[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Monty Grue

...

4. The Wolves of Culla by Stephen King: This is what happens when an author gets hit over the head with the retarded stick and is allowed to publish the results.

The Wolves of the Calla and Wizard and Glass were, for me, the two books I enjoyed the least. I probably disliked Wizard and Glass more than Wolves because I had to reread it twice, as new books came out (I start the series again). For me, the strongest book of the series is The Gunslinger, followed by The Drawing of the Three. I reread the former several times, as with Wizard and Glass, but it was never a chore.

...
7. Queen of the Damned by Ann Rice: I so sick of super sexy vampires.

I loved the Vampire Chronicles up to and including Queen of the Damned. I found The Tale of the Body Thief to be a sequel-for-the-sake-of-sequel, and, though I think I read Memnoch, the Devil, I don't really remember anything about it. I've read nothing after that, and The Witching Hour was something I plodded through, so that was the end of Anne Rice for me.

8. Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling: The Emperor has no clothes: Dull, dull, dull.

Oddly, this is one I probably liked the most, in that I hated reading it (I dislike unremitting despair, and this book had it in spades, but I realise that doesn't preclude satisfaction in reading it). However, I've heard others have the same reaction as yourself.

9. Color Purple by Alice Walker: College professors in the early ‘80s discovered substitutes for dead white men, but early adapters of new literature can be just as wonky as new technology.
...

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the above, but I am disappointed. Not in you, of course, but rather the potential for this not to be a good read. The movie is a favourite of mine, and it's a book I've always been meaning to read. Still, if we disagree on books above, perhaps we might disagree on this as well, yeah.

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

I had understood the Simarillion to be Tolkein's own work product, a work to provide a mythology and framework for the LOTR stories and characters, much as the Bible (The Old Testament) does for Judaism... one doesn't typically read the Bible for a good narrative "story", but to get at an underlying philosophy or principle.
...

I get what you're saying (and Dennis, and HarryT), and it'll certainly serve me (since I have the book sitting in a pride-of-place spot on the bookshelves). Perhaps though, if one at first hasn't approached it in this manner, the restarting of it still begins with [starts reading]..."The Silmarillion....[thump....snoooooore]" in much the same way that the meal you had before becoming sick can put you off the ingredients for some time, even if they weren't to blame (and especially if they were).

However, since my last attempts were in my teens and early twenties, it's probably something I might have gotten over by now. I'll bring it over to the TBR again, as, with what you are all saying, and with an awareness that my tastes have significantly changed, particularly in the recent 18 months or so, I think I might be rewarded this time.

(I haven't read it through, so I would not have put it in my "Worst Books" list, and I daresay that the pleasure of its language would have put me off listing it, even if I had read it through)

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Thanks for mentioning him. Kay is one of my favorite fantasy writers. _The Fionnavar Tapestry_ is one of the few works in any genre that has made me cry, and _Tigana_ is one of my favorite fantasy novels.

Yes! The Fionnavar Tapestry was...is, a favourite. It should probably be on my re-read pile, but I'm loathe to begin one at the moment.

It's been said before by others, but I really enjoy this "Worst Books" thread. It's interesting to see that some books, even though "great" in some particular sense, are some of the "worst" reads for people, especially when they don't coincide with your own, or even have been your "best" reads. I think I'd put The Sea, The Sea now as my number 1, most likely because high expectations were so far from being met.

Cheers,
Marc