What book do you hate/dislike

[whitepicketfence]

I really disliked The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I had heard so many good things about it but was ultimately disappointed. While I could appreciate the author's wit, I just couldn't get into it.

[ThirdandLong]

I usually don't finish a book if I dislike it, but there have been a few that I finished because I wanted to know how it ended. The Jester by James Patterson was horrible IMO. I also just read/listened to my first Jack Reacher called Tripwire, and I really didn't like it. I know several people who like the series, like the character so I may give a different novel a try.

Would someone please tell me how to type in italics for this board? It makes me cringe to type a book title and not use italics. (I'm sorry. It's a quirk.)

[charlatti]

A Thousand Splendid Suns. I guess I don't hate it but found it exceedingly mediocre.

I don't understand any book where I have to slog through 100+ pages of boring to get to something good (e.g. Outlander, Dragon Tattoo). Can the author not just make a decent start to the book?

[mrshandy]

Great Expectations (read in high school)

A Wrinkle in Time (read in middle school I fucking hated that book)

More recently

Water for Elephants
The Postmistress

[ThirdandLong]

May 16, 2012 8:03:40 GMT -5 mrshandy said:

Great Expectations (read in high school)

A Wrinkle in Time (read in middle school I fucking hated that book)

More recently

Water for Elephants
The Postmistress

I laughed at your Wrinkle in Time rant. I thought we read a lot of crap in middle school, and I was one that liked to read. I feel for the kids that didn't like to read to begin with. I think we read 5 different books about the Oregon Trail and covered wagons. They were all SO boring. The only good book, really good book was The Diary of Anne Frank. I was assigned that one for a book report, and I'll admit I was a little disgruntled about reading this big diary when my best friend got Superfudge. But I'm so glad I was selected to read it. It really affected me as a fifth grader.

[5kcandlesinthewind]

I think The Old Man and the Sea is still my most hated book ever. And I read it 20+ years ago now, the summer before my freshman year of high school.

I also hated Outlander, and thought Claire was a dolt. White Teeth was abysmal - my friend let me borrow it, and when I tried to give it back to her after giving up 50 pages in, she refused. She said that book had brought bad juju in her house, and she never wanted to see it again, heh. I also hate anything Dickens (including A Christmas Carol, with the exception of Scrooged) and Mark Twain. (Which is ironic, because I worked at a museum dedicated to him.)

Recently, I tried to read The Knife of Never Letting Go, and I gave up 3/4 of the way in, when THE VERY UPSETTING THING happened. And I would say I hate Twilight, but I've never actually read it because I cannot get past "Bella Swan" being the main characters name. I just can't.

[BlackCanary]

I was not a fan of Fahrenheit 451.

[interro]

The whole Twilight series. I quit halfway through book 2. I never quit reading a book!

And, in that same vein, 50 Shades of Gray. The writing was so bad I couldn't focus on anything other than keeping count of how many times that idiot said "holy crap" or mentioned her "inner goddess" - yet most of the women I know looooooved it. Ick.

[imoan]

My most hated book EVER is The Sound and the Fury. And I'm so sad because I have to read it again for my challenge. I'm hoping maturity makes it a little more tolerable for me this time around!

[sweetc80]

In The Woods by Tana French.

This book had such potential, and I was very excited about it. But it ended up sucking royally.

[lemondrop]

May 16, 2012 10:17:32 GMT -5 imoan said:

My most hated book EVER is The Sound and the Fury. And I'm so sad because I have to read it again for my challenge. I'm hoping maturity makes it a little more tolerable for me this time around!

I've found that maturity has helped with some books and authors. I hope it works for you!

[imoan]

May 16, 2012 10:47:27 GMT -5 lemondrop said:

May 16, 2012 10:17:32 GMT -5 imoan said:

My most hated book EVER is The Sound and the Fury. And I'm so sad because I have to read it again for my challenge. I'm hoping maturity makes it a little more tolerable for me this time around!

I've found that maturity has helped with some books and authors. I hope it works for you!

