What Books Do You Dislike?

[lady of shallot]

I really dislike the book I am reading right now, "The Novel" I am having trouble believing it is not a satire.
I am a woman & I love Thos. Hardy, also the Bronte's, Dickins, Geo. Eliot. Read Catcher in the Rye many years ago & liked it. Have only read a couple of my fellow Mainer, Stephen King but liked Cujo.
I liked the Heart of Darkness. I do not like fictionalized history. Do not really like Henry James, Have not read Thoreau but like Edith Wharton. Did like Wide Sargasso Sea even though I don't like the idea of piggybacking on a successful work. Oh, like Jane Austin except for Mansfield Park, really disliked the leading characters.
Side note to Ophelia, what are you doing using my pic as your avatar? Ha Ha, only kidding but it is me!

[JulianTheApostate]

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Must be the worst book ever written. I know that it is supposed to be a modern classic but all I see in it is the recurring theme of how the white man must be conquered.

Really? I thought that was a rather good book, providing an insight into how an African views the world.

Silas Marner was the most annoying book I had to read in high school; I was disappointed that the class following didn't have to suffer through it the way I did.

In terms of books I've read lately, Good Omens was the most disappointing. I gave up after 50 pages since it wasn't at all funny or entertaining, except for one mildly amusing line.

[lady of shallot]

I really dislike the book I am currently reading. . . "the Novel" by James Michener. It is so badly written with such unbelievable characters that at first I thought it was a satire. Still not sure, only reading it because a friend asked me to and leant it to me.
Dwill, my husband is a big fan of Moby Dick. Have you read "bartleby the Scrivener, or Benito Cerino" ?

[Ms Stackpole]

Netherland ..pretentious and boring. The author evidently wanted to show off his massive vocabulary ..only reason I can think of for using "pluvial" to mean just plain old rainy !

[Esoldra]

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Bloomvist is very much the incarnation of the late author's ego - he sleeps with whoever he wants and his specialism of economics is transformed into this sexy subject akin to the world of James Bond. There are hardly two pages that pass in which people are not either searching for, or consuming sandwiches and coffee.

In terms of Catcher in the Rye, I found the novel overrated and did have a sense of anticlimax when reading it, waiting for it to get good, which it never actually did. Another one in that thread that I find overrated is Lord of the Flies by Golding, I for the life of me when reading it as a teenager could not identify with pig killing boys on an island.

[TaylorBP]

I'm not a big fan of Catcher in the Rye either. Honestly, it came off as whiny and (Esoldra said so too) anticlimatic. I'm a fan of Salinger, though. I just prefer his other works to Catcher in the Rye, such as Franny and Zooey. I wasn't overly enthused with Lord of the Flies, but it did lead to some interesting discussions.

As much as I appreciate the importance of Jane Austen and her literature, I can't read it. I read Emma, and it dragged and it took me forever to finish it. Honestly, I found it mildly painful. It was so incredibly descriptive, and took forever to make the slightest point.

[Murrill]

I found Lord of the Flies to be disturbing when I read it for the first time at age 15. That such instincts might simmer dormant was foreign, unfathomable even. But I have never stopped thing about it. Today I am older, a little weathered by life, and I can understand the influence that fear & desperation might have. It is not always pretty.
I also cannot read Jane Austen's work, though I can appreciate the author's talent. I'm just not that romantic.

[Aqueda_Veronica]

And I hate westerns
When it comes to assigned readings I absolutely HATED "The Scarlett Letter". Could not relate or understand the main character at all, the time period and setting was absolutely out of my comfort zone. So who cares she cheated on her husband with a member of the clergy?

As for other titles commonly mentioned in this discussion...

Yes, I admit I too dislike "The catcher in the rye"
I used to say I am a King fan, but I realize that some of his works are better and some are worse. I usually prefer his earlier work - "Carrie", "Shinning" and so on. Oddly enough, his short stories do get better over the years, thou.
Never read "The lord of the flies", probably will one day.

[Temporarylocal]

I just read a horrible book called 'The Sight'. It panders so much to a Christian audience that I can almost hear it begging to be liked. It has enough imagined words that one hiccups through the plot with a great amount of interruption, but not nearly enough to be be considered visionary. Don't waste your time!

[BookSpyGal]

The Grapes of Wrath. I could not get into this book at all, and I have tried many times.