I have to say.

[KAY]

I enjoyed that one! :mrgreen:

Mine would be:

1) Wuthering Heights - Bronte
2) Far From the Madding Crowd - Mr Depression himself (Thomas :censored: Hardy)
3) The Taking - Dean Koontz
4) Bag of Bones - Stephen King
5) Anne of Green Gables - Montgomery(?)


Wuthering heights would go into my top 20 favourites i'm afraid and as for Anne of green gables, never read the book but i love the film. in fact it is my favourite film ever.

Bag of bones i agree with though.

[Kell]

I've got that [The Lovely Bones] on my TBR pile, where it's been languishing for the last couple of years... It sounds very depressing, I have to say.
I just hated it - it put me in such a bad mood with the main character for whom I was supposed to feel sympathy. I had pretty reasonable expectations due to the fact that The Time Traveler's Wife had "This is the next The Lovely Bones" on the front of it & I had adored that one. This was nothing like it & from my point of view it had nothing to like.

[princessponti]

Wuthering heights would go into my top 20 favourites i'm afraid and as for Anne of green gables, never read the book but i love the film. in fact it is my favourite film ever.



... I was just about to post almost the same thing LOVED Wuthering Heights, and Anne (except I love the Gables books as much as the film!!). I'm really enjoying this thread, it's great to see how people can have such wildly different opinions :smile2:

Kay, with Dorian Gray, I really enjoyed the first chapter (or two, can't remember), but it just took a real turn for the worst and never really made it back up again for me. I found it to be quite depressing and hopeless, with a main character that I could find no redeeming features in. I understand that this may well be the point, but (as revealed elsewhere) I am quite a tender soul and cannot really get on board with stories that are not at least optimistic. I found it quite grim in places and it offended my sensibilities!! I also didn't enjoy the long descriptives of the lavish frivolities and artifacts (although this is something that others I'm sure would love). All in all, it did not float my boat!

[KAY]

... I was just about to post almost the same thing LOVED Wuthering Heights, and Anne (except I love the Gables books as much as the film!!). I'm really enjoying this thread, it's great to see how people can have such wildly different opinions :smile2:

Kay, with Dorian Gray, I really enjoyed the first chapter (or two, can't remember), but it just took a real turn for the worst and never really made it back up again for me. I found it to be quite depressing and hopeless, with a main character that I could find no redeeming features in. I understand that this may well be the point, but (as revealed elsewhere) I am quite a tender soul and cannot really get on board with stories that are not at least optimistic. I found it quite grim in places and it offended my sensibilities!! I also didn't enjoy the long descriptives of the lavish frivolities and artifacts (although this is something that others I'm sure would love). All in all, it did not float my boat!


Thanx a lot for your opinion on Dorian Gray. Ive just read alittle on amazon and i can't tell from a page very well but i think i would feel the same from what i read. I didn't get a good feel for it.

[Liz]

Now, I really enjoyed Dorian Gray. I thought the idea of the story was a great idea. I ended up enjoying the book more and more the further I got into it.

[Liz]

I wouldn't recommend The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Found that to be a very dull story. So much more could have been done with the idea.

[Michelle]

And I really enjoyed Bag of Bones. ;)

[Acesare*]

Bag of Bones was just OK, in my opinion - certainly one of my least favourite King books. It just seemed a bit slow and meandering for my tastes.

I really enjoyed High Society by Ben Elton - changed my opinion on the legalisation of class A drugs.

I really diodn't like:

The Hobbit
Moby Dick

I'm sure there are others.

[Freewheeling Andy]

Snow by Orhan Pamuk: Dull, boring, nothing happening, dreary, over emotional pointless hard to read tosh, set in Turkey, with a poet as the main character

The Book Of Memories by Peter Nadas : Dull, boring, effete, almost impossible to read, nothing happening dreariness set in Hungary, with a playwrite as the main character

everything I've tried by James Joyce

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann : Dull, boring, effete, nothing happening dreariness

The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien : The worst of the dreadful middle earth nonense

[Kell]

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann : Dull, boring, effete, nothing happening dreariness I was forced to watch the film for my media studies class & it was truly dire. I couldn't believe I'd wasted all that time on something so dull!

[FishAndChips]

- The Beach - Alex Garland

Whaaaat!!! One of my all time faves!! :(

[Snowflake]

For me...
1. Last of the Mohicans - I gave up on this it was so dull
2. The Divide by Nichloas Evans - just rubbish and cheesy
3. Faithless by Joyce Carol Oates - short stories that were either really depressing, miserable, disturbing or boring
4. A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve - miserable stuff
5. The Way I Found Her by Rose Tremain - weird and disturbing

[Icecream]

This is difficult. I am finding it hard to think of books I definitely would not recommend. Here is my attempt...

1. 'The Emperor's New Mind' by Roger Penrose ~ It is about algorithms and other mathematical theorems, cosmology, quantam... Very interesting but very deep.

2. 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens ~ I have only put this because I am struggling. It is the first book I thought of. I found it incredibly boring, however, it has so much to say for itself under analysis.

3. 'Emma' by Jane Austen ~ I found no story in this and could not get into it.

4. There was a book i read in school. I remember it was yellow with a dog on the front. That is all I remember about it. 'Enough said..'

5. I can't think of one..

[Ronny]

Everyone has at least 1 book they couldn't believe they were sat there reading. You maybe felt you should finish it for what ever reason or had to pack it in it was so bad. What were yours? Should be easier than top 10 favourites. So In no particular order:


1) Mrs Dalloway( viginia Wolfe)

2) The ring masters daughter ( Jostein Gaarder)

3) Surfacing ( Margaret Atwood)

4) Notes of a small Island ( Bill Bryson)

5) If on a winters night a traveller (Italo Calvino)

I just finished Surfacing and I agree with you, it was not my cuppa at all and I usually like Atwood. It actually made me really irritated by the end.

[Gyre]

Here goes.....

1. Sunshine Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon:

This was part of a Scots Quair, and 'Sunshine Song' was the only part we read at school and I absolutely hated it with a passion, three pages on how dirt feels,no thank you. I bought 'a Scots Quair' years later in the vain hope that I just did not get it when I was a teenager, but no, at the age of 25, I still did not appreciate dirt.

2. The Dark by James Herbert:

I have enjoyed every James Book I have read accept for this one, the book was all wrong, there is horror and then there is horror which was this book. Do not read this book if you have a sensitive stomach.

3. Isobel's Wedding by Sheila O'Flanagan:

I apologise profusely to Ms O'Flanagan but this book in a nutshell was awful!, I did not care about the characters, Isobel kind of annoyed me and the whole 'I have changed therefore I am a better person' part did nothing for me.

4. The Baby Trail by Sinead Moriarty:

This story was great in theory when you read the back of the book and then you read the book. Maybe it was too close to home, etc but I found this book patronising and unrealistic. I actually threw this book across my bedroom.

5. I will get back to you.

:readingtwo:

[sgeandhu]

1) anything by James Joyce..(he doesn't make sense..not worth the effort)
2)The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh (despite rave reviews by the press- couldn't give a monkey's for the main character)
3) Cold Granite by Stuart McBride (yep, I realise a few on here list it as one of best reads, but I found the thing cliched twaddle
4) The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger (let's just be grateful he isn't prolific :-) )
no 5)...... that's enough mince for now!