It has for books where the adult reading enhanced my understanding of the story (due to life experience, I'm assuming). I haven't really read a story as an adult that I hated as a teenager. We'll see what happens. The only Dickens I read prior to starting my challenge was Hard Times in high school. And I HATED it... but then when I read Dickens for my challenge, I really enjoyed him. I don't know yet if it was just Hard Times or Dickens in general. I guess I'll have to re-read Hard Times to find out!

[moreace01]

Twilight series - and yes, I read every one wondering why it was so popular.

Outlander - got about 100 pages in and it was boring. And then I read some spoilers and realized it wasn't for me.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan made me furious. It was well written, but the subject matter was disturbing and so were the actions of some of the characters.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - was so poorly written and disturbing.

Bitter is the New Black - I don't find Jen Lancaster funny.at.all.

Eat Pray Love - the Eat part was ok. Past that....

One of the worst books I've ever read was the follow-up to Julie/Julia - Cleaving by Julie Powell. Dear god she is insufferable.

Ok...that's enough for now.

ETA: OH! Would have helped if I had read the first page of this post. Books I am supposed to love? Shoot...none of these really fall into that. I'll have to think harder...

[imoan]

I agree about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series. I read them all and just didn't understand why people were losing their minds over them. They were enjoyable enough, I guess. But the first one was hard to get into... and I'm not sure the payoff was worth it.

[PinkSquirrel]

May 16, 2012 8:17:52 GMT -5 5kcandlesinthewind said:

I think The Old Man and the Sea is still my most hated book ever. And I read it 20+ years ago now, the summer before my freshman year of high school.

I clicked into to this post thinking ehhh hate is a strong word, usually I just don't finish books I'm not enjoying. Then I saw this and was reminded that hate isn't always too strong of a word.

[textbookcase]

I also hated The Old Man and the Sea as a teenager. Perhaps I should try it again to see if maturity has changed my opinion.

I also hate Dan Brown books. And Ree Drummond - ugh. I don't get it.

[moreace01]

May 16, 2012 11:57:51 GMT -5 textbookcase said:

And Ree Drummond - ugh. I don't get it.

Lol! I'm kinda with you there. Admitted, at first I liked her photography and stories. But her food is...not for me.

[sweetc80]

May 16, 2012 11:03:54 GMT -5 imoan said:

I agree about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series. I read them all and just didn't understand why people were losing their minds over them. They were enjoyable enough, I guess. But the first one was hard to get into... and I'm not sure the payoff was worth it.

I agree 100%. It was Ok, and the movie wasn't good. How would anybody who didn't read the book know what was going on during the movie?

I have wanted to read the rest just to see how the series ends, but haven't been able to bring myself to do it.

[PinkSquirrel]

May 16, 2012 11:57:51 GMT -5 textbookcase said:

I also hated The Old Man and the Sea as a teenager. Perhaps I should try it again to see if maturity has changed my opinion.

So does this mean Old Man and the Sea should be nominated as our next read-a-long classic? Oyy I mean I'm tempted, but I hated it so much, I can't imagine my opinion would have changed. Anything is possible though

[iamali]

We Need to Talk About Kevin.

I just COULDN'T get into it.

[lemondrop]

May 16, 2012 12:26:23 GMT -5 PinkSquirrel said:

May 16, 2012 11:57:51 GMT -5 textbookcase said:

I also hated The Old Man and the Sea as a teenager. Perhaps I should try it again to see if maturity has changed my opinion.

So does this mean Old Man and the Sea should be nominated as our next read-a-long classic? Oyy I mean I'm tempted, but I hated it so much, I can't imagine my opinion would have changed. Anything is possible though

I'm not an Ernest Hemingway fan at all. If you nominate this, I might have to bow out of that classic read along.

[msmerymac]

May 16, 2012 7:32:21 GMT -5 chicacocodrilo said:

I've found my people! Austen, Picoult, Collins ... not a fan.

Not a classic, but it was a Pulitzer finalist--didn't get Swamplandia!. And more recently, Song of Achilles. Still scratching my head over the love for that one.

