Books We Hated!

[Starlord]

I actually read the Sword of Shannara in 1979 before I read LOTR, so my fantasy worldview is a bit skewed I guess.

[death tribble]

34 minutes ago, Pariah said:

I read the first book in the series.

 

I then read the second book.

 

I've never read any of the others.

My experience is similar. I read book one but having finished book 2, abandoned the series.

And that is it for Shannara.

 

I gave up on the author Raymond E Feist after a quartet of books following the splendid Magician. To be honest read Magician and then forget the rest. I finished the Rfitwar trilogy and then went onto the Serpentwar Saga. I was a member of a book club and got the books at a decent price. The problem with the that latter 4 books is the reveal of the bad guy leaves you going 'so what ?' but there is an unforgivable error in the last book. With careful editing it could have been avoided. Two brothers are set up as antagonists with one guilty of sexual assault in the first book of the four but in the last book they have got the names switched around. You cannot make that kind of mistake. So i quit on the author. Nt worst but law of diminishing returns certainly.

[Pariah]

1 hour ago, Starlord said:

I actually read the Sword of Shannara in 1979 before I read LOTR, so my fantasy worldview is a bit skewed I guess.

 

Like discovering that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings...?

[Starlord]

2 minutes ago, Pariah said:

 

Like discovering that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings...?

 

I kept wondering why he thought people had had enough of silly love songs....

[Pariah]

1 minute ago, Starlord said:

I kept wondering why he thought people had had enough of silly love songs....

 

What's wrong with that?

 

(No, really, I'd like to know.)

[Starlord]

6 minutes ago, Pariah said:

 

What's wrong with that?

 

(No, really, I'd like to know.)

 

I'm busy tonight, so I hope you don't need to know today.

[tkdguy]

3 hours ago, Logan.1179 said:

 

When I became an English teacher for a freshman class, I was given the curriculum but told I could eliminate one item from the year's plan. I took out Romeo & Juliet. (And I'm the drama guy!) Not only is it one of Shakespeare's worst IMO, but it is also a guaranteed way to ensure they never enjoy Shakespeare again. Not even fun to read as a class. 

 

I would have them read Henry V. That is probably my favorite play. And I would show the class the Kenneth Brannagh production of the film.

 

1 hour ago, Pariah said:

 

I read the first book in the series and came away thinking, "Wow, this is a complete rip-off of Lord of the Rings."

 

I then read the second book and came away thinking, "Wow, this is a complete rip-off of the first book." Plus, I hated what happened to the female lead at the end.

 

I've never read any of the others.

 

Yeah, the ending of the  Elfstones of Shannara upset me too. It took a a long time for me to pick up another Shannara book, and only because I read Elfstones before Sword. I had to read the first story, which I enjoyed more on the whole.

 

Yes, the books are pretty much a pastiche of Tolkien's works, but not as blatant as Denis McKiernan's Iron Tower Trilogy. It even has Hobbits Warrows as the main characters.

3 hours ago, Logan.1179 said:

 

When I became an English teacher for a freshman class, I was given the curriculum but told I could eliminate one item from the year's plan. I took out Romeo & Juliet. (And I'm the drama guy!) Not only is it one of Shakespeare's worst IMO, but it is also a guaranteed way to ensure they never enjoy Shakespeare again. Not even fun to read as a class. 

 

I would have them read Henry V. That is probably my favorite play. And I would show the class the Kenneth Brannagh production of the film.

 

1 hour ago, Pariah said:

 

I read the first book in the series and came away thinking, "Wow, this is a complete rip-off of Lord of the Rings."

 

I then read the second book and came away thinking, "Wow, this is a complete rip-off of the first book." Plus, I hated what happened to the female lead at the end.

 

I've never read any of the others.

 

Yeah, the ending of the  Elfstones of Shannara upset me too. It took a a long time for me to pick up another Shannara book, and only because I read Elfstones before Sword. I had to read the first story, which I enjoyed more on the whole.

 

Yes, the books are pretty much a pastiche of Tolkien's works, but not as blatant as Denis McKiernan's Iron Tower Trilogy. It even has Hobbits Warrows as the main characters.

[Cancer]

I had to read Madame Bovary, and while it wasn't great it didn't seem that big a barf to me.

 

I never got more than a chapter into all of Shannara, so I didn't burn any time on that.

 

I bought and read the first Thomas Covenant series, borrowed and read the second, had no idea there was yet more.  Definitely in my bottom half and well into the don't-have-to-read-that-author-again, but not quite in the burn-after-reading category.

[Pariah]

The Branagh version of Henry V is worth the price of admission just for the St. Crispin's Day speech. And the music.

[Hermit]

So I'm the only one who actually liked The Elfstones of Shannara? Oh dear.  

 

At least I'm mollified that we have a lot of Kenneth Brannagh's Henry V fans

[Hermit]

55 minutes ago, tkdguy said:

 

 

 

Yes, the books are pretty much a pastiche of Tolkien's works, but not as blatant as Denis McKiernan's Iron Tower Trilogy. It even has Hobbits Warrows as the main characters.

 

Oh, complete rip. Makes the Shannara books look a lot more original by comparison.  I did still enjoy the Dwarven Battle Cry: Chakka shok! Chakka cor!("Dwarven Axes, Dwarven Might!")

