BS: What books would you NOT reread?

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Oct 16 - 09:38 PM

I had to find out how the darn thing ended! The book was well-written enough to keep you turning the darned pages...

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Oct 16 - 07:40 PM

Well I don't understand that. As a non-reader of fiction who's tried to read fiction, I find that I know after ten pages whether I need to just ditch the book and seek out something a bit more life-affirming. Try Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante in E flat K.364. Why would you flagellate yourself by sticking with something so cold and negative?

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Oct 16 - 07:06 PM

The book "Damage" on which the Miranda Richardson/Jeremy Irons film was based -- I didn't go near the film after looking at the book. It is brilliant, as a well-made watch/clock is, and a cold and heartless bit of writing. Reading it left me feeling chilled to the bone.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 09 Oct 16 - 07:01 AM

"The Klansman" by William Bradford Huie. Not a criticism of the author. I just found it upsetting.
Yours wimpishly
Charlie

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 08:39 PM

Cor, I never read fiction so I can hardly answer this. The non-fiction books I read I tend to dip in and out of, so I can't really discard any of them. I suppose there must be something wrong with me.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 08:27 PM

I read quite a few Nevil Shute novels also, Trustee from the Toolroom was fascinating. On the Beach was a thoughtful and remarkable book - but I agree, reading it once was enough. :)

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: michaelr
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 06:42 PM

Mein Kampf.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 06:42 PM

Given that there only seem to be two copies of Dick's brother's roman à clef for sale anywhere in the world, at rather silly prices, it doesn't look like many people have to worry about picking it up by mistake:

Rufus Miles: Marsh Heirs

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Gurney
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 06:29 PM

'On the Beach' by Nevil Shute. Ive read all of the rest and enjoyed them, but this post-apocalyptic novel, concerning the last hopeless, dying humans on Earth, ruined my sleep for a long time.

Kim C, I re-read and sold my old Louis Lamour paperbacks recently, and got a good price for them. There was a small bidding war.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 02:08 PM

the naked lunch

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Mo the caller
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 01:12 PM

There are books I find myself rereading by accident. Looking at the first page at our dance club charity bring & buy, not recognizing it till after I've bought it again.
I usually finish books even if I wonder why afterwards, but The Popes Rhinoceros has been on my bedside table for weeks - about 2 chapters in - I've no idea what it's all about. It's going back for someone else to plough through.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 12:23 PM

It may be some sort of heresy, but, I tried a few pages of "The Girl On The Train" and found myself disliking the narrator intensely. Maybe that was the author's intention. If so she succeeded admirably in my case. I notice the film version has been moved to America and has an attractive leading lady.
Yours, getting older and crabbier
Charlie

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 12:08 PM

There are still people who haven't read these novels. Please don't offer up spoilers.

Jim said "Re-reading is difficult and even counterproductive" - to which I must disagree. Re-reading is very productive and allows one to do a "close reading" of a text. Particularly useful for scholars.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Mo the caller
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 10:56 AM

I do hate the way you can see Hardy's characters setting themselves up for their downfall. Far too true to life.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Senoufou
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 09:23 AM

I know Jim, and there are some absolutely wonderful passages in his novels. The Woodlanders, for example, gives a detailed account of a woodcutter's life in the forest, 'Tess' about dairying and so on, and I'm a country person myself. But oh dear, 'Jude The Obscure'! And 'Tess Of The D'Urbevilles'! And 'The Return Of The Native'! All describe a cruel twist of fate which causes tragedy and sorrow. I couldn't handle reading those again, I'd need a box of tissues and some anti-depressants.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 08:50 AM

"Anything by Thomas Hardy. Studied him at Uni. Miserable bugger."
Sorry, couldn't possibly agree.
Hardy's novels throb with English rural life - sunshine and scabs.
Moving and humane, yes, miserable, no.
All down to personal taste I suppose.
There's a difference between reading for enjoyment and and 'studying' - I know people who hate Dickens, Shakespeare, Salinger, Cervantes... for exactly the same reason
Ask any Irish ex-pupil over a certain age what they think of Peig Sayers - then duck - wonderful, courageous woman who wrote one of the finest autobiographies of Irish island life.
It's all down to how these authors are taught.
I love Hardy and have read all his books twice.
Traditional singer, Walter Pardon, doted on his books and read all of them at least half-a-dozen times - except 'Tess', which upset him too much.
He once told us that the two greatest crimes in English literature were "the hanging of Tess and the drowning of Maggie Tulliver.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Senoufou
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 07:56 AM

Anything by Thomas Hardy. Studied him at Uni. Miserable bugger.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: The Sandman
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 07:33 AM

Marsh Heirs, a completely inaccurate description of my childhood written by my brother, a fantasy in which i appear cast as a juvenile delinquent, feckin cheek

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: The Sandman
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 07:30 AM

Pincher Martin., imo a complete waste of time
Most novels by Martin Amis., He doesnt seem to understand the need for a story or plot.
Maos Little Red Book, a collection of inane statements

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 04:27 AM

Re-reading is difficult and even counterproductive
I've lost count of books I have enjoyed and revisited, only to be disappointed the second time around - 'Catch 22' springs to mind.
I might read Garrison Keilor's 'Lake Wobegone Days' again - to see if I can finish it this time - I got to the penultimate chapter and gave up thinking why bother
Dreadful bore
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: CupOfTea
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 01:41 AM

I'm inclined to reread favorite books on a regular basis, but some have passed out of my inclination eventually.
When I was young, I re-read Atlas Shrugged yearly. Been unwilling to crack it for decades, likely never again (same true for the rest of Rand's novels)
I adored Ray Bradbury from about 5th grade on. His intro to "The October Country" stuck with me so much that every fall I'd go digging through boxes of books for it, but somehow reading the whole collection was no longer necessary. I do know that after my husband took a writing workshop with Bradbury at Cal Tech, and reported that Bradbury was an avowed athiest, it gave me a different slant on his writing that that made it less attractive.