[KAY]

it's funny you should say "Emma". I bought it a couple of months ago cos i usually like periodic books (eg the Brontes) but ive been watching some of the Jane Austen series on tv and all her stories seem to be pretty much similar with different characters and very little happens in them. I much preferr jane Eyre and wuthering heights which have great story lines that have stayed with me for years.

[everydayxangels]

I can only think of 4 that I would be hell bent against recommending.

4. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
3. A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve
2. A Virgin Earth by Phillipa Gregory
1. The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards

[kitty_kitty]

There is probably alot more than this but i have just thought of:

1. Middlemarch by George Elliot - Did it for Alevel hated it - awful and dull

2. Holy Fools by Joanne Harris - i tried Gentlemen and Players too so i can safely not try anything or hers again as it not for me.

3. Anything by Patricia Scanlan - Very dull and predictable chick lit author

4. The virgin blue - Tracy Chevalier - very dissappointing

5. Labyrinth - Kate Mosse - A really good idea but poor story telling!!!

[Gyre]

Here goes.....

1. Sunshine Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon:

This was part of a Scots Quair, and 'Sunshine Song' was the only part we read at school and I absolutely hated it with a passion, three pages on how dirt feels,no thank you. I bought 'a Scots Quair' years later in the vain hope that I just did not get it when I was a teenager, but no, at the age of 25, I still did not appreciate dirt.

2. The Dark by James Herbert:

I have enjoyed every James Book I have read accept for this one, the book was all wrong, there is horror and then there is horror which was this book. Do not read this book if you have a sensitive stomach.

3. Isobel's Wedding by Sheila O'Flanagan:

I apologise profusely to Ms O'Flanagan but this book in a nutshell was awful!, I did not care about the characters, Isobel kind of annoyed me and the whole 'I have changed therefore I am a better person' part did nothing for me.

4. The Baby Trail by Sinead Moriarty:

This story was great in theory when you read the back of the book and then you read the book. Maybe it was too close to home, etc but I found this book patronising and unrealistic. I actually threw this book across my bedroom.

5. I will get back to you.

:readingtwo:








Finally thought of my fifth book, 'The Jane Austen Book Club' by Karen Joy Fowler. awful awful awful book x

[KW]

I'm amazed you all can remember books you didn't like. I usually toss them after the first chap or two and out goes the memory of the title!

KW

[Nici76]

I'm amazed you all can remember books you didn't like. I usually toss them after the first chap or two and out goes the memory of the title! KW

That's exactly how i feel! I keep looking at this thread thinking i know there are books that i really didn't enjoy but i just can't remember what they are!

[Kell]

I'm amazed you all can remember books you didn't like. I usually toss them after the first chap or two and out goes the memory of the title!Ah, but if I didn't remember the titles of the books I hated, I might end up accidentally buying them again and that would just be tragic!:lol:

[JudyB]

1. Middlemarch by George Elliot - Did it for Alevel hated it - awful and dull


Did this for my degree and it became my nemisis - however I went to work for an ex-vicar and in a conversation about literature in general he happened to explain it to me (he didn't know I'd studied it) and I felt quite guilty afterwards and think it might be good after all and maybe it was a case of wrong book at wrong time. another one I feel guilty about is Portrait of a Lady by Henry James - I think I gave up on it just before it got interesting.

[lovesreading06]

There only 2 books i read and i didn't like

1 Shop girl by steven martin

2 The Christmas Mystery can't remeber who it by.

[Fay]

Just finished Last Witness by Jilliane Hoffman. It was terrible. The only book that I did not enjoy...ever.

I feel awful about saying it but it was truly dull. I had no connection with the main character, it wasnt descriptive enough - I feel as though it was intended to be read by those who knew Florida and its highway system, and those who are familiar with the Florida law enforcement!

[Kylie]

Two that I would never recommend:

The Alchemist - Paul Coelho
Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

I know I lot of people love these books but I couldn't stand them!

[Kell]

What was it about them that you disliked, Kylie? Anything in particular? Style? Plot? Characters? (I ask because I quite liked them, but know that both have very strong love / hate camps).

[lovesreading06]

I just want to add some more

Black Beauty.
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O' Farrell

[Janet]

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O' Farrell
What did you hate about this book? I read the 'blurb' in Tesco last week and thought it sounded really good!

[lovesreading06]

i just coun't get in to it. I didn't find it interesting.

[Fiona]

2. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith - zzzzzzzzzz :sleeping-smiley-009


Noooooooooo but that was excellent how can you possibly find it boring, it's like one of my very favourite books! *becomes militent* :tong:

It's interesting how people can hate some books others love. Cos I can't actually understand how anyone could not like that book! Yet sometimes I get reccomended a book, I read it and I can't help raising an eyebrow how anyone could actually enjoy such a book (let alone how it could get published.)

Anyway, my five...

1. Labyrinth - Kate Mosse - I read the first three pages and I have NEVER had a more torturous ten minutes or so of my life. I don't normally read books with a critical eye, because I like to enjoy books as books usually. But really... this had so much wrong with it. I can remember thinking 'STOP USING STUPID SIMILIES' How can blood splatter like a firework or whatever she wrote? Hello there, shoddy writing how did it get past the editor? It was terrible. I don't care if she had the best idea in the world, she cannot write to save her forsaken life. Not that I'm any expert but isn't that the point? If someone with no degree in English, an amature writer - can notice such terrible writing skills then... gah. Why is it a best seller? I suppose Richard and Judy pushing it helped. (I try to avoid books reccomended by them...)

2. The Lovely Bones - Alice Seabold - Boring. Depressing and wooden. I couldn't actually care less by the end. Instant sympathy factor. Kid got raped and murdered. Didn't bother actually building on the character beyond that. The end was just stupid and weird and to fantastical for my liking.

I mean, she possessed someone for pities sake... it was just completely out of sync and weird. What rubbish.

3. Dracula - Bram Stoker - Had to read this for English A-Level I think I skimmed half of it to tell the truth. Good writing ability I think, but bad plotting. It felt so all over the place. It's a shame as I think it could have been a lot better.

4. For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemmingway (yes I know, I am reading it at the moment) maybe he is a good author. I don't think he's magnificent though. I'm afraid even if this is the best book, it is ultimately the wrong choice for me because I don't really give two hoots about the spanish civil war. Anyway, the characters are wooden, the speech stunted. And it just feels so shallow. The m/c thinks himself in love with this girl after the first second of meeting her. I'm sorry, I don't buy love at first sight. He just fancies the pants off her and it's boring. It's boring to read how they keep having sex randomly and moaning about the war and the bridge they're supposed to be blowing and moaning about each other. Their conversations are stupid and contrived. And I don't like the main character. He's one dimensional and pointless. Hope he dies in the end, only reason why I'm still reading it.

5. The Turn of the Screw - Don't know and don't care - Read this in year 11 in school. Hated it. Absolutely hated it. Hated the book, the BBC filmy thing of it and every bloody lesson about it. I was hoping they'd all die at the end and I could get some satisfaction. Can't actually remember much about it apart from thinking 'hate it' at the time. I'm pretty sure it was one of the most pointless classics ever to be written.

