"The Most Boring Book" I read or tried to read - Page 20

baldanders · 11-19-2010, 11:00 PM

Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore

There is such a thing as to much infomation. I did read the whole book but it was a battle not to toss it.

lene1949 · 11-20-2010, 03:01 AM

The first book I've ever read, which I just couldn't get through, was Steven King's Bag of Bones. I thought SK was the best writer out there, but this was the most boring 'crap' (excuse my language

) I've ever read...

The one and only Steven King book I ever bought.

Russell Brooks · 11-20-2010, 02:22 PM

Although I hate to say it because Vince Flynn wrote some pretty awesome books when he started. He fell off the wagon with Extreme Limits. I haven't read another Vince Flynn novel since that one.

wvcherrybomb · 11-20-2010, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mare of Earth

I also agree with adding the Outlander series to this list - I remember reading it in high school and just loving the epicness of the main characters love, however, having tried to re-read it, I just couldn't stand it.
(SPOILER)
The entire first book is basically about how she ends up married to this young innocent highlander who ends up trading a one night stand with the Evil Gay(!) Englishman in order to save her sorry ass. I mean - come on! Reality needed here!! He ends up being poor dutiful self-sacrificing husband cause she's Miss Time Travelling Thang.

My thoughts exactly. I downloaded this book free but never finished it. It is a favorite of one of my sister's haughty friends. I mistakenly thought she would have high standards in reading material. I'm glad to hear others felt the same way about it as I did since I assumed I was just too unrefined to appreciate it.

Prior to reading Outlander, my Ultimate Snoozefest Award went to:
Old Man and the Sea

GA Russell · 11-20-2010, 05:03 PM

My first novel as a college student was The Plague by Albert Camus. I've never disliked a book so much since. What a way to start college!

gmw · 11-20-2010, 11:10 PM

This thread.

Just kidding, it has been very interesting to see such diverse views. I've got a taste now for classics (Austen, Dickens and more) that I never had as a kid. On the other hand some things I liked as I was growing up I now find really boring. For example: While I still like much of Isaac Asimov, I have found most of Arthur C. Clarke very boring to re-read.

The discussion about Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy has also been interesting. This is one book that I find to be a very definite mood-thing. In the right mood there is almost nothing better, but in the wrong mood I just don't have the patience for it.

Now to the point I guess. The most boring books I have read. (As my wife has observed, I have this perverse/stubborn streak that means I almost always finish what I start, it's one of those character traits I need to work on I think.)

The Bible - I got through the lot as a kid, after I was "confirmed". So I can say that I've read it, I'm sorry to say that I doubt if I learned anything.

The Silmarillion - an example of a book that I believe is actually quite good, but is very boring. But then I strongly believe that most of this stuff was JRRT just building his world, he never intended all the crap they've been bringing out to make money after LOTR.

Between the Wars - series by Michael Moorcock. Well the first three anyway (Byzantium Endures, The Laughter of Carthage, Jerusalem Commands), I've not considered the fourth. (I loved the titles - but should have stopped there.) Moorcock is either brilliant ... or very definitely not, these are - to me - prime examples of not.

I could probably build quite a long list of boring books here but I think these are my own personal highlights.

I was also trying to think of a book at was not boring but was also not good. I wonder if Gerald's Game (by Stephen King, as already discussed on this list) comes close. When I first read it I was not bored - it was the closest King ever came to truly scary horror, it seemed to me at the time - but I did not enjoy it. Quite recently I re-read it to see what I thought now - and the second time through I found it almost boring enough to list here. Oh wait, I just did.

Russell Brooks · 11-20-2010, 11:35 PM

I read The Tommyknockers, by Stephen King while in high school. It's divided into three parts. I skipped the 2nd part entirely. Then I came back to part three without having missed anything.

lila55 · 11-21-2010, 02:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiwimick

Having looked through this thread I find it incredible that "American Physco" by Bret Easton Ellis hasnt already been mentioned.

It is without doubt the most boring book I have ever read, what with the constant description of clothes and the designer gear that everyone was wearing just drove me mad

Same here. I actually had to put it aside after a while and could not get myself to finish it (yet), because it just really got on my nerves.

doreenjoy · 11-21-2010, 06:30 AM

Moby Dick.

I got to the chapter titled "The Whiteness of the Whale" and the book hit the wall.

doreenjoy · 11-21-2010, 06:42 AM

I forgot to mention "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice. I love stories set in San Francisco, but her prose style is so long-winded I never made it past the 5th page. I have a very low tolerance for slow openings.

Russell Brooks · 11-21-2010, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

I forgot to mention "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice. I love stories set in San Francisco, but her prose style is so long-winded I never made it past the 5th page. I have a very low tolerance for slow openings.

Isn't it amazing how established authors can afford to make mistakes that new authors could never get away with?

gollu · 11-21-2010, 07:50 AM

My prize goes to Heinlein and his "Number of the beast" book. I still don't know if that book had a point and I read almost the entire book. Masochism at its best.

elemenoP · 11-21-2010, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russell Brooks

Isn't it amazing how established authors can afford to make mistakes that new authors could never get away with?

I agree with you that certain authors get "too big for their editors" (such as Stephen King) but to be fair to Anne Rice (who definitely falls in this category), Interview with the Vampire was one of her earliest works. Possibly her earliest big success, although I don't know for sure. But her later books do get longer and longer.

