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Post by RAVENEYE on Oct 24, 2020 10:10:29 GMT -6
 I'm curious... * Which book(s) did you despise?
* Why?
* Did you muscle on and actually finish reading it?
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Post by doublejay9 on Oct 24, 2020 12:18:55 GMT -6
I know I'm going to get hate for this, but...
1) Wuthering Heights
2) I really don't enjoy these tales of high society, family drama, and people manipulating each other because -- why exactly? I often lost track of what was happening to characters I either hated or didn't care about. Also too many Catherines.
3) I tried. I honestly tried. I got to the final chapter but just couldn't muster up the motivation to continue on. I vaguely remember that wall being a moment of "What? Where? Why? And who the eff is this guy?" I decided that sleep and/or getting on with the rest of my homework was a better use of my time. (Yes, this was a book for my high school English class.)
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Post by bilance on Oct 25, 2020 0:03:02 GMT -6
1) The curious incident of the dog in the night time
2) The term subvert expectation is what I would call the story. What was suppose to be a mystery novel ended up being a documentary of a boy I had couldn't care less about. The plot went down the toilet within 5 pages and spent the rest of the time on the character rambling about his out look on life. What made it worse was the expectation set up for me on the book cover. Award winning it said. Excellent reviews of how amazing the story was it said. Repulsive. But yet it was loved by so many people. That was one of the greatest blow to me as a writer. There were so many great books but they were swept under the carpet. Fan fiction stories that would make a way better story than that. It was unfair.
3) I tried and only made it to around page 50 before I flat out refused to read it, despite it being a literature discussion for my english tuition class. I asked my classmates in hopes that I could get a glimpse from their perspective of what allowed them to read such a book. They were simply indifferent and read cause they were told to do so. I got into an argument with my teacher. She knew nothing of what makes a story worth reading. Trying to use the moral high ground and insist that I was being hateful to the character when the story was misleading and was just screaming for pity. I soon dropped out of that class and joined another group that mainly does english comprehension.
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Post by farida on Oct 28, 2020 7:07:15 GMT -6
Bloody Shakespeare!
Honestly, he's always being held up as this beacon of English literature. As if the whole of the Anglo-America world produced only one playwright, ever. But he wrote quick, for money. Nothing wrong with that, but his work was mainly meant to entertain an audience with fart jokes, and it shows. Then there's the sexism. The plot holes. The exit-pursued-by-bear strategy of getting rid of characters that have served their due.
You can learn stuff from him, sure. But there are so many others. I guess I despise his, in my opinion undeserved, position on the pedestal, not so much the actual work.
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Post by RAVENEYE on Oct 28, 2020 8:06:13 GMT -6
Bloody Shakespeare! Honestly, he's always being held up as this beacon of English literature. As if the whole of the Anglo-America world produced only one playwright, ever. But he wrote quick, for money. Nothing wrong with that, but his work was mainly meant to entertain an audience with fart jokes, and it shows. Then there's the sexism. The plot holes. The exit-pursued-by-bear strategy of getting rid of characters that have served their due. You can learn stuff from him, sure. But there are so many others. I guess I despise his, in my opinion undeserved, position on the pedestal, not so much the actual work. LOL! That's fair. Yeah, I think his value lies not in the plotting and the cultural faux-pas of his day but in the poetic expression of human experience. That's what I appreciate about his work anyway. One of the speculative practices I like to do is "If the classic writers and composers were living and working today, what would their work look/sound like?" I mean, would Beethoven have been a heavy metal operatic rock star instead? And would Shakespeare have been on par with storytellers like Steven Spielberg or the writers of Despicable Me? |
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Post by RAVENEYE on Oct 28, 2020 8:13:22 GMT -6
I know I'm going to get hate for this, but... 1) Wuthering Heights 2) I really don't enjoy these tales of high society, family drama, and people manipulating each other because -- why exactly? I often lost track of what was happening to characters I either hated or didn't care about. Also too many Catherines. 3) I tried. I honestly tried. I got to the final chapter but just couldn't muster up the motivation to continue on. I vaguely remember that wall being a moment of "What? Where? Why? And who the eff is this guy?" I decided that sleep and/or getting on with the rest of my homework was a better use of my time. (Yes, this was a book for my high school English class.) I'm with you on this one. I tried, so hard I tried. But what turned me off about the story was the romanticizing of a man like Heathcliff. WTF?? The dude is cruel and abusive and exactly the type of person we are consciously educating our children to avoid getting involved with (or should be). So at that point I lost all sympathy for every character and the author's argument that this was a situation I wanted to watch unfold. Because, duh, it's going to end badly. And yeah, Catherine, ugh. I can't think of anything nice or flattering to say, so I'll keep those thoughts to myself. On the other hand, the story makes me wonder if this was the author's (more or less) true-to-life observations of how small groups of spoiled entitled people living in remote areas actually interacted. That's a scary thought. |
