Subject: RE: Worst book From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 23 Sep 00 - 08:02 PM Really it shoudl be a highly regarded author to belong in a thread like this.
So my vote goes for D.H.Lawrence. Anything by D.H.Lawrence. Very versatile lad - fiction, non-fiction, poetry, paintings. All destined for Room 101 (where you find the worst things in the world).
And I don't like the way he heaved a log of wood at that inoffensive snake, once its back was turned, and then wrote a poem about it. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: WyoWoman Date: 23 Sep 00 - 01:58 PM Awriiiight, Little Hawk. Read away, then get over to the Sgt. Kat thread and start rippin' some bodices. Bodicae? No, that makes it sound like the Celtic commanda ... Yes, yes, Annamill. I was just wondering the other day whether all the books I have in various stages of being read in various locations in my house are the sign of an exceptionally agile mind, or just another symptom of my multiple personalities. Two in the bathroom, two here at my desk, four on my bedside table, and even one on the kitchen cabinet. Plus CDs all around, with the covers open and unfolded so I can learn the words to songs ... As you might imagine, my list of household chores grows, but reading will almost always be more fun than cleaning. Except (see "Celestine Prophecy," above...) ww |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Little Hawk Date: 23 Sep 00 - 01:09 PM WyoWoman - excellent point that men could learn a few useful things about pleasing women from reading romance novels...you are right. Although there's a lot of silly stuff in romance novels, there is also a wealth of information about courtship and whatever it is that makes a woman feel beautiful, valuable, and appreciated. Similarly, one could learn a lot by going to a few Julio Iglesias concerts or listening to his records. Say what you will, Julio has a real knack for pleasing women, and he's got a whole lot of class (aside from that rather silly song he and Willie Nelson teamed up on). Willie is no slouch either, by the way...women adore Willie Nelson and he adores them, although his style is very different from Julio's. I believe that's why they collaberated on the song...they are both masters of the art of romance...and they know it. I'm gonna go and read some romance novels right now, by golly! Of all the things a person could be in this life, I think to be a great lover (in a whole general sense...not just sex) has got to be one of the best possible uses of one's time that there is. Make love, not war. Sure beats hell out of being a CEO. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Little Hawk Date: 23 Sep 00 - 12:25 PM Mbo, you are the best. All I can say is, MBO RULES!!!! Phantom Lurker - great list of slim books. I am still laughing! By the way, I've been slipping deliberate weird typos into some of my massages, but no one seems to have noticed...so far... What s'matter, Spaw? Didja fall asleep? |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 23 Sep 00 - 11:22 AM Mbo, I KNEW you were a gentleman of good taste and fine discrimination! Actually I've read a number of the other Tolkien-related books you mentioned too, but didn't go to the bookshelf to inventory them. And actually I lumped the Unfinished Tales with the Lost Tales. Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Mbo Date: 22 Sep 00 - 11:01 PM I read the Hobbit first, and loved it. Read the Trilogy next, and loved it. Read the Silmarillion's first pages, and hated it! 2 years later i read it again and wondered what in the HELL was the matter with me 2 years ago! The Silmarillion is just beautiful. I love them all equally. I'm a true Tolkien scholar, I'm not some casual reader out for some cheap quick read. I love something I can really dig into. BTW, by the last couple chapters, The Hobbit stops being a children's book. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Marion Date: 22 Sep 00 - 10:47 PM Is there anyone here who read the Hobbit, and as a direct result, has refrained from reading the Lord of Rings? If so, let me PLEAD with you to forget the Hobbit and start fresh with the trilogy. It really is very different and very superior. And if you haven't read any Tolkien yet, skip the Hobbit and go right to Lord of the Rings. It has an introduction that tells you everything you need to know from the Hobbit. I hear that often when I try to talk to people about Lord of the Rings:"Well, I read the Hobbit, and didn't really like it." It breaks my heart. I'm so thankful that I found the Lord of the Rings first, or I might not have read it either. There but for the grace