# What books have you hated?



## Violanthe

Ever read a book that you absolutely hated? Or even one that you rather disliked? Which book was it? And why didn't you like it?


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## Rhiannon

_Wuthering Heights_. Because it sucked. 

I'm still bitter about Pamela Dean's _Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary_, which I slogged all the way through, only to discover that the idea behind the book (revealed at the end) was brilliant--she just spent 280 pages _killing_ it. Waaaaaugh. 

George R.R. Martin started to make me crazy after a while--I just can't handle that many POV characters, or that much time in between resolving cliffhangers, especially when _every chapter_ ends in a cliffhanger. 

Robert Jordan is another one I'm bitter about--started out with so much potential, and then randomly decided to suck. Tsk.


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## Starbrow

I have some pretty awful books in my time, but I don't really remember them now. After some very pathetic romance novel a friend recommended, I swore off the whole genre. One book I thought I would enjoy, but wound up hating was Dune. It seemed to go on forever and I never connected with the characters.


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## e.Blackstar

_Peace Like a River_, by Leif Enger.


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## Mormegil

As a fan of Fantasy in general, I have read many fantasy series and enjoyed them. But the worst books I have ever read are David Eddings 3 Books of The Tamuli. A shameless rehash of his previous books, which were in turn shameless rip-offs of other fantasy books such as LOTR. 
Also the story was poor and long-winded, and I had to force myself to read through it. I don't think I have enjoyed reading anything less than these books.


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## Violanthe

I just ordered Dune from the library. I figure I should give it a go. I've heard generally good things about the first book, but bad reviews of the later ones


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## HLGStrider

I've never read Dune, but my friend Adam says that the author was very quite obviously on something strong . . .


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## Lindir

Mormegil said:


> As a fan of Fantasy in general, I have read many fantasy series and enjoyed them. But the worst books I have ever read are David Eddings 3 Books of The Tamuli. A shameless rehash of his previous books, which were in turn shameless rip-offs of other fantasy books such as LOTR.
> Also the story was poor and long-winded, and I had to force myself to read through it. I don't think I have enjoyed reading anything less than these books.


I used to like Eddings when I was young, but now I cordially dislike everything he has written and just thinking of 'The Redemption of Althalus' makes me mad. I hated that book like I have never hated a book before in my life. I should never have finished it I suppose, but I did. I'll never ever read another Eddings again after that piece of absolute junk. If you haven't read it, then don't. It's the same all over again, but even more poorly executed than the others.


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## Rhiannon

I've never read any Eddings--after Robert Jordan and The Most Disappointing Fantasy Series Ever I stopped reading the big multi-volume fantasy series (with the exception of Stephen King's Dark Tower Series, which is just Really Frickin' Cool. And I took a break and haven't gotten back to the series yet). Give me a Neil Gaiman or Robin McKinley novel any day. Or a Hellboy comic book, for that matter.


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## Talierin

Thank you, finally some people that agree that David Eddings and Robert Jordan simply cannot write! I tried reading the Belgariad once - I think I ended up throwing it across the room after a few chapters. And I only made it up to book six in WoT, then I realized that the plot was going NOWHERE and if I read that Perrin had "Ham-sized fists" anymore I was going to scream.

Unfortunately my best friend still thinks that WoT is better than LoTR - I think he's crazy.


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## Rhiannon

Seriously--The plot just stopped after book six, completely (unfortunately I kept reading for another four books, because I wanted to know what happened to a couple of characters. I skipped most of the tenth book, found a couple of brief references to them, then said screw it and gave up entirely) and Robert Jordan stopped actually describing things, he just repeated what he'd said already. Waaaaugh. 

And let's not even talk about Terry Brooks. Except for _Running with the Demon_ and _Knight of the Word_, Terry Brooks pretty much sucks at existing.

Well, and the whole gobs of money thing. Except for that, he sucks at existing.


