Books You Shouldn't Read

[steve12553]

Very true Steve, but that's true of book recommendations as well.

I hesitate to say this Steve as it's exactly the opposite of what I intended, but why don't you read American Psycho to find out just what I meant? I'm sure you'll understand a lot better after you've read it.

Oh, I know what you mean and I probably wouldn't like it either but a lot of people will not feel the imagery and not be as turned off to it as you were. I saw most of the recent movie that I assume was based on the same book and didn't care for it. Everyone is affected differently. Like I said King's Dreamcatcher affected me that way. I stopped and refused to restart the book. I didn't want to read any more. Other sane people got through the offending imagery and enjoyed the book. At least I think they were........................................

 

[ScottSF]

Maybe I'm a total loser, but I've read LOTR at least five times, and I've never noticed any racism, even the subtle kind, and I live in the deepest darkest South. Could someone point it out to me?

oh my, I went to the link about Tolkein and racisim and it was cerntainly heated. I was just refering to some of the descriptions of the humans that followed Sauron and they way it seemed to equate certain physical characteristics with wickedness made me uncomfortable at the time. I would have to read it again to be sure but I thought it showed a subtle but present cultural bias. My point was that some cultural bias may exist at any given moment but that's not necessaraly a reason to not read a book if there is something else of value within the pages. I'm sure I could have come up with a better example than tolkein if I put more thought into it.

 

[ScottSF]

so there are too kinds of books a person may wish they hadnt read. Poor Quality and Disturbing Imagery or Ideas. You know, you truly can't judge a book by it's cover so that is why I find these forums valueable. After reading a few books with impressive covers that were a disappointing read, I started to look for recomendation of what is good to weed out what is not so good. I found Robin Hobb's Live Ship trader books quite enjoyable but they covers look pretty mucy like romance novels. But hey, nothing wrong with a little romance if that's where you find escape.

Some of the most upsetting images I read about were in Toni Morrison's Beloved. It's not nice to know how bad humans can be. To read about horrible torture in fiction and find out that it is based on fact hurts me as a human. I want to think that deep down people know better, but maybe some don't. Of course it helps that the people doing the bad stuff were bad people in the story. Was American Psycho told from the bad person's perspective? Was it one of those things where the author tried to get in the mind of a disturbed individual?

 

[j d worthington]

While I see your point, Scott, the fact of the matter is that human history -- including contemporary history -- is littered with broken bodies and shattered lives and mangled personalities. Sadly, we seem to learn the hard way ... through pain, rather than through pleasure, on the whole. And cruelty and viciousness has a large part of the human psyche in its thrall to this day; and, I fear, will do so for some time to come.

So, on the subject of disturbing -- even truly disturbing -- imagery in fiction, I would not recommend not reading a book for that reason, unless I knew the person much better, and felt that it was simply something that they couldn't handle ... even then I'd be reluctant to if they were past a certain age. For the obverse of this, to me, is that, despite our horrendous flaws and our often seemingly irredeemable nature, we nonetheless manage to accomplish some truly wonderful things, and may be slowly evolving a workable ethics that, perhaps someday, will make such things a part of the past that we can learn from without repeating.

 

[Thadlerian]

Can't really think of that many books not to read, but there are some:

Any of StarWars's what I call "Paid Fanfiction" (Expanded Universe in Lucastongue), that is, those novels written by Terry Brooks and all other sorts of... um, whatever. Anyway, I made the mistake of reading Rogue Planet and The Truce at Bakuda for some totally inexplicable reason. Keep clear.

 

[mosaix]

so there are too kinds of books a person may wish they hadnt read. Poor Quality and Disturbing Imagery or Ideas. You know, you truly can't judge a book by it's cover so that is why I find these forums valueable. After reading a few books with impressive covers that were a disappointing read, I started to look for recomendation of what is good to weed out what is not so good. I found Robin Hobb's Live Ship trader books quite enjoyable but they covers look pretty mucy like romance novels. But hey, nothing wrong with a little romance if that's where you find escape.

