Aussie Readers discussion

Your least favourite book... and why?

I’m curious to know what are your least favourite books you’ve read? Did you happen to finish them and why didn’t you like them?

I have many books that I haven’t been able to finished but my biggest peeve in a book is when the author’s failed insert any ‘talking marks’. I do find this type of writing extremely hard to follow and I feel that I can’t seem to connect to the characters that well (could be because I’m concentrating on the writing and nothing else).

The books with this type of writing are Rhubarb(which I could not finish) and That Deadman Dance (I finished it but it was a struggle)

I would like to hear your thoughts on this?

Lady Chatterley's Lover because it was trash and terrible, it was only popular because it was banned

I put That Deadman Dance to one side too, but I will try to get back to it. The characters didn't engage me, and it was so 'back and forward' I couldn't keep track of it...

Watchman is one I didn't finish, and it was (to my mind) solely because of the narrator. I hadn't listened to many audio books at that stage, but I was bored by the narrator, and couldn't raise any interest in the story. Maybe if I read it, it might improve!

Red Wolf by Liza Marklund I disliked...terribly disjointed I thought. Took it back to the library unfinished!

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was one I had to read for bookclub. I couldn't get past about the first 50 pages! I know that one is either loved or hated!!

Michael wrote: "Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website and Nowhere Man.

The first one because it just kept repeated itself wich is one of the banes of my reading life...."

Yes very annoying when it’s repetitive. I read City of Night by Dean Koontz recently and it was like that.

City of Night

Michael wrote: "Lady Chatterley's Lover because it was trash and terrible, it was only popular because it was banned"

I stay clear of that book then. I don’t think I can handle another trashy novel again :P

I hated the Millennium series too Brenda but I read them all :(

I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo but didn't like it and didn't read the other two. The House at Riverton -I haven't finished which is very rare for me since I usually finish books on principle even if not enjoying them. It was completely boring and I gave up two thirds of the way in.

It took me a few months to get past the first 50 pages in the Girl with the Dragon tattoo and then I finished the rest of the book in a matter of days. IT was incredibly slow and boring to start with but it did eventually speed up and got rather exciting.

I've still not finished Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand... I've been trying to read it for nearly 10 years now and just can't get through it.

Kate wrote: "It took me a few months to get past the first 50 pages in the Girl with the Dragon tattoo and then I finished the rest of the book in a matter of days. IT was incredibly slow and boring to start wi..."

Looks like you gave it your best shot. Are you still trying Kate or have you given up on it?

Atlas Shrugged

X 2 for Catcher in the Rye. I know it's book blasphemy to admit it but a lot of the classics i much prefer to view as BBC or HBO productions rather than struggling through the language and story structure of the time it was written in.

I do like Lady Chatterley's lover though, LOL.

Still trying. My copy is incredibly dog earred from me carrying it around in my bag with me for years. I'll finish it eventually. Just might take another decade :P

Kate wrote: "Still trying. My copy is incredibly dog earred from me carrying it around in my bag with me for years. I'll finish it eventually. Just might take another decade :P"

Goodness! No wonder it’s taken you that long Kate…I just noticed the size now lol

Sounds like you are determined to finish it. Good luck with it :)

I know it's not right to say so, but, James Joyce really annoys me. I had to read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man for uni, and found it an unrewarding struggle.

For the same course, I had to read Lady Chatterley's Lover and also found it a struggle. I just didn't care what was happening with the characters!

There are many books that I found average, nothing to go on about either positively or negatively.

I do stop reading many books half way through, but those aren't normally the ones I end up disliking. I just stop reading them because I'm struggling to get into the story, but I'll often come back and love them later.

I used to force myself to finish books I wasn't really interested in, but in the last year especially, I've come to realize that life's too short, and there are too many good books out there that I want to read. So if I'm not enjoying it, I move onto another one that I will:)

I definitely agree with your philosophy Brenda!

James wrote: "I definitely agree with your philosophy Brenda!"

:)

Brenda.... I wish I could do that, sigh, but I must finish a book once I've started it.

Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: "Brenda.... I wish I could do that, sigh, but I must finish a book once I've started it."

You need to retrain your thinking Lisa;)

Maybe I should make it a New Year's resolution...

Haha!! Don't wait to New Year Lisa...the next one you read which you really don't like...you hate in fact, just put it to one side and start another...see how you go!

Two off the top of my head that I hated:

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts - I thought it started off really interesting and then after about page 600 it just became this load of garbage as if it had been written by someone else - I thought it was supposed to be a memoir, but maybe it was fantasy and I missed the point.

the other one was One For The Money Janet Evanovich - I managed to read about half way through and then would have thrown it across the room if it wasn't on my kindle - the main character was so annoying!

Michele wrote: "Two off the top of my head that I hated:

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts - I thought it started off really interesting and then after about page 600 it just became this load of garbage as if it..."

I have been tempted to read One For The Money as I haven't read any of hers! But I've never been totally grabbed by them!

I agree The Catcher in the Rye was lost on me. Maybe I was the wrong age when I read it. I was so disapointed as it is so hyped. I did finish it.

Could not get through Lights Out in Wonderland though. Liked the concept of the book t start with but the story went down hill rapidly for me.

I'am bit like Lisa, even if I hate a book I must finish it at some point. It may, however, take me a year or two to do that. I'll read a million books in between and at the same time, but I still find myself coming back time and time again to finish it. I think it's some small part of me giving the story and the author a chance to redeem themselves? The good news is that there usually is something small that I tend to find to redeem it.

