Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all! We have been experiencing an issue on site where threads have been missing the latest postings. The platform host Vanilla are working on this issue. A workaround that has been used by some is to navigate back from 1 to 10+ pages to re-sync the thread and this will then show the latest posts. Thanks, Mike.
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

Books that disappointed you

245

Comments

  • #52
    paglynncashel
    Registered Users Posts: 12 ✭paglynncashel


    The Tin drum by Gunter Grasse.. absolutely turgid read... hated it


  • #53
    La_Gordy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,767 ✭✭✭La_Gordy


    Happy to add IQ84 to this list now.


  • #54
    Giruilla
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,595 ✭✭✭Giruilla


    I stopped reading Norwegian Wood after about 100 pages.. I really don't get whats to like or enjoy about Murakami.


  • #55
    judgefudge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 915 ✭✭✭judgefudge


    I'm about 100 pages into book three of 1Q84 now. I can't say I'm finding it to be fantastic but it's not the worst thing I've ever read. Got the third book because I just wanted to be sure after I'd read the whole thing (when I abandon books I always feel guilty and wonder if they were just about to get good).


  • #56
    Swiper the fox
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,747 ✭✭✭Swiper the fox


    I read last week that Kevin Barry's novel City of Bohane has been nominated for the Impac prize. I would nominate it for this thread, I absolutely love his two collections of short stories but that novel is pure rubbish(in my opinion obviously).

    I had heard such good things about Netherland that it was also a bit of a disappointment to me.

    I'm usually disappointed with the Booker winners also but of course there are exceptions or I wouldn't read them at all.


  • #57
    shootermacg
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,845 ✭✭✭shootermacg


    judgefudge wrote: »
    I'm about 100 pages into book three of 1Q84 now. I can't say I'm finding it to be fantastic but it's not the worst thing I've ever read. Got the third book because I just wanted to be sure after I'd read the whole thing (when I abandon books I always feel guilty and wonder if they were just about to get good).


    Stop now before its too late! The book continues like this all the way until its over and all you have left, is a feeling that you just wasted your time reading 1000+ pages of nothingness.


  • #58
    echo beach
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,252 ✭✭✭echo beach


    judgefudge wrote: »
    (when I abandon books I always feel guilty and wonder if they were just about to get good).

    I am the same and for that reason I can count on my fingers the number of books I haven't finished. Even then I can't bring myself to admit they are abandoned. I keep them in case the day comes I have nothing to read.

    I think it is the same as the feeling that you have to clean your plate, and it is equally unhealthy. It made sense in a time of want when all nutrition had to be gobbled up but in a time of plenty it leads to obesity. Same with books. There is now such easy and cheap access to so many good books that it makes no sense to finish reading a bad one but I still do it.


  • #59
    judgefudge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 915 ✭✭✭judgefudge


    I've already read 1000 pages of it. I'm just not really enjoying it. If it has one of those vague endings where loose ends are left I'll be really angry...

    I agree that you shouldn't read books you're not enjoying... But i cant help myself. Which is why there's still a bookmark in one hundred years of solitude. I'll go back to it at some stage. :(


  • #60
    binncheol
    Registered Users Posts: 117 ✭✭binncheol


    On the Road - Jack Kerouac
    The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

    Both were boring as hell


  • Advertisement
  • #61
    Swiper the fox
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,747 ✭✭✭Swiper the fox


    binncheol wrote: »
    On the Road - Jack Kerouac
    The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

    Both were boring as hell


    I loved both those although Gatsby had moments that seemed like hard work at the time, I wouldn't ever consider On the Road boring even if it's not your cup of tea.

    What kind of books do you normally like?


  • #62
    Tabnabs
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 15,751 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tabnabs


    Walden; or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau. A few paragraphs of interest followed by pages of :confused: and :rolleyes:.


  • #63
    How Strange
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,339 ✭✭✭How Strange


    Salman Rushdie's Midnights Children
    I couldn't get past page 100 anytime I tried to read it.