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## HLGStrider

I found that pretty much all of Jordan's characters grew less and less likeable. Even Matt, who was my favorite for a bunch of weird reasons, really started to fade near the end, and the last book I read scarcely had any Matt in it anyway. . .


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## Rhiannon

That's because all of the characters started as stereotypes, and then turned into caricatures of themselves. Bleh.


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## Mike

> I just ordered Dune from the library. I figure I should give it a go. I've heard generally good things about the first book, but bad reviews of the later ones


 
"Dune" is the greatest work of science fiction of all time. I loved that novel, and highly recommend it. Ecological, spiritual, mental themes...it has them all in a crefully-paced story. 

However, my attempt at reading "Dune Messiah" led to failure. And "Children of Dune." The former is, really, more akin to a long essay than anything else, and gets increasingly boring--you think that something will happen, but nothing ever develops. At a third of the length of "Dune", it feels much longer. In "Children of Dune" I started noticing contradictions to what was stated in the original and gave up.

As for books I hated...

Dragonlance. I remember trying to read the first novel in the original trilogy (I think its called "Dragonlance Chronicles) or some such name, and never finished. Horrible written, horribly paced, horribly plotted. The characters were all one-dimensional sterotypes. After reading a few chapters, i simply felt defiled. Into the wood boiler for that copy...

"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". *Shivers* Enough said.

"Tom Jones" by Fielding also ranks on my top-ten worst novels of all time list. (I made one for a 'zine in my Creative Writing Class--wait, Dune ranked on my top ten best. Hmm.) I could not, really could not, forge a path through that massive prose. Walter Scott is less verbose, and at least does not interject as many random thoughts into a story. Why this novel is ranked as a classic and the "first great English novel" is beyond me. (Robinson Crusoe was written before this and is, for some reason, not even considered.)

As for most other books i have hated, I usually so not finish them, and try to wipe the memory from my mind. It's somewhat easier to do than with films--"Alexander" still has me waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, thinking "I actually watched the whole thing! Why? Oh God WHY?!"


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## Ithrynluin

Talierin said:


> Thank you, finally some people that agree that David Eddings and Robert Jordan simply cannot write! I tried reading the Belgariad once - I think I ended up throwing it across the room after a few chapters.



I haven't read those authors, but I daresay they are better writers than Terry Goodkind with his dull and unimaginative _The Sword of Truth_ series.


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## Celebthôl

Dislike the Earthsea quartet (Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore and Tehanu) quite a lot, they're like the first 4 fantasy books - or so is my take on it - because they have SOOO much potential, but they don't achieve, lots of people say they are the best fantasy books written, but they just come across as the first stepping stone that every other fantasy novel is based on and it has some truely brilliant ideas that arent built up on, and you (I) never connected with the characeters. For those who've never read them, they are very short and go through things way to much for example: the main guy Ged when we first meet him is something like 11, the book is 167 pages long and in that time he grows to about 20, unleashes the worst monster thing in the world ever (or something) and he defeats it. The story could have easily and should have been a 1000 page trilogy at least, instead the entire quartet is 691 pages long. WAY to short.


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## Starbrow

I think the Earthseas books are fantastic and Leguin is my 2nd favorite author (after Tolkien, of course). However, I do agree with your assessment that there is a lot of story left untold. It leaves me with a somewhat dissatisfied feeling because I want to know so much more. I suspect LeGuin did not want to write your typical fantasy/action novel.


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## Annaheru

I had to read j.g. ballard (Crash _and_ Atrocity Exhibition ) and william s. burroughs (Nova Express) for a college course . . . first time I've ever left books unfinished. Burrough's concept, sabotage language, is fine, but 30pg is more than enough, and I can't even comprehend someone reading all 180pgs. ballard just can't write.


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## Mormegil

Ithrynluin said:


> I haven't read those authors, but I daresay they are better writers than Terry Goodkind with his dull and unimaginative _The Sword of Truth_ series.



