I'll freely admit it, I'm a book slut. If the cover looks enticing, if the blurb sniffs of a fragrant storyline, if I have the money, I'll take in that book and try to give it a good home. Almost 1000 books later, I was just looking at some of the books lying about and couldn't believe that I had bought them.

So I started to think. What would be some of the books I'd want to chunk? Which ones would I recommend for others to avoid? I came up with the following list, irrespective of genre:

Anything by Terry Goodkind - totally derivative

Arthur C. Clarke, 3001: Final Odyssey - such a disappointment. I felt like it never even came close to the power of the previous two, much less 2001.

Carson McCullers, The Member of the Wedding - this currently ranks as the one book that I DESPISE. I never cheered as lustfully for a "good" character to die as I did here.

Samuel Richardson, Pamela - let's just say I made the mistake of reading this after reading Henry Fielding's parodies.

The original Shannara series by Terry Brooks - so derivative of Tolkien in many ways that I just said enough was enough.

Daniel Goldhagen, Hitler's Willing Executioners. - Sorry, just had to add a history text here, since I was in this field in a previous age. Totally, totally disagree vehemently with it still.

Most any John Grisham

Most any Tom Clancy


There, that's a short list - there are many others that I disliked, but I saw just enough worth in them to realize a great many others might love them and benefit from reading them.


So what's on your list of books that no sane person should ever bother buying/reading?

***

My baby's got a heart of stone,
Can't you people just leave her alone?
She never did nothing to hurt you
So just leave her alone - The White Stripes, "Truth Doesn't Make a Noise"

OK, the easy sf/f answers first:
1. You're absolutely right about Terry Brooks and the Sword of Sha-na-na series.
2. Piers Anthony
3. Anne Rice
4. Any of the Dune books after the first three.

More later.

Alice Walker.

Someone will show up and slam me for this, but I absolutely cannot stand anything the woman has written. Between The Color Purple and The Secret of Joy, I have to day I would feel no remorse if I found out the womans house had burned down if it meant the manuscript in progress for her next book were destroyed.

I hated them that much.

The Dread Captain Psyko, of the Triad Cartel
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not all conservatives are stupid people,
but most stupid people are conservatives.
-- John Stuart Mill

Chuck Palahniuk. He is so trendy right now and so over-rated. Dude should be writing commercials for companies trying to sell products to rebelling teenagers, not novels that sound like it.

Whoa, it's really cool/freaky/[insert participle] to see how divergent we are on our lists. I personally liked the last 3 original Dune books as much as the first (and better than #2 and #3), and I have nothing against The Color Purple (which I bought of my own free will and read about 5 years ago).

But many of the others I'll definitely keep in mind - thanks for replying people!

***

My baby's got a heart of stone,
Can't you people just leave her alone?
She never did nothing to hurt you
So just leave her alone - The White Stripes, "Truth Doesn't Make a Noise"

aaah, but you didn't read the SEQUEL to the Color Purple about Clitorectomy.

Yes.

A Novel.

About.

Cliterectomy.

I swear, that book made me want to blow my brains out. It's a serious issue, but it's not something I feel the need to read a novel about.

The Dread Captain Psyko, of the Triad Cartel
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not all conservatives are stupid people,
but most stupid people are conservatives.
-- John Stuart Mill

No, that I didn't.

OUCH!

Maybe I never will now - thanks Keith for warning me!

***

My baby's got a heart of stone,
Can't you people just leave her alone?
She never did nothing to hurt you
So just leave her alone - The White Stripes, "Truth Doesn't Make a Noise"

1. Anything by James Joyce. There's just better stuff out there.
2. Piers Anthony, Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks and most other, aren't-I-so-different-from-everyone ripoff artists. Particularly Robert Jordan.
3. The vast majority of novels based on TV series. My recent penchant for heady non-fiction has left me able to read only the lightest of fiction, which leaves with either pocket romance (blech!) or books based on TV. Some are good. Most are not.

__________
AJGraeme

Some Joyce is good. "Araby" was real nice, as was Dubliners. I enjoyed Ulysses, but...Finnegan's Wake is way out there, so I can agree with not letting 99.99% of the population read that.

As for the Jordans and so forth: Amen and amen. Read enough derivative work to last a lifetime. It's like those books are the fantasy equivalent of those TV show novelizations that you mention: All junk food in the end.

***

My baby's got a heart of stone,
Can't you people just leave her alone?
She never did nothing to hurt you
So just leave her alone - The White Stripes, "Truth Doesn't Make a Noise"

Some Joyce is tres cool, some Joyce is so pretentiously bad that you just want to scream.

