The books you hated!

[NaughteeDragon]

My freshman year of college I took a Literature class that was required.

One of the books we read was about a white woman that gets raped by a “big black gunman” (BBG is how he is referred to for the rest of the book) that breaks into her house. Over the course of the book she turns to her friend to help her deal with the trauma. When her friend can’t understand her trauma, her decision is to “become” this BBG and rape her friend with a strap on.
I hated every moment of that book, and 35 years later I still remember it and hate it just as much. There was nothing redeeming about that book. It wasn’t even a good example of how not to deal with trauma, because it was so fucking racist.

 

[Statius]

My freshman year of college I took a Literature class that was required.

One of the books we read was about a white woman that gets raped by a “big black gunman” (BBG is how he is referred to for the rest of the book) that breaks into her house. Over the course of the book she turns to her friend to help her deal with the trauma. When her friend can’t understand her trauma, her decision is to “become” this BBG and rape her friend with a strap on.
I hated every moment of that book, and 35 years later I still remember it and hate it just as much. There was nothing redeeming about that book. It wasn’t even a good example of how not to deal with trauma, because it was so fucking racist.

What the actual fuck

 

[MillieDynamite]

Well, it isn't one of the books I have. I've never read, nor do I want to. But does it have a name so I can continue to say it isn't one of the books I have?

My freshman year of college I took a Literature class that was required.

One of the books we read was about a white woman that gets raped by a “big black gunman” (BBG is how he is referred to for the rest of the book) that breaks into her house. Over the course of the book she turns to her friend to help her deal with the trauma. When her friend can’t understand her trauma, her decision is to “become” this BBG and rape her friend with a strap on.
I hated every moment of that book, and 35 years later I still remember it and hate it just as much. There was nothing redeeming about that book. It wasn’t even a good example of how not to deal with trauma, because it was so fucking racist.

 

[NaughteeDragon]

Well, it isn't one of the books I have. I've never read, nor do I want to. But does it have a name so I can continue to say it isn't one of the books I have?

Couldn’t tell you, and I refuse to look it up out of spite. That book already occupies too much space in my head.
Probably safe to assume you don’t. It was the early 90’s

 

[EdwardsOtherSide]

I hate, I'm using the word hate, but it's worse than that, I abhor the Twilight books.

The worst thing about my name is those books.

I frequently add to my introduction "and I do not sparkle".

 

[Deadbed1968]

I haven't read Catcher but I think the point that you make addresses something general about how people read. We get this A TON here on lit. People tend to read with their morals and will dismiss/trash anything that transgresses their morals, and when they do this they usually miss the point. Good writers will often provoke because it forces the readers to broaden their perspectives and learn something. When one reads moralistically, they shut out anything that they don't agree with. They keep their blinders on and miss out.

On lit we get the same thing. You can't have infidelity in a romance story. It's not romance. This sucks, end of discussion, 1 star. A Dom should never be abusive. This is wrong. This sucks, end of discussion, 1 star. That sort of thing. The blinders are on. "You didn't agree with my fantasy, BAD." In regular literature it's, "You didn't agree with my morals, BAD."

It was strictly my own opinion on the book, more specifically the antihero lead character. Of course our opinions are colored by our moral values, that is human nature. I didn’t say that people shouldn’t read it. I just answered the question the discussion thread posed: to disclose the book I hated. I’m certainly not going say I liked a book I actually didn’t just because it is considered a significant piece. I stand by my opinion that Holden is a nihilistic little twerp.

 

[ChloeTzang]

.....books we hated, for whatever reason.

Every Anita Blake book by Laurell K Hamilton after Obsidian Butterfly. those early books are classic dark fantasy and I loved them. Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, The Lunatic Cafe, Bloody Bones, they're all great. The Killing Dance is so-so. Burnt Offerings is back on form. Blue Moon is good and I LOVED Obsidian Butterfly. Edward is to die for.

From Narcissus in Chains, she just loses it and from then on they're not worth reading. Totally disappointing - the early books were juist wonderful. At this point, Anita Blake has been beaten to death, and perhaps she should be.

Neil Gaiman - I have never finished one of his books. I yawn. My eyes close. Bored to death. I am lucky to be alive.

Game of Thrones. Talk about dragging its ass. I never made it past Book 2.