[Janet]

2. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith - zzzzzzzzzz :sleeping-smiley-009
Noooooooooo but that was excellent how can you possibly find it boring, it's like one of my very favourite books! *becomes militent* :tong:

It's interesting how people can hate some books others love. Cos I can't actually understand how anyone could not like that book! Yet sometimes I get reccomended a book, I read it and I can't help raising an eyebrow how anyone could actually enjoy such a book (let alone how it could get published.)
:lol: As you say, different strokes for different folks. It's just that nothing exciting happened (for me, anyway) and I would definitely have given up if it wasn't a 'Bookworms' read.

I only had 3 last time round, so I can now add:

4. The Sea by John Banville.

I know it won some kind of literary award, but it just irritated me beyond belief. I've tried twice now, and given up both times.

Such a shame, because the cover is really pretty! ;)

[Fiona]

Yeah, annoying that isn't it? Pretty covers should only be reserved for really good books!

[lovesreading06]

awful covers sometimes mean a good book where a nice cover means a bad book.

Don't judge a book by its cover. gets mention a lot in places.

[Sofia]

The Boy On The Bus-Deborah Schupack

just terrible!!

[pontalba]

I only had 3 last time round, so I can now add:

4. The Sea by John Banville.

I know it won some kind of literary award, but it just irritated me beyond belief. I've tried twice now, and given up both times.

Such a shame, because the cover is really pretty! ;)

'Tis a shame, it is one of my favorites. :D

But otoh, I know some love books by Saramago...Blindness, Seeing, and I can't bear them. Couldn't get past the first 30 something pages.
Ok, that's two....lets see.....
Don Quixote

If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino

Can't think of a 5th at the moment. I'll save it. :mrgreen:

[Kylie]

What was it about them that you disliked, Kylie? Anything in particular? Style? Plot? Characters? (I ask because I quite liked them, but know that both have very strong love / hate camps).

Well, I didn't realise The Alchemist was going to a fable, and even though I know a fable is supposed to be a simple story, I was still disappointed. It just seemed that I'd read this before.

The ending was way too cliched for my liking. Did the treasure really have to be as obvious as a chest full of coins?? When you take the character and his journey into consideration, the ending just didn't seem appropriate - I thought it would be a little more imaginative than that. :sarcastic:


With Black Beauty, although I did learn some things about horses, I found it be too preachy and repetitive. I hate being preached at about anything, and the whole 'horse meets bad person, horse meets good person etc' was pretty annoying. :motz:

[kitty_kitty]

Whaaaat!!! One of my all time faves!! :(


The Beach

This is number 6 on my books i would not recommend i did not hate it - it was too dull to hate

[Sofia]

Heart Shaped Box-Joe Hill

[Tiger]

I didn't like The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper much. I had to read it for homework in Year Six last year. I thought that the beginning was OK, but then as I got deeper in, I was looking forward to reading it, but I was let down by the story.

[Sedge]

I've never read a bad book, but the only one that I struggled to get into was The Last Of The Mohicans.

[Esiotrot]

My recent non-recommends are

Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardam - Really disliked this book, the main character was pointless, couldnt finish it.

Panic by Jeff Abbott - Too many twists and turns to be taken seriously

Sheer Abandon by Penny Vicenza - Recommended by a client who raved and said it was the best book she had ever read, I have tried twice to read it but its not my cup of tea at all.

Little Face by Sophie Hannah - had it sussed early on and the characters lacked substance.

KxXx

[Echo]

I don't know about 5 books, since I've pretty much liked everything I've read, but one author I have not enjoyed in the least is Rick Moody. I reviewed his book of short stories Demonology for a fiction writing class I took last year, and I actually found myself irritated and angry at his writing style. I wouldn't recommend him to my worst enemy (if I had one!). I'm sorry to have offended anyone who likes him. :blush:

[Oblomov]

I have only glanced through The Truth about Chickamauga by Col. Archibald Gracie, but know from reports that it is one of the most pointless, boring books ever written.

Among classics, I found the Collins Library Giant edition of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables impossible to read. Some busybody who had nothing better to do gave me a beautiful copy of this book on my 12th birthday in 1967 and despite several attempts, could not maintain my concentration beyond the Fantine chapter. By the mid-70s I could no longer stand the sight of the big book on my bookshelf and so simply gave it away one fine day.

Among modern thrillers, I found the grossly overhyped The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown very disappointing. Poorly plotted and written about a subject that has been speculated for decades.

[Ruth]

The Devil's Advocate, by Andrew Neiderman. See the film, because it's great, but the book is truly awful.

Mourning Ruby, by Helen Dunmore. B-O-R-I-N-G.

Bad Moon Rising, by Sheila Quigley. Supposed to be a crime thriller....I guessed the perpetrator about 1/3 of the way through (as did other people I know who have read it). Bad grammar, bad writing. Avoid!!

The Accidental, by Ali Smith. I found this book a real drag, and felt that the author was just trying to show off how clever she is. I read it for a book group, and practically everyone found it boring. Several people gave up on it.

[Kell]

I'd like to add The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark. It's got to be one of the dullest books I've ever finished. I kept waiting for something to happen and then realised that everything I'd been told in the first few pages was pretty much it. Talk about a major let-down!

[~V~]

1. Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder

Utter drivel

2. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

Soap opera set in India. Soaps are ok on TV

3. Perfume - Patrick Suskind

Boring, boring, boring. Then a barking mad ending

The above three I am especially disappointed with as I had looked forward to reading each of them.

4. The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy

Egotistical bore. Grrr....

5. With No One as Witness - Elizabeth George

Sorry Missus, you've lost it. I thought you wrote Whodunnits, not 'Oh look we solved the murder behind the scenes its'

[Ruth]

Oh, I forgot about Sophie's World. I really thought that was a let-down, after all the good things I had heard about it. Tedious with a capital T.

[Freewheeling Andy]

2. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

Soap opera set in India. Soaps are ok on TV


Hahaha! Very true. I actually really enjoyed A Suitable Boy, but it was just a great big meandering family soap opera saga with very little apparent depth. I think it would have been insufferable had I not read it fairly quickly during a very long holiday.

[FishAndChips]

3. Dracula - Bram Stoker - Had to read this for English A-Level I think I skimmed half of it to tell the truth. Good writing ability I think, but bad plotting. It felt so all over the place. It's a shame as I think it could have been a lot better.

5. The Turn of the Screw - Don't know and don't care - Read this in year 11 in school. Hated it. Absolutely hated it. Hated the book, the BBC filmy thing of it and every bloody lesson about it. I was hoping they'd all die at the end and I could get some satisfaction. Can't actually remember much about it apart from thinking 'hate it' at the time. I'm pretty sure it was one of the most pointless classics ever to be written.

hehe - I'm loving Dracula (Only 100 pages in though)
and I LOVED turn of the screw!

My 5:

White teeth - Zadie Smith - well written but I could not sympathise with any of the characters. They all seemed quite self absorbed. Gave up half way.

Captain Corelli's mandolin - well written but dull, too long-winded and not enough pace for me. Gave up half way.

The Mill on the Floss - George Eliot. Did it for A Level. Aaarghh!!

The wives of bath - Wendy Holden. The most appalling drivel! The characters were gross caricatures and mostly very annoying. Ugh I hated it - utter nonsense.

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley. Found the writing style quite annoying.

