Books/Authors You Refuse to Read
This isn't meant to offend anyone. I was just curious what books people won't read and why. In my opinion, there are a lot of good books and authors out there hidden behind writers that somehow ended up getting popular.
Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series - sorry girls and guys...in my opinion her prose is detestable and the storyline sounds like something I would've written when I was 13, fat, and lonely. Nothing against anyone who reads these. I'm sure they're entertaining.
Mass Market Fiction writers like Dean Koontz - I'm a snob when it comes to my fiction. I want to read something that doesn't have the same basic story structure over and over again and challenges my vocabulary. But I at least get why people like these books. Even though they can be predictable, the authors are decent at prose.
Thomas Pynchon - I love literary fiction. I'm a huge fan of Don Delillo, David Foster Wallace, Donald Barthelme etc...but Thomas Pynchon is so dense and full of pop culture references that I just...get lost.
The Bible - Never read, don't see a reason to.
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Robin Cook - I read The Intervention (by New York Times Best-Selling Author) and it was THE worst book I had ever read. Over 400 pages and yet so little significance in what is said in its pages, and the plot developement was doornail dead for the first 300 pages with little to offer with the remaining 100 pages.
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Stephenie Meyer-I picked up The Host and read a little bit and found myself disliking the prose because it seem like a really dull read. Also, because of her Twilight series and the crazy fans that I found, I have the opinion that she can't take a little bit of criticism at all.
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Twilight is a book I will never read. I am disappointed in humanity for it becoming so popular. The Bible is a big load of bologna so I won't be reading that either.
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Stephanie Mayers, she kinda ruined vampires. Not much more to say other then, VAMPIRES DON'T SPARKLE!!!! Well, that and her writing is just plain terrible.
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Actually, I'll read anything.
Well. Anything I'll find mildly interesting. I don't really read many fanfictions, though if you count those.
Those people are crazy
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Like basically everyone that posted in this thread so far, I will not ever again pick up any books from the Twilight Saga. It's not even Ms. Meyer's writing that bothers me. I think her writing skills make for a decent read but her imagination produced a terrible plot with an absolutely horrible new concept on vampires. When I call a vampire "horrible" I'd like it to be because they scare me or because the blood of my favorite characters is dripping down their fangs. I'd like them to retreat from the light and the only thing that will glisten or sparkle is, once again, the blood of their victim illuminated by the moonlight.
Chris Crutcher. Dear lord, just... Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes bored me to death and no matter how many kids he's helped, there are just certain things within the book that are very unrealistic and either there to make the story go quicker or to attempt (key word: attempt) to inspire those going through terrible times to stay strong and keep going. I will respect him for that, I promise I will. But I don't think I'll be looking at another work of his.
I believe that's all...
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Hey the Bible has some pretty cool passages :D I'm not even religious and I'm like "Whoa...This dude is badass!" Then again it doesn't help that I look up "awesome bible passages."
Anyway back on topic.
Anything by George R.R. Martin. I just do not like his writing style at all, I think he sucks but whatever.
Most Young adult fiction released between 2003 - now. There is just nothing redeemable about most of the titles. Ever since Twilight came out it's gotten worse! Everyone wants vampires in their story. I freaking hate it. That's why I love John Green so much. He writes Young Adult novels but he's not giving in to stereotypes and he won't put popular things like vampires into his stories.
Erm...I can't really name anything else. If I think of anything else I'll come back and post :)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
Hollow Ichigo
Twilight..
I read the bible. Interesting book I must say. People tell me all the time I live in a fantasy world. My answer to the religious nuts: You must read the bible where people tell you too. Revelations is full of demons, monsters, and Angels.
Ok...admittedly...I've read Revelations and Genesis and it was pretty fun. But the rest of the Bible just kinda bores me. There are interesting anecdotes in there (i.e. Noah and the Whale, the prodigal son, David and Goliath etc), but I think what kills the Bible for me is just all the people that told me I was going to hell when I was in 6th grade because I wanted to branch out into different religions. Lol.
Just thought of another one. Toni Morrison. Look. I'm just saying. Stop beating me over the head with your symbolism. I get it already! Also: I'm not sure why she's so important that she gets mentioned in my college classes and f-in Don Dellilo is skipped over. WTF is that?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
Miss Manipulation
Chris Crutcher. Dear lord, just... Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes bored me to death and no matter how many kids he's helped, there are just certain things within the book that are very unrealistic and either there to make the story go quicker or to attempt (key word: attempt) to inspire those going through terrible times to stay strong and keep going. I will respect him for that, I promise I will. But I don't think I'll be looking at another work of his.
The problem with most "creative non-fiction" is that it's based a non-fiction event, but most authors tend to exploit the event and make it WAY different than it was. Like "A Million Little Pieces".
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Absolutely anything by Stephenie Meyer. I'm sorry Twi-hards but I cannot stand her writing. I love descriptive passages in novels but I'm pretty sure it doesn't take 5 pages to explain how a guy wasn't there for a couple of days. I'm not going to even bother reading The Host, that's how much I can't stand the writing.
I don't like George Orwell, either. I understood the symbolism in Animal Farm and how it was supposed to show the evils of Communism, however, I didn't enjoy it. Especially not after reading it twice in school.
There was this one author I was reading to feed the stereotypical "I-Love-Paranormal-Romance" craving I had. She or He wrote some book called Nightshade that popular I guess but I just couldn't get hooked on it. The character development was lacking and the plot took too long to really convince me reading this wasn't a waste of time.