Don't want to reread books that were spun out into series. So often, even if the first book is great, each one after it gets weaker and weaker till I get disgusted, even with authors I like very much, like Roger Zelazny's Amber books.

Used to reread Dean Koontz when I needed a mindless spooker. Had a whole big collection, but I think the only one I'd bother to reread of the bunch was the one about the superintelligent Golden Retrievers... the rest went to half price books.

Wonder why I haven't thrown out all sorts of old text books - any chance of a reread of those is slim to not-gonna-happen.

A batch of the above wouldn't qualify, as I had the sense not to read 'em the first time, being willing to believe Cliffnotes and lit. crit.

Joanne in Cleveland (whose overly read copy of The Last Unicorn is out on loan, and who knows if I'll ever see it again)

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Janie
Date: 07 Oct 16 - 11:20 PM

I'm with you re Lord of the Rings, Nigel. I've read the trilogy several times, starting at about age 16, and including reading it with my son twice. While I did enjoy the movies, I'm one of those who tend to prefer the book and my own imagination to the movie. It is rare that I like a movie based on a book that I love if I have already read the book.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Oct 16 - 11:06 PM

Atlas Shrugged. I couldn't get more than about halfway through that nonsense before I had to put it down, and I usually will tough it out through a book just to see if it gets better before the end.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 07 Oct 16 - 10:02 PM

Wicked. I thought it was vile. I was amazed that it was turned into a successful musical. When I saw it, I kept thinking I would have enjoyed it more if I'd never read the book.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 07 Oct 16 - 08:13 PM

Having read through the thread, I didn't see anyone mention Shakespeare.
Just as well. I'm currently re-reading some of his. (No, I don't like all of Shakespeare)
Some people 'knock' authors whom I happily re-read. Well, different strokes for different folks.
A couple of comments finding Heinlein hard to read. Fair enough, if you want to re-try, try "Friday". (Nothing to do with Crusoe!)
Tolkien gets a mention as the films being better. Ok, that's an opinion. Not only would I re-read Lord of the Rings, but I do, every few years since the 60s. If you prefer the films, maybe you should try the Radio 4 dramatization. This kept me spellbound for 26 half hour episodes in the 80s. Even though I already knew exactly where the story was leading.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 Oct 16 - 05:46 PM

Janie, regarding Stephen Donaldson:

the final two books are worth looking at for the following:

The penultimate book, Against All Things Ending, fulfills two things:
Thomas Covenant finally does the merciful thing for his wife, all these books later. Also Linden's Jeremiah is finally healed.

Then The Last Dark confronts Thomas Covenant's son Roger, and Lord Foul.

He certainly was a long time getting there, though.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 07 Oct 16 - 05:32 PM

We've got this far and nobody's nominated the Bible?

I'd read a shelf of Mills & Boon and a Dan Brown before I'd go near that again.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Janie
Date: 07 Oct 16 - 03:50 PM

I had forgotten about the Thomas Covenant saga, keberoxu. As I recall, I thoroughly enjoyed the first 6 books. Started the 1st book of "The Last Chronicles...." but couldn't get into it. Never finished it and never attempted the next 3.

There are not many works of fiction I have been inclined to re-read, no matter how much I enjoyed them the first go round. The exception is books I read when younger that I either read to my son or he read to me when he was young.

Re books on tape or CD, for a number of years now I have found it difficult to concentrate or stay still long enough to read a complete novel. I find I can focus when listening to books on CD, maybe because I can listen as I go about doing chores or while driving.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 Oct 16 - 03:22 PM

When Stephen Donaldson finally wrapped up the Thomas Covenant saga, I started at the end and worked backwards. I could do the reading as long as I skipped a lot of pages. Can't really imagine putting up with Thomas Covenant before it was known how the series would end, but because the series took so long to complete, decades of readers were asked to do exactly that.

Authors with whom I was not happy were John Buchan and Talbot Mundy. Although Mundy's   "Om the Secret of Ahbor Valley" held my interest, I was disappointed by his other books.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Cluin
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 07:14 PM

Anything by Bret Easton Ellis is all caca.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 06:16 PM

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five. No redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Emma B
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 06:09 PM

Sorry Mcgrath but absolutely nothing could persuade me to reread Hardy's 'The Trumpet Major' which was part of our curriculum although fortunately after a lifetime of avoiding everything else by him I finally found (after hearing the Melstock Band {Bless}) 'The Ruined Maid', 'Absentmindedness in the Village Choir', 'Great Things' and several other treasures
Also forced to read 'My Early Life' by Winston Churchill - it made having teeth drawn without anasthetic preferable and helps to explain why I am a life long socialist (By the way The Ragged Trousered Philantrophists should be a must)
Do today's children have a better choice of compulsory reading?

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Sam L
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 08:49 PM

Gee, everybody hates John Barth!
It's possible not to love War and Peace!
The only Heinlein book I ever really tried to read may just be the wrong one!

My wife often finds stories I like "depressing". I don't understand her not enjoying them, and try to get her to see them differently. But I don't really know how, or what it is, exactly, so I wind up blindly coaxing her to read them less with an attitude of "there but for the Grace of God go I" and more in the spirit of "See ya see ya, wouldn't want to be ya"!

