What is the name of the book that you would not recommend to anyone?

Gerald's Game by Stephen King is one that comes to mind. I skipped chapters at a time and still didn't miss a thing.

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks. What a dreadfully cheesy, sappy, poorly-written piece of crap.

Anything by Stephen King or Anne Rice.

Anything by Daniel Defoe.

Eternal Footman by James Morrow.

No Great Mischief by Aleister Mc.... McSomething.

And anything by Margaret Atwood - celebrating her as the best Canadian author only proves that Canada has nothing to offer when it comes to literature (which is 80% true).

Snare by Katherine Kerr.
Oh so very boring.

Hard to say, but the first one that came into my head is The Prince and the Pauper. Had to read it way back when in school. Only book I ever remember reading the pages over and over and not having a clue what it meant and frequently falling asleep with it.

"Joseph und seine Brüder" (="Joseph and his brothers"?, "brethren"?) by Thomas Mann.

Heroes

It's a book we read for English at school.. need I say more?

...Anything translated into English from RUSSIAN.

The series written by Terry Brooks (author of the Sword of Shanara series) that begins with Magic Kingdom For Sale, Sold!

It's not that the book is bad, quite the opposite in fact. It's that the ending of the series is very depressing. I was depressed for literally months after finishing it. Even thinking about it is making me sad :(

That is the bad kind of nostalgia

The Bible

I don't know, but it may be a book on health.

> The Bible

Good one!

> Anything by Stephen King or Anne Rice.
>

I never cared for Anne Rice either. I read the Witching Hour years ago and haven't wanted to put up another one of her books since.

mmmm not sure as books I find terrible i tend to forget maybe "The anachist handbook"

The Bible.

It's a biography of Emily Dickinson. This is the WORST biography in existence. This woman read into and interpreted things instead of presenting the facts and history. Didn't name any real sources. It was completely insane how bad this was. I love to read historical biographies. I also read biographies of writers. This was a joke. I only got half way through. And I only got that far because it was entertainingly bad.

Have you read Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood? It is one of my main favorites in contemporary literature. I generally read the classics with only a handful of contemporary. I'm hard to please.

My friends mother (this is a long time ago mind you) tried to get me to read these V.C. Andrews books because she liked them so much. Damn I thought they were lame! Even the titles bothered me. Let's see... I think the first one was "Flowers in the Attic" then another one called "If there be Thorns". There were a bunch of them. I don't think I got through half of the first one. Just not for me.

> ...Anything translated into English from RUSSIAN.
>
OMG are you kidding? You don't like Tolstoy! How can you not?! I'm so shocked! I love Russian literature.

I know, I know, I feel like I am SUPPOSED to like this stuff, I just don't.

I admire that you don't pretend to. I can't stand people 'liking' literature that they simply feel they are supposed to. How can you have a good literary debate if everyone liked the same stuff?

*Sigh* I need to read more... but that would take away from my SC time!

> It's a biography of Emily Dickinson. This
> is the WORST biography in existence. This
> woman read into and interpreted things instead
> of presenting the facts and history. Didn't
> name any real sources. It was completely
> insane how bad this was. I love to read historical
> biographies. I also read biographies of writers.
> This was a joke. I only got half way through.
> And I only got that far because it was entertainingly
> bad.

I know exactly what you mean. This book was filled with lots of inaccurate stuff. Things that never happened, speculation on what did happen, and interpretations of her work that were just really off the wall.

> |> ...Anything translated into English
> from RUSSIAN.
> |>
> OMG are you kidding? You don't like Tolstoy!
> How can you not?! I'm so shocked! I love
> Russian literature.
>

I particularly like Franz Kafka (or was he German - I forget).

There is none that I wouldn't recommend, If I can't get into a book, I just dont finish it.

I feelt her books are too unrealistic. Like they draw the reader into bunch of archaic rules highly influenced by what ideal 'goth' world should be like.

I'm sorry if the comment above makes no sense. I'm having a hard time putting to words what I dislike about her.

We had to read that in Grade 12 English class. I found it fairly interesting because it deals with historical Toronto.

I realize a lot of people love Margaret Atwood. I personally cannot stand her.

If you want a good contemporary book, try Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance. It's Canadian so I don't know if it would be available in the States.

I know what you mean about the unrealistic part...but I also liked Issac Asimov and some of his stuff was really out there.

The one I like was Metamorphosis....it just had an appeal for me.

Ewwww. I don't like any Harlequin Romance toilet books...I don't like romance at all.

> I particularly like Franz Kafka (or was he German
> - I forget).

It's actually complicated. He was born within the territory of Austo-Hungarian empire, however, it is today's Check (sp?) republic.

I read them by the bushel. That's a particularly bad one though...

How can you tell?

Exactly. Speculation and interpretations to a ridiculous amount.

> We had to read that in Grade 12 English class. I found it fairly
> interesting because it deals with historical Toronto.
>
> I realize a lot of people love Margaret Atwood. I personally cannot
> stand her.
>
> If you want a good contemporary book, try Rohinton Mistry's A Fine
> Balance. It's Canadian so I don't know if it would be available in
> the States.



