Books You Should Like But Don't

soulsinging said:
I think Catcher in the Rye is supremely overrated. Holden was a whiny little **** and I wanted him to just go home and go to bed.
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*Applauds* I read the book for class this spring and I didn't like it either.
 
This was one of the first books I ever read and it magnetized me to literature, although I cannot remember much about the novel now after all these years, but one scene still stands in memory of Holden Cauldfield standing in a lift. I don't know why this recollection is there and no other from the novel?
 
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (after reading great reviews on the Chron though, I'm going to give this another go)
 
digs said:
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (after reading great reviews on the Chron though, I'm going to give this another go)
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Forgot about the Road! I always want to like Cormac, and I'll admit the Road had great tone/mood. But it was supremely boring and none of the interesting plot points were ever resolved (like what happened to the wife or how the world came to be this way... the chief reason I'm always let down by dystopian fiction and the reason I'm eager to read the Stand). It's better than Blood Meridian though, which was an utterly incomprehensible story that felt like the lsd trip at the end of Easy Rider. No Country for Old Men wasn't bad though.
 
This is an interesting thread. I often use favorite books to help me find members with similar tastes. This puts a different spin on it.
I didn't like Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. Granted, I read it when I was just getting into fantasy, so I might give it another go. It was too unstructured and confusing for me. There are a few other well-acclaimed books that I had hoped to like but didn't:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
The Color of Magic by Terry Prachett
 
Mark Twain, I have never been able to finish any of the stuff I've started reading by him. He made grave robbing, murder and treasure... boring. I don't know how. He also made a dwarf that knows the main character's thoughts boring. How does he do it?
 
elvet said:
I didn't like Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. Granted, I read it when I was just getting into fantasy, so I might give it another go. It was too unstructured and confusing for me. There are a few other well-acclaimed books that I had hoped to like but didn't:
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Same.

Also, the Locke Lamora book. And The Book With No Name, by Anonymous. Sounded awesome, was absolute pap.
 
Being into Fantasy I should have enjoyed G.R.R.M's SONG OF ICE AND FIRE etc, but to be honest I kinda hated them.

Another well regarded author I can't get into is Paul Kearney, I was hugely disappointed with his TEN THOUSAND despite my love of Fantasy and Historic Fiction, I just felt he dragged the story and there was loads of missed opportunitues throughout.
 
Robert Jordans Wheel of Times series. I couldn't even get through the first book.

Also Terry Pratchett. I've tried with two of his books, but they didn't catch on. Everybody else seems to rave about him, but I just can't get into the books.
 
Nikitta said:
Robert Jordans Wheel of Times series. I couldn't even get through the first book.

Also Terry Pratchett. I've tried with two of his books, but they didn't catch on. Everybody else seems to rave about him, but I just can't get into the books.
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What books did you try?
There are a number o series in the Discworld. Some of them may appeal, some may not.
 
nj1 said:
Being into Fantasy I should have enjoyed G.R.R.M's SONG OF ICE AND FIRE etc, but to be honest I kinda hated them.
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Why so, if you don't mind my asking? I really wasn't sold at the end of book one, and not until about halfway through book two did I start to come around (kinda surprised I stuck it out that long). But even though there are some pretty great scenes and twists in the series, the thought of reading some of those POV's in a re-read sounds awful. I've only kept my copies because I'm convinced the hbo series is going to push me into wanting to re-read them.
 
I thought of another confession: I love Asimov, but I never read past the first Foundation book. There are so many other books I like better, many of which were mentioned in this thread (Anubis Gates, Man In The High Castle, Snow Crash).

I'm surprised I didn't see Neuromancer more. More and more people seem to hate it these days. (Just for the record, I'm not one of them.)
 
elvet said:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
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Yes! I love the Sandman comics and like Gaiman's children's books, but I just couldn't get into American Gods.

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson -although I did read 1.5 of them
The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic by Pratchett - love the other Discworld books though
 
Michael Moorcock's Elric novels. I gobbled up the first of his books that I read - The Eternal Champion, and went on to enjoy Phoenix in Obsidian and The Dragon in the Sword, but for some reason I can't seem to get into anything else of his that I've tried.

I'd like to try again, though.
 
CyBeR said:
What books did you try?
There are a number o series in the Discworld. Some of them may appeal, some may not.
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I should've seen that one coming :D
Either way - I've tried Mort and Guards! Guards!, but failed to get into either.
 
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