# Books You Wouldn't Recommend, Even to Your Worst Enemy



## stormhawk (Apr 29, 2009)

There are a lot of enjoyable to great books out there. But every now and again you read something that comes highly recommended and it just plain doesn't work for you, or your style, or that period in your life, or whatever.

Books that get great critical acclaim. Or just sell lots and lots of copies.

Books that you just can't stand and want other people to know that you can't stand them.

I do understand that there are going to be people who JUST LOVE THESE BOOKS AS THE BEST BOOK EVER.

I don't intend this thread to become a battle for primacy of most favorite versus most hated, although I suspect that could easily happen.

Some of mine: I know I'll be adding to this ...

The Twilight Saga Complete Collection
Oryx and Crake
The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
Anything by Nora Roberts (and pseudonyms)
2666: A Novel


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## samanthawarren (May 1, 2011)

There are two that popped into my head immediately, but they're both indie books and I don't know if the authors frequent these boards. Wouldn't want to hurt any feelings.


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## Rhonda Helms (Apr 8, 2011)

I wouldn't want to mention names either--after all, what doesn't work for me may totally work for someone else. Good thing there's a wide variety of stuff out there.


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## JennSpot (Feb 13, 2009)

I am pretty easily entertained and not everything I read has to be fabulous literature.  I think hard at work and sometimes I just like to kick back with something light and easy to read.  So I don't really have a list of books that pi$$ed me off because I wasted my time reading them.

And FWIW, I liked the Twilight books    So maybe my opinion shouldn't count?  lol

I don't really like recommending books or movies to other people because tastes *do* vary so much and I would hate for someone to spend their money and not enjoy something just based on my recommendation.  Usually, I preface my remarks by saying that *I* enjoyed the movie/book, but that I am also very easily entertained!


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## Guest (May 29, 2011)

stormhawk said:


> The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman


You didn't like Tristram Shandy? I'll admit that it goes on and I didn't even finish it because the semester was ending and I didn't have time, but there was a lot of interesting stuff going on there. Apparently this is the novel that really gave way to the modern novel as we know it.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Anything by Dan Brown.  Okay, maybe to a particularly despised enemy!


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## Not Here (May 23, 2011)

The Scarlet Letter & Wuthering Heights 

Just not a fan of either. Usually I'm pretty easy going about book but those two just tick me off. I'd love to smack around the female leads in both.

I'm also not a big fan of One Hundred Years of Solitude. I know it's a literary favorite but I just couldn't get into it and found reading it so obnoxious.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Wasted by Aiden Shaw. The guy was a porn star (a pretty good one, apparently) who thought he could write. He can't. As someone said to me, "He was probably writing this from a padded cell somewhere." LOL.

L


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

I agree on Wuthering Heights.  I'd definitely recommend a bad book (probably with a blatant message) to an enemy without the slightest guilt.  I'd do it GLEEFULLY.  But to me, Wuthering just served no purpose.  

I wasn't big on 1984 either, although at least the message there was quite clear.


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

*As I Lay Dying* by William Faulkner

I actually had a professor give me a passing grade for telling her it was just to horribly depressing to finish !!


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## Mrs. K. (Dec 31, 2010)

If I had a choice, my worst enemy would receive a first edition, signed hardcover copy of _The Road_ by Cormac McCarthy and be doomed to read it (and nothing else) repeatedly for the rest of her miserable life. While living out the rest of her pathetic existence on a desert island. With nothing to eat but mushrooms that may or may not be poisonous. And with no volleyball. 

There's a reason we call them enemies!


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

Wow, As I Lay Dying on the list!  I would have to agree with that one.  Never like Faulkner.  I also did not like The Sun Also Rises.  It really just irritated me.  However, I might recommend that one to an enemy.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Since many books I've despised have been loved by many other people, I figure maybe I should instead recommend a book I love, on the the theory that I'm such a contrary sort that I'd stand a better chance of PO-ing my enemies that way.  I mean, I couldn't stand _Pillars of the Earth_ and gave up after about 15% (wondering if Ken Follett even had any idea what a simile or metaphor was), yet it has a 4.3-star rating at Amazon, and Starz turned it into a successful mini-series; so what do I know?


