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Worst BOOK I've Ever read ALL the Way Thru!
Posted by wagerwitch • 8 months ago • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS]
Topics: awful book, awful education tool, don't bother to read a farewell to arms, waste of time
I just read (finally) A FAREWELL TO ARMS.
It stunk.
It was a piece of dog doo doo...
I've never read a book that was so blah blah blah blah blah - boring...
And absolutely not even fascinating...
And hard to follow...
And didn't lead anywhere or finish.
It was the waste of money I didn't even think could be possible.
I've got a campfire that I'm going to need some tinder for - and I know this book will be that excellent tinder.
I do not understand how this could have been chosen or awards or anything. This book stunk to high heaven.
And how all of those poor students that have been forced to read it... They deserve medals. They deserve their diplomas.
No WONDER the country is failing - education using this book is the absolute epitome of stupidity.
And that... Is the WagerWitch's opinion on that stupid book.
Oh Spoiler here: She DIES in the end - there is no more - the baby dies - everything sucks and everyone drinks and acts like idiots.
User Comments
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For me it was the autobiography of Golda Meir. I forget what it was about but it made me want to slam my head against something. It may have been just a biography. Don't remember.-
I've never even heard of it...
But I will take your word for it.
I will not purchase THAT book.!
So noted. LOL! -
www.amazon.com/MY-LIFE-Golda-Meir/dp/0399116699 Some people like it apparently.
Not me though.
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Hmmm, haven't read that one. I'll take your word for it.
I remember reading the Red Badge of Courage as a teen and having been impacted by it. I wonder how I would find it today?-
Try it and let me know.
I found A Farewell to Arms something so stupendously stupid and insipid that I just couldn't believe it.
I kept waiting... and waiting for it to make sense - to bring it all together - but it was like watching someone thrash about in the lake for something repetitious and boring to say.
LOL... To me, it was probably the worst book of ALL time.
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the Bible...-
I find it intriguing. You know a good portion is bunk but it is also a historical account. For instance King Solomon had a temple and recently his temple was discovered. The fact that each religion says that religion is wrong they all have nearly the same book and they all say their religion is the true religion. Bunk!
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You READ that? ALL THE WAY Thru?
What... are you a glutton for punishment? Cause that's all that's in that book that I can see... All these people getting punished.
And FOR WHAT?
I quit reading it after awhile - when I realized it truly didn't make ANY kind of sense - and had NOTHING to do with reality - yet it was quoted as being "THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE"...
Hell - I couldn't find a shekel - or a donkey.
And there weren't any cars - and women weren't anything special... and just Phbbbbbbbbt.
Yep - quit reading it... So can't quote that as a book that I finished reading - just my reading of it was FINISHED before it really got started. -
After you get used to reading Shakespeare it makes a lot more sense. @ wagerwitch Lol! I hope you didn't start at the end!
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@WW
Yes I did. I used to be religious, before I realized that there was a hole in my being that only Reason could fill -
@Shiley, yeah the end sucks! That Apostle John f~cker couldn't write for sh~t
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ROFLMAO! --- such an Agit8r comment!
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The political boards are crickets-chirping-dead right now... where's someone to argue with
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What nothing was revealed to you? Now we have people "The end is near..." Used to be religious too. When I found out the majority of my church wanted to listen to music that sounded like death or were hypocrits I was real turned off.
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I can't think of the worst book I've read all the way through.
The main reason for this is: If I don't enjoy a book, I stop reading it. I stopped Harry Potter (book 1) after about two pages.-
Aye that was too bad Noetic - I actually enjoyed Harry Potter - but I agree the first chapter was blah blah blah.
After that - however, her writing tremendously improved - whether you like fantasy writing or not.
You might want to try it again some time - if you are a fantasy writer reader. -
Yeah, I've heard that from a lot of my friends. "It gets better!"