Oh no! I have Swamplandia! out from the library now, because it was a Pulitzer finalist. I see it only has 3 stars on Amazon, though. I tried to read Chime b Franny Billingsly because of the whole Shine/Chime fiasco with the National Book Awards last year and I couldn't get into it at all. I was like, "This is the book that was SUPPOSED to be nominated?"

[mrs.jacinthe]

I really struggle with anything Dickens, other than Christmas Carol. I started Oliver Twist back in junior high and it is the first (and only) book I've ever actually WANTED to read that I just couldn't finish. His writing style is so ... complicated. I think it is because he is constantly introducing new characters as though they've been part of the book all along. And then I'm all "Wait, who is this person? *flip flip flip* WTH? Where is this person mentioned?" And then I'm angry about either my reading comprehension/memory skills or whatever. So yeah. I've spent too much time thinking about this. LOL

[msmerymac]

I also hated A Wrinkle in Time. We had to read it in 6th grade. Maybe I should reread it.

Re: Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I still haven't read the 3rd one. I have it, but it seems like I can only read 1 of those books a year. It's not really a genre I enjoy, it takes me forever to get through them, and I think the translation is awful. (I'm sure it must be well-written in the original Swedish, but I don't read Swedish, so I can't say.)

[chicacocodrilo]

May 16, 2012 13:11:37 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

May 16, 2012 7:32:21 GMT -5 chicacocodrilo said:

I've found my people! Austen, Picoult, Collins ... not a fan.

Not a classic, but it was a Pulitzer finalist--didn't get Swamplandia!. And more recently, Song of Achilles. Still scratching my head over the love for that one.

Oh no! I have Swamplandia! out from the library now, because it was a Pulitzer finalist. I see it only has 3 stars on Amazon, though. I tried to read Chime b Franny Billingsly because of the whole Shine/Chime fiasco with the National Book Awards last year and I couldn't get into it at all. I was like, "This is the book that was SUPPOSED to be nominated?"

I guess Swamplandia!'s developed from one of Russell's short stories from her debut collection--and in my experience, that's always a tough thing, taking a short story and expanding it. There was definitely a powerful story there, but she let the language and quirkiness factor overwhelm it instead of focusing on the characters' questions/problems. Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it--she's a lovely writer and I'd like to see what she does next, but I think it got away from her.

Anyway, I think it's always worthwhile to see what the Pulitzer board is up to ... especially this year!

[2curlydogs]

May 15, 2012 21:25:58 GMT -5 heightsyankee said:

ETA: I also wanted to LOVE Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff but I couldn't get past the 3rd chapter

I highly recommend giving it another shot. It was amazing!

I hated The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. What utter crap. not even the premise. I've read entertaining books on the topics of Illuminati or the Merovingian line of kings. But, sweet jesus, he sucks as a writer.

And, yet, here I am trying to "read" The Lost Symbol. Apparently I am a glutton for punishment cause it's not going well.

[falada45]

Another vote for Outlander. I hated it so much I threw my copy in the trash.

[lemondrop]

May 16, 2012 13:21:11 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I also hated A Wrinkle in Time. We had to read it in 6th grade. Maybe I should reread it.

Re: Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I still haven't read the 3rd one. I have it, but it seems like I can only read 1 of those books a year. It's not really a genre I enjoy, it takes me forever to get through them, and I think the translation is awful. (I'm sure it must be well-written in the original Swedish, but I don't read Swedish, so I can't say.)

I agree that the translation is probably bad. I like the story itself, though.

[redstars]

Add me to the "wuthering Heights" hate.

[angnshaun]

May 16, 2012 14:21:42 GMT -5 lemondrop said:

May 16, 2012 13:21:11 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I also hated A Wrinkle in Time. We had to read it in 6th grade. Maybe I should reread it.

Re: Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I still haven't read the 3rd one. I have it, but it seems like I can only read 1 of those books a year. It's not really a genre I enjoy, it takes me forever to get through them, and I think the translation is awful. (I'm sure it must be well-written in the original Swedish, but I don't read Swedish, so I can't say.)

I agree that the translation is probably bad. I like the story itself, though.

yes in some parts it was... and if i see one more person says that they felt like they were reading an ikea catalog im gonna scream... what did you think the names and places would be like???