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## caseyf6 (Mar 28, 2010)

Sun Also Rises (please God don't let it be "Son"...I really don't remember)

Heart of Darkness (I wanted to slit my wrists...horrible)


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

The book I hate more than any other was written by a NYT best-selling author and one of her books was even made into a movie. I'm not going to mention the title because I know there are way more readers out there who enjoy this author's work than those who dislike it. Let's just say it wasn't for me.


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## lpking (Feb 12, 2011)

caseyf6 said:


> Heart of Darkness (I wanted to slit my wrists...horrible)


To the OP: Now there ya go! LOL

One of my favourite books of all time.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

lpking said:


> To the OP: Now there ya go! LOL
> 
> One of my favourite books of all time.


 And I think "Wuthering Heights" is the greatest novel written in the English language!


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## SylvieB1984 (May 16, 2011)

Dara England said:


> The book I hate more than any other was written by a NYT best-selling author and one of her books was even made into a movie. I'm not going to mention the title because I know there are way more readers out there who enjoy this author's work than those who dislike it. Let's just say it wasn't for me.


Now I'm curious to know who it is lol 

and the reason you didn't like it! I have a couple ideas of who it might be, but I'm super curious now!


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## stormhawk (Apr 29, 2009)

foreverjuly said:


> You didn't like Tristram Shandy? I'll admit that it goes on and I didn't even finish it because the semester was ending and I didn't have time, but there was a lot of interesting stuff going on there. Apparently this is the novel that really gave way to the modern novel as we know it.


It was for an Honors seminar on Humor, and I wasn't getting how or why Tristram Shandy was funny.

We should have been analyzing the intricacies of The Dead Parrot Sketch, not reading a three inch thick paperback that was decidedly unfunny.

Trust me, here ... I know that a lot of what I read is unmitigated crap, and I wouldn't waste time trying to convince others of how good it is, if only you'd 1. really give it a try 2. try to step back from your preconceptions and just experience it 3. I forget what my clever third comment was. Like How I Love Chuck Pahalnuik, even though I can never spell his last name and a lot of people find him odd and offensive, and my secret love for hairy-chested men's adventure novels.


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## Will Granger (Apr 12, 2011)

DYB said:


> Anything by Dan Brown. Okay, maybe to a particularly despised enemy!


I agree! He is way overrated.


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## Guest (May 30, 2011)

NapCat said:


> *As I Lay Dying* by William Faulkner
> 
> I actually had a professor give me a passing grade for telling her it was just to horribly depressing to finish !!


Really? I had a lot of trouble with the first couple sections, and then the book just clicked with me and I was completely absorbed. I couldn't get into The Sound and the Fury nearly as well though.


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## lpking (Feb 12, 2011)

DYB said:


> And I think "Wuthering Heights" is the greatest novel written in the English language!


What is it about consumptive clergymen's daughters, anyhow?


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Mrs. K. said:


> If I had a choice, my worst enemy would receive a first edition, signed hardcover copy of _The Road_ by Cormac McCarthy and be doomed to read it (and nothing else) repeatedly for the rest of her miserable life. While living out the rest of her pathetic existence on a desert island. With nothing to eat but mushrooms that may or may not be poisonous. And with no volleyball.
> 
> There's a reason we call them enemies!


LOL Well, sad to say but I feel the same way about anything by Diana Galbadon. Except maybe no mushrooms. Just really nasty lichen that causes terrible diarrhea. And nothing else.

It's all a matter of preference.


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## SidneyW (Aug 6, 2010)

I agree with the notion that it's so subjective it would be hard to name one. I see books I've loved get one star reviews from some and some give 5 stars to books I haven't liked that well, same with movies for that matter. 

You never know when you're going to give your worst enemy a book that, for him/her, is an unmitigated delight.


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## JRainey (Feb 1, 2011)

foreverjuly said:


> Really? I had a lot of trouble with the first couple sections, and then the book just clicked with me and I was completely absorbed. I couldn't get into The Sound and the Fury nearly as well though.


The Sound and the Fury was the first one I thought of. I do understand what Faulkner was going for, but I think it was a failed effort. I just... eh. Very, very difficult to get into.

I love Heart of Darkness and Wuthering Heights, though!


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## lpking (Feb 12, 2011)

SidneyW said:


> You never know when you're going to give your worst enemy a book that, for him/her, is an unmitigated delight.


I would hope I know my enemies better than that.


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## SylvieB1984 (May 16, 2011)

lpking said:


> I would hope I know my enemies better than that.