    Anne Enright's The Gathering
    Oh my god, what intolerable, self indulgent drivel. There's a few weeks of reading time that I'll never get back.

    Flann O'Brien's At Swim Two Birds and The Third Policeman
    I just never got the humour no matter how often I tried. I loved his Myles na gCopaleen stuff so thought I'd love his novels.

    Jack Kerouac On The Road
    I just gave up.


  • #64
    adrian522
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 16,139 Mod ✭✭✭✭adrian522


    Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian.

    Sorry, but a lot of this is incomprehensible. I get that he likes to use words that are no longer in use and use overly complicated sentences. I just don't get why he does this.

    For the record I love some of his other books, but didn't really enjoy this at all.


  • #65
    Davyhal
    Registered Users Posts: 455 ✭✭Davyhal


    Allen Carr's Easyway to quit smoking - No action sequence, no love interest, and overall a little bit preachy


  • #66
    Plowman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,630 ✭✭✭Plowman


    This post has been deleted.


  • Advertisement
  • #67
    wandatowell
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,435 ✭✭✭wandatowell


    adrian522 wrote: »
    Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian.

    Sorry, but a lot of this is incomprehensible. I get that he likes to use words that are no longer in use and use overly complicated sentences. I just don't get why he does this.

    For the record I love some of his other books, but didn't really enjoy this at all.

    That book was a nasty read


  • #68
    adrian522
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 16,139 Mod ✭✭✭✭adrian522


    wandatowell wrote: »
    That book was a nasty read

    Indeed, but that wasn't what annoyed me about it.


  • #69
    binncheol
    Registered Users Posts: 117 ✭✭binncheol


    Swiper the fox wrote: »
    I loved both those although Gatsby had moments that seemed like hard work at the time, I wouldn't ever consider On the Road boring even if it's not your cup of tea.

    What kind of books do you normally like?

    I think I found both books boring because I wasn't invested in the characters as I didn't really care what happened to them or what they did.

    My taste in books tends to change, it's a bit all over the place, but definitely not these two! Also not Angela's Ashes. (:


  • #70
    HeadPig
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 332 ✭✭HeadPig


    adrian522 wrote: »
    Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian.

    Sorry, but a lot of this is incomprehensible. I get that he likes to use words that are no longer in use and use overly complicated sentences. I just don't get why he does this.

    For the record I love some of his other books, but didn't really enjoy this at all.

    Some people love him, some people hate him, some people love some of his work and hate the rest of it.

    I have read two of his books: Blood Meridian and The Road. I was honestly so shocked after reading The Road that it was so acclaimed that I had to go on to read Blood Meridian, which I found even worse.

    McCarthy tries too hard, his overly convoluted sentences lend his work a contrived air and his writing seems like the effort of a budding writer going haywire with an experimental style.

    Just couldn't enjoy him at all. A chore to read, and there's very few books I don't enjoy.


  • #71
    Whispered
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,772 ✭✭✭✭Whispered


    On the Road. The only book I've started but not finished. Hated it.

    I know it's supposed to be great but I just don't get it.


  • Advertisement
  • #72
    binncheol
    Registered Users Posts: 117 ✭✭binncheol


    Whispered wrote: »
    On the Road. The only book I've started but not finished. Hated it.

    I know it's supposed to be great but I just don't get it.

    High 5!
    (although I forced myself to finish it - thinking there had to be something there... I never found it)


  • #73
    gubby
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,010 ✭✭✭gubby


    The woods by Tara French...... I actually threw it across the room in temper when I finished it!!


  • #74
    SouthTippBass
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,292 ✭✭✭SouthTippBass


    Another vote here for Moby Dick, what a chore to read. I got about 1/3 through and just wasnt enjoying it so gave up. Same with David Copperfield, read a good 400 pages of it (I gave it a fair chance) then I started wondering... where the feck is he going with this story? Nothing of any interest was happening so I quit that as well

    I'm surprised to see 1984 get mentioned here, it did dip for me a bit in the middle, but all of part 3 was just fantastic.


