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Most overrated book

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  • Registered Users Posts: 10,969 ✭✭✭✭alchemist33


    On The Road - it conveys the era well, but is pointless and poorly written

    American Psycho - a series of violent fantasies and satirical observations in need of a story


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,793 ✭✭✭CrabRevolution


    Catcher in the Rye for me. I know it's not overly long but if I hadn't been on a transatlantic flight I'd never have finished it. South Park summed it up well when the boys read the book after they hear it's 'controversial'; but "it's just some whiny, annoying teenager talking about how lame he is."


  • Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 3,180 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dr Bob


    You probably won't believe me but Bertie Aherne once said it was his favourite book on one of those questionnaires they ask celebrities at Christmas time


    "...Ah yeah , wid de spaceships and deh little robot no no , and yer man that looked like a bee gee..,ah sure I have it with me all deh time "

    Pulls out 1982 'Ulysses 31 Annual'

    https://youtu.be/OZ4c1X5ene8


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,429 ✭✭✭Sheridan81


    Little Women.

    Do women like it or something? I'm surprised it was made into a movie, twice. I can't remember it fully now but I recall it was a bit powderpuff. "Oh Beth, do you like the cookies I've baked?" "They're lovely Meg, what do you think of my new woolly scarf? It's awfully cold outside today!"...or something. I'm paraphrasing here.


  • Registered Users Posts: 94 ✭✭NedLowry


    The Great Gatsby.
    Not terrible by any means, just... average, really.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 12,378 ✭✭✭✭Sardonicat


    NedLowry wrote: »
    The Great Gatsby.
    Not terrible by any means, just... average, really.

    What!?


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,216 ✭✭✭nc6000


    Sardonicat wrote: »
    I tried reading something by Cormac Mccarthy once - the name of the book escapes me. It was just sooo slow. While I enjoyed the gradual unfolding of the central character and found him sympathetic and fascinating the swathes of dialogue in Spanish, that sometimes went on for pages, without translation, just made it pointless to continue. I do get why an author would want to keep the dialogue authentic but I fail to see the logic behind not supplying a translation for the benefit for those of us who don't know any Spanish. Put me off reading anything else by him, despite the great things I've heard.

    The Border Trilogy books have plenty of Spanish, you can get the translations from his website. I discovered this AFTER reading them. :o

    https://www.cormacmccarthy.com/resources/translations/


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,497 ✭✭✭ Amelie Yummy Pan


    NedLowry wrote: »
    The Great Gatsby.
    Not terrible by any means, just... average, really.

    Could never agree that The Great Gatsby is just an average novel.


  • Registered Users Posts: 83 ✭✭JuneMoon7


    Oh let me see, the Girl on the Train, Friend Request and the Woman in the Window were three books i read in quick succession, and what struck me was that they were engaging enough and suspenseful enough, even a little chilling to start with, but then all three for me anyway, degenerated into silliness with an absurd big reveal that was on Murder she Wrote levels of 'And now, if you dont mind, i will explain in great detail exactly why i wanted to kill you/ruin your life ect while i still have you captive here. All three women liked their drink, from cans of G&T Rachel from Girl on The Train (which Phoebe Waller Bridge may have gotten inspiration for hot Priests stash of same) and the other two had the same prose used to describe how they frequently 'drained' their glasses of Merlot. So ovverrated simply because they are too similar (and were preceded by the original unreliable narrator in Gone Girl) and had disappointing twists, although Girl on the Train i guess i didnt actually see that coming i cant believe i overlooked that character


  • Registered Users Posts: 83 ✭✭JuneMoon7


    Sheridan81 wrote: »
    Little Women.

    Do women like it or something? I'm surprised it was made into a movie, twice. I can't remember it fully now but I recall it was a bit powderpuff. "Oh Beth, do you like the cookies I've baked?" "They're lovely Meg, what do you think of my new woolly scarf? It's awfully cold outside today!"...or something. I'm paraphrasing here.

    I never read it either..these Little Women, just how little are they? are they scary little?


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  • Registered Users Posts: 83 ✭✭JuneMoon7


    I have a few that come to mind straight away!

    The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger - A tedious read about a whiny teenager

    Fear and loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson - Complete drivel that I abandoned

    The Old man and the sea by Ernest Hemingway - Old guy goes fishing in a boat. The End. zzzzzzzzz

    Actually, i liked the Old Man and the Sea. Its short, and its deceptively simple in its execution, but beautifully written. You feel the love between the young boy and the old man, theyre kindred spirits.


  • Registered Users Posts: 83 ✭✭JuneMoon7


    Dracula by Bram Stoker, the use of diaries, journals and newspaper reports is gimmicky .
    I like it, its a clever way of using first person narrative but still getting several viewpoints across. I like the old Victorian books
    The Picture of Dorian Grey is also very good.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8 Shellzzz


    Fifty Shades of Grey.....no mind the "mummy porn",the biggest waste of paper ever....


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,584 ✭✭✭Day Lewin


    Shellzzz wrote: »
    Fifty Shades of Grey.....no mind the "mummy porn",the biggest waste of paper ever....

    Hallelujah, I so agree!!! Appalling book.


