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Old 04-25-2008, 02:11 PM   #76
vivaldirules
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5. The Two Towers (Lord of the Rings) - It is a very long segue from book 1 to book 3. Don't yell, I know 2 Towers is more character driven than event driven as in the other books, but I just seem to skim the whole book whenever I re-read the series.
Really? That's very interesting because I think you're the first person I've met that felt that way. I slowly crawled through book 1, but when I hit book 2 it was all downhill from there for me and I think that sentiment is shared by most or all of the readers I've ever met. I find all these differences very interesting and can't help but wonder why I have the preferences I have that others don't.
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Old 04-25-2008, 02:12 PM   #77
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3. Anything in the "for Dummies" series - Instead of being ashamed of being too dumb to read a manual or take a course, people in my office proudly display this series.
i saw a very interesting BBC documentary about stupidity (i think it was just called "stupidity", in fact, although i can't remember now). according to this documentary, it is actually more culturally and socially acceptable in the US to be stupid than to be smarter than the rest of the people in the room. the "for dummies" series was cited as being simultaneously an example and a symptom of this attitude.
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7. Anything Jane Austen - Sorry, Dr D, but I'm a lit graduate and had these prissy, precocious books shoved down my throat again and again throughout college. Since then, anything that reeks of rural spinsters with good manners just sort of riles me up.
i understand lit graduate genre overdoses but it's funny, i had the exact opposite reaction the first time i read a book by Austen : i found it incredibly witty and sarcastic, the opposite of prissy. i spent most of the book laughing.

ha ! that reminds me of another one : the journal of Bridget Jones. a friend of mine recommended this to me (and lent me her copy) saying it was so hilarious that she had to stop reading it in the métro because it was becoming too embarassing, people were staring at her, and that i would love it because it was a modern day transcription of Pride and Prejudice (which i *do* love). i only laughed once, a little bit (more like a snicker) : when Bridget says "It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party." not the worst i ever read, but not worth the hype either ; completely superficial, not particularly well-written, completely lacking any meaningful insight, and not more than mildly funny. i haven't seen the movie version but now that i've read the book i don't particularly want to.
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Old 04-25-2008, 02:43 PM   #78
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Eragon: If I ever have to read another book about dwarfs beating on rocks I'm going to beat on the author.

The Bridges of Madison County: Did for romance novels what DaVinci code did for adventure novels
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Old 04-25-2008, 02:48 PM   #79
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I agree with someone above: if I do not like a book I just do not continue reading it.
In my experience, 5 or 10 pages is enough.

Last edited by DDHarriman; 04-25-2008 at 06:51 PM.
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Old 04-25-2008, 02:53 PM   #80
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Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel View Post
i understand lit graduate genre overdoses but it's funny, i had the exact opposite reaction the first time i read a book by Austen : i found it incredibly witty and sarcastic, the opposite of prissy. i spent most of the book laughing.
My experience also. I started to watch the BBC TV series of Pride and Prejudice and that was good so I thought I should read the book and liked it very much and have read it 2-3 times. And Pride and Prejudice at least is very funny and you laugh a lot.
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Old 04-25-2008, 03:00 PM   #81
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The majority of fantasy books particularly any book about dragons.
I feel that way too.theres just something boring ,repetitive,unremarkable and kinda stiff and reaking of realism with a tad bit of sword swinging,epsecialy when the plot on the back of the book is described as "from A,the hero of the plains goes on,to face his destiny and the malevolent sorcerer B" etc.etc.,anything of THAT sort,you know what I mean.

and I understand Eragon.Never REALY read much of it,but when a 400 page book,with a Dragon on the cover is published in a rather HUGE text size,It makes you wonder.
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Old 04-25-2008, 03:26 PM   #82
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Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel View Post
according to this documentary, it is actually more culturally and socially acceptable in the US to be stupid than to be smarter than the rest of the people in the room.
Sadly, this is indeed often the case.

In defense of "dragon" books, I very much enjoy Anne McCaffrey's "Pern" books, though the later ones, particularly the ones co-written with her son, are fading off.
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Old 04-25-2008, 04:10 PM   #83
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Well, been gone for 24 hours to come back in the middle of a fight. C'mon ease up people. We are all about diversity be it geographical, cultural or generational. We are here under this banner to celebrate reading. Sometimes readings are really untolerable to a few people so it is fitting that what can be an annoying experience be cited in name here. A thread such as this one is justified and to me revealing.

If we were all the same there would be one and only one book. (No offense to orthodox religious people was meant. )
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Old 04-25-2008, 05:33 PM   #84
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This is a thread about opinions. Nobody is right or wrong when they like or dislike a book. Just keep that in mind when you start thinking that someone is not right in the head when s/he likes or dislikes a book you feel the opposite about. Just because you like something I might feel is rubbish, that does not make you or I right or wrong. Its just what is.
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Old 04-25-2008, 06:23 PM   #85
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I usually do as several here has mentioned and stop reading when I don't like the book. Although from time to time I'll not realize before the end how bad the book really is.

