Least-favorite books ever!

[lionheart]

Yup, this is a topic for your LEAST favorite books. Books that when you were finished with them, you couldn't help but think, "I can't believe I just wasted my time reading that!"

Have at it then!

And unprinted books don't count.

[FadedOne]

Tahn by LA Kelly. It wasnt TERRIBLE, but it wasn't interesting either. too stereotypical, and I paid good money too. The cover art, at least, is pretty nice. ah well.

[Ingemar]

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The idea was good, but the stream-of-conciousness style made it darn near unreadable.

[lionheart]

The Samurai by Shusaku Endo

It's one of those books where the characters go on a long quest… only to get killed at the end, and know that they accomplished nothing. None of the characters were really likeable. (Except one minor character, and you don't even know if he's saved when he dies.) And the writing style wasn't really my thing either.

The odd thing was… That it was written by a Japanese Christian. I'd have thought that at least one of the main characters would have been likeable.

[pyro_moogle]

that a boy sam I read it for a third grade book report.

[Arnobius]

Shogun by James Clavell. The historical innacuracies and the author's bigotries made it a terrible read.

[Ingemar]

It's one of those books where the characters go on a long quest… only to get killed at the end, and know that they accomplished nothing.

You basically described Franz Kafka's The Trial. Not that I disliked it.

The odd thing was… That it was written by a Japanese Christian. I'd have thought that at least one of the main characters would have been likeable.

What's so special about being Japanese and Christian that requires characters to be likeable? Whether or not a character is likeable has nothing to do with the author's religion. Fyodor Dostoevsky was a devout Christian, but he was famous for creating utterly depraved and despicable characters (and this was AFTER he had his newfound religious convictions).

[chibiphonebooth]

oh gosh. The crucible for school that book suxxored.

and then the lovely bones. i DESPISED THAT BOOK WITH A PASSION. *stabs it repeatedly* DO NOT READ THAT BOOK.

[kazekami]

I hated the Great Gatsby, had to read it in high school. Also despised the Iiliad. I thought it would be fun to read. Maybe if they didn't list all those names. -_- Then there was War and Peace. Story wasn't bad. But did Tolestoy really have to ramble on and on and on about his theory of history. Cut out a third of the book and its a decent read. Also the last chapter was rushed. It was like a summary of what happened to the charachters who lived in the end. Then there is my all time favorite--I hope you can feel the sarcasim--The one and Future King, one of the worst versions of the King Arthur legend. -_-. I despise it with a passion. Seems like there are quite a few movies and theatrical versions based off it. Plus X-men had to go and refrence it!!! ARGG!

[bigsleepj]

"Midnight at the Well of Souls" by Jack Chalker. Interesting premise and ideas (with so-so writing) marred by the authors own obnoxious philosophy and desire to have everybody sleep with each other (or at least get naked). Also the alien races throughout this world are not logically conceived and the author seems to have made up whatever fitted his fancy.

[glitch1501]

The Dubliners by James Joyce

ahhhhhh ARABY WAS SO BAD

[bigsleepj]

What's ARABY?

[Technomancer]

"Left Behind" by Tim Lahaye. Terribly written (and utterly juvenile), wooden characters and an awful plot. It's almost unbelieveable to hear the quality of the writing goes downhill as the series progresses.

[Hephzibah]

My least favourite book ever would be Gone With the Wind XD
*waits patiently to be killed by Rita*

[Rita]

"The Phantom of Manhattan", the sequal to Pahntom of the Opera, only written by a different author. The author not only managed to write the worst plot in the history of mankind, but they also managed to ruin all of the characters from the original.

*finishes her rant and runs to kill Tal in the most painful way possible*

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

The Killing of MudEye or Lord of the Flies or Animal Farm - any of the horrible, boring and depressing high-school texts.

[Hephzibah]

O_O Animal.... Farm... SHOULD BURRRRRN!
I feel your pain W4J. Animal Farm was terrible! Why do they always pick boring books to study?

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

And the books they choose are so depressing! I shouldn't wonder that it contributes to youth feelings of worthlessness. The Hobbit was the only good book we did in high-school, everything else was Shakespeare (shudder) and the aforementioned burninated books.

[Michael]

What? 'Animal Farm' rocked. So did 'Gone With the Wind,' 'Heart of Darkness,' and 'Shogun.' Oh well . . . . .

-All of the 'Dune' prequels by Kevin Anderson and Brian Herbert.

