The 10 Worst Books - Page 32

JSWolf · 12-08-2011, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miguel1626

I really liked Dracula

A book to avoid is Dracula. The style doesn't lend itself to being scary at all. Plus, the pacing was just slow. Overall, a good premise with a poor execution due to slow pacing, poor style and not being scary.

JSWolf · 12-08-2011, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skip_intro

Flowers In The Attic by Victoria Andrews. I laughed all the way through, everything was bad, plot, characters, the dreadful attempts to invoke emotion.

V. C. Andrews is dead and the name has become just that, a name. V. C. Andrews is not just a stable of hack writers writing under that name.

Skip_intro · 12-08-2011, 10:03 AM

Until you mentioned it I didn't even know she'd become VC Andrews, or a brand, for that matter, but I believe she wrote that one and was still alive when I read it in 1980ish, so that's no excuse for it being so dreadful.

miguel1626 · 12-08-2011, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

A book to avoid is Dracula. The style doesn't lend itself to being scary at all. Plus, the pacing was just slow. Overall, a good premise with a poor execution due to slow pacing, poor style and not being scary.

Dracula is a very polarizing book. The epistolary style is somewhat off-putting, in addition to the admittedly slow pace. But a lot of people (including Stephen King) love it.

I can't offer a very reliable opinion on the book being "scary", since despite being a horror fan, I'm not actually scared by the books (horror games, do elevate my blood pressure, though).

Lair of the White Worm, on the other hand... I doubt you'll find many people who enjoyed that.

yvanleterrible · 12-10-2011, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

A book to avoid is Dracula. The style doesn't lend itself to being scary at all. Plus, the pacing was just slow. Overall, a good premise with a poor execution due to slow pacing, poor style and not being scary.

True, that. Probably had to be read by the light of a candle projecting shadows...
As we move faster and faster in this frenetic world I wonder what I found attractive in all those books I've read over the years. Most were built around pompous narrative and took ages to deliver a meager story that could have been told in a page; somewhat a reflection of a life I used to live. Could beauty of language still mean anything today? What would a book be like in text language? I'm curious, does anyone know of such a work?

SteveEisenberg · 12-10-2011, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

. . . took ages to deliver a meager story that could have been told in a page

Another reason for everyone having a different POV. I mostly go by whether I care for the characters. Story? Sometimes I do read mystery or thriller books that have a complicated story line. They make me feel inadequate for not having been able to remember enough to guess the ending that I'm supposed to be guessing.

One of my favorites is Framley Parsonage, Anthony Trollope's longest and best-selling novel. 800+ pages mostly about one not-all-that-extraordinary couple whose friends think they shouldn't marry. And all that time you know they will. Even better, and I sometimes read them through tears: Anything by a Brontë. And yet someone put a Brontë novel on their worst list.

As for my worst, the problem is that it's not fair to say the books are bad when you can't finish them. Exhibit A: Ayn Rand. It's not primarily the politics -- I just don't believe the characters are real, and so don't want to find out more about them.

I did finish one Harry Potter book. But I can't put it on a worst list here because I can't remember which it was. I know that a lot of people identify with those characters and something must be missing in me not be able to do so myself. Then again, almost every book on the worst lists of this thread were bestsellers at some time, beloved by someone. Its a big world with lots of different people.

The one book I finished in recent years and can truly say I hated was The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon. Maybe I cared about the characters and just don't like Chabon.

Fbone · 12-11-2011, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

True, that. Probably had to be read by the light of a candle projecting shadows...
As we move faster and faster in this frenetic world I wonder what I found attractive in all those books I've read over the years. Most were built around pompous narrative and took ages to deliver a meager story that could have been told in a page; somewhat a reflection of a life I used to live. Could beauty of language still mean anything today? What would a book be like in text language? I'm curious, does anyone know of such a work?

I still look for word artistry in my reading material. Doesn't mean it has to be wordy but well crafted. I read not only for pleasure but also to be educated. I enjoy it when I have to dig out my English and Latin dictionaries.

Sometimes the author uses on cliche after another and it becomes uninteresting fast. Originality is desired also.

banjobama · 12-12-2011, 01:03 PM

Just forced myself to finish Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein.

