Books You Shouldn't Read

[Marlon]

One of Piers Anthony's non-Xanth books. I think it was of the Space Tyrant series but can't remember for certain. Rape scene. Stopped reading the book, but I've remembered it ever since and approached all (the few I've read since) PA's books cautiously ever after. Xanth waned on me about that time too I think.

There are a couple of mystery writers, Dan Brown's TDVC included, that just got very graphically gory without much merit to them.

In the just 'why did I bother' category, George Martin. Liked the first one. By the third I was wondering what in tarnation he was doing with the multiple long dull story lines that were wandering all over the place. Lot of pages read, without much enjoyment there.

 

[Omphalos]

One of Piers Anthony's non-Xanth books. I think it was of the Space Tyrant series but can't remember for certain. Rape scene. Stopped reading the book, but I've remembered it ever since and approached all (the few I've read since) PA's books cautiously ever after. Xanth waned on me about that time too I think.

Macrosocpe is about the only Piers Anthony book I can stand. That one was great

Stay away from the non Frank Herbert Dune books. Junk the lot of them.

 

[Sephiroth]

Well, the book I mentioned above sort of falls into the category we're discussing, which is why I mentioned it. I'm pretty broad-minded, and I can't claim to have been 'damaged' by the experience of reading it...but it contains decidedly unpleasant scenes which, IMO, offer nothing in the way of drama and do not serve to enhance the story - they are simply there to try and shock.


The scene that sticks in my memory is a grotesque and gratuitous rape scene. Without it, the book would have been instantly forgettable. I suppose the fact that I still remember it clearly some fifteen years on means it did have some kind of effect on me.

 

[Switchback]

I can't think of any books that I would tell someone "you shouldn't read". I think people should read anything and everything they can get their hands on and form their own opinions on whether or not a particular book is something they should be reading. Just because I find something awful and personally upsetting has absolutely no bearing on whether or not a completely different human would enjoy the book. my 2 cents....

 

[Elstor]

Well books that "I, Elstor" shouldn't read are any first books in a series which is nt' completed yet. I cant stand waiting around for the next book in a series and for it to eventually come out and I've forgotten what the damn series is about. Now I only start a series which is finished.

 

[WizardofOwls]

The Hobbit
Something Wicked this Way Comes
Deed of Paksenarrion
Crystal Singer
The Rowan
Ilium

Hmmm.... Considerning that the first three books on this list are some of my favorites, maybe I should read the other three too!

 

[kcs_hiker]

I've heard plenty of negative things about the Goodkind, but I'm curious about what, in particular, put the Ellison collection in this category. Would you mind going into that a bit?

it wasn't the collection but rather that specific story

and I'm not sure that it didn't have something to do with my mental outlook at the time (breaking away from a cultish christian church)

but it has stuck with me throughout the years as something that I wish I hadn't read

 

[Clansman]

The only books I have read that I would say should not be read by anyone are the Left Behind books, which are written as Christian fiction of what might happen after the Rapture of the faithful.

They are horribly written (despite having the better part of the plot and main supporting characters provided), and insufferably preachy, and twist the Christian message into that worst of misconceptions, namely the Christian Right. If the books were trying to win converts to the Church, then they fail miserably, because any positive message is lost in the pathetic characters, wooden bad-guys, and really poor writing generally.

Left Behind puts me in mind of Nazi propaganda, and it is a slander of the message that Jesus Christ originally delivered, which is why it should not be read. Aside from that, it is just really bad fiction. The original idea was great, but the execution could not have been worse.

 

[AE35Unit]

The Hobbit
Something Wicked this Way Comes
Deed of Paksenarrion
Crystal Singer
The Rowan
Ilium

The Hobbit is the only Tolkien i've read. I somehow imagine LOTR to be hard going.
I have Something Wicked on my shelf upstairs,is it really that bad? My other half got put off by it.

 

[daisybee]

American Psycho gave me nightmares. I could not read it properly in the end-I just had to see whether the git was killed or not or at least caught at the end so I flicked to the back, tried to wish away all the words imprinted on my brain and threw it away.

It made me wonder if I was normal to be so disturbed by such a well known book.

A few years ago I picked a pile of books up (5 for a fiver offer or something), and just randomly picked either cool titles or recognised authors.

One was a book with a pirate on it, and if I could take back reading the first page then I would. In a heartbeat. It ruined me for months. I have erased the title from memory, needless to say-and sincerely hope that mine was the last copy. I threw it in a neighbours skip.

I could not believe that the book was on a big table where kids books were also included in the offer.

Still makes me shudder.

 

[j d worthington]

The Hobbit is the only Tolkien i've read. I somehow imagine LOTR to be hard going.
I have Something Wicked on my shelf upstairs,is it really that bad? My other half got put off by it.

