The Books With Looks 📚 discussion

Uh, maybe Ex-mas by Kate Brian which I actually just finished reading yesterday, ugh. Thank God it was short.

Paradise Lost an epic poem, supposed to be a classic, total nonsense, it just went on and on and on and on. Wasn't interesting either, this is the most disappointed I have been by a book.

There is a lot of bad books out there Jason and some of them are 'Great Classics' War and Peace for for instance would be a great book if it lost all the waffle. Authors seem to think that people want to read every last bloody word that they can think of to write down but truly a good story needs to be spunky, move forward, capture the readers attention. slow down a little in the middle and then rush to a conclusion. So whats the worst book I ever read, there are lots of them I can remember when I was 13 being given Mobby Dick to read I don't know how to spell the name, that was a disaster and I remember trying to read Tristran Shandy and getting stuck on the first page. Cheers Anthony E

I loved war and peace, read it this year along with crime and punishment, and I am currently on Anna Karenina they are all fantastic and I annoyed the lectures (extra waffle). Only had the one issue with war and peace, the book finished and he added on a bit more waffle to the end which ruined it.

Not read Moby Dick, my friend has read it and said there is way too much info on whales, he should have taken that out and done a companion book to it.

War and Peace is good I just think that there is an awful lot of waffle in there. Are you doing a university course?

Nope. Just decided to do the big 3 Russian lit novels in one year, see if I could do it, running out of time though. Never expected to enjoy them as much as I have. I know lots of people who have tried war and peace and gave up. I do think Anna Karenina has been the best of the three, I have really got into it big time, 30 pages of a block using a scythe mowing hay and it was brilliant.

You must read Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, I often think that Turgenev is the best Russian author and dip into Chekhov as well. There is a film of an obscure Chekhov play (Platinov) called Unfinished Piece for Player Piano and that is one of my all time favorite films.

Cheers will add that to my reading.

Hi Anthony, I read 'Fathers and Sons' at uni. It was alright but it didn't inspire me to try more Russian.
The worst book I have ever read was 'The Ambassadors' by Henry James - very boring and didn't seem to say much.

I've never red James but by reputation BORING is about right. It is a funny thing but often the more boring a book is the more it is considered a great a serious book when in fact all it is is a boring book.

Oh yes and if you don't like Turgenev stay away from the Russians War and Piece if it was cut by 50% would be a book to read.

War and peace was great, so hopefully I will enjoy Turgenev

Turgenev is more about relationships a short one to try is first love.

I was so bored by war and peace, always reminded me of The Buddenbrooks, which i had to read for school. So much whining... i wanted to read crime in punishment to compare them but i'm still procrastinating that :D

But the books i had the most trouble with reading them were The Maze Runner and Hush Hush...
I read Maze Runner in german translation so maybe that was my mistake, but it bored me to death with the writing...
And Hush Hush was just creepy.

I have tried to read game of thrones a couple of times and that is really really boring.

I only read the first book and thought it to be okay. Until i realized that german publishers splitted it into two books, so i payed a lot of money for only half of the original book...

Haha very sneaky of them.

I wouldn't say War and peace is a bad book, it's just a book of another time. I don't like authors who can use half a page to describe a stupid lamppost (like Thomas Mann) because i don't care about the damn lamp. I think war and peace is a good book regarding the overall storyline or how you can look back into that time this way.
But i had no fun reading it. Especially one character had me really pissed because all he did was whining... But i wouldn't call the book really bad.


I had some big trouble with Hush Hush because i found Patch to be an asshole who is portrayed as this poor missunderstood good person. For me it was being witness to someone manipulating a frightened girl into believing she likes him. He scares her, which pushes adrenaline, which gives her the feeling he is exciting. He lets her see false things so she becaomes dependent and cleary doesn't accept any boundaries (like her repeadetly telling him to stop).
I got kind of sick while reading it because i had to think of all the Teenagers reading it and thinking how romantic all this was... i thin i'd have a lot less problems with the book if it would've been for adults instead of YA.

I thought war and peace was amazing, I really got into the story and the characters and even enjoyed the authors lectures, with the exception of the last one. My only fault with the book is the story ends, there is a conclusion but Tolstoy writes a hundred page lecture at the end.

I hated Anatole Kuragin a lot, his actions really passed me off.

I think it was Andrej who pissed me off :D
Wasn't he the one whinign how he wanted to go to war and then whining that war is bad, followed by how he wants to go back to war?

he went to war, thought it was pointless but then got his heart broke so he went back to war.

I think for me it's Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini. I hate it with a burning passion, it's so bad

Hi. :) Erika Johansen's 'The Queen of the Tearling' was over for me after the first 50 pages. I don't expect heroines to be as brave and cuddly as Disney Princesses, but the female lead in that book was unbearably whiny and insecure. She cried every 5 pages over how horrid her role as Queen was. The author made it a point to let us know how plain and insecure her heroine was, all the while setting her up with the oh-so obviously hot guy with a mysterious past. As I'm not a fan of heroines living for nothing but steamy, hot love interests, or brooding heroines, this adventure was not mine to take.

Ashleigh wrote: "Ugh! Sounds bad, haha. I've never heard of this book but if the lead female character is going to be crying heaps throughout the book, it's a pass for me, lol"

Yes, no exaggeration: she cries and whines constantly. And I didn't make it past page 50! Not to mention repeated reminders of how plain she was, along with the worst kinds of violence and-yeah. Not a journey for me. :(

Ashleigh wrote: "Finished reading Black Ice last night, I'm very disappointed with it and the story is really bad! If you got hold hostage by someone would you then fall in love with them, have sex ..."

Have you ever heard of Stockholm Syndrome? It is a phenomenon where those held captive bond with the bad guy, not defending the book though. ;)

I think it's a tie between any of the Twilight books & any of the 50 Shades of Grey books. Just horribly written with infuriating characters. Don't even get me started on those women who want a guy like Christian Grey or Edward!

Oh Ashleigh I like twilight. Actually I love/hate it with equal measure. One of those books that would be thrown across the room (yes I'm a book thrower) only for me to pick back up and keep reading. Loved that stupid book. :)

by Carolyn Turgeon

Horrible ending.

Well, that would be The Trouble With Magic, but only if I'd had the strength to read it completely.

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

Island of The Blue Dolphins by Scott O'dell. Ugh. Hated it.

Nicole wrote: "I think it's a tie between any of the Twilight books & any of the 50 Shades of Grey books. Just horribly written with infuriating characters. Don't even get me started on those women who want a guy..."

Couldn't agree more, the writing is just ughh

I would have to say, at this point in my reading, definitely the book 'Talented' by Sophie Davis. Ugh.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

More than one woman I know swore I'd love 50 Shades of Grey if I just gave it a chance, so I did. Is 'that' what people call risqué these days? It was SO boring for me. SO SO boring, especially after getting used to Chuck Palahniuk, Bret Easton Ellis, Glenn Duncan, and the like.. I quit half way through. I actually enjoyed the garbage movie version better.

People seem to lead quite sheltered lives it seems, I was confused by just how bland the book was.... still it helped Ann Summers with sales. :-)

I've told more than one person at work who RAVED about that book that they need to get 50 shades of laid more.. :-/