# Tell us about books you most often find yourself recommending NOT to be read **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 8, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274 "2011-11-08T14:44:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/1 "2011-11-08T14:44:27Z")
Obviously inspired by [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=630659) thread. My tops are Patricia Cornwall’s Jack the Ripper book and ANYTHING by Sue Grafton. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/2 "2011-11-08T14:51:57Z")
I like the idea of this thread; but it’d even be better if you said WHY you recommend it it NOT be read. I’ll add all Dan Brown books. I think he’s a poor writer; and not very creative in that all of the books I’ve read by him are so similar in plot to the point of being redundant. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/3 "2011-11-08T14:55:20Z")
Jack the Ripper is a horribly unreadable book. Cornwall’s idea that Walter Sickert was the Ripper is her sole speculation, and she really goes off the page when she attributes every unsolved murder in Europe during his lifetime to Sickert. Grafton cannot write a coherent sentence. Period. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/4 "2011-11-08T14:55:32Z")
“Atlas Shrugged.” I read it years back because I thought it was important. BIG mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/5 "2011-11-08T14:59:01Z")
‘‘When Nietzsche Wept.’’ Fascinating concept - what if Nietzsche sought help from Sigmund Freud? Terrible execution. Worst writing I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/6 "2011-11-08T15:05:15Z")
**Memoirs of an Invisible Man** by H.F. Saint. Really awful novel with an idiot plot. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/7 "2011-11-08T15:06:05Z")
The Twilight series. (Yes, to my eternal shame I’ve read them.) It’s the indoctrination simmering under the surface that bothers me the most, I think. Paolini’s Eldest series. Yes, he was young when he wrote the first one. Good for him. That doesn’t stop them from being derivative dreck. Lucky his parents worked so hard to get the first one published and sold. The book [Grendel](http://www.amazon.com/Grendel-John-Gardner/dp/0679723110/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320764631&sr=8-1). I thought it’d be an interesting take - looking at the world through the monster’s eyes. It’s not. It’s mostly incoherent vulgarity. I did read it when I was younger; maybe I’d get something else out of it now. But I just don’t think I want to take the time. ---
**Author:** ![Kylede](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@Kylede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kylede)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/8 "2011-11-08T15:10:38Z")
without a doubt I have one The Wheel of Time Series, by Robert Jordan I started reading it over 15 years ago, when there were 3 or 4 books only and he promised to finish it in 1 or 2 more…now we have a dead author and hwe are waiting for his replacement to finish the (allegedly…it is taking way longer then they said again,) 15th and final book! I have wasted years of my life on this, I refuse to send anyone else into this great timesink!! ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/9 "2011-11-08T15:10:48Z")
The first one that jumps out at me is Forrest Gump. First of all, the book is nothing like the movie. Sure, both have a semi-retarded guy jumping from adventure to adventure, but the book has Forrest be a chess champion, an astronaut with a monkey, and fighting off cannibals. Also there’s something about the movie where it all feels unifying whereas it’s completely disjointed in the book. The ending’s completely different and Forrest’s relationship with his mom was radically altered. In the movie, Sally Field always loved and cared for Forrest, whereas in the book she kinda treats him like a stupid retard and it really lacks any emotional pull. It’s just so wildly different and worse than the movie, frankly I should expect the author to feel guilty accepting royalties for it, knowing the screenwriter basically just took the character names and left the rest to rot. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/10 "2011-11-08T15:34:05Z")
I’ve read the first series of the Brian Herbert/Kevin Anderson _Dune_ books, which I feel has given me enough credibility to state that NOBODY should read ANY of their subsequent work, especially if they liked Frank Herbert’s original series. Why? The guy grave-fucks his fathers corpse while laughing maniacally, that’s why. It was worse than realizing “God, it actually looks like he didn’t read the original books”, it was more like “God, looks like he read the original books - and then wanted to destroy any sense of dignity and worth they had.” ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/11 "2011-11-08T15:41:01Z")