Some of the most upsetting images I read about were in Toni Morrison's Beloved. It's not nice to know how bad humans can be. To read about horrible torture in fiction and find out that it is based on fact hurts me as a human. I want to think that deep down people know better, but maybe some don't. Of course it helps that the people doing the bad stuff were bad people in the story. Was American Psycho told from the bad person's perspective? Was it one of those things where the author tried to get in the mind of a disturbed individual?

Hi Scott

It is written in first person. To a certain extent the author does try to get into the guy's mind - but only to let us see just how normal he seems. The disturbing parts are scenes where he describing what he is doing - without reason or explantion. It is both cold blooded and clinical.

 

[iansales]

The disturbing parts are scenes where he describing what he is doing - without reason or explantion. It is both cold blooded and clinical.

It's debatable whether or not those sections of the story are real. True, the violence and torture is very graphic and makes for unpleasant reading. But that was probably the point. Especially when set against Patrick Bateman's successful yuppie lifestyle. Ellis does something similar in Glamorama, which starts off innocently enough, but soon turns into a catalogue of pointless terrorist atrocities with a disturbing air of unreality.

 

[mosaix]

It's debatable whether or not those sections of the story are real. True, the violence and torture is very graphic and makes for unpleasant reading. But that was probably the point. Especially when set against Patrick Bateman's successful yuppie lifestyle. Ellis does something similar in Glamorama, which starts off innocently enough, but soon turns into a catalogue of pointless terrorist atrocities with a disturbing air of unreality.

Not sure what you mean by 'real' Ian. If you mean that he was imagining them in the story, that's a possibility but that doesn't detract from the effect on the reader. The images are still ones that were passed from Ellis's mind into mine.

 

[Werthead]

Can't really think of that many books not to read, but there are some:

Any of StarWars's what I call "Paid Fanfiction" (Expanded Universe in Lucastongue), that is, those novels written by Terry Brooks and all other sorts of... um, whatever. Anyway, I made the mistake of reading Rogue Planet and The Truce at Bakuda for some totally inexplicable reason. Keep clear.

I wouldn't go that far. Those two books aren't too great (odd, given that one of them is written by Greg Bear, a 'proper' SF author), but there are some other good ones, most notably those written by Timothy Zahn, Roger Macbride Allen, Greg Keyes, Matt Stover and Walter Jon Williams (all of whom have written good books outside the Star Wars universe as well). Naturally, anything by Kevin J Anderson is pure drivel and should be avoided at all costs.

 

[the smiling weirwood]

Kill Goodkind!!!

 

[ScottSF]

I forot to mention, that although Beloved was a emotionally painful read, I'm definitely glad I did. I grew up knowing slavery was bad but I didn't begin to understand the depths of creulty untll I read that book. There is a difference between showing the worst of humanity and glorifying it. I have yet to read anything like that. The closest thing that comes to mind is the movie natural born killers, I actually couldn't make it through so maybe I missed the context but that movie seemed to make heroes out of some really sick people. Of course that may have been the whole point about a cultures perverse fascination with that sort of thing, but I could have done without it. This thread is bringing up interesting stuff for other possible threads. Violence usually plays a roll in sci-fi and and even more so fantasy yet most of the readers I have met have been some of the most non-violent non-agressive people.

 

[ScottSF]

Weirwood is funny. I'm guessing a tree would have a big gripe against Goodkind for all the paper used up by his fiction. Soo many folks out there trying to get published and that guy takes up so much shelf space. I have a feeling I might have enjoyed his stuff when I was younger like 15 or less but I can't be younger again. I just hope they use recycled paper.

 

[the smiling weirwood]

You know, I've read Beloved. It was very good, but I didn't think the main theme was slavery, I thought it was more like continuity.

 

[littlemissattitude]

Kill Goodkind!!!

Gently, now. While many of us might not appreciate Goodkind's writing (and I wouldn't have an opinion, having never read any of it), we shouldn't wish him any sort of harm, bodily or otherwise.

It would be entirely appropriate, however, to wish him a nice career in another field besides writing.

