Anti-recommendations: Read any terrible books lately?

[Littermate]

I almost hesitate to suggest anything at all by Guy N Smith in this thread.

Last time I said something less than enthusiastic about him I got flamed by a dozen fans. (Though I hasten to add NOT in these forums.)

He had a perfectly normal and highly respected Professor go from boring academic to murderous psychopath in the space of a few words, after finding something in The Wash (a coastal area of Norfolk in South East England, not a laundry.) Zero characterisation and zero literary qualities, and zero worth as far as I'm concerned. In his other life, I believe, Mr Smith is (was?) a goat farmer and grows his own tobacco, so I'm glad he's good at something.

[lene1949]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Oh....his early books are treasures.

You might want to put this one aside, and start with "The Stand",(end of the world) "salems Lot" (vampires, but great character development) or "Night Shift", a collection of short stories.

I didn't care for Bag of Bone either.

Thanks for the recommendations... I WILL put it aside, as I feel I'm wasting my time...

I've downloaded quite a few books from other recommendations from this forum, and will start reading one of those instead...

I'm working night shifts a the moment, and really need something that won't put me to sleep... I'm working with disabled people, and there's not at lot to do at night time, except monitoring.

[leandroide]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Oh....his early books are treasures.

You might want to put this one aside, and start with "The Stand",(end of the world) "salems Lot" (vampires, but great character development) or "Night Shift", a collection of short stories.

I didn't care for Bag of Bone either.

Don't forget "Christine", "The dead zone" and "The shinning".

L.

[kennyc]

I got so disguised with "South of Broad" by Pat Conroy -- bad dialog and contrived character interactions I just put it away after about page 50.... it's sad because I so loved Prince of Tides and Lords of Discipline ...

[Superlucky]

Originally Posted by Slite

The Lost Symbol. x number of hours of my life I will never get back again.

Ditto.

I recently finished The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry and disliked it. It was well-researched, but just kind of boring.

[Penforhire]

Sadly, I have to put Brian Lumley's "Necroscope" series up for abuse. I read the first four in the series. The author is very inventive, with fascinating plot details and yet another take on the vampire mythos. But the writing and characterizations are abominable and I remain amazed it was published. Maybe our tastes in prose changed since the late 1980's... but not that much!

Why did I read four of them? I guess I'm a masochistic reader who gives too much credit for inventive plotting.

[goldilocks]

I cannot finish one of the free eBook Classics I got from Sony called "The Schoolmistress and Other Stories" by Anton Checkov. It has several stories but got so boring I had to set it aside. I have half a dozen bookmarks on my reader still. There are so many interesting stories I'll probably never get back to it... I really liked Stephen King's "Nightmares & Dreamscapes" I had on pbook. But I got to the middle of the book and had to set it aside-it was just too scary to read at night, I believe "The Night Flyer" was the story. I did eventually finish it.

[psercki]

The Stand is my favorite Stephen King novel.

[AgentBEATS]

I read the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer out of some weird interest. After hearing so much fuss over them, I figured I would check them out.

I read the first book, and thought it was unremarkable. It was formulaic, cliched, and in terms of plot nothing really happened.

For some reason that provoked me to read the second, and the third, and just to finish it off I also read the fourth. It only got worse.

I blame myself for wasting my time, but seriously so many people (read: teenage girls) make a big deal out of them. I really thought they were terrible.

[Superlucky]

Originally Posted by AgentBEATS

I read the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer out of some weird interest. After hearing so much fuss over them, I figured I would check them out.

I read the first book, and thought it was unremarkable. It was formulaic, cliched, and in terms of plot nothing really happened.

For some reason that provoked me to read the second, and the third, and just to finish it off I also read the fourth. It only got worse.

I blame myself for wasting my time, but seriously so many people (read: teenage girls) make a big deal out of them. I really thought they were terrible.

LOL. My cousin (an adult) loved them, so I decided to try. You have more perseverance than I do. I made it through the first (barely), but could go no farther.

I blame myself as well, and for more than one reason. Sometimes, when someone (like my cousin) pressures me to read a book that I don't think I'll like I maybe sort of sometimes get it from a torrent site, which may or may not be what happened in this case. In my defense, if I had enjoyed the first book I would have purchased the others, so my "system" is a winner for good authors. Stephenie Meyer does not fall into that category.

[curtw]

Got all riled up by Dr. Drib's Zombie thread here, and went and read. "Autumn." Ugh. Shallow characters, all with the same voice. No character development or plot advancement. Not an ounce of intelligent behavior by any of the three "heroes." No wonder it's being made into a Hollywood film.

[AgentBEATS]

Originally Posted by Superlucky

LOL. My cousin (an adult) loved them, so I decided to try. You have more perseverance than I do. I made it through the first (barely), but could go no farther.

I blame myself as well, and for more than one reason. Sometimes, when someone (like my cousin) pressures me to read a book that I don't think I'll like I maybe sort of sometimes get it from a torrent site, which may or may not be what happened in this case. In my defense, if I had enjoyed the first book I would have purchased the others, so my "system" is a winner for good authors. Stephenie Meyer does not fall into that category.

I find that funny, because some of my cousins, and even some aunts loved the books. I too read them on their behalves. The only reason I managed to suffer through them all is because I deluded myself into believing that due to it's popularity it had to pick up at some point. I probably realized it wouldn't even before finishing the first book, but I guess I have a high tolerance for pain and bad books.

[montsnmags]

I read The Sea The Sea by Iris Murdoch with increasing distaste. It felt like an ode to superficial, one-note, dull, self-delusional egos (including one massive one that wore all these attributes) who I never cared about until I began to simply dislike them. Of course, this book is lauded by authors and critics far more intelligent and learned than me, so consider my shout of anti-recommendation a relatively feeble squeak. But don't read it - you'll hate it.

Cheers,
Marc

[melbournian]

Originally Posted by AgentBEATS

I read the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer out of some weird interest. After hearing so much fuss over them, I figured I would check them out.

I read the first book, and thought it was unremarkable. It was formulaic, cliched, and in terms of plot nothing really happened.

For some reason that provoked me to read the second, and the third, and just to finish it off I also read the fourth. It only got worse.

I blame myself for wasting my time, but seriously so many people (read: teenage girls) make a big deal out of them. I really thought they were terrible.

I did this too. My teenaged sister is a huge Twilight fan. I don't know why I actually kept reading them; a lot of the time I spent reading them I was thinking 'I could be doing something better...like trimming my toenails or something'. At best it was formulaic and predictable, at worst it was like the worst fanfiction that a 16 year old sex crazed catholic schoolgirl could write in her livejournal.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by melbournian

.... that a 16 year old sex crazed catholic schoolgirl could write in her livejournal.

Now THAT sound like it could make a good story.