Books you can't bloody stand...

I think I am pretty much the only person I know who is NOT a Harry Potter fanatic.

I'm not either.  My friend persuaded me to read the first few Harry Potter books years ago.  After three I was done.  I felt like I was wasting my time reading children's books and not getting all that much pleasure out of it. 

Not a Harry Potter fan either.  I am not against reading kids or YA books, but I dunno.  I already know

Spoiler: show

Snape kills Dumbledore.

I felt like I was wasting my time reading children's books and not getting all that much pleasure out of it. 

That's how I felt about Twilight. 

That's how I felt about Twilight. 

I always wondered what the big deal was with Twilight, so when I got an Amazon gift card for my birthday last year I decided to order them. I found the books really weird because although the storyline and main characters didn't really do anything for me, for some reason I couldn't put them down!  It was kind of a disturbing feeling actually... not really liking the books but being unable to stop reading  . It was also distracting because the books were not that well written either... I came across a few passages which referred to something happening that evening (for example) and then the scene suddenly going right back to that afternoon and not mentioning the evening part again... it was like someone had copied and pasted the passage into the wrong part of the book  .

These days, it's pretty much anything by Laurell K. Hamilton (i.e. Anita Blake & Merry Gentry series).

When I first started reading the Anita Blake series, about ten years ago, I really liked them.  But by the time I got past about the eighth book in the series, I was less impressed.  They just seemed to have gotten really weird and overwrought.  But I chalked that up to a series that had run too long, and I was really excited when LKH brought out a second series, the Merry Gentry novels. 

I enjoyed the storyline in the first 2-3 of the Merry books, but I started to be annoyed at the poor writing and almost complete lack of editing.  The same half-dozen stock descriptions of characters, used over and over and over and over.... I swear she's got macros for these programmed into her computer!  It's really annoying. 

But the worst part is the porn.  In both series, the later books devolve into mindless, gratuitous sex scenes, in which the author seems to be trying to one-up herself on the kinkiness scale.  I like a good, trashy romance as much as the next person.  Generally, the trashier the better. :p   But these are just...pointless.  They're like bad fanfic; all porn, no plot. 

I really miss the story development that she had in the early books.  She had some really neat ideas for her universe, characters, etc.  But they just got too weird, and once I started to notice the bad writing & editing, I just couldn't stand to read them anymore.

Totally with you on the Hamilton issues, woadgrrl.  The porn is both a distraction from the plot and, actually, booooring.

I'll have to add Life of Pi.  I've tried reading that book 4 times now.  Nope, I just cannot stand the kid, the raft, or the rest. And I credit a terrible English teacher I had in high school for making me hate The Grapes of Wrath with a fine and burning passion.

As far as Twilight goes, they can be quite engrossing and yet...empty feeling.  My dad and I call them the "all anticipation no consummation until marriage" books.  The only one I really didn't like was the final one.  I got a bit bored.

Great Expectations... most of Dickens' work just makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

Also the Shopaholic series. My friends loved them, I found them a waste of time and seriously wanted to strangle the main character, or at least slap her into reality.

I have just one so far, Ink Heart. I still haven't even finished. I do like for all types of things to happen but in this book its nothing but bad and it just kept getting worse, so I just gave up and put the book away. I watched the movie though, was ok nothing special.

To those who don't like the Twilight series I partially agree. The 2nd book was pretty bad, I couldn't finish it quick enough. I guess the 3rd book as well. Ya know even the last book ticked me off a bit. The wolf guy. Don't know why but I just didn't like him.

Great Expectations... most of Dickens' work just makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

I don't really mind most of the Dickens I've read, but I can always see why people wouldn't like him.  I actually liked Great Expectations, but I absolutely hate The Old Curiosity Shop.  It would definitely merit being on my least favourite book list.

I liked Great Expectations.

Though I can't name a book or an article off the top of my head, but I just don't like pretentious writing. You know what I mean...with deeply embedded metaphors or references that readers can't possibly catch, showing off one's access to a thesaurus...

"Sir, why do you have a banana in your ear?"

The artist continued painting, unmoved by my question.

"Sir, you have a banana in your ear."

The artist swayed towards me and gestured to his ear. "Я не могу услышать вас, я имею банан в моем ухе."

And we just had a good laugh about it.

I'm not either.  My friend persuaded me to read the first few Harry Potter books years ago.  After three I was done.  I felt like I was wasting my time reading children's books and not getting all that much pleasure out of it. 

Yeah, I tried reading the first HP book years ago and couldn't get into it.

I love Great Expectations, though!

I liked Great Expectations.

Though I can't name a book or an article off the top of my head, but I just don't like pretentious writing. You know what I mean...with deeply embedded metaphors or references that readers can't possibly catch, showing off one's access to a thesaurus...

"Sir, why do you have a banana in your ear?"

The artist continued painting, unmoved by my questioned.

"Sir, you have a banana in your ear."

The artist swayed towards me and gestured to his ear. "Я не могу услышать вас, я имею банан в моем ухе."

And we just had a good laugh about it.

I know what you mean. And I hate it when people choose a high brow word when an ordinary one will do. As one professor told me, "Why say utilize when you can just say use? It means the same thing." 

Yeah, I tried reading the first HP book years ago and couldn't get into it.

I love Great Expectations, though!

Good--someone who feels the same about HP!  I remember reading Great Expectations in 10th grade--I liked it then!

Books/authors I can't stand/am not willing to try:

H.P. Lovecraft-read his Omnibus thing, had to keep turning back and forth to understand his references-only to find out that the references are also fictional! BLECH!!!

Stephen King-scary in a psychotic way. Too much blood and gore and making villains out of people that really should just go some where and work out their problems and get some help.

Ian McEwan-was all excited about Atonement, because it was supposed to be "sweeping" and romantic, but, it just plodded along, and I couldn't seem to connect with any of the characters, especially the lead one. The worst bit was the part when they were trying to organise the play for the family. I put it on my bookshelf and took it to the nearest charity shop when I was able.

Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates has to be one of the worst books ever written.  60 pages of a girl walking on a *bleep*ing canal tow path.  Seriously???  DH and I read it and gave up about mid-way through because it went no where.  I finished it and couldn't help but wonder WHY did anyone publish this book??

I can not stand Wuthering Heights, even though I have noticed that it is very popular. I had a very hard time getting through it and was happy when I was finished. I have been thinking that I should give it a second chance. Maybe reading with a different mind frame and try to get something different out of it.