# Disapprove of a book list-Don't read these! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132 "2013-04-19T13:54:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Renifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Renifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renifer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/61 "2013-04-20T04:52:26Z")
anything by Ellen Hopkins It’s all about teens with horrible lives and horrible parents, told in the most emo-drama fashion possible. Also, if you’re a dog person, _Letters From Wolfie_ by Patti Sherlock may not be for you. It’s well-written, it’s harshly honest, but it will make you miserable. ---
**Author:** ![turner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@turner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turner)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/62 "2013-04-20T05:03:18Z")
The Dome by Stephen King. That was a crapfest. Its the last book I’ll ever read by King. I’ve been burned too many times in a row and there are much better places to spend my money. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/63 "2013-04-20T05:05:06Z")
The entire output of Ayn Rand. ---
**Author:** ![wombattver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b77776/32.png) [@wombattver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wombattver)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/64 "2013-04-20T05:25:29Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > I nominate **The Celestine Prophesy**. I know it’s sold about a gazillion copies but man what a steaming pile. It’s supposedly a novel but it reads as a heavy-handed woo woo polemic. Sacred insights and then you vibrate into another plane of existence? The only way to read this is to channel MST3K. Oh, my, YES! I have not only that, but also the sequel in my library and can’t seem to throw them out because they were gifts from an old friend, but great, steaming piles of excrement they are!!! Must add anything by Patricia Cornwell/Cornwall? - as well as any other book to be found in an airport store on a revolving rack. Such books are now referred to as “airport trash” which my husband regularly picks up on his travels, reads, then leaves on the plane for the next sad traveller. Horrid, horrid, stuff. Next on the list would be “Atlas Shrugged” which is best described by Dorothy Parker: “This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.” Although I’ve read some debate about just what book Parker was describing in this quote, most sources attribute it to AS and I am happy to go with it. Vile. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/65 "2013-04-20T05:39:42Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Going classical here, Great Expectations by Dickens. Great book title/thread title. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/66 "2013-04-20T06:40:03Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I’ve mentioned it before in threads like this, but after seeing the movie version of “Last of the Mohicans” I decided to read the book. The cashier at Borders tried to convince me not to buy it, which should have been my first clue, but I bought it anyway. Jeez what an unreadable incoherent mess. [Mark Twain on Fenimoore Cooper’s Literary Offenses](http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/projects/rissetto/offense.html) ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/67 "2013-04-20T06:58:38Z")
I tried \*\*A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius \*\*a few weeks ago and mentioned here what a pretentious load of self-indulgent drivel I felt it was. A few weeks have passed, and I now think it is a pretentious load of self-indulgent drivel, and I don’t think my opinion is going to get any better. And yet, I really enjoyed **Zeitoun** by the same author, Dave Eggers. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/68 "2013-04-20T08:14:27Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I’ve mentioned it before in threads like this, but after seeing the movie version of “Last of the Mohicans” I decided to read the book. The cashier at Borders tried to convince me not to buy it, which should have been my first clue, but I bought it anyway. Jeez what an unreadable incoherent mess. I give Cooper a pass here due to the period in which he wrote. Few authors from that period are very readable today. Twain is one of them. ---
**Author:** ![midnight-dreary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@midnight-dreary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/midnight-dreary)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/69 "2013-04-20T08:30:29Z")
Gods of Green Mountain. by Virginia Andrews. I liked her books when I was young. They were trash, I will not argue, but they were something I could read in a day, and interesting (even if they were rehashing the same thing over and over.) I got nostalgic and decided to read another of her book. I saw that she had a Sci-Fi book. Yeah, it’s no good. The start of the book seemed good, so I brought it (I sample books on amazon.) A hard people live a hard life, and there is a odd kid, who doesn’t take things seriously, and he ends up discovering a odd plant. but that’s basically only setting up the story. Turns out the plant can do everything, they go from hunter/gather lifestyle to being similar to our technological advancement (A bit further in some areas, a bit behind in others.) within a life-span. angsty romance ala V.C andrews (no incest, though!) accident happened in a town, so to get to the bottom of it, they decide to trek to green mountain, where they think their god lives. On the way, the girl gets tied up and nearly raped. She tries to cut her bindings, and the man falls of the knife, and dies. blahblahblah, turns out the god is actually a human, blahblahblah, and the people are VERY, VERY, VERY small, too small for the human to see. Then in about 15 years, they grow to half the size of humans, (WITHOUT THEM NOTICING?!!) travel earth, deliver the plant that made this all possible, and humans destroy this plant. the end. it’s very bizarre, and not even a good bizarre, like ‘john dies at the end.’ just horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/70 "2013-04-20T09:53:09Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I’ve mentioned it before in threads like this, but after seeing the movie version of “Last of the Mohicans” I decided to read the book. The cashier at Borders tried to convince me not to buy it, which should have been my first clue, but I bought it anyway. Jeez what an unreadable incoherent mess. I recently read the Marvel graphic novel adaptation, and one of the bits that stood out for me in a bad way was the suggestion that it was an _act of mercy_ to murder a woman in cold blood if it prevented her from cursing the man who just murdered her infant child. ---