   About sex in books Kim C, a fiction prof of mine, Ken Smith, who teaches somewhere 'round there in TN last I heard, had a story in which a man "stepped out of his pants" in a sex scene. I teased him so much about it, demanding a brief yet ultimately triumphant struggle, that when it came out in his book he'd changed it. I felt a little guilty about the whole thing. It really came down to a difference in the pants we wore, me and my straight-leg jeans, him and his loose slacks. Ah well, sometimes it's not the joke that's funny, it's just funny to be such an asshole that you persist teasing with the joke.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Nancy King at work
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 08:23 PM

Anything in which an animal solves a mystery, such as the "Cat Who..." books by Lilian Jackson Braun.

Depressing books like "Sophie's Choice".

Over-erudite stuff like "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco.

Gratuitously violent books like "Season of the Machete" by James Patterson (some violence in a novel doesn't bother me at all, but this one had absolutely nothing else. I was surprised recently when I read his "1st to Die" and "2nd Chance" -- I actually enjoyed them!).

Anything by John Barth.

--Nancy

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: DonMeixner
Date: 03 Nov 03 - 11:28 PM

I have tried to read Stranger in a Strangeland at least once a year since 1969. I have given up. Heinlein who I view as god in science fiction was just writing words for words sake it seemed. Just awful.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Peace
Date: 03 Nov 03 - 08:28 PM

Remains of the (friggin') Day
War and Peace
Any Agatha Christie book--I know, she's an institution. So's jail, and I don't want to do time
Any 'Harlequin' romance
Alistair Maclean's later stuff--the last of his I enjoyed was Puppet on a Chain. Liked everything before and nothing after. And thought that one was only so-so
The Horse Whisperer

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: kendall
Date: 01 Nov 03 - 03:46 PM

Did you hear about the hillbilly who ran out of Vaseline and used 3 in 1 oil? His wife had triplets. He said, "Damn lucky I didn't use WD 40.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Blind DRunk in Blind River
Date: 31 Oct 03 - 04:32 PM

The AStroglide? WHAT???? Am I missin out on something here?

- BDiBR

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 31 Oct 03 - 03:11 PM

Something I've noticed about these romanterotic novels is, sex never happens like it does in Real Life. Nobody ever gets poked by a pointy hipbone, nobody ever gets their back wrenched, nobody ever reaches for the Astroglide, and nobody ever mentions The Pill. And there's never a wet spot.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Cluin
Date: 31 Oct 03 - 03:04 PM

Fred has it. Read some of the bad stuff so you know how good the good stuff really is. It's just like beer, wine, whiskey...

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: AliUK
Date: 31 Oct 03 - 11:52 AM

In the early days of mass-market publishing. There were two kinds of books. The Novel and the penny dreadful. Guess which one sold the most. In the 20s, 30s, 40s and some of the 50s there were the pulps and there was "serious" literature. Guess which sold the most. From then on there have been hardbacks, paperbacks Trade paperbacks and special editions. Guess which ones sell the most. Today the lie has been blurred in a lot of cases between " literature" and "quick fiction". which has also blurred the lines between what is considered good and what is considered good. I started this thread as a bit of fun, but it has actually made me stop and think about my own conceits about what I think constitutes a good read, in the end it comes down to if I find it entertaining or not. If it engages me in some way ( ditto form films)or not. Is that the best criteria?

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Blind DRunk in Blind River
Date: 31 Oct 03 - 11:21 AM

Ummmm...ya lost me there, Sage. Are you a liberian or a professer or somethin?

Joe T, you are a total looser eh? That book rocks!

BDiBR

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Oct 03 - 11:05 AM

I think there is a nuance that AliUK cast a little light on--there is a sub-category of these books that are intended to be erotic fantasy. They don't take themselves seriously, they're not high art. But the ones that Danielle Steel writes seem to me to be part of the problem of low self-esteem, not part of the solution of literacy. If young women (or even older women) are naïve enough to evalutate themselves or their lives by those oh-too-prefect heroines, or decide that there is some inner truth there that they should hang their hopes for happiness and sexual fulfillment on a man (and thereby not enacting their own agency to control their own happiness and destiny, into which a man may or may not enter) then they stumble. The erotic fantasy books are easily in the category of "escapist" reading. I read mysteries for escapist reasons, and when my kids were little amd I was looking for heavy-duty distraction I looked through the used book stores for decent romances. But they're hard to find (I even thought about writing them under a pseudonym--quick cash--except they're not easy and the cash isn't quick). As was mentioned, those writers have to keep their stories strictly within a regimented format, and that kills a lot of the creative spirit for me, at least. One wonders what would happen to the books of Anya Seton or Georgette Heyer if they entered into the book world today instead of 50 or more years ago?

We as readers in this particular discussion understand why we read a book, and choose high or low literature for a variety of reasons. When new or unpracticed readers don't have a choice in books, then the ideas they are exposed to may carry more clout, because there isn't a basis for comparison. So I cheer every time my daughter (age 15) picks up a classic from the shelf to read, and I know that when she reads a modern popular book that she has the ability to judge the book based on all of the other stuff she reads (right now, that is The Faerie Queen, in an edition I can't find to link to at Amazon). I've spoiled the kids for some of the low-brow reading, with all of the classics they've been allowed to fall in love with.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Joe from Espanola
Date: 31 Oct 03 - 11:02 AM

"Secret Diary of a Sudbury Skank"

It's even worse than it sounds. I ain't felt good about girls since I read it.

