"The Most Boring Book" I read or tried to read - Page 7

dragonbone · 03-18-2009, 07:38 AM

Hey, I loved the Dune books, but that was like 10 years ago.

HarryT · 03-18-2009, 08:03 AM

There's no doubt that peoples' tastes do change. When I was a teenager, I used to love Asimov's SF. When I read it now, it seems flat and dull, with "two dimensional" characters, rather than "real people" in the stories.

busy91 · 03-18-2009, 09:11 AM

Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho
It had potential but it drifted too much, and I lost interest.

The Poe Shadow - Matthew Pearl
Urgh, I stopped 30 pages short of the end, that is how awful it was, I couldn't even make it the rest of the way.

dragonbone · 03-18-2009, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by busy91

Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho
It had potential but it drifted too much, and I lost interest.

The Poe Shadow - Matthew Pearl
Urgh, I stopped 30 pages short of the end, that is how awful it was, I couldn't even make it the rest of the way.

The titles alone should have been a red flag

!

busy91 · 03-18-2009, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragonbone

The titles alone should have been a red flag

!

You would think!!

Except everyone raved about the Paulo Coelho book, I didn't understand the hype.

cklammer · 03-18-2009, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Vaseline:

When I read Pride and Prejudice in High School (for class, of course) I thought it was the stupidest, most boring book I had ever encountered. When I re-read it fifteen years later, I found it to be screamingly funny. Trenchant observations both of the society of the time and also of people-issues that never change.

Tastes change.

Xenophon

Yeah, People change when they move into and through adulthood (note that I am not saying "progress"). They live and then they die (sometimes even of boredom).

@Xenophon:

Can you just check your pulse, please ? It's mandatory for everyone who has finished "Pride and Prejudice" .... I think.

For me it was "War and Peace" - I read it in German though so I should say "Krieg und Frieden".

cklammer

cklammer · 03-18-2009, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

The Hobbit was so coma-boring that I refused to read Lord of the Rings. Had the entire set sitting on the shelf (my wife's). Never touched it.

@Steve Jordan: You missed out. Definitely. I seriously advise you to re-consider.

As for myself: Until I switched to ebooks I destroyed two paperbacks editions and almost destroyed the third one through avid reading. The next two (or three) times I read it front-to-back on a Nokia 3230 (and that's some feat in itself - trust me). Since I am reading it about once a year on my various PalmOS devices.

cklammer

cklammer · 03-18-2009, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Am I a heathen if I say I was too bored to ever finish the second book of the DUNE series? Which also means I never got to the third book.

They are a hand full and different from the first book allright. I liked them, though, but then I also liked Mommsen's and Gibbon's respective historiy collections of the Romans.

cklammer

Dr. Drib · 03-18-2009, 12:08 PM

Dislike - with extreme prejudice, the Gor books, #5 on.

Don

HarryT · 03-18-2009, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Dislike - with extreme prejudice, the Gor books, #5 on.

Don

The original Gor trilogy was actually quite decent. After that, though, it just decended into badly-written soft porn and bondage.

pshrynk · 03-18-2009, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

The original Gor trilogy was actually quite decent. After that, though, it just decended into badly-written soft porn and bondage.

The key to getting Norman's story through the rest of the series, which, btw, he does conitune convincingly, is to skip over any page long paragraphs and any chapter that is titled "What occurred..." But it does get to be a bit tiring, at times. Especially when the tale of the Amerind stock humans was told in two longinsh books that should have been one medium sized book, sans the porn.

Xenophon · 03-18-2009, 12:58 PM

For me, the top of the list of "most boring books" would have to be The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. (er... should the be bottom of the list?) I used it for an insomnia cure throughout Jr. High and High School. Two pages and I would drift off without fail.

Xenophon

ChaosInc · 03-18-2009, 03:52 PM

Most boring single book: Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams

Was when came out, still is today. It just goes on and on and on,

Most boring series: Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.

Give me a break, just because someone tals of, thinks about or dreams something might happen, it doesn't HAVE to happen in the next book or so, and why go through so many rewrites of a scene, just because you can do so with each (of too many), persons viewpoint? Skip a chapter and you're still in the same spot you were! Slow-paced, and boring, it'll put you to sleep!

No wonder I see so many copies showing up in the used book store!