Maybe it does, but I have precious little time to read anyways. I'm generally reading non-fiction now. -
I really enjoyed the Harry Potter novels. I wish they were around when I was a preteen. -
*gasp* I love the beginning of the first book. I love the series in general. The images those books conjured were great for me.
However, I started reading them when I was in elementary school. I don't know how I would feel about them if I started reading them last year or something, because the writing is too simple sometimes.
But The Alchemist was simple too...
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If it sucks, I don't continue reading-
I try to read it through - just to see if I can handle the STORYLINE or something.. Yanno?
But - dang - I wish I had put this one down and thrown it away FIRST. -
Fiction never holds my attention very well...
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I try to read it through too, but then I think to myself: I could be reading a much better and more interesting book.
I also think, if I'm reading something I don't like it takes me twice as long to finish, so then I also think, in that time span I could have finish maybe 2 books. All that time wasted.
I wasted time with The Historian. Garg. I should have stopped halfway but I was stubborn.
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Tess of the dUrbervilles-
If the book is anything like the Masterpiece Theater production...
tru dat! -
I never read that - LOL!
I won't NOW. -
I liked that book.
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Agit8r,
You should like Tess of the D'Urbervilles since it is all about social injustice and class. -
It's a so-so book. I've read it 3 times, and it wasn't my cup of tea anytime, but it is a great study if you are a writer. The way Hardy illustrates a scene is truly amazing.
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I love everything and any thing in print format...
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Normally ruds - me too - but this one - AGGGGGGGGGh tear my eyeballs out!!!!
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which one..{ farewell to arms ]..Good you told us.. we will go by ur recommendation. thanks..
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Pretty much any of the books I had to read for my Faulkner Seminar class. I read critic after critic who said he is a genius and his writing is amazing, but me and Faulkner are not a match. I was either bored or utterly confused the entire time I read one of his books.-
That's about the truth too.
I think people who say he is a genius felt the same way - but didn't want to admit it - because some highbrow once said - "oh, a literary genius" when he hadn't read the damn book in the first place...
And of course - no one else wanted to feel like a DUMMY.
SO they all jumped onto the bandwagon and said - "WONDERFUL - PIECE OF ART - LITERARY TALENT - BLAH BLAH"...
And they were LIARS.
ALL OF THEM. -
some writers are excessively wordy...
never me of course...
*looks sheepish* -
I'm wordy... sheesh - but come ON - at least some of what I say makes sense... LMAO!
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the simpler I keep it the more nonsensical it is...
see also "Work Camp" -
Yeah I tried to simplify my writing for a while, and it took a lot of my style away. I'm fighting to get it back.
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Simple writing is all about finding your voice. Some writers tend to be a little florid, which I find to be a little Victorian and old fashioned. I tend to get irritated with that style of writing. I much prefer writing that is spare and minimal, but emotionally involving. I think Michael Chabon (Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay-Winner Nobel Prize for literature) is a fantastic example of a modern writer who has found his voice and does not embellish his writing unnecessarily. Chabon is not Hemingway spare, but he's not Thomas Wolfe fevered and florid either.
I just finished a novel where the author spent 3 pages describing the heroine's morning routine and bedroom. After the first page of description, I skipped ahead until I found something of substance. Even worse, this writer ended her novel by introducing herself as a character within her own story. Inserting yourself as a character within your own novel is such an obnoxious, cheap ploy. I almost threw the book out the window when I came to that part of the story. This narcissistic device plus her over enthusiastic use of compound sentences ruined the book for me. I read it for a book club and am saving most of my venom for the meeting. -
I am with you all the way on Faulkner it is definitely a case of the emperors new clothes. As for the "over wordiness" of Victorian writers I think it is because nowadays we are used to the "language" of cinema and television and modern writers can use that as a kind of "shorthand"
in their descriptions.
The people who wrote before the invention of Cinema and television didn't have that universal "shorthand" I think that's why we find it over wordy because we are conditioned by cinema and modern writers to expect a quicker modern rhythm to prose. -
I don't think TV and cinema has influenced my reading habits. I have always been a voracious reader since I was a child. I have always preferred Jane Austen to Emily Bronte.