Trust me, Goodkind's Sword of Truth series is so much more original, exciting and imaginative than any of Edding's works.


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## Violanthe

I recently read the first Earthsea and found it largely boring and the ending was so very predictable.


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## Ithrynluin

Mormegil said:


> Trust me, Goodkind's Sword of Truth series is so much more original, exciting and imaginative than any of Edding's works.



Do you find his works to be such in and of themselves or only in comparison with the above mentioned writer?


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## Mormegil

Definately in comparison to Eddings.

As for Goodkind's series on its own merits;
I have read the series and have generally enjoyed the books so far. Goodkind has some original ideas, and I enjoy his style of storytelling. I was actually suprised by some of the plot twists in the series.
The characters seem to have a depth to them which I like. And the Races of Goodkind's world are not fantasy stereotypes such as Elves and Dwarves. 
The series does however suffer from the same sort of problem as Jordan's Wheel of Time. The story hasn't really developed in the last few books. Richard's adventures in the Old World seem to be taking forever!!


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## HLGStrider

Violanthe said:


> I recently read the first Earthsea and found it largely boring and the ending was so very predictable.


 
I read "Wizard of Earthsea" and liked it and then picked up "Tales of Earthsea" which is three (I think) Novellas and found it un-extraordinary and fairly boring. One of the short stories was all right. The other two were blah. 

Wizard of Earthsea is, I think, the first, and I liked the plot but it did happen too much too fast. However, I didn't want a lot more detail on the world. I thought the universe was well wrought, so to speak.


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## Aiwendil2

There are two books I was forced to read for school that I really intensely hated. They are _The Fountainhead_ by Ayn Rand and _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ by John Irving. I know people who like these books, but if you ask me, when faced with the prospect of reading them, suicide becomes a very attractive option.


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## e.Blackstar

I don't hate it, but right now I'm quite disliking _The Da Vinci Code_.


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## Starbrow

I didn't like The DaVinci Code at first either. But it got better as I read more of it. IMO, it doesn't live up to all the hype, though.


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## e.Blackstar

Yeah...I just read it yesterday, and the thing that pissed me off the most was that the touted super-geniuses were so incredibly _stupid!_ I figured things out _pages_ before them; even chapters, occasionally. Made me pretty mad.  

Not to mention that since everything was so 'shrouded in legend', 2/3 of the book was exposition.


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## Lindir

e.Blackstar said:


> I don't hate it, but right now I'm quite disliking _The Da Vinci Code_.


I didn't hate it either but it wasn't very good. The hero was extremely dull, the language was nothing special and the author had some strange ideas about Europe as a whole (e.g. French police operating in the U.K. without permission).
I also knew all about the mystery beforehand (Discovery Channel, years ago) which certainly didn't help, as it was the only really interesting thing about the book.


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## Violanthe

What specific criticisms do you folks have of the DaVinci Code?


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## e.Blackstar

Like I said, it was just poorly written. The characters, who were supposed to be super-geniuses, were light-years dumber than me, which made it frustrating when they couldn't figure out the obvious clues. Also, the whole book was a big myth based in reality, so everything had to be explained and re-explained, which comprised 75% of the book.


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## Celebthôl

HLGStrider said:


> Wizard of Earthsea is, I think, the first, and I liked the plot but it did happen too much too fast. However, I didn't want a lot more detail on the world. I thought the universe was well wrought, so to speak.



Agreed, however it seemed much to clichéd, although this might be because i've read lots of other fantasy books (or seen films) and know what to expect:
- Meet hero
- Hero comes of age
- Hero encounters worst being imaginable that has no weakness and is "impossible" to destroy
- Hero finds a way to destroy evil being
- The End

It was that exactly, even in that it was that basic to the letter.
If i had read it when it first came out, i'd probably have loved it, but alas it's been surpassed in detail and ideas in other newer books.
I LOVED the idea of its universe though, where if a spell is done then there is a reaction or something must change in the universe usually for the worse, e.g. if they change the weather to rainy where they are by magic then a place elsewhere in the world is effected by a drought. Or that food counjoured up in the middle of the sea won't effect you other than giving you taste (it won't fill you up) because it isn't made from anything tangable.


