Least-favorite books ever!

A place to discuss your favorite authors and poets, Christian and secular

Postby soul alive » Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:34 pm

I didn't like 'Byzantium' by Lawhead either... the beginning and the end were okay, but the middle was just too long. A character whining and making bad decisions for 200 some pages... I barely got through it.

Anything by VC Andrews... incest and rape and loads of other messed up stuff, and people enjoying it. Some of her books warped me when I read them in 5th grade, not knowing what they were.

Those 'possessed cheerleader' garbage books that they have in middle school libraries. *scowls* And to think I read so many back then...
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Postby mechana2015 » Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:30 pm

Left Behind and more extensivly... most "end times fiction" I found Left Behind to be poorly written, with horrible charachters and a mostly forgettable set of subplots, and poorly executed, not to mention how much I disagreed with the authors. What made it worse was the hype surrounding it and the fact that people insisted that others read the series.
Dan Browns novels are also books that I thouroughly didn't enjoy. HE has one mediocre story in him and he retells it in each book he writes. Unnessesary content, plain charachters and boring plots all the way through. I didn't even read Da Vinci code, since I ws so dissappointed by deception point and angels and demons.
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Postby Maledicte » Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:39 pm

Da Vinci Code.....:thumbsdown:

Content aside, it was simply a badly written book. The characters, particularly the two leads, were boring, stagnant and cliche. Silas was marginally interesting but that's probably because I like albino characters. The bad guy was obvious and so was the "plot twist" (the "Oh YOU'RE the bad guy HOW COULD YOU" moment). Ugh.

As mechana said--End Times Fiction (no need to state further here). Although I did enjoy Gilbert Morris' take. And happily, it was only a trilogy, not an infinity.
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Postby Catapult Turtle » Sun Oct 02, 2005 6:41 am

A book that just plain sucked: The Sight by David Clemens- whatever. Here's what happened:

Wolf is born. Wolf has strange powers (the sight). Wolf watches almost all characters die. Wolf forsees her death. Wolf must defeat bad guy. They are on a bridge. Bridge is falling. BEAUTIFUL passage sounds like wolf will break free of her prediction. Wolf jumps- and----

Wolf and bad guy miss the ledge falling into vicious rocks because of "reality."

It's not just the ending that really is stupid. Christianity is bashed *heavily* The guy says bad things about the Crusades (which were bad) but he goes on making fun of Jesus and he made it so that there was this scene of a fishy coming out and growing legs and becoming human and ugh. The wolves started out having their own beliefs and they all became "aethiest wolves" in the end.

This book was retarded. I'm going to go and burn some.

Oh yeah, there was a character named Bran three flipping times. What in the name of nonexistant British elk was the author smoking when he wrote this?
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Postby SnowLeopard » Mon Oct 24, 2005 12:42 pm

I heavily disliked Great Expectations, not because the writing was bad (it was quite excelent), but because the main character is a huge wuss.

I used to like the Left Behind books, but that was before I could tell good writing from bad.
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Postby Steeltemplar » Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:51 am

Without a doubt, I would say that As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is the book that I have hated reading the most. It seems to be well thought of in intellectual circles, but I do not understand why other than maybe it being strange and inexplicably obtuse. Not only is the writing bad, but the story has nothing about it which I find interesting or edifying in any way.

Good writing and good art, in my opinion, should be able to communicate its message on at least some level to any audience. If it has a greater depth to it as well, that's wonderful. But when, on its face, a book is practically indecipherable then that is bad writing. I personally have little use for Faulkner himself or for stream-of-consciousness writing.
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Postby The Last Bard » Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:50 pm

Wolf Time - By: Lars Walker

I'm sure this guy tried really hard and I actually know him on another board, but I got this book and the first ten pages were okay, but then it just got so dull and monotonous that I had NO desire to finish it.
It just wasn't written really well, and he was always throwing this complex stuff in there that just slowed it down and made it very hard to understand and move on.