-'Left Behind' series

-'The 25th Hour;' basically 200 pages of describing genitalia

-As much as I like him, 'Watchers' by Dean Koontz was awful.

-'The Da Vinci Code' by Dan brown

-'Angels & Deamons' also by Dan Brown

-'Trojan Oddysee' by Clive Cussler

Maybe more later . . . .

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

The Left Behind series were badly written weren't they? I don't even have a major in English or anything but I mentally edit books when I read them to see if there is anyway they can be improved and I would have to say there were so many parts that made me cringe at the editing or lack thereof. What I'm wondering is how is it that an accomplished author can write so badly and still sell 60 million books or so? Its criminal and bad theology to boot.

[bigsleepj]

Animal Farm is one of my favourite books as well. And so is most by Shakespeare.

A book which I disliked immensely was Stephen King's "Hearts in Atlantis" which I disliked so much I skipped the movie and gave up on King in general (haven't read anything by him in five years). I still consider myself something of a Stephen King fan but "Hearts in Atlantis" has got to be his most worthless book.

[Michael]

Hrmmpphhhh. 'Hearts in Atlantis' left me dulled and depressed. I liked it, but hated it too.

[Technomancer]

The Left Behind series were badly written weren't they?... What I'm wondering is how is it that an accomplished author can't write so badly and still sell 60 million books or so? Its criminal and bad theology to boot.

Rather depressing isn't it? I wasn't going to go into the actual content of the books, but I have no sympathy whatsoever for the pseudo-Manichean worldview the series embraces.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

What is this psuedo-Manichean worldview and what does it mean? I thought the author was a Christian minister or is he a false prophet type that the Bible warns of? Maybe PMing would be best so as to not disptrupt the thread. Thanks!

[glitch1501]

What's ARABY?

araby was a short story inside the dubliners by james joyce

[Puguni]

I don't like those high school no-one-really-truly-lives-like-that books. I've been a highschooler for a good while to know that some of those books don't happen except maybe to the rich and popular and attractive.

<--- lives fairly dull life.

I really really loathed this book called The New Rules of High School by some guy I don't bother looking up. I randomly picked it out, and it made no sense! All I could possibly get was that the guy was depressed but got into Yale anyway and everyone got laid. The end. It was young adult, mind.

[the_lizardqueen]

Hmm..that's a toughie, I don't typically finish books unless I can find something to like about 'em. This may stir some controversy, but I didn't much like Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. Although I have enjoyed other books from the same era, I was stressed out the entire time that I read Heights, I was actually feeling hatred towards some of the characters

Overall, I can see why other people would like it and consider it a classic, and it was quite interesting and well written. But I just felt so frustrated and down while reading it.

[lionheart]

You basically described Franz Kafka's The Trial. Not that I disliked it.

What's so special about being Japanese and Christian that requires characters to be likeable? Whether or not a character is likeable has nothing to do with the author's religion. Fyodor Dostoevsky was a devout Christian, but he was famous for creating utterly depraved and despicable characters (and this was AFTER he had his newfound religious convictions).

By being surprised, I meant that I didn't think that he would craft the only 'Christian' in the group, as someone who deceives the unfortunate band of travelers so often for the purpose of his own ambitions, that you are actually glad when he's martyred at the end.
In truth, the only Christian character who I found distinctly likeable was an old Japanese man who had disguised himself among the Indians (or was it Mexicans?). All of the other characters besides the old guy, and the young samurai, (incredibly minor characters,) were boring and dull to read about. (Hence, none of his characters were 'likeable', because they were so boring, that it was a waste of time reading about them. And the 'surprise' being, that the only Christian in the group was someone who you were actually glad to see killed off in the end.)

[RoyalWing]

I like vampires... But I don't know if I like vampire books.

I like watching the movie Interview with The Vampire every Halloween. It's becoming a tradition, because they always put it on this one channel... So. One person suggests I read the book, and I find it easy at my school library. When I finished it, I felt I read all those pages for nothing. The character explains his whole (and.. very long) story, but he doesn't, humm, grow? I don't know how to say it. So to me the book was:

"Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring SURPRISE SENSUAL PART!!! Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring. "

I was very disappointed. It's very rare that a movie is better than the book, no?

[Namelessknight]

If a book makes me love or hate the characters, then the author did a good job, whether I personally liked the book or not.

As for "waste of time" books, man, let me try to pin one down. Ahh, there was a series called Thieves World, a bunch of short stories. I think it was 11 or more books long. I read the first book and never even gave the others a first chance...