I do wonder if ebooks are actually going to make the long book problem even worse. After all, there is a physical constraint to how many pages a book will hold, before the binding falls apart. Surely some editor must have said to Diana Gabaldon or Ken Follett, "we need to cut 100,000 words or the book will be too big to bind." With ebooks, there is no such physical constraint. Will there be "author's cuts" like there are "director's cuts" for movies? Or will some books just get really, really long? To me, it's not a good thing: a good editor with a red pen is important to the best of writers.

eP

doreenjoy · 11-21-2010, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russell Brooks

Isn't it amazing how established authors can afford to make mistakes that new authors could never get away with?

I think it was her first big success, actually -- and something like 20 publishers rejected it first. I'm not sure what the deal was on its publication, or how it became such a huge success.

I'm equally mystified by the success of Dan Brown.

Stephen King I can understand...he's so big now that his books will sell even with all the egomaniacal lengthy descriptions in them. But in the old days, he was edited down to reasonable lengths. I much prefer his novellas (Shawshank Redemption; Dolores Claiborn) to his novels.

eP, you have a point about the binding issue no longer being an issue. I think the huge numbers of self-published books are also an indication that some authors don't want to deal with editors.

snipenekkid · 11-21-2010, 06:33 PM

Easy for me, The Hobbit. For some reason I never was able to trudge past the first few chapters and I have tried to read it several times since the early 1970's. The same for LOTR. For me it is a case where the movies made it possible for me to know the story. And I still just have a block about reading either novel.

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11-19-2010, 11:00 PM	#286
baldanders Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Nook	Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore There is such a thing as to much infomation. I did read the whole book but it was a battle not to toss it.

11-20-2010, 03:01 AM	#287
lene1949 Wizard Posts: 1,952 Karma: 213930 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Middelfart, Denmark Device: Kindle paper white	The first book I've ever read, which I just couldn't get through, was Steven King's Bag of Bones. I thought SK was the best writer out there, but this was the most boring 'crap' (excuse my language ) I've ever read... The one and only Steven King book I ever bought.

11-20-2010, 02:22 PM	#288
Russell Brooks Fanatic Posts: 538 Karma: 569642 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Montreal, Quebec Device: none	Although I hate to say it because Vince Flynn wrote some pretty awesome books when he started. He fell off the wagon with Extreme Limits. I haven't read another Vince Flynn novel since that one.

11-20-2010, 05:03 PM	#290
GA Russell Ticats win 6th straight. Posts: 7,695 Karma: 31487351 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Raleigh, NC Device: Paperwhite, Kindles 10 & 4 and jetBook Lite	My first novel as a college student was The Plague by Albert Camus. I've never disliked a book so much since. What a way to start college!

11-20-2010, 11:10 PM	#291
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	This thread. Just kidding, it has been very interesting to see such diverse views. I've got a taste now for classics (Austen, Dickens and more) that I never had as a kid. On the other hand some things I liked as I was growing up I now find really boring. For example: While I still like much of Isaac Asimov, I have found most of Arthur C. Clarke very boring to re-read. The discussion about Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy has also been interesting. This is one book that I find to be a very definite mood-thing. In the right mood there is almost nothing better, but in the wrong mood I just don't have the patience for it. Now to the point I guess. The most boring books I have read. (As my wife has observed, I have this perverse/stubborn streak that means I almost always finish what I start, it's one of those character traits I need to work on I think.) The Bible - I got through the lot as a kid, after I was "confirmed". So I can say that I've read it, I'm sorry to say that I doubt if I learned anything. The Silmarillion - an example of a book that I believe is actually quite good, but is very boring. But then I strongly believe that most of this stuff was JRRT just building his world, he never intended all the crap they've been bringing out to make money after LOTR. Between the Wars - series by Michael Moorcock. Well the first three anyway (Byzantium Endures, The Laughter of Carthage, Jerusalem Commands), I've not considered the fourth. (I loved the titles - but should have stopped there.) Moorcock is either brilliant ... or very definitely not, these are - to me - prime examples of not. I could probably build quite a long list of boring books here but I think these are my own personal highlights. I was also trying to think of a book at was not boring but was also not good. I wonder if Gerald's Game (by Stephen King, as already discussed on this list) comes close. When I first read it I was not bored - it was the closest King ever came to truly scary horror, it seemed to me at the time - but I did not enjoy it. Quite recently I re-read it to see what I thought now - and the second time through I found it almost boring enough to list here. Oh wait, I just did.

11-20-2010, 11:35 PM	#292
Russell Brooks Fanatic Posts: 538 Karma: 569642 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Montreal, Quebec Device: none	I read The Tommyknockers, by Stephen King while in high school. It's divided into three parts. I skipped the 2nd part entirely. Then I came back to part three without having missed anything.

11-21-2010, 06:30 AM	#294
doreenjoy 01000100 01001010 Posts: 1,889 Karma: 2400000 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Polyamorous	Moby Dick. I got to the chapter titled "The Whiteness of the Whale" and the book hit the wall.

11-21-2010, 06:42 AM	#295
doreenjoy 01000100 01001010 Posts: 1,889 Karma: 2400000 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Polyamorous	I forgot to mention "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice. I love stories set in San Francisco, but her prose style is so long-winded I never made it past the 5th page. I have a very low tolerance for slow openings.

11-21-2010, 07:50 AM	#297
gollu Unsullied Posts: 249 Karma: 759693 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Israel Device: Kindle 2i	My prize goes to Heinlein and his "Number of the beast" book. I still don't know if that book had a point and I read almost the entire book. Masochism at its best.

11-21-2010, 06:33 PM	#300
snipenekkid Banned Posts: 760 Karma: 51034 Join Date: Feb 2009	Easy for me, The Hobbit. For some reason I never was able to trudge past the first few chapters and I have tried to read it several times since the early 1970's. The same for LOTR. For me it is a case where the movies made it possible for me to know the story. And I still just have a block about reading either novel.