  • Registered Users Posts: 778 ✭✭✭no.8


    Shantaram, I thought it was a slot of a read. I think Gregory David Roberts enjoys the ambiguity around what is fact and what is fiction.


    Disagree. Enjoyed this book thoroughly for what it was


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,429 ✭✭✭Sheridan81


    JuneMoon7 wrote: »
    I never read it either..these Little Women, just how little are they? are they scary little?

    I don't appreciate your tone. I am a writer. I have read hundreds of books, sell books and I read Little Women. It was pants. Sample quote:

    “There are many Beths in the world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully that no one sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, leaving silence and shadow behind.”

    Indeed.

    And to answer your question, think of the classic Honey I Shrunk The Kids film franchise with the inimitable Rick Moranis.


  • Registered Users Posts: 83 ✭✭JuneMoon7


    Sheridan81 wrote: »
    I don't appreciate your tone. I am a writer. I have read hundreds of books, sell books and I read Little Women. It was pants. Sample quote:

    “There are many Beths in the world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully that no one sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, leaving silence and shadow behind.”

    Indeed.

    And to answer your question, think of the classic Honey I Shrunk The Kids film franchise with the inimitable Rick Moranis.
    Ok you have clearly never seen Friends when Rachel gives Joey Little Women to read, i was joking, clearly.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,429 ✭✭✭Sheridan81


    No, I'm afraid I have never seen this 'Friends' as I'm far too busy studying the works of Descartes, Heidegger and Schopenhauer.


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,943 ✭✭✭✭the purple tin


    Sheridan81 wrote: »
    No, I'm afraid I have never seen this 'Friends' as I'm far too busy studying the works of Descartes, Heidegger and Schopenhauer.


    Switch off that big brain once in a while and stick on an episode Sheridan. Think of it as mental R & R ;)


  • Registered Users Posts: 83 ✭✭JuneMoon7


    Sheridan81 wrote: »
    No, I'm afraid I have never seen this 'Friends' as I'm far too busy studying the works of Descartes, Heidegger and Schopenhauer.
    Ok lol youre a bit of a piss taker im not buying it, but at least you have a sense of humour (sort of)


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  • Registered Users Posts: 5,744 ✭✭✭appledrop


    Ah this is easy 'The Milkman' an absolute pile of c@@p. In opening few pages it tells you what happens + that's if for the whole book.

    Every single thing about this book I absolutely hated. No one in the book has an actual name. So for example she refers to her family as 2 brother in law, 3rd sister. Absolutely headwrecking. Everyone in the book is 2 dimensional in the sense that you dont relate to any of them+ not told very much about anyone +no real plot. Keep waiting for something to happen but never did.

    I real hate this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How the f#@k did it win the Man Booker prize. I have read other books that won this prize that I loved. How did they get is so wrong with this book?


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,584 ✭✭✭Day Lewin


    "That they may face the rising sun" was the dreariest heap of tosh. Monotonous and morbid, and the same as all his other books.
    I could not believe how many read it religiously, just because it was McGahern. Awful. Don't bother.


  • Registered Users Posts: 127 ✭✭blarney_boy


    Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I took it inter railing around Europe 30 years ago and I still remember the torture of forcing myself to read it in various train stations out of sheer boredom.


    It's one of these 'cult' books . . . i.e. not worth reading :(


  • Registered Users Posts: 94 ✭✭NedLowry


    Sardonicat wrote: »
    What!?

    Game of opinions I suppose!

    It just didn't do much for me. Might give it another go sometime.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,277 ✭✭✭Your Face


    The Hobbit.
    I always just trailed off when reading it.

    Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
    There was always something flaky about Hunter S Thompson.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,158 ✭✭✭facehugger99


    The World According to Garp.

    Self-indulgent twaddle populated by a cast of annoying characters.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,619 ✭✭✭ShamNNspace


    Day Lewin wrote: »
    "That they may face the rising sun" was the dreariest heap of tosh. Monotonous and morbid, and the same as all his other books.
    I could not believe how many read it religiously, just because it was McGahern. Awful. Don't bother.

    There are thousands of editions of this book lying unread on the bookshelves of Ireland


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,042 ✭✭✭Wabbit Ears


    Magician by Feist. It was young adult fantasy back when that genre was actually mainly read by young adults. Many people really loved the book and its always on every fantasy reading list. Problem is its muck. The magic system makes no sense and everything is completely contrived. Grand if you're a teenager but its adults recommending it to other adults based solely on nostalgia and the fact we had limted access to this genre In ireland at the time it came out.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,023 ✭✭✭✭Joe_ Public


    Certainly cannot conceive of anything by McGahern being in any way overrated but maybe I'm out of date. I often hear of Donal Ryan referred to as a modern day McGahern which seems vastly overrated to me, but probably not to his large band of readers. I also dont get the widespread acclaim given to Sally Rooney novels, they read very ordinary to me.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 701 ✭✭✭bolgbui41


    appledrop wrote: »
    Ah this is easy 'The Milkman' an absolute pile of c@@p.


    Agreed - I really disliked the nameless charachters, but it was the writing style that I found most off-putting (particularly the lack of paragraphing).


    I'll also add Elena Ferrante's "My Brilliant Friend". It seems to get good reviews everywhere, and most of my friends loved it, but I just found it really boring.


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