Honestly, I just don't care for fevered imagery and pages of anguished description. I spent years in school reading old-fashioned, adjective heavy, fevered metaphor filled novels and quite frankly, it's just not my preference. Modern writing (like modern architecture and modern design) just appeals to me more through its clarity, simplicity and honesty.
I do think that reading non-fiction has influenced my writing style and reading preferences. Non-fiction is much quicker to engage me than fiction and on the whole, I tend to enjoy journalistic writing better than fiction. The more non-fiction I read, the less I enjoy fiction. Right now, my favorite reads are biographies, social commentaries, political histories, comic essays. -
What I meant was cinema and TV have changed the style of writing just as cameras changed the style of art.
I'm like you I do prefer the cleaner more modern style of prose but I do think there is a happy medium to be found somewhere between the two extremes, I think John Steinbeck straddles the two styles nicely. -
@Anin
You're right. Cinema and television have influenced modern writing much in same way film has influenced modern art. However, I think writing was naturally moving towards a cleaner, modernist prose even before television and cinema. I think it's parallel to the rise of modernist art and architecture. Victorian prose was falling to the wayside along with Beaux-arts embellishment. -
I'm not sure it was all moving that way. When were the first "modern" novels wrote? The 1930's?
Cinema and radio had become pretty widespread by the twenties. I don't think you will find many "modern" books written before that time.
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Amazed to see "Tess" on the list, since Hardy is one of the few novelists I can stomach. I read "David Copperfield" in junior high, and am still trying to recover from the boredom-although the classic film version with W.C. Fields is one of my all-time favorite movies.-
I liked David Copperfield too.
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Book or movie? Also, I was 13 at the time, so probably too immature to really appreciate it.
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Novel. I have actually never seen the movie versions.
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I've never understood the appeal of Dickens. To me, he's a soap opera hack who blathered on so much because he was paid by the word. -
Well said Shoegirl! I was forced to read Dickens at school and I hated his long winded pompousness and bloody silly names.
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I actually really enjoyed a "Farewell to Arms" and I am a fan of Papa Hemingway. The reason that book is so important is that it was one of Hemingway's style defining novels and established the Hemingway existential hero. I didn't like it as much as "the Sun Also Rises", but I like the spareness of the prose.
Overblown, adjective heavy novels tend to irritate me. Get to the freaking point.
I enjoyed Faulkner too.
I tend to stop reading novels that are bad. I don't waste my time finishing it if I am not enjoying it.
I had a really hard time with "Their Eyes Were Watching God" and "Gravity's Rainbow" as well as "A Clockwork Orange." I have very little patience with wordplay.-
Hemingway I do not care for. He was upheld to us in our writing classes as what we should all aspire to be.
As a result, we ended up with a whole room full of sparsely-written short stories of bullfighters and big game hunters, where you could read almost anything into the prose for it to have deep meaning.
(Heh, okay, so maybe I lied about the bullfighters and big game hunters... But still.... ) -
I'm the same as you I was very disappointed when I read Hemingway. I was expecting to be blown away and instead I was bored away.
As far as I am concerned the greatest American novelist is John Steinbeck and Hemingway wasn't fit to shine his shoes. -
@TSR
I wish I could give your comment a thumbs up because you always make me laugh. I tend to write very sparely, but not about bull-fighting or cheese eating. Imitating Hemingway is a no-win proposition.
I think it's more important to find your own voice and make it as authentic as possible. TSR, I think you are very successful at writing in your own voice.
John Steinbeck is an amazing writer and yes, I agree that he is the greatest American novelist of the twentieth century. "Grapes of Wrath", "Of Mice and Men," "East of Eden" were amazing novels. -
Agggg it was horrible.
No plot.