of God go I... Mbo, have you ever read C.S.Lewis' essay about Lord of the Rings? It was in a book of essays - I don't remember the title exactly, but it contained the word "stories". Anyway, it's well worth a look if you have access to a university library. Marion |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Mbo Date: 22 Sep 00 - 08:23 PM Oh I AM insatiable! I've read the Hobbit about 6 times, The Lord of The Rings 3 times, the Silmarillion twice, Lost Tales, Part I&II twice, Unfinished Tales twice, The Tolkien Reader twice, Roverandom, the Humphrey Carter biography, Tolkien's Language, Tolkien Scrapbook, Tolkien Bestiary (several times), Guide To Middle Earth (several times), the Tolkien Companion (several times), Sir Orfeo/The Pearl/Sir Gawain & The Green Knight, tons of Tolkien poetry I've collected from various sources, listened to the NPR production of The Hobbit & LoTR about 200 times since 1995, and am currently waiting for The War of The Jewels, which is Volume 11, and the second to last volume in the History of Middle-Earth series. I've loved them, every one. --Matt |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: P05139 Date: 22 Sep 00 - 07:38 PM Just to make it to 100, I'm currently reading Debbie Harry's biography "Platinum Blonde" and it's not that good! |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: GUEST,Phantom Lurker Date: 22 Sep 00 - 07:29 PM THE WORLD'S 20 THINNEST BOOKS 20. BEAUTY SECRETS by Janet Reno 19. HOME BUILT AIRPLANES by John Denver 18. HOW TO GET TO THE SUPER BOWL by Dan Marino 17. THINGS I LOVE ABOUT BILL by Hillary Clinton 16. MY LIFE'S MEMORIES by Ronald Reagan 15. THINGS I CAN'T AFFORD by Bill Gates 14. THINGS I WOULD NOT DO FOR MONEY - by Dennis Rodman 13. THE WILD YEARS - by Al Gore 12. AMELIA EARHART'S GUIDE TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN 11. AMERICA'S MOST POPULAR LAWYERS 10. DETROIT - A TRAVEL GUIDE 9. DR. KEVORKIAN'S COLLECTION OF MOTIVATIONAL SPEECHES 8. EVERYTHING MEN KNOW ABOUT WOMEN 7. EVERYTHING WOMEN KNOW ABOUT MEN 6. ALL THE MEN I'VE LOVED BEFORE - by Ellen DeGeneres 5. MIKE TYSON'S GUIDE TO DATING ETIQUETTE 4. SPOTTED OWL RECIPES - by the Sierra Club 3. THE AMISH PHONE DIRECTORY 2. MY PLAN TO FIND THE REAL KILLERS - by O. J. Simpson 1. MY BOOK OF MORALS - by Bill Clinton |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Little Hawk Date: 22 Sep 00 - 06:13 PM Moonjen - You just have GOT to read "Jonathan Livingston Seagull"...it is SO much better than Richard Bach's other books! :-))) (Actually, I do think it's a great book, unlike some of the others who have posted here.) And what was that comment about dogs supposed to mean? We do not have the right to speak abusively of dogs in an inclusive forum like Mudcat. My dachshund is so upset that he is thinking of committing some rash act, like attacking the neighbour's cast, which if he does, he will indeed be very sorry, I can guaran-damn-tee that! Ahhhhh....now back to "Worst Books". I have to nominate a book I have just remembered, which my father read to me when he was 10 years old. It was called "Bomba the Jungle Boy", and was a blatant and awful rip-off of the Tarzan books, which in themselves are not what I would call "great literature", although they are quite imaginative and unique. At any rate, Bomba was a sort of 14-year-old version of Tarzan. He had a hapless Negro tribesboy of the same age as a companion...I think his name was Dombi or something like that. Dombi was there simply to get in trouble and be rescued by the gloriously blue-eyed, blond-haired, and Aryan Bomba...who would probably have been wearing a Gap loincloth if such a thing could be had in the jungle. These books were so incredibly bad, and so full of stereotypes (racial and otherwise) they it really beggars description. If you haven't felt really ill in some time, mudcatters, pick up a Bomba the Jungle Boy book. There are about 50 episodes of pure drivel to choose from. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: bbelle Date: 22 Sep 00 - 03:06 PM Of course, just because I didn't like a particular book, doesn't mean that it's not a good book. It boils down to "taste." And, bert, I agree with you that an author can have one great book and 50 dogs. I read and thoroughly enjoyed all of Grisham's books, until The Chamber, and haven't been able to read one since. There's been, in my opinion, one dog in Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series, but I was able to get through it. The same thing, in my opinion, in John Sanford's Lucas Davenport series. Do you see a pattern, here, I'm a mystery/forensics buff, with a few biographies and John Douglas' tossed it.)