  • #75
    Swiper the fox
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,747 ✭✭✭Swiper the fox


    TommieBoy wrote: »
    On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

    just plain bad reading
    ...the more you read, the worse it gets

    That is one of my favourite books ever, the final chapter is absolutely incredible and makes the whole book worthwhile, it can be tough going at times but I can't believe I'm seeing it in this thread.


  • #76
    TommieBoy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,273 ✭✭✭✭TommieBoy


    Swiper the fox wrote: »
    That is one of my favourite books ever, the final chapter is absolutely incredible and makes the whole book worthwhile, it can be tough going at times but I can't believe I'm seeing it in this thread.

    I respect your viewpoint and withdraw it from the thread, perhaps I simply had a bad reaction... :)


  • #77
    Stepping Stone
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 370 ✭✭Stepping Stone


    Catch 22. I gave up pretty quickly.
    The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. Finished it and regretted it.
    Blue Eyed Boy by Joanne Harris. So disappointing. Completely different to her usual writing style.
    The Unconsoled by Kazou Ishiguro. Found it hard going. I just could not get into this book.


  • #78
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 26,052 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Stepping Stone wrote: »
    Catch 22. I gave up pretty quickly.
    The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. Finished it and regretted it.
    Blue Eyed Boy by Joanne Harris. So disappointing. Completely different to her usual writing style.
    The Unconsoled by Kazou Ishiguro. Found it hard going. I just could not get into this book.

    Never liked Joanne Harris' work, but I liked The Blind Assassin :).

    I agree on Catch 22 though, really overrated in my opinion.


  • #79
    binncheol
    Registered Users Posts: 117 ✭✭binncheol


    Stepping Stone wrote: »
    Catch 22. I gave up pretty quickly.
    The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. Finished it and regretted it.
    Blue Eyed Boy by Joanne Harris. So disappointing. Completely different to her usual writing style.
    The Unconsoled by Kazou Ishiguro. Found it hard going. I just could not get into this book.

    I finished Catch 22... I didn't get it, a lot of the terminology/rankings/etc went over my head :-/


  • #80
    Hotcuppa
    Registered Users Posts: 32 ✭Hotcuppa


    Vernon god little !!!! Awful just awful


  • #81
    Gneez
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 522 ✭✭✭Gneez


    The World War Series by harry turtledove, truly awful series of four books.

    The man in the high castle, Philip K. Dick is overrated.


  • Advertisement
  • #82
    adrian522
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 16,139 Mod ✭✭✭✭adrian522


    HeadPig wrote: »
    Some people love him, some people hate him, some people love some of his work and hate the rest of it.

    I have read two of his books: Blood Meridian and The Road. I was honestly so shocked after reading The Road that it was so acclaimed that I had to go on to read Blood Meridian, which I found even worse.

    McCarthy tries too hard, his overly convoluted sentences lend his work a contrived air and his writing seems like the effort of a budding writer going haywire with an experimental style.

    Just couldn't enjoy him at all. A chore to read, and there's very few books I don't enjoy.

    Have to say I've loved everything I've read by him other than Blood Meridian and it wouldn't put me off reading him again.


  • #83
    Censorsh!t
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,121 ✭✭✭Censorsh!t


    On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Found this really boring. I liked the last paragraph....that was about it!

    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was good...but it just didn't hit me hard enough.

    Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. I really liked Fahrenheit 451, and although it was a completely different genre, I expected a bit more. The writing was way too florally for a horror and it just made it dense and confusing.


  • #84
    [-0-]
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,981 ✭✭✭[-0-]


    The Life of Pi. It started off so well but turned to crap.


  • #85
    HeadPig
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 332 ✭✭HeadPig


    The Road
    Blood Meridian
    Catch 22

    The first two were truly awful. Can't remember which I thought was worse. Probably BM but The Road was more of a disappointment as I read it first and it had quite a reputation.