Joe T.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Jaze
Date: 31 Oct 03 - 10:24 AM

The Color Purple. Once was enough for the book and movie. I'm glad I read it and saw it but never want to again. The story was too disturbing.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 05:35 PM

Some of the ladies in my office have been swapping paperbacks. I have read a few of them. While some are decent stories, most are really crappy writing. And 500+ pages? What's that about? Holy mackerel, if you can't tell the story in 400, it's hard for me to stick with it.

One that I started and threw back in the pile was Yesterday by Fern Michaels. Even worse than Anne Rice.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: AliUK
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 03:45 PM

my point exactly Fred.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Sam L
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 03:22 PM

Most offensive? Most offensive is junk dressed up as serious artistic work. Why read bad stuff? For the experience of it, to see what it is, and not be ignorant of it. I reviewed a Judith Krantz once and am proud to have made the the trek through it. The absolute worst stuff I ever read was so bad I kept thinking they must be trying to do something serious--nobody could really be that bad. It was a really strong exercise to try to understand it, one way or another, made me question what I've been taught about good writing, and was much more invigorating than reading some pretty good books could've been.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: AliUK
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 03:09 PM

All the books that I quoted way up there at the top of the thread, I read mostly in the hope that they would get better. I even went back and reread some books that I thought might have gotten better with age ( my age that is), mostly the Hardys because I thought with my increasing interest in folk music they would go down better( they didn´t. By the way I have seen the Mellstock Band and I love their music). I think it is hope that keeps us reading bad books and watching bad movies. Maybe sometimes we can justify them by saying there so bad they´re cult!

I once got into the snobbery of putting down books like Mills and Boone (the British equivalent of Harlequin Romances) and their ilk. Ditto for westerns and war stories ( Sven Hassle springs to mind) and then I realised that any reading that anyone is doing is what keeps the people literate and keeps others writing so that people may one day produce the stuff we want to read. I´m a a fantasy/horror/SF kinda guy myself, which has never stopped me reading anything else and never will thank God, so I tend to find myself at the end of a snooty stare when I mention that I really liked the latest Eddings,Gibson or Bear even. There´s crap in all genres. What I find most offensive though ARE the Danielle Steeles of the world who do produce this stuff through some kind of computer programme. That nowadays keeps on going even after they are dead. Thank Christ that nobody in the Cartland estate decided to do that!

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 02:54 PM

Louis L'Amour novels are perfectly acceptable entertainment. They're short, they're relatively clean, and the good guy always wins. Art? Nah. But there has to be room for Fun somewhere.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 02:45 PM

Suzanne, rather than read the little stuff available there, find all of the wonderful literary stuff available online through netLibrary and so many other free sources. And instead of worrying about reading trash or not reading at all, now is the time for you to write.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 02:18 PM

The strange thing is, Suzanne, that sounds like just the kind of place which in the past has produced wonderful music.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 01:54 PM

Cold Mountain.

To quote a friend of mine: "post-modern existential rubbish"

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Suzanne
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 01:51 PM

Actually, McGrath of Harlow, that's a really good question. Why
waste even a moment reading mediocre prose, watching bad movies
and worse TV, listening to lousy music, when there's better to be found? I guess you could see it as a sort of a character flaw or
a lack of discernment, an excess of openmindedness or evidence of
intellectual sluttishness of the worst kind. But sometimes it's a question of access - I live in a weird isolated pocket of the southwestern US, terrible local school, no budget for the library which consists largely, therefore, of donated Harlequin romances and Danielle Steele 'novels' and Louis L'Amour westerns, no radio
reception or (gasp!) cell phone reception, no theater, no organic veggies at the grocery store, one local band which plays bad music badly - if it wasn't for the internet, you could go really bonkers out here. (On the other hand, open space, privacy, virtually no crime, bald eagles that roost in my tree several months of the year,
stars at night so close and bright, clean air, clean water, no traffic...)

That still leaves the question, is it better to read trash or to read nothing at all?

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 12:14 PM

William Burroughs did the same thing to probably what was a much better effect many years ago (I haven't read it). I sincerely think that with the Madam of Saccharine Romance there is no help through reorganization, that it's Trash In = Trash Out.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 11:23 AM

So why read that kind of stuff in the first place?

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 11:09 AM

Here's a cool idea. Take 3 or 4 of Danielle Steele's books and process them into a computer database. Then have the database shuffle the pages at random for a bit and generate 3 or 4 new books, merely making sure that the page numbers are still the same...so page 1 would still be page 1, but not necessarily in the same book. This would result in 3 or 4 brand new Danielle Steele books with almost no work at all, and she could write a brief extension if one didn't match up quite right at the end because of not enough pages in the other ones. KaChing! More money for Danielle Steele (I wonder what her real name is?).

Or, one could just hire 25 or so chimpanzees to do it...after suitable indoctrination in the basic premises of this style of fiction.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Sam L
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 10:29 AM

Thank you, Burke. Waugh, yes. The Dickensian fate wasn't in Brideshead Revisited but some other book. Waugh has some really glaring terrible glitches of style and awkwardness, but on the whole is much better than many smoother writers, like E.M. Forster, who I tried to read at the same time. I never figured out this vein of writing novels about English real estate.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Suzanne
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 02:03 AM

Once was enough to read Living History by Hilary Clinton. Then
again, if I was desperate enough, I think I would read or reread
just about anything. Even Danielle Steele. It would help if I
had a red pen and could write snide comments in the margins, though.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 01:37 AM

Cluin - You think those were funny? Imagine a recording of William Shatner reading "Crime and Punishment"...