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Post by RAVENEYE on Oct 28, 2020 8:21:15 GMT -6
1) The curious incident of the dog in the night time 2) The term subvert expectation is what I would call the story. What was suppose to be a mystery novel ended up being a documentary of a boy I had couldn't care less about. The plot went down the toilet within 5 pages and spent the rest of the time on the character rambling about his out look on life. What made it worse was the expectation set up for me on the book cover. Award winning it said. Excellent reviews of how amazing the story was it said. Repulsive. But yet it was loved by so many people. That was one of the greatest blow to me as a writer. There were so many great books but they were swept under the carpet. Fan fiction stories that would make a way better story than that. It was unfair. 3) I tried and only made it to around page 50 before I flat out refused to read it, despite it being a literature discussion for my english tuition class. I asked my classmates in hopes that I could get a glimpse from their perspective of what allowed them to read such a book. They were simply indifferent and read cause they were told to do so. I got into an argument with my teacher. She knew nothing of what makes a story worth reading. Trying to use the moral high ground and insist that I was being hateful to the character when the story was misleading and was just screaming for pity. I soon dropped out of that class and joined another group that mainly does english comprehension. Okay, this has definitely roused my curiosity. I need to look into this one. Kudos to you for taking a stand! It's true! How many times have I taken up a book because it was wildly popular, only to find myself reading either commercial trash or text so boring I wanted to gouge out my brain? It is frustrating, especially when we are trying to make our own way in the writing world and encounter books whose popularity makes no sense, while other books of brilliance get largely ignored. (That sounds like a great topic for another thread.) |
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Post by farida on Oct 28, 2020 10:03:54 GMT -6
1) The curious incident of the dog in the night time Haha, that's amazing. I actually quite enjoyed that one! But yes, the main character is doing A LOT of navel gazing (which has to do with his condition) and the book is most definitely not a mystery or a thriller, as is suggested by the cover and the blurb. The plot also went on a lot of tangents. Could have done with a 20% cut, in my opinion, which would have improved matters a lot. |
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Post by longhand.hearted on Oct 28, 2020 13:05:05 GMT -6
I don't necessarily despise this series but it was the last one I couldn't finish: The Witcher series. Yes, gave them a go because of the TV series but I'd also heard lots about them through my partner playing the games (which sound a whole lot more interesting).
I found the the first few interesting enough to finish, there was some character building and you could begin to see the background political drama. But then I just couldn't pick the middle ones back up, there was so much moving around and delaying the plot which felt like it wasn't adding anything.
I tried to jump straight to the last one and whilst this was slightly more interesting again, I just couldn't get motivated again. It's a shame, I enjoyed some bits but at the end of the day, it's the author's job to make me WANT to finish the book.
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Post by RAVENEYE on Oct 28, 2020 21:55:13 GMT -6
I don't necessarily despise this series but it was the last one I couldn't finish: The Witcher series. Yes, gave them a go because of the TV series but I'd also heard lots about them through my partner playing the games (which sound a whole lot more interesting). I found the the first few interesting enough to finish, there was some character building and you could begin to see the background political drama. But then I just couldn't pick the middle ones back up, there was so much moving around and delaying the plot which felt like it wasn't adding anything. I tried to jump straight to the last one and whilst this was slightly more interesting again, I just couldn't get motivated again. It's a shame, I enjoyed some bits but at the end of the day, it's the author's job to make me WANT to finish the book. Yes! I read the short story collection (which is the first book, I guess) waaaaaay back when there wasn't a series yet, just after the first game came out, and the English translation drove me bonkers. Made me want to learn to read Polish so I could see if the author was really that redundant with some of the phrasing, or if it was the translator's fault. However, I did notice that some of the later novel-length books are translated by someone else, so I've been tempted to try them on the off-chance that I'll be able to stand the translation. Anyway, what I liked about the short stories (translation aside) was the way each story was a loose take on several well-known fairytales, like the Renfri story is Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, etc. So that alone helped me finish that particular volume. Though now that the Netflix series is out, I'm conflicted on whether I want to read the whole series before I watch any more seasons, or watch the seasons as they come out, then read the rest of the books. Cuz I don't want to be that person who hates a fun show because "It's not like that in the book!" Hmm... choices... |
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Post by Alatariel on Oct 29, 2020 18:53:28 GMT -6
Okay so the book(s) I hate are rather popular in YA fiction and honestly it's everything I hate about the genre. I love YA. I write YA fantasy. But these books made me so angry and I can rant for ages about them.
