Quotations and Literature Forum

Yeesh! I've read, well partially read, my share of boring and/or worst books; unfortunately, it seems that there are an awful lot of them out there, so much of my time involves sifting through the terrible, the boring, the mundane to just find a gem I can get into without tossing it. The two works that I found myself wishing I never embarked upon, and never admitted that I didn't like for fear I would get castigated for them were:

William Faulkner's Absolom, Absolom which I thought was downright unreadable, the biggest mishmash of overintellectual rot I have ever read; and unfortunately, I read it all, not because I wanted to, but I had to for a course. .

Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, which held great promise but gradually got so utterly bogged down in minute detail, slow plots, and many characters, that I gradually said the hell with it after 230 pages.

Yeah, whoopee de doo it's a classic. So what? Dragging something down to just demonstrate what an artistic writer you are, sounds a little arrogant and uncommunicative, or maybe I'm just stupid.

Hi, Hardy - Appreciate the validation on Catcher and warning about Maugham, who, for some reason wasn't on my radar, anyway. Am curious what your signature means - tried to google it. Want to share?

Hi, Up Country - I had to read Absalom, Absalom for a class also - we were probably in the same class!! How many instructors would actually do that to their class?? Oddly, after school was out I read it AGAIN, and it was a real pleasure to read it with the insight I now had after finishing it and learning critical evaluation in class. You might try it. Perhaps some books are meant to be re- read and the first reading is only a steppingstone, like the first chapter.

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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Aristotle

Hm, Although I HAD to read quite a few novels while studying English in Leiden (Netherlands) there were only two books I really didn't like. "Tristam Shandy" by Laurence Stern and "Marius the Epicurean" by Walter Pater. The first one I didn't even finish en the second was just so plain old boring that I fell asleep continuously while reading it.

Aw, and I very much liked Waiting for Godot by the way.

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Greetz, Phèdre

"All knowledge is worth having" - Jacqueline Carey

Worst book ever...has to be The Old Man and the Sea. Good lord, that was awful. I had no desire whatsoever to turn the next page. My eyes felt betrayed reading such trash, I don't care that it was written by Hemingway. My favorite book has to Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, or Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

I am struggling with Franz Kafka's "Process" at the moment - the book is good when I think of it but I am just not enjoying it at all. It's been a while since I read anything as boring as that!

The Lord of the Rings - seriously!

Never been so bored in all of my life. I've never met anyone else who feels the same way about it - or would admit to it. Anyone?

Lord of the Rings... Didn't read it, the movie was painful enough - the same thing over and over again. Glad I didn't try the book. Thanks for confessing!

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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Aristotle

*insert irate LotR worshipper comment here*

*yawns*

che

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Re vera, cara mea, mea nil refert.

I thought that the Time Traveler was pretty boring. Also this book I read in 4th grade called Friends or Friendship.

I've read tons of books and had to put them down and try to read them later, but I cant remember!

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All knowledge is worth having.
-Kushiel's Dart

I gotta admit. Gatsby was boring. One of my favorite books, but it was hard to get through (until that chick gets split in fucking Two.)

Same, just felt like it was an elaborately written soap opera that moved at the speed of a snail, but I have to disagree about the badly written part as I thought it was a great example of use of the English language.
Also the LOTR was good, just not deserving of the the adoration it got, Dune was on a whole other level.

The worst book I've ever read? Hmm....let's see: Animal Farm by George Orwell. I liked 1984 better.

Shakespeare can be boring, only because it's difficult to understand. Usually his stories are interesting, It's getting through the whole language thing that makes it work. But the most boring thing I've ever read The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (the original). It's one of the only books that I'll ever recommend to watch the movie instead of the book.