Two of the worst reading experiences I've had in my life is:
1. Absolute power by David Baldacci: When I finished the book I was feeling quite winded and miserable and I tried to find out why. After thinking for a while I realized it was because of all the murders. I like a good crime/mystery and will happily read about numerous victims of serial killers, but they should have some relevance to the story. In the case of Mr. Baldaccis book he must have had a really bad day/week/year and he managed to inlict his bad mood on me .

2. The (so called) Aurian saga by Maggie Furey (four books): I actually liked the first book. I really, really liked it. That's why I hate this series so passionately. I have never had a more disappointing reading experience in my whole life. The second book was OK, the third was not so good, but by then I needed to know what would happen to all these people. On the back of the last book it said something to the effect that all loose ends were wrapped up in this book. I thought that at least was a comfort, in case the fourth was no better than the third. It was worse. And the loose ends? She would have needed to write another (long) book to have a chance to wrap even half of them up.

That was todays rant and I feel amazingly relaxed. I think I'll have to do this more often.

Have anybody else here read these books? Any opinions?
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Old 04-25-2008, 07:29 PM   #86
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I'm with Greycat on this one. I like mystery and crime novels but don't like unnecessary descriptions of violence: gore, guts and splattering put me off. (In fact I really don't want to know too much about Marc's relationship with the large intestine either, though hope they will both be very happy.*)

*Reference to another thread.
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Old 04-25-2008, 07:47 PM   #87
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What I find interesting about this thread is the concept of a "bad book". At least until the internet age, somebody (a publisher) had to think a story was good enough to make money off of, or else the book wouldn't exist. The <really> bad books never saw the light of day. (Undoubtable some good books as well, but relatively few.

But if I make a list of truly bad books, I'll get a blank look, because nobody would have heard of them, much less read them. (G8 and His Battle Aces, anyone? How about the first Tom Swift book? No? Hmmm... Station X by George Mcleod?) Obscurity has it's place in the world. (Hence my tacky first post.)

So this thread seems to be about books the many people have read, but still think are "bad". A rarified strata indeed. After all, a lot of people plunked down a lot of money to get them there...

I think we need a counterpoint thread to this one. Currently obscure books that you think ought to be read, and why they're so entertaining. (Wasp by Eric Frank Russell, anyone?)
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Old 04-26-2008, 05:01 AM   #88
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I can't say I really *hate* anything I've read. However, I'm usually fond of ACC's work, but "Childhood's End" just left me feeling depressed. I found it hard to believe that the entire population of Earth just 'give up' and die.
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Old 04-26-2008, 06:19 AM   #89
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I think we need a counterpoint thread to this one. Currently obscure books that you think ought to be read, and why they're so entertaining. (Wasp by Eric Frank Russell, anyone?)
Isn't Wasp a classic in the science fiction field and many people have read it? NESFA republished Eric Frank Russell a couple of years ago. He is a favourite author of mine and I have read most of his books.

I have to look for bad books among the books I read for different reasons then the usual. For example I read all Hugo nominated novels each year and amoung them I thing Hominids and Humans by Robert Sawyer was very bad made me stop reading Sawyer. But his books gets nominated so obviously there is a large number of people that actually likes the books...
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Old 04-26-2008, 07:26 AM   #90
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Bill Pronzini ---- no, no. He's ok, in my opinion.

Now that I have your attention:

A number of years ago Pronzini wrote two books about some of the WORST writing in the history of mystery and detective fiction. Even authors who have a "good" reputation can sometimes turn out prune juice. (Read: It goes in, but it comes out most unpleasantly. I think one has to have a sense of humor to appreicate bad writing...

The title of one of these two books is Gun In Cheek and is one of the most hilarious reads you might encounter. I can't remember the title of the other one. (I have both, but they're packed up in my storage unit, since I'm preparing to go back to Peru.)

Pronzini mainly focused on the HORRIBLE writing from a publishing house called Pheonix Press. This was an outfit from the 30s-50s that catered mainly to the library market, so very few of these books found their way into the public.

The excerpts will have you rolling on the floor and, if you're not careful, may leave you with a stink in your pants.

Track down Gun in Cheek if you want a wonderful reading experience full of misplaced modifiers, corny dialogue, over-sexed detectives, and plot gimmicks out of Lo***c***. The English language never had it so good!

Thinking of this book also reminds me of the wonderfully bad and thorougly hilarious writings of Robert Leslie Bellem. He was one of the best bad writers I've ever read. I love his horrible writing!

Don

NOTE: I'm assembling some Bellem for the Sony upload section. After all, I shouldn't be the only person laughing...or being tortured.

Edited: My horrible grammatical error: - worse/worst - !!!!
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