Books you don't like?

Question

For some reason I have read very few books that I don't enjoy. And I read a lot and often pick books at random. It's weird.

I can only really think of one at the moment and that was Messenger by Lois Lowry.

Are there any books you really don't like? Why? Do you pick books at random?

Answer 1

I'm sure I'm going to get flamed for this, but I really cannot stand anything written by Ayn Rand. I could care less if she was a brilliant political activist or not, her writing makes me crazy.

I also had to put down Terry Brooks' Shannara series. Could not wade through it to save my life. It was so slow and the writing was so clunky I just couldn't bear it after 100 pages, so I quit.

I also tried to start the Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George three times, and all three times I woke up in a puddle of my own drool. I thought other books were slow, this moves at a snail's pace.

Very rarely do I "abandon" books, being a librarian and all, but there are some that I just cringe when I see them. I won't argue with the people who love these books, these are just some that didn't appeal to me or I couldn't get into. I will never apologize for what I read.

I often choose books at random, and I try to keep up with the bestsellers and awards lists as well. I'll also see what my friends are reading, or listen to which books they or a patron recommend. I've been tuned into some great writers, but I've also slogged through my fair share of horrible books.

Picking books at random is never a bad thing, I would try out several different genres to see if you find yourself enjoying books from a particular genre (fantasy, horror, non-fiction) and then seek out books in that area more actively than others.

Answer 2

I usually don't finish reading a book I'm not enjoying - right now I've starting reading My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time and I really don't think I'm going to finish it; it's just too weird. There are authors I won't read, like Robin Cook, Danielle Steele, and Patricia Cornwell, because they don't write well or write the same book over and over.

I pick books based on genre, interesting covers, recommendations, anything really. But I have picked some books that I just don't like - there was one that I remember I actually threw across the room when I finished, I hated it so much and hated that I wasted the time to actually read it all. That's when I stopped trying to finish every book I started no matter what.

Answer 3

It was a long time ago, but there were two that stand out in memory. One was Plague Dogs, can't remember the author. The other was an incredibly long telling of the Merlin legend by a grandson or great-nephew or some such, of Lenin. Both received high praise from the critics and both were, to me, the most tedious reads I've ever had. It must have taken weeks to finish, because I practically had to whip myself into slogging through yet another paragraph. I don't pick books at random, but even with careful culling of all the books out there, I still manage to make some really awful choices.

Answer 4

Usually I know what books I don't like and why they turn me off. Usually, it's with the writer's particular style that can turn me off and that's entirely opinated. Oftentimes I don't like a book because it either has too much going on, a story that doesn't flow with even itself, and too much pornographic sex in it. There are few books I don't like but there are three I especially hated with a vengeance: To Wake the Dead by Richard Laymon, Convalescent by Stephen Baxter, and Black Dawn by D.A. Stern. My reasons are for some of the above I mentioned. And there are books I read I felt were just alright. I have a list of those: Tithe by Holly Black, Faerie Wars and The Purple Emperor by Herbie Brennon; American Gods, Stardust, Neverwhere, and Coraline by Neil Gaiman; War for the Oaks by Emma Bull; Sunshine by Robin McKinley; Odd Thomas and Tears of the Dragon by Dean Koontz; The Mistress of Dragons and The Dragon's Son by Margaret Weis; Heartlight by Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy, and various others. Usually, it's more of a style reason I like or dislike a book and how the author tells it, which I said, is opinionated. I don't pick books at random either. If it's a new book, I read the flap, see if it is worth my time, and have a trial and error with it. If the author is an old favorite, then I'll pick up his/her next book if it looks interesting enough. Most books though, that I read, are really good and I don't have a problem with them.

Answer 5

"The Da Vinci Code" comes to mind. I liked it when I first read it two years ago but have since read novels that are simply much much better and I now realize that it's just a bad book. "Case Histories" by Kate Atkinson was a book I didn't like too much; I guess I just didn't see what the big deal was. I plan what I'm going to read big time, so I don't come across many full-length books I just flat-out don't like. I find that most books good enough to be published have at least some redeeming qualities. I do read a lot of short stories, and I've come across plenty of bad short stories. I read one by Dorothy Allison that I flat out hated, and another one by David Foster Wallace that was a drudging, painful process.

Answer 6

I have not liked many books--most of them assigned reading during junior high and high school. The book that I probably hate the most, if not Silas Marner, is Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. I hated reading that book!

Deliver Us From Normal, a YA book, is another book I remember hating.

I like to read books--wide variety really--and sometimes I go based on reviews and recommendations...and sometimes I choose randomly based on the book's cover, or the text on the book flaps or the back of the book. It all depends. When I was a library aide and shelving books, shelf-reading etc., I would notice books that I probably wouldn't have otherwise...and end up checking them out and reading them.

Answer 7

I don't know if I have ever read a book that I really didn't like. I'm not very fond of Stephen Kings last couple of books, not sure why but I just couldn't get into them at all and ended up not finishing them.
I pick books at random and have a group of authors who I will read anything they write.

Answer 8

I like most of the books I read, very few are an exception. Take ¨Madame Bovary¨ for example. Why I don't like it? First, the theme, adultery committed by a woman, who then falls in love with her lover, yada, yada, but it´s written like the report of some chess play. Usually, when reading books, I pick randomly, that way, at least, I know that I´m not refusing some unknown author a chance or things like that, although publishing houses will have done that before me...

Answer 9

Tishomingo Blues by Elmore Leonard - I very rarely give up on a book - but just had to return this one unfinished. I'd heard he was such a great writer - so I tried again and read "Get Shorty" but didn't really enjoy the read.
I usually pick a wide variety - from easy funny books to classics - recently read "Pudd'nhead" by Mark Twain and also The Prince and the Pauper.

Answer 10

I generally try to avoid the genre bestsellers (Romance, Suspense, Horror), because I'm usually disappointed by what seems to me to be less-than-sterling writing. I go for the classics because they rarely totally disappoint me. Once in awhile, I'll try some book or writer I've never heard of before, just to round myself out and see what I've missed. It's very rare that I've read any book that I thought was just plain bad. Mostly, if I don't care for a book I've read, it's because I don't understand it, not necessarily due to bad writing. Dylan Thomas had some great poetry but too deep for me at the time I read it. I liked the Satanic Verses but I didn't completely understand it.