As they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer!


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## JTONeil (May 23, 2011)

Phew! Glad to see mine isn't yet on here...

Dan Brown, pure jealousy, but he shows that, to the mass market, story, plot and character matter more than elegant prose. (Sorry Dan - thoughI doubt you come around here too often!)

Any book that literary people rave about, but I simply 'don't get!'

JT


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## Randy Kadish (Feb 24, 2010)

_Ulysses_, first on my list.
Also, some of Faulkner's books, and of course _Gravity's Rainbow_.

Randy


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

The Neverending Story... what a lie! It ENDED!


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## Tamara Rose Blodgett (Apr 1, 2011)

Angels&Demons by Dan Brown. I gave it 80 pages! 80! Terrible...


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## Nick Steckel (Sep 2, 2010)

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. I have loathed this book ever since I read it in high school. Even though you are supposed to italicize book titles, I am not doing so in that case because it does not deserve that honor and because it would be an insult to every other book out there as well as to both italics and the inventor of the italics font format. I had to read it during a long, bleak, cold Ohio winter and reading it made the weather feel twenty degrees colder. I wanted to slash my wrists while reading it until I realized that the razor would be better used on the book itself. Not only is it the worst book ever written, I fully and honestly believe it to be the worst book possible. I do not believe this book should be banned under any circumstances however, since I think records of its existence should be kept because the only way to prevent anything so horrible from ever happening again is to make sure everyone knows the original offense happened. It is the literary equivalent of Rebecca Black's "Friday" played backwards. I would not recommend this book to my worst enemy, I would not force it upon Hitler himself if he were still alive. I wouldn't even consider making the teacher who made me read it endure it. It is about 100 pages long, and that is 500 pages too many. I have yet to be able to remove the memories of this book from my head, even after eight years, but a few hundred more trips to my therapist might do it. If they ever make a movie out of Ethan Frome, they should rate it R, not for Restricted, but for Rubbish. I would hate Edith Wharton for writing it, but I cannot do that, I can only pity the mindset she was in. If you ever come across a copy of the book, read the first page just to mourn the death of your soul, and then get a marker and write 4chan catchphrases on the inside cover. After that, leave the bookstore and find another that has no copies of it. If you accidentally infect your Kindle with it, I recommend using OxyClean and use it liberally. Every time I go sledding, I am reminded of this blasphemous abomination of a novel and immediately want to run back in my house and cry myself to sleep. Reading it was the worst thing that ever happened to me and probably always will be.

In other words, I really can't say I liked Ethan Frome.


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## tim290280 (Jan 11, 2011)

Most of my enemies tend to be idiots so just giving them a book would be pointless.

Although I was never a fan of the Grug books, so I wouldn't recommend them to anyone, even my enemies, even though that level of reading would be appropriate.


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## dmburnett (Feb 4, 2011)

I would have to say The Secret Lives of Bees.  It just didn't do anything for me.


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## samanthawarren (May 1, 2011)

dmburnett said:


> I would have to say The Secret Lives of Bees. It just didn't do anything for me.


Really? That's a shame. The movie was pretty good.


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

Anything by L.K. Hammilton.  The woman is a hot mess and everyone knows it but her denial runs deeeeep!

The Hounds of Baskerville is a form of torture in my humble opinion and I am against inhumane treatment even of stupid people.


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## patrickt (Aug 28, 2010)

Nothing. I would even recommend Dan Brown books to my worst enemies but I've seen no evidence that my worst enemies can read.


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## WrongTale (Feb 16, 2011)

KindleChickie said:


> The Hounds of Baskerville is a form of torture in my humble opinion and I am against inhumane treatment even of stupid people.


Somewhat ironic, when you check this person's status


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## lpking (Feb 12, 2011)

WrongTale said:


> Somewhat ironic, when you check this person's status


I flew right over that.

But yes, one of those amazing coincidences.


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## Lynn McNamee (Jan 8, 2009)

"From a Buick 8" by Stephen King
"The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane


I love William Faulkner and all of his work.    

I also loved "The Road."


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## Flash Rex (May 31, 2011)

Randy Kadish said:


> _Ulysses_, first on my list.
> Also, some of Faulkner's books, and of course _Gravity's Rainbow_.
> 
> Randy


Wouldn't it have been great if in his final moments Bin Laden was sitting around reading Ulysses, frustrated, scratching his head, trying to figure out what was going on? Then he heard a bang and since he was reading Ulysses, he was easily distracted. Maybe he thought it was his courier bringing him the Cliff Notes version. Maybe he thought, now I can make some progress on this thing. He opened up the door and met Seal Team Six.