[JudyB]

I'd like to add The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark. It's got to be one of the dullest books I've ever finished. I kept waiting for something to happen and then realised that everything I'd been told in the first few pages was pretty much it. Talk about a major let-down!


Yes and I found that I couldn't take to Jean Brodie at all which didn't help.

[Janet]

Some busybody who had nothing better to do gave me a beautiful copy of this book on my 12th birthday in 1967 and despite several attempts, could not maintain my concentration beyond the Fantine chapter.
Surely the though they were being kind when they gave it to you though?

The wives of bath - Wendy Holden. The most appalling drivel! The characters were gross caricatures and mostly very annoying. Ugh I hated it - utter nonsense.
I read something by her (I can't even remember what it was called, but it wasn't that one) and it was awful too!

[Merflerher]

Captain Corelli - ugh! I really can't understand what people see in this, I've tried reading it three times, got three quarters of the way through last time but gave up in disgust.

[Oblomov]

Surely the though they were being kind when they gave it to you though?

No, Janet they were not. 'They' was in fact my foster-mother, one of the nastiest pieces of work that ever lived....I mean it. The only reason she bought me that book was because it was supposed to be a status symbol. I had just started Summer holidays (April & May in India. I recall now that it was not, in fact, a birthday present as I mentioned earlier) and was busy classifying my large comic collection. Some equally catty friend of my FM remarked that her daughter only read classics during the holidays - I clearly recall that she mentioned Vanity Fair & The Moonstone at the time. My FM thought that this implied comparison was terrible and before I knew it had thrown out all my carefully collected comics and bought me the biggest classic that she could find - the Collins Library Giant edition of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. This was over 40 years ago and I was 11 years old at the time.

Still think 'they' were being kind? I think Jean val Jean might have disagreed too.

[SteffieB]

I'm going to whisper this...((The Life of Pi)):hide:

[~V~]

I'm going to whisper this...((The Life of Pi)):hide:

I liked it but can understand why somebody may not

So don't whisper, say it loud and proud :D

[happyanddandy]

[quote=FishAndChips;93127]


White teeth - Zadie Smith - well written but I could not sympathise with any of the characters. They all seemed quite self absorbed. Gave up half way.


quote]

Quite agree - I finished it and wondered what all the fuss was about - some reviews even said it was funny amusing :roll: I don't think so!!

[Mbwun_Lily]

Captain Corelli's mandolin - well written but dull, too long-winded and not enough pace for me. Gave up half way.

Captain Corelli - ugh! I really can't understand what people see in this, I've tried reading it three times, got three quarters of the way through last time but gave up in disgust.

LOL - not surprised with this.

Apparently it's one of the top 100 books most likely to go unfinished. I see tons of copies of it show up in the thrift stores around here. I'm not even going to bother to try to read it.

Has anyone seen the movie? I haven't.

[buster1976]

The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
Harry Potter (any) - J.K Rowling

[Hazeltree]

Harry Potter (any) - J.K Rowling

There's a lot of people on here who wouldn't agree with you! :lol:

[buster1976]

That's okay - it's the point of a forum I would suppose.

[Hazeltree]

I always find it interesting when people have completely different opinions of the same books.

A lot of people here have enjoyed Margaret Atwood's books. I've not read them but my husband was given one and he didn't enjoy it.

What is it you don't like about the Harry Potter's?

[buster1976]

It's tough to properly justify it - I've had a look at them all (my girlfriend likes them) and found them puerile. Also I worry as a lot of my friends who do like them say that "there are no other books anywhere near as good" (I'm quoting one of them). There really are - even as someone who admittedly criticises them without ever having finished one of them I know that wizards and strange creatures are done brilliantly by Tom Holt, Tom Sharpe does bespectacled nerds doing well for themselves and James Herbert (on his lazy books) manages to do heroes winning out through luck quite well without any help from JK Rowling.

With any luck I'll be proved wrong and my normally non-reading friends who are devouring Harry and his magical chums will go on to read other books. The problem is that I really doubt it....

[Mia]

...My FM thought that this implied comparison was terrible and before I knew it had thrown out all my carefully collected comics and bought me the biggest classic that she could find - the Collins Library Giant edition of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. This was over 40 years ago and I was 11 years old at the time.


That is terrible, Oblomov. I'm so sorry (and I mean that sincerely). :( My mother also had her beloved possessions thrown out by her mother, so I am lucky that she would never do that to mine, knowing what it's like.

[Oblomov]

That is terrible, Oblomov. I'm so sorry (and I mean that sincerely). :( My mother also had her beloved possessions thrown out by her mother, so I am lucky that she would never do that to mine, knowing what it's like.

That's OK. My FM was a delightful woman. She would have made a wonderful wardress ar Auschwitz or Treblinka.:sarcastic::sarcastic:

[ValenCina]

1. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
2. Waiting for the Barbarians - Coetzee
3. The Tartar Steppe - Dino Buzzati
4. Tomorrow in the Battle Think of Me - Javier Marias
5. Anything bu Alessandro Baricco

[prospero]

1 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown Historically and geographically inaccurate, written in bad English - by someone who's supposedly educated in that very subject! - with wooden characters and a beyond-fantastical storyline. Utter crud.

2 My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult The ending alone made me want to burn every copy of this novel ever printed to stop anyone else wasting their time on it.

3 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne A complete, utter travesty. Marketed as a 'fable', as if that justifies such blatant manipulation of history; i.e. lying. I can't think of any word bad enough to describe this trash.

4 Any Shopaholic book - Sophie Kinsella Becky Bloomwood has got to be the least sympathetic character I've ever read. She doesn't change. She doesn't grow. She doesn't learn from her mistakes. She stumbles through life being selfish and committing more and more acts which make her ever more deserving of a hearty slap. I didn't think it was possible to hate someone this much when they don't even exist.

5 Lord of the Rings - JR Hartley, or whoever How many trees died to print this? Where's the story? How many songs can a hobbit sing to waste another 100 pages while I cry for all the time wasted trying to plough my way through this pernicious goblinsh!te?

[~V~]

pernicious goblinsh!te?

Could you have the grace to add a (TM) after that please? :mrgreen:

I'm going to add some new 'please don't waste your life with this book' books to my five (I'm a rebel, shoot me).

6. Maggie's Tree by Julie Walters. This book truly upset me that I had wasted good reading time on it. Very rarely has that happened. I would have dumped it after a couple of chapters but a) I love Julie Walters, b) It was short so I figured i could read it quickly (I couldn't) c) I kept hoping it would improve (ha!) d) It had good reviews on the back e) the cover was pretty (yes, I know). I should have read the Amazon reviews first.

7. The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards. Am I the only person in the world who thought this was just too precious for words? How any story can be told without an ounce of humour must be an achievement but not one I would applaud. It was all just far too worthy for my liking, saying you don't like it almost feels like saying you eat kittens for breakfast.

[Freewheeling Andy]

5 Lord of the Rings - JR Hartley, or whoever How many trees died to print this? Where's the story? How many songs can a hobbit sing to waste another 100 pages while I cry for all the time wasted trying to plough my way through this pernicious goblinsh!te?

Hahahahahaha! How very right. I liked it as an 11 year old though (who skipped past all the pointless Elvish poetry. I would recommend it to nerdy 11 year old boys. Not to anyone else, mind you.