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## Rhiannon

Blech. Goodkind. Blch. I read the first five or six and then got tired of a series that was essentially all about him finding new ways to make his characters suffer. 

Dickins. I've never finished a Charles Dickins. He bores me. 

I didn't hate _Wizard of Earthsea_. I thought it was very dense writing and had a hard time getting through it, but I didn't hate it. It's on the reading list of the Modern Fantasy class, which I think (hope) is offered next year. It'd be interesting to discuss.


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## Violanthe

I read the first four of Goodkind and got sick of him. He just tried to do the same thing over and over again, rather than doing something new.


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## Varokhâr

I haven't read all that many books which really let me down, but_The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy _made me want to stab my eyes out...


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## Ithrynluin

Varokhâr said:


> I haven't read all that many books which really let me down, but_The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy _made me want to stab my eyes out...



That's interesting. I don't think I've ever met someone who did not like this book, the majority of readers give it high praise. I myself have not read it. I tried getting into it a couple of times, but the first dozen or so pages did not manage to keep me interested.


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## Varokhâr

Ithrynluin said:


> That's interesting. I don't think I've ever met someone who did not like this book, the majority of readers give it high praise. I myself have not read it. I tried getting into it a couple of times, but the first dozen or so pages did not manage to keep me interested.



That's pretty much exactly how it went for me. I tried a few chapters over a good three or four days, maybe a week, but just couldn't make myself like it. I've resolved never to touch the dreadful thing again 

Also, I love the points Nietzsche made, but for some reason, trying to read anything he wrote is a very slow, ponderous task. _Beyond Good and Evil_ is very interesting, but really like going to New York by way of China, if you follow me. He takes absolutely _forever_ to make a single point about anything.


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## Persephone

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. But Rowling promised retribution for Umbridge, so I eagerly await that.


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## Erurainon

I have always hated factually inaccurate books, and this one (the most discrete way of mentioning it, Mr. Admin)

VIEW ON YOUR RESPONSIBILITY:
http://uncyclopedia.org/images/8/8e/BibleWarningLabel.jpg

And, yea, it does express a point of view. Warned you.


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## Turgon

> What specific criticisms do you folks have of the DaVinci Code?



Hmm... _The Da Vinci Code_? I don't know why, but every page I read set me thinking what a fantastic book Eco's _Foucault's Pendulum_ was. I think I managed to read around half of the Code and then decided to go back and read Eco again. Now that was a real consipracy!! It was like eating chocolate after a meal of burnt twigs...


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## Barliman Butterbur

Violanthe said:


> Ever read a book that you absolutely hated? Or even one that you rather disliked? Which book was it? And why didn't you like it?[/



I hate _anything_ in print or otherwise that promulgates hate.

EDIT 8-20-06: Come to think of it, I came pretty close to "hating" that pathetic book that Sean Astin wrote about LOTR, which was in actuality a paranoid monument to his ego and his disgusting obsession with himself and what people might think of him. I actually threw it away. I rarely throw books out.

Barley


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## Êurlond

Hmm, Many Norwegian books, Well many of them are good but still, Some Norwegian authors are just plain garbage.


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## CirdanLinweilin

_Lord of the Flies_ by William Golding.

And _The Awakening _by Kate Chopin, terrible feminist drivel. 


CL


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## Starbrow

This past year I read the first chapter of _The Great Gatsby__,_ and thought it was so boring I didn't read the rest. I have no idea why it's considered such a classic.


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## CirdanLinweilin

Starbrow said:


> This past year I read the first chapter of _The Great Gatsby__,_ and thought it was so boring I didn't read the rest. I have no idea why it's considered such a classic.


