Chicks On Lit discussion

Jennifer wrote: "Her Fearful Symmetry
Wuthering Heights
Wicked
Three Junes

Those are ones I've started and never finished. I'm also going to add Dreaming in Cuban, but sadly for me I did finish that one. Ther..."

I have to agree with Wicked- and I really wanted to love that book.

Shelley wrote: "Most hated? Any "popular" novel I pick up that has dialogue that sounds like TV. No two human beings ever talked together in that way in the entire history of mankind.


Shelley
Rain: A Dust Bo..."

So you hate any popular novel? And what's wrong with dialogue on TV. Some TV shows have excellent writers. I agree that people in real life don't talk the way they do on TV or in books, but that's because real life speech is littered with "um", "like", phrases, broken sentences and incomplete thoughts. I realized this when I read transcripts of un-scripted speech at work. It's absolutely horrendous to read what "real" speech is.

Detested . I tried 2 times because it was a read for a real life book club. My trusted friends absolutely loved the book and urged me to give it another try. I made it through 10 more pages at the most and haven't been tempted to pick it up again. EVER. But the key to why people like it is the ending, I've heard. You have to stick it out to the end where there is some really intriguing happenings. But it isn't going to be for me!

Twilight, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn.
Love in the Time of Chorlera--read about five pages than gave up.
Gerald's Game.
Tailsman

I am sure there are more but I can't remember at the moment lol.

Annabell-- Twilight is a given!
I also agree about Gerald's Game.

Love in the Time of Cholera is interesting. It's popped up a few times here. I liked it, but didn't love it as much as Gabriel Garcia Marquez's other books.

@Regine: LOL there are many who loved it. I don't understand why. That entire series wasn't that good. And it was hard to get through Gerald's Game as much as I love Stephen King books.

I've heard that people really love Love in the Time of Cholera but I just couldn't get into it.

I've never been able to read anything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I'm also adding Moo, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, and A Reliable Wife.

I totally detested JULIE & JULIA; Julie came across very whiny, self-centered, and this book was most definitely not for me. After a few chapters, I quit reading and put it with other stuff to go to Goodwill. My expectations were that the book would be more about her cooking than it was. However... I really enjoyed the movie.

Wow, so Wuthering Heights isn't popular around here.
The thing about Wuthering Heights is there's a big misconception about it. It's rather tragic, and not the usual gratifying type of romance people look for. You just have to know what to expect, and then it delivers.

Personally, I detested Eragon, more so because of the hype. It has 400 and something pages of nothing, other than riding HP's momentum. And don't get me started on Eldest.
Oh, and The Magicians was also pretty horrible.

Emma- Wuthering Heights was just meh. I hated all of the characters, and the maid's narration was quite boring. I didn't hate it though, it just wasn't for me.

Annabell- I will never understand how and why the series got as big as it did. A really good marketer? I don't know!

The story and overall writing of the Twilight "saga" are appalling. I know someone who had nothing better to do, took a red pen to "Breaking Dawn". The finished product reminded me of the first draft of my thesis. It wasn't pretty.

I agree with "The Shipping News". Why... did it even win the Pulitzer? I must admit, I picked it up because of its accolade but if you ask me now what I remember from it... nothing.

I may be all alone in this but Anne Frank's diary. Guh, I cannot stand it. Don't get me wrong, one of my favorite parts of history is the Holocause/WWII era but her diary. I just can't. If I didn't know what the fuss over Anne Frank was, I would assume that her diary was written by some everyday middle schooler.

Also, it amuses me that I find a lot of Oprah Book Club titles mentioned in this thread. I used to collect them, but overall, I found most of Oprah's selections kind of on the preachy side.

Let me think. What are books I've hated that other people seem to find ok? Well the obvious answer would be the Twilight series, but that would just be too easy, wouldn't it?