I can't read anything by Robert Louis Stevenson. I really just didn't like his novels/stories. I could barely get to 100 pages of Kidnapped and the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was hard just to complete for school.
Finally, my last author is Tolkien. I don't like High-Fantasy. I won't deny that he's a critically-acclaimed author but I dislike the concept of his stories. I need to be drawn in with something and that's what is missing for me with Tolkien's work.
Well, I hope I didn't offend anyone. Just thought I'd let you all know.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
Luka Megurine
I don't like George Orwell, either. I understood the symbolism in Animal Farm and how it was supposed to show the evils of Communism, however, I didn't enjoy it. Especially not after reading it twice in school.
Who cares about the Animal farm that one is really not good - read 1984
As for me - I will never touch Harry Potter I simply hate it - especially how a simple children book can by artificially inflated into something much greater by the media
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Hate for Orwell?! Lol. J/k. This isn't a thread where people should get offended. Have you read 1984 @Luka Megurine ?? It's good stuff. Big Brother is always watching. ;)
I haven't read Harry Potter. But I keep meaning to. Her world is apparently well developed and the characters are grood (great and good).
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*sees this thread*
*ahem* Danielle Steel. 'nuff said.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
Reviewer03
As for me - I will never touch Harry Potter I simply hate it - especially how a simple children book can by artificially inflated into something much greater by the media
You do realize that the entire series wasn't intended for kids, right? The books are primarily aimed at an audience that is respective with Harry's. IE, Book One was meant to be appropriate for 11 year olds, and Book 7 was aimed for 17 and up. That's one thing that I liked about Harry Potter; I was able to grow up with the characters. Name one thing from books 5+ that made them children's books, because I considered them pretty dark, even as a 16 year old, lol~.
Anyway as for author's that I'd never read, well, I dunno. I read the Twilight Saga simply because I had heard good and bad things about the book, and I wanted to see it for myself. Imo, it was badly written with a mediocre storyline, and I disliked the image that she attributed to vampires, but I don't see a reason to go to extremes such as posting hate blogs or burning the books, which I have seen some people do. If you ask me doing that's just about as annoying and attention-seeking as the (majority of) fans themselves, so... yeah. :l
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Well, Fanfics, overly dramatic crap, and romance stuff I refuse to read. Nothing personal, but I'm just not into that sort of stuff and never have been. I don't mind a little drama, but when it starts becoming a soap opera, I'm done.
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@mrpineapple I would say Dan Brow is original stories. What happened is that everyone else started making similar stories and trashed him. I was reading his books when I was just 14 and till this day I love him. I think it's just not yout type, ne?
I have a confesion... I finished reading all twilight books just to see what it is. That is 4 days of my life I regret...
What else I wouldn't read. Anything about vampire love (there's too much of those books around) and anything about zombie love (new thing, very.. gross in my opinion)
I am fan of Harry Potter, but maybe because of age or smth I'm not reading books about teens in other magical worlds anymore
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I never read the Twilight books but I saw some of the movies. It's good with the action in my opinion but not with the love story. It's such a superficial relationship from the very get go, and the romantic conflict with Edward and Jacob is pretty superficial. Both are in love with her for no real reason. Nothing builds the way I want a love story to build. And I'm pretty sure if Edward or Jacob ever got asked "why do you love me," they'd be deer in the headlights.
Re: Books/Authors You Refuse to Read
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Luka Megurine
I don't like George Orwell, either. I understood the symbolism in Animal Farm and how it was supposed to show the evils of Communism, however, I didn't enjoy it. Especially not after reading it twice in school.
I'm not offended xD lol But I like Animal Farm :)
I personally don't see it as a novel which wants to show 'evils' of Communism, but instead I think he is trying to show us that he thinks in reality political systems will always return to how they originally were, despite years of conflict and a lengthy revolution process.
The book is political and based on his ideology, so not everyone is going to agree with it. I don't agree with it, but I appreciate the novel for what it is.
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I don't read anything by Richard Dawkins...which is annoying as the majority of books regarding Biology tend to be written by him in my library.
Reason?
I am not hating on atheists, as most of my friends are atheists and I respect they are entitled to their own beliefs as I am entitled to mine. What I can't stand is pushy atheists or pushy people (*cough* Westbro Baptist Church) in general to be honest. Richard Dawkins is always insulting religious people in general and if you see him in interviews he comes across as dominating and agressive. He just doesn't seem to understand that nobody who has a firm belief is going to be swayed by him shouting in their face...in fact it will just make them switch off and refuse to listen to anything that he is saying.
Why can't we all just get along?!
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Twillight series, I guess
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Yeah I dont see me picking up any Twilight books, vampires dont sparkle. :)
Really for me, its not really authors I wont pick up, but genres. I will usually give authors second chances if I didnt like previous work, as long as its the genre I like reading. For instance, Terry Brooks, I really was bord with the Shannara series, but have tried other stuff, just cause maybe it was just that series I didnt like.
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Stephanie Meyer's I don't think I need to give reasons, you have already given enough.
Anything on crime, it really does bore me I don't know why.
J.K Rowling. Her books really don't seem to interest me at all.
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I will not read the Twilight series, as it romanticizes vampires. Vampires are supposed to be the embodiment of the id and have no self-control.
I will not read the bible. The Boomer Bible yes, but the standard Bible no.
I find older works amusing in their writing style (HG Wells, Tolkein, Fitzgerald).
I'll ever read are western teenage dramas (slice of life?). Anime, manga and light novels on the other hand I would. There is a freshness in the eastern media that I enjoy greatly.
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The Twilight series. I tried a chapter, the main character annoyed me.