Books Not to Read

[3point14]

One SF novel I'd add to the list though is Robert Heinlein's The Number of the Beast. If you read Stranger in a Strange Land back in the day, stop there.

My father had a habit of picking up any books that were lying around and take them off to read himself.

Number of the beast is a long old piece and he nicked it when I was maybe 40 or 50 pages from the end. To this day I have no idea how that novel ended. It wasn't so gripping that I'd be prepared to start the whole damn thing again.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Pratchett would also be a perfect alternative. With the added bonus of having plot, a consistent universe (with a nod to the trousers) and fantastic prose.

Big Pratchett fan - except for his last few books. Too bad his mind had so deteriorated.

 

[3point14]

It seems fairly common that being 'taught' a book in school ruins it. I don't care much for Hamlet or Lear because I was beaten over the head with them by a jerk teacher. I read Macbeth on my own and liked it a lot. The Great Gatsby was taught to me, and I hated it. I read Madame Bovary and As I Lay Dying on my own and loved them. Same age, the only difference was reading them by choice and not having to memorize other people's ideas about them.

Forcing kids to read Shakespeare is a mental exercise. Why? Because they're not books. They're plays. They're not designed to be read, they're designed to be performed and watched.

Why any teacher thinks reading Shakespeare is a good idea is now and will forever be beyond me.

 

[3point14]

That reminds me ... The Once and Future King.

For people who haven't read the novel that the movie "The Princess Bride" is based on, the premise is that it's an abridged version of a several centuries old novel that the author's father read to him as a child. When he found a copy as an adult, he discovered that his father had only been reading the good parts, while the actual book is incredibly dry, slow, and boring. The novel is the author's attempt to recreate what his father read to him.

I read the book a long time ago. Read Goldman's preface and bought it, hook, line, sinker and copy of the Angling Times. It was a while later when it was pointed out to me that it was a conceit.

 

[d4m10n]

This thread is intended to be a more light-hearted break from the socio-political wrangling we often get caught up in. Please don't turn it into a Heller-SJW slapfight. You've said your piece. Please let other people say theirs. If you want to have a more in depth discussion of the problematic nature of Heller's work, please start your own own thread.

I'm smack on topic, bro. Deal with it.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I'm smack on topic, bro. Deal with it.

How do you feel about 'Huckleberry Finn'?

 

[Pope130]

My father had a habit of picking up any books that were lying around and take them off to read himself.

Number of the beast is a long old piece and he nicked it when I was maybe 40 or 50 pages from the end. To this day I have no idea how that novel ended. It wasn't so gripping that I'd be prepared to start the whole damn thing again.

I have read the whole thing. Twice, in fact. (The second time to try and figure out what I missed the first time.) And I still don't know how it ended. The penultimate chapter kind of peters out at the end, then the final chapter is a parody of a science fiction convention.

I'm a fan of Heinlein's work, but Number is frankly a failure. He succeeded occasionally with these steam of events stories that lack coherent structure. The Rolling Stones is a great example. There is a group of interesting, likeable characters going places and doing things. The book starts at one point in there lives, and stops at another. It could just as well have started or stopped at different points. Number and Friday are both similar in structure (or rather lack of structure), but differ in that I don't particularly like any of the people involved, nor care what happens to them.

 

[d4m10n]

How do you feel about 'Huckleberry Finn'?

Doesn't paint African Americans as subhuman, IMO.

 

[Armitage72]

Big Pratchett fan - except for his last few books. Too bad his mind had so deteriorated.

I remember seeing a claim that changing from typing his stories to using speech recognition due to his condition had a noticeable effect on the structure of his writing. In any case, The Shepherd's Crown definitely seemed to be a few rewrites away from actually being a final product.

 

[3point14]

I remember seeing a claim that changing from typing his stories to using speech recognition due to his condition had a noticeable effect on the structure of his writing. In any case, The Shepherd's Crown definitely seemed to be a few rewrites away from actually being a final product.

He employed an assistant to write for him.


Then, as I suspect most will be aware, he arranged for this to happen.

I have actually left a couple of Pratchett's unread. The last Tiffany Aching one (Shepherd's Crown), the non-Discworld one I can't remember the title of and the very last Discworld - Making Money.