I really did not like Life of Pi very much. I liked it when I read it the first time, but I came back later and realized how incredibly preachy and trite it was. Also the beginning is intolerably slow.
I did not like Like Water for Chocolate because it had incredibly unrealistic and unhealthy love portrayed as the ideal.
I didn't like Ender's Game at all, and I usually love Science Fiction. I hated that he created a plot that kept his characters from having to be held morally responsible for their actions. Everything wasn't really their fault, or they didn't know, or whatever. It didn't exactly make for very good character development when all the excuses were already made for him.
I didn't find The Hunger Games worth the hype. It was a perfectly mediocre YA action sci-fi thriller with a pretty much two-dimensional protagonist that lacked any real depth. It wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't worth all the fuss.
I hated A Separate Peace. I have loved every other book I was made to read in high school, but this one I hated. It's melodramatic and self-consciously artistic, with a whiny protagonist that I just wanted to smack by the end of it.
I really disliked The Crying of Lot 49. I don't have a problem with modern novels or stream of consciousness necessarily, but I need to feel like the author had some reason for using those techniques. I need to fell like they were part of the story, or necessary for the point to be made. I feel like Pynchon uses modern techniques simply for the sake of using them, rather than because he feels he needs to use them to make art. On the other hand, I've heard good things about Gravity's Rainbow, so maybe I'll give him another shot some day.
I was utterly disappointed with Wolf Hall. I expected it to be good, but it was really poorly executed. There was no plot whatsoever, which would have been ok, had there been any character development to speak of. I couldn't even tell the characters apart half of the time. Not only that, but no-one changed throughout the course of the book. There were some events that I thought took place in a matter of weeks that I later found out took place over a span of years. I literally could not tell time was passing! I cannot believe I wasted money on that one.

Other books I didn't like:
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
A Wizard of Earthsea (which is too bad, because Le Guin is one of my favorite authors)
Atlas Shrugged
The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus
Room
The Passion
Interview With the Vampire

^ Ah yes, The Hunger Games. I think the fan reaction ruined it all for me. It got so hyped up, I got excited, bought the whole set but after the first book... I was so unimpressed. Reminded me of the crappy Tekken: The Movie and even THAT entertained me more.

Now, the two other books are collecting dust on my shelf.

I hated Glamorama, it was just lame, depressive long and repetitive.
And Girl with a Pearl Earring, Griet was a thoroughly unbelievable character.
Only good thing was that Colin Firth starred in the movie, and you were spared the tiresome inner monologue of Griet.
Wuthering Heights, a tragedy only works if you actually care for any of the characters.
I tried hard reading the books by Jan Kjærstad, cause they were really hyped here, but they mainly annoyed me...

The more I read this thread, the more I hate it. It's very sad to see that some of the books I love be so harshly criticized and trashed by others.

What can I say? I participated in the thread too.

But still, the more I read it, the more I think that this thread should be deleted.

It is tough to see some your favorites discarded by so many people. I remember when I first started to come to this site that I noticed a huge swell of hatred to one of my top 10 favorite books of all time! I thought that this must not be the site for me. When we mention our dislike of a particular book or books I hope we just keep in the back of our minds how we all have different likes. Some of the all time favorite books of close family members are books that I wouldn't dream of tackling in the first place. And vice versa: they can't stand my favorites! But of course, my books are good. Why would anyone not like them?

My particular post is meant to show that my friends really enjoyed a book that I just couldn't complete due to my own dislike of a particular element found in the book. ANY book that has a type of animal cruelty element is not for me. That is a pretty large spectrum too where I'll include bestiality in "humans" such as the vampire, werewolf types. It's a personal thing.

Viola, you could look at it this way: I consistently see readers praising to 5 stars a couple of books that I absolutely detested. You have no idea how short my tongue has become biting off the end of it not to say something to these people who think that X book is so good. And on and on. Sometimes I just want to speak up and ask them what is wrong with them?!? ;-)

This is such a touchy subject. I think it is what has ruffled more feathers than any other I've encountered on COL.
First off the word "detest" is really strong. I'll wager most of the books here aren't truly detested (a violent hatred?). Most of the books people just really didn't like. I think to list that is fine. Here's where I think it get's interesting; When we dislike something so much we can't seperate it from the person who likes it or dislikes it for that matter.
You don't like a book. I get it. I don't like a lot of books.
You love a book. I get it. I love a lot of books.
The trouble comes when what you love or hate is used to define you or how you define others. It's not fair.
I hate Lolita as you've all heard me recount a zillion times (again this topic seems to come up a lot). But it's unfair for me to say anyone who likes it is a sick twisted perverted freak. That's how I feel about the book not how I feel about people who count it in their top 5. Likewise if someone trashes To Kill a MockingbirdI don't get to take that personally either. It's not me. It's not my child. It's not even my cousin's neighbor's uncle. My only connection to any book is what emotions or thoughts is spurs in me and simply because someone else doesn't get that I can't take it personally.