(Yes, it was all my friend had while I was on a vacation to visit, but I did read the whole thing-- so give me credit for that, and I got a lot of extra sleep!)

astrodad · 03-18-2009, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

The Hobbit was so coma-boring that I refused to read Lord of the Rings. Had the entire set sitting on the shelf (my wife's). Never touched it.

I pity thee!

My top two boring books: Passage to India by E. M. Forster and Brisingr by Christopher Paolini. The first two books in the Inheritance series weren't bad and the third (Brisingr) isn't a terrible book, just filled with boring scenes in between monotonous fighting and battle sequences.

Timoleon · 03-18-2009, 06:57 PM

Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon. The uppity-ups in The New Yorker magazine sang the praises of this book to the skies, so I read it during college in the early 1970s, being an English major and all. All I remember now is sitting in the school library with this book in my hands, looking at the clock on the wall and marveling at how slow time was passing. A strange memory, because I can't even remember what the book was about, and I'll be damned if I'm going to google it at this stage in my life...

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
"I'd like to read this book on Kindle"	omk3	Amazon Kindle	13	10-17-2010 12:22 PM
How to mark a book as "read"?	Jabby	Calibre	4	08-08-2010 03:48 PM
Your "must-read" book(s) for writers..	J. Dean	Writers' Corner	15	02-15-2010 09:03 AM
"last book read" shortcut in Kindle 1?	the7gerbers	Amazon Kindle	6	10-23-2009 08:44 AM
"Read an E-book Week 2007" event, this March	Steven Lyle Jordan	News	7	03-11-2007 08:57 PM

03-18-2009, 07:38 AM	#91
dragonbone must love dogs Posts: 480 Karma: 1079 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Tokyo Device: Sony PRS-700, iPhone 32GB 3GS, iPad 64GB WiFi	Hey, I loved the Dune books, but that was like 10 years ago.

03-18-2009, 08:03 AM	#92
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	There's no doubt that peoples' tastes do change. When I was a teenager, I used to love Asimov's SF. When I read it now, it seems flat and dull, with "two dimensional" characters, rather than "real people" in the stories.

03-18-2009, 09:11 AM	#93
busy91 Connoisseur Posts: 79 Karma: 264 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: NYC Device: Kindle 2, Nook Color	Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho It had potential but it drifted too much, and I lost interest. The Poe Shadow - Matthew Pearl Urgh, I stopped 30 pages short of the end, that is how awful it was, I couldn't even make it the rest of the way.

03-18-2009, 12:08 PM	#99
Dr. Drib Grand Sorcerer Posts: 44,787 Karma: 55645321 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Peru Device: Kindle: Oasis 3, Voyage WiFi; Kobo: Libra 2, Aura One	Dislike - with extreme prejudice, the Gor books, #5 on. Don

03-18-2009, 12:58 PM	#102
Xenophon curmudgeon Posts: 1,482 Karma: 5748190 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Redwood City, CA USA Device: Kobo Aura HD, (ex)nook, (ex)PRS-700, (ex)PRS-500	For me, the top of the list of "most boring books" would have to be The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. (er... should the be bottom of the list?) I used it for an insomnia cure throughout Jr. High and High School. Two pages and I would drift off without fail. Xenophon

03-18-2009, 03:52 PM	#103
ChaosInc Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 31740 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Washington State Device: iPaq 3800 series	Most boring single book: Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams Was when came out, still is today. It just goes on and on and on, Most boring series: Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Give me a break, just because someone tals of, thinks about or dreams something might happen, it doesn't HAVE to happen in the next book or so, and why go through so many rewrites of a scene, just because you can do so with each (of too many), persons viewpoint? Skip a chapter and you're still in the same spot you were! Slow-paced, and boring, it'll put you to sleep! No wonder I see so many copies showing up in the used book store! (Yes, it was all my friend had while I was on a vacation to visit, but I did read the whole thing-- so give me credit for that, and I got a lot of extra sleep!)

03-18-2009, 06:57 PM	#105
Timoleon Time Enough at Last Posts: 387 Karma: 1151316 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: New England Device: iPad 3, iPhone 5, Kindle 3, Fire, Sony PRS-350	Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon. The uppity-ups in The New Yorker magazine sang the praises of this book to the skies, so I read it during college in the early 1970s, being an English major and all. All I remember now is sitting in the school library with this book in my hands, looking at the clock on the wall and marveling at how slow time was passing. A strange memory, because I can't even remember what the book was about, and I'll be damned if I'm going to google it at this stage in my life...

Advert

Advert