1) The Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
2) Trite, cliche, stereotypical...I made it halfway through book 2 before throwing it down forever. I hoped for more. I desperately wanted there to be more. But nope. She didn't subvert expectation. She didn't make the antagonist interesting, but she almost did. She didn't make the main character likable but she almost did. She didn't make the love interest worthy, but she almost did. The world building and prose are the only good things. They kept me interested and hopeful but nope. I ended up deeply hating the main character and her gutless choices. I hated her love interest which I wanted to be GONE but ended up coming back and once I realized oh...oh...this guy is the person we're supposed to root for? Oh dear God. And then the antagonist became the most cliche obnoxious moustache twirling all consuming evil.
So yea. Terrible "best selling" series.
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Post by ZukoMee on Nov 5, 2020 20:38:39 GMT -6
To Kill A Mockingbird.
I was forced to read it in high school and THEN write a 3-page essay on it. Either 3-page or 1k words. We got a choice between the two.
Nope. Oh, I read the book, certainly. I was a good boy. But the essay? I couldn't handle it. I honestly don't remember what I wrote, but I ended up getting a disciplinarian notice because my essay was considered an "attack on the character and person of a beloved author". Which was made worse when I refused to apologize for my "disruptive, opinionated behavior" to the rest of the class, which frankly wasn't my fault. She wanted my opinion, and I gave it. Not my problem she insisted on reading it to the rest of the class. I believe she thought it would make me ashamed but nope, I was pretty proud of myself honestly and my teacher only reinforced my pride by reading my essay to the class.
Needless to say, I hated the book and found the plot dull and predictable. I literally knew how the majority of the novel was going to turn out by the time I read through a third of it. There was nothing redeeming about it. The characters were so forgettable I couldn't tell you the name of any of them any longer. I got about as much enjoyment out of it as I would watching a pot of water boil repeatedly. (I do remember that line being in the essay actually)
I was a controversial student though anyway. F--k you Harper Lee.
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Post by RAVENEYE on Nov 6, 2020 9:19:07 GMT -6
To Kill A Mockingbird. I was forced to read it in high school and THEN write a 3-page essay on it. Either 3-page or 1k words. We got a choice between the two. Nope. Oh, I read the book, certainly. I was a good boy. But the essay? I couldn't handle it. I honestly don't remember what I wrote, but I ended up getting a disciplinarian notice because my essay was considered an "attack on the character and person of a beloved author". Which was made worse when I refused to apologize for my "disruptive, opinionated behavior" to the rest of the class, which frankly wasn't my fault. She wanted my opinion, and I gave it. Not my problem she insisted on reading it to the rest of the class. I believe she thought it would make me ashamed but nope, I was pretty proud of myself honestly and my teacher only reinforced my pride by reading my essay to the class. Needless to say, I hated the book and found the plot dull and predictable. I literally knew how the majority of the novel was going to turn out by the time I read through a third of it. There was nothing redeeming about it. The characters were so forgettable I couldn't tell you the name of any of them any longer. I got about as much enjoyment out of it as I would watching a pot of water boil repeatedly. (I do remember that line being in the essay actually) I was a controversial student though anyway. F--k you Harper Lee. LOL, that's fair. Won't argue with passion that strong. |
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Post by Bird on Nov 7, 2020 17:15:19 GMT -6
ANY BOOK BY NEAL STEPHENSON
F**K that dude. Every single woman character in his books was typical example of men writing women. Like they were sex objects, they rarely had much internal lives that weren't revolving around men. The only character in his novels that was a woman and seemed distinct ended up being in a romance with the most misogynistic asshole in the book and lost her individualness.
I've thrown his books across the room in disgust at just how rampant this bullshit is. I got no space for that crap.
Okay, I was a bit impassioned about that. lol
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Post by RAVENEYE on Nov 8, 2020 16:28:45 GMT -6
ANY BOOK BY NEAL STEPHENSON F**K that dude. Every single woman character in his books was typical example of men writing women. Like they were sex objects, they rarely had much internal lives that weren't revolving around men. The only character in his novels that was a woman and seemed distinct ended up being in a romance with the most misogynistic asshole in the book and lost her individualness. I've thrown his books across the room in disgust at just how rampant this bullshit is. I got no space for that crap. Okay, I was a bit impassioned about that. lol Heh, noted! I've never read any of his stuff, and now I think I'll steer clear... |
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I'm curious... 
You add them to your profile as you do them around the forum.