I'm pretty sure I've said it in this thread before and if not this one another one - have your opinions - love or hate a book or even detest it if you must but please don't let your opinions define the people who read those books. Likewise, don't let someone's opinion of a book become what you preceive as a personal attack. Critisim against a book should never be critisim against those that read it. If it is or does become that then I have to look at deleting threads, which I really hate to do and try never to do if it can be avoided.

There are so many threads on here that celebrate books and strive to find connections with each other through that I hope too much isn't made about what we don't like and disconnections that result from that.

So, Tera, is it like this? I detest liver. But my husband loves it. Now, I know there must be something seriously wrong with him to love liver, but I love him anyway. Yeah, I know liver isn't like books, but the analogy works here. I'm sure that those of you who really really like Book X must have something wrong with you (please, consider this in a funny way, hoping hoping), but being slightly crazy doesn't make you a bad person. And I might even love you a little just because you're a reader.

Thanks Tera for your post. I think I need to grow a thicker skin and maybe just stop reading this thread. And I'll try to be more sensitive to others when I rate a book badly.

LOL @ Elizabeth(Alaska) EXACTLY!

@ Viola it is sooooo hard and truly one of the best lessons I've ever learned through this COL journey. Books are such a part of us. The books we love have made such an impact on us when they aren't universally loved it hurts oddly enough. When they are actually attacked then we feel like it's someone we love who's been attacked and we want to defend them.
On the flip side it's hard to critique a book and not make it personal, especially when we really don't like it.
I truly had a hard time seperating my feelings for Lolita with those that loved the book. It was so hard for me to wrap my brain around the idea anyone could like it. I'm still not sure I totally do but I guess I just accept that I don't have to understand everyone and everyone doesn't have to agree with me.

(but don't tell my husband that last part ;)

Christy wrote: "Two books that my book club picked that I couldn't stand:

1. On Beauty - The Goodreads description of this book describes this book as, "Full of dead-on wit and relentlessly funny," bu..."


Well, I didn't hate The Help but thought it was totally overrated and not very well written or plotted. I did however HATE The Corrections and White Teeth (which isn't, of course, On Beauty, but probably close).

My most disliked book of all time is Confederacy of Dunces. There is a Jerzy Kozinski book that's right up there but I try not to remember it - at all. Traumatizing.

I like As I Lay Dying.

Also disliked Love in the Time of Cholera even though One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of my favorite books ever.

Gizzard wrote: "Also disliked Love in the Time of Cholera even though One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of my favorite books ever. "

You know, I've heard a lot of people say that. I'm beginning to think that if I want to read any Marquez I should just skip Love in the Time of Cholera all together and go straight to One Hundred Years of Solitude.

I find it very interesting what different people see in a book.
Two of my all time absolute favourites Night train to Lisbon and American Gods, have several one star ratings on Amazon, and since I would give them 7 stars if I could, it's interesting to read what put others off them.
If I'm considering buying a book (which happens every day once in a while) I can learn a lot from seeing why people like/dislike it.

It can get my back up when I see something I judge as really bad being hyped totally undeserved - so I guess I feel about Glamorama as you, Tera, feel about Lolita! I could vaguely see the point about American Psycho, but I have to face that Ellis' books are just not for me, being depraved and depressive and negative as an end in itself, just doesn't make sense in my universe.
Some of the books I really disklike, are some that I was forced to finish because they we're for my classes at university, and they could be included in exams. So I couldn't just put them down after 50 pages, but had my dislike nurtured through all 300-400 pages ;-)

Gizzard wrote: "Christy wrote: "Two books that my book club picked that I couldn't stand:

1. On Beauty - The Goodreads description of this book describes this book as, "Full of dead-on wit and relentl..."

Oh my gosh, we have exact opposite tastes. Haha! We're like inverted twins.

For me The Weight of Waterby Anita Shreve

Emily wrote:
You know, I've heard a lot of people say that. I'm beginning to think that if I want to read any Marquez I should just skip Love in the Time of Cholera all together and go straight to One Hundred Years of Solitude.



