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Roy White · 04-27-2008, 06:42 PM

Extremely interesting thread. I've been lurking on this one and reading, smirking at the great humour of Marcs list and his fun loving dig at Lovecraft, "I've done scarier craps" made me laugh. As it was intended... I read, alot, (otherwise I wouldn't be on this forum) for pleasure and most of what I read is fairly eclectic. I have no real plan or goal, I just read. To me the definition of a good book is one that sweeps me into another world or reality and carries me somewhere. Anywhere. I love long descriptions of scenery as long as it fills out a reality and makes it more real, makes me breathe the air in the Authors imagination.
I love LOTR. I've read it probably 15 times and every other year or so go through it again. I REALLY enjoyed the Harry Potter series and read them all more than once along with my 3 boys. We would have arguments about which spell we would use on people as we were driving down the road etc. I liked Atlas Shrugged quite a bit, God knows why. Moby Dick is another favorite. I like Russian literature and have read nearly all of the Conan books and roar my approval when he is the last man standing after an epic battle in which everyone but him dies! Pat Conroy is one of my favorite writers when it comes to 'painting a real scene'. There's no accounting for my own tastes and I'm old enough so I don't even try anymore. So. I'm... (Like all of us) unique.

To me a bad book is one where the world doesn't work, or the plot takes a twist thats not interesting, or when the writer puts in details that don't advance the story or imagery, or when the characters do or say something with motives that don't line up with already established charater development.

Ok.. my list...

1. Clan of the Cave Bear. Dude! That book kept trying to be good and I kept waiting for the world she was trying to create in my head to coalesce, but it never did.

2. Anything recent Clancy has written. All his books up to Red Storm Rising were really good! Then he became so successfull he could start telling his editor to take a hike and write what he really is interested in, (Long technical descriptions of military technology that go on for 20 pages) and in the process lost me completely as a 'constant reader'.

3. The last book in the Dark Tower series by S. King. And I've read almost everything King's written and loved it. The ending ticked me off so much after investing maybe 40 total hours in the Series lost in Mid world with Roland and company, completely enchanted by King's skill as a storyteller, then to get gypped when the Top of the tower DOESN'T HAVE GOD WAITING FOR HIM!!!! after setting it up over thousands of pages he goes back on the wheel of Ka. The most frustrating ending to a book in the history of the universe!

4. Far from the Madding Crowd. I think my heart stopped twice trying to read it. Boring...
5. Pride and Prejudice. (See above)
6. Carribean by Michener. I've read other Micheners I really liked but this one just never got off the runway.
7. Great Expectations. Arghh... I heroicall struggled with this one for seemingly hundreds of pages and All i got was a kid named Pip and an old lady who broke all her clocks and has a wedding dress full of spiders.
8. The Lost World by Crichton. Liked Jurassic Park alot. The Lost World lost me big time. The Velociraptors went from being ultra cool villians with no fear and almost infinite cunning, to hapless sheepdogs a little kid fools by throwing a steak into a walk in fridge then slamming the door on them.
9. Dances With Wolves (The Movie) The book was actually very good but Costner completely blew the part of Dunbar.
10. The Secret. Browsed through this book at Walmart one day while my wife was taking an hour and a half to pick out a Mothers day card. Lame indeed.

You know its much easier to talk about books Ilove than books I hate.

04-27-2008, 06:42 PM	#122
Roy White Evangelist Posts: 482 Karma: 7696 Join Date: May 2007 Location: Turner, Oregon Device: Sony Reader	Extremely interesting thread. I've been lurking on this one and reading, smirking at the great humour of Marcs list and his fun loving dig at Lovecraft, "I've done scarier craps" made me laugh. As it was intended... I read, alot, (otherwise I wouldn't be on this forum) for pleasure and most of what I read is fairly eclectic. I have no real plan or goal, I just read. To me the definition of a good book is one that sweeps me into another world or reality and carries me somewhere. Anywhere. I love long descriptions of scenery as long as it fills out a reality and makes it more real, makes me breathe the air in the Authors imagination. I love LOTR. I've read it probably 15 times and every other year or so go through it again. I REALLY enjoyed the Harry Potter series and read them all more than once along with my 3 boys. We would have arguments about which spell we would use on people as we were driving down the road etc. I liked Atlas Shrugged quite a bit, God knows why. Moby Dick is another favorite. I like Russian literature and have read nearly all of the Conan books and roar my approval when he is the last man standing after an epic battle in which everyone but him dies! Pat Conroy is one of my favorite writers when it comes to 'painting a real scene'. There's no accounting for my own tastes and I'm old enough so I don't even try anymore. So. I'm... (Like all of us) unique. To me a bad book is one where the world doesn't work, or the plot takes a twist thats not interesting, or when the writer puts in details that don't advance the story or imagery, or when the characters do or say something with motives that don't line up with already established charater development. Ok.. my list... 1. Clan of the Cave Bear. Dude! That book kept trying to be good and I kept waiting for the world she was trying to create in my head to coalesce, but it never did. 2. Anything recent Clancy has written. All his books up to Red Storm Rising were really good! Then he became so successfull he could start telling his editor to take a hike and write what he really is interested in, (Long technical descriptions of military technology that go on for 20 pages) and in the process lost me completely as a 'constant reader'. 3. The last book in the Dark Tower series by S. King. And I've read almost everything King's written and loved it. The ending ticked me off so much after investing maybe 40 total hours in the Series lost in Mid world with Roland and company, completely enchanted by King's skill as a storyteller, then to get gypped when the Top of the tower DOESN'T HAVE GOD WAITING FOR HIM!!!! after setting it up over thousands of pages he goes back on the wheel of Ka. The most frustrating ending to a book in the history of the universe! 4. Far from the Madding Crowd. I think my heart stopped twice trying to read it. Boring... 5. Pride and Prejudice. (See above) 6. Carribean by Michener. I've read other Micheners I really liked but this one just never got off the runway. 7. Great Expectations. Arghh... I heroicall struggled with this one for seemingly hundreds of pages and All i got was a kid named Pip and an old lady who broke all her clocks and has a wedding dress full of spiders. 8. The Lost World by Crichton. Liked Jurassic Park alot. The Lost World lost me big time. The Velociraptors went from being ultra cool villians with no fear and almost infinite cunning, to hapless sheepdogs a little kid fools by throwing a steak into a walk in fridge then slamming the door on them. 9. Dances With Wolves (The Movie) The book was actually very good but Costner completely blew the part of Dunbar. 10. The Secret. Browsed through this book at Walmart one day while my wife was taking an hour and a half to pick out a Mothers day card. Lame indeed. You know its much easier to talk about books Ilove than books I hate. Last edited by Roy White; 04-27-2008 at 06:46 PM.