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Subject: RE: Worst book From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 22 Sep 00 - 02:38 PM "The Silmarion is for the insatiable." Perhaps so, but I'm one of the insatiable. I've read The Hobbit once only, but LOTR six times so far, and the Silmarilion about four times. Plus the various tales set out in The Unfinished Tales (two or three volumes) three times. You MIGHT say I'm a Tolkien fancier. Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Jim the Bart Date: 22 Sep 00 - 02:26 PM Yes one man's meat is definitely another man's dog food. I read everything by John Barth that I could get my hands on until I read that book "Letter", where he started each section with the next letter in the title. This wasn't literature as much as a word game. Loved both Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead Read about six books in the Dune "trilogy" and then decided to get a life. And what a God-awful movie! Didn't like the Hobbit as much as the trilogy because I read them before I read it. The Hobbit is a children's book; the Lord of the rings is much deeper. The Silmarillion is strictly for the insatiable. Tried to read the Gormenghast Trilogy after Tolkein's and absolutely hated it. Grim, dark, no fun. Anyway, what's all this talk about books? As Egon Spengler said in Ghostbusters "Print is Dead". And I am just kidding. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Bert Date: 22 Sep 00 - 02:16 PM But Moonbaby, that's true with a lot of authors. They can have ONE masterpiece amongst quite an ordinary selection. But I think that deserves a thread of it's own. Bert. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: bbelle Date: 22 Sep 00 - 02:06 PM "One man's treasure is another man's junk." I read both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged in high school and loved both, but I might think differently now. I thought the book, Dances with Wolves, was deadly boring. I tried like hell to get through it and finally gave up the ghost. I couldn't even use it to put me to sleep! Couldn't make it through The French Lieutenant's Woman because it was just "flat." I stay away from any book written by a romance writer cum mystery writer. annap ... I like Agatha Christie for the same reason you like Dickens ... her books reflect the signs of the times. Science fiction bores me to death! And, please, deliver me from people who say to me "Oh, but you just gotta read this one, it's so much better than his/her other books." NOT! |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Bert Date: 22 Sep 00 - 01:52 PM I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that Annamill. I've got about four on the go at the moment. One in the bathroom, one by the bed and a couple of others scattered around. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: GUEST,Mbo_at_ECU Date: 22 Sep 00 - 01:33 PM My sister and I can quote The Pickwick Papers backwards and forwards. A few weeks ago we put our Dad in a state of confusion when we just burst out proclaiming "Ode To A Dying Frog". Ver good, ver good! |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: annamill Date: 22 Sep 00 - 01:27 PM I love reading Dickens. It's like the history of Old England even though his characters do tend to be a bit black and white with little grey. Thing is, I get tired of him sometimes and it's hard to read. What I do in that case, is put down the book for a couple of days and start another author. Then when I need to know what was happening, I go back and start reading him again. I often read more than one book at a time, leaving them open to the page I was on. I read the book I'm in the mood for right now. This can be pretty interesting. Does anyone else do this? Read more than one book at a time, I mean. Love, annamill |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Lepus Rex Date: 21 Sep 00 - 10:57 PM Aw, I like seagulls. Just fed them about 1/8th of my lunch today. 3 different species showed up. And they didn't shit on my car. :D ---Lepus Rex |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: CBjames Date: 21 Sep 00 - 10:43 PM Oh for gawd's sake! The worst book ever written (in the english language at least) is "Jonathon Livingston Seagull" Hitchcock chose them well when he featured them in "The BIRDS" (is coming said said MAD Magazine). Vicious foul and and filthy creatures - any seabird biolologist would tell you. As for Barth - "Giles" didn't pass the thirty year test (though I suspect I read it). "Sot Weed Factor" however was memorable, if only for the eggplant. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Mbo Date: 21 Sep 00 - 09:27 PM Dickens is a master. He writes like artists paint. I love his long sentences. Sorry if that is too taxing for your short attention spans. But somehow you all seem to enjoy those 50 verse ballads...a strange thing mystifying. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: WyoWoman Date: 21 Sep 00 - 09:08 PM I have to admit though, as a professional writer, I would give my eye teeth to have written just one of the mega-bestseller books mentioned above (under a pseudonym, so I could hold my head high and go on to write real and well-respected prose. AND live in the style to which I'm dying to become accustomed. And, even though I don't care for romance novels, my darlin' sister has had ten or so published and they sell like hotcakes. I've long maintained that if men want to make themselves more pleasing to women (Hey! it happens...) they might want to read some romance novels to see what the appeal is. Might get some tips. (and not all of them do involve bosom-heaving or bodice-ripping, nor even icky muscle-y Fabio type heros. ww |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Doctor John Date: 21 Sep 00 - 04:08 PM T. H. White's The Sword in the Stone , a wonderful legend turned into garbage. Anything by Terry Pratchet - sounds like reject chapters from Lord of the Rings performed by the Month Python team on an off day. Trying to read Dickens is like trying to read Homer in Greek: try one in English and the other on BBC Television, then you'll enjoy them! Dickens's books were popular serials in Victorian times which is always a puzzel to me; did people think in longer sentences then or just have more time? Dr John |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: rabbitrunning Date: 20 Sep 00 - 07:37 PM Hey! (says the indignant Children's librarian) children's books ARE the 'good' literature! It's the depressing Arty stuff that's bad. ;p |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Burke Date: 20 Sep 00 - 07:11 PM I hated Catcher in the Rye (read in school) & resented the fact that in a midwest public school the girls were in some way expected to identify with a spoiled east coast private school boy. I really liked Jean Auels' Clan of the Cave Bear. Each of it's sequels was worse than the one before. The Plains of Passage was one of the worst books ever. I haven't seen one of hers since then, so I hope she quit. She did have a contract for 1 or 2 more at the time Plains came out. I haven't read most of the other books mentioned. I think I read 2 chapters of Women who Run with Wolves & have forgotten why I did not like it. I read all of Lord Foul's Bane but hated it enough to go no further on the series or to any of Donaldson's other books. Some other books with good recomendations, that I read a lot of but could not finish are The Witching Hour by Anne Rice; Oldest living Confederate widow tells all by Allan Gurganus; Independence day by Richard Ford. I remember liking Jonathan Livingston Seagull, but it was very much of it's time & I doubt I'd like it much now. I liked Bleak House & most of Dickens that I've read but for some reason never had to deal with him as required reading so I could do it when I wanted to.
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Subject: RE: Worst book From: Jim Dixon Date: 20 Sep 00 - 06:48 PM "Strange Interlude", by Eugene O'Neill, has got to be the worst play ever written by a major playwright. (If you think "The Iceman Cometh" is tedious, you ain't seen nothin' yet.) I once belonged to an amateur theater group that actually got together for a party for the express purpose of reading "Strange Interlude" for laughs. I don't think we were able to finish it. I figure "Strange Interlude" must have been written when the concept of "interior monologue" and "subtext" were new, and Freudianism was all the rage. O'Neill's technique -- and the whole point of the play, actually -- was to make the subtext explicit. Every time an actor delivers a speech -- in the normal way, addressed to another character -- he immediately delivers an "aside" to the audience, and says what he "really" thinks. The plot is pure soap opera. Will Nina run off with Ned, or stay with her husband, Sam? It's so hard to decide when she's secretly mourning Gordon, her true love, who was killed in the war! This play might have seemed profound at a time when people were just considering for the first time the possibility that people might routinely say one thing and mean (or think) something else, but the idea is so familiar in our day that the play seems ridiculously naïve. In our time, the technique is used sparingly and usually for comic effect. Just think of the narrator's voice-overs in "The Wonder Years." But O'Neill was deadly serious, and the asides ran through the WHOLE FRIGGIN' PLAY. It seems hard to believe, but "Strange Interlude" was made into a movie in 1932 and again in 1987. I can't say how faithful the films were to the original script, but I believe the asides were transformed into voice-overs in the 1932 version. There is a brief scene in a Marx Brothers movie - I forget which one - in which Groucho begins to talk to himself and then says, "I think I'm having a strange interlude." |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 20 Sep 00 - 06:25 PM In a Humanities class in college I had to read Thomas Mann's _The Magic Mountain_. We had three months in which to read it (along with all the other materials in the course). Now you should understand that received critical opinion is that Thomas Mann was a great master of literary style. I found this the most dull and depressing book I could possibly imagine. I kept putting it down, picking it up later, putting it down, and so on ad nauseam. Finally, three