[Michelle]

I think you'll find that ALOT of people will disagree with you both!

[burghead lass]

And I am the first to disagree I love the Hobbits and their friends. This is a fun read and a bit of fantsy too. You go with them on their journey and help them along the way. Well thats what I think :lol:wot a sad git!!!:lol:

[Welshman]

I could add an arsenal of books to this thread, including:

Ken Follett - Code to Zero
Ged Simmons - The Gravedigger's Story
Sue Townsend - Rebuilding Coventry
Tony Parsons - The Family Way

.. also (from what I hear) absolutely everything written by Barbara Cartland

[kelly2008]

I can only think of 2 at the minute:

1. Playing the game- Sarah Sands
2. Sally- Freya North

I wouldnt recommend either of these, I dont think they even have a story if they do then I dont know what it is!!!!!

[prospero]

...Tony Parsons - The Family Way...

Just about every one of his books can be summed up thusly:

Twenty-something man falls into a relationship with someone he doesn't really love, for the sake of regular sex. She gets pregnant. He resents her for it and goes out on the piss with his mates, meets another woman (usually of Oriental extraction) and sleeps with her. His partner has a baby and he decides to be a good dad. Partner finds out about affair, throws him out. He misses his child. Gets together with the woman he had an affair with and sorts out weekend access with his ex. The end.

[Welshman]

Oh God .. they are ALL that bad?

[prospero]

The three I've read were all pretty much like that, yes.

[~V~]

Just about every one of his books can be summed up thusly:

Twenty-something man falls into a relationship with someone he doesn't really love, for the sake of regular sex. She gets pregnant. He resents her for it and goes out on the piss with his mates, meets another woman (usually of Oriental extraction) and sleeps with her. His partner has a baby and he decides to be a good dad. Partner finds out about affair, throws him out. He misses his child. Gets together with the woman he had an affair with and sorts out weekend access with his ex. The end.

Are you sure you just didn't read his autobiography?

I'm always amazed his first book is never mentioned in the front pieces of his more current books.

[prospero]

I think he re-writes his autobiography every couple of years and calls it 'a new novel'.

[happyanddandy]

I am 100 pages into his latest and it's not good either at the moment :smile2:

[Spooncat]

Just about every one of his books can be summed up thusly:

Twenty-something man falls into a relationship with someone he doesn't really love, for the sake of regular sex. She gets pregnant. He resents her for it and goes out on the piss with his mates, meets another woman (usually of Oriental extraction) and sleeps with her. His partner has a baby and he decides to be a good dad. Partner finds out about affair, throws him out. He misses his child. Gets together with the woman he had an affair with and sorts out weekend access with his ex. The end.

I quite like these - except his last book - but the others I think dealt very well with the father/son relationship :mrgreen:

I would add to the list Atonement! I could not get into this book at all what was all the fuss about

sorry but cant stand the Harry Potter books - again cant see what all the fuss is about?!

Lucky Jim - have tried to read this a few times - too boring!

[Echo]

I think you'll find that ALOT of people will disagree with you both!

*snort* Yeah, me, for one! Thanks for dissing my favorite book of all time! :irked:

I agree with you, Spooncat! I tried reading Atonement, but I could see where it was going and I honestly found it really annoying!

[Kell]

5 Lord of the Rings - JR Hartley, or whoever How many trees died to print this? Where's the story? How many songs can a hobbit sing to waste another 100 pages while I cry for all the time wasted trying to plough my way through this pernicious goblinsh!te?
I have to agree with both this and The Hobbit. I couldn't read any of them. I love the story, I just can't stand the writing style - 10 pages describing a field then 3 pages of songs is just too much for me - get on with the story already! If all the songs and extraneous description had been cut out you could have combined The Hobbit with all three volumes of The Lord of the Rings to make a fairly decent novella! :lol:

Strangely, my non-reader hubby disagrees with me on this one - he loved both.

[Kylie]

I only mentioned two books originally, but I'd like to add a whole series:

The Left Behind (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Behind_%28series%29) series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

Very popular Christian lit, in America at least. I'm not really religious but I'm interested in end-of-the-world stuff so I thought these might be good.

The characters are flat and all very same-ish, the descriptions of all the exciting end-of-the-world moments are reduced to a mere (dull) sentence here and there and the writing is about the worst I''ve ever read. The authors took a potentially interesting concept and completely destroyed it.

It kills me that the authors made a fortune out of selling millions upon millions of these books. I could write better without even trying.

First and last time I read anything I find out about from Time Magazine!

[angelofboox]

The only book I can really remember disliking was Shadowmancer, by G.P.Taylor...although it's been a few years now! Let's hope the next christianity-based fantasy (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/2/prweb724593.htm) won't follow in its footsteps...

[O's]

1: Remember me, Harlan Coben.

I will never get that time back. The story and characterisation just makes me angry.

2: By the light of the moon, Dean Koontz.

One to avoid.

3: Witch Star, James Clemens.

Spend the first four books creating a fresh and original world and mythology then destroy it with mundanity in the last book. Vey disappointing.

4: The Beast House, Richard Laymon.

The world of books is not reduced with his passing. Harsh, but true.

5.Brave New World, Huxley.

No, just no.

[Lilywhite]

1. The Bitch Goddess Notebook ~ Martha O'Connor
Absolute Tripe
2. Lord of the Flies ~ William Golding
Thanks to GCSE English I will never get this time back. I still didn't like it the 3rd time
3. Queen of the Tambourine ~ Jane Gardam
This one wasn't finished
4. Little Face ~ Sophie Hannah
Just a poor book, boring really
5. Perfume ~ Patrick Suskind
I gave this book so many chances and kept reading until I gave up half way through, utterly pointless. Then they made a blasted film!

[supergran71]

I have to agree with both this and The Hobbit. I couldn't read any of them. I love the story, I just can't stand the writing style - 10 pages describing a field then 3 pages of songs is just too much for me - get on with the story already! If all the songs and extraneous description had been cut out you could have combined The Hobbit with all three volumes of The Lord of the Rings to make a fairly decent novella! :lol:

Strangely, my non-reader hubby disagrees with me on this one - he loved both.
I loved the fantasy of The Lord Of the Rings. I was also fascinated by the author's imagination. I also love descriptions of beautiful or dangerous scenery, it paints a picture for me. When I read LOTR, I hadnt heard of the Hobbit, so it took me a little while to realise they were all "little" people. Wonderful book

[Icecream]

I too must disagree wholeheartedly about Lord of the Rings. Like Echo, this is my all time favourite book. How can you dis such quotes as, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us"? The scene between Smeagol and Deagol shows two wonderful characters. The fellowship story shows a gripping journey full of friendship, betrayal, and great scenes such as Boromir's death, and the end of all things. The books would not be the same without the descriptions. Tolkien created a whole new world, and a beautiful world full of character at that. I love Tolkien's world, his real, and not so real characters, and his sheer brilliance.

[Echo]

Icecream - You're a woman after my own heart! Thank you! :smile2:

[Icecream]

Wow, thank you Echo!:blush::D

[tbain]

My least favourite books are:

The Harry Potter books . ( I know a lot of people love these so sorry if I offend!)

Captain Corellis Mandolin. I just didn't like it and find it hugley overrated.

Popcorn by Ben Elton. Hate Ben Elton novels and thought this one was awful!