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 09:02 PM

Burke, as a committed C.J. Cherryh fan I am reluctant to admit that Rusalka was not up to her usual marvelous standard.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: curmudgeon
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 08:57 PM

The Graduate. Hated the book. Just watched the film this year. Hated the film.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Amergin
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 08:13 PM

the good earth was forced down my throat back in high school...and i detested it then...it was just stupid.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: kendall
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 07:47 PM

Any trashy novel. What a waste of brain cells.

Sinsull, Moby Dick is funny? How so?

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Burke
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 07:45 PM

I agree about Nikolai Tolstoy, I usually love Arthurian stories & it did not work. C.J. Cherryh hit me the same way with her Russian tale: Rusalka.

I could not go beyond the 1st book of the first of Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series. I gathered I'd missed something so I re-read it years later & still could not stand it.

I recentley read The Hours & at the same time re-read Mrs. Dalloway. Woolf's is much better. It was not an easy read, but I quite enjoyed it.

Also disliked Watership Down.

Brideshead Revisited is by Evelyn Waugh. I read almost everything he wrote 25 years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 06:58 PM

Ever come across those machines for reading print they've developed primarily for blind people? They have one in our library and I had a go at it one time.

They have a set of voices to choose from to do the reading, and it can be a gas to pick something totally imappropriate. You can have some utra-refined voice reading a tough thriller, or a deep gravelly voice reading about fluffy bunny rabbits...

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Cluin
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 05:21 PM

Best book on tape I heard: Brad Pitt reading Cormac MacCarthy's "The Crossing".

Funniest book on tape: a toss-up between Burt Reynolds reading "Moby Dick" and Barry Corbin reading Max Brand.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Peter T.
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 04:58 PM

The best book on tape I ever heard was John Le Carre reading The Spy Who Came In From the Cold. The perfect reader.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 04:30 PM

Some of these books are much better out loud. Lawrence, Hardy, and Hemingway on Books on Tape are wonderful. (I prefer unabridged, but perhaps what some of you as discontented readers need are the abridged or Reader's Digest versions.) Books like Thoreau's Walden don't come across so well on tape, but Faulkner is a dream out loud, with a good reader. Same with others like Sinclair Lewis, whose books are big and seem intimidating but who move right along on tape. And I loved Moby Dick on tape.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Thomas the Rhymer
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 04:07 PM

"...When I consider how exceedingly our Illustrious moderns have eclipsed the weak glimmering lights of the antients, and turned them out of the road of all fashionable Commerce, to a degree that our choice 'Town-Wits' of most refined accomplishments, are in grave Dispute, whether there have been ever any antients or no..."

A Tale of a Tub... Swift

I agree SRS, the sexuallity in "The Fountainhead" is disgusting... but I still find the book otherwise to be of much value...

Dickens is fine by me... as is Hardy... Mann? well...

Laurence... Maybe someday...

ttr

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: kendall
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 03:52 PM

So,Johnie, I guess you have to be American to appreciate the sanity of Charles Kuralt. By the way, not that it would change your mind, but I'm in that book. Too bad he chose one of my least favorite stories.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: AliUK
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 03:46 PM

I must confess to a weakness for ERB and also the Doc Savage Pulps. Go to www.blackmask.com and download your favourite pulps in zipfiles...excellent stuff and they also have all the Oz books.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 03:20 PM

They used to read differently. Typically with Dickens and co it would have been reading out loud, which is a competely different experience.

With audio-books we're getting back into that.

And I'm entirely with Peter T and Little Hawk about D.H.Lawrence. Except I'm not sure about him being "great when you are 18". I can't remember any enthusiasm for him then - but it's a long time ago.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Grab
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 02:35 PM

Hey, this is about books you can't stand. What else is the thread for except ranting? ;-) I agree, McGrath, modern books ain't necessarily better than older ones, but old books ain't necessarily better just bcos they're old. Thing is that the English language hasn't changed that much, given that Conan Doyle and Dickens are both reasonably readable today (even if Dickens couldn't write a character or plot to save his life ;), so we can probably say that they weren't really readable even then, it's just that people back then didn't expect readability.

I forgot Gormenghast. That's an odd book. It's got great style, but about halfway through you realise there's absolutely no substance there. It's like gothic popcorn. Magician I thought wasn't totally bad, but it for sure wasn't a top-100.

Oh yes, another pet peeve is Alastair Maclean. He wrote HMS Ulysses, Guns of Navarone, and Last Frontier, which are all amazing. Then he spent the rest of his life turning out dross. Wierd.

Graham.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Amergin
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 01:21 PM

nemesis reminded me of something....

another i would not re read chariots of the gods...

or anything by hans holzer

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 12:35 PM

Only thing I can say about Dickens is, I read Pickwick Papers 2 or 3 times and thought it was marvelous, so I think I'm in agreement with Peter T. on this one...

Bomba was located in the Amazon rain forest, wasn't he? There were at least 15,000 anacondas per square mile in Bomba's neck of the woods. He also had a hapless native sidekick of some kind whose name I have forgotten. The sidekick was there to get attacked by things and rescued, which used to happen, oh, about 50 times in every 120 pages of breathless prose! You could work up a good sweat reading Bomba and never even put the book down...

Has anybody read the Mike Hammer novelettes? Now there's highbrow, classic fiction!