    Catch 22 is a decent book both it didn't live up to it's great name for me.

    Jane Eyre - horribly boring. On the other hand I liked Wuthering Heights by her sister.

    Grapes of Wrath - nice prose, but tedious on the whole.

    The Great Gatsby - TBH it's a very good book, but it's reputation would lead you to believe it's the best book ever written. Preferred Tender is The Night.


  • #86
    nc6000
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,345 ✭✭✭nc6000


    +1 for Catch 22.


  • #87
    bnt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,033 ✭✭✭✭bnt


    adrian522 wrote: »
    Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian.
    Ditto - the lack of punctuation was just annoying. It led to confusion about who was talking at any moment - the narrator or one of the characters.

    Another disappointment was Don deLillo's Underworld. It's been called one of the great American novels, regularly appearing in best-of lists, but I didn't get through the first part with all the baseball stuff, totally lost interest.

    The biggest in the last year has to be A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. His only novel, published after he took his own life, and highly recommended as a cult comic masterpiece. He was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for it. I managed about a quarter: the characters were just bad people: eccentric and difficult for the sake of it, especially Ignatius J. Reilly, the main character. If I met him in real life, I would have my hands round his throat within minutes, but they probably wouldn't fit ... :mad:

    P.S: uh-oh!
    dudara wrote: »
    I think that anyone who reads A Confederacy of Dunces, and fails to find humour in it should be shot!! Seriously. It's really good.

    Death has this much to be said for it:
    You don’t have to get out of bed for it.
    Wherever you happen to be
    They bring it to you—free.

    — Kingsley Amis



  • #88
    whupdedo
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,513 ✭✭✭whupdedo


    Anything by paulo coehlo, life is just too short


  • #89
    ankles
    Registered Users Posts: 1,286 ✭✭✭ankles


    bnt wrote: »

    Another disappointment was Don deLillo's Underworld. It's been called one of the great American novels, regularly appearing in best-of lists, but I didn't get through the first part with all the baseball stuff, totally lost interest.

    Wow, talk about opposing tastes. The opening section of Underworld is a piece I regularly recommend as one of the best opening pieces to a novel I've ever read. Totally wound me in and dragged me through the rest of the novel, which doesn't always achieve the same heights but is nevertheless one of the finest attempts at the Great American Novel.

    Also On Chesil Beach was a book I got for Christmas a few years ago and I eventually appeared mid Stephens Day after being literally unable to put it down. And I'm not necessarily a McEwan fan either


  • #90
    biZrb
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 617 ✭✭✭biZrb


    I tried to read Underworld but couldn't get into it. Some books take a second go so I'll get around to trying to complete it at some point.


  • Advertisement
  • #91
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 26,052 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    whupdedo wrote: »
    Anything by paulo coehlo, life is just too short

    I'm flummoxed by his popularity.

    I read The Alchemist, hated it and was bored stiff, wondered if any of his other work deserves the effort, got Veronika Decides To Die and lasted about 70 pages. I just don't get why his books sell, and in particular I don't get why The Alchemist sold so well.


  • #92
    Swiper the fox
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,747 ✭✭✭Swiper the fox


    ankles wrote: »
    Wow, talk about opposing tastes. The opening section of Underworld is a piece I regularly recommend as one of the best opening pieces to a novel I've ever read. Totally wound me in and dragged me through the rest of the novel, which doesn't always achieve the same heights but is nevertheless one of the finest attempts at the Great American Novel.

    Also On Chesil Beach was a book I got for Christmas a few years ago and I eventually appeared mid Stephens Day after being literally unable to put it down. And I'm not necessarily a McEwan fan either

    On Chesil beach could well be my favourite novel ever, it is absolutely beautiful and the last few pages are worth the entrance fee alone, if anyone struggled with it I would urge them to read on to get to the finish.