**Author:** ![Mattie\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@Mattie\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mattie_Blue)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/71 "2013-04-20T12:31:47Z")
**The Elegance of the Hedgehog** by Muriel Barbery. A pretentious piece of crap. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/72 "2013-04-20T12:37:01Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > For some reason which I do not now recall, I forced myself on and on, until I realized that no matter how it all turned out, Dunno the book, but I do distinctly rmember my first experience like this. I just didn’t believe that a publisher would publish a book that bad. (I was only 15). Naturally, the book’s got to get better, doesn’t it? Otherwise how can it have been published? ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/73 "2013-04-20T13:25:10Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > **[The Sword of Shannara](http://amzn.com/0345314255)** by Terry Brooks. How has no one claimed this low-hanging fruit yet? A blatant rip-off of the **Lord of the Rings** series; even disregarding that, the writing is dreadful. I don’t think the target audience is adults of average intelligence. These books are terrific when you’re 10 years old. There are a lot of authors in this category. David Eddings and Piers Anthony come to mind (although I remember getting pedo vibes from PA’s books, so maybe not the best thing to hand your 10-year-old.) Their work may be crap to most discerning readers, but writing books that are accessible to children is laudable. I came here to poke fun at Terry Goodkind. I don’t need to write anything. Let’s let the man speak for himself! [QUOTE=Terry Goodkind oh please make it stop] Standing there, erect, masculine, masterful in his black war wizard outfit, he looked as if he could be posing for a statue of who he was: the Seeker of Truth, rightfully named by [spoiler redacted]. It had nearly broken [red’d] heart to do so, because Seekers so often died young and violently. While he lived, a Seeker was a law unto himself. Backed by the awesome power of his sword, a Seeker could bring down kingdoms. That was one reason it was so important to name the right person - a moral person - to the post. [/QUOTE] [/guffaw] ---
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/74 "2013-04-20T13:37:18Z")
> [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](#): > > The book gets better. The film, however, is the far superior of the two. Agreed. Other books by Woodrell are worthwhile. I think he’s at his best with short stories. I just finished Outlaw Album, which I highly recommend. His novella The Death of Sweet Mister is good. I appreciate him because he understands well people living on the economic margins in rural areas. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/75 "2013-04-20T13:54:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m surprised to see people saying that “nothing happens” in _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell_. Okay, you don’t like the style of the book, that’s fine. But there’s undeniably a plot in it. There’s the struggle between Norrell and Strange over who is the better magician and the struggle between the mortal characters and John Uskglass. Oh, it’s well written, it is simply not to my taste. As I said, my daughter, Princess Pepperwinkle, enjoyed it very much. To me it was just a long, long slog. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/76 "2013-04-20T13:58:38Z")
And speaking of long, long treks through literature, the longest I’ve ever plodded was through Mervin Peake’s **Gormenghast**. I made it almost halfway through the first book. “And he lifted up his foot, which was adorned by a boot (six pages on how the boot was made, on the leathermakers’ guild, and on the curious placement of the tongue of the boot), and set it down on the floor (seven pages of discussion of the type of wood , the lumberjack camps, the market in wood, and the spiritual implications of the nails).” ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/77 "2013-04-20T14:30:41Z")
Lord of the Flies. Blech. Unreadable. I really enjoyed pretty much all the classic literature I had to read in high school… but Lord of the Flies is completely unsalvageable. ---
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/78 "2013-04-20T15:14:40Z")
Journey to Ixtlan, or anything by Carlos Castaneda. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/79 "2013-04-20T15:28:25Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > So I’ll be controversial and say _Life of Pi_. An interesting premise morphing into a series of increasingly improbably events and utterly ruined by a suddenly ambiguous ending. I second this. Plus all the religious maundering irritated me far more than it probably should have. I felt like Martel was beating me over the head with a “[Coexist](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://sites.psu.edu/wparistrclblog/files/2012/09/Coexist_by_Chima1.png&imgrefurl=http://sites.psu.edu/wparistrclblog/2012/09/27/logic-reduced-coexist-bumper-sticker/&h=672&w=2050&sz=255&tbnid=44Oxqbluz70l-M:&tbnh=53&tbnw=161&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcoexist%2Bbumper%2Bsticker%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=coexist+bumper+sticker&usg=__K2U45xX8CLSUB-ljcn6ViJwGzQU=&docid=5_A2xtm47mHn7M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7bNyUZnjMqHg2gWH9IDQBw&sqi=2&ved=0CFMQ9QEwAA&dur=310)” bumper sticker. I actually have one of those stickers on my car, but I don’t rip my bumper off and hit people over the head with it to prove my point. I am not Yann Martel. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132/80 "2013-04-20T16:12:05Z")
> [@BurnMeUp](#): > > Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk - Again horribly racist in the sense that it’s written entirely in pigeon dialect, …so there was a lot of cooing, then? 🙂 I liked _Pygmy_. I like Palahniuk. But for me, his “steaming pile of crap” moment came with _Snuff_. I could barely finish that, it was so bad. _Rant_ wasn’t much better. Stephen King’s _Lisey’s Story_ wasn’t so much awful as boring. I love King, and I’ll even slog through his not-so-great stuff to get to the good stuff, but _Lisey_ was a loooong sit. Graham Masterton is my favorite horror author. I love pretty much everything he writes. But _Unspeakable_ was the closest I ever came to flinging a book across the room at high velocity. Most of it isn’t bad, but the ending is so awful and betrays the reader so much that it literally made me angry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disapprove-of-a-book-list-dont-read-these/656132.md?page=5)