No story other than: Soldier - at war, day to day snippets of conversation that makes absolutely no sense because he's an American in Italy and these are Italian dudes talking to him about stupid stuff - and he meets a messed up nurse who nurses him too well... under the sheets mind you - they have an affair - never marry but act like they are married - which is a big taboo - he deserts the military instead of getting shot for unknown psycho war rule reasons - takes now pregnant mental nurse to Switzerland where she dies giving birth to their stillborn son - Book freaking ends.
Woooo
Great story.
Yeah - no.
I thought it stunk.
It was a snippet here - a snippet there - it was boooooring - all speech no action - and the action was written as if the writer was drunk and thought he was glamorous. Like RCAL, giggle - or something.
I really couldn't stand the book.
Sorry... Just my humble opinion there.
LOL - ok - it really stunk. -
Hemingway actually was a roaring, unrepentant drunk who did believe in living the glamorous life. That is what being a Hemingway hero is all about, the emptiness of existence.
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'the secret' tell me something I and just about every other person didn't know -
If a book sucks I just don't finish it.
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Not sure why anyone would read a book all the way through if it bored them within the first 50 pages. Why waste your time reading something you don't like? Put it down and read something else for heaven's sake.-
Because it's a class requirement. Sometimes your choices are limited.
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Sometimes it's seeking to understand why something is a classic. Knowing the story for yourself, not just the movie interpretations of it.
Two books I can think of I forced myself to read the whole way through, though I wasn't enjoying them, were Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Homer's The Odyssey.
I'm probably better for now knowing what they were about, but I felt Frankenstein to be an agitatingly stretched-out plot...
And the version of the Odyssey I read was prose but used the techniques of verse-- so was really repetitive. I kept thinking, "Didn't I just read this 50 pages ago?" -
I had to force myself to read "Paradise Lost" which has been boring students for almost 400 years.
"The Odyssey" was horrifically boring as well, but is such a cornerstone of Western culture, everyone should at least be somewhat familiar with it. -
I think the Odyssey can be disappointing to those of us who grew up thinking mythical gods and gorgons and sorcerii and cyclops would be exciting to read about...
But because the narrative isn't told in a style we're used to today-- and because the character motivation isn't very in-depth-- there ends up not being a lot to connect to as a modern reader. -
I actually liked Frankenstein, although I did find that the manner in which Frankenstein learned how to speak and write was very far-fetched, and Dr. Frankenstein was a major wuss.
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Exactly thrift - I read it because - it's a classic.
Personally I think those that heralded were afraid others would think them plumb dumb if they cut it down.
It was AWFUL - and I was curious as to why everyone said it was such a good book. -
TrailofPen-- Okay, that made me laugh. And I think that Frankenstein's monster learning to speak WAS when the book started losing me! After that the monster was all into monologuing about being evil.
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i dont like to read that kind of books
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Organic Chemistry by Morison Boyd.. that was a shitty book.. of organic goo goo-
Ah academic books... DONT EVEN GO THERE!
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All the way thru - thats a tough one.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was the most boring book I've ever read, but that was the point.
Paul Coelho The Alchemist was a pile of shite. Terribly empty, self helpless!
I should read The Secret and add it to the list, but I know enough about it to avoid it. Unless I need to light a fire with something. -
Nearly forgot - the one that I could not finish : The Handmaids Tale. Way too disturbing and vile.
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I'll assume the kicking position now because someone's going disagree.. but I really hated Gone With the Wind and struggled to finish it.-
Ugh, I hated it too. This is exactly the type of Victorian, florid writing that irritated me. I thought the movie was melodramatic but engaging and interesting. Little did I know that the writers and producers cut out all the overt racism and endless meandering subplots as well as 6 other children.
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Tomato, Tamato. Scarlet was a Victorian hoochie. The book for it's time was risque and during that time there was A LOT of racism going on.
The book that really blew chunks was the sequel Scarlett. It lost the story after that and the movie was horrid. Of all the people in the world to play that role why Joanne Kilmer ugh! She was great in Willow but horrible as Scarlett. -
Yay! Others who thought Gone With the Wind sucked. Scarlett made me barf! The movie was barely tolerable - the book was IMO rubbish.