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,eliza c
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 12:24 PM

"The Last English King" by Julian Rathbone. Awful awful pretentious self-centred slightly kinky twaddle. I'd been thinking about getting into some more historical novels, and the Harold period really interests me. Lone traveller meets up with rag-tag bunch of cod philosophers, cue Rathbone trying really hard to be clever by having a character that puts together Greek words and comes up with "psychotic" ("hey-if I put the Greek word for such-and-such with this word for so-and-so, I can perfectly describe this man's condition!"), that kind of thing. Smug is a good word too, and perfectly describes this book!
cheers,
ec

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: JennyO
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 11:07 AM

I'm sure there are heaps of them, but they were so awful I don't remember them :-)

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: alanabit
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 09:44 AM

That is what taste is about Peter, I guess. The main thing I found stupendous about Dickens was his bloody nerve. It is just too much like hard work to read more than a page of his horrible prose. I only read for pleasure!

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 09:08 AM

an anaconda? from the TREES? Oh, my....where was Bomba supposed to be from?...That might be worth reading for the laughs, like "Exiles of Time" (reminds me of Mark Twains essay on "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses", where he describes a bunch of Indians hiding in a tree above a narrow canal, planning to drop down on a canal boat...and, one by one, missing!)

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 08:36 AM

I'd forgotten about Lawrence - definitely a never read again!

I would agree that Gormenghast was a bit difficult but oh, so worth the effort. I have it at home to go for again in a few year's time.

Re Wilbur Smith - his ancient Egyptian series is worth looking at although I agree that the more modern stuff should be left behind with any degree of literary maturity. It's quite incredible that books I would have raved over a few years ago have no appeal whatsoever when I try to re-read. Suppose I must be growing up!

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Peter T.
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 08:10 AM

The first half of Birdsong is great, but the second half seems pretty formulaic to me.

Dickens is stupendous. I occasionally start with Pickwick, and work through all the novels. Takes a year, but is worth it. It is a universe: you don't ask for Turner to paint less, or Beethoven to write less music. His only flaw is that (except for Our Mutual Friend, where things get unsettled, due to the strains of his secret love affair), his portrayal of young women is cardboard.

Bomba the Jungle Boy -- I bet you can't even find them now -- Bomba was like those Beach movies, where, when things got slow, "surf's up!!". In his case, an anaconda would drop from the trees. "Anaconda's down!!!"

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Shelley C at work
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 08:09 AM

'Magician' by Raymond Feast. It's cobbled together from every other fantasy book you have ever read. I was dismayed when it showed up on the BBC's recent 100 favourite books poll. No wonder sci fi/fantasy gets a bad name.

Also, I agree with the point that some books are well worth reading once, but if you find the subject matter challenging its difficult to go there again. I've found this with several books, including 'The Black Album' by Hanif Kureshi and 'Go Tell it on the Mountain'

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Strollin' Johnny
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 07:52 AM

'On The Road' - Kerouac seemed a fantastic writer when I was a kid in the 60's but I just tried to re-read it and nearly fell off the bog with boredom.

All Dickens' stuff - he was a serial writer for (I think) the London Gazette and it shows, obviously got paid by the thousand words and never lost an opportunity to use a thousand meaningless ones where one good one would do.

Asimov's 'Foundation' Trilogy - sheer hard work.

But I WOULD re-read 'Birdsong' or 'Rebecca' (and have done).

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Nemesis
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 06:22 AM

The Tolstoy Arthurian book think - yup, I was bought that .. and threw it away half a chapter in - inpenetrable turgid drivel.

Dickens - struggle and give up with this .. mainly because he wrote serially for newspapers and .. oh! There's just not enough time in the day (shame!)

Gormenghast - there's a rhythm and resonance to this which is hard , but worthwhile, to crack - altho' by the 3rd title Peake had lost the plot (and had mental instability setting in) (He's buried up the road from here) so - love to, but wouldn't reread again but would recommend.

"The Pleidian" something or other ... about extra-terrestial saurians seeding the Earth and the planet travelling through, um, 26,000 year cycles or some such (inevitably we are on the brink of another dodgy era) ... worth it for one line "People are busy destroying themselves over religious supremacy ... ignoring the environmental catastrophe they are inflicting on the planet ... " (something like that)

"Outline of Astro-psychology" by Furze Morrish: got to the bit experimenting with breathing through the pore of one's skin while under water - managed that and suddenly got very scared.

Anne Rice - yuk .. yuk .. yuk ... very disturbing and sick person's charter to victimise small innocent children in one passage where I threw it aside in disgust.

Wilbur Smith - nothing of his what so ever: the same plots .. sick gratuitous violence perpetrated against defenceless, innocent victims with dubious voyeurism - thank you, having lived just across the border from rebels bayonetting women in maternity wards, setting fire to people tied to trees and women and children machine gunned in the market place (our side of the border - oops, did that Govt MiG helicopter take the wrong turning?) I don't want to read it for entertainment.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin - yawn (and I've read this before .. s'wierd .. like 30 years ago somewhere?) ... ditto Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean Auel) so many regurgitated passages - how many times do we need to know exactly how wossname digs a mean pit to roast a ptarmigan?

(Anyone else? - I picked this up expecting to re-read a story of heroine and little sister being orphaned in an earthquake and saved by Neanderthals .... what story was that?)

The Arabian Nights : "of course this story isn't as exciting tomorrow night's my Sultan... " (Oh, just cut her head off!)

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 04:32 AM

Try as I might I cannot get beyond the first few pages of Mervyn Peakes Gormanghast (sp? Ghormangast? anyway...) Not quite the same as no reread I know but similar:-) I did reread the whole Narnia series a few weeks ago and promised myself never again! Famous Five get religion or what?

Agree about Stephen Donaldson.

There are many pulp fiction fantasy works that are not worth the eye strain of. As there are crime, romance and horror novels. What else would we do on holiday though? ;-)

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 12:37 AM

Anything by Ayn Rand.

Anything by Jacqueline Susanne.