[nursenblack]

I hate to label books as bad or not worth others' time 'cause their are different strokes for different folks, but there have been a few that are not worth my time.
I might get flak for this, but I hated The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of the Memory of Running by Ron McLarty even though it had its interesting points it was so painfully slow for me it took forever to read. There is a bigger list, but I gave them to my local library and have suppressed them from my memory.

[beef]

not sure i could think of 5 but 2 spring to mind right away.


1. mad frankie frasers book, unless you have a great understanding of the london crime underground you wont know half of what he is going on about (i have never seen a book with SO many footnotes) i gave up in the end.

2. Dracula - long, drawn out and a boring ending.

[kb.marsh]

1. Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion
2. Khaled Hosseini: The Kite Runner
3. Karen Joy Fowler: The Jane Austin Book Club
4. Maeve Binchy: Star Sulliven
5. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Half of a Yellow Sun

I wouldn't recommend any of these books

[beef]

1. Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion

i currently have this in my 'books ive read a few pages of and then left then read more of then left' pile. i have to say its a struggle so far (think i got about 20 pages in) seems to be written for someone who feels atheist but feels guilty about it from what i can see. as an atheist who is fine with it, the book just does not speak to me.

[Freewheeling Andy]

I quite enjoyed it, most of the way through (there were a few places where the arguments were a bit wet). But as it was just reinforcing all my prejudices and beliefs, that's not surprising.

[kb.marsh]

I'm a born-again Christian so I don't like the book and don't agree with him at all

[FishAndChips]

But have you read it?

[kb.marsh]

Not all of it. I didn't feel I needed too as for me, what he was writing was just wrong. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't force my beliefs on anyone and wouldn't judge anyone on their beliefs, I just didn't finish the book because I didn't believe what he was writing. I would like to read the Christian response to it though. Maybe I'll add that to my TBR pile

[FishAndChips]

Not all of it. I didn't feel I needed too as for me, what he was writing was just wrong. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't force my beliefs on anyone and wouldn't judge anyone on their beliefs, I just didn't finish the book because I didn't believe what he was writing. I would like to read the Christian response to it though. Maybe I'll add that to my TBR pile

Fair enough. Hats off to you for trying it if its outside of your world view. Personally I dislike the man. He seems as fundamentalist and evangelical in his atheism as the religious people he attacks.

[Janet]

2. Khaled Hosseini: The Kite Runner
I think you're the first person I've come across who didn't enjoy it. :)

[tbain]

1. Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion
2. Khaled Hosseini: The Kite Runner
3. Karen Joy Fowler: The Jane Austin Book Club
4. Maeve Binchy: Star Sulliven
5. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Half of a Yellow Sun

I wouldn't recommend any of these books

I've read two of Binchys books and just don't like her writing at all.

[Philip Stein]

I didn't feel I needed too as for me, what he was writing was just wrong

Well without wishing to open an ugly can of worms, do you mean "wrong" as in objectionable, or "wrong" as in factually incorrect? If it's the latter, I can't agree. If I remember right, the thrust of Dawkins' argument in The God Delusion is that in our society, belief in a supernatural 'personal' God is illogical and flies in the face of evidence and reason. That's unarguable, surely. Indeed, faith defies, or ignores, proof by definition. That's why it's called faith.

Personally I dislike the man. He seems as fundamentalist and evangelical in his atheism as the religious people he attacks.

Dawkins addresses this old chestnut in the paperback edition of The God Delusion. (You can also read it here (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article1779771.ece).) It's an invalid comparison because fundamentalism (again, by definition) means the holding of a position irrespective of the evidence, and a refusal to change one's mind even when the facts change. Dawkins makes it clear that he - and any other scientist - would change their mind in a jiffy if proof were made available to show that he was wrong. In other words, his beliefs are reliant on the present condition of scientific knowledge and are subject to change because scientific knowledge changes all the time. A religious fundamentalist, on the other hand, has beliefs which are reliant on a book written maybe two thousand or fifteen hundred years ago and which therefore will not change, ever.

[NiceguyEddie]

Indeed, faith defies, or ignores, proof by definition. That's why it's called faith.

It's an invalid comparison because fundamentalism (again, by definition) means the holding of a position irrespective of the evidence, and a refusal to change one's mind even when the facts change.


Faith doesn't ignore proof. It merely accepts/believes in the absence of proof. Proof either of the existence of God, or proof of the non existence of God.

Fundamentalism is nothing to do with evidence as such. It's to do with strict adherence to principles or rules of a religion. I agree that it doesn't make sense to call Dawkins a fundamentalist because as far as I know, atheism doesn't have "rules".

[Philip Stein]

[Faith] merely accepts/believes in the absence of proof. Proof either of the existence of God, or proof of the non existence of God.

But the two aren't equivalent; though it's true believers sometimes respond to the question "Can you prove God exists?" with "Can you prove God doesn't exist?" as though it's an unanswerable rejoinder, when it's just a misunderstanding of what proof means. You can't prove something doesn't exist, obviously - as with Bertrand Russell's teapot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell's_teapot)metaphor. Or as someone else (whose name escapes me) said: That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.

[NiceguyEddie]

But the two aren't equivalent; though it's true believers sometimes respond to the question "Can you prove God exists?" with "Can you prove God doesn't exist?" as though it's an unanswerable rejoinder, when it's just a misunderstanding of what proof means. You can't prove something doesn't exist, obviously - as with Bertrand Russell's teapot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot)metaphor. Or as someone else (whose name escapes me) said: That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.

I wasn't suggesting they were. I was just pointing out that faith is about believing something that isn't proven and not about believing something proven to be false which is what you suggested.

Slightly off topic, but a couple of years ago I went to my daughter's 6th form parent's evening & met her philosophy teacher. I asked what they would be studying and she said much of the term would be taken up with the philosophy of religion. I said "Oh, the ontological, teleological & cosmological stuff". Her jaw dropped. I don't think she was used to parents knowing anything.

[Babe*With*Brains]

ok, at first i read this as 'top 5 you would recommend, but then realised it was would not. so, here is my list:

1. Through a glass darkly-It began ok...actually, I almost started to enjoy it, but it soon turned into one of those books which are unnecissarily repetative and to be honest, quite depressing. Last I heard about it was a few years back when someone mentioned that they were considering turning it into a film or something

2. Looking up at the sun-The blurb on the back seemed good, and it even began well, but soon became the most depressing book I have ever read. What I thought would be something resembling a girl coming to terms with her sexuality and taking us along her journey actually turned into something so ridiculous that I actually despised the book by the end.

3. LOTR (Lord Of The Rings)-I'm so sorry to mention this one since I know people are going to bite my head off, but I just didn't manage to get along with it. Tolkein is clearly perfectly capable of writing, and is good at what he does, but I just found it hard to get in to and to be honest, quite boring. I like the general idea of it (the whole fantasy theme) but, like I said, it wasn't my cup of tea.

4. Artemis Fowl-I know this book was aimed more at younger readers, but it was years ago when i attempted to read this, so please let me off =p It was just one of them books I didn't get along with...I'm sure you know the type...the ones which you want to get along with and want to read, but you just can't get into them. The graphology was all well and good, but the contents didn't match the 'glamour' of the glittery cover.

