Overrated Books?

[Tricone]

I've tried PM-ing you with a fuller explanation but it seems I'm not allowed.

I fixed it. Thanks @Kandinskyesque.

 

[claes]

I ****ing hate it. Joyce did good short work but that is even worse than Remembrance of Things Past. Falnnigan's Wake is just as bad.

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Ulysses is a literary experiment says joyce himself it is not supposed to be a novel, and it sucks as such

Remembrance of Things past is the greatest novel ever written. Considered as the second greatest achievement within all arts behind mozart. But it's not for everyone.

The most overrated book ever is shakespears complete works. His comedies isn't fun att all.
Lysistrate, women going on sex strike to stop men from going to war is funny. Two jews putting up "springtime for hitler" on broadway, in a town with 1 million jews, thats funny.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Books that are “classics” or “groundbreaking” that just didn’t do it for you...

I’ll start...

The Catcher in the Rye
A boring, vulgar non-story about a spoiled brat who didn’t learn anything. The guy who shot John Lennon was inspired by this story (somehow). After reading it, I was inspired to shoot JD Salinger for putting out such drivel.

Yep. Too bad it's hilarious. I've read it several times. Last time, it was aloud to my wife, who was laughing as much as I was.

Think of all the killing that's been inspired by the Bible. Does that mean it's a bad book? Some people call it the good book.

Disclaimer: I'm a vulgar guy.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. I make no comment on her politics whatsoever, but she's a terrible fiction writer. If you're so inclined there are many less painful ways to learn about Rand's philosophy than slogging through a couple thousand redundant pages of her turgid prose, one dimensional characters, and nonsensical plotting.

Yeah, the politics offend me, but lots of books I love have politics that offend me. I never let politics stand in the way of a good yarn.

But Rand was just a bad writer. No saving that.

And I still don't know who John Galt is.

But hey, for a very funny fictional rendering of Rand, read Tobias Wolff's Old School.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

How do you feel about Joyce's "Ulysses"? The basic premise is fine, but you need a Master's in classical literature to make head or tale of his references making it a uniquely unsatisfying experience for the casual reader.

I liked it. But you're right, I had a good guide to get me through it. My professor wasn't a classisist, but he was a Joyce scholar.

Dubliners is more my speed. I'm a middle-brow guy at heart.

 

[teletail]

I don't know whether I like it or not until I finish it.

Really? You don’t know if you’re enjoying reading a book until the end? If you bite into a rotten apple, do you need to eat the whole thing to know if it was rotten?

 

[teletail]

Yeah, the politics offend me, but lots of books I love have politics that offend me. I never let politics stand in the way of a good yarn.

I had a friend who not only wouldn’t watch any movies or TV shows that didn’t agree with his politics, but wouldn’t watch any movies or TV shows with an actor who disagreed with his politics. And he called everyone else a snowflake.

 

[dougbgt6]

The Hobbit - Great!
Lord of the Rings - OK But tediously too much pledging of troths
The Silmarillion - Dreadful tosh

Doug

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . A few years ago, I read Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and found it to be -- excuse the antiquated expression -- a cracking adventure yarn, tightly paced and highly engaging.

Loved it.

There's a reason its inspired so many screen adaptations.

And the first was as good as the book.

Then I tried to read Stevenson's "Kidnapped"... and quickly gave up. I think the same thing happened when I was a kid. In my youth, I also tried reading Stevenson's "Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde," but I'm not sure if I finished it.

Last year, I read "The Three Musketeers" after decades of loving the Richard Lester screen adaptations from the early '70s, and I was relieved to find that I not only enjoyed it, but, like the films, it is filled with humor and social satire. That said, it is a bit long-winded and bloated, unlike "Treasure Island."

The Lester versions are a blast. He turned all the tropes upside down. Love that guy.

But there's a new French version — it must be out by now — that looks like a hoot.

 

[Flat6Driver]

I had a friend who not only wouldn’t watch any movies or TV shows that didn’t agree with his politics, but wouldn’t watch any movies or TV shows with an actor who disagreed with his politics. And he called everyone else a snowflake.