Agree with Peter T. regarding D.H.Lawrence.

Bomba the Jungle Boy (any episode) (it's a tremendously bad Tarzan imitation)

Edgar Rice Burroughs (loved 'em when I was in my teens, but couldn't be bothered reading stuff like that now. They are very good for what they are, though.)

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: alanabit
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 12:23 AM

I never intend to read any of Dickens turgid prose again. One summer, when the library was closed, I forced myself through "Mrs Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf. I think I would prefer toothache to reading anything quite as bad as that again. I don't like the pomposity of Herman Hesse's "Steppenwolf". Do you need lines like, "I drank from the cup of the fruit of her love..." Not even the bible puts it quite like that. I loved Siddhartta though, so I guess he could write. I found most of Lawrence hard work to read as well.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: LadyJean
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 12:19 AM

Kurt Vonnegut reads like a college sophomore who's way too full of himself. I wonder how he got to be the grand old man of American letters.
Heinlein reads like Vonnegut's roommate.
I read Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" in French. It made even less sense in the original.
But there's a lot to be said for reading "Madame Bovary" in the language of Flaubert. You miss most of the part where she dies of arsenic poisoning.
Reading a nineteenth century novel is a skill. You have to know when to skim, and when to focus. It requires practice, but the reward, reading something like "The Woman in White", or "Vanity Fair" is well worth it.
You don't read Dickens for the plots. You read for the characters, and his marvellous sense of humor.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Cluin
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 12:14 AM

Iron John

Made no friggin' sense to me.
But then my Dad isn't an alcoholic and we always got along pretty well. I don't even like Bly's poetry.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 12:05 AM

Anything by Thomas Pynchon, except Vineland. Especially Gravity's Rainbow.

Anything by Ken Kesey except Cuckoo's Nest. Especially Sometimes a Great Notion.

Anything by Joseph Heller except Catch 22.

Anything by John Barth. Especially Giles Goat Boy.

Any of Terry Pratchett's Diskworld series, even the ones I've never read. Yeh, they're good for a chuckle, but I've read about ten of 'em and that's enough.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Sam L
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 11:17 PM

Hi Grab. I enjoy a good rant when I hear one. But Frankenstein isn't bad at all for a book written on a dare, the structure suits the theme passably well.

I can't read or watch Merchant Ivory versions of E.M. Forster either. But who was the English writer--Brideshead revisited? Anyway, you might appreciate the horrible fate of the character held captive and forced to read Dickens to a blind man. Can't read Heinlein once, but I'm sure it all must be my fault somehow.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Amergin
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 10:51 PM

i love jack london...

i didnt much care for the thomas covenant books either...especially the second set....booring...

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 10:47 PM

White Teeth

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 10:36 PM

Proves my point, Bill. I differentiate between pornography and erotica. Erotica can be very well written (or taped or filmed), porn ain't (although it might be flashy).

As for non-re-reads: how about Bret Harte's stories? And I find most of Jack London waaaay to hairy-chested (I make an exception for The Sea Wolf, but not for White Fang).

Conan Doyle's historical novels....

The "White Gold Wielder" fantasy series -- I'm sorry you have leprosy....

Ivanhoe -- talk about dumb folks!

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 09:04 PM

"In fact, much pre-1900 fiction is unreadable by today's standards" - well that could point to something defective about "today's standards", given some of the examples you give, Grab.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST,Grab
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 08:46 PM

From school, Cider with Rosie. Snore. And anything by Dickens. Dickens is just a pantomime in print form, or at best a soap opera - Lord knows how he got a good reputation, I'll take "Neighbours" or "Home and Away" any day. In fact, much pre-1900 fiction is unreadable by today's standards (Wilkie Collins, Frankenstein, Dracula, Fenimore Cooper) bcos the construction is dreadful. I guess they didn't have editors back then though.

Robert Heinlein and Wilbur Smith can go in the bin. Fine for adolescents, but when you get older you realise it's all either wish-fulfillment fantasising or political dogma. Tom Clancy stuff has gone that way too, particularly the various spin-off series.

Arthur C Clarke's Rama series is lousy too - Clarke is probably the only writer who could make exploring an alien spaceship boring. Other dulletantes are Colin Dexter (good TV series but the books suck), Kazuo Ishiguro and E M Forster. Terry Brooks started well with a nice rip-off of LotR, but after the second he lost it big-style, so if you've read one then you've read them all.

To sort of bring music into this, any of those books with pictures of painted-and-inlaid guitars. I always look at those and think "yeah, it's pretty, but how does it sound?" The attitude of the painters (and the guys commissioning these things) seems to be style over sound quality, and that's something I've never understood.

Graham.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 08:25 PM

"Anything by Thomas Hardy" (AliUK)

I hazard you've not come across the Mellstock musicians in "Under the Greenwood Tree". Try this chapter anyway - GOING THE ROUNDS

Even if you don't like Hardy the writer, you have to enjoy today's Mellstock Band - featuring the music played by that first rate dance-band fiddler, Thomas Hardy, who also did some writing on the side.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 08:14 PM

other books I would not re-read..The later parts of the "Dune" series by Frank Herbert...he was struggling for themes and continuity.

"Giles Goat-Boy" by John Barth...


