What Books Do You Dislike?

[Penelope]

Dickens - Dickens - Dickens

I just typed the name of the man who wrote Oliver Twist - three times - just testing.

The thing about Moby Dick was.....it made a great film.

Has anyone ever watched the film. Educating Rita? From the play by Willie Russell:-

How would you stage an Ibsen play? Put it on the Radio, she said.

[WildCityWoman]

I like the movies made from her books, but rarely read one of them.

[veerwald]

test

[Penelope]

Hello Veerwald -

Test positive - Do you want to join in?

What books/authors have had an effect on your life?

[Constance963]

I just recently finished reading "The Keep" by Jennifer Eagan and was disapointed with it. The premise was interesting and I had been excited to read it but I felt it was confusing and fell flat, but maybe I just expected too much. Has anyone else read this?

[Penelope]

I will look out for 'The Keep' and read it when I come upon it. I have been recommended 'The Island' by Victoria Hislop' - shall we read one of them together and discuss Constance? ......because I sure as hell don't fancy 'No Country for Old Men'. I am told it is a really good film.....but I just don't feel as though I want to read about drug dealers.....

I am going to miss out on this one and join in later.

Excuse me everyone.....

[Constance963]

Sure Penelope. I'd be willing to discuss "The Keep" with you if you would like to read it. I will check out "The Island" as well. I unfortunately had trouble getting into "Heart of Darkness" but I may give it another try.

[Ophelia]

Constance wrote:

I unfortunately had trouble getting into "Heart of Darkness" but I may give it another try

Constance, have you seen the reference Carly gave about the audio version at project Gutenberg?

I'm sure you don't want to miss the discussion about Heart of Darkness.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/9343

Have you seen the film "Apocalypse Now"?
At this stage we are still discussing the book and I am wondering whether people will want to discuss the film as well.
I'd like to.

[Randy Kadish]

This might ruffle some feathers, but I do not like so called literary fiction. I find most of it much ado about nothing, by that I mean I don't feel the authors have anything new to say, or even tell a good story. (I like intereting characters, but I also like interesting plots.)

I feel that good fiction isn't just accessible to the intellectual community. Good fiction deals with themes that are important and accessible to a wide audience.

Anyway, that's just my opinion,

Randy

[Theomanic]

Books I have the most trouble with are books that have characters that seem entirely irrational. This effect is magnified if the book has done well critically, such as Away and The True History of the Kelly Gang. The rants I've had about those books, especially the latter novel. Whew! Maybe it's because I am a rational person myself, but I really don't like it when people act in a crazy fashion... when supposedly they're normal. As I said about True History..., that entire country needs a good dose of mood stabilizers.

As to Stephen King, I think he's a big hit or miss writer. I cannot believe the same man who wrote the Dark Tower novels also wrote Gerald's Game. The former being some of the best books I have ever read, the latter being among the absolute worst. I read his book On Writing and he said he thinks part of his success is due to how common his characters are. That anyone can relate to the people in his books... I think sometimes they're a little too common.

Other books I hated:
The Last Battle by C S. Lewis (the last Narnia novel) -- talk about being hit over the head with a Jesus shovel.
The Trial by Franz Kafka -- I'm sure it was quite an eye-opener in its time, but I found it to be dense and repetitive. One of the most unfulfilling books I've ever read.
Digital Fortress by Dan Brown -- I cannot stand this man's writing. Usually I accept that people may have differing opinions from mine, but if you disagree with me on this, you are wrong! Wrong wrong wrong. I also read Angels and Demons, and it was terrible too, but this book was worse.

I'm reading Moby Dick in a couple months, for a book club. I think it's April or May's book. Wish me luck!