@Midwest67 …I’m throwing rocks at you! It is my favorite book of all time.
Books with endings that totally wreck them for me. Ann Patchett’s done that twice, with Bel Canto and State of Wonder. Both went ways that completely undermined the characters, and/or just did terrible things with apparent authorial and character approval.
Same with Signature of All Things.
Oh, and Joyce Carol Oates’ “We Were the Mulvaneys” aka–“date rape was your fault and you destroyed the family.”
H couldn’t get started on “Hawaii” by Michener. I told him to do what I did–just skip the first 100 pages or so to get to the actual story.
Quite a few books I hated in high school I revisited by audio books–much more enjoyable. Audio keeps going even when you may be attempted to abandon the book if reading it, Gets you over the boring bits faster.(Poisonwood Bible is great on audio–one of my favorites but interestingly I tried actually reading it and couldn’t get started)
I usually like Stephen King but HATED “Pet Sematary”.
@Pizzagirl I actually found Stormfire in our house (don’t know what it was doing there) and the cover was missing so I was mislead by the title. As for Flame, I was curious about what made romance books popular and google said it was a “pioneer” book in the genre. It was something alright. I got the quotes from goodreads, as both books have been disposed of (I hope they ended up incinerated or in some compost pile) and I’m sticking to high fantasy and thrillers from now on (btw you should try Sidney Sheldon books, they’re awesome!).
I guess I should add all the Harlequin and Mills & Boons publications. I’ve never read one, but they always seem to have a “Greek Tycoon” or an “Arab Sheikh” and the covers looked ridiculous(shirtless dude and swooning chick). The girls in my 9th grade class used to love them, and so did my sisters. I never understood why. To each their own I guess.
Tuesdays with Morrie, which I thought was insipid. (I realize I’m in an extreme minority; it gets 4 1/2 stars from a total of 3,718 reviews on Amazon.)
It’s rare that I don’t finish a book or at least give it a good solid try. However, The Time Traveler’s Wife - I could not get past the first couple of chapters.
LOL, especially when reading in the original when you’re not a native speaker. Keeping track of all the characters in One Hundred Years of Solitude was a project in itself.
I also hated We Were the Mulvaneys, and Pet Sematary. I often like Stephen King (not the Dark Tower stuff), but that book turned on the fact of losing a child and I don’t go there. It was well written and I remember reading that it was cathartic for him because his son was very ill, but it was so real that reading it was unbearable. I don’t need to ever read about parents losing children.
Lol true. Weren’t most of the males given the same name?
That’s because men are all alike :))
this is a fun thread, i agree!
of those you all hated, i liked Catcher in the Rye, Scarlet Letter, Dragon Tattoo series, Harry Potter (although I agree they are not favorites), and i LOVED Heart of Darkness and Go Set a Watchman (I thought it was even better than TKAM) .
of those you all hated, i can’t agree more…Love you Forever, Giving Tree, Pet Sematary (didn’t finish it), and Running with Scissors (although the writing was incredibly good, the topic was HORRIFYING)
one that i hated, but now have changed my tune: The Giver.
and…wait for it…the worst book of all time, translated from the original Norwegian and assigned by my high school teacher…Giants in the Earth, by Ole Rolvaag…our hero freezes to death at the end after eating many potatoes. trust me, this would not be a spoiler alert, but only blessed relief, if you were ever to attempt this book.
I made the mistake of reading Pet Semetary when my S was 2, and similar in description to the boy in the book. I ended up sneaking into his room while he was sleeping, and just sitting on the floor for hours, listening to him breathe.
The Life of Pi, tried it several times. Never made any sense, I couldn’t get past the first two chapters.
I’ve read -and enjoyed!- most of Anita Shreve’s work until “Testimony”. Like “Testimony” reviewers on Amazon I hurled it at the wall when I finished it and wanted to forget it. Then came the Vanderbilt rape case and the book was fresh in my mind. Argh.
What a fun thread! I tried and tried to read Outlander and couldn’t get past the first few chapters. I know people who love it and have reread it a bunch of times so really wanted to like it. And Fifty Shades of Grey - ugh. another I couldn’t get past the first few chapters. Boring story and terribly written.
@DonnaL There is a really great book by Lawrence Buell of Harvard called “The Dream of the Great American Novel.” It analyzes Moby-Dick and Gravity’s Rainbow in a straightforward, readable way (as well as about a dozen other famous American novels). It changed the way I look at Moby-Dick.
@conmama I know! I know! Legions of fans.
Pet Semetery made me veer abruptly away from Stephen King and avoid him for years, though I of course eventually discovered other books of his that I liked. Glad to know I’m not the only one.
I read Giants in the Earth a very long time ago, but I recall liking it all right.
I avoid Nicholas Sparks and Jodi Picoult like the plague. Just not interesting to me.