days before the final, in desperation I put on full steam--No-Doz and Cokes, until four in the morning, just trying to drudge through this wearying mess. Finally, at 5:30 in the morning, with the final test for the quarter at 11:00, I realized that I'd do better to get some sleep because there was no way I was going to be able to finish the durn book. I found my way through a fog of left-over sleep to the exam room. The exam, as it applied to _The Magic Mountain_, gave a choice of four questions on which to write. One choice, to my joy, was something like, "Does Settembrini represent the voice of Thomas Mann himself?" Oh, frabjous day! Calloo! Callay! I remembered an actual quote from THE VERY LAST PAGE I HAD READ AT 5:30 THAT MORNING that, quoted directly with some little comment on my part, gave the answer (which, in short, was yes"). I'm happy to say that I got an A in the course, and the instructor had marked the _Magic Mountain_ section of test booklet with a flattering comment. Thank god for having quit where I did! Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: GUEST,dan evergreen Date: 20 Sep 00 - 05:08 PM |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Little Hawk Date: 20 Sep 00 - 04:08 PM "The Hoarse Whisperer" was pretty tedious too...I got a sore throat from reading that one. Romance novels are good now and then for a laugh. You can remove all the pages from 3 or 4 of them, then mix them up at random like when you shuffle a deck of cards, and then assemble 3 or 4 new books! Or combine them all into one huge romance novel...like something Dostoyevsky would have written if he'd been kicked in the head by a mule in his youth. It not only reads great, it sometimes results in a better book than the original when you employ this editing technique. I recommend it. Heaving bosoms, torn bodices, rippling biceps, and sidelong glances from granite-jawed heroes who look like Fabio on steroids... What??? He already is on steroids? Omigod, I am SO, like, devastated!!! |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Sorcha Date: 20 Sep 00 - 01:59 PM Tie for First Worst--Celestine Prophecy and Bridges of Madison County Horse Whisperer runs a real close second. Barbara Cartlandish/Romance stuff by anyone. IMO, the crap should be banned.............all it's good for is cluttering up used book stores that otherwise might have room for some decent stuff. (sorry, romance lovers) |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: JulieF Date: 20 Sep 00 - 12:43 PM I rather like books which don't do anywhere. I think I really dislike books where there has to be action on every page or where the story ends and every loose end must be tied up. Similary, I have may books which I have given up reading because they need a long session rather than twenty pages on the bus. Ulysses is waiting for a few days of self indulgence. I can't think of books that I absolutely hate. I think I must put them out of my mind. I am rather unfond of pseudoscientific books trying to claim logic and i have thrown them across the room. eg any book on creationism Julie |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: L R Mole Date: 20 Sep 00 - 11:26 AM "Lord Foul's Bane": was that the first one of those Thomas Covenant things? Boy, that never started to go anywhere. I, too, throw things across the room when they're obviously not going to engage me, but that one was just crafty enough to promise, then not deliver. I also disliked "Smilla's Sense of Snow", but I find reading in translation is like making love on the phone. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: WyoWoman Date: 20 Sep 00 - 01:22 AM "Celestine Prophecy," hands down. There might have been an actual book in there somewhere, but it was seriously in need of an editor. And laced through and through with death-defying leaps of logic and plot holes large enough to drive a lorrie through. I am utterly astounded at the popularity it achieved. But then, "Bridges of Madison County," an equally inane and terribly written piece of poof, also did quite well, so I and the popular marked seem to be seriously out of step. ww |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: hesperis Date: 20 Sep 00 - 12:19 AM My mother didn't like the Hobbit, and she read it after reading the Lord of the Rings. I read it as the first book in the series, and as a child, and I love it! It was actually written for Tolkien's children, so please don't use the same standards on it as on 'good' literature. kat - You didn't like Women Who Run With The Wolves???!!!! I loved it so much! Of course, it took me a week to read it, because I kept having to put it down and think about it, and I can usually finish a book of that thickness in a few hours... So a 'normal' person would take a few months to read it. I used to hate the story of Bluebeard, her interpretation really helped me understand the story, and understand why I had hated it previously. That illumination happened with several of the stories that she tells in it. I particularly liked Vassalisa, as my dad used to tell me that story. He was part Russian. That story is one of the few good things I've inherited from that side of the