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Since I hate nearly every novel I've ever read, my list would be endless. So I'll tell you some I actually enjoyed.
Bartleby the Scrivener
Crime and Punishment
Sons and Lovers
Return of the Native
Pantagruel and Gargantua
Passage to India-
I would tell my list, but "I would prefer not to."
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Yes, "I would prefer not to." The story of my life.
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I tend to like most of the books I read, but here is my attempt at a list of books I hated excluding the ones I have already mentioned above:
Moby Dick (Thar she blows is right.)
Jane Eyre
The Collected Works of Emily Dickinson (Sung to the tune of Yellow Rose of Texas it becomes much more tolerable.)
Beowolf -
Repulsed by Emily Dickinson?-practically an act of sacrilege. Every time I've read her I wondered for hours after if life was really worth living. But then a lot of writers and poets make me feel that way.
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Sing "Hope is a thing with feathers" to the tune of "Yellow Rose of Texas" and that should perk you right up.
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See, I loved Jane Eyre.
Of course, I was also reading it on a business trip with a verbally-abusive boss. So the Victorian Gothic Neglect and Drama of it all probably appealed more than it normally would. -
I thought Jane Eyre was awesome myself.
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Holy carp! I'm not the only person in the world who can't stand Emily Dickinson? Hooray!
Moby Dick is the only book I couldn't force myself to finish. If I want dense thickets of philosophical contemplation, I'll read philosophy, thank you very much. Where the hell is my story? -
Moby Dick lost me at the first paragraph.
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Re: Moby Dick, just read the abridged version like I did...
The count of Monte Cristo made me want to bawl out when I was a kid. Now someone told me i should read the full version..
sometimes book version matters I guess
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The late & great Bukowski was giving an interview when he said this, which seems fitting to add here:
"Reading the poets has been the dullest of things. Even reading the great novelists of the past, I said, "Tolstoy is supposed to be special?" I go to bed, I read War and Peace. I read it, I read it, I say, "Where is the specialness in War and Peace?" I really tried to understand. I mean, and then many of the great poets of the past, I've read their stuff. I've read it. All I get is a goddamn headache and boredom. I really feel sickness in the pit of my stomach, I say "There's some trick going on here, this is not true. This is not real, its not good."-
Reminds me of the Orwell quote "The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as if it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink."
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now Orwell was a WRITER!
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When I was a kid, adults kept telling me to eat cow liver and beets because they were "good for me." It's the same with all those books. They're supposed to be good for you, but I've never figured out for what.
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SHILEY: Thank you so much for the comment as to why anyone would read a book all the way through if they were bored by it. "Because it's a class requirment" is a subject I've been toying with for years now I have the subject for my next blog entry. Thanks a million. This is a subject that has rattled me for a long time.
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I can't recall any book I didn't like that I read all the way through. If I didn't like a book I would usually realize it fairly quickly - and down would go the book. I don't remember any novels being assigned in school. We did have to remember a poem or two...("I think I shall never see/a poem as lovely as a tree..."). In college my concentration was on visual arts. The few literary classes I took I read the assignments - short stories, essays - both for the encounter with authors new to me and for the discussions that followed.
One author I tell myself to more intently read "someday" is James Joyce. The short stories, yes I have read - but the "Masterpiece"? Oh my. I've started. Skipped. Stopped. I loved Molly's long rant (I read it at 17) but...uh...it was more for...uh, well...you know what I mean. -
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulker.
I don't care how many literary scholars tell me that this book is an important piece of American Literature, this book is the worse piece of crap I've ever read in my life. I just don't get it, I really don't. You really have to read this book to know what I'm talking about.-
I couldn't understand Faulkner and quite frankly I didn't want to -- barf!
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I know what you mean. I hated sitting through professor lectures trying to convince me that Faulkner was a genius.