5. The 'wicca' series by Cate Tiernan-Ok, I feel awful saying this since my close friend and my fiancee rave about them all the time, but i tried to read them once around 4 years ago and never got on with them. I tried several times but despite the Ok blurb on the back, the contents was a car crash. I thought i would never see them again, yet the other week my friend surprised us by revealing he had borrowed them yet again from the library. They've been knocking around the local libraries since I was in school...it's time they vanished for good!

[FishAndChips]

Dawkins addresses this old chestnut in the paperback edition of The God Delusion. (You can also read it here (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article1779771.ece).) It's an invalid comparison because fundamentalism (again, by definition) means the holding of a position irrespective of the evidence, and a refusal to change one's mind even when the facts change. Dawkins makes it clear that he - and any other scientist - would change their mind in a jiffy if proof were made available to show that he was wrong. In other words, his beliefs are reliant on the present condition of scientific knowledge and are subject to change because scientific knowledge changes all the time. A religious fundamentalist, on the other hand, has beliefs which are reliant on a book written maybe two thousand or fifteen hundred years ago and which therefore will not change, ever.

Perhaps I am mistaken. I seemed to remember him saying something to the effect of 'if i witnessed a miracle I would put it down to random fluctuations of particles' or something. This is an outrageous paraphrase, but I thought it was something like that.

I still dislike the man. I find him too polemical. I have much more respect for someone like Steve Jones who seems altogether more reasonable. It's just my personal opinion.

[Philip Stein]

I was just pointing out that faith is about believing something that isn't proven and not about believing something proven to be false which is what you suggested.

I don't think that's what I meant to suggest, though I may not have expressed it clearly. What I meant was that if something has been proved to be the case, you don't have 'faith' in it: you know it to be true. 'Faith' or 'belief' carries with it a necessary undercoat of doubt. So if there was proof of God's existence, people would no longer have faith or belief in him, at least not in the sense that those words are generally understood. Just as we don't 'believe' in gravity or dogs.

I still dislike the man.

Ah well, now that is a view you are entitled to. ;)

[Michelle]

ok, at first i read this as 'top 5 you would recommend, but then realised it was would not. so, here is my list:

That thread does exist somewhere. :)

3. LOTR (Lord Of The Rings)-I'm so sorry to mention this one since I know people are going to bite my head off, but I just didn't manage to get along with it. Tolkein is clearly perfectly capable of writing, and is good at what he does, but I just found it hard to get in to and to be honest, quite boring. I like the general idea of it (the whole fantasy theme) but, like I said, it wasn't my cup of tea.

I believe I've seen both views about these books on here. Personally, I read the first, then half way through the second, and decided that for me, they were too drawn out.

4. Artemis Fowl-I know this book was aimed more at younger readers, but it was years ago when i attempted to read this, so please let me off =p It was just one of them books I didn't get along with...I'm sure you know the type...the ones which you want to get along with and want to read, but you just can't get into them. The graphology was all well and good, but the contents didn't match the 'glamour' of the glittery cover.

Ahh.. I agree with you on this one. I also wanted to like it, and found it just 'ok'. :)

[Tiresias]

There are three:

At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O'Brien
The Glass Bead Game, Herman Hesse
The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus

[Freewheeling Andy]

At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O'Brien

Oooh! Them's fightin' words round these parts!

[pontalba]

Hmmm, 5 books not recommended. First off, anything by John Steinbeck, having managed somehow to wade through East of Eden, truly disliking practically every second of it, I have tried at least two others, Of Mice and Men, The Moon is Down, oh!, and when I was quite young The Winter of Our Discontent.
Blindness by Jose Saramago
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas pynchon

[peacefield]

Hmm, this is a hard one for me, but I will try to prevail! Sometimes I like the way a book is written, but I hate the characters. Sometimes I love the dialogue between characters but hate the plot! Also, even if a don't like a book as I'm reading it, I still try to finish it, thinking that even if I end up absolutely loving the last chapter then that would have made the whole agonizing experience worth it, LOL.

Here's what I came up with:

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
This is one I could not get through, and actually physically had the throw the book against the wall. I was surprised at my reaction, since I loved Fountainhead, but the interaction between the main female and male characters annoyed me to no end.

The Little Friend - Donna Tartt
I loved Donna Tartt's first book The Secret History, so the fact that I had built up my excitment for this her 2nd book in the 10 year span in between made it so disappointing when I didn't like it. I love Donna's style of writing, and the way she describes her characters, but the ending was horrible! Never have I had so many unanswered questions.

The Third Secret - Steve Berry
I read this one for book club and it sounds silly to say, but the 'Secret' was lame! Very disappointing, lol.

Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz
Another book club choice, and it appears that Koontz has built upon his 'Odd' theme, so they must be popular, but I just thought it was so-so.

Burning Bright - Tracy Chevalier
It hurts me to have to write this, because while I love Tracy Chevalier and everything she's done up to this point, I just thought this one had a nothing plot. Maybe I just don't think that William Blake was that interesting of a historical figure, but it was really just a 'day in the life' kind of story. Nothing climactic really happened and I was just sad that I couldn't fall in love with this one like I have with some of her others.

[pint6x]

1) Lord of the Rings - Tolkein - zzzzzzzzzzzzz
2) Ulysses - James Joyce - practically unreadable
3) Harry Potter - JK Rowling (yes I know, but I hated it)
4) Life Skills - Katie Fforde (dull, badly written)
5) Anything by Ayn Rand - pretentious rubbish

[Tiresias]

2) Ulysses - James Joyce - practically unreadable


For the average reader, like me, I agree. But I also add that Ulysses is the greatest book ever written.

This is not a contradiction. In a word, cheat. And then, understand and enjoy Ulysses you will—like nothing else you have ever read or will ever read.

Ulysses Annotated (http://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-Annotated-Don-Gifford/dp/0520067452/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217603529&sr=8-2)

The New Bloomsday Book: A Guide Through Ulysses (http://www.amazon.com/New-Bloomsday-Book-Through-Ulysses/dp/0415138582/ref=pd_sim_b_1)

James Joyce's Ulysses (http://www.amazon.com/James-Joyces-Ulysses-Stuart-Gilbert/dp/0394700139/ref=pd_sim_b_4)

:)

[princessponti]

Hmmm, 5 books not recommended. First off, anything by John Steinbeck, having managed somehow to wade through East of Eden, truly disliking practically every second of it, I have tried at least two others, Of Mice and Men, The Moon is Down, oh!, and when I was quite young The Winter of Our Discontent.
Blindness by Jose Saramago
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas pynchon

...two of my favourite books are in your list!! ....I may try the other ones, do you think it works like that?!! Your anti recommendations maybe great for me! lol!

[Ruth]

The Devil's Advocate, by Andrew Neiderman (don't think that just because the movie is good, the book will be - it's truly awful)

Mourning Ruby, by Helen Dunmore (I wanted to like it, I really did, but I just couldn't)

Anything by Sheila Quigley - (dire writing, boring and predictable storyline)

The Accidental - Ali Smith - (hated it)

The Hours - Michael Cunningham (boring)

[pontalba]

...two of my favourite books are in your list!! ....I may try the other ones, do you think it works like that?!! Your anti recommendations maybe great for me! lol!

Whatever works! :lol:
BTW, which two are your favorites?