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## kindlegrl81 (Jan 19, 2010)

I agree with _Wuthering Heights_ (actually anything where the author has the last name of Brontë) and I would also add _The Handmaid's Tale_.


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

Nick Steckel: I found one movie version of _Ethan Frome,_ 1992, starring Liam Neeson. I'm sure you could find a DVD that you could use as a coaster.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

I am one of those peculiar people who has, yes, read Joyce's Ulysses and enjoyed it. I am often bemused at what people make if it.


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## QueenBee (May 4, 2009)

Nick Steckel said:


> Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. I have loathed this book ever since I read it in high school. Even though you are supposed to italicize book titles, I am not doing so in that case because it does not deserve that honor and because it would be an insult to every other book out there as well as to both italics and the inventor of the italics font format. I had to read it during a long, bleak, cold Ohio winter and reading it made the weather feel twenty degrees colder. I wanted to slash my wrists while reading it until I realized that the razor would be better used on the book itself. Not only is it the worst book ever written, I fully and honestly believe it to be the worst book possible. I do not believe this book should be banned under any circumstances however, since I think records of its existence should be kept because the only way to prevent anything so horrible from ever happening again is to make sure everyone knows the original offense happened. It is the literary equivalent of Rebecca Black's "Friday" played backwards. I would not recommend this book to my worst enemy, I would not force it upon Hitler himself if he were still alive. I wouldn't even consider making the teacher who made me read it endure it. It is about 100 pages long, and that is 500 pages too many. I have yet to be able to remove the memories of this book from my head, even after eight years, but a few hundred more trips to my therapist might do it. If they ever make a movie out of Ethan Frome, they should rate it R, not for Restricted, but for Rubbish. I would hate Edith Wharton for writing it, but I cannot do that, I can only pity the mindset she was in. If you ever come across a copy of the book, read the first page just to mourn the death of your soul, and then get a marker and write 4chan catchphrases on the inside cover. After that, leave the bookstore and find another that has no copies of it. If you accidentally infect your Kindle with it, I recommend using OxyClean and use it liberally. Every time I go sledding, I am reminded of this blasphemous abomination of a novel and immediately want to run back in my house and cry myself to sleep. Reading it was the worst thing that ever happened to me and probably always will be.
> 
> In other words, I really can't say I liked Ethan Frome.


Bravo. Now I want to read your books.


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## apbschmitz (Apr 22, 2011)

While we're hating on the classics, how about Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James? About 30 years ago I was on a 24-hour train trip from Bolivia to Brazil. It was tough scrounging books in English back then, but I had managed to get my hands on a copy of Portrait of a Lady. I figured it would be good for several hundred miles. Wrong. To me, then, it was better to stare out at the scrubby vastness of the Mato Grosso for hour after hour than to spend another few minutes with that gasbag, Henry James.

Maybe I'd feel differently about it now, but I doubt I'll bother finding out.


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## kCopeseeley (Mar 15, 2011)

Tamara Rose Blodgett said:


> Angels&Demons by Dan Brown. I gave it 80 pages! 80! Terrible...


Totally agree. Figured out who the bad guy was as soon as he was introduced in the book. FAIL.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater I don't care HOW many book bloggers rave about this series and ran their little butts off to get the third book at BEA. It was just BAD, BAD, BAD. (YA fiction) Probably one of the worst YA fiction books I've ever read.


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## Bob Mayer (Feb 20, 2011)

Seems like a negative thread.  One man's gold is another man's frack.  I'm just not into bashing other authors.  We've got enough people doing that.


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## Joseph Robert Lewis (Oct 31, 2010)

The Eye of the World, Book One of the Wheel of Time Series.

Did not enjoy. Give me Tolkien any day.


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## Skate (Jan 23, 2011)

I have to agree with 'Heart of Darkness'. I had to read it for a University course and I hated it with a passion!


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## Lynn McNamee (Jan 8, 2009)

Bob Mayer said:


> Seems like a negative thread. One man's gold is another man's frack. I'm just not into bashing other authors. We've got enough people doing that.


I don't think this thread was created to "bash" authors.