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There was a wretchedly bad book about attempting to salvage the titanic by Arthur C. Clarke. I cannot remember the name of the book, but it seemed like there was no point to half the characters and a lot of the human side seemed completely superficial, and the technology and science stuff was unusually uninspired. -
After I wasn't able to finish "100 years of solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, because I was bored to death, I decided to give him another chance to amaze me. I forced myself to read all the way through "The Incredible and Sad Story of the Candid Erendira and her heartless Grandmother". OMG! Horrible! I won't read anything else by him! -
WHO WROTE "Nobody's child"? Help
A story about a young boy who lost his parent, brought up by someone.
At the end he found out he was from a wealthy family. -
I never read a terrible book. It is too much like cleaning the toilet bowl. Wait even this is preferable to making yourself read a boring novel.-
hey! you dissin' my profession?!
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LMAO!
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I will admit, I prefer to read non-fiction and gave up reading classics once I finished school.
With the exception of Jane Austen. It actually makes me upset that no one reads Jane Austen in school because she is brilliant, funny, delightful, and one of the most popular and respected writers of all time. I really do think it has to with the bias towards male writers as "serious literature" and Jane Austen as "women's lit."
Bullsh*t. Jane Austen was writing modern, simple prose and realistic human relationships far ahead everyone else.-
You know, I hated having to read the classics growing up but then, as an adult, I ended up reading a lot of them and enjoying them very much.
I think when much of this gets foisted on us as teens, we may not be ready for it. That later, we perhaps have more patience for the classics.
I actually-- and I know your opinion on this, but-- prefer the Brontes over Austen because I think there are more psychological layers going on in the works, plus I like the suspense and Gothic atmosphere.
I do believe everyone in Wuthering Heights, though, needed some serious therapy. -
I just don't have the same love for Charlotte and Emily as I do for Jane. I just see Charlotte and Emily as very Victorian writers with very overwrought and fevered imagery. I haven't read "Jane Eyre" since high school though, and maybe I'd feel differently now.
"Wuthering Heights" I read in high school and again in college. I did like "Wuthering Heights" better in my twenties than I did as a teenager. In fact, I will admit to actually liking "Wuthering Heights" the second time around.
I still prefer Austen though. I think her portrayals of men were somewhat idealized, but her wit, the subtlety of her dialogue, and the modernism of her prose were really ahead of its time. This is why Austen translates so well to film. Austen's writing style is very modern even if her characters are primarily sheltered Regency women. -
Yup-- Austen really does translate to film well.
You know I rewatched the film Clueless once after reading Emma and I found myself shouting at the TV, "OH MY GOD, Clueless is based on a Jane Austen novel!"
I know probably everyone knows that. But I didn't. It was pretty funny to me. -
"Clueless" captured the spirit of "Emma" better than a lot of BBC productions. It amazes me how incredibly boring some BBC productions can be from a novel that is frothy, funny, and delightful.
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When I was a kid we had to read that book "Lord of the Flies"
disgusting crap-
oooh oooh - that was a BIZARRE book - but not horrible... Yanno?
I mean - you could read it - follow it - understand it... Ya might not like it - but it all fit together.
A Farewell to Arms was like - uhm... huh? What? Oh now they're here... OK - oh - wait - he's what? Oh another bottle gotcha... Uhm... She's nuts... Oh she's dead... Hmmmm... Now what happened. -
it was a template for bullying in the 60's
disgusting material for school kids -
Lord of the Flies was creepily fascinating for me, but the ending was a rip-off and a dodge. It's like he couldn't decide whether to have the kids go through with it or not so he brought in the Navy. Chicken.
