Books We Hated!

[Killer Shrike]

There are many books that I'll never crack open because they give strong indication that they are not meant for me and I likely won't enjoy them. I've started books that didn't grab my interest and thus I put them down. I've finished many more books, some of which were disappointing and / or instantly forgettable. However, I can't think of any books I've actually hated, as hate is a strong emotion and not something I'd so carelessly apply. 

 

Having said that, I've found most licensed novels to be drivel and I generally avoid them on principle.

 

 

 

 

[Pariah]

7 minutes ago, Killer Shrike said:

There are many books that I'll never crack open because they give strong indication that they are not meant for me and I likely won't enjoy them. I've started books that didn't grab my interest and thus I put them down. I've finished many more books, some of which were disappointing and / or instantly forgettable. However, I can't think of any books I've actually hated, as hate is a strong emotion and not something I'd so carelessly apply. 

 

Having said that, I've found most licensed novels to be drivel and I generally avoid them on principle.

 

Hey, good to see you! It's been a bit, it feels like. 

[Tjack]

43 minutes ago, Killer Shrike said:

There are many books that I'll never crack open because they give strong indication that they are not meant for me and I likely won't enjoy them. I've started books that didn't grab my interest and thus I put them down. I've finished many more books, some of which were disappointing and / or instantly forgettable. However, I can't think of any books I've actually hated, as hate is a strong emotion and not something I'd so carelessly apply. 

 

Having said that, I've found most licensed novels to be drivel and I generally avoid them on principle.

    Licensed novels depend heavily on the quality of the author. Those types of books are often done by writers just starting their careers or who can’t get their own novels published

  For instance the DC comics and Star Trek novels done by Greg Cox I’ve found to be excellent.  Try seeing if any of the franchises you enjoy have material by an author you’ve heard good things about.  Good hunting.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

8 hours ago, Tjack said:

    Licensed novels depend heavily on the quality of the author. Those types of books are often done by writers just starting their careers or who can’t get their own novels published

 

One of the best panels I ever went to at Dragon*Con was a talk by a guy who did licensed books. I don't remember his name, but he did everything from Star Wars to Wishbone. That side of the industry is something I never really thought about before. He preferred working in licensed properties because of the special freedoms and restrictions that come with it. I don't think I'd want to do it but seeing that there are authors that enjoy it was an interesting reveal. 

 

That being said, I have very little interest in those books. I've read a few, and some were even enjoyable, but they generally don't click with me. 

[Tjack]

   I was once able to speak at length with Craig Shaw Gardner, who had recently done the novelization of the first Keaton Batman movie.  He spoke also about the restrictions to follow the main plot of the film but that he enjoyed having the chance to fill in the backround with more detail than any movie could.

[Matt the Bruins]

Billy Budd was the book that my entire senior English class fell asleep reading the night before we started covering it. I've read tax code documents more captivating.

 

I recall loathing The Caine Mutiny by the time I finished it for a History class; it was a horrible slog to get through.

 

Generally as an adult I quit reading fairly early if a book doesn't win me over. Asimov's Foundation novels were like that for me, I just couldn't get into them. Though I've liked some of his short stories.

[death tribble]

Alright Log,

 

what are the books on the library stand at the beginning of the thread ?

I cannot make them all out but those I can I have not read.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

One of the nice perks of working in a public library is Advanced Readers Copies. I found a few treasures that way (Soon, I Will Be Invincible) a few duds, and one that pissed me off. The Resurrectionist is one such book. Now that I try to look it up to get the author, I see there are a lot of books with that title, and I can't tell you which one to avoid. I hated it, but I really wanted to finish it because I thought it had to be leading up to a big finish. It did not. Awful. 

[Joe Walsh]

Of books assigned in school, The Great Gatsby stands out. I hated reading that thing -- and I've always been a reader!  I tried going back to it as an adult and I still hated it.

 

Moby Dick was a little better, but it goes on and on and on and on. Send in the editor, maybe they can find a good book in there somewhere.

 

OTOH, I like some books that end up on a lot of people's hate lists: the Thomas Convenant books and Wuthering Heights, for example. Both are near the top of my list of favorites, even after all these years. I used to reread Wuthering Heights annually back when I used to read 50+ books a year, and I've re-read the original Thomas Covenant trilogy at least half a dozen times (I like the later books, too, but not as much).

 

[Tjack]

1 hour ago, Logan.1179 said:

One of the nice perks of working in a public library is Advanced Readers Copies. I found a few treasures that way (Soon, I Will Be Invincible) a few duds, and one that pissed me off. The Resurrectionist is one such book. Now that I try to look it up to get the author, I see there are a lot of books with that title, and I can't tell you which one to avoid. I hated it, but I really wanted to finish it because I thought it had to be leading up to a big finish. It did not. Awful. 

   I’ve read “Soon I Will Be Invincible” many times. And hearing the audio version in the car is a must for long drives.   Before his legal issues (I couldn’t think of a better phrase) I thought Kevin Spacy would be a mortal lock for Dr. Impossible.

[Pariah]

When I was in middle school, we had to pick a book (and get it approved by our teacher) for a big reading/report project. With both parents being avid readers, we had A LOT of books on the shelf at home to choose from. I picked one that I thought looked interesting:

 

 

Don't get me wrong, it was a good book. But it took me fooooreeeeveeeer to get through it. I've still never read any of his other books. (But I did spend a lot of time in a library named after him.)

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

2 hours ago, death tribble said:

Alright Log,

 

what are the books on the library stand at the beginning of the thread ?

I cannot make them all out but those I can I have not read.

 

I see...

 

·       The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. this one has a great reputation and I love the author, but I have not gotten around to reading it yet. There is a movie. Surprised this is on here, honestly.

 

·       Allegiant, by Veronica Roth. YA dystopian series ala Hunger Games, but much less polished. Still, they made it a (bad) movie. A bad movie.

 

·       The Magicians, by Lev Grossman. Adult fantasy series, billed as Harry Potter for grown-ups. Became TV series.

 

·       Seizure, by Robin Cook. Medical thriller. He has his fans, but I’ve not read any.

 

·       Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, by Reza Aslan. Semi-scholarly work with mixed reviews.

 

·       The Republic of Wine: A Novel, by Mo Yan. A satirical novel. Detective, comedy, translated from the Chinese. I know nothing about this one.

 

·       The Soul of Leadership, by Deepak Chopra. Self-help guru. I hate hate hate Chopra.

 

I can’t make out the others.

[death tribble]

Many thanks. Does your library have something similar ?

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

I'm not in a public library anymore. But I wish I could go back and create a display like this. It would have been filled with the Twilight books easily. No one on the staff liked those. 

[Cancer]

I admit that after the 3rd or 4th book in the series, I made snide comments about the next title coming out had better be Harry Potter and the Crying Need for an Editor.

[slikmar]

2 hours ago, Logan.1179 said:

The Magicians, by Lev Grossman. Adult fantasy series, billed as Harry Potter for grown-ups. Became TV series.

I liken it more to Chronicles of Narnia, more for adults and where it turns out their CS Lewis equivalent was a pedophile (I really hope, not knowing, that the real Lewis wasn't). The syfy series was actually pretty good, but reading the synopsis of the books suggested to me that the author was really putting out a trashing of the original.

[Killer Shrike]

Soon, I Will Be Invincible is a personal fave. You and Crooked are readable; of the two Crooked is the more fun. SIWBI remains his best IMO. These are all written by Austin Grossman.

 

The Magicians series on the other hand is written by his twin brother Lev Grossman.  It's a well written series and a fun light read; kind of a mash up of So You Want To Be A Wizard, Harry Potter, and Narnia to me (and other similar awkward kid discovers magic is a thing hiding behind the dreary mundane world tales). The main character is an aggravating non-traditional protagonist...he's not very likeable IMO, but the setting and supporting characters were good enough for me to read thru to the end. It's alright. 

Personally, I find Lev to be the more polished (and slightly more prolific) writer, while I find Austin's ideas to be more fun and interesting. 

[Killer Shrike]

18 hours ago, Tjack said:

Licensed novels depend heavily on the quality of the author. Those types of books are often done by writers just starting their careers or who can’t get their own novels published...

 

Yes, I'm aware of the industry reality, and there have been occasional exceptions where I've read a particular licensed work after being vouchsafed by one or more people whose opinion(s) I give some credence to, and some of those turned out to be ok. Exactly zero have ever blown me away, though. Given that there is a lot of competition for my time and the track record of licensed works for me is overall poor, I don't think it is unreasonable to filter them out baring extenuating circumstances. 

For instance, I read very quickly so when I travel I usually take a couple of books in my laptop bag and (depending on the length of the flight) finish them before landing. On the return trip, I'll generally buy a couple of books inside the airport after checking in, and take the best I can find from the limited selection available. My usual pattern is, one fiction and one non-fiction. Possibly a magazine as well for old times sake if there is a likely victim on the newsstand. In that sort of a scenario, I might pick up a licensed fiction book for lack of other options as a means to kill some time. Otherwise, when wider choice is available, I look elsewhere.

 

As another for instance, I like the Arkham Horror setting from FFG, and have found the novellas and most of the paperbacks to be decent enough reads. A few of them I've put down unfished due to mediocrity, but most of them have been entertaining enough and I consider them good enough light reading to continue buying them.