I find it to be a very interesting thread. It's quite humorous to find that some of my favorite novels are listed by people as their very least favorites.

Rather than seeing it as "author bashing," you, as an Indie author, should learn from this thread what I've been telling Indies for a very long time: No matter what you write, no matter the subject, no matter the characters, no matter the brilliant writing style, there are people who will not like your book. Period.

These are readers expressing their opinions on specific books. No more, no less.


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## JeanneM (Mar 21, 2011)

Nick Steckel said:


> Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. I have loathed this book ever since I read it in high school. Every time I go sledding, I am reminded of this blasphemous abomination of a novel and immediately want to run back in my house and cry myself to sleep. Reading it was the worst thing that ever happened to me and probably always will be.
> 
> In other words, I really can't say I liked Ethan Frome.


Thank you!!! That is the one I wanted to mention, but the title had flown out of my head. I suspect it was one of those cases where the trauma of it caused my brain to block it out. LOL I'm glad I'm not the only one who intensely disliked this. BTW, your post gave me giggles. Well put!


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## mikelewis (May 31, 2011)

The Worm Ouroboros by Eddison.

That was the first book I failed to finish reading - though I have friends that love it.

Oh, and I really enjoy the J D Robb books by Nora Roberts - don't know why as they are SF police procedurals on the surface but are really romances underneath. They are guilty pleasure read.

Mike


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## stormhawk (Apr 29, 2009)

mikelewis said:


> Oh, and I really enjoy the J D Robb books by Nora Roberts - don't know why as they are SF police procedurals on the surface but are really romances underneath. They are guilty pleasure read.
> 
> Mike


You, sir, must immediately surrender your Man card. You do have the option of exchanging it for a Sensitive New Age Guy card, but only if you have at least one picture of a dolphin in your home.


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## JodyMorse (Jun 7, 2011)

The Uglies by Scott Westerfield. I just couldn't get through it.


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## mikelewis (May 31, 2011)

stormhawk said:


> You, sir, must immediately surrender your Man card. You do have the option of exchanging it for a Sensitive New Age Guy card, but only if you have at least one picture of a dolphin in your home.


 

Actually they were recommended to me by my Brother In Law, who is a bus driver and reads a lot between shifts...

Oh and I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of dolphins...

Mike


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## lpking (Feb 12, 2011)

Inquiring minds want to know...

...what he thinks of Janet Evanovich.


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## SylvieB1984 (May 16, 2011)

RedAdept said:


> I don't think this thread was created to "bash" authors.
> 
> I find it to be a very interesting thread. It's quite humorous to find that some of my favorite novels are listed by people as their very least favorites.
> 
> ...


Very well said


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## mikelewis (May 31, 2011)

lpking said:


> Inquiring minds want to know...
> 
> ...what he thinks of Janet Evanovich.


I don't know - I'll have to ask him. Are they similar, never read any myself.

Mike


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## lpking (Feb 12, 2011)

mikelewis said:


> I don't know - I'll have to ask him. Are they similar, never read any myself.


Fans will kill me. I've skimmed a few chapters of both, and there was a passing similarity.


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## MartinStanley72 (May 17, 2011)

I'm amazed that _The Sun Also Rises_ and _Heart of Darkness_ are among some of the 'hated' few on here, as I loved both of them. Still, different strokes for different folks and all that.

As for me, I can not stand Vladimir Nabokov's _Bend Sinister_, a truly awful book with an irritating protagonist and a really ill-judged moment of author intrusion at the end. The other duffer would have to be _Finnegan's Wake_. I've tried to read it more than once, but it's just too difficult to read, or I'm just too dense, and I like difficult fiction - either way, I wouldn't recommend it to anybody.

Martin

USUK


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## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

MartinStanley72 said:


> IThe other duffer would have to be _Finnegan's Wake_. I've tried to read it more than once, but it's just too difficult to read, or I'm just too dense, and I like difficult fiction - either way, I wouldn't recommend it to anybody.


Read the last page first, then go directly to the first page and start reading. It helps.


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## Paul Jones (Jun 11, 2011)

For some reason, I just could not get into The Passage. I tried, really I did, but it just did nothing for me. It's not a reflection of the author's ability as a writer, just a reflection of my own tastes. I just wouldn't be able to recommend it to anyone and maintain a clear conscience.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

fayrlite said:


> The Scarlet Letter & Wuthering Heights
> 
> Just not a fan of either. Usually I'm pretty easy going about book but those two just tick me off. I'd love to smack around the female leads in both.
> 
> I'm also not a big fan of One Hundred Years of Solitude. I know it's a literary favorite but I just couldn't get into it and found reading it so obnoxious.