AH! It's an Oprah book. *Makes crucifix with fingers and backs away* ----J/K. Sort of.

A Fine Balance, I read a couple of reviews. Sounds interesting. Tell me, what did you like about it?
I might get it. I need something fresh.

> If you want a good contemporary book, try Rohinton Mistry's A Fine
> Balance. It's Canadian so I don't know if it would be available in
> the States.

I hate to break it to you but "A Fine Balance" is an Oprah's Book Club selection.
OOPPS Pennyann beat me to it, nevermind

Oh crap, it is an Oprah book. I totally forgot bcs I have a non-Oprah version.

I liked its plot. It keeps you reading. It also happens in India and I like books that take place out of Canada/US especially if they're written by people native to those countries. That way, one can can see how people really lived/live.

Do you have anything to recommend to me? I was gonna just randomly pick something out of my bookshelf after I've finished Demons and Angels (which I would also recommend bcs it's an easy read and very fun).

It is, I just remembered. I bought the non-Oprah version because I prefered cover (and it was $10 cheaper). Have you read it?

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a load of crape. Apart from starting every sentence withe 'And' which really pissed me off, there just no flesh to the story - no descriptions or feeling. I could have written it better.

It was given to me as a gift but I haven't read it yet. Thanks for reminding me that I have it.

You're welcome.

Have you read A Passage to India by E.M. Forster? It is a fantastic book & is about the British in India. There is an intriguing story along with learning about history and culture. Written in 1924.

Oh, and happy 5th Anniversary!

No, but I have it sitting in my shelf. Thank you for the recommendation, I'll begin reading it very soon.

Oh crap!

I've been on SC for five years!

> The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a
> load of crape. Apart from starting every
> sentence withe 'And' which really pissed
> me off, there just no flesh to the story
> - no descriptions or feeling. I could have
> written it better.


Wasn't it also an award winner? The librarian at the school I taught for tried to get me to put that book on the kids' summer reading list when I was looking for a new fantasy book for them. I told her I needed something a bit more grammatically correct and not just fantasy. We settled on The Giver even though I'm not real sure that was all that good either.

> Oh crap!
>
> I've been on SC for five years!

Congratulations!

Ah, if I had a dollar for every book I have 'sitting on my shelf'...

Thank you.

lol probably, though it certainly doesn't deserve any. I have never heard of the giver, but the synopsis sounded good. I actually can't think of any decent fantay stories I read as a kid - I read things like Famous Five, or things like the Secret Garden. Lots of people eating scones and drinking ginger beer! lol

The Giver is good...reminds me of the Isaac Asimov stuff...futuristic and slightly disturbing. As usual my problem is always with the way they end.

Why, how do they usually end?

Ooooh, you might know the name of a book I've been looking for, but I forgot the name! It was about a rural family livng in a quite devout and harsh society, where 'deviants' where feared and hunted down. Children with abnormalities were killed and that kind of thing. Anyway, there is a group of kids that can talk to eachother using their minds and they have to hide it, I think it was a young boy and then his little brother and a girl from another family were the main chracters. they end up having to go on the run because they are found out and in the end they discover that there is a city where everyone is like them and they get collected and go and live there. It was on our reading list at school when I was about 12 and I thought it was great - do you know of anything like this?

They usually end in a way that is not how I would expect it to end. I guess I'm always looking for all of the questions to be answered and many just don't do that...they leave you hanging.

The book you are looking for is called Pilgrimage:The Book of the People by Zenna Henderson. (There are also sequels to it The People: No Different Flesh, The People Collection, and Ingathering: The Complete People Stories - in that order). You may have trouble finding Pilgrimage since it has been out of print for a while. Try Amazon or Ebay. Are you looking for a copy of your very own?

I went to Amazon and there are several books....1 cent plus shipping will get you "Pilgrimage ...."

The dialogue was so stilted. Totally unbelievable. And the characters were so one-dimensional...

Exactly. The whole time I kept thinking that there is going to be some great ending or that something is going to happen in the middle to flesh out all of this. It didn't. I guess that was why I was so disappointed in the way that it ended.

Ooooh thank you! Yes, I am looking for a copy - that search will be made so much easier now that I know the title! Thanks!

Glad I could help!

Any romance novel.

ugh, i don't finish the ones that i don't like...

> The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a load of crape. Apart from
> starting every sentence withe 'And' which really pissed me off, there
> just no flesh to the story - no descriptions or feeling. I could have
> written it better.

I read all the books in that series C.S. Lewis wrote when I was about 13/14 I think. I loved them all especially The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I knew a lot of people that liked them. Good to know there's something for everyone out there.

well that's it isn't it? It's all subjective.

Gerald's Game by Stephen King. The only book by him that I truly dislike.

The Sound of One Hand Clapping

The bible.

Dianetics by L.Ron Hubbard.

Carlos Castenada's "A Separate Reality". It is not a book to be put down lightly. It should be hurled with great force.