My short list:
1) ANYTHING David Eggers ever touched. BLEARGH! Pretentious git!
2) ANYTHING by Julian Barnes ... talk about over-rated.
3) Chuck Palahniuk ... leaves me totally and utterly cold.
4) Bret Easton Ellis ... see #3.

There are loads more, but those are probably on the top of my list.

- Oliver (Concierge of the KaTe KarTel)
----------------------
- Verbally Incontinent

Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure. It was an eipc of one horribly depressing thing after another.. As far as I could get through it, at least. I don't think I'll ever finish that.

~~~
"Whatever happens, you have to make it look like you knew it was going to happen. -Kaffee, A Few Good Men

The only Piers Anthony I have read (and probably will ever read) is his Incarnations series, but I thought it was quite fun and enjoyable. And I love Anne Rice- scrap the Vampire and witch books, and you still have Cry to Heaven and Violin, Cry to Heaven being my favorite book EVER.

~~~all times and music eastern~~~

Hmm, I can't think of too many, there's a surprisingly small number of books that I've read and really hated.

The one Terry goodkind I've ever picked up comes to mind (never got past the first quarter).

I dislike most of Robert Heinlin's books. I'd say read "The moon is a harsh mistress", "Starship Troopers", and "Stranger in a strange land" and forego the rest.

And I hate Koonz, I've only read two of his books, and they sucked bigtime, no more.

-Gal

"So, I've decided to take my work back underground, to stop it falling into the wrong hands."

Absolutism is the bane of freedom.
DOWN WITH THE AMII!!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Levante:
Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure. It was an eipc of one horribly depressing thing after another.. As far as I could get through it, at least. I don't think I'll ever finish that.

~~~
"Whatever happens, you have to make it look like you knew it was going to happen. -Kaffee, A Few Good Men

---

What else can you say for a book whose reception was so bad that it drove the author into writing only poetry for the rest of his life?

***

My baby's got a heart of stone,
Can't you people just leave her alone?
She never did nothing to hurt you
So just leave her alone - The White Stripes, "Truth Doesn't Make a Noise"

quote:

---

Originally posted by Metonomy:
1) ANYTHING David Eggers ever touched. BLEARGH! Pretentious git!

---

First off, McSweeneys unequivocably kicks ass.

I don't care how much you hate Dave Eggers, McSweeneys puts together top notch fiction from big name authors multiple times every year, and packages it pretty damned inventively besides.

And I'm about 100 pages into AHWOSG and liking it so far. So

The Dread Captain Psyko, of the Triad Cartel
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not all conservatives are stupid people,
but most stupid people are conservatives.
-- John Stuart Mill

quote:

---

Originally posted by fatpigeon:
And I hate Koonz, I've only read two of his books, and they sucked bigtime, no more.

---

of Koontz, i've only read Fear Nothing, which i rather liked.

it got my attention because of the protagonist's medical condition (he has to avoid almost all light), being a nocturnal person myself. i ended up liking the story, and a couple of the other characters (particularly the dog) too.

on my personal favorites list, i wouldn't rank it above, say, Ender's Game or Madeleine L'Engle's Time series, but i liked it.


"Hey boy, take a look at me
Let me dirty up your mind"

Anne Rice

quote:

---

Originally posted by fatpigeon:
I dislike most of Robert Heinlin's books. I'd say read "The moon is a harsh mistress", "Starship Troopers", and "Stranger in a strange land" and forego the rest.-Gal

"So, I've decided to take my work back underground, to stop it falling into the wrong hands."

Absolutism is the bane of freedom.
DOWN WITH THE AMII!!

---

Then i'd find all your friends and tell them to read "Job: A Comedy of Justice" and his Future History stories.

And if they were perverted sex freaks, i'd recomend the rest of his stuff.

See you, space cowboy.

~~~~~~~~~
"Embracing death together. Now that's a day I'll wait for."-- Inuyasha

http:://lon.blogspot.com-- Its a slightly less eloquent me

quote:

---

Originally posted by daysleeper[chickie]:
Madeleine L'Engle's Time series . . .

---

The first time I've seen someone other than me mention her name on this board. One of my favourite, favourite authors. Just stunning, her stuff.

__________
AJGraeme

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dread Captain Excuses:
First off, McSweeneys unequivocably kicks ass.
. . .
And I'm about 100 pages into AHWOSG and liking it so far. So

---

I'll give you McSweeneys, but I don't think we'll ever agree on AHWOSG *shrugs*

I was actually really annoyed that I didn't like it, I should have liked it, it had some great ideas, but ...

- Oliver (Concierge of the KaTe KarTel)
----------------------
He said "No more loud music"