Anything by Danielle Steel. Who is she? Why do people buy her books? 182 novels. 4th best selling fiction writers of all time. 800 million books sold. "Produces" several books a year. I can barely get past the first page of any of her books. She obviously has something but it's never clicked for me. I can't stand them. A bit like Nicholas Sparks.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I remember Gatsby being a bit tedious. It read like that genre of books desperate to be made into a film script. Fortunately we only did it in sixth form (last two years of school) so didn't have to write any essays about it.

I enjoy F Scott Fitzgerald - I enjoyed Gatsby and a lot of his short stories.

I read Catcher in the Rye at the same age, and it was OK, just totally unmemorable. So you're a whiny teenager with rich parents you don't like, lacking a girlfriend? Got loads of those round here. Meh.

Double Meh. it would fade into oblivion if schools didn't make you read it.

And don't get me started on Golding and Lord of the Flies.

 

[MillieDynamite]

The Great Gatsby as opposed to Gatsby (which I find dreadful, not a single e/E to be found in the whole fucking story). However, a different writer, but in the same time period.

I enjoy F Scott Fitzgerald - I enjoyed Gatsby and a lot of his short stories.



Double Meh. it would fade into oblivion if schools didn't make you read it.

And don't get me started on Golding and Lord of the Flies.

 

[NaughteeDragon]

Every Anita Blake book by Laurell K Hamilton after Obsidian Butterfly. those early books are classic dark fantasy and I loved them. Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, The Lunatic Cafe, Bloody Bones, they're all great. The Killing Dance is so-so. Burnt Offerings is back on form. Blue Moon is good and I LOVED Obsidian Butterfly. Edward is to die for.

Game of Thrones. Talk about dragging its ass. I never made it past Book 2.

I read the first couple of Anita Blake books and stopped. I want my monsters to be monsters. I don’t remember why I stopped, but I remember having that thought when I did.

I stopped reading GoT when he killed Ned Stark. If I wanted to read about the shitty reality of European nobles fighting over thrones, I’ll read European history. I want my Fantasy to have clearly delineated good guys and bad guys, that is what Fantasy is for. I read sci-fi and modern stories for shades of gray and moral relativism.

 

[Demiurging]

In high school I was given a choice of several books to read over the course of a semester. Of these, one option, the only one I was even slightly interested in was Invisible Man.

I thought it was an odd choice by these people, given their resistance to giving us anything actually fun to read, but, hey, I like science fiction, so I picked it.

"The Invisible Man" is about an invisible man.

"Invisible Man" is about racism.

No matter how good or bad it actually was, I just can't get over the betrayal.

 

[lovecraft68]

Thinking back on my prior post about your favs/dislikes when you were younger and would you feel the same now one book stood out to me that would go from fav to shit list.

Off Season, written by Jack Ketchum.

If you're a horror fan you know about this book, why its infamous and has always had a strong cult following. I was on board with that as I read it for the first time in my early teens (let's hear it for that who cares what they're reading parenting of the 70's/80s) then reread it a few years later.

First off, the book is poorly written, its only plus is the savage over the top violence and a bit of sleazy sex mixed in.

As I've gotten older I've turned away from books and movies that are basically torture porn so much of the material there lost its "Ohh" factor which is now an eye rolling, "Yeah, okay, we get it. Any story in here somewhere?"

But the main thing is I ended up reading his other novels. Girl Next Door, The Woman, and a couple of Off season sequels which were the same thing over and over. But the first two I listed bothered me because it dawned on me that this author hated women. Seriously hated women. I'll say at least in his writing I have no idea what he was like in person and anything can be a plot device in a book, but when its in every book and to the level it exists in all of them? He's got some things he needs to work out-maybe that's what the stories are for-but like, goddamn, man, I hope for the sake of your wife this shit stayed on paper while he was alive.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Anything by Danielle Steel. Who is she? Why do people buy her books? 182 novels. 4th best selling fiction writers of all time. 800 million books sold. "Produces" several books a year. I can barely get past the first page of any of her books. She obviously has something but it's never clicked for me. I can't stand them. A bit like Nicholas Sparks.

They're easy to read romantic dramas with a bit of thriller and a bit of sex. Lots of short sentences and simple words, and exotic rich people. I read half a dozen as a teenager before feeling my brain cells running away screaming. Vowed to read the next book on the shelf. Cancer Ward by Soltzhenitsyn is less bleak than you might expect, some humour, and beautifully written (and translated!)

And don't get me started on Golding and Lord of the Flies.

