yep, i think dean koontz is lame. his books actually start out ok but then in just falls apart. totally blech endings. and i hate tom clancy and all that espionage war stuff. havnt read the color purple, but i liked temple of my familiar... same with hardy, tess of the d'urbervilles is one of my favorite books ever. yeah, and i liked lord of the flies very much. but it made me sad much more than it scared me. or maybe im just a sucker for depressing books...

i'm revising my opinion on Heart of Darkness. the symbolism and stuff is kind of cool, if you're willing to go look for it. so reading it for a class is ok. but reading it for fun, for enjoyment? NEVER NEVER NEvER NEVER NEVER.

other books that i wouldn't recommend:
House on Mango Street
Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
Madame Bovary, by Flaubert (i'm not sure why i kept reading it once i realized that i didn't like it... except i really had nothing else to read...)

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Math=applesauce
stargazing

quote:

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Originally posted by JAK:

Madame Bovary, by Flaubert (i'm not sure why i kept reading it once i realized that i didn't like it... except i really had nothing else to read...)

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i read that for school...the thing about it was, i didn't like it, but i think that's only because the character of Madame Bovary herself was such an awful person. i just wanted to slap her. i don't think it's a symptom of the book not being good, since the narrator isn't too kind to her anyway.

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Inactivist of the Radical Status Quo

Anything written by "V.C. Andrews" after the Flowers in the Attic series. The Flowers books are great examples of mesmerizing schlock, and are good for pure novelty value, but after that the books are tripe.

]Bliss Leads Me On a Merry Chase

I HATED "You Shall Know Our Velocity!" by Dave Eggers. I didn't mind "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius", but the overall smug tone of "Velocity" began to grate on my nerves.

"I am Hermes. I become tamed by devouring my own wings."
--Hellsing

Desperation by Stephen King. One of the worst pieces of trash ever written.

Come to think of it, i wasn't all that impressed by the first book in the Gunslinger series either.

I'm sure King must have written a handful of good books, but it seems like every one i pick up manages to be either ridiculously trite or just badly written.

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Circus' Mask: a journal of sorts
The Twilight Cafe: a gathering place for artists, writers, and thinkers of all sorts
"Indeed, the Khazar jar serves to this day, although it has long since ceased to exist." --Milorad Pavic, Dictionary of the Khazars

The Stand was pretty good, if I remember correctly. I haven't read anything by him in years.

Also, I'm finding You Shall Know Our Velocity to be rather boring. I loved AHWOSG, so I'm pretty disappointed.

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If Mary dropped my baby girl tonight, I would name her rock-n-roll.

Journal of Twilight Oncology

I don't remeber the auther but it's a(thankfully) very, very, very thin book valled Growing Wings.
Mom, whats happening to me? Why do my shoulders hurt? Do I have cancer?
Oh honey,*snif*You're growing wings!

Oh to have back the 30 minuetes it took me to read that book...

Also, Mostly Harmless altough I did like the first 3 books, the last two just sort of seemed to drag on.

Now I am become Death Gerbil, the destroyer of worlds
<:3 )~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.livejournal.com/users/dream_of_demons

quote:

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Originally posted by Circus:
Come to think of it, i wasn't all that impressed by the first book in the Gunslinger series either.

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The first book in The Gunslinger series is very rough Circus, but the improvement during each book in the series is really quite astounding, and you can definetly chart King's growth as an author along with his progress in the series.

In short, it's really worth pursuing. Plus, like Cancerdusk said, The Stand is a good read, as are The Dark Half, Insomnia, The Green Mile, the two he wrote with Peter Stuab, (The Talisman and Black House is title of the other one, although I'm no sure), and the short story collections contain some of his best work. (Including The Shawshank Redemption).