family. ~*sirepseh*~ |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Ely Date: 19 Sep 00 - 03:49 PM I used to be a big Stephen King fan, too. My favorites were Carrie and Christine (big car nut, me). I didn't like Tommyknockers, either. Wasn't it about aliens? Where were the bloody tommyknockers? (if you're not familiar with them, tommyknockers are the souls of miners killed on the job. THey take the forms of little gnome-like old me with colorful shirts and long beards. They're known for being mischievous and can be mean if you make them mad, but can also be helpful, leading miners to big veins of ore or to safety before a cave-in). Little bit of Colorado folklore. I liked David Copperfield much better than Great Expectations. We named our fetal pig in biology class "Estella" in honor of the little swine in the book. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Bert Date: 19 Sep 00 - 12:16 PM Just thought of another one - 'The Water Babies' - Yeeeuch. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Date: 19 Sep 00 - 11:17 AM I blush to admit it but on the much-delayed journey home from holiday last week I tried reading Jilly Cooper's "Score" that my wife had been reading on the beach. She warned me it was rubbish but, oh boy, it was worse than that! And no doubt sold millions! RtS |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Steve Latimer Date: 19 Sep 00 - 10:29 AM The only book that I've ever read that I couldn't stand was Margaret Lawrence's "The Stone Angel." We had to read it in high school and I found every page to be tedious. I have heard many people whose opinions I respect say that it's a wonderful book, perhaps I should revisit it. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: kendall Date: 19 Sep 00 - 08:54 AM While I hate to trash Maine authors, I must say that most of Steven Kings books are rubbish, (two exceptions, The Green Mile and Dolores Caliborn) but The Beans of Egypt Maine by Carolyn Chute was very poorly written making it very slow going. When I finished it I wanted my time back that I used on it. I kept waiting for something to happen but it was like watching cans rust. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Patrish(inactive) Date: 19 Sep 00 - 03:42 AM I had to read "Bleak House" - Dickens, for A-level at school. I hated every minute of it. I have read many other Dickens since including Expectations and thoroughly enjoyed them. I have tried to read Bleak House again, but I cant, I think it is the worst book he ever wrote. I agree with Kat -anything shmaltzy like Barbara Cartland makes me want to puke. Be grateful the European Commission dont write novels, if they were anything like some of the reports and guidelines I have to read, they would very definitely be on everyones list. Patrish |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Melani Date: 18 Sep 00 - 05:31 PM Oh, gee, I forgot James Joyce. I loved "Dubliners", but started "Ulysses" three times, years apart, and quit after two pages. It certainly contained fascinating and unforgettable characters, but as with Dickens, the writing style got to me. His earlier stuff is a lot more like normal English writing. I loved "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" in high school, but I'm not sure if I could reread them now with the same enjoyment. It's wonderful to see people's different tastes unfolding here. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Jim Dixon Date: 18 Sep 00 - 04:58 PM Here's a link to the complete text of Mark Twain's essay A Cure For The Blues, which was mentioned by Fretless above. As I am a great fan of Twain, I plan to read it soon. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Little Hawk Date: 18 Sep 00 - 04:45 PM Hmmmm...cool. I like Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, but I expect many would not. I also like the Hobbit, but ditto. I was similarly disappointed with "Winds of War". I thought "Celestine Prophecy" was quite amateurishly written, but had some very valuable ideas in it, so that made it worthwhile. I read Pickwick Papers at about age 18 and absolutely loved it. Haven't read Great Expectations, however. Why do I have quotes on some titles above and not on others? Who knows? Call it an "act of God" or something. I just noticed. No purposeful plan there. It's most intriguing that some people's "best" books are other people's choice for "worst". Just shows to go (ha, ha) what very curious and unique creatures we humans are. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: GUEST,pattyClink Date: 18 Sep 00 - 04:26 PM The Celestine Prophecy. What little I could stand to read. Made you want to hunt the author down and slap 'im. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: GUEST,Fretless Date: 18 Sep 00 - 03:25 PM The absolutely BEST worst book (really an extended essay) is Mark Twain's A Cure for the Blues, in which Twain takes his candidate for worst book, trashes it gloriously line by line and page by page, then reprints the entire monstrosity (an early nineteenth century romantic novelette with the same title as Twain's essay). It is one of the few pieces of truly laugh out loud literature penned during the 19th cent.
