Books everyone thinks are great but you hated (and vice versa)

[frogwoman]

Me too.. I remember being gripped by the intrigue.. I think I read it in one day. Possibly one sitting.

When I was a kid i tended to like everything I read so even though I've not reread them in years I still think of them as 'classics'.

 

[ska invita]

Yeah I don't understand what's cosy about a book that has a murder in it. If the book is funny etc and doesn't have much explicit violence, then that's fine, but I really don't get that as a description and think that as the name for the genre sounds a bit cringey

I've not read them but I've watched a load of Poirot, Holmes etc, there's no sense of reality about it, it's pure nonsense, the fun is trying to work out whodunnit and knowing that nothing at all is at stake

 

[frogwoman]

I've not read them but I've watched a load of Poirot, Holmes etc, there's no sense of reality about it, it's pure nonsense, the fun is trying to work out whodunnit and knowing that nothing at all is at stake

Makes sense, I dunno if I'd put Poirot in the same category though. Some of the Japanese classic murder mysteries are a bit like that.

 

[danny la rouge]

James Baldwins nonfiction... Too 'posh'.
I've not read any of his fiction though.

Try Going to Meet the Man. It’s a collection of short stories. I liked it. But I couldn’t get on with Another Country, which everyone raves about.

 

[krtek a houby]

i put off Moby Dick for many years, becuase it came with such a reputation that i thought my soul would be shaken by reading it. then i read it - or much of it, i skipped a few hundred pages becuase i found it to be spissous tosh. when i got to the "dramatic" ending i just wanted it to be over.

when i voiced this opinion (elsewhere) i was met with enthusiatic agreement.

Apart from the very very in depth whaling details, really enjoyed it. It's quite humorous to begin with.

Couldn't get into 100 Years of Solitude. Started a few years ago in '96 and gently put it back on the shelf. Am told it's worth persevering, so might dig it out in time for the forthcoming series.

 

[danny la rouge]

It’s also worth remembering that a lot of culturally significant works can seem really irrelevant out of the times they were written for. Portnoy’s Complaint, read in 2024, is a guy droning on about wanking. Mate, you wank. Get over it. Nobody cares.

 

[krtek a houby]

I didn't think the da vinci code was that bad tbh. It was definitely a fun read. It has some historical inaccuracies but I think it was pretty clear all along that it was fiction.

Kate Mosse covers similar ground in Labyrinth, which is more engaging imho

 

[krtek a houby]

It’s also worth remembering that a lot of culturally significant works can seem really irrelevant out of the times they were written for. Portnoy’s Complaint, read in 2024, is a guy droning on about wanking. Mate, you wank. Get over it. Nobody cares.

That's the same author as The Plot Against America and loved that but was disappointed with Portnoys Complaint.

 

[DotCommunist]

I hate books with that kind of an ending. There is an audiobook I listened to last year about an author who realises that someone is copying his books to do a bunch of murders. In the end it turned out that he did the murders himself and hallucinated most of the book's events including hallucinating that he had a pet dog, which was the best part of the book

stig of the dump style copouts ennit.

 

[Aladdin]

I've not read them but I've watched a load of Poirot, Holmes etc, there's no sense of reality about it, it's pure nonsense, the fun is trying to work out whodunnit and knowing that nothing at all is at stake

I loved all Agatha Christie's books when I was a kid.
And Sherlock Holmes.
Sometimes reality is overrated. Kids need a place to escape from reality and these books are brilliant for this. There are great characters in these books. It's not just about who dunnit...if that was the only interesting thing I could flick to the end.

No.
Poirot is a fantastic rounded character.. love him or hate him. (Christie did end up hating him and had to eventually kill him off...By the way the last Poirot book "Curtain" is brilliant.
Once you get to know Poirot's character you really get to like him and his idiosyncrasies. I think his quest for the truth is a lesson in itself. And David Suchet really entered into his persona in the tv series...)

 

[Orang Utan]

Kate Mosse covers similar ground in Labyrinth, which is more engaging imho

Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum knocks both into a cocked hat

 

[frogwoman]

stig of the dump style copouts ennit.

It's been long since I read stig of the dump. What was the ending again?

 

[frogwoman]

It’s also worth remembering that a lot of culturally significant works can seem really irrelevant out of the times they were written for. Portnoy’s Complaint, read in 2024, is a guy droning on about wanking. Mate, you wank. Get over it. Nobody cares.