I feel that when I've finished them, I'll be very sad, so I'm not doing it yet.

 

[ahhell]

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Did you happen to notice any female characters in Heller's book that couldn't be easily replaced by a poseable sex doll?

I do apply the Bechdel test to current fiction, but not stuff that's decades old.

Especially if its losely based on the author's actually experience. I agree though, nobody needs to read it. Thoroughly meh.

Twilight series

Fifty Shades series

Anything by Anne Rice

I'd say more than one book by Anne Rice. Go ahead and read one.

Oh god, you just reminded me that I read Anthem. Kids, just say no. Awful, awful characterisations.

Totally disagree, its the only Rand work anyone should read on account of it being mercifully short.

And my own contribution: anything by Clive Cussler. I read one and actually felt embarrassed for him.

Dave

Pretty much my experience, it actually began with "Dirk Pitt was the kind of man men want to be and women want to be with." I was more embarrassed for myself though.

Worst book I've ever read, "Route 666" which was a thinly velied attack on the Mormons disguised as an alt history horror fantasy.

 

[Dr. Keith]

We all know what it's like to pick up what should be a good book, a book that comes highly recommended or has been highly anticipated... Only to discover too late that you've wasted hours of your life that you will never get back.

This is your chance to warn others before they make the same mistake.

I didn't mention this book at first because you will only waste a few minutes reading it, not hours. and it is typically quite cheap, and yet you will have been ripped off:

Who Moved My Cheese.

I was once given that book after our group was acquired. After reading it I asked who thought it was a good idea and the leaders of the acquiring firm all joined in to say they loved it and thought it really had some great insights. I left as soon as I could secure another job.

 

[CORed]

He employed an assistant to write for him.


Then, as I suspect most will be aware, he arranged for this to happen.

I have actually left a couple of Pratchett's unread. The last Tiffany Aching one (Shepherd's Crown), the non-Discworld one I can't remember the title of and the very last Discworld - Making Money.

I feel that when I've finished them, I'll be very sad, so I'm not doing it yet.

Having read a few books cobbled together from dead author's unfinished manuscripts, I have to heartily endorse Pratchett's actions.

 

[Armitage72]

Having read a few books cobbled together from dead author's unfinished manuscripts, I have to heartily endorse Pratchett's actions.

Ugh. August Derleth. He's owed a debt for making H.P. Lovecraft's work more readily available to the public, but his "posthumous collaborations" were dire.

 

[wasapi]

If you see the book, The Beach, by James Patterson, it belongs in the trash. Probably the worse book I have ever endured.

 

[theprestige]

Who Moved My Cheese.

I was once given that book after our group was acquired. After reading it I asked who thought it was a good idea and the leaders of the acquiring firm all joined in to say they loved it and thought it really had some great insights. I left as soon as I could secure another job.

I haven't read it, but Ms ThePrestige says her biggest insight from reading that book was, "once you notice people are moving your cheese, you should update your resume and start looking for a new job. Also, there's probably gonna be layoffs soon."

 

[theprestige]

If you see the book, The Beach, by James Patterson, it belongs in the trash. Probably the worse book I have ever endured.

The movie is great, though.

 

[portlandatheist]

A Prayer for Own Meany by John Irving.
Truly awful tedious predictable and empty. Everybody seemed to love this book. I just don't get it.

The Fourth Turning by Strauss and Howe. It isn't just Stephen Bannon enamored by this book, it isn't partisan but it is pop history and is appealing in the same way a horoscope is appealing or the Myers-Briggs is appealing but its is also hollow.

 

[Dr. Keith]

I haven't read it, but Ms ThePrestige says her biggest insight from reading that book was, "once you notice people are moving your cheese, you should update your resume and start looking for a new job. Also, there's probably gonna be layoffs soon."

Also true.

 

[Loss Leader]

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
Truly awful tedious predictable and empty. Everybody seemed to love this book. I just don't get it.

I didn't like it. However, it's probably the book that taught me the most about the Catholic worldview.

Don't bother reading Mark Kurlansky's new book Milk. I love Kurlansky and think most everything he writes is genius. This book, though, was just a slog. I could sum the entire thing up in one sentence: Milk was kind of dangerous to drink before refrigeration, so lots of people just made cheese.

Now you don't have to read it.