-
James

Larger than life is the perfect size

Anything by Paulo Coelho
Narnia
Blood Canticle

quote:

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Originally posted by phool:
I think Lord of the Flies might be another case of assigned reading making a book seem worse than it is. I quite liked it when I first read it, although at that point I was at about the same age as the main characters, which might have helped. It terrified me. I became very suspicious of my fellow junior high school students. It seemed to me that they were all, as someone once said, two hot meals away from that same sort of savagery. And I still do, except now I'm bigger than most people, so THAT'S all right.

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i agree about assignments ruining books. many of my friends have recomended john knowles "a separate peace" which i despise. but i had to read it sophmore year, it was the only novel we read.

quote:

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Originally posted by brokengrrrl:
why does everyone always have to pick on him

*pouts*
dont hate me for this, but i really dont like mostly harmless by douglas adams....

...at least you know, you were taken by a pro, i know just how you feel. she talked a perfect game, deflecting all the blame, you took the jack and changed the flat and got behind the wheel and youre driving sideways....

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i like piers anthony too... i thought it was pretty funny, especially the first few xanth novels (the most recent ones are a bit tiresome). i haven't read anything by him in years though.

i haven't read mostly harmless, but i loved the rest of the hitchiker series.

i also absolutely agree with the people who hate vc andrews. i read a bunch of her stuff in late grade school and into middle school, but it really is pretty redundant and pointless.
same with much of king's stuff, although i will admit i haven't read the green mile or the shawshank redemption.

I've read one Piers Anthony book and hated it. (Green Mother, I think.) I liked the idea, admired the concept, but his actual writing was complete crap, IMHO.

I agree with everyone about VC Andrews. The funny thing -- she's been dead for quite a few years, and there was still stuff coming out after her death. Dunno if it was found manuscripts, or a ghostwriter or what.


The one super-hard part about my job, reader's advisory, is helping people find stuff I loathe. Danielle Steele comes to mind.

quote:

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Originally posted by JAK:
i'm revising my opinion on Heart of Darkness. the symbolism and stuff is kind of cool, if you're willing to go look for it. so reading it for a class is ok. but reading it for fun, for enjoyment? NEVER NEVER NEvER NEVER NEVER.

other books that i wouldn't recommend:
House on Mango Street

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*holds hand over heart*


*faints*

No kidding...amazing how many people dislike Cisneros's book. I actually thought it was quite moving and descriptive, in the best meaning possible for that. Then again, I've noticed I'm one of the very few males that enjoyed The House on Mango Street. Odd, that.

I wouldnt recommend William Faulkner The sound and the Fury, really didnt like that book.
I liked Piers Anthonys Xanth and Lord of the Flies...from the not recomended list...

Little Dorrit.

2 volumes, 2000 pages.
NOTHIG HAPPENS. Or, if it does, it happens so slowly that it's like watching the suns shadow creep.
I can't remember a single detail about anymore, except for the sense of crushing bordedom i got every time i picked it up.

quote:

Originally posted by Aldarion:
What's amusing is that I actually liked the Conrad novel. But what really amused me recently was discovering (at another site) that I apparently am one of only a few males who enjoyed Sandra Cisnero's The House on Mango Street. Thoughts, opinions, snide remarks on that?

Can't stand House on Mango Street, but that may well be an association with the most awful English teacher of all time.

Also hated Their Eyes Were Watching God, from the next year, with one of my all-time favorite teachers, so there ya go.

quote:

Originally posted by Maharet:
Narnia

Aw, sad. I personally love C.S. Lewis' Narnia Chronicals.

However, I hated Stephen Kings' Needful Things, and ANYTHING by Nora Roberts. I mean, really, wtf?!? Can we say "Repetitive Plot Syndrome"? Cause thats what she has. ANd never a new character in sight,just recycles of old >_<'

I enjoyed a lot Heinlein's shorter stories, and Stranger in a Strange land...

But I'd suggest avoid: The Lives and Loves of Maureen Long (can't remember the actual main title) which was a bunch of boring insestual tat.

Bridget Jones: Although it is quite funny some times, most of the time I want to punch her in the face and tell her to get a grip on herself!!!!

The same goes for a lot of the chick-lit out there, I've read some of it, it's horrible.....