Karen Traviss’s Star Wars novels. She loathes the good guys of the setting, loathes everyone who likes the good guys of the setting, and spent most of her novels either blackwashing the Jedi or warping the Mandalorians into her own insipid fantasies. She also seems to have a running theme of dragging female characters down for no good reason. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/12 "2011-11-08T15:48:08Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Obviously inspired by [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=630659) thread. > > My tops are Patricia Cornwall’s Jack the Ripper book and **ANYTHING by Sue Grafton**. (bolding mine) :eek: Take that back, or the hobbit dies. > [@Snickers](#): > > The book [Grendel](http://www.amazon.com/Grendel-John-Gardner/dp/0679723110/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320764631&sr=8-1). I thought it’d be an interesting take - looking at the world through the monster’s eyes. It’s not. It’s mostly incoherent vulgarity. I did read it when I was younger; maybe I’d get something else out of it now. But I just don’t think I want to take the time. Same song, second verse. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/13 "2011-11-08T15:49:25Z")
“Not Wanted on the Voyage” by Timothy Findley. I think it’s an exceptionally well written book - I just hated it. Hated the story. Hated everything that happened in it. Could not recommend it in good faith. Wish I had never read it. FWIW, I’ve enjoyed other Timothy Findley books a great deal - this one was just too over the top for me. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/14 "2011-11-08T15:58:38Z")
> [@Kylede](#): > > without a doubt I have one > > The Wheel of Time Series, by Robert Jordan > > I started reading it over 15 years ago, when there were 3 or 4 books only and he promised to finish it in 1 or 2 more…now we have a dead author and hwe are waiting for his replacement to finish the (allegedly…it is taking way longer then they said again,) 15th and final book! I have wasted years of my life on this, I refuse to send anyone else into this great timesink!! Seconded. Did _any_ tolerable characters ever have the misfortune to wander into this train wreck? I don’t ask for all that much in a character, really–I don’t demand a nice character, or a likable one. I just want at least one character who doesn’t actively, consistently annoy me. I waded through the first four books without finding one, and declared that if anyone wanted me to read another, they would have to first convince me that every current character died horribly in it. It may be the only series I ever gave up on. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/15 "2011-11-08T16:00:49Z")
Anything by James Patterson('s ghostwriters). They all read like some warped version of “Mad Libs”: Handsome, wealthy, charismatic (Psycopath name) kidnaps and (heinous murder method with an exotic twist) the beautiful, bright woman who is (relationship) to (protagonist) who is an otherwise unknown (profession, or Alex Cross may be substituted) who will then persue (psychopath) to (exotic location) seeking vengeance. ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/16 "2011-11-08T16:04:25Z")
Anything by Charles Pellegrino, _especially_ ‘Last Train From Hiroshima’. Though the publisher pulled it, I’m afraid there are copies out there in libraries etc being represented as actual history. The lies, bad science, distortions of survivor accounts, near-plagiarism of other texts and overblown writing style taken together add up to one hell of a bad book. Gah. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/17 "2011-11-08T16:06:30Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > The book [Grendel](http://www.amazon.com/Grendel-John-Gardner/dp/0679723110/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320764631&sr=8-1). I thought it’d be an interesting take - looking at the world through the monster’s eyes. It’s not. It’s mostly incoherent vulgarity. I did read it when I was younger; maybe I’d get something else out of it now. But I just don’t think I want to take the time. You should give this another try. I think it’s fantastic. If all you remember is “incoherent vulgarity,” then you’re not remembering it correctly at all. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/18 "2011-11-08T16:16:40Z")
Stephen Hawking’s books for the general public. He’s a great scientist and a lousy science populizer. He tosses around terms like “imaginary time” without even trying to explain about the square root of -1. This confuses the hell out of non-scientists - the target audience! :smack: He had two equations in his books for the public, does nothing with them in the books, and got one of them wrong! Batting .500 is only good in Major League Baseball. If you are reading a science book that makes you feel stupid, it’s a bad book by a bad author. Get another book! George Gamow’s book are terribly out of date but still better than Hawking’s. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/19 "2011-11-08T16:21:33Z")
> [@Kylede](#): > > without a doubt I have one > > The Wheel of Time Series, by Robert Jordan > > I started reading it over 15 years ago, when there were 3 or 4 books only and he promised to finish it in 1 or 2 more…now we have a dead author and hwe are waiting for his replacement to finish the (allegedly…it is taking way longer then they said again,) 15th and final book! I have wasted years of my life on this, I refuse to send anