12-30-2009, 10:19 PM
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#1 |
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MR Drone
  
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Read it and Weep....
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...ep-590177.html
This link was put up in a thread long ago. but I thought it would be good to revisit it. LOTR and Harry Potter reviews are my favorites... Any more books to add to the list? |
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12-30-2009, 10:42 PM
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#2 | |
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Guru
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Quote:
But if I must,and I really must, I'd nominate a popular favorite: "Pillars of the earth". Not only is it sloppy writing. It's also stereotypic Barbara Cartland characterisation, not to mention the incredibly repetitive structure of the book. (yes I know a lot of you love it... I just think that damned church should have been build 500 pages earlier at least). I think after the third time the church building had to start from scratch due to the VILE CAT-TORTURING, RAPING and KILLING villain it started to become a joke. How many times can a book start over again without being laughable? |
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12-31-2009, 02:00 AM
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#3 |
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Wizard
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I remember right before my third-year seminar in American Literature had its final exam back in my university days, the prof did a review with us where we confessed that not a single soul in the entire class has gotten through the entire assigned Faulkner novel. He shrugged, said 'Well, it's an American literature course, you pretty much have to have Faulkner' and then admitted he couldn't stand the books either.
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12-31-2009, 02:50 AM
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#4 |
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Wizard
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Interesting reading, but depressing that a lot of the people nominate books because of politics rather than literary merit.
I was however delighted to see Byatt's 'Possession' on the list (nice to know I'm not the only one  ).
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12-31-2009, 04:01 AM
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#5 |
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High Priestess
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I'm shocked. How could anyone NOT like Belle du seigneur?
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12-31-2009, 05:58 AM
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#6 |
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eBook Enthusiast
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Or Harry Potter?
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12-31-2009, 07:33 AM
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#7 |
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High Priestess
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Well, I can understand about Harry Potter... the first couple of books were very childish and I got tired of the "poor little boy" whining. I've heard several people say that they gave up after the first book(s), and I can understand that, I almost did myself. Come to think of it, I still haven't read the last one
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12-31-2009, 11:54 AM
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#8 |
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eBook Enthusiast
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I wasn't being serious - of course I can understand how people don't like it. Can't say the same for the criticism of "LOTR", though.
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12-31-2009, 01:43 PM
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#9 | |
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New York Editor
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Quote:
When I first read LoTR, I started at "When mister Bilbo Baggins announced hsi eleventy-first birthday", I said something like "What?". I had to push myself to get through the first hundred pages. Once I did, the book kicked in, and I read the rest of the trilogy over a weekend. But what you think of it depends upon what you are used to and expect. I can easily see modern readers losing patience, if nothing else. Some years back, I saw an article about a TV production company producing content for the native population in South Africa. They discovered the hard way that things they thought were universal were not. For instance, we are used to jump cuts, and interpolate the travel between when a character exits one location via a door, and is next seen entering a different location. The native audience did not. If a character was traveling from one place to another, they had to show the travel, and not expect the audience to assume it happened. I think there are similar changes over time in literature, and there are conventions in older books we find foreign, and conventions in newer books we expect to see and have problems if they aren't there. I don't expect everyone to love LoTR. My concern will be the reasons for the dislike. (I will have problems with people who think _The Sword of Shannara_ is superior...  )______ Dennis |
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12-31-2009, 02:59 PM
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#10 |
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Groupie
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In just skimming over some of the remarks in the article, it seems some people didn't like certain books because they don't like that genre. If you don't like fantasy, don't read it and DON'T critique those types of books. grrrr
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