My Brother read that, it's one of his favorite books. I read the beginning and was instantly done with it. So, I get why you dislike it.


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## mallos

Anything by Charles Dickens. Is is just so _incredibly _boring!


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## CirdanLinweilin

mallos said:


> Anything by Charles Dickens. Is is just so _incredibly _boring!


Ironically, _A Christmas Carol_ was the foundation for which charity and goodwill came about during Christmas time, before then it was just a time of revelry and partying. It is also one of the most beloved works of literature. But I can see why you find it boring.


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## CirdanLinweilin

I know you didn't mention ACC, but you did mention Charles Dickens.


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## Persephone

Narya said:


> Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. But Rowling promised retribution for Umbridge, so I eagerly await that.



I still hate this book - and hate Rowling even more for not doing what she promised. I hate the Twilight books - ALL OF THEM! Stupid stories and characters - all are MARY SUES!!! Stephanie Meyer is the worst author alive!


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## CirdanLinweilin

I knew there was something I liked about you Narya. 

I detest the Twilight series, pointless, pointless, POINTLESSSSSSS


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## Persephone

CirdanLinweilin said:


> I knew there was something I liked about you Narya.
> 
> I detest the Twilight series, pointless, pointless, POINTLESSSSSSS




LOL!!! I hate all the characters and how they turned out. It was stupid. The whole thing - didn't watch the movies. LOL!


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## Squint-eyed Southerner

Necroposting again. Apologies. 

I read "Catcher in the Rye" in the 10th grade. Kept waiting for something to happen. Nothing happened. I slammed it in my oral book report. My teacher made me sit down.

Kept meaning to give it a try again as an adult, thinking I hadn't been "mature" enough to grasp its subtlies, as a callow teenager.

Then a few years ago, the critic Jonathan Yardley wrote an article on it in his "Revisiting" series in the Washington Post. He confirmed that I was not crazy.

Wheel of Time: there were some things I liked, particularly the strong female characters, something unusual in a male writer. The biggest problem, IMO, was that he kept starting new plot lines, to the point where, in the later books, none of them could advance very far at all, so that the books slowly became inert. He should have kept to his original plan for (IIRC) eight books. But money beckons. . .

I love Dickens.

Hmm. There seems to be a David Eddings theme running through this thread:


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## CirdanLinweilin

Squint-eyed Southerner said:


> particularly the strong female characters, something unusual in a male writer.


Really? 

I've got several in mine. I guess I'm a black sheep! (These female characters do not all take away from my male ones.)

CL


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## Squint-eyed Southerner

Guess I haven't been keeping up!

What are your books? (Remember, I'm new here).


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## CirdanLinweilin

Squint-eyed Southerner said:


> Guess I haven't been keeping up!
> 
> What are your books? (Remember, I'm new here).


Caveat is I am in the process of writing it!

It's going to be a trilogy, it's about an orphaned Princess that is the last of her kind and heiress to the High Throne at a time when everyone is basically done with the idea of a monarchy. It's High Fantasy and based off (loosely), or at least inspired by Irish Mythology.

The Tuatha Dé Danann, especially including the Goddesses Epona and Morrigan make appearances!

CL


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## Squint-eyed Southerner

Ah. Well, let us know when it's published -- I'll look forward to it.


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## CirdanLinweilin

Squint-eyed Southerner said:


> Ah. Well, let us know when it's published -- I'll look forward to it.


I will! Definitely I just need to write 52 chapters, short chapters, but 52 nonetheless.



CL


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## Squint-eyed Southerner

Why? Is it based on a deck of cards?


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## CirdanLinweilin

Squint-eyed Southerner said:


> Why? Is it based on a deck of cards?


No, just a very long story. It's the first 21 years of my protagonist's life.

Don't worry, it's the longest in the trilogy. The ones after probably won't be as long.


CL


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