Chicks On Lit discussion

We always talk about all the books we loved..but what were some of the books that you absolutely loathed or couldn't stand reading?!

Be mindful that the book you hate might be one that somebody loved. :)

I personally detested Heart of Darkness and Gulliver's Travels. I had to read both of them in school.

As mentioned in numerous places, I really, truly, did not like Sophie's World at all. Gulliver's Travels is right down there at the bottom of my list, too; along with Ethan Frome and The Awakening, to name a few.

The Da Vinci Code I couldn't stand.

I loved the message in A New Earth Awakening to Your Life's Purpose but I HATED Tolle!

The Tao of Pooh was cute but had nothing to do with Taoism, it irked me as well.

Say When by Elizabeth Berg annoyed me.

The Bridges of Madison County was torturous for such a short book.

Oh so many more...

I am amused. I nearly got thrown off this list for not liking a book and saying so. Now we have two whole threads on the subject.

I didn't realize there was another thread..sorry. I looked.

Also, it's always in the way you voice your opinion. If you are respectful, there should be no problems. I think we fine here so far.

Sorry, Jamie. Truly, I think it's fine to voice an opinion about a book that you didn't like, particularly if you add what it is about the book that turned you off.

I'll add my 2 cents here, I didn't like The Forgotten Garden and I could read only about 10 pages of The Help. As I said earlier, and got soundly trounced upon, the writing in The Forgotten Garden was poor, in my opinion. I thought The Help, what I could stomach, was racist and demeaning. The blacks talked pidgin English, but the whites had not a trace of southern accent. Something wrong with that picture.

I really didn't care for The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I did finish them both though.

Elizabeth wrote: "I thought The Help, what I could stomach, was racist and demeaning. The blacks talked pidgin English, but the whites had not a trace of southern accent. Something wrong with that picture."

I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt that way. I couldn't get more than a few pages into the book for that same reason.

I hated The Shipping News A Novel by Annie Proulx. This is one book I could not finish.

I always have to finish a book to give it the benefit of the doubt. No matter how torturous it is....*sigh* Having flashbacks to The DaVinci Code again. LOL

I don't think there are any books that I literally "detested". There are some that I didn't like very much. I didn't care for Billy Bud, Sailor or Moby Dick. I didn't care for any of Shakespeare's history plays. Harry Potter is also not my favorite. Atonement was not a favorite, either.

could not get into the women in white

I know lots of people love it, but Watership Down did nothing for me. There's no way I would have made it past page 50 if it hadn't been required reading for school.

I absolutely detested The Good Earth when forced to read it in high school. I've often wondered if I'd have the same opinion now.

I read Wuthering Heights last year in my quest to read the classics, and I frankly don't see why anyone finds it romantic. I thought it was depressing and ridiculous.

Most recently, I truly eye-rolled my way through Julia's Chocolates.

I detested Good Earth too (also high school), and Wuthering Heights really didn't thrill me either, but I think I'm in the minority there.

That Left Behind dreck. And Everything is Illuminated. I just hated everything about that book.

Here's the "one star" books in my list:
Cold Mountain, The Red Tent, Angela's Ashes, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The World According to Garp, The Water Method Man, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Silence of the Lambs, Eldest, The Bonfire of the Vanities, What to Expect When You're Expecting, and The Amityville Horror. I actually like MOST of the books I read, so this is a pretty complete list! :-)

Misty--what didn't you like about A Tree Grows In Brooklyn? My other book group is going to be reading that next month..so I'm curious!

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Cold Mountain are both 5 stars from me. WOW I'm shocked!

I get that she tried to show the resiliency of human nature, but what I saw was her writing her own biases into the book to try and make a point. The whole weaning thing was beyond ridiculous. Really, it makes me want to hurl. The woman with all the babies born with midwives who die, and then OMG a doctor can rush in and save her baby. Sheesh. Plus, it was just so incredibly unbelievable. The girl just jumps past years worth of schooling to dive headlong into advanced education without a hitch - um, yea - no. Sorry. It's hard to talk about that book without dripping sarcasm! LOL. I know it's an "American classic" and sacrilege to dis it, but there you go.

As for Cold Mountain, I really wanted to like that book. I tried hard. There are parts where he describes some of the landscape that are beautifully written. Again though, it's hard to swallow that pretty much every person this man meets is going to be the scum of the earth. It was beyond depressing and not even in a good literary way! I'm sure he wrote without quotes or anything like that for some kind of literary style, but all he managed to do was to write in a way that came off in a monotone...through...the...whole...book. It took me a couple of weeks to get through it. When I was having trouble sleeping, my husband would tell me, "Why don't you read your sleeping pill?" LOL. I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Misty wrote: "I get that she tried to show the resiliency of human nature, but what I saw was her writing her own biases into the book to try and make a point. The whole weaning thing was beyond ridiculous. Re..."

