Books you can't bloody stand...

The Lovely Bones

Life is depressing enough w/o tosh like this.

Makes Sylvia Plath look like Pollyanna.

Makes Sylvia Plath look like Pollyanna.

 

The book i just finished:   'The White Bird Passes'.
Pure pants.
Maybe would be better if i spoke Doric.

The book i just finished: 'The White Bird Passes'.
Pure pants.

So I guess the White Bird passed something, all right... 

The Lovely Bones

Life is depressing enough w/o tosh like this.

Aren't they making this into a film?

Aren't they making this into a film?

Yes, they are! The feel good movie of the year! 

Yes, they are! The feel good movie of the year! 

They should have counsellors passing out Prozac w/the tickets.  Honestly, this thing was SUCH a downer it made 'We Need to Talk about Kevin' worthy of a second read.  I mean, who the the hell even conceives of such things?? 

Honestly, this thing was SUCH a downer it made 'We Need to Talk about Kevin' worthy of a second read.  I mean, who the the hell even conceives of such things?? 

Oh, man, a few of my book club members are starting to make noises about wanting to read "Kevin." So far I've managed to avert it, but I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out!

Yes, they are! The feel good movie of the year! 

OMG! I can't imagine even wanting to go see that movie! I mean, why would anyone? 

'We Need to Talk about Kevin' should be in the Sci Fi section, it's so far from anything remotely resembling reality.

I was forced to read it for a book group as well.  I renamed it 'We Need to Talk about Lionel's Psychosis'.

I just noticed this thread. What a great place to vent! I know I'm gonna love this one. Did anyone else read and hate Tom Wolfe's "I Am Charlotte Simmons"?  Crapola. How many times can a writer get away with using the word "schadenfreude" in a single book?

Speaking of Wolfes and Toms, the Can't-Get-Past-Page-Three award has to go to Thomas Wolfe's "You Can't Go Home Again." I tried it once and thought "Am I missing something?" Went back to it a few years later thinking maybe the time just wasn't right before and found it just as dated and tedious. Can anyone give me a reason to give it a third try?

I know there have been plenty of other books I absolutely hated, but I can't think of them now. I'll be back...

I read "I am Charlotte Simmons" but didn't hate it quite as much as you did...I found it sort of interesting in a critical sort of way.  I was used to Tom Wolfe's writing style - ever read "A Man In Full"?  Whoa.  And "The Bonfire of the Vanities".  Anyway I thought the story was interesting behind all the language/cliches/semantics.  But some things that have been pointed out in reviews were just amusing - Play Station 4?  Um no, not yet. 

I haven't read Charlotte Simmons, but have really loved all the other Tom Wolfe's I've read. A Man in Full was wonderful! In spite of the crapola review, I'm now so curious I think I'm going to have to read Charlotte!

Oh yes you should read it belindaloo - if you like Tom Wolfe, you will probably enjoy it.  I mostly liked how it was a nice long read - I read way too quickly and basically just pick out the books that are REALLY long like this one.  Another great one was A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth.

Ugh.  Ever since being forced to read From Bauhaus to Our House for an art history class I have been very down on Tom Wolfe.  When Bonfire of the Vanities was published I read it in hopes that he would be better with fiction than he was with non-fiction.  I really didn't like it.  When it comes to Tom Wolfe, I can never tell if I'm not intellectual enough to enjoy him or too impatient to deal with his intellectualism... if that even makes any sense.