[Tjack]

40 minutes ago, Killer Shrike said:

 

Yes, I'm aware of the industry reality, and there have been occasional exceptions where I've read a particular licensed work after being vouchsafed by one or more people whose opinion(s) I give some credence to, and some of those turned out to be ok. Exactly zero have ever blown me away, though. Given that there is a lot of competition for my time and the track record of licensed works for me is overall poor, I don't think it is unreasonable to filter them out baring extenuating circumstances. 

For instance, I read very quickly so when I travel I usually take a couple of books in my laptop bag and (depending on the length of the flight) finish them before landing. On the return trip, I'll generally buy a couple of books inside the airport after checking in, and take the best I can find from the limited selection available. My usual pattern is, one fiction and one non-fiction. Possibly a magazine as well for old times sake if there is a likely victim on the newsstand. In that sort of a scenario, I might pick up a licensed fiction book for lack of other options as a means to kill some time. Otherwise, when wider choice is available, I look elsewhere.

 

As another for instance, I like the Arkham Horror setting from FFG, and have found the novellas and most of the paperbacks to be decent enough reads. A few of them I've put down unfished due to mediocrity, but most of them have been entertaining enough and I consider them good enough light reading to continue buying them.

    Are there any of the larger TV/Movie/Comic franchises you like?   It’s possible I’m predisposed to like these types of books because I enjoy fan-fiction.

[Killer Shrike]

Sure, I enjoy some franchise movies, but I'm not ecstatic about them either. Not a "superfan" of any of them, to be certain. I also consider fanfic something to generally be avoided. 

[Cygnia]

9 hours ago, Tjack said:

   I was once able to speak at length with Craig Shaw Gardner, who had recently done the novelization of the first Keaton Batman movie.  He spoke also about the restrictions to follow the main plot of the film but that he enjoyed having the chance to fill in the backround with more detail than any movie could.

I read this novel before I got to go see the movie.  Threw me for a loop when certain scenes didn't end up in the film.

[Hugh Neilson]

On 3/10/2022 at 8:40 AM, Tjack said:

   I was once able to speak at length with Craig Shaw Gardner, who had recently done the novelization of the first Keaton Batman movie.  He spoke also about the restrictions to follow the main plot of the film but that he enjoyed having the chance to fill in the backround with more detail than any movie could.

 

I recall the novelizations of the early Star Trek movies not only including minor background characters with fleshed-out stories, but their stories continuing from one book to the next.  The one I recall was the casualty who "stayed at his post when the others ran".

[Tjack]

20 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

I recall the novelizations of the early Star Trek movies not only including minor background characters with fleshed-out stories, but their stories continuing from one book to the next.  The one I recall was the casualty who "stayed at his post when the others ran".

    That’s the kind of thing that good novelizations are best at.  That character was Peter Preston. He was played by Ike Eisenmann and was Scotty’s nephew.   That’s why Scotty was holding the kid in his arms taking him to Sickbay.  The Turbolifts were malfunctioning and he had to crossover at the Bridge to get there.  All this came from scenes written but not filmed and was part of the writers info packet.

[Scott Ruggels]

I could go in at length. In college I would buy a book in the bookstore, and then read it in the bus home. I picked up a number of science fiction and fantasy novels ( all of which ended up donated to a used paperback store in 2019, when I moved). Unfortunately, I found a lot of crap. Either “Poor little Witch Girl in the woods overcomes Evil Empire”, or Wimpy Celtic Princess adventures, sometimes with her telepathic animal companions. No thank you.  
 

A friend tried to get me interested in Eric vanLustbader books, but his work was a slave to the rule of cool, and his Fantasy novels made no sense.  When I got a Kindle I approached the reading pace I used to back in the 80s, but it was mostly non fiction military history.

 

I did try to get through The Magicians, but when I got an idea of the characters, and where things were going, I dropped it like a hot rock. I am not a fan of broken characters and drug addicts (see: Shinji from Evangelion, because I won’t. ) as I don’t find them entertaining. Plenty of $2 Kindle novels I found entertaining, and wished some of those authors wrote more.
 

Our Highschool reading was The Catcher in The Rye. It was teeth grinding to get through. Pretentious, whiny, holier than thou failure. Ran into too many of those at the local hobby shop. 

[Cancer]

Somehow I managed to escape having Catcher in the Rye as assigned reading.  People's opinions of it are all over the map.

 

One of the odder things I tried reading voluntarily was In Watermelon Sugar because a friend raved about it, but at least at the time (1971) it didn't do much for me.  The book is very clearly mid-1960s post-apocalypse stuff, though from a perspective more than 50 years later the idea that the residence of the primary characters is named iDEATH is riotously funny and appropriate.