Pablo · 12-12-2011, 04:59 PM

My list:

1. Anything by Robert Ludlum

2. American Psycho by Easton Ellis

3. Time to kill by Grisham

4. Acts of war by Clancy

5. Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

6. Overload by Arthur Hailey

7. The Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson

8. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

9. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

10. Farewell to arms by Hemingway

JSWolf · 12-12-2011, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pablo

My list:

1. Anything by Robert Ludlum

2. American Psycho by Easton Ellis

3. Time to kill by Grisham

4. Acts of war by Clancy

5. Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

6. Overload by Arthur Hailey

7. The Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson

8. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

9. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

10. Farewell to arms by Hemingway

You will need to dump two books from your list. #7 is actually three books, not one. They were always supposed to be separate books. So which two are you removing to make 10 instead of 12?

miguel1626 · 12-12-2011, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You will need to dump two books from your list. #7 is actually three books, not one. They were always supposed to be separate books. So which two are you removing to make 10 instead of 12?

#1 is anything by Robert Ludlum. If he were aiming for just 10 books, he would have to stop right there and still be over his quota...

pilotbob · 12-12-2011, 07:29 PM

Tough pedantic room.

BOb

JSWolf · 12-12-2011, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miguel1626

#1 is anything by Robert Ludlum. If he were aiming for just 10 books, he would have to stop right there and still be over his quota...

Good catch. I did miss that. So what's the list with just 10 books and only 10 books?

Pablo · 12-13-2011, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Good catch. I did miss that. So what's the list with just 10 books and only 10 books?

Ok, ok. I'll remove "Anything by Ludlum" (not that he doesn't deserve to be on the list, but IMO he's so bad that he's above this list anyway) and "Farewell to arms".

So my updated list is:

1. American Psycho by Easton Ellis

2. Time to kill by Grisham

3. Acts of war by Clancy

4. Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

5. Overload by Arthur Hailey

6, 7 & 8. The Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson

9. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

10. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

The Terminator · 12-13-2011, 09:44 PM

1. The Litigators it was boring and plain, a new author would never have had this published.

2. The King of Torts Just to repetitive and preachy

Those are two books that I didn't like and FINISHED. I've had lots of books that I didn't like and just stopped reading, so I can't really put them on "The List"

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12-08-2011, 10:03 AM	#468
Skip_intro Culture Eccentric Posts: 71 Karma: 10000 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: South of Heaven, East of Eden Device: Sony PRS-T1 Red	Until you mentioned it I didn't even know she'd become VC Andrews, or a brand, for that matter, but I believe she wrote that one and was still alive when I read it in 1980ish, so that's no excuse for it being so dreadful.

12-12-2011, 01:03 PM	#473
banjobama Busy Read'n Posts: 980 Karma: 5039283 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Auburn, WA Device: Pocketbook Touch Lux 5	Just forced myself to finish Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein.

12-12-2011, 04:59 PM	#474
Pablo Guru Posts: 973 Karma: 4999999 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Rosario, Argentina Device: SONY PRS-T2, Kindle Paperwhite 11th gen	My list: 1. Anything by Robert Ludlum 2. American Psycho by Easton Ellis 3. Time to kill by Grisham 4. Acts of war by Clancy 5. Digital Fortress by Dan Brown 6. Overload by Arthur Hailey 7. The Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson 8. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand 9. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand 10. Farewell to arms by Hemingway

12-12-2011, 07:29 PM	#477
pilotbob Grand Sorcerer Posts: 19,832 Karma: 11844413 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tampa, FL USA Device: Kindle Touch	Tough pedantic room. BOb

12-13-2011, 09:44 PM	#480
The Terminator Retired Posts: 2,552 Karma: 37638420 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Vancouver Island Canada Device: Kobo Touch, Optimus One (2.3), Nexus 7 (4.2)	1. The Litigators it was boring and plain, a new author would never have had this published. 2. The King of Torts Just to repetitive and preachy Those are two books that I didn't like and FINISHED. I've had lots of books that I didn't like and just stopped reading, so I can't really put them on "The List"