Books that have let you down

[artichoke]

Holy COW, I completely forgot about Special Topics, nicegirl. All I'd read were these glowing reviews about how she was compared to Nabokov and how Lolita was her favorite book and on and on. Okay, for one, don't steal Nabokov's shtick and use it ad nauseum just because it makes you look smart. Two, waaaaaaaaaay too many descriptives. I guess that goes with number one. You don't need parenthetical descriptives for EVERYTHING. And the ending came out of NOWHERE. I'm all about twists and turns, but it seemed really contrived. Maybe that was because I skimmed the last one hundred pages to skip all of the aforementioned descriptives. After I read it I felt so ripped off, I went searching for ANY reviews that had something critical to say and found only one person who agreed with me. I was sad.

Whew! Sorry.

bookselves, that sounds a lot like Maus to me, except I doubt Martel would write something as wonderful as Art Spiegelman(n? dang.) Spiegelman(n) wouldn't have involved a shirt, for crying out loud. I am full of animosity today. Geez.

[Ms.MonkeyMagic]

Ok, I really want to like Little Women. Sisters who are so close and perform plays they write while keeping the house warm for their father off at war. But every time I start reading, I end up bored!

Wuthering Heights. Ahhh, the characters were unpleasant and the book was soo dull. I gave up fairly quickly.
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Love Loud, Don't Lose Loud.--Mates of State

[tamka]

I hated Jane Eyre. "Reader, I married him." Great. You're an idiot.

Also hated:

House of Leaves - I just don't understand why there was so much hype about this book. It sucked and was so painful to get through.

Atlas Shrugged - I tried to read this because it is one of those books you always hear references about. Meh, couldn't finish it.

Sophie's World - Another book with no end to the praises, and all it did was bore me with it's trite storyline. I'd rather read a history of philosophy.

Confederacy of Dunces - I just could not get into it. Nor did I finish it.

I'm sure there are loads more that I just can't think of presently. I used to be a 'finish it no matter what' reader, but life is too short and there are too many really good books still to be read.

~ Tamka
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In the future, I plan on taking more of an active role in the decisions I make.
~ P. Hilton

[minxstole]

I am going to second Chuck Palanhiuk. I read his essay collection Stranger than Fiction first and I really liked it but everything else I have read has left me bored and annoyed. He just seems so hateful, which maybe is the point but I'm not digging it.

Probably my least favourite book ever is The Great Gatsby. Man do I dislike that book. Sorry to any Fitzgerald fans out there.

[teak]

minxstole: how could anyone hate The Great Gatsby??? What did you not like? Explain yourself! (I jest but I am curious.)

rahime: have you tried A Farewell To Arms? or any short stories?

spiderlady: word on the incest. i bought a book once (long ago) whose description did NOT indicate incest and yet it was all about incest. i was grossed out the whole time and yet i finished it. why?

edelweiss: after seeing the movie Little Children, you couldnt pay me to read it. gah.

snoopy & fuzzydice: i couldnt get into Catch 22 either. but i might give it another shot. some day when i have nothing to do or something.

indieanajess: the very little ive read of Bukowski makes me not understand why people love him so much but i guess i read the wrong Bukowski? and my friend told me the story of The Life of Pi which was nice to hear about. I heard they were making a movie? I cant imagine how.

anyways yeah my biggest disappointment was that incest book. blech. there are plenty of books ive abandoned though. in fact, i just abandoned
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe not because it wasnt nice, but i just didnt feel like it anymore.
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Yeah... well... you know, that's just like... uh... your opinion, man.

mynailspirations.tumblr.com

[minxstole]

[Morgan]

I ninth On the Road, but I wasn't expecting to like it. It was a bit better than I thought it would be, actually, but I only read it and finished it because it was on the bookshelf, and it's a "classic."
I also don't like Tolstoy. But I read "Anna Karenina" when I was TWELVE! so I doubt I got most of the deep meanings. We had a huge book list in seventh grade, and we could choose any books we wanted, then take a computer test on them. So I read the hardest books on the list (the ones worth the most points!), because I was a crazy overachiever then. Looking back, I can't believe I finished all of it! I could finish any boring book back then, but I have a hard time now.
For that matter, I dislike most "classics." People were so boring back then! Haha! I just don't identify much with the characters, and the books are usually a bit slow. I read them sometimes, just because a lot of people have read them and I want to get the references to them, but I don't look forward to them much.
The current unfinished, dragging-on books on my bedside are Investing for Dummies, which I do plan on finishing, a book in Swedish about the porn industry (it goes a lot slower for me to read in Swedish, and it takes more concentration. Plus the book is quite long and has small type, and there isn't enough sex (oddly!)), and a book about globalization.
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The most overlooked thing about Morgan is that she's sort of like a really crappy version of Bea Arthur.
My tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/prettymuchthebestever