Rapaire.."Porn. I've read some, found it boring in the extreme (same with porn websites -- all hair is perfect and nobody seems to be having fun)."
I worked for almost 3 years in an 'adult' bookstore..amazingly there IS good porn, but it ain't common, nor is it a best seller *grin*. The name "Marco Vassi" comes to mind as one author.

as to porn websites...same deal, there IS well-done, tasteful erotica (written and pictoral) out there, where they ARE having fun, but it gets lost in the deluge of garbage.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Amergin
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 08:07 PM

1984 it bored me to tears....especially when that couple were reading that book...

on the road....

a book of poetry i had the misfortune to read by bob dylan

another book of poetry i was stupid to read by jim morrison...

both filled with pure unadulterated drivel...

there are quite a few others....

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Cluin
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 07:33 PM

... should be he or she in that last sentence above.

(showing my unconscious lazy bias there, I guess)

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Cluin
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 07:31 PM

Frank McCourt's `Tis. I liked Angela's Ashes, but didn't care for the sequel at all.

And Anne Rice is pure crap. She badly needs an editor, except he would probably just throw the whole damn manuscript into the shredder.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 06:13 PM

Ah, Amos, I think that Herman Hesse wrote "Magister Ludi" (among others) and not Thomas Mann.

Porn. I've read some, found it boring in the extreme (same with porn websites -- all hair is perfect and nobody seems to be having fun).

All of Aristotle, except the "Poetics."

Sartre. Hegel. And all other authors who take themselves too seriously.

Danielle Steel and her ilk. Trees died for that!?

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Burke
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 06:03 PM

Anne Rice - I thought she was not for me, but it was highly recommended. I just can't take the demons & vampired.

All those books about east coast high school aged boys that were popular at Harvard but meant nothing to a midwestern girl. Catcher in the Rye. There's another one who's title I've forgotten.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Peter T.
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 10:45 AM

Lord of the Rings. Thank god for the movie version. I would certainly reread The Hobbit though.

I keep trying to reread Tom Jones, but always get to about chapter 2, and something intervenes.

I can't imagine rereading D.H. Lawrence novels. They are great when you are 18, but after that, who could take them seriously?

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 10:32 AM

Ayn Rand. I put down The Fountainhead after I'd gotten about 2/3 of the way through because it was just too loaded with dogma and apparent nonsense as far as the relationships were concerned.

I'm not likely to reread Beckett's Waiting for Godot again any time soon, either. I was very young when I first read it, but something tells me that even with my postmodern leanings, that one is still gibberish.

I like the Hemingway I've read--The Sun Also Rises is a particularly fine book.

Some books are so dramatic or wrenching or striking that I won't reread them because I got the message so completely the first time through that once was enough. I thought that might be the case with Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, but on perspective of a few years, I think I'll go ahead and reread that one.

Mostly, the books I refuse to read because they're just too stupid for words are books by Danielle Steele and that ilk. Gag me with a spoon.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 10:13 AM

The worst Sci-Fi book ever written: "Exiles in Time" by Nelson Bond.

Stupid, tedious plot, stereotyped characters (old archeologist and his lovely daughter, good-looking but dumb suitor for daughter, conniving little Jewish man named "Hymie", and a HOST of tall, golden-skinned people from Atlantis, whom they found by entering a Egyptian tomb and falling thru a time warp!)

The usual confrontations and tepid intrigue and inane dialogue.....wait, I take it back..this IS worth reading for the laughs.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Amos
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 10:06 AM

Dave:

You do him a great disservice. I have reread Maguster Ludi and the one about the great musician (name escapes me...) and found them as convoluted but intriguing and well-buiiolt as ever. Mann has something to say.


A

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 09:45 AM

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. It was "the big book" for the quarter in a Humanities class in college. Thomas Mann is celebrated, they say, for his wonderful style. I found this book tedious and depressing. For the three months of the class I kept turning aside from it, dawdling, and finally, at 2:00 a.m. the morning on which the quarter final test was to be given, I decided, "Hell, I'm not going to be able to finish this anyway. I'd do better to get some sleep."

Came the test, it turned out to be an "open book" test, and for The Magic Mountain one had one's choice of about five questions. With sinking heart, I looked them over. Aha! One of them was, "Write on whether Settembrini can be called Mann's voice in this novel", or something to that effect. I chose that one to write about, and I'll tell you why.

Now, get this: On the very last page I had read, at 2:00 a.m., there was a direct quote from Settembrini which disposed neatly of that question. With an "open book test" I was able to turn directly to it, and disposed of the question quickly. I got an A in the test--entirely undeserved as far as the Mann novel was concerned, but them's the breaks.   

But I would never, never, never re-read (or finish reading) The Magic Mountain, nor anything else by Thomas Mann.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: nickp
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 09:18 AM

The only one I've never finished having started was an Arthurian one by Tolstoy - the younger relative not the classic one. Can't remember the name but it was such hard work I gave up about half way in.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 09:17 AM

I have read most of the recent booker prize winners and have re read several and for the most part I found them to be very good books. Which ones did you not like I wonder .
   I never have re read dickens, found them tedious and overdone the first time. Hardy however, I re read quite often and read Return of the Native many times.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 09:15 AM

Hemingway (I'm glad I'm not alone there!). I also agree with Booker Prize winners. Things I won't read even once - Mills & Boone type.

Subject: RE: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 09:03 AM

Hemingway..awful the first time round. I don't read murder mysteries twice for obvious reasonsand I seldom read best sellers more than once. And some things I can't even read once.

Subject: BS: What books would you NOT reread?
From: AliUK
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 08:32 AM

OK we´ve had books you reread and movies you watch ad nauseum...which books would you never, ever touch again with a ten foot fiddling stick? My personal un-faves are:
Anything by Thomas Hardy ( I was forced to read them at school and felt they sucked sooooo much...give me Dickens anyday)
American Psycho ( what a waste)
Booker Proze winners ( mostly pretentious claptrap)