Although it is weird to read a book set in say 2020, released in 2022, which I did a few weeks ago and there was no mention of covid whatsoever. It was one of the things that annoyed me about the book although I could have probably overlooked it if I had liked the plot.

 

[DotCommunist]

It's been long since I read stig of the dump. What was the ending again?

'It was a all a dream' it bloody wasn't. I just googled to see if anyone else still resents the way I resent and straight away theres an exercise for lessons there getting the kids to write their own, better endings. Quite rightly.

 

[frogwoman]

'It was a all a dream' it bloody wasn't. I just googled to see if anyone else still resents the way I resent and straight away theres an exercise for lessons there getting the kids to write their own, better endings. Quite rightly.

Arrrgh I hate books that end like that

 

[Artaxerxes]

Les Miserables

Jesus Christ Victor get on with it

 

[A380]

It's been long since I read stig of the dump. What was the ending again?

He got a job on Top Gear.

 

[krtek a houby]

The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson

Early 20th century fantasy novel set in the far future.

A man faces the apocalyptic land outside of the safety of the city and overcomes all manner of adversity to rescue the love of his life. Overlong and a bit repetitive, there's a good tale in there but not told well.

 

[Steel Icarus]

It’s also worth remembering that a lot of culturally significant works can seem really irrelevant out of the times they were written for. Portnoy’s Complaint, read in 2024, is a guy droning on about wanking. Mate, you wank. Get over it. Nobody cares.

"Philip Roth is a great writer but I wouldn't want to shake hands with him", as one reviewer put it.

I've read American Pastoral, The Human Stain, and Everyman and they were all terrific tbf

 

[krtek a houby]

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Only my third Dickens read and disappointed for (if you've read it) obvious reasons.

Dan Simmons sort of follow up; Drood was quite exciting in a hidden London underworld way, but not at all what was expecting.

 

[ska invita]

Les Miserables

Jesus Christ Victor get on with it

I've only seen the film but the worst thing is the end in which the lead male character is a sellout who abandons his revolutionary love who is a badass and for some rich woman and ends with him getting married to her and so into a wealthy estate (IIRC, something shit like that). Left me fuming!

 

[frogwoman]

Or I'll Dress You in Mourning has got to be the worst book I've ever read, even worse than 50 Shades etc. Overwritten hagiography, and even the 'good' parts are just this litany of suffering and they make the propaganda in the book even more glaring

 

[frogwoman]

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Only my third Dickens read and disappointed for (if you've read it) obvious reasons.

Dan Simmons sort of follow up; Drood was quite exciting in a hidden London underworld way, but not at all what was expecting.

I liked the Dan Simmons one!

 

[krtek a houby]

I've only seen the film but the worst thing is the end in which the lead male character is a sellout who abandons his revolutionary love who is a badass and for some rich woman and ends with him getting married to her and so into a wealthy estate (IIRC, something shit like that). Left me fuming!

The musical version?

 

[ska invita]

The musical version?

musical film version...Russel crowe .. must be in the book too though id have thought

 

[krtek a houby]

I liked the Dan Simmons one!

Oh yes, it's a page turner and despite some Americanisms creeping in, I'd recommend it.

 

[Sue]

It’s also worth remembering that a lot of culturally significant works can seem really irrelevant out of the times they were written for. Portnoy’s Complaint, read in 2024, is a guy droning on about wanking. Mate, you wank. Get over it. Nobody cares.

See also David Lodge's Catholic contraception stuff.

 

[frogwoman]

There's a woman on goodreads who reviews these long classics like Ulysses and The Anaeid etc and gives blow by blow accounts of them. Her reviews make them sound like something I would want to read, but I probably still wouldn't read them.

 

[marshall]

Both terrible books when I read them in my 30s. Gave up on On the road 10 pages before the end.

'Top 50 modern classics' lists should be renamed 'Top 50 crap novels men fondly remember reading as teenagers'.

I tried so hard to like 'On The Road' as a teen, but...nah.

Likewise, 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'...

 

[danny la rouge]

See also David Lodge's Catholic contraception stuff.

I liked Lodge’s books. He’s avery good writer. But I was brought up Catholic so it was fine for me. Although I could have done without the latest one. (I’ll need to check if he’s written more. I mean “Thinks”).

I remember a book group I was in in the 90s were split between Catholics and non Catholics as to whether they liked him.