    I also love the beginning of Underworld, great book but challenging enough at times.


  • #93
    Monkeybonkers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,786 ✭✭✭Monkeybonkers


    The Kite Runner. Loved the first half of the book, thought it was really moving and a brilliant portrayal of Afghan life. Was so disappointed when it turned in to a Hollywood blockbuster film type of thing. Haven't read anything by Hosseini since. I was devastated by the turn it took. It was like I had picked up another (crap) novel. I've never got over it :(


  • #94
    Duffy the Vampire Slayer
    Registered Users Posts: 5,382 ✭✭✭Duffy the Vampire Slayer


    I was extremely disappointed by Borstal Boy. I have an interest in the history of the IRA so I thought I'd enjoy it but I really couldn't get into it at all. Behan's writing style did nothing for me at all.


  • #95
    JohnMearsheimer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,302 ✭✭✭JohnMearsheimer


    Shantaram is easily the most self-indulgent book I have ever read. I thought it was terrible. I never got the love out there for it. Gregory David Roberts says the book is not an autobiography but is influenced by real life. He wishes I think.


  • #96
    First_October
    Registered Users Posts: 70 ✭✭First_October


    I read Lolita over Christmas and was very disappointed. Many segments of the novel are farcical and essentially detracted from the emotional impact the novel should have had. The `twist' was ridiculous, and the bit about Lolita's voice being absent from the concord seemed to conflict with Humbert's characterisation. And what of the acclaimed Nabokovian word play and prose style? While there were undoubtedly some nice flourishes, on the whole it came across like the work of an English Literature undergrad trying too hard.


  • Advertisement
  • #97
    czechlin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,341 ✭✭✭czechlin


    mav79 wrote: »
    I think I heard too much hype about Life of Pi and The Alchemist, after reading them I just felt a bit meh. I can understand why people thought they were great, just not for me.

    You have no idea how glad I am to read your post! I read The Alchemist a few years ago when everyone was going on about it, it was forced onto me by a friend, who insisted that I definitely should read it and that it's a book for me and will change my life. I did read it, but it wasn't a book for me, it didn't change my life, it actually bored me at most parts. Maybe it was the hype or I didn't read it at the right time. But the looks I got from people when I dared to say out loud that I found it just about ok. You'd swear I had 7 heads...


  • #98
    HeadPig
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 332 ✭✭HeadPig


    The Alchemist is a terrible, terrible book.

    EDIT: It might actually be the worst book I ever read to the end. I was foolish to persevere.


  • #99
    Monkeybonkers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,786 ✭✭✭Monkeybonkers


    Moby Dick was another that disappointed. I thought it was going to be a roaring tale of the struggle of a man against the famed whale. Instead it was (as another poster said) a manual of whaling in times past with a single chapter devoted to the struggle, not a very interesting one at that.
    Then again, all enjoyment of literature is subjective and I'm sure there are others who enjoyed it. I enjoyed The Alchemist, however I didn't really like some of the authors other novels that I read. Each to his/her own I suppose


  • #100
    r3nu4l
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,399 ✭✭✭✭r3nu4l


    The Road - Cormac McCarthy

    I liked the book as an experiment in fiction but overall it was lacking and way overhyped.


  • #101
    marienbad
    Registered Users Posts: 9,463 ✭✭✭marienbad


    r3nu4l wrote: »
    The Road - Cormac McCarthy

    I liked the book as an experiment in fiction but overall it was lacking and way overhyped.


    I must say these sentiments are expressed quite frequently here and initially I assumed I would agree .I am long,long term Mcarthy fan and I though a post -apocalyptic novel was just outside his oeuvre . Moral - never judge the capabilities of the masters

    it was a brilliant book- one of his best.

    Disappointing books

    Catchin In The Rye/Anything by Jack Kerouac./The Great Gatsby/,Most things by Steinbeck. this guy wins the Nobel and Roth didn't !!


  • Advertisement
Advertisement