It's been years since I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but this doesn't sound like the same book I read.

Me either Elizabeth. I don't remember anything about midwives, but I'm getting ready to do a reread so maybe I'll get a refresher there lol.

Okay - spoiler alert!!!

The weaning thing was where the one mom weans the mean kid by drawing this scary face on her boob or something ridiculous like that. Ugh - so dumb! You know, I do remember liking parts of the book, but the parts that annoyed me were SO bad that it ruined the whole book for me. If you could get past those parts, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad book. You don't remember the woman who had ten kids, and they all kept being born dead? How long ago did you read the book? I'd be interested to see what you think of it after rereading it. There are a few books that I read years ago that I would sort of like to reread just to see what I would think of them now. There's just too many books out there, that I almost never reread book!

Misty, the book I read was about a poor family with 2 children and the father was a drunk. The mother scrubbed floors.

Yes - those were the main characters. I think - don't quote me on it, it's been a while - the woman with all the stillborn babies is her aunt. The mean kid lives either in the building or in an adjacent building.

One book that sticks in my mind the most that I actually finished and hated was Beloved by Toni Morrison. The reason I feel so strongly about this book is the whole time I read it I had such disturbing nightmares and even when I finished it I had nightmares until I donated the book to the library, I could not even have it in my house. I don't know why it bothered me so but it did and for that reason I have not even tried another Toni Morrison book.

Wow, Angela. I can see why that would give you nightmares! That book is intense! (I love it though :) )

Bah! I had problems with Heart of Darkness and Atonement. All of my friends were telling me Atonement was the best thing ever and I was like "no, not so much."

Lori - I could not read Atonement either, I tried, in fact my entire bookclub tried and I don't think any of us finished it.

I also did not care for Merle's Door, I think my problem with this book was 1) all the techinal stuff about dogs and 2) I was expecting something like Marley and Me.

I didnt like Atonement, it sucked.

Forgot about The Poisonwood Bible. Sucky.

Carrie wrote: "Forgot about The Poisonwood Bible. Sucky."

I second that. I couldn't read more than three sentences without falling asleep. That book had no point to me. I tried. I really did but I just could not do it!

Wow. Loved Atonement, but hated Poisonwood. Loved the writing, but hated the father. He made me so angry I couldn't finish the book.

Misty wrote: "Okay - spoiler alert!!!

The weaning thing was where the one mom weans the mean kid by drawing this scary face on her boob or something ridiculous like that. Ugh - so dumb! You know, I do remembe..."

I remember all the babies dying, not so much the boob thing lol. But at least I get your gist now Misty.

I still highly recommend Tree, it's one of my all-time faves.

Laura wrote: "Wow. Loved Atonement, but hated Poisonwood. Loved the writing, but hated the father. He made me so angry I couldn't finish the book."

I couldn't stand the father either! I actually liked the book but then it just dragged on and could have done without the last 100 or so pages.

I didn't even get that far, Jamie!

I think the only reason I stuck with it was because it was recommended to me by a friend so I felt compelled to finish it!

I think I dropped it with about 100 pp to go, I just couldn't take it anymore.

Yes! The last 100 pages of Poisonwood were utterly unnecessary.

Do you feel you have to like all the characters to like a book?

No. Not at all.

Me either. I do have to like to hate the bad guys though! LOL.

I was curious because not liking a character (example, the father in The Poisonwood Bible) was a reason for not liking a book. I didn't like the father in that one either, but it enhanced, not detracted detracting from, this novel.

No I don't have to like them all but he was so insanely stupid and completely without any sense and I guess in my head it became unreal that someone would behave the way he did. I hated him and found him unbelievable.

Not only did I find him believable, but I see people in the world today just like him. I live in southeast Alaska. The Native people here have virtually lost their language because missionaries came up here and forbade them to speak their own language. I have a hard time thinking of an act so unkind, so unChristian.

Angela H. wrote: "One book that sticks in my mind the most that I actually finished and hated was Beloved by Toni Morrison. The reason I feel so strongly about this book is the whole time I read it I had..."

Oohh...I'm reading this book right now!! Can't wait to finish it. I'm about 45 pages in...no nightmares yet!

Elizabeth wrote: "Not only did I find him believable, but I see people in the world today just like him. I live in southeast Alaska. The Native people here have virtually lost their language because missionaries cam..."

HEY Elizabeth! I live in Alaska too. I'm in Anchorage. Where are you?

Hey, neighbor! I'm down here in the banana belt - Ketchikan!

Elizabeth wrote: "Hey, neighbor! I'm down here in the banana belt - Ketchikan!"

Hey, my family is down there in Ketchikan! Know any Bergeron's?? That's us!! How neat to find a neigbor here. :-)