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Books to avoid like a bookworm on a diet

BossArky

We have threads for:

- 10 books to read before death
- books we are currently reading
- general book threads and queries.

How about a thread which highlights books to be avoided at all costs? - i.e. waste of reading time, no educational value, biased, waste of ink, paper and some poor writers nerves.

Of course, most books no matter how bad teach us something.... but there must be a few gems out there ready to clobber the unwary reader into an early snooze.

Try to give a brief desciption of why you want the book on this list.

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Thargor

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Well it's probably a mix of both. Some writers will have already been writing that kind of thing, some will jump on the bandwagon and pedal out as much as they can while it's the "in thing". Probably publishers and book shops have a lot to do with it too.

A mix of both is right of course but God there is some bilge out there these days, I feel like an old man tut-tuting over what I see people buying whenever Im in a bookshop these days.

the_monkey

The Catastrophist - by Ronan Bennet ? --- TRIPE

Harry Angstrom

Anything written by Jack Kerouac. Appalling writer. Criminally overrated.

Scouter123

theCzar wrote: »

Something Happened by Joesph Heller, I just. Can't. Finish. I have never ever ever not finished a book so technically, I'm still reading it. been reading it for two years now, woeful.

What disappointment from the man who wrote my fav book.

about 3/4 way through after 4 months its a hard sell but i got it ordered through chapters. i had to try to read it backandforth all the way. "did i read some of this before" kept going through my head

Colonel Kurtz

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

Anything written by Jack Kerouac. Appalling writer. Criminally overrated.

Always controversial, Mr. Kerouac! I'm inclined to agree though, somewhat over-rated. I always grin when I think of Truman Capote's mischievous comment on the creative slog that was the writing of On the Road

Colonel Kurtz

Scouter123 wrote: »

about 3/4 way through after 4 months its a hard sell but i got it ordered through chapters. i had to try to read it backandforth all the way. "did i read some of this before" kept going through my head

Have to say I gave up on "Something happened" too. Barely made it half-way through. Seemed like Heller poured most of his best ideas into his first novel. Still, what a first novel though!! He was probably entitled to the odd mis-step!

Censorsh!t

I did my Masters on Beowulf and in the process read some pretty terrible adaptations, one which was called Grendel's Mother. It was so atrocious, and unintentionally hilarious ("with my penis alone I have slain horses" was one line in it). But what did I expect when there were no reviews ANYWHERE on the internet. Stay well away!

catallus

theCzar wrote: »

Something Happened by Joesph Heller, I just. Can't. Finish. I have never ever ever not finished a book so technically, I'm still reading it. been reading it for two years now, woeful.

What disappointment from the man who wrote my fav book.

Scouter123 wrote: »

about 3/4 way through after 4 months its a hard sell but i got it ordered through chapters. i had to try to read it backandforth all the way. "did i read some of this before" kept going through my head

This is sacrilege:D Something Happened is probably the greatest American novel of the 20th Century.

The worst I've ever read was The Average American Male by Chad Kultgen. It's the only book I've torn up with my bare hands it was so obnoxious and offensive and disgusting and so dismally and blindly dumb. It's really bad.

maughantourig

I would advise people to avoid The Hunger Games!

The first book was alright, but they got more ridiculus after a while, (shooting down aircraft with arrows -_-).The second and third books are mostly concerned with how the main character thinks she loves two poor gob****es.

I believe that it was one of the most unrealistic and frustrating novels I have ever read in my life, (even taking into account the futuristic context)

CrowWoman

Thargor, I agree with you about the Hater series. I've read (and hated) the first two. Haven't bought the third which isn't like me (I usually have an OCD "started so I'll finish" view when I start a series.

My contribution:

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. He takes what could have been an interesting story and turns it into dry-as-dust dreck.

Anything by Iain M Banks -- I've given him a fair shake and tried about five of his books across his SF and non-SF genres. I hate his characters and find his writing to be distant and unconvincing.

Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving. Again, he created an interesting premise and good characters, then buried them in boring, irrelevant minutiae. I gave myself permission to give up about half-way in.

Call Me Jimmy

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

Anything written by Jack Kerouac. Appalling writer. Criminally overrated.

Yea I was surprised by this, I was really in the mood for his story but the writing was just so hallow imo I couldn't finish it.

Giruilla

REAMDE by Neal Stephenson. I can't describe how much I hated this book. Stopped reading after ~400/1100 pages. Most self indulgent over drawn out book I've ever read.

a0ifee

I have to agree with the people who've said Jack Kerouac, On The Road was a pain to read..

I must say Lord of the Flies was one of biggest disappointment for me.

Think my expectations were too high!

Tom Joad

a0ifee wrote: »

I have to agree with the people who've said Jack Kerouac, On The Road was a pain to read..

I must say Lord of the Flies was one of biggest disappointment for me. Think my expectations were too high!

Agree with you on On the Road - pointless with no structure to it - no idea why its so highly rated.

I liked Lord of the Flies - think its one of those must read books..

a0ifee

Tom Joad wrote: »

I liked Lord of the Flies - think its one of those must read books..

From what I've read, people seem to either love it or hate it!

Tom Joad

a0ifee wrote: »

From what I've read, people seem to either love it or hate it!

Absolutely - I would say that if you put a poll up it would be 50/50 on Lord of the flies - Catch 22 and On the Road would also be on that list - they are just like marmite

JC43

The timekeeper by Mitch Albom.

Desperate read, read it for my bookclub and not one f the nine of s enjoyed it,

Waste of time and mney

Lorrs33

Anything by Christopher Ransom and The Haunted by Nikki Valentine.

