What Not to Read

[Musical Shutterbug]

And um.... I could get a lot of hate for this... but I cannot read classics. That goes for anything by Jane Austen, Victor Hugo, C.S. Lewis, and Tolkein.

I don't like C.S. Lewis' writings, either

Old Man and the Sea

Mmm. I also disliked this book.

Delirium and Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver.

I simply don't like Lauren's writing style. I find it to be quite annoying. >_>

[Catspaw]

Pretty much every short story or book I had to read in English 101 in college was terrible. Grapes of Wrath, the Red Convertable, etc etc. With very few exceptions I'm generally not a fan of the so-named Great American Authors.

I had to read "Grapes of Wrath" in grade 12 and also thought it was terrible. I'm glad that it wasn't just me!

Judith Miller's Postcards from Pullman series was very dull, in my opinion. Usually I will finish every book I read, and usually if I start a series I'll want to finish it. However, I made it partway through the second book in this trilogy before I gave up out of boredom. I just didn't care at all about the characters. It felt contrived to me, and it just couldn't interest me at all. Oddly enough, my sister, who is usually much pickier than I am about books, didn't think they were too bad, so maybe it was just me.

I'm sure I have more to add to this list, if I took the time to think of all the titles. I remember reading a truly dull yet disturbing book for grade 11 English, but I can't remember what it was called. Actually, I think there were two that fit that description, but one of them was called "Wild Geese," and according to the blurb I found on Amazon,

Today, Wild Geese is widely recognized as a milestone in the development of modern realist fiction. Set on the windswept prairies, it is a story of love and tyranny, of destruction and survival, told with vigour and lyric beauty. It is also a poignant evocation of loneliness, which, like the call of the wild geese, is beyond human warmth, beyond tragedy, “an endless quest.”

It was boring when I was 17. And odd. Maybe I missed something.

[Buzz]

Twilight, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.

[Amethystic]

Three books stand out from my memory as being absolutely miserable reads:

Useful Idiots by Jan Mark - It was a bleak, boring book about a bleak, boring future. 'Nuff said.

Rotters by Daniel Kraus - All the depressingness of a regular YA "realistic" novel, except with a twist: Joey's estranged father is a grave robber. It wasn't even the corpses and the gore that disturbed me, it was the psychological and emotional darkness of it all. Joey's life is so miserable throughout the course of the novel, the fact that he starts helping his father dig up corpses at night seems like the tip of the iceberg.

The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman - Well, to quote my own thoughts on this book from back when I read it this summer, "...I hated the protagonist, they killed the only likable character, and the other character I thought was likable turned out to be some psychotic cult member...At the book’s conclusion there’s no happy ending, no love or friendship or family to promise a brighter future; there’s just one bitter, passive-aggressive girl who’s going to go on quietly resenting everyone and everything in her life to the same extent she did even before all the people in her life deceived and betrayed her." The book pretty much ruined Prague for me, I think. A terrible read.

I truly can't decide which of these books I hated the most, but that last one is the one I read most recently, so it sticks out the most in my memory. The annoying thing is, the latter two books were especially long, also. *grumbles about wasted time*

[Metal15]

I didn't care much for the book "Science Fair" by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. I thought it was just a little stupid...

[Woody]

Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson are awesome! I haven't read that particular book, but their "Starcatchers" series was quite interesting.

[~JCGJ~]

I've never read a book that I detest (mostly because I'm fairly open minded when it comes to books and movies), but I do have a bit of a love/hate relationship with 1984, by George Orwell.

It's an excellent dystopian book. The writing is superb, the characters are extremely well developed, the plot is both enticing and exciting...
But it's one of the most frustrating novels I've ever read in my life...
I was depressed for weeks after finishing it...
Orwell gives you the slightest little sliver of hope that it will all work out in the end... but then he smashes those hopes with a jackhammer of an ending that will rip your heart to shreds and destroy any hope you had for our society (especially when you consider the fact that he wrote it back in 1948, and how closely the story resembles our own modern society).

But, I must say...
The main reason I still love this book, is because I greatly admire Orwell for not feeling the need to wrap the story up in a nice pretty bow at the end *cough*Mocking Jay*cough*

[Caswin]

Admit it. Somewhere in your head, you've got a list of those books that make you cringe whenever you remember them. You fling your hands up in disgust whenever you hear them mentioned. You flee in terror whenever you see them. Those awful, terrible books that just make you whimper whenever you think about them.

Actually, I have trouble thinking of any book that I read in its entirety and didn't think I was better off for having read it.

Out of the books on this thread, so far, I either haven't read them or I read them and enjoyed them. (Well, I've read a little of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and I liked that. The same goes for Dork Diaries, actually.) The nearest one I can think of is Lord of the Rings, but I would probably encourage anyone else to read it.

...although I agree with ~JCGJ~ about just how horrifyingly powerful 1984 is, on terms of what its story alone, never mind how close we are or aren't to it. Kept me up for a few nights.

Let me think... I wouldn't say "never", but I don't recommend most of the original James Bond novels... though even then, Dr. No was better than the movie.

[Petrichor]

Actually, I have trouble thinking of any book that I read in its entirety and didn't think I was better off for having read it.