I think that my mistake was reading One Hundred Years of Solitude first. It's not that "Love in the Time of Cholera" is a particularly bad book, but I just loved "One Hundred Years of Solitude" so much that everything else I've read by Marquez has fallen short.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "So, Tera, is it like this? I detest liver. But my husband loves it. Now, I know there must be something seriously wrong with him to love liver, but I love him anyway. Yeah, I know liver isn't like ..."

no, Elizabeth, people who actually like liver ARE crazy (including my husband). ;* )

Mmmm, liver smuthered with onions, cooked with bacon, served with whipped potatoes, Heaven! So certify me, as long as they serve liver (can't be over cooked or it really is gross) at the asylum.

Regine wrote: "Emily wrote:
You know, I've heard a lot of people say that. I'm beginning to think that if I want to read any Marquez I should just skip Love in the Time of Cholera all together and go straight ..."

Same here

Wow, lots of tension in this one! I actually think this is kind of a neat thread. Sometimes you can learn more about a person's tastes by what they hate than by what they love.

For example -- I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I loved the Twilight series. (I know, I know, your literary soul just weeps.) But that most certainly does not define me as a reader. In fact, liking Twilight is almost unusual for me. I've tried out quite a few other teen vampire books (and even some for adults) and absolutely despised all of them. Vampires are not my thing.

And neither are sappy mindless heroines.

So I have no idea why I like Twilight, but I do...go figure.

Also: My best friend in high school was obsessed with the Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo. I could never get into these. I thought they were awful. But of course I still love my bff to death. Isn't separating the person from their tastes is a given??

But anyhow. A few books that irk me:
-All the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlane Harris. Just ew.
-Brave New World
-The Vampire Diaries series (See, I'm really NOT your average goth teen wannabe!)
-The Other Boleyn Girl
-Elizabeth Gilbert's sequal to EPL, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
-Red Riding Hood

I'm sure there are more, but those are the front runners in my mind at the moment.

Irene wrote: "Mmmm, liver smuthered with onions, cooked with bacon, served with whipped potatoes, Heaven! So certify me, as long as they serve liver (can't be over cooked or it really is gross) at the asylum."

I will only eat liver if my mother prepares it. Crazy but true. When I had anemia, she brought it to me at least once a week LOL. To this day, I have never ordered it out.

I am a little afraid of offending, so I have been hesitant to post here, but I have very much disliked every Jodi Piccoult (spelling?) book I have had to read.

Irene wrote: "I am a little afraid of offending, so I have been hesitant to post here, but I have very much disliked every Jodi Piccoult (spelling?) book I have had to read."

Jodi Picoult is kind of hit and miss for me. I really liked My Sister's Keeper, and Vanishing Acts, but I started a handful of others by her and couldn't make it past fifty pages or so.

No offense taken if you didn't like the two I did. ;)

Irene wrote: "I am a little afraid of offending, so I have been hesitant to post here, but I have very much disliked every Jodi Piccoult (spelling?) book I have had to read."

Fear not! I'm not a fan either. The one and only book I attempted was The Pact and I found the concept to be so awful I couldn't finish.

Irene wrote: "I am a little afraid of offending, so I have been hesitant to post here, but I have very much disliked every Jodi Piccoult (spelling?) book I have had to read."

Oh, no. You are not alone. I have only read one Jodi Picoult book, and it literally scared me off of reading any more. It may well be just this book House Rules, but I really did not have anything good to say about it.

O, it is nice to see that I have a bit of company. I am in an in-person book group that has decided that my taste in books is questionable. If I love a book, it is certain to be less than popular with the rest of the folks. And, if they rave about a book, I am sure to find it just so-so at best. Jodi Picoult is one that we disagree on. So glad that they love me despite my dubious opinions on books!

Tera wrote: "LOL @ Elizabeth(Alaska) EXACTLY!

@ Viola it is sooooo hard and truly one of the best lessons I've ever learned through this COL journey. Books are such a part of us. The books we love have mad..."

I agree with this Tera. When you compare the "Best" and "Worst" book lists that pop up on Goodreads, there happen to be a lot of the same books on each list. We all connect with books differently and sometimes we don't "get" them or we don't have a good vibe about them right off the bat, even if other people love them.