Loreida

Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh.
Actually, anything by Evelyn Waugh...

Mike Guide 69

The Red Riding Quartet( 1974,1977,1980, 1983) by David Peace. While there is no doubt that Peace is a talented writer and indeed the topics raised in the books were interesting with regards to police corruption in Yorkshire set against the backround of Yorkshire Ripper murders.

The major flaw i had with the books was the disjointed characterisation in each novel, where for no apparent reason, some of Peaces characters would suddenly be subconcioulsy expressed on the pages, like some sort Shakesperean eulogy thats bears no resemblence to the character or even the story. The story would completely chop and change from each character, which sort of ruined the essence of the plot.

Its like as if Peace went on a weekend binge of consuming a load of Thesaurses and decided to throw it down on paper without taking into account the whole flow of the story itself.......

bnt

I searched this thread to see if anyone had mentioned American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis ... there were so many results, I thought I'd searched the whole forum by mistake. It turns out I'm far from alone in recommending that this book be avoided. By the time I was halfway through, I was actively avoiding reading: I had been on a reading binge for several months up till then, and this book brought that to a screeching halt. I speed-read (skimmed) the last third, just so I could get to the end and say I'd read it.

The character of Patrick Bateman epitomises the book itself: he's just a nasty piece of work with no obvious redeeming qualities. At one point near the end we can see a glimmer of hope, in the possibility of a good relationship with Jean, but that is quickly snuffed out.

I can appreciate it as an academic exercise, the skilled use of an "unreliable narrator", but I wasn't entertained, and I didn't learn anything useful. So ... what is the purpose of this book?

Dirty Dingus McGee

Moyb Dick.I wasted 2 weeks getting through couple of hundred pages waiting for it to pick up and just gave up, If I wanted to read a textbook on the whaling industry in the 1800's I would have bought one

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Madame Bovary.

Took me about a month on and off to get through it. Everyone in it is either an idiot, horrible, or both. I did not care for one single person in the whole thing. There were whole chapters describing fields, or the town, or any other amount of pointless things. It's just awful.

gg2

The Other Hand by Chris Cleave.... My God, my eyes bled its was woeful

Censorsh!t

bnt wrote: »

I searched this thread to see if anyone had mentioned American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis ... there were so many results, I thought I'd searched the whole forum by mistake. It turns out I'm far from alone in recommending that this book be avoided. By the time I was halfway through, I was actively avoiding reading: I had been on a reading binge for several months up till then, and this book brought that to a screeching halt. I speed-read (skimmed) the last third, just so I could get to the end and say I'd read it.

The character of Patrick Bateman epitomises the book itself: he's just a nasty piece of work with no obvious redeeming qualities. At one point near the end we can see a glimmer of hope, in the possibility of a good relationship with Jean, but that is quickly snuffed out.

I can appreciate it as an academic exercise, the skilled use of an "unreliable narrator", but I wasn't entertained, and I didn't learn anything useful. So ... what is the purpose of this book?

I read this when I was about 14 (probably way too young, but my mom told me I wasn't allowed to read it...so I had to!). I was quite fascinated by it (as well as being completely shocked and repulsed), but I actually think Ellis did a good job with it. You really see how messed up Patrick Bateman is, with his obsessions with cosmetics, and suits, and basically everything. He takes everything (everything!) to excess.

It's not really about the plot at all, or any other characters besides Bateman. It's about being inside the mind of a freakin' mad man, and I think it succeeds in that respect. But not for much else.

Monkeybonkers

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Moyb Dick.I wasted 2 weeks getting through couple of hundred pages waiting for it to pick up and just gave up, If I wanted to read a textbook on the whaling industry in the 1800's I would have bought one

I agree with you on this. Pure torture

cloudatlas

I hated 'The Art of Fielding' by Chad Harbach. I can't believe this was a bestseller. It was plodding, pastiche, with lifeless stereotypical characters and a dead end plot.

rougegal

gg2 wrote: »

The Other Hand by Chris Cleave.... My God, my eyes bled its was woeful

Am with you on this. Easily the worst book I have ever tried to read.

crybaby

Mike Guide 69 wrote: »

The Red Riding Quartet( 1974,1977,1980, 1983) by David Peace. While there is no doubt that Peace is a talented writer and indeed the topics raised in the books were interesting with regards to police corruption in Yorkshire set against the backround of Yorkshire Ripper murders.

The major flaw i had with the books was the disjointed characterisation in each novel, where for no apparent reason, some of Peaces characters would suddenly be subconcioulsy expressed on the pages, like some sort Shakesperean eulogy thats bears no resemblence to the character or even the story. The story would completely chop and change from each character, which sort of ruined the essence of the plot.

Its like as if Peace went on a weekend binge of consuming a load of Thesaurses and decided to throw it down on paper without taking into account the whole flow of the story itself.......

Loved those books....I agree with you that it can be an issue with his writing and actually with a lot of crime writers - Ellroy would be another one guilty of this who want to make their characters into something bigger and deeper than they really are

Still love these two authors though probably for their over their top writing

Swiper the fox

cloudatlas wrote: »

I hated 'The Art of Fielding' by Chad Harbach. I can't believe this was a bestseller. It was plodding, pastiche, with lifeless stereotypical characters and a dead end plot.

I actually loved that book and recommended it all over the place, anyone else I know who read it loved it too, different strokes and all that.

I cannot believe that The City of Bohane won the IMPAC last week, I have a lot of time for Kevin Barry and think he is the best writer of short stories that there is but that book was rubbish, 250 pages too long.