You are insanely lucky, then. I would think just about everyone has a couple books that they regret wasting their time on. For instance, I can't believe I blew two perfectly good hours of my life reading The Princess Diaries.

[Aeva]

But The Princess Diaries movies were hilariously silly.

Pretty much every short story or book I had to read in English 101 in college was terrible.

*like*

Ditto. I had to read several short stories for my Literature-based Argumentative Research class, and I regretted every one lol.

"Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway (I also disliked "The Old Man and the Sea.")
"A Souvenir of Japan" by Angela Carter
"King of the Bingo Game" by Ralph Ellison
"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor (This one was by far the worst.)

As for books, I wasted more time than I care to remember reading the Twilight series, but at the moment I can't think of any others that I truly disliked. The Children of Hurin by Tolkien (edited and released by Christopher Tolkien) was depressing but beautifully written.

[31899]

Anything written by John Green is really not worth ones time. Although he has won many awards for his poorly written pulp fiction, all his books follow the same general plot, and his style is not the most pleasing. Some of his books do not exactly promote what books written for teenagers and young adults should in my opinion.

Edit: I apologise to his any of his culties that probably grotesquely disagree with my opinion about his books, but my opinion is just an opinion and you are entitled to your opinion as well.

31899

[TigerintheShadows]

I didn't care much for the book "Science Fair" by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. I thought it was just a little stupid...

I liked that book. I mean, it's not high literature, but it is a nice book to read at bedtime. I haven't read "Peter and the Starcatchers", but I've heard they're quite good.

Unless you have to read it for college, do not read "The Republic" by Plato. Eurgh...we had to read it for Law Academy. I got by because we were allowed to have the book with us when we were quizzed on the main ideas, so I flipped through the chapters and found the keywords and interpreted the basic concepts.

[Woody]

I haven't read "Peter and the Starcatchers", but I've heard they're quite good.

They are AMAZING!!! I order you to go read them. NOW!

[Tea Ess]

I have one relative who gives me books based off of whether they won an award. I have ended up with a couple of books that I regretted reading but couldn't really not read.

[~JCGJ~]

Anything written by John Green is really not worth ones time. Although he has won many awards for his poorly written pulp fiction, all his books follow the same general plot, and his style is not the most pleasing. Some of his books do not exactly promote what books written for teenagers and young adults should in my opinion.

Edit: I apologise to his any of his culties that probably grotesquely disagree with my opinion about his books, but my opinion is just an opinion and you are entitled to your opinion as well.

31899

You're certainly right about his plotlines... A guy meets a girl, he falls in love with her, the girl disapears, the boy goes on a big quest to find her, he finds her, and they all live happily ever after.

That describes Looking for Alaska AND Paper Towns to a tee.

(And for the record, I only read them because I have this thing about reading every single SCBAN (South Carolina Book Award Nominee) each year... And both Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns were on there at seperate times. I didn't even realize they were both by the same author until awhile after I had read them both... I just remember thinking, as I was reading Paper Towns, "This is a lot like Looking for Alaska." )

[Anna><>]

"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor (This one was by far the worst.)

I definitely agree!! This story was so messed up in so many ways...

[Shennifer]

Unless you have to read it for college, do not read "The Republic" by Plato. Eurgh...we had to read it for Law Academy. I got by because we were allowed to have the book with us when we were quizzed on the main ideas, so I flipped through the chapters and found the keywords and interpreted the basic concepts.

I had to read some of "The Republic" for college last semester; and another one of Plato's books too. They weren't terrible, just a bit hard to understand at times. Thankfully, my teacher explained them well.

[godisawesomeness99]

I didn't care much for the book "Science Fair" by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. I thought it was just a little stupid...

Hey wait a sec! That book was great

[EvangelineWalker]

"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor (This one was by far the worst.)

I definitely agree!! This story was so messed up in so many ways...

When I read this in English Lit 101 in college, I was like, why would anyone want to read this. It was rather horrifying. I never wanted to read anything by Flannery O'Connor again. But for some reason, I did, and I actually ended up liking her as an author overall.

[Petrichor]

Oh, hey, new books to add to the list!

Well, if you're looking for free Kindle books, stay away from "A Bride for Tom" by Ruth Ann Nordin. ...unless, of course, you're in the mood for some serious laughs. I guarantee that most of the girls in the audience will laugh their heads off when the main character decides she has to cut off like, two feet of her hair because she got a piece of thread tangled up in it. *facepalm* The book is full of inspiring yet tragic moments like that.

"Perfectly Dateless" by Kristin Billerbeck scores a place on this list just for the main character being so genuinely unpleasant and unlikable. I think there may have been a plot in there somewhere about her never having dated somebody and being upset about it, but all I remember is that she and her friends managed to burn down her best friend's house, her dad landed in the hospital with heart failure or something, and she was still moping about her lack of a date for prom. Yeah. She sounds like a real charmer, doesn't she?

And then a while back I saw "The Compound" by S.A. Bodeen on a bookshelf somewhere, read it mainly because it was advertised as a published NaNoWriMo book, and then realized why NaNoWriMo books shouldn't be published. Bad characters, bad plot, sub-par writing, and kind of creepily disturbing on top of all that. *shudders*

And then there was one that I read more recently, but I can't remember it now. Bother.