Worst book you've ever read?

In reply to dculberson: yeah, I have to agree with you here. I fell for the same trap years ago, I started it so I have to finish it.... Nope.

Also for the list. Stephen Kings' "It". Just aweful, first book I ever quit reading after 200 pages nothing had happened.

War and Peace. Seriously... the longest, most drawn out book I've ever been forced to read. Just mind numbingly drawn out.... if all Russians were like this, I understand why they frown a lot.

Duke wrote: On the topic of Ayn Rand: what you have to remember (and what is not readily apparent) is that her novels are Romantic books. Not as in *romance* (because, frankly, that's the scariest side of her writing),

Yeah, it definitely is. I got about halfway through The Fountainhead before running across that side of her writing, and abruptly putting the book down thinking, "I don't really like my political rants with a side of S&M porn."

but as in demonstrating the greatest virtues and worst flaws of mankind. As such, her characters are *meant* to be clearly Good or Bad. They are more like melodramas written to capture a specific moral point. They're not meant to be entertainment for its own sake.

Good melodrama typically works as entertainment, though. They get you to root for the clean-cut good guy to thwart the mustache twirling villain who ties girls to the railroad tracks. When it comes to constructing an argument, though, caricaturing those who disagree with you usually only works well as satire. If Atlas Shrugged was supposed to be a comedy, I didn't get it.

patgizz wrote: the hobbit. maybe it's because i could care less for the fantasy stuff, maybe because the opening line of "Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit" made me think WTF. did not care for it.

Tried and failed to read The Hobbit 4 times. The 5th time, I read it, and fell in love with the story. The way that I was able to read it though, was to imagine a jolly British chap telling a story to his kids/grandkids.

Atlas shrugged is one of my favorite books.

You need to understand that she is FORCING an ideology down your throat and ignore the parts where it is forced. I realize that can lead to some difficult chapters. She is not a great entertainment author.

I like the idea that capatalism is the driving force. Good ideas and hard work should rise to the top.

At least she makes people think.

My least favorite book is anything by Thoreau for much teh same reason that I LIKE Ayn Rand. I know weird, right...

Thoreau just seems like a whiney bitch to me. I built my house for $28.00. I live off the land. I am awesome. Preachy horseE36 M3 that did not interest me. There is no action.

See....

I told you I am weird.

Rob R.

My favorite quote about Atlas Shrugged:

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

It's not a well written book, the author has a point to prove and spends hundreds of pages and sets up the fictional deaths of millions of people to do it. I enjoyed it a lot as a teenager, then I grew up and looked at it with an adult's critical eye. A good author would be able to communicate that idea (capitalism as a driving force) without being so heavy handed and, frankly, clumsy about it.

Plus she's really into S&M rape scenes where the victim then falls in love with her rapist, and I'm not about to start forgiving an author for that. That is just plain weak. (referring, of course, to the Fountainhead.)

I can't stand anything by Ayn Rand. Surprise I know.

Dickens, already mentioned he sucks. I failed a test or two because I refused to read his drivel. Who gets to decide what books are "classics" anyway?! Some old white british dude...that's who.

Dan Brown. His books read like he's already writing them for the movie.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein. Which is odd because I usually love Heinlein's work in other books like Starship Troopers, Number Of the Beast, etc.

Xceler8x wrote: Dan Brown. His books read like he's already writing them for the movie.

Here is my thing on his books: They are easy to read brain candy. Not particularly well written, but easy to read, and entertaining. Great for a business trip flight.

Now, carrying on with that, only one of his books is any good. Doesn't matter which one, pick any. They all have the same story, same plot. The only thing that changes is the setting places and names.

I would agree that the love scenes require a bit of work. However, I never saw the encounter between Roark and Domineque (sp?) as rape. I realize, that she later used that term to describe it, but I thought that was more for describing the intensity than it was to say she didn't want to be part of it. (She was the one who purposely broke her fireplace granite so he would have to go to her bedroom to fix it)

Lets agree that Ayn Rand is not the greatest writer. However, i still find the books entertaining and thought provoking.

I just had this conversation teh other day with somebody who was a die hard Shrugged fan. They kind of scared me with what they read into the book. Maybe I am just not that deep.

ohh, another crappy book: Who moved my cheese?

The Roark / Dominique thing was not rape, even at the beginning. It was more a matter of Roark emphasizing that he was going to be used on his terms, or not at all. It was weird, though, without question. Actually, Dagny and Hank Reardon have the healthiest relationship, even if it ends when Dagny meets John Galt, ummm, in the flesh, to coin a phrase.

For me it would have to be the unabridged version of Les Miserables. If Dickens was paid by the word, someone must have offered Victor Hugo twice Dickens' rate. It's a ridiculously frustrating book- the actual story is, as most people likely know by now- rather good and compelling. But the full, unabridged book spends something like 1/4 of its 1200 pages actually TELLING that story and the rest of the pages (seriously- the abridged version is like 300 pages vs. the unabridged's 1200...) on lavish descriptions of scenery or enough historical background on something as to use it as a history textbook. I ended up with it as my AP English book report book, and am glad I had a very cool teacher who found my scathing analysis of the book amusing.