Books That You're Supposed To Like But Don't...

[The Journeyman]

Ormond,

When it comes to the literary world it just seems, to me at least, that there is an in-crowd and an out-crowd. Some books are considered just so damn good or sold a bajillion copies so it must be worth reading.

I don't feel bad for not liking said books, I was just remarking that it seems like I <i>should</i> like them because of their reputation and/or sales figures.

As far as Jordan goes, WoT is a huge multi-million dollar franchise that has sold steadily since 1990. I've heard the series praised (and just as often derided) and being a fantasy fan I felt like I should be a fan. Well, I'm not. I find the story long-winded, boring, and too all over the place. I gave up after I finished the third one.

But the whole thing is subjective. I mentioned in my first post I'm reading Gibson's "Neuromancer" and I'm really enjoying it. However other people who posted said they didn't care for it. So, there you have it. Different tastes.

[Knight of the Wineskin]

[i]Sense and Sensibility[/i]. My god that was boring. In fact, pretty much anything by Jane Austen. Oh noes, impoverished upper class twit can't find love. At what point am I supposed to start giving a shit?

[williamjm]

Considering all the praise it gets on here, I would have expected to like Jack Vance's [i]Lyonesse[/i], but I didn't care enough about what happened to even finish the book.

[i]Accelerando[/i] is another one I was expecting to like - it did get quite a lot of praise and I do like most of the other Stross books I've read but I had a lot of problems with it.

[Knight of Ashes]

Whatever books of Guy Gavriel Kay that I've attempted to read. [b]Tigana[/b] and that one about a tree or something.
I don't really think Tigana's bad but there are some writers that I know are good but there's a characteristic to them that gets on my nerves for some reason.

[Wine-skin changer]

the classics for the most part. any book I was forced to read in high school that I was told I should appreciate, but actually found to be really fucking dull. i.e. the great gatsby for one.

[alguien]

[quote name='Shryke' post='1306129' date='Apr 8 2008, 13.30']Hate Thomas Covenant

Hate Lord of the Rings

Dislike most of the "Classics"

Didn't see anything special in Earthsea

Found Dune to be interesting, but horribly written

Most of the old school Sci-Fi is bad imo too. I enjoyed the first few foundation books, but it got boring after awhile. Same with 2001-series (should have ended at 2010) Can't stand Heinlein. And so on.[/quote]

Wow, with the exception of Thomas Covenant, I'm your literary opposite. No worries. :P

I had several friends recommend Dragonbone Chair and was dissappointed.

As for classics, I was less than impressed with Slaughterhouse 5. Same with Catcher in the Rye. But I may have been reading it at the wrong period in my life.

Fer' instance, I hated Great Gatsby in highschool, but re-read it a few years after college and it blew my mind. :dunno:

[Arbor Gold]

[quote name='Bronn Stone' post='1306271' date='Apr 8 2008, 10.38'][i]
Arbor Gold[/i][/quote]
:lol:
I'll admit, I really don't care what I am [i]supposed[/i] to think about a certain book (however that may be defined). That being said, within this particular community I am sure I hold some...unpopular opinions concerning not only [i]A Feast For Crows[/i] but other books that are praised around here.

[Shryke]

I wasn't a big fan of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn either. So nuts to you, Anti-Me.

[PuroGeo]

[i]The Silmarillion[/i]
[i]The Once and Future King[/i]

[alguien]

[quote name='Shryke' post='1306710' date='Apr 8 2008, 18.30']I wasn't a big fan of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn either. So nuts to you, Anti-Me.[/quote]

Touche, sir. :thumbsup:

[duchess of malfi]

[quote name='williamjm' post='1306558' date='Apr 8 2008, 16.35'][i]Accelerando[/i] is another one I was expecting to like - it did get quite a lot of praise and I do like most of the other Stross books I've read but I had a lot of problems with it.[/quote]

I hated that book.

SPOILER: accelerando

Just because it is a woman doing it to a man does not mean that it is not rape and abuse. And letting the guy who was raped and abused getting to end up with the woman who raped and abused him as a sort of happily ever after ending? Puke. Puke. Puke. Puke. Puke.

[Anatole Kuragin]

[i]The Awakening[/i] and other shitty "brilliant" books a feminist nazi english teacher gives her high school students.

[Gold Storm]

Some of the ones already mentioned

[i]Thomas Covenant[/i] for one, [i]Lord of the Rings[/i] and [i]Narnia[/i]. Also hated [i]Cather in the Rye[/i] could not stand that whiny bitchy kid. I was hoping he would die at the end of the book.

[Lord of Oop North]

Oh Gods, I can't believe I forgot [i]Fugitive Pieces[/i] by Anne Michaels. Everyone who took English was obsessed with that book. It was totally overated. It had bright spots, but it seemed like it was trying to be incoherant for the sake of being incoherant. Apparantly that is some sort of amazing artistic message.

Maybe I should re-read it, it always gets good reviews and I was rather young at the time...

[Dumas]

The Once and Future King...just didn't like White's spin on Arthur, which is slightly odd since I love almost every other big spin on the theme.

Most of the 'standard' classics. But the authors responsible for them sometimes write more interesting stuff that's worth digging up. Tom Sawyer is terrible, but Mark Twain's writings about religion and traveling can be good. Haven't looked much at his short stories, though.

[The Boar of Gore]

I always figure if it's a 'classic' book and I don't like it the fault lies in myself, not the book. For instance, for years I could never bring myself to get past a couple of pages of Jane Austen so I figured my tastes just don't run in that direction; but then I tried [i]Pride and Prejudice [/i]again recently and found myself liking it - not raving about it but anyway enjoying it. So sometimes you need enough experience of life to appreciate what a book is going on about.

On the one hand, the whole point of reading is to enjoy it, and everyone has different tastes, so there's no point pretending to like something you don't; but on the other hand, if you don't like a book that's generally regarded as good, it might be worth giving it a chance at some point.

[dalThor]

Read at least the first Dune book but know I never finished the series. It just didn't do anything for me. Ditto for T.H. White and Tad Williams. One of the worst books I ever finished was IMO, [i]The Grapes of Wrath[/i]. Boooooorrrrrriiing.

[The Shining Enigma]

[font="Book Antiqua"][size=3]It is odd, but I am not finding the novel 'Dracula' to be as interesting as I had expected. After reading many of the other notables such as 'Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde', 'The Portrait of Dorian Gray', 'The Beetle' and so on, it seems as though this is underwhelming when considering structure, style, and so on. It is still worthwhile, however. Stranger still, I have come to this book of Stoker's after reading a few of his other undertakings - these are usually derided as being vastly inferior. I regret leaving the book until now, in any case. [/size][/font]

[Quoth]

Let me join in on the "Couldn't Get Into Club" re:

- Dune

- American Gods

- LotR

And while I found "Interview with a Vampire" good, I really can't read much Anne Rice.

Am I alone in disliking Stephen King's body of work? I find myself asking at the end of the stories "Huh? What?"

[snowpaint]

[quote name='Anatole Kuragin' post='1306936' date='Apr 9 2008, 03.50'][i]The Awakening[/i] and other shitty "brilliant" books a feminist nazi english teacher gives her high school students.[/quote]

I hated the awakening and Kate Chopin too

I can't think of much else, besides Dickens, I think he's mediocre