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someone mentioned 'gulag archipelago' as one of their favorites. i think it's a horrendously witless book and derives its cultural prestige from the very simple fact that it positioned itself antithetical to the soviet union - aligning with political polarities doesn't make literature, it destroys it; in fact, it relegates a work like 'gulag archipelago' below the ilk of socialist realism because socialist literature always reveals its own biases by its very genre.
another mention was the works of steinbeck. he is the most overrated writer in the anglophone world. that he won a pulitzer for 'grapes of wrath' enrages me to pieces. poorly executed, that book is singly the most gratuitously stylized book i have ever had the displeasure of reading. mishandled prose is a crime and belongs in the bin. 'a farewell to arms' deserves the same fate.
in the genre of non-fiction, nabokov's 'lectures' is a model of how not to critique. while his prose is by far one of the best (his poetry is stupid and trite), his criticism is filled with hypocrisy and sharp jabs at writers whose genius doesn't correspond with his delusional notion of talent. he accuses dostoevsky of tendentiousness, while generating the very same set of biases he reproaches dostoevsky for expressing. his language may seduce you, but the arrogance of his criticism will surely repel you.-
I think "mangled prose" is a bit of an exaggeration for Steinbeck. I seriously enjoyed most of his novels.
In my mind, Steinbeck wrote THE great American novel, one that created a snapshot of America in time.
IMO, Steinbeck represents America in the twentieth century as much as Jackson Pollock. In fact, I can barely think of one without thinking of the other. They are both exuberant, masculine and incredibly cinematic.
Of course, I am not an English major at an Ivy League university. I am just an architect in Chicago who likes to read. -
it's all really a matter of taste and mine just happens to disagree with yours.
that steinbeck "created a snapshot of america" is precisely what bothered me. the heavy-handed stylization of 'grapes of wrath' shaped it into a disgraceful period piece. steinbeck's characters will never gain topical significance because steinbeck over-committed them to a time and place. because of this, 'grapes of wrath' can be at best called a historical artifact but never a literary one. i just don't find the referential function of a literary work ample reason to consider it aesthetically pleasing and therefore destined to remain in posterity.
pollock, on the other hand, is a different story. -
I completely agree with your opinions on Steinbeck. I've never seen the fascination and think that there are other period writers who capture more than hopelessness and desolation. I've read The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl, and wanted to shoot someone for making me do so except that I chose to subject myself to the former. I thought that he couldn't possibly be as bad as I thought in high school. I was wrong.
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LOL chillax... It's just a book... Don't mean you have to go around saying the countries falling.-
It's just a book
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"Junior" by Macaulay Culkin....
I almost feel like I'm giving it too much credit just by mentioning it on here. I'd rather not even consider it a book at all. -
anyone read the book called "Tunnels by Brian Williams ,Roderick Gordon"
I think that book put me to sleep so many time.......the story is very interesting but the flow is very slow .....and very draggie -
Well you have to read "The Sweet Smell of ASH in the Morning". It's about working at (ASH) for 13 years! -
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card-
After Ender's Game, that was a massive disappointment. But then, he'd played his ace so what could he do? Wait...get new characters?
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Yeah, pretty much anything that came after Enders game was disappointing.
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Sapphire Road by Wynne Whiteford.
Normally, I think burning books is a bad idea... but I thought about making an exception. On the plus side, I vented in a very funny (and cathartic) blog post. -
wow. i'm sixteen, and i understood every one of those books that all the older people couldn't get through. i love everything by jane austen! and i've never left a book unfinished. i physically can't handle it. seriously. if i know i have a book just waiting to be read, and i'm not reading it, i get all shaky and stuff and i happen to enjoy the long winded descriptions of the scenery, or whatever. how else are you going to picture what's happening?.-
I don't think lack of understanding was the reason the the "older people" couldn't finish reading.
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It wasn't that I couldn't imagine it - it felt like the writer wasn't coherent in his OWN imaginings to me... It didn't "flow" for me...
I mean - the storyline was BOOOOOOOORING to me. The plot was BLAH BLAH here we go life... The characters felt like paper dolls dressed up for opera but sitting in the Mc D's parking lot.
Yanno?
I love reading and writing. I just did NOT prefer this particular book. And hope I never have to read it.
I'm a person - if I pick up a book - 99% of the time - I will force myself to read it cover to cover.
OK at least 80% of the time.
But - this book just didn't do it for me.
