The 10 Worst Books - Page 13

Lobolover · 05-01-2008, 10:54 AM

so-what exactly is so bad about Iris Murdoch,anyway?

JSWolf · 05-01-2008, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

Back in the 80's I loved Tom Clancy's books. When Hunt for the Red October came out it was literally required reading at work. I was a first year engineer working on submarine design. I can still remember the excitement created by this book. The earlier Clancy books were appealing because of the engineering detail (not always correct but that was the fun part, picking out the mistakes). Nowadays, I can't really read any of his books without falling asleep.

I have tried reading The Hunt for Red October. But I could not finish it. All the technical stuff is just so boring, it puts one to sleep.

I did see and enjoy the movie. But the book is so slow and dull that it's a real sleep-aid.

eumesmo · 05-01-2008, 01:28 PM

No, it doesn't mean Ayn Rand ROX, it just means that even blatant commercial success has its merits. Suppose it were an space opera, with a different spices, then it would be very good, but it adds nothing to human thought.

It's absurd to even think to discern genius from such simple comment on something of passing interest, I'm merely pointing out the obvious, if you care not for the thoughts of Machiavelli, Marx, nor Nietzsche, well, then I can't relate to the way you relate to Ayn Rand.

JSWolf · 05-01-2008, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatCh

I'm not sure it qualifies as a movie for me.

Understand, when I first read the book in the early '80s, the paperback copy I had said "Soon to be a major motion picture!" on the front cover. I waited for the movie for years. I wanted to like the movie, I really, really did. I wanted to like it so badly that the desire lasted the whole first hour of the film before I finally could admit to myself that it really, really stank.

I read Battlefield Earth on a recommendation from a friend. By the time I wanted to stop, I was too far into it to stop. So I finished it. It was one god awful book. And when I heard it was coming out as a movie, I was wondering what stupid idiot authorized that and was expecting said idiot to be fired not long after the movie tanked big time.

JSWolf · 05-01-2008, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roy White

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!

have you ever seen the movie 12 Monkeys? If you have, you'll have spent the entire movie enjoying it waiting to find out what happens only to find out that you sat through a movie where nothing really happened and everying was as it was in the beginning. It's one big wheel and you start at point A and end back at point A with everything in between being 100% meaningless. What a terrible movie.

NatCh · 05-01-2008, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have tried reading The Hunt for Red October. But I could not finish it. All the technical stuff is just so boring, it puts one to sleep.

You might find Without Remorse more to your liking, it's much less technical, partly because it's set some time in the late '60s/early '70s, I'm not sure exactly when

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And when I heard it was coming out as a movie, I was wondering what stupid idiot authorized that and was expecting said idiot to be fired not long after the movie tanked big time.

The Church of Scientology most likely bankrolled it.

JSWolf · 05-01-2008, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsgreer

I have to agree with Harry here. Hubbard is a bit of a nut job, but I read this book in high school It's a great fast-paced read. No Scientology stuff in it. Just good ole-fashioned pulp-like sci-fi.

Battlefield Earth was dreadful then, it's dreadful now, and it will be dreadful then. The book was way too long with way too many places it should have ended. I've never read a book that had so many spots it should have ended. It could have been half the elngth and it would have been good. But the more it kept going past the point of no return, the worse it got till I just plowed through it to get it finished. It ended up being a chore to finish. It went from good to when it is going to end, to enough already to stop now, to this is getting to be really tedious, to ending up being dreadful on a good day.

JSWolf · 05-01-2008, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatCh

You might find Without Remorse more to your liking, it's much less technical, partly because it's set some time in the late '60s/early '70s, I'm not sure exactly when

The Church of Scientology most likely bankrolled it.

Id id read one of the Jack Ryan books that did like. It was the one where Jack's wife and colleges went to a pub during an operation.

NatCh · 05-01-2008, 02:12 PM

Without Remorse isn't really a Jack Ryan book, per se, I believe he does have a brief appearance, but he's quite young at the time: his father is a significant minor character in it, however. The main character is Mr. Clark. He's a whole different sack of knots from Jack.

zelda_pinwheel · 05-01-2008, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatCh

Without Remorse isn't really a Jack Ryan book, per se, I believe he does have a brief appearance, but he's quite young at the time: his father is a significant minor character in it, however. The main character is Mr. Clark. He's a whole different sack of knots from Jack.

nicely done...

Roy White · 05-02-2008, 12:22 AM

Jon. I did a quick wiki look at Without Remorse and it sounds like my cup of tea. I enjoyed the early Clancy novels quite a bit. 12 monkeys... Avoid like the plague... Check!

TallMomof2 · 05-02-2008, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have tried reading The Hunt for Red October. But I could not finish it. All the technical stuff is just so boring, it puts one to sleep.

I did see and enjoy the movie. But the book is so slow and dull that it's a real sleep-aid.

I didn't think that of Clancy's novels until The Sum of All Fears where Clancy wrote about 150 pages about building a nuclear bomb. Now *that* was dry.

mjh215 · 05-02-2008, 09:52 AM

Does anyone else try to stay away from the Bestsellers? Around this forum I am used to hearing how the mainstream fiction and nonfiction is filled with inane drivel. Yet many of the same people spend their days reading that drivel so they can come on and complain that is what is selling. I understand the concept of knowing thy enemy but with so many other titles to choose from why not spend your time on lesser knowns.

I have long refused to subscribe to the industry of everyone reading the book of the week because either a. They can then get together in their social group and praise the author or b. They can then get together in their social group and condemn the author. I choose to be c. A silly git that reads what he wants for his own pleasure or knowledge and not for earning brownie points in his 'circle'.

