Old Nan Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Mostly because I dislike his prose. Some other reasons I might get into later, but they're relatively minor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahmrogar Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 This sums it up pretty well, but I usually apply the process beforehand and don't quit in the middle of a book. It's not that I would refuse to read something, but that I would rather read something else. If you locked me in a room and there was no opportunity cost for reading a book...well I'd probably read anything. But if the author was a POS I would refuse if my reading gave him money.Yep. I agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broken one Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I can separate an author form his work. I dont think there is something I would refuse to read just because it was written by a son of a bitch. I dont believe that any poisonous idea from a book would change me either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Old Nan,And what's wrong with Neal Stephenson? Anathem reads nothing like the novels of "The Baroque Cycle". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinDonner Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Probably the only reasons I'd refuse to read a book (as opposed to rejecting something I'd already tried and disliked) is advance warning of the author and his/her politics, or of the book's crapness (see: Ayn Rand, Twilight, etc). Unless for snark purposes, and then only selectively. There are so many books in the world that I have no interest in needlessly wasting time on inferior crap. Obviously this does not apply if (eg) locked in a room with nothing but Newcomb books, but I hope to avoid that situation. :uhoh:The only books I've given up on in less than a page, incidentally, are All the Pretty Horses and some Frederick Forsyth book, both because of the writing styles. Even Left Behind got me up to page 50 before giving up (and that was mostly the style that did for me, too). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoë Sumra Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I recently nearly gave up on a book (by David Millar) because I hated the style - HATED it! - but carried on reading because, well, the person who'd lent it to me also lent me AGOT and we agree on everything else book-wise and I was curious to see if it got better. About halfway in I realised I couldn't put it down. The style didn't get any more agreeable, but I got caught up in the story, and as I went on with it I started to see how the style went quite well with the tone of the book.I can separate an author form his work. I dont think there is something I would refuse to read just because it was written by a son of a bitch. I dont believe that any poisonous idea from a book would change me either.If I like books by authors whose opinions I dislike, I'll get the books from the library. The real issue arises when the author hits the level at which hir opinions affect the storytelling - the book becomes a polemic for said views, and as discussed in another active thread, I don't find polemics good to read, whether or not I agree with the opinion being espoused. At that stage, a great big STOP sign pops up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palimpsest. Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I'll refuse to read a book that I didn't even open if it looks and sounds like it's not a very good book, or if I had read something written by that author before and it was crap. Also, if the author has very strong views on religion/politics/morality ... that he's trying to express through his novels, it's a big no-no for me.Sadly, I usually don't know about the latter before I start reading the book, and by then it's usually too late. (I'm never reading anything of Rand's again. :tantrum: )As for author being a douche, I must admit that I don't really care as far as his books are concerned. Ender's Game is a good book and same goes for some of Simmons' books. But while I still read Simmons' books, I don't try to read anything else from Card, because I've heard that Ender's Game is the only book of his that is not stuffed with explanations of Card's world-view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Ent Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I’m surprised so many people openly admit that they wouldn’t read a book that expresses opinions they not already agree with.Don’t we normally tell each other that we want to be challenged? I thought that was part of the reader’s conceit: to deliberately expose ourselves to different personalities, mindsets, cultures, opinions, times, …(The aesthetic argument to not read Rand I understand. It’s just bad.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyanna Stark Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I’m surprised so many people openly admit that they wouldn’t read a book that expresses opinions they not already agree with.Don’t we normally tell each other that we want to be challenged? I thought that was part of the reader’s conceit: to deliberately expose ourselves to different personalities, mindsets, cultures, opinions, times, …(The aesthetic argument to not read Rand I understand. It’s just bad.)Is this a hidden call for me to re-read Ghoete's "Young Werther"? It won't work HE. :PPersonally I find boring reads with bad prose far more grating than ideas I don't agree with. If it manages to somehow hold my interest, I will finish it (even "Young Werther" although it was pure anger that made me finish it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolverine Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Part of reading, for me, is opening my mind to different things and new viewpoints so I have never rejected a book outright due to some specific content. I have quit a couple of books, old classics I believe, because they were just too dry or tedious for me to enjoy at all. I did finish The Brothers Karamazov though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearly Headless Ned Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Generally the only kind of fiction books I will REFUSE to read are those by an author whose views I find particularly disgusting and/or amoral. Or in the rare case that an author is a HUUUUGE asshole. I mean HUGE. So basically Orson Scott Card and Dan Simmons are no-no's. Even then I find myself tempted to pick up the latest Simmons sometimes. At least he can write. Card is another matter entirely. Oh and "fiction" by political figures. See Glen Beck.I've heard many times that Card is twunt of the highest order but what is it about Simmons thats annoyed people in the past?Am currently reading his mega tome Drood and so far its a pretty hefty hatchet job on poor old Wilky Collins and Dickens. Is that one of the reasons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordwalker Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I have almost never stopped reading a book once I started; I consider it an obligation to give the entire work a chance if I'm going to give one to any of it. But afterwards, I'm perfectly content to refuse to read anything by an author ever again if I find the style unpleasant, the content unbearably moralistic, or the ethos too alien. For instance, I refuse to again read anything written by Ernest Hemingway, Neal Stephenson, or a Russian other than Nabokov.I used to have this problem, and still have some associated guilt when I decide to stop reading a book. However, my To Be Read pile continues to grow so, over time, I have become able to stop reading a book for lack of enjoyment. I usually keep them though, just it case! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I've heard many times that Card is twunt of the highest order but what is it about Simmons thats annoyed people in the past?Am currently reading his mega tome Drood and so far its a pretty hefty hatchet job on poor old Wilky Collins and Dickens. Is that one of the reasons?No, he became a bit unhinged after 9/11 and wrote some pretty unflattering or outright inflammatory things about Muslims. One short story read like an appeal for why we should just eradicate all Muslims in a genocide. This thesis was expanded upon in the execrable books Ilium and Olympos. Whether he stands by those things now, or regrets going down the "kill the ragheads" path, I honestly don't know. Anyway, that's one of the reasons why Simmons gets lumped in with Card in these discussions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolverine Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I may have to amend my earlier comment. I did read like 10 pages of Twilight and I refuse to read any more. I might have opened up somewhere in the middle and vomited a couple of times also. I don't know what it would take to get me to read that. But that is not due to their topics I am totally against just topics I have zero interest in, mainly teenage emo vampire porn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liadin Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I used to have this problem, and still have some associated guilt when I decide to stop reading a book. However, my To Be Read pile continues to grow so, over time, I have become able to stop reading a book for lack of enjoyment. As my time has gotten more limited, I've gotten better about putting down books I'm not enjoying. I used to be terribly anal about finishing something once I'd started it (by which I mean getting a couple chapters in; I was never like the people who seem to be implying that once they read the first few sentences/pages, they'll finish it!). At one point I spent several months on some piece of shit by L.E. Modesitt that was boring me to death; I never wanted to read it but didn't feel like I could go on to anything else till I finished. (Which I did; it sucked all the way through.) Now, though, I can be 2/3 of the way through, realize I really don't care, and return it to the library. Life's too short.ETA: On the "challenging yourself" thing: for me, I see a huge difference between expanding my horizons by reading books about countries or cultures I know little about, versus reading stuff expressing opinions I'm familiar with but with which I disagree. I'm always up for the former (provided it's well-written), but see no reason to pursue the latter. And I'm not sure that many readers do tell themselves they choose novels to engage with opposing political or religious viewpoints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galactus Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Is this a hidden call for me to re-read Ghoete's "Young Werther"? It won't work HE. :PPersonally I find boring reads with bad prose far more grating than ideas I don't agree with. If it manages to somehow hold my interest, I will finish it (even "Young Werther" although it was pure anger that made me finish it).Agreed. It's not the ideas, generally, that gets me to drop a book, but the preachiness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broken one Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 If I like books by authors whose opinions I dislike, I'll get the books from the library. "Hunger" by Knut Hamsun is one of my favourite books. If I had known about Hamsun's political views before I read it for the first time (about 15 years ago) maybe I would have not even touched it. Luckily I had had no idea! And there is not a bit of national socialism in it.It is masochistic but sometimes I read ultra-catholic, chauvinist press when I come across it. It pisses me off and I feel like screaming, but I read on! As a remedy I like to read "Nie" (No) - obscene, libertine magazine, mocking every value you can think of (run by Polish ex-minister of propaganda from 80's, who transformed himself into cigar smoking capitalist). It is like hot and cold shower, I tell you :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eponine Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I’m surprised so many people openly admit that they wouldn’t read a book that expresses opinions they not already agree with.Don’t we normally tell each other that we want to be challenged? I thought that was part of the reader’s conceit: to deliberately expose ourselves to different personalities, mindsets, cultures, opinions, times, …(The aesthetic argument to not read Rand I understand. It’s just bad.)It depends a lot on how those opinions are presented, and how influential the book is on people who hold those opinions. If I wanted to find out about a different belief/opinion/culture, I would rather read a non-fiction that explained the ideas in a straightforward way. For example, reading a book on Evangelical eschatology rather than reading the Left Behind series. Also, I would rather read books that many people who hold an idea have found influential to get an understanding of how the book influenced them - possibly a good reason to read Atlas Shrugged. Once you've read some of the representative works, there's not necessarily a need to keep on with crappy examples - a good reason not to read Sword of Truth. So if I'm reading a book and encounter ideas I don't agree with, at best I'll be thinking - wow, this book really presents these ideas in a new way - and keep reading. But it's just as likely that either I'll say - I've already seen all this tripe, this book presents nothing new, or - this is something new but the book is annoying, I'll research it a little more in a factual way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spastic Plastic Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 It is masochistic but sometimes I read ultra-catholic, chauvinist press when I come across it. It pisses me off and I feel like screaming, but I read on! Out of curiosity - what does ultra-catholic, chauvinist, Polish press read like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broken one Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 what does it read like? just like any other I guess... Do you mean what they write about? Conspiracies against healthy core of Polish society of course.Rotten, nihilistic West (incarnated by EU) is promoting its culture of death: abortion, euthanasia - soon obligatory! (the papers are adressed at old folks)... rotten liberals are minions of the West... homosexuals are plotting to depravate innocent little children, adopt them and turn into homosexuals etc... if you approach it in proper way it is most entertaining Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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