A lot of books do - tho.
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Harry Potter-
Did you like the movie? -
I actually enjoyed Potter - and all of the books involved.
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"Cosette" by Laura Kalpakian. She tried to write a sequel to Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" and failed quite horribly.
I also didn't like "The brothers Karamazov" by Dostoyevsky. Probably the slowest and most boring book I've read. -
I just recently got back into reading novels.
So I was looking around the house for stuff to read. I picked up this book about the making of the Taj Mahal, which seemed interesting.
Wow was that not believable at all! Dialogue, characters, etc. Nothing worked for me.
But what's even more unbelievable!!?? I finished it.
"Beneath a Marble Sky" by John Shors-
That makes one thing ugly about Taj Mahal
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Hmm... I don't think I have ever finished a book I didn't enjoy either.
I remember I was supposed to read Bleak House for school once. I didn't because it was, well, bleak.
I did recently read How To Murder Your Husband (And Other Handy Household Hints) which I enjoyed immensely! Even tho the legal reasoning at the end was more than just a bit dodgy.-
That sounds hilarious - I'll have to check that out!
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The Horse Whisperer!
I remember throwing the book against the wall after I read with a few expletives too boot!-
Me too! What utter RUBBISH it was and BTW I do talk to horses.
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Ok I havent read a book in years. But the worse book I have read would be the spam cookbook.-
I love fried Spam!
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OMG.....Fried Spam......a blast from the past.
I need to run out and grab a can and see if it's as good as I remember.
Of course the last time I did that, was an ex 15 years ago. Somehow it didn't live up to my expectations.-
Crispy - blackened edges, toast, lettuce, tomato - salt, pepper - mayo - dash of mustard...
Yeah - still good after all these years.
LMAO!
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Bronze medal: Catch 22 - I couldn't follow for a long time what the author is trying to say anyway
Silver: Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance - I read it like a zombie
GOLD: A novel by Danielle Steele - in which a woman keeps crying over the deeds of her infidel husband.. I must have been a damn determined person to finish THAT, when every single moment I felt like tossing it-
Yanno - I can stomach one or two Steele novels - I read like a book a day - so sometimes I can't be picky... Or at the very minimum a book a week.
But Steele does have those horrific moments.
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Slaughterhouse Five.
I know many people consider it a masterpiece and praise Vonnegut's humor but I just couldn't stand it. Good thing at least it's a short book. -
3 billy goats gruff-
that is so funny I read that to my son for school today
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I was just johshin' I was playing a game with myself..... and I won WOOO HOOOO
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oh btw,isn't that the best book ever..... I mean if you're in Kindergarten
do u do the sounds...
trip,trap..trip,trap...trip,trap....
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I am absolutely astounded by the fact that anyone would take their time to read a book all the way through that they found boring, nonsensical, stupid, not able to understand , say it makes no sense at all, critize the writer and then admit it was the worst book they read "all the way through." Why would you do that?
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sometimes you want to read somthing in a series, and don't want to miss something important
reading something for school
reading club book you promised to read and discuss with others, and want to fulfill your promise
(these are just things I've done personally, but I'll bet there are more)
you're stuck on a long boring car ride, and chose the wrong book to bring along -
Because - sometimes you HAVE to read a book. Whether it's for personal pleasure or for class, or because you have a friend who wants to discuss it... or whatever reason you personally read for.
And when you take a piece of art, when you observe something... When you participate in an action... Your mind automatically critiques, evaluates and judges the interaction and the information.
Reviews are excellent ways to share your opinion on a book or other things - so I enjoy sharing my critiques of writers --- And I enjoy also sharing those that I love, as well - so I try to be fair.
But honestly - I'm sorry you're astounded - I enjoyed sharing my thoughts on this book.
Probably posted it for the same reason you posted your comment.
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i don't know
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rumplestilskin
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Our teacher in essay writing punished us with this book in college. My goodness i am glad I didn't turn alcoholic after wards. -
tehehehaha
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