To be fair I do see a bunch that read obscure titles, but that seems to be primarily from the past. I would have just thought this thread should be filled chiefly with obscure authors. As the writer that no-one can follow would be the best candidate for worst book.

-MJ (No less guilty for having not posted an unknown title, this was posted as a ponder as i ponder and not as I post, err, post)

HarryT · 05-02-2008, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

have you ever seen the movie 12 Monkeys? If you have, you'll have spent the entire movie enjoying it waiting to find out what happens only to find out that you sat through a movie where nothing really happened and everying was as it was in the beginning. It's one big wheel and you start at point A and end back at point A with everything in between being 100% meaningless. What a terrible movie.

I think you're slightly missing the point of it, Jon. The whole idea of the movie is that someone is sent back through time to try to change the past, but it turns out that the past is immutable and can't be altered, despite all attempts to do so. I think it's an excellent movie myself.

eumesmo · 05-02-2008, 11:44 AM

mjh215, I for one try to stay away from Bestsellers and most science fiction, although I must confess I sometimes read what is praised by nerds like myself, Neal Stephenson, Michael McCollum, Chuck Palahniuk, Ian Banks, Frank Herbert, although I love Star Trek, I have read only a single novel, I have also read the Harry Potter(I felt it would be important in understanding the generation after my own) series, The Da Vinci Code, 2 Ayn Rand novels, I think I started on the Foundation series and gave up, also Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep(novel from which was based the Blade Runner script, although I didn't even like the movie that much, just felt curious), and others my shame won't let me remember. Sometimes it is just a guilty pleasure that usually leaves you incensed afterwards, but the problem for most people is, how distant saying, "I, have read most of Proust and Henry James", makes you seem to the common man, and occasional reader, and most of the times even to avid readers. Still, it is very true, there is no comparison between the joy from reading a acclaimed work that really resonates with you, and most of the acclaimed works that doesn't, to the joy of reading just any book. Some here will say "Reading classics is just a phase, you will out grown it", I for one hope not, but, well, shit happens.

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05-01-2008, 10:54 AM	#181
Lobolover Gorosei Posts: 421 Karma: 334 Join Date: Feb 2008 Device: Microsoft Word	so-what exactly is so bad about Iris Murdoch,anyway?

05-01-2008, 01:28 PM	#183
eumesmo Connoisseur Posts: 69 Karma: 272 Join Date: May 2006 Device: Sony Reader	No, it doesn't mean Ayn Rand ROX, it just means that even blatant commercial success has its merits. Suppose it were an space opera, with a different spices, then it would be very good, but it adds nothing to human thought. It's absurd to even think to discern genius from such simple comment on something of passing interest, I'm merely pointing out the obvious, if you care not for the thoughts of Machiavelli, Marx, nor Nietzsche, well, then I can't relate to the way you relate to Ayn Rand.

05-01-2008, 02:12 PM	#189
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Without Remorse isn't really a Jack Ryan book, per se, I believe he does have a brief appearance, but he's quite young at the time: his father is a significant minor character in it, however. The main character is Mr. Clark. He's a whole different sack of knots from Jack.

05-02-2008, 12:22 AM	#191
Roy White Evangelist Posts: 482 Karma: 7696 Join Date: May 2007 Location: Turner, Oregon Device: Sony Reader	Jon. I did a quick wiki look at Without Remorse and it sounds like my cup of tea. I enjoyed the early Clancy novels quite a bit. 12 monkeys... Avoid like the plague... Check!

05-02-2008, 09:52 AM	#193
mjh215 Guru Posts: 988 Karma: 12653 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: None of your business	Does anyone else try to stay away from the Bestsellers? Around this forum I am used to hearing how the mainstream fiction and nonfiction is filled with inane drivel. Yet many of the same people spend their days reading that drivel so they can come on and complain that is what is selling. I understand the concept of knowing thy enemy but with so many other titles to choose from why not spend your time on lesser knowns. I have long refused to subscribe to the industry of everyone reading the book of the week because either a. They can then get together in their social group and praise the author or b. They can then get together in their social group and condemn the author. I choose to be c. A silly git that reads what he wants for his own pleasure or knowledge and not for earning brownie points in his 'circle'. To be fair I do see a bunch that read obscure titles, but that seems to be primarily from the past. I would have just thought this thread should be filled chiefly with obscure authors. As the writer that no-one can follow would be the best candidate for worst book. -MJ (No less guilty for having not posted an unknown title, this was posted as a ponder as i ponder and not as I post, err, post)

05-02-2008, 11:44 AM	#195
eumesmo Connoisseur Posts: 69 Karma: 272 Join Date: May 2006 Device: Sony Reader	mjh215, I for one try to stay away from Bestsellers and most science fiction, although I must confess I sometimes read what is praised by nerds like myself, Neal Stephenson, Michael McCollum, Chuck Palahniuk, Ian Banks, Frank Herbert, although I love Star Trek, I have read only a single novel, I have also read the Harry Potter(I felt it would be important in understanding the generation after my own) series, The Da Vinci Code, 2 Ayn Rand novels, I think I started on the Foundation series and gave up, also Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep(novel from which was based the Blade Runner script, although I didn't even like the movie that much, just felt curious), and others my shame won't let me remember. Sometimes it is just a guilty pleasure that usually leaves you incensed afterwards, but the problem for most people is, how distant saying, "I, have read most of Proust and Henry James", makes you seem to the common man, and occasional reader, and most of the times even to avid readers. Still, it is very true, there is no comparison between the joy from reading a acclaimed work that really resonates with you, and most of the acclaimed works that doesn't, to the joy of reading just any book. Some here will say "Reading classics is just a phase, you will out grown it", I for one hope not, but, well, shit happens.

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