It's kinda bleak and OTT, and oh look, it's a big Jesus metaphor, but at least stuff happens in it. And it was easy to write about age 13 for Year 9 English, which had a lot going for it.

I'm a huge Shakespeare fan, but having to write about bloody Romeo and Juliet was a nightmare. At least our teacher got the tone right - "it's about really annoying, whingy, over-dramatic thirteen and fourteen year olds falling in lust - or possibly love, but I doubt it - for the first time. Did I mention they were really annoying? They make you lot look sensible..."

I managed to get away with only submitting exam answers on it, luckily. And our year did manage not to have anyone die.

 

[ChloeTzang]

They're easy to read romantic dramas with a bit of thriller and a bit of sex. Lots of short sentences and simple words, and exotic rich people. I read half a dozen as a teenager before feeling my brain cells running away screaming. Vowed to read the next book on the shelf.

Oh definitely. She knows her market and her readers alright. Amazing productivity and she knows her niche alright. Brain cells running away screaming mre or less describes it for me too LOL

Cancer Ward by Soltzhenitsyn is less bleak than you might expect, some humour, and beautifully written (and translated!)

It's kinda bleak and OTT, and oh look, it's a big Jesus metaphor, but at least stuff happens in it. And it was easy to write about age 13 for Year 9 English, which had a lot going for it.

Nice. I've read a couple of Solzhenitzyns books - August 1914 was the 1st, as well as One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. I did an online university course in 19th century russian literature a while ago (and another in Russian history)and branched out into 20th century writers, and really enjoy quite a few of the Russian writers, more for the historical content and outlook than the writing itself. Anna Karenin I loved. Quiet Flows the Don was beautiful. Turgenev's short stories too.

I'm a huge Shakespeare fan, but having to write about bloody Romeo and Juliet was a nightmare. At least our teacher got the tone right - "it's about really annoying, whingy, over-dramatic thirteen and fourteen year olds falling in lust - or possibly love, but I doubt it - for the first time. Did I mention they were really annoying? They make you lot look sensible..."

I managed to get away with only submitting exam answers on it, luckily. And our year did manage not to have anyone die.

rotflmao. Everyone forgets that they were teenagers, and young teenagers at that. Alth things got a bit more real back then.

 

[BearNextDoor]

Battlefield Earth. An absolute slog of a book capped off by a terrible ending. It felt Big and Important at the time, so I gutted it out and finished it, but at the end I wanted to throw it across the room.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Can you dig Scientology? I mean, that's the writer's purpose to promote his fake religion even in his fiction.

Battlefield Earth. An absolute slog of a book capped off by a terrible ending. It felt Big and Important at the time, so I gutted it out and finished it, but at the end I wanted to throw it across the room.

 

[BearNextDoor]

Can you dig Scientology? I mean, that's the writer's purpose to promote his fake religion even in his fiction.

Sure, I knew that even as a teen. I wanted the sci-fi trappings, and ...unconventional religions aren't an automatic deal breaker for me. This was just shit.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Sure, I knew that even as a teen. I wanted the sci-fi trappings, and ...unconventional religions aren't an automatic deal breaker for me. This was just shit.

It couldn't possibly have been worse than the movie, could it?

 

[MillieDynamite]

Well, we are all waiting on L. Ron's return with the Aliens who took him away.

Sure, I knew that even as a teen. I wanted the sci-fi trappings, and ...unconventional religions aren't an automatic deal breaker for me. This was just shit.

I'm a true disbeliever.

 

[BearNextDoor]

It couldn't possibly have been worse than the movie, could it?

The copy I read proudly proclaimed on its cover "Soon to be a major motion picture!" It took 20+ years for it to hit theaters. I've never seen it. I'd sooner watch static

 

[MillieDynamite]

The movie was only made because the rights granted under the original purchase were about to expire. It was a pet project of John Travolta's for obvious reasons.

The copy I read proudly proclaimed on its cover "Soon to be a major motion picture!" It took 20+ years for it to hit theaters. I've never seen it. I'd sooner watch static

 

[Britva415]

not a single e/E to be found in the whole fucking story

I don't think anyone does this with the intention to make enjoyable reading. It's more of a flex for flex's sake

 

[MillieDynamite]

It was a challenge from another writer, if I remember correctly. But it was dumb, D-U-M-B, dumb!

I don't think anyone does this with the intention to make enjoyable reading. It's more of a flex for flex's sake