To date I've never not finished a book. The only book that I couldn't stand even at the end of it, was Robert Drewe's book Grace . I started this book when I was 17 and that might have been the problem - maybe I wasn't mature enough for the book yet?, but still today I can't bring myself to re-read it. While I can't fault the writing per-se, the plot was a mess. It jumped all over the place and was just chaotic. There were too many sub-plots and I just don't think the whole thing worked particularly well. Which was a shame, because I remember being so excited to read the novel when I bought it. I still own it now, and the round "Book's Alive 2006 Great read guide" sticker still mocks me. It promises that the "book is so good, everyone will want to read it."

Hey Jess, here's the link for the new Get Reading month...September... http://www.getreading.com.au/get-read...

See you tomorrow night:)

ohh, Thanks Brenda! I keep eyeing off the books coming into work with the stickers on the cover. Found a couple I want to buy already :)

Haha!! I'm sure I will too, when I look;)

i got 1/4 way through and it was such a drag... so dissapointing cos i really like ive heard the 3rd book is good so im gonna give eldest another go only because i hate leaving a series unread once i start!!!

Bad luck Katie:(

Katie wrote: " i got 1/4 way through and it was such a drag... so dissapointing cos i really like ive heard the 3rd book is good so im gonna give eldest ..."

Yes Eragon was by far the best of the series. The others were heavy going. And I have to say that having waded through Brisingr I was very unhappy with the ending. But that's just me and I was still glad I persevered to the end.

Brenda wrote: "I used to force myself to finish books I wasn't really interested in, but in the last year especially, I've come to realize that life's too short, and there are too many good books out there that I..."

I'm with you on this.

Dale wrote: "Brenda wrote: "I used to force myself to finish books I wasn't really interested in, but in the last year especially, I've come to realize that life's too short, and there are too many good books o..."

:)

Dale wrote: "Brenda wrote: "I used to force myself to finish books I wasn't really interested in, but in the last year especially, I've come to realize that life's too short, and there are too many good books o..."

As I used to say, referring to my cv, "vita brevis." Seriously, what with the "days dwindling down," and all (I'm in a cheery mood), why would anyone want to endure tedious writing? (or the weather in Texas, for that matter, so I'm hardly one to invoke sanity, but even so...)

Agreed Mark!

By the way, the book I liked least in the past year was: The Death of Artemio Cruz
The short version of my cranky reaction was: to wit,

Caveat: This review is specific to my current, idiosyncratic reading needs. Specifically, I need not to have my depression exacerbated. Short version: if you are ill and trying not to focus on your physical being, and would be disturbed by the graphic depiction of the physical decomposition and mental fragmentation of a dying protagonist who is sociopathic, power-consumed, hateful and in no imaginable way sympathetic, don't read this book. Longer version follows.

Mish wrote:

Atlas Shrugged

Agreed categorically. This is the most phenomenally evil book I can think of, not to mention execrably written and prodigiously stupid.

Well, of course, there's The Fountainhead, too.
(I take back Artemio Cruz. Not even in the same league of appallingness.)

Mark wrote: "Well, of course, there's The Fountainhead, too.
(I take back Artemio Cruz. Not even in the same league of appallingness.)"

Quite a few high star reviews on this one!

Brenda wrote: "Mark wrote: "Well, of course, there's The Fountainhead, too.
(I take back Artemio Cruz. Not even in the same league of appallingness.)"

Quite a few high star reviews on this one!"

Hi, Brenda,
There's some literary justification for positive reviews of The Death of Artemio Cruz. I just hated it for personal reasons, but even I gave it three stars:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
There, see?

As for Rand......................

:)

I just read . Many people rave about it. I thought it was beyond bad. It's a good thing we all have different tastes though.

Phrynne wrote: "I just read . Many people rave about it. I thought it was beyond bad. It's a good thing we all have different tastes though."

I didn't like that one much either Phrynne!

Phrynne wrote: "I just read . Many people rave about it. I thought it was beyond bad. It's a good thing we all have different tastes though."

I agree, I hated that book

Phrynne wrote: "I just read . Many people rave about it. I thought it was beyond bad. It's a good thing we all have different tastes though."

Those people who are raving... it might be a good idea to give them a wide berth. Or a good neuroleptic. Well, de gustibus, of course, but I also loathed it. Why anyone doesn't is an enigma that might make the basis of a *good* novel, though. (Full disclosure: I read it in Spanish and quit a third of the way in. I don't think it would have mattered if I'd tried the translation, though.)

It's nice to discover I was not the only person who could not see the point in this book! Also that it wasn't any better in Spanish!!!

Phrynne wrote: "It's nice to discover I was not the only person who could not see the point in this book! Also that it wasn't any better in Spanish!!!"

Hi, Phrynne!
Possibly it would have been better translated into Ancient Sumerian and stored on clay tablets for 5500 years. That way, at least, no one would have been subjected to reading it. :)

Mark wrote: "Phrynne wrote: "It's nice to discover I was not the only person who could not see the point in this book! Also that it wasn't any better in Spanish!!!"

Hi, Phrynne!
Possibly it would have been bet..."

:) Very appropriate.

I wouldn't say I hated the book, but was quite disappointed. Reason why I usually don't pay attention to books with plenty of hype.

Coelho does a sagacious guru shtick. The only problem is that he has no novel insights and substitutes manufactured pathos and meretricious emotional manipulation. A lot of people like it, though, and don't seem to mind that he's atrociously boring. "Veronika Decides to Put the Reader to Death" would not have been a bad title. :)

Mark wrote: "Coelho does a sagacious guru shtick. The only problem is that he has no novel insights and substitutes manufactured pathos and meretricious emotional manipulation. A lot of people like it, though..."

I'm going to see if I can use meretricious in conversation tomorrow.