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

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I tried to read a book by one of our contributors here, but found it to be absolutely horrible in execution. (No pun intended.)

Diplomacy (and being a Moderator here), forbids me in naming this horrible novel. All I can say is this: AVOID IT BY ALL MEANS.

The next best thing I can do is to tell you to beware (and be wary of) a writer of occult/horror fiction who frequently sells the book for less than retail. (Of course, the retail is a jacked-up price, anyway.) The rest you'll have to figure out for yourself. There's a lot of self-published trash being circulated now, and readers must be careful. There's also a lot of self-published gems being published, and readers must be just as careful in deciding what to read in that area.

Be aware....or be afraid, but not because it's supposed to be a horror novel....

Don

Well, it does sound like a real horror novel. A horror to read.

If you are unknown, the best way to get known and have future sales is to give away your first book. So those that like it will buy other novels from you.

But how are we going to know who to avoid if you do not tell us? You could tell me and I'll tell everyone.

[Vector]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Do you have the one with the bad mats, the bad accelerator pedal, the bad breaks and the bad steering?

I didn't know my car had brakes. I'll have to try them out.

[radius]

Wow, I am stuneed at some of the books people felt were boring.

For example:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - First of all, this is a short novel, so you don't even have time to get bored before you are finished. Second, there is a plot and it moves along at a good clip, and there are new interesting or funny ideas introduced every few pages. I can understand not *enjoying* the book if you don't like its style of humour, but I find it difficult to imagine being bored by it.

The Cryptonomicon - I can see how non-geek readers might find some of this book to be boring, but on the other hand, I can't see why a non-geek reader might pick it up to begin with Again, like THHGTTG there are many interesting and original ideas (Waterhouse's sawtooth graph, the partitioning out of the antique furniture [as well, as Randy's more practical use for the furniture], the rate of milk soaking into the Captain Crunch, bicycle gears and cryptography, information theory and how not to use intercepted messages, and much much much much more). The characters might not captivate everyone, but reading about the people in Randy's and Lawrence's social circles made me laugh out loud in recognition more than once. The book even teaches you how to send very difficult to decode messages using a pack of playing cards... How can that be boring???

[radius]

Oh yeah, and then there is A Brief History of Time. Again, this book is short so I don't see how you even have time to get bored, and frankly, I wish it had gone on for longer and in greater detail.

A number of complaints about A Brief History of Time and only one or two mentions of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series? The world is topsy turvy!

[pshrynk]

Sort of a "To each their own" situation. I like THGTTH myself. Never tried Cryptonomicon. Too much out there already on the stack. Some people liked The Lost Symbol and I didn't. It's a strange old world...

[banjobama]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Lisey's Story by Stephen King.. a surefire insomnia cure.

It worked for me too, oddly enough!

The last boring book I tried to read was Poppy Done to Death by Charlaine Harris. I wanted to read one of the Sookie Stackhouse novels but they were out of them at the store (this was before I had my Reader). I bought this other one instead. I didn't even finish it. I'm pretty well turned off Charlaine Harris forever now.

[sakura-panda]

I'm currently slogging through Moby Dick -- in the meantime starting and finishing three or four other books -- and it seems like everytime something interesting is starting, another less-than-interesting-for-me section starts up again. I searched this thread and it was nice to see I am not alone.

It seems to have potential, so I want to try to finish it. Maybe I'll take it with me for jury duty next week.

I'm an Outlander fan, by the way. I couldn't get into it at all the first time I tried to read it, and put it down after a couple dozen pages. I picked it up several years later and started over again, found it much more interesting and have just finished reading the whole series again (all except the lastest book, which I have not purchased yet.)

[seagull]

I tried to read The Great Gatsby but was bored, I'm going to try to go back to it soon though

[tsantsa]

I'll probably be destroyed for this but Dr. Sax by Kerouac was intensely boring to me. I even tried to read it 3 or 4 times. I just can't do it!

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by seagull

I tried to read The Great Gatsby but was bored, I'm going to try to go back to it soon though

If it was the book and NOT the author, you might try to read Fitzgerald's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

It's available here on MobileRead and other sundry places for free.


Don

[nietzschedanced]

Nice bike! I'm bringing mine from Illinois to Reading this spring.

Try to avoid crossing Indiana in fog. I was coming from Reading heading for Milwaukee when a moose jumped over the hood of my VW bug. They have "large animal alerts" in place now but being cautious is best.

[recluse]

Silas Marner. The literary equivalent of a black hole.

[seagull]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

If it was the book and NOT the author, you might try to read Fitzgerald's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

It's available here on MobileRead and other sundry places for free.


Don

Yes I have already read that one and loved it so it is certainly not Fitzgerald. Benjamin Button remains one of the only occasions where I have welled up at a book

[hiteshp]

Papillon - Henri Charrière

[hiteshp]

Shantaram - I would say it can be used as Toilet Paper ...