[BlueJedi]

Where the Heart Is.
The movie came out and ALL these huge reviews about how utterly fantastic that book was came out. First of all, do I really need to read descriptive man rape in prison scenes? No. Do I need to read about how the prison doctor "stitched up the mans anus with glee"? Uh NO.
The whole book was just very contrived feeling to me, I hated the ridiculous names, and I especially hated the explicit parts, because they just seemed to be thrown in for shock value, and added absolutely nothing to the plot.
I should have known that book was going to be crap, but I didn't realize just how awful it was really going to be.


Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.
I just couldn't get into the story. Also, the thumbs thing. SO she has big thumbs. I got it the first time. The second time. Do we really need to reiterate how huge her thumbs are every other sentence like I've forgotten? Please.
I couldn't even finish that book because it just was pointless and boring. I still don't comprehend what exactly is so fantastic about it, and possibly never will.

[adellia]

[spiderlady]

Okay, I know I'll ruffle feathers with this one, but--The DaVinci Code. Uningaging characters (by the third chapter, I figured if the main character intoned the phrase "the sacred feminine" one more time, I was going to reach into the pages and rip his throat out!), cringe-inducingly baaaaaaad writing, and a plot so stultifyingly formulaic I guessed the entire plot, so called twists and all, before I had read a hundred pages! Yuck!!!
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"Now it has become clear to me, that it cannot be wisdom to assert the truth of one faith over another. The wise man makes justice his guide, and learns from all." --Akbar

[edelweiss]

ooh, I liked the Great Gatsby but I do think it is kind of hard to get in to.
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where there's a will, there's a way.

"Inertia is a motherfucker." -bookselves

[At Peace in Limbo]

I liked Little Women, but am not offended by anyone who hasn't enjoyed it. Liking a book is a very personal thing and my guess is most people who rave about a book didn't really like it that much, but feel they should like it that much. Especially with "classics."

I tried read Anna Karenina (spelling?) and failed. I failed miserably. I hated it. It was the first book ever that I did not force myself to finish.

The Historian I loved, but I am an historian at heart and I love scifi/fantasy, so this book just fed into both of my loves. I did put it down, but that was because it was getting so tense!

I am currently trying to read Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange. I have yet to really get into it. I'm thinking about not trying. They say its Harry Potter and Jane Austen rolled into one. My opinion - it's more Jane Austen than Harry Potter.
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"You said what?! ... Why didn't you say, 'Drink this wine; it is a Merlot?'" (God speaking to Jesus, courtesy of Eddie Izzard)

www.themutteringchef.blogspot.com

[Marika]

the Celestine prophecies.

holy jeez guys, if only finding salvation was that fucking easy. no one even had to try, it was like they just stumbled into success at every turn...ask around a bit, read a scroll, squint your eyes, and hey, there's heaven. um, okay? everyone loves the book, and yeah i think the idea is alright, but it's written so simply it's like it's for grade schoolers. the characters are lame, there's no climax, no real conflict. boo, thumbs down.
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When she talks, I hear the revolution
In her hips, there's revolution
When she walks, the revolution's coming
In her kiss, I taste the revolution

[iskra]

[racheli]

Ohhh...The Great Gatsby is, in my mind's eye, the embodiment of perfection...to say it's my favorite book is quite an understatement. However, I can understand why people might not like it. adellia, now I'm curious to know what character you're named after!

I third (?) The Da Vinci Code. Ladies, there is nothing to be ashamed of if you didn't like this book. It is horribly written - like, it is actually poorly written from a linguistic standpoint. There is a website somewhere where a linguist dissects some of the sentences and shows why they are just so cataclysmically wrong. I didn't finish it because the English made me want to cry. Also because I thought it would be way more exciting. (The movie was wretched, too.)

I tried to read The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman after reading The Golden Compass (aka Northern Lights) and simply loving it, but once the action left the North I just couldn't get into it (I love the panserbjorn, what can I say?).
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