I must admit while these two on the top of my hate list, I find the fact that so many people love them just baffling especially Wuthering Heights. No insult. I'm sure it's just a matter of personal taste, but... Heathcliff... I see women post that he is romantic.

And they're serious.


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

caseyf6 said:


> Heart of Darkness (I wanted to slit my wrists...horrible)


One of my favorite classics....

Now I wouldn't give _The Hunger Games_ to an enemy because you should at least respect the intelligence of someone you hate. But giving the book to the folks who stock outhouses Sears and Roebuck catalogs is a fine idea.


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## Coral Moore (Nov 29, 2009)

For me I think this would be a tie between The Scarlet Letter and Moby Dick. It's no coincidence that both were forced on me in high school in an American Lit class. If I picked one of them up today I might have a different impression, but I wouldn't touch other of them again if you paid me.


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## ogzy97 (Jun 1, 2011)

I totally agree with The Scarlet Letter. I was also forced to read it in high school. Couldn't stand it then and wouldn't even consider reading it again now. More recently, I really didn't like Edgar Sawtelle and have never recommended it to anyone. I know many people loved it but I am not one of them.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

lpking said:


> Inquiring minds want to know...
> 
> ...what he thinks of Janet Evanovich.





mikelewis said:


> I don't know - I'll have to ask him. Are they similar, never read any myself.
> 
> Mike


Never got into the Evanovich books, love the JD Robbs. I'm not sure I would consider them similar. *shrug*

Can't think of any books I feel that strongly against.

Betsy


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## lpking (Feb 12, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Never got into the Evanovich books, love the JD Robbs. I'm not sure I would consider them similar. *shrug*
> Betsy


I should have a thorough read of one of each before I draw conclusions, I suppose. I read a first chapter of an Evanovich once, and more recently I read a first chapter of a JD Robb that was about a female cop. The tone just seemed similar to me. However, the Evanovich did look like it would be more humorous in a farcical way.


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## John Y. Jones (Feb 19, 2011)

James Patterson generally but his "co-authored" stuff, especially. If I were the President of the United States and wanted to start a war with Canada, I'd send a copy of _Swimsuit_ to Stephen Harper with a note reading, "Thought you might like this - it seems perfectly suited to your intellect."

The same goes for any book title that ends in the words "of Shannara."


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## AuthorJMKelley (Jun 17, 2011)

Lynn ODell said:


> I don't think this thread was created to "bash" authors.
> 
> I find it to be a very interesting thread. It's quite humorous to find that some of my favorite novels are listed by people as their very least favorites.
> 
> ...


Agreed. I see no bashing. I'm giggling because I see some books I adore, but I'm not offended. It's amusing to see how tastes vary, and I'm loving the delivery of the posters.


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## ColinJ (Jun 13, 2011)

I'm a huge Richard Laymon fan but I absolutely despised ISLAND.

It's a first-person narrative and the 'hero' is such a slimy, perverted creep that being in his head for the duration of that book was just ... icky. I was constantly waiting for him to mature and step up as being a remotely redeemable character but it never happened.

That book made me feel dirty. It's the one Laymon book that I distinctly do not like. Although I love everything else he has written


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## Ryne Billings (May 15, 2011)

A Song of Fire and Ice by GRR Martin
Pretty much anything that is written by Robin Hobb
Rebecca- don't remember the author, though it was the only book I've ever been paid to read
1984 by George Orwell


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

I cannot get into any of the Harry Potter stuff, and I know they are wildly popular books. I tried to watch one of the movies and couldn't hang with it more than ten minutes. Guess it's just not my thing. Same with the Twilight stuff. Another book I tried and didn't even finish the first chapter is Marley and Me.


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## nmg222 (Sep 14, 2010)

The Gate House by Nelson Demille - 700 pages of rubbish
Moby Dick - I'd rather sit in the dentist's chair.


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## Nebula7 (Apr 21, 2011)

"The Shack" by Paul Young. Worst book EVER! Horribly written and theologically evil. Don't ever read it or watch the upcoming movie.


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