Books NOT to read-

[veniente]

I met Junot Diaz and he kissed me on the cheek.

Maybe this is what I need.

[marlowe23]

Maybe this is what I need.

It's what everyone needs this month, I think.

[perrykm2]

I met Junot Diaz and he kissed me on the cheek. So--I'm biased, but I love his work. Drown is more entertaining though.

The story about the pig (you know what I'm talking about,) HORRIFYING! I was like, "this can't be real," but turns out that pigs do that pretty often according to the Internet.

Edited February 16, 2012 by perrykm2

[marlowe23]

The story about the pig (you know what I'm talking about,) HORRIFYING! I was like, "this can't be real," but turns out that pigs do that pretty often according to the Internet.

I know exactly what you're talking about. I think any writing that combines crack and worms (not the earthworm kind) is bound to be entertaining.

[transcendental]

Clarissa is on my *list* if only for its importance in the eating disorder/self-starvation conversation. Now, if only I could crack page 1...

Another Richardson, Pamela, was a page-turner up until 2/3 of the way through when she gets married and becomes boring.

I was totally going to say Pamela. My god, it is awful. It was on my MA exam reading list, and I have no idea why I even read the whole thing. There are only so many times a man can attempt to rape his maid. And then, oh, he tries the new tactic of being nice to her, and surprise! She loves him, too. Ugh. SO. BAD.

[DorindaAfterThyrsis]

There are only so many times a man can attempt to rape his maid.

Too true, too true.

[jma310]

@Marlowe- PMed you

[kikalique87]

I met Junot Diaz and he kissed me on the cheek. So--I'm biased, but I love his work. Drown is more entertaining though.

Junot Diaz is the best! I met him last year when he spoke at my school. He was incredibly hysterical and irreverent. Best speaker ever.

I have to add A Confederacy of Dunces to the list. I've been told that disliking it makes me a bad English student and humor/soulless, but I didn't find it funny at all. This is the only book I can remember selling back to the used bookstore with pleasure.

[user_name]

I have to add A Confederacy of Dunces to the list. I've been told that disliking it makes me a bad English student and humor/soulless, but I didn't find it funny at all. This is the only book I can remember selling back to the used bookstore with pleasure.

Really? Any reason why? I actually thought it was one of the best approaches taken to talking about the South.

[kikalique87]

Really? Any reason why? I actually thought it was one of the best approaches taken to talking about the South.

My friends built it up so much as the funniest book ever written, and it didn't match my humor, so I think I was mostly disappointed. I also read this a while ago when I was working on my biology degree, so I probably didn't appreciate/recognize its literary merit.

[bdon19]

DH Lawrence is pretty horrible too. My angst might be from having to read Women in Love in one weekend in a grad seminar though.

DH Lawrence agreed. I was expecting something vulgar, not a snorefest.

Another book that I absolutely loathe--Clarissa. Now, I know its importance in the canon per se, but it was one of the most painful things I've ever read in my life. And, to think, Richardson doubled the book almost in its unabridged version. The 18th century up until the Romantics should've just stayed content reading Shakespeare, Milton, and the classics.

Oh, my god. Lawrence and Richardson are the only authors I ever want to study for the rest of my life. I'm not entirely serious, but close enough.

[cquin]

Catcher in the Rye irritates me to no end...

[bdon19]

Let the hate-fest begin (against me, of course), but I despise Jane Austen. I study the novel, but I can't bring myself to like her. Appreciate, yes. But like, never.

[user_name]

Bukowski, Austen, the Brontë shawties

[Origin=Goal]

I'm not going to lie, I kind of wish Faulkner had never been born

[antecedent]

I generally don't mind Hardy, but Jude the Obscure made me want to bang my head against the wall at the end of it. But maybe that's because EVERYONE DIES.

Also, on a critical theory note, I found Bruno Latour to be unreadable, but that could have just been a case of bad translation.

[hanoverkontent]

I hate Twain's Life on the Mississippi

[Grunty DaGnome]

I have to agree with Pamela or Clarissa and on the other end of the style specturm, Confederacy of Dunces.

The worst book I ever read for a class was a Korean author named Chang Rae Lee. Awful.

[bdon19]

I have to agree with Pamela or Clarissa and on the other end of the style specturm, Confederacy of Dunces.

My writing sample was on Pamela. I don't think anyone loves that book...but I kind of do. Sham-marriages are kinda my thing. Hahaha

[RoundandRoundAgain]

For me, it's James Joyce. First, Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man in high school and then Finnegan's Wake. Just a world of no. I'm not sure stream-of-consciousness will ever be my thing because I discovered I need something coherent in a novel to finish it (characters, plot, story, structure) and Joyce just pushes all the wrong buttons. I will echo the dislike of Beloved (thank goodness I later read Song of Solomon and The Bluest Eye).

[rubyrunner]

My writing sample was on Pamela. I don't think anyone loves that book...but I kind of do. Sham-marriages are kinda my thing. Hahaha

My writing sample was on the sequel to Pamela. I'm a Richardson fan (I think he's hilarious), but that pushed my limits.

Edited February 16, 2012 by rubyrunner

[Origin=Goal]

Beloved was a fascinating, though frustratingly difficult, work, which I think should be read--although perhaps more for Morrison's strange, dense, and often chilling, narrative form than for a pleasurable read.

[thestage]

Frustratingly difficult?

just bumped it up a few notches on my to read list, bro

[koolherc]

My pick is Dickens' Oliver Twist. reading it was like swimming in a tar pit ............ while on fire.

Well, a couple of days ago (on the books to read thread) I said Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao was one to avoid (a somewhat lazy verdict given I had only read five pages). However, such was this community's love for it, combined with my respect for this great community, I'm thinking I might have to give it another go!

While there's lots of books I just didn't much like or didn't think were that good ( Portnoy's Complaint, Atonement , White Teeth, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Stuart: A Life Backwards, The Lovely Bones, Women as Lovers, any Dan Brown), I bestow upon Irvine Welsh's Filth the dubious honour of being a book that I would recommend not reading. I read it when I was a teenager. It's vile.

I could only make it 5 pages through White Teeth. Barf. Diaz's Drown is better than Brief/Wonderous; the former is a more traditional novel feel while the latter is more entertaining.

I'm not going to lie, I kind of wish Faulkner had never been born

lolwut

For me, it's James Joyce. First, Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man in high school and then Finnegan's Wake. Just a world of no. I'm not sure stream-of-consciousness will ever be my thing because I discovered I need something coherent in a novel to finish it (characters, plot, story, structure) and Joyce just pushes all the wrong buttons.

what is this I don't even

Edited February 16, 2012 by koolherc

[wreckofthehope]

The worst book I ever read for a class was a Korean author named Chang Rae Lee. Awful.

Really?

I love Chang-rae Lee, especially A Gesture Life.

Books I would recommend pretending don't exist:

The Vicar of Wakefield - Goldsmith... yeah, don't bother.

On Beauty - Zadie Smith...yuck.

Anything by Dave Eggers, he makes me want to murder people, and by 'people' I mean him.