 

If it's any defense of the writers who did ape Tolkien, from what I understand it's what Fantasy Publishers wanted and Self Publishing wasn't so much a thing way back then. Obviously some folks broke free from that mold, but I suspect there was pressure to strive for a LoTR vibe

[tkdguy]

14 minutes ago, Hermit said:

So I'm the only one who actually liked The Elfstones of Shannara? Oh dear.  

 

At least I'm mollified that we have a lot of Kenneth Brannagh's Henry V fans

 

The thing is I liked Elfstones... until I read the ending. When the TV series came about, I knew I wouldn't watch it when I found out it was an adaptation of Elfstones.

 

Brannagh's Hamlet was pretty good as well, but not as good as Henry V, IMO.

[Hermit]

Trust me, the TV series wasn't half as good as the book, and that's if one didn't even like the book. You didn't miss much

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Never read the books. TV show was dreadful, ensuring that I never do. 

[Cancer]

I don't have that many books on the hate list, because by choice my leisure reading tends to be nonfiction, most often history, over the last few years.

 

My wife reads a lot of urban fantasy, and my few times attempting that stuff ... the genre rubs me the wrong way.  (I admit I haven't tried any of the Harry Dresden stuff.)

[Tjack]

1 minute ago, Cancer said:

I don't have that many books on the hate list, because by choice my leisure reading tends to be nonfiction, most often history, over the last few years.

 

My wife reads a lot of urban fantasy, and my few times attempting that stuff ... the genre rubs me the wrong way.  (I admit I haven't tried any of the Harry Dresden stuff.)

 

 The Dresden Files is great stuff. Urban Horror mixed with a lot of very funny stuff and bits of ultimate cool that you’ll tuck away in your head and remember for years. 
  Do yourself a favor though, the first four books get a little repetitive in explaining the rules of the world and some plot elements.  So just start at book four and go from there.  You can backtrack later on.

[Bazza]

I liked the Elfstones of Shannara tv show. 
 

as for books, not so much hated, but never finished…Watchmen. 
 

and like Cancer, most of my reading is non fiction. 

[Ternaugh]

4 hours ago, Pariah said:

 

Like discovering that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings...?

 

I made a comment one day to a former co-worker that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings, and he replied, "What's 'Wings'?"

So I said, "Do you know the song, 'Live and Let Die'?"

And he answered, "The Guns N' Roses song?"

"That's a cover. Wings did the original one for the James Bond movie."

"Oh, what's the name of the James Bond movie?"

 

[archer]

I think the main problem with the first Thomas Covenant book was that the author was trying to show off the extent of his vocabulary.

 

I know a hell of a lot of words due to a misspent youth and had to consciously tone things down my first couple of years on the internet. 

 

But about a third of the way through that first book, I took one twenty page section as I was reading it and wrote down thirty words that I didn't know the definition to because it finally dawned on me that I didn't know a lot of the words I was reading.

 

It hadn't hurt my understanding of what was going on because they were mainly descriptive words for the background features or environment, but still, it takes a lot to get my attention with "hey, this guy is writing over my head" when it comes to a nontechnical subject.

 

Anyway, I looked up the definitions of those words (because that's what an OCD person does to a list) then moved on.

 

The subsequent books aren't nearly that bad as far as outlandish vocabulary goes. 

 

There's nine Thomas Covenant books now, with him as a main character in, I think, six and a half of them.

 

The books read better if you accept him as being a deeply damaged guy who's constantly surrounded by heroes rather than being The Hero. 

[Tjack]

54 minutes ago, Ternaugh said:

 

I made a comment one day to a former co-worker that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings, and he replied, "What's 'Wings'?"

So I said, "Do you know the song, 'Live and Let Die'?"

And he answered, "The Guns N' Roses song?"

"That's a cover. Wings did the original one for the James Bond movie."

"Oh, what's the name of the James Bond movie?"

 

     “Third base.”

[Pariah]

1 hour ago, Tjack said:

    “Third base.”

 

Not without dinner and flowers. 

[Ternaugh]

33 minutes ago, Pariah said:

 

Not without dinner and flowers. 

 

"All I can say is that enthusiasm, sincerity, genuine compassion, and humor can carry you through any .. lack of .. prior experience with .. high numerical value." --Susan Ivanova

[tkdguy]

Hate is too strong a word here, but I never finished any of Isaac Asimov's books. I just couldn't get into his Foundation series no matter how hard I tried. I couldn't even finish the book on astronomy he wrote. I guess his writing style just doesn't mesh with my tastes.

[Tjack]

40 minutes ago, Pariah said:

 

Not without dinner and flowers. 

      You say when and where, and bring a note from hubby and you’ve got a deal!   Do you like Italian food?

[Tjack]

9 minutes ago, tkdguy said:

Hate is too strong a word here, but I never finished any of Isaac Asimov's books. I just couldn't get into his Foundation series no matter how hard I tried. I couldn't even finish the book on astronomy he wrote. I guess his writing style just doesn't mesh with my tastes.

    The Foundation books were all written as a series of novellas for John Campbell’s Astounding magazine.  They’re best read (I believe) that way. Take each section as it’s own story, and then wait a few days or even weeks to let the ideas percolate in your mind before going on to the next one.   This will keep you from being overwhelmed by characters and  backround history that have little do do with one another.