That said, I would say my biggest book disappointments have been Catch-22 and Invisible Man. I always wanted to read Catch 22 and felt that I should because it is a classic book. But I made it about 2/3 of the way through and just couldn't finish it. It wasn't terrible but it just couldn't hold my interests. As for Invisible Man, I actually was really liking the book until the main character was given shock treatment. I couldn't get into it from there. However, I read that book back in high school and I think I might like it if I gave it another shot.

I also didn't like The Great Gatsby when I read it in high school. But I had to read it for another class in college and actually enjoyed it the 2nd time around.

Just to proove your point, I nearly wet myself because I laughed so hard reading Catch 22. But, I have a very warped sense of humor. Some would say I am warped in more ways than that.

Irene wrote: "Just to proove your point, I nearly wet myself because I laughed so hard reading Catch 22. But, I have a very warped sense of humor. Some would say I am warped in more ways than that."

I actually did think parts of it were pretty funny, or at least amusing! But as I said, it just couldn't hold my attention :p

I had a really hard time with the very popular book The Shadow of the Wind. Many I know raved about it - the critics loved it- I just couldn't relate to it. Eat, Pray, Love was another popular one that I finished but struggled with.

I struggled in the past 2 months with "The Finkler Question", a book I'd been long waiting to read...what a disappointment to see that nono of the characters captivated or intrigued me enough to keep me going. I still don't know if it's worth the fight to finish it....Anyone had the same feeling about this one?

I detest Of Mice and Men. I remember just being pissed with the story and the fact that it was required reading that whole summer and was looking forward to school so I could be done with this book once discussed and tested in class.

Someone just gave me Feminists Say the Darndest Thingsand I simply cannot finish it. I would not say I am a "feminist" by any means so it is not that he hits a nerve with me like he might other female readers. To me the bigger issue is his open-letter format where he brings up gossip and dirty laundry while accusing other people of being unprofessional and critical. Ummm, dude, look in the mirror. -- See, I end up arguing back with the author like he is in the room. I get so frustrated with him I have to put it down and it takes fewer and fewer pages for me to get frustrated. I like to read for enjoyment, not frustration, so this one will get passed along to someone who will not have such a strong reaction.

Jessica wrote: "Someone just gave me Feminists Say the Darndest Thingsand I simply cannot finish it. I would not say I am a "feminist" by any means so it is not that he hits a nerve with me like he ..."

As far as gossiping goes I have noticed men do it way more then women do.

interesting. I absolutely love to know why people didn't like books, whether I loved it or not.

Whether you like Love in the Time of Cholera probably depends on whether you believe that unrequited love is a virtue and admirable. Like Water for Chocolate has a similar theme.

Interesting Dianne! I never thought about that but that's exactly what the book is: male gossip. It's like men use it as a weapon. (Oc, not all men gossip or do it in this way, okay disclaimer over). Part of what is so bad for me about this author is that he is obviously "conservative" and a "family man" and "christian". He does nothing to uphold any of those values though. :(

Dianne wrote: "Jessica wrote: "Someone just gave me Feminists Say the Darndest Thingsand I simply cannot finish it. I would not say I am a "feminist" by any means so it is not that he hits a nerve ..."

Dianne wrote: "Jessica wrote: "Someone just gave me Feminists Say the Darndest Thingsand I simply cannot finish it. I would not say I am a "feminist" by any means so it is not that he hits a nerve ..."

For sure they do. I work for a major utility company in NYC and all there is men. OMW, do they gossip. and they are brutual

I absolutely loathed Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk and I am a huge fan of his. Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey is one of my absolute favorite books and I love many of his others. But Snuff is horrendous. I really think he wrote it because he had to produce something for his publishers and was pissed off at them. The story was ridiculous, uninspired and just pain boring which is pretty funny to say about a book all about porn. I was so mad at him for writing that book.

Gizzard wrote: "Whether you like Love in the Time of Cholera probably depends on whether you believe that unrequi..."

Gizzard, I think how and where you grew up may have a difference...I have not read any of Marquez's books, but I LOVED

Like Water for Chocolate, I have both the spanish and english versions...same with The House of the Spirits(I have both versions). From what I understand, Marquez is similar in that they are considered Magical Realism...which, if you are into things that are more real, you'll probably dislike it...but I get it...I think vanilla is the finest of the flavours...but some like chocolate better (I used to hate chocolate as a child)...and don't get me started on Liver...blech...but my mom LOVES the stuff! ;-D