"The Most Boring Book" I read or tried to read

[doreenjoy]

Originally Posted by Russell Brooks

@Doreen and Ep

Publication standards have changed a lot since those days. I still wonder how Stephanie Meyer got published, considering, IMO, those aren't real vampires in her story, but some other type of creatures. A friend of mine in the publishing industry told me that agents and publishers care more about money before the art aspect of a book. This article might interest both of you.

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat...writers_b10406

I can see Stephanie Meyer's popularity with teen girls who like to read about non-threatening boys. Sometimes when you have a great hook, nothing else matters.

Thanks for the link btw. I totally agree with Irving.

[Luke King]

I found Twilight a little boring. There seemed to be a whole lot of conversation with no point to it while the story was going nowhere. However, my all time most boring book awards go to Samuel Beckett and James Joyce. Beckett's "Watt" wasn't so bad, though it had a couple of pages of frog music in it. Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, I was unable to finish.

[NVash]

Twilight was very boring to me, but I read on hoping that someone would get brutally mauled by a bear. Never happened. I read on once Edward reached town hoping Jacob would rip him limb from limb. Never happened. No, I think its not only boring but also a tease. Why cant the woman just let crap hit the fan already? Guess its too late to ask that since the series is over but then again I just finished the second book.

[eBuk]

Most boring/hated book for me most recently? 'Never Let Me Go' by Kazuo Ishiguro.

I tried so hard to like it. It was excruciatingly, mind-numbingly slow, boring and the plot incredibly predictable for me. The narration was juvenile and disjointed; like listening to the drunk ramblings of an airhead teen-aged girl.

Originally Posted by NVash

[...]but I read on hoping that someone would get brutally mauled by a bear.

^^^ I was hoping I'd get mauled by a bear to put me out of my misery reading 'Never Let Me Go'. I made it all the way to the end and wanted 2 weeks of my life back.

I would never advocate burning of any book but for that book? I'd make an exception.

[sunnysmiles]

Dan Browns last novel it was the most boring ill written novel that I have read it took so long to get into too . I forsook the novel and deleted it.

[NVash]

Originally Posted by eBuk

Most boring/hated book for me most recently? 'Never Let Me Go' by Kazuo Ishiguro.

I tried so hard to like it. It was excruciatingly, mind-numbingly slow, boring and the plot incredibly predictable for me. The narration was juvenile and disjointed; like listening to the drunk ramblings of an airhead teen-aged girl.

Hey, nice first post! Welcome to the forum! I looked up this book you speak of. Doesnt sound very good. Ill heed your warning and stay away from it.

Originally Posted by eBuk

^^^ I was hoping I'd get mauled by a bear to put me out of my misery reading 'Never Let Me Go'. I made it all the way to the end and wanted 2 weeks of my life back.

I would never advocate burning of any book but for that book? I'd make an exception.

I hate books that take me so long to read. I know it takes me awhile to read a book, mainly because I have many other things to do. But Twilight took me months to read whereas Harry Potter might have taken one month. Why did it take so long? I had no urge to read it. The book never grabbed me by the shirt and yelled 'READ ME' like Harry Potter did. Maybe the next one is better. Oh who am I kidding, this is Twilight, itll never get better.

[simplyparticular]

Bridget Jones' Diary was excruciatingly narcissistic. Every "entry catalogued the cigarettes smoked and calories eaten before devolving into idiocy.

[elemenoP]

Russell, thank you for the link, very interesting. I am still laboring under the impression that self-published books are for people who "aren't good enough" to get a publisher. Hopefully my ereader (and maybe some recs from here??) will persuade me otherwise. I worked in publishing in the early 90s and had an internship at FSG, one of the last of the "literary" publishers. Roger Strauss used to buy all the interns ice cream on Fridays.

And also: Never Let Me Go is one of my favorite books.

eP

[eBuk]

Originally Posted by NVash

Hey, nice first post! Welcome to the forum!

I hate books that take me so long to read. [...] Why did it take so long? I had no urge to read it.

Hi and thank you for the welcome.

I have to agree. The reason it took me 2 weeks to finish 'Never Let Me Go' instead of the usual 4-7 days it takes me with a novel that length/size is because I had no real interest in reading it. It was so bad. I had to force myself to keep reading and kept praying that the book would get better for me. No such luck.

And I agree with the poster before me about 'Bridget Jones' Diary'. It makes for a so-so comedic movie about an obsessive, neurotic overweight woman but reading it as a book is arduous to say the least.

[NVash]

No problem, glad to meet a new member. Ive always wanted to greet someone!

Ah, 'Bridget Jones Diary', what a horrible horrible book. I got about three paragraphs in before I got tired of it. Another diary format book that I tried to read, 'The Princess Diaries'. Okay movie, horrible book. How it ended up with so many sequels Ill never know. The 'Sex And The City' book wasnt so bad but somehow I ended up losing interest. Oddly I never liked the show much either. I just figured Id pick up the book and see what all the fuss was about.

Oh, 'And Another Thing'. Its already been mentioned that 'The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy' is my favorite book series. I didnt like book 4, 'So Long And Thanks For All The Fish', but I suffered until the end. When I got word that a new book was coming out by the man behind 'Artemis Fowl' I was skeptical but still went to buy it the day it came out. Twenty five dollars wasted. I got fifty pages in before I realized I was bored. I tried to keep going but I put it down one day and never picked it back up. His problem? Too many Guide notes. Enough with the notes man, wheres the characters?

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by gollu

My prize goes to Heinlein and his "Number of the beast" book. I still don't know if that book had a point and I read almost the entire book. Masochism at its best.

He was trying to pull all his story lines together so that he didn't have to remember who went where for other books he wanted to write. He was also on the verge of having an ischemic stroke, which was making his brain function quite poorly. After the bypass surgery, he wrote "Friday" which took him back to his better days.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by NVash

Im probably going to catch a lot of flack for this but the most boring book I ever read was 'The Hobbit'. The most boring ones I ever attempted to read, 'The Vampire Chronicles', 'The Lord Of The Rings' and now 'Wheel Of Time'. Ive attempted to read the first book in each of these series and every time made it pretty far in but they never cease to stop boring me. 'Twilight', while it may stink, has usually kept me awake while Im reading it. These have put me to sleep.

Hah! Right there with the LOTR loathing. Made it through the excruciatingly dull Hobbit but lost it altogether in the first book of the trilogy. Life is too short, etc.

I also can't stand Dan Brown, but at least I wised up about three pages into Da Vinci. And seriously, the title says it all. After all that supposed research, he didn't get that the painter's name is Leonardo? Or maybe that was addressed in the book; however, not in those first three pages. The worst written/most successful book I've ever attempted.

[tyche]

I try to be careful what I read but sometimes I get caught off guard.

Most boring books I never finished: Da Vinci Code by Brown and Timeline by Crichton. Most boring book I forced myself to finish: Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds.

[caleb72]

Boring books that I finished:
- Two Towers in LOTR. I found the whole series to be worth the wading, but I really found the second book a struggle.

Books that I dropped
- God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert. I really hated this book and I kept trying to get through it because I heard that the next books were great, but I just couldn't do it.
- Living Next Door to the God of Love by Justina Robson. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but wasn't.
- Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susana Clarke. I think I got about half way through and started seriously contemplating blinding myself.

Regards
Caleb

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by simplyparticular

Bridget Jones' Diary was excruciatingly narcissistic. Every "entry catalogued the cigarettes smoked and calories eaten before devolving into idiocy.

I liked it on audio; the narrator brought out her over-the-top angst.