Obviously, LotR isn't that hard going, as it's been a rather hefty seller since the 1960s, with people from all walks of life, from kids to senior citizens. It may, however, not be your cuppa; only you could decide that.

The Bradbury is somewhat similar; it has long been recognized as one of the major contemporary American fantasy novels, and justly so. It's certainly vintage Bradbury, with its blending of a nostalgic view of an older small-town America and enduring myths given a modern form. I'm not sure what put your "other half" off about this one, but it's one I myself would highly recommend, as it tackles (to use Ray's own words) "the fearful needs of the human heart" with much beauty and warmth.

it wasn't the collection but rather that specific story

and I'm not sure that it didn't have something to do with my mental outlook at the time (breaking away from a cultish christian church)

but it has stuck with me throughout the years as something that I wish I hadn't read

Hmmm... that could have something to do with it, all right; certainly that story strongly questions the entire concept of deities in general, let alone those of a vengeful stripe. (Of course, it also goes after our own stupidities, venalities, and willingness to go for our basest drives; though it also really does, in the end, emphasize an almost incredible nobility that human beings are capable of, if only we'd practice it a bit more.)

At any rate, yes, that story has a tendency to polarize people; and whenever people ask me to suggest an Ellison tale, I always warn them that this particular tale is something of an acid test to see if they can really handle his work. If they're able to get the humanitarian thrust with all that story's bleakness, then they'll most likely find Ellison stimulating and challenging; if not, then they're not likely to go for his work at all....

 

[WizardofOwls]

I actually enjoyed the works of Dennis L. McKiernnan - I've read almost all of them including the Iron Tower trilogy. And the Sword of Shannara is the only one of Terry Brooks' books that I enjoyed. I liked them precisely because they were so similar to LOTR.

 

[Clansman]

The Hobbit is the only Tolkien i've read. I somehow imagine LOTR to be hard going.
I have Something Wicked on my shelf upstairs,is it really that bad? My other half got put off by it.

I cannot take seriously a list of "books you shouldn't read" that includes The Hobbit. You may not like the Hobbit, but the point of the thread is books you shouldn't read because they somehow impact you in a way that somehow is harmful.

I can't, for the life of me, see anything harmful in The Hobbit (or the rest of the list, for that matter).

 

[Lith]

This is the only book I have ever read that has had this effect on me and I wondered if any other people had examples of books that had had a similar effect.

Only books I either haven't finished or have (finally!) forgotten, or mostly forgotten. In the "haven't finished" category are two by Anne Rice- Interview with a Vampire and Armand the Vampire. The first just plain felt evil, and the second, I suddenly realized I was reading what was, essentially, gay kiddie porn. If there was anything redeeming in the books, I never found out, having put them down already.

I'm not touching American Psycho or the Hannibal books with 20-foot poles. I know better.

Everything else arguably falls into the categories of things I shouldn't have been reading at that age anyway, and I got my just desserts for it.

 

[Clansman]

Lith, I must say that I feel the same way about the Hannibal movie. I loved Silence of the Lambs (one of the best murder/mysteries to ever come out of Hollywood), and Hannibal Rising and the other one with Ed Norton were pretty good, but I wish I had never seen Hannibal. The scene with Ray Liotta near the end of the movie has bothered me ever since, and I saw the movie about five years ago. The violence was so grotesque and horrific that my brain has been forever scarred.

I know this is a book thread, but I too will never go near the Hannibal books (maybe Silence of the Lambs will be excepted from that rule) as a result of that one movie. It really hurt me to see it.

 

[j d worthington]

On the Thomas Harris books: the novel Hannibal, though seriously flawed, is much better than the film. Still, I'm not sure I'd recommend it. However, I would recommend Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs....

 

[AE35Unit]

The only Thomas Harris book i've read is Red Dragon,and loved it. But for some reason i couldn't get into Silence...but loved the film!

 

[Urlik]

I was thinking of a couple of books which had passages that put images in my head that I wish weren't there, but as I examined the list, I found that I was also adding books that I love and would never dream of telling people not to read them.

I would say that the reader's imagination has as much to do with the mental images conjured up as the writer's description.

one book that had a huge impact on me, which almost made me claustrophobic, was the Weirdstone of Brisingamen
after reading that, I had absolutely no interest in speleology, and if Alice had been able to read it, Lewis Carrol would not have written about anyone's adventures in Wonderland

 

[High Eight]

Anything by Piers Anthony.

Because he's a bloody awful writer.

 

[High Eight]

I would say avoid The City and the Squares by John Brunner. I was expecting SF but it was just a long boring story about what,I'm not sure!

Squares of the City - it's a game of chess written as fiction.