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Subject: RE: Worst book From: Bert Date: 18 Sep 00 - 11:34 AM I agree with Melanie that "Great Expectations" is crap. We were forced to read a lot of Dickens at school but that one stands apart from the lot. UGH!. Usually I don't bother finishing a book if it's really bad, so I never got through all that Hobbit rubbish. The only books I've finished that I hated were "Winds of War" - I kept thinking that something was going to happen eventually but it just fizzled out. What a bloody waste of time. The other one was a computer science book that we HAD to read in class "Databases" by Chris Date. It was awful, how that guy ever got to be an author I don't know. It is complete gobbledegook. The guy has 'sentences' without verbs in 'em for crying out loud. Bert. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: GUEST,James Date: 18 Sep 00 - 11:33 AM ANY of the chicken soup drivel....Jonathan Livingstone...aghhhh. Sabines notebook.....dreadful rubbish..I consider most of this sort of pseudo sociology a right waste of paper. I also dislike Stephen King.. I think he is highly over rated as writer and under rated as a commodity producer. Ayn Rand should just have kept quiet and Ms. Dillard should simply have enjoyed the Creek and not mentioned it to a soul. |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: GUEST,James Date: 18 Sep 00 - 11:28 AM |
Subject: RE: Worst book From: Little Hawk Date: 18 Sep 00 - 11:23 AM Gervase - interesting that you would mention the Bible on your list. You have the courage to go where angels fear to tread. :-) I personally regard the Bible as a very valuable document in many ways, but I get your drift. I think the problem historically with the Bible has been people's tendency to interpret highly symbolic metaphor in a completely literal fashion...or to conveniently interpret whatever piece of it is handy to them, in order to support their current agenda, while blithely ignoring the actual teachings of Jesus which may utterly invalidate that same agenda. The basic teachings of Jesus are very simple. Love God. Trust God. Love one another. Love yourself (in the sense of having a healthy sense of self-esteem). Be harmless unto others. Treat others as you would wish to be treated. Forgive those who have caused you harm. Do not judge others, but have the courage to stand up for what you feel is right. Forgive, forgive, forgive, but do not yield your own integrity in the process. Then there's all the other complicated stuff...the history, the accounts of kings, kingdoms, warfare, deceit, betrayal, greed, and so on. Some of it is simply historical account. Some of it (I would assert) is self-serving political propaganda by this or that group, seeking to justify and glorify themselves at the expense of others (whom they may have slaughtered). Some of it is sacred and inspired poetry that lifts the spirit high (read the Psalms!). Some of it is the blazing words of genuine prophets afire with revelation (read Isaiah or Ezekial or Revelation, etc). Some of it is mind-numbing lists of rules, names, numbers, and more rules...which are utterly archaic and have no application in today's society. They had application several thousand years ago, but not anymore. Therefore, you can find anything you want in the Bible...the Word of God, the words of men, the words of prophets or whatever. Everyone from the outright fascist murderer to the outright humanitarian saint has drawn inspiration from the Bible, according to his chosen interpretation of it. For these reasons, it is a fascinating and valuable document...but it must be read with great care and discretion...and the essential teachings of Jesus (which are most humanitarian) had best be kept in mind all the while.
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