[princessponti]

Whatever works! :lol:
BTW, which two are your favorites?

Of Mice and Men and Blindness :D fabulous books!

[poppy]

Hmmm, 5 books not recommended. First off, anything by John Steinbeck, having managed somehow to wade through East of Eden, truly disliking practically every second of it, I have tried at least two others, Of Mice and Men, The Moon is Down, oh!, and when I was quite young The Winter of Our Discontent

I have a great deal of respect for your literary choices Pont (I'm going to try to get a copy of Lolita this week) but I too am surprised you didn't like Steinbeck. Did you perhaps find him a little depressing?

[pontalba]

I have a great deal of respect for your literary choices Pont (I'm going to try to get a copy of Lolita this week) but I too am surprised you didn't like Steinbeck. Did you perhaps find him a little depressing?
It isn't any one thing I can put my finger on poppy, I find him wooden for one thing, but beyond that...all I know is that every time I try, and I tried mainly because muggle likes him so much and we agree on other authors, so I figured it might be the one or two I'd picked up to that point, but no...every time I try to read one, it just sets my teeth on edge, like someone is running long fingernails down a chalk board.
It's a totally visceral reaction.

[Kylie]

I was surprised as well, Poppy. I've only read one Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men). I remember thinking throughout the book that it was just 'good' but it wasn't until I got to the end that my opinion changed to 'brilliant'. I have several other of his works waiting to be read, so it'll be interesting to see what I think of his longer stories.

[Lukeozade100]

What is with all the dislike of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, I loved that book! But ah well, each to his own.

I can understand why people wouldn't reccomend Sophies World, unless someone wanted to study Philosophy (or was interested in that sort of thing) I think it'd be pretty rubbish for them, the actual story is pretty rubbish, but I learnt enough from it and I can get my head round a bit more in life than I could before so I guess it does have it's good points.

Middlemarch I loked as well :mrgreen: Though anyone who had to study it I can completley understand why they'd dislike it. I don't think i've ever enjoyed a book that I had to study at school, probably why I didn't do English lit at A level! I remember really not enjoying Of Mice & Men when I had to study it in Year 9, I didn't even find the end moving, but when I reread it earlier this year I thought it was wonderful and it was the first book that has ever made me cry :blush:

(Also I think a spirited defence of Dorian Grey may be in order, I don't think its at all a book where you should relate to the people, or even like any of the characters, I think if you don't mind not relating to the characters this can be a great read but if you do prefer a book that will completley draw you in its maybe not for you)

Now, books I wouldn't reccomend;
The Sanctuary by Raymond Khoury
I bought this on holiday because i'd read all the books i'd taken with me, and I have to question if i'd have seen it through if there'd been any other book to distract me (and I almost always see novels through!) It is just shoddy Dan Brown and I really just thought it was all codswallop.:irked:

Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett
This isn't a novel but a sort of journalistic look back on the Spanish Civil War and its repurcussions in Modern day Spain, and I thought i'd enjoy this when I bought it (having just read Homage to Catalonia and the Shadow of The Wind and Winter In Madrid and being mildly taken in by all things Espanol) but it is just so so dull, the chapters are too long to finish in one sitting because of there length and slow slow pace, and its just a badly written book:irked:

The Unbearable Lightness Of Being by Milan Kundera
Or it may be 'The Book Of Laughter & Forgetting, one of them is wonderful, but the other really nowhere near it, sadly they have now just blurred into one book in my mind (Kundera isn't the sort of writer who drives his books through the narrative and characters) theres ideas in the books like Litost http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Litost+%5BLee'+-+toast%5D that to my then 16 year old mind were great, but now I'm a bit unsure of the whole thing!

Other than that I don't really know, I doubt i'd reccomend Herodotus to anyone whos thinking of buying it purely because of The English Patient, which is why I bought it :roll: but fortunatley I think i'll be able to see it through as I do enjoy a bit of History now and then, and there are little odd bits in it that are pretty good, but I am having to break it up by reading a novel inbetween each of the 6 books Herodotus is split into... Winter In Madrid wasn't actually all that good. And I found The God of Small Things to be very heavy going and a bit unintelligable at times.

[frankie]

Without having to think long I can name my worst read ever and it is Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Talk about a depressing novel! I had no sympathy for the protagonist, she was such a miserable person without a will of her own, and no matter how many hardships she had to endure, I didn't grow to sympathize with her but I sure grew to hate her. I would never have read it through if it hadn't been on one of our literature courses.

I have to think about the other four and consult my books-that-I've-read -list when I get back home.

[Jo-Bridge]

Can only think of 3 but I'm sure there must be more!
Sophies World by Jostein Gardner (that seems to be on a few of the posts! Just so irratating and patronising)
A Quiet Belief in Angels- R.J Ellory (I just thought it was so badly written-it made me furious!)
Left Bank-Kate Muir (the characters were all so unsympathetic!)

Just goes to show how different reactions to a book can be- I loved Ghosts of Spain! Actually I lent one of Andrew Martin's detective novels to my mum (we usually have the same taste in books) and she hated it so much she threatened to throw it in the river!:readingtwo:

[thelastwatcher33]

Sorry still dont know how to bring the quotes into my replies! Ulysses is a master piece but at the same time I think it is unreadable without understanding something about the politics behind it and the stuff Joyce was trying to push the boundaries on. I certainly would never have understood it otherwise! Also, Joyce's opinions on women were derogatory in many ways.

Has anyone read Patricia Scanlan "City Girl" or "City Woman"? (Cant distinguish between them. Awful,awful books. Pamela, maybe its literary history doesnt mean I have to like it! The Da Vinci code had such potential but I found it to be all over the place and terribly written to boot. I kept waiting for it to improve, but to no avail.

Theres more awful books I m sure but I ve tried to erase them from my memory!

[Kiwi]

Hmm... Can't think of 5, because I don't often remember the names of books that I stop reading part-way through. So here's a couple of recent ones, that I can remember.

1. "The Crossing" by Cormac McCarthy. Sorry, I know some people love his books, but I just can't stand the lack of full stops, and the dozens of "and"s in each sentence. McCarthy's novels are an acquired taste I'd imagine.

2. "Off The Map" by John Harrison. Maybe true adventure stories don't appeal to me, but I thought the writing style seemed too cynical and lacked the gripping nature one would expect from an adventure story.

[Tambo]

I do try to dispel my disbelief when I read, I do want to enjoy the books. These two just took me a step too far though.
I don't mind slagging them off as they're both well established and commercially successful authors.


WARNING - SPOILERS



Step on a Crack : James Patterson

Biggest heist in the history of New York. The police negotiater, while carrying out his negotiating duties, and seeing to his terminally ill wife, and 13 kids (at christmas time) also single handedly cracks the case. Who makes the arrest of the big baddy? You've guessed it, and all by himself believe it or not.

Treasure of Khan : Clive Cussler

Father stumbles across resting place of Genghis Khan, not really looking for it, it's just there. Meanwhile on the other side of the world, son is dikking around right next to the resting place of Kublai Khan.
That annoyed me a little, my main gripe was that the fight sequences got very repetitive.


I might read another Cussler one day, because there were some redeeming features of the book. (I enjoyed the first half)

You'd have to pay me to read another James Patterson though. If I were stuck in a bathroom with a copy, I would first read the sidesa of all the shampoo bottles.