I guess the TV would stay off most of the time.
If we all factored this into our lives, we'd all die of boredom and starvation probably.

 

[teletail]

I guess the TV would stay off most of the time.
If we all factored this into our lives, we'd all die of boredom and starvation probably.

Yup. We broke a 40 year friendship because he refused to stop talking about politics. We were on opposite sides and he’d just get unpleasant when I wouldn’t agree with him. I probably asked a hundred or more times not to talk politics and he’d stop for a day or two, then he just couldn’t help himself. Last time we talked he claimed I hated America because I didn’t subscribe to his view of it. It wasn’t the first time he’d said that, but it was the last.

We used to talk at least once a day. After a few weeks of detox, I realized how exhausting it was to be friends with someone who always had to bd right.

 

[Barquentine]

I read a lot of fantasy type books in my teens - Worm Ouroboros, Voyage to Arcturus and - my favourite - Titus Groan/Gormenghast. But Lord of the Rings I absolutely hated. Pure tedium.

 

[Ron R]

I had a friend who not only wouldn’t watch any movies or TV shows that didn’t agree with his politics, but wouldn’t watch any movies or TV shows with an actor who disagreed with his politics. And he called everyone else a snowflake.

My personal experience has been that those who liberally toss that label/insult at others are those whom the label best fits...

 

[NoTeleBob]

The Hobbit - Great!
Lord of the Rings - OK But tediously too much pledging of troths
The Silmarillion - Dreadful tosh

Doug

Same here. I loved The Hobbit. Lord of the Rings was great except for the poems and songs. Those bored me to death "let's just get on with the story, shall we?".

Silmarillion? Painful. Make it stop. I truly wanted to like it but it wasn't possible.

 

[Ron R]

Same here. I loved The Hobbit. Lord of the Rings was great except for the poems and songs. Those bored me to death "let's just get on with the story, shall we?".

Silmarillion? Painful. Make it stop. I truly wanted to like it but it wasn't possible.

I think the Silmarillion was intended for use as a reference for Tolkien, and was published posthumously in an attempt to cash in on the popularity of the series. It certainly reads like a reference book. I've tried to read it multiple times and never finish.
I'm not sure it qualifies as overrated though, as I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone say it's even a good book, let alone great.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hey, don't be slaggin' on Wikipedia.

I find the W- site very helpful in deepening my understanding of the books I read. For me there are two steps past what is obviously the most important one, reading the book. Those are 1) reading about the life and times of the author; and 2) reading what reviewers have to say. I personally prefer reading the reviewers after I've read the book, so my reading isn't colored by the critics' opinons.

I like it for finding out who actually wrote songs.

 

[Flat6Driver]

Yup. We broke a 40 year friendship because he refused to stop talking about politics. We were on opposite sides and he’d just get unpleasant when I wouldn’t agree with him. I probably asked a hundred or more times not to talk politics and he’d stop for a day or two, then he just couldn’t help himself. Last time we talked he claimed I hated America because I didn’t subscribe to his view of it. It wasn’t the first time he’d said that, but it was the last.

We used to talk at least once a day. After a few weeks of detox, I realized how exhausting it was to be friends with someone who always had to bd right.

I dumped a whole forum of people I knew in person for this reason. Once I saw the thought process and the same behavior of some of these guys who I knew and in some cases looked up to, I had to leave. 2020-21 really made think how I wanted to spend my time.

 

[imwjl]

I'd vote those books that are always sloshing around in the hotel room drawers. My brother in law who spent a career at it says you need a lot of competency with your Hebrew, Greek and Latin to really understand them vs the incorrect translations that are so common.

 

[scottser]

i reserve a special mention for 'the articles of thomas covenant' by stephen r donaldson. 12 books. 12 long, turgid books. and at the end he steals the conclusion from the matrix.
if i ever meet him in person, he's getting a wedgie.

 

[Ron R]

i reserve a special mention for 'the articles of thomas covenant' by stephen r donaldson. 12 books. 12 long, turgid books. and at the end he steals the conclusion from the matrix.
if i ever meet him in person, he's getting a wedgie.

You read all 12 books of a series you found so underwhelming?
Fool me once, shame on you... Fool me twelve times...