 

[the smiling weirwood]

Goodkind for Night Janitor!!!

 

[Niolani]

I find some of the imagery in Stephen King's work quite disturbing, he often seems to explore some of the unpleasant depths of human behaviour. A few times I've been left with some horrible imagery that comes occasionally unbidden into my mind. But I think that's part of what makes him such a good horror writer.

 

[Paradox 99]

In all seriousness for a moment, suggesting that people don’t read some of the most important written works in human history because you disagree with their followers, their beliefs or what people have done in the name of those beliefs is a little silly and a lot short-sighted.

You did make a good point Shoegaze99 however, I don't believe the point of view you dismiss is silly or short-sighted at all. On the contrary, I speak from a great deal of experience on the matter.

I still believe that some people shouldn't read the Bible simply because, if you do take it seriously or literally (and millions do), it can have a quite a harmful affect on individuals and society.

It may very well be a literary masterpiece and reveal a great deal about history and culture, but at what cost? Some people may be able to read it objectively, but many can't, and have been and are being damaged by the lifestyle it can lead to. And following on from that they can damage many people around them too. A lot of people believed this was a valid viewpoint in the past enough to have a public burning of Bibles.

Mosaix has said that American Psycho left a significant mark on him. No doubt others would find that kind of literature entertaining and not be bothered by it at all. So, it all depends on what kind of person you are as to what you should and shouldn't read.

If you're squeamish, don't read horror.
If you've recently been subject to a painful breakup with a partner, avoid a romantic novel.
And, if you're easily swayed by theological doctrine and have a fear of going to hell (and a whole host of other related superstitions or fears), steer clear of the Bible!

 

[mosaix]

You did make a good point Shoegaze99 however, I don't believe the point of view you dismiss is silly or short-sighted at all. On the contrary, I speak from a great deal of experience on the matter.

I still believe that some people shouldn't read the Bible simply because, if you do take it seriously or literally (and millions do), it can have a quite a harmful affect on individuals and society.

It may very well be a literary masterpiece and reveal a great deal about history and culture, but at what cost? Some people may be able to read it objectively, but many can't, and have been and are being damaged by the lifestyle it can lead to. And following on from that they can damage many people around them too. A lot of people believed this was a valid viewpoint in the past enough to have a public burning of Bibles.

Mosaix has said that American Psycho left a significant mark on him. No doubt others would find that kind of literature entertaining and not be bothered by it at all. So, it all depends on what kind of person you are as to what you should and shouldn't read.

If you're squeamish, don't read horror.
If you've recently been subject to a painful breakup with a partner, avoid a romantic novel.
And, if you're easily swayed by theological doctrine and have a fear of going to hell (and a whole host of other related superstitions or fears), steer clear of the Bible!

Hi Paradox - I hope you are well.

I see you couldn't resist replying. I came soooooo close but denied myself. In the end I convinced myself that there is no future in the arguement - it's a blind alley, just like discussions about religion. The Bible is so bound up with religion that it can't be separated and therefore people get defensive about it and the issues get clouded.

I will resist saying more (you know my feelings) in case the whole thing kicks off again.

 

[Lacedaemonian]

I hate the sci fi genre generally speaking though there are a few titles and series which are okay. Anything by Terry Pratchett, Terry Brooks and I guess any author with the christian name of Terry must be cast our with the refuse. I could write all day about rubbish books.

 

[Zadok]

But I really, really wished I had my $15 back from that. It bothered me for months. How's that for detrimental?

Seriously, I read a Chuck Palahniuk short story once that disturbed me quite a bit. I won't mention the name (largely because I can't remember it) or go into details of the story, though. Let's just say it was very well written and quite vivid. I found myself shaking my head for several days after to clear the imagery that kept creeping back.

I found myself thinking that I would rather have not read the story, given the option.

Even with no details about the story given, I believe you're talking about "Guts". I'm basing this off the fact that after reading the story my stomach was doing somersaults for hours.

While it is fairly disturbing, I have to say that I'm glad that I did read it, as it was probably the most visceral reading experience I've ever had.