I understand the guys a Christian and all, but I just didn't care for it at all.
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Postby rocklobster » Sun Jan 29, 2006 8:49 am

  • Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
  • The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
  • all Michael Moore books
  • You Might be a Redneck if... by Jeff Foxworthy (he is funny, but only on stage)
  • Don't Stand Close to a Naked Man by Tim Allen (stick to movies and TV, dude)
  • The ABC's of Satanism (a book that claims that both Harry Potter and Pokemon are Satanic. When I finished this I wanted to lock myself and the author in a room and arm myself with a folding chair. You can picture the rest. :evil:
  • Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (but I liked some of his others)

Oh, and Soul Alive, am I a pervert for liking Andrews' Flowers in the Attic series? :sweat:
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Postby Htom Sirveaux » Mon Feb 06, 2006 2:35 pm

Pretty much anything by John Grisham. I got burned out on his stuff after three... no, two and a half books. Read one, you've read 'em all.

*The above remarks are purely the opinions of the bard and are not to be taken too seriously. Grisham fans, don't hate me please. :sweat:
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Postby TurkishMonky » Mon Feb 06, 2006 4:02 pm

I dislike charles dickens's writing, but i don't really like that period in history that much either.
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Postby Sennin » Sat Feb 18, 2006 10:49 am

The Red and the Black by Stendhal was the worst book I ever read. I absolutely despised the main character of that work.
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Postby LostChild » Tue Feb 28, 2006 2:35 pm

Purple Emperor. I started reading it, and in the very first chapter there was already major abuse to both animals and people, and some X-rated things. This was under the teens section, and it was quite foul.
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Postby FarmGirl » Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:25 pm

The "Song of the Loiness" series by Tamora Peirce. >_<"
It was obvious that the books were not written from some inspiration, some need to share an idea, Peirce was writing to the pay.
The heroine of the series slept with three men throughout, and wed none (to be fair, there was implication of a future marriage at the end).
In the book, Peirce tried to express the value of women and thier equality to men (ya, she went to the darkness that is the feministic veiw so it would be put on the YA shelf w/o question), but failed miserably. Sure, the girl learned the use of a sword and went out and kicked tail and all that, but she was still the weak stereotype that women suffer from. *Pokes male heroes in story off cliff, then throws Alanna after them*
It went in-depth on certain occultic practices, though I didn't have much of a problem with that. Woo, I'm on a roll. Better stop.
A friend reccomended it to me. I'm still debating whether I should let her know exactly what I thought of it.
Hmm... I don't know. Do I dislike it? XD
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Postby MyrrhLynn » Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:15 pm

The Good Earth - One of those typical "required readings" in high school. Not only did the ending stink so much that my whole class got **** about it, but it was booooring as heck for about 3/4 of the story. And it's a very very long book. The characters themselves aren't exactly the best role models either.
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Postby Doe Johnson » Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:35 pm

Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
Quest for Christa T. by Christa Wolf
Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
Dune by Frank Herbert

Steppenwolf and Quest for Christa T were both required reading books for this semester. They were just so totally boring to me, although I must admit Steppenwolf had it's interesting parts - hehe, Pablo and his drugs...I wonder what they were using at the end...Anywho, both are translations from German, so that could have made them seem worse than they were.
I tried reading Silmarillion in 8th grade. I got about 5 pages into it before giving up and have never had the urge to pick it up and try to finish it.
Dune is the one book I truly didn't like, considering I finished it and simply read it for leisure(sp?). I just hated it for some reason. Probably part of it was its weird messed up religions and such. Normally strange religions don't bother me in fiction, but since this was so obviously taken from real religions I think it might have offended me in some way. But I do like the name "Orange Catholic Bible." It just makes me laugh. I'd almost become a fan of the series just so I could have a reason to buy a Catholic Bible and paint it orange! I'm weird.
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Postby Technomancer » Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:25 pm

Doe Johnson wrote: But I do like the name "Orange Catholic Bible.".


You and me both, although you may not fully appreciate the irony of that phrase.
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Postby KhakiBlueSocks » Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:40 pm

1984 by George Orwell...

My sister wanted me to read the book...I was interested in reading the book...but the second I put eyes to page...I realized that I really didn't like the book! I saw the original movie and my thoughts were confirmed!
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Postby Doe Johnson » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:11 pm

Technomancer wrote:You and me both, although you may not fully appreciate the irony of that phrase.

So is there something more to the term "Orange Catholic Bible" that I don't understand? Part of the other books or just that I might not fully appreaciate what each word stands for or what? It's been a while since I read the book so I don't even remember if it mentioned that "Orange" had any significance whatsoever. Heh, I don't even remember the main character's name!
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Postby rocklobster » Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:11 am

MyrrhLynn wrote:The Good Earth - One of those typical "required readings" in high school. Not only did the ending stink so much that my whole class got **** about it, but it was booooring as heck for about 3/4 of the story. And it's a very very long book. The characters themselves aren't exactly the best role models either.

Yeah, why is it the books where the women are doormats always stink?
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Postby Technomancer » Thu Mar 02, 2006 5:52 am

Doe Johnson wrote:So is there something more to the term "Orange Catholic Bible" that I don't understand? Part of the other books or just that I might not fully appreaciate what each word stands for or what? It's been a while since I read the book so I don't even remember if it mentioned that "Orange" had any significance whatsoever. Heh, I don't even remember the main character's name!


I don't know that the author meant it, or precisely why it's called "The Orange Catholic Bible", but I'm thinking of a more contemporary source of irony. I'm referring to the Orange Lodges, which are very anti-Catholic and are prominent in Northern Ireland. They have a history here in Canada as well, although their influence has long vanished.
The scientific method," Thomas Henry Huxley once wrote, "is nothing but the normal working of the human mind." That is to say, when the mind is working; that is to say further, when it is engaged in corrrecting its mistakes. Taking this point of view, we may conclude that science is not physics, biology, or chemistry—is not even a "subject"—but a moral imperative drawn from a larger narrative whose purpose is to give perspective, balance, and humility to learning.

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Postby MyrrhLynn » Thu Mar 02, 2006 3:30 pm

rocklobster wrote:Yeah, why is it the books where the women are doormats always stink?

Haha, yeah that's why my whole class got really mad at the author by the end of the book. Our teacher was kind of suprised. :lol:
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Postby Doe Johnson » Thu Mar 02, 2006 5:32 pm

Technomancer wrote:I don't know that the author meant it, or precisely why it's called "The Orange Catholic Bible", but I'm thinking of a more contemporary source of irony. I'm referring to the Orange Lodges, which are very anti-Catholic and are prominent in Northern Ireland. They have a history here in Canada as well, although their influence has long vanished.

ahhhh....never heard of them before
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Postby Inferno » Tue Mar 07, 2006 9:06 am

Sphere-By Michael Chriton (Is that how you spell his name?) I loved all of his other books this one just wasn't that great. (In my opinion)
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Postby Rambo » Wed Mar 08, 2006 2:15 pm

The Iliad was a waist of time o and harry poter sorry if there are some fans but I hate those books I read the first the first one and I mean I hated it so bad I didnt even see the movies not one.
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Postby Tenshi no Ai » Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:47 pm

Ug, I'm struggling through reading the book Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee but I sort of have to cause it's for eng class.... HORRIBLE! JUST HORRIBLE! No one in the class likes it and I can't believe it won a prize :/ It was just BAD and BORING and VERY DULL!! Ug, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (the other book I had to read for class) was much more better than this hunk of junk...

BTW: yeah my advice is don't read it, but has anyone else already?
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Postby rocklobster » Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:05 pm

Rambo wrote:The Iliad was a waist of time o and harry poter sorry if there are some fans but I hate those books I read the first the first one and I mean I hated it so bad I didnt even see the movies not one.

I sincerely hope it isn't for the usual reasons...
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Postby Bianca » Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:40 pm

To Kill a Mocking Bird-

I just hated it. Its overrated and boring
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Postby Radical Dreamer » Mon Apr 10, 2006 12:54 pm

Great Expectations. My goodness. I hated every fiber in that book's pages. XD Charles Dickins did a lovely job with A Christmas Carol, but I'm sorry, Great Expectations was just lacking in every category, mostly the interesting category. XD Another one that I just have to mention here is Across Five Aprils. AAAAHH. Hated. It. And also The Red Badge of Courage. Maybe the Civil War just bores me, who knows. XD

Oh, and while this may seem odd, I really didn't like the book "The Wizard of Oz." Maybe it's because I was so in love with the movie/musical version of it by the time I read it, but it was written so simply and with less character development than anything else that I had read, so it was just really boring to me, I guess. XD
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Postby Doe Johnson » Mon Apr 10, 2006 1:00 pm

Wonderful, Wonderful Times (Die Ausgesperrten) by Elfriede Jelinek. I just don't think I like Jelinek's works at all, and I'm only halfway through this one.
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Postby Sai » Mon Apr 10, 2006 1:41 pm

I had to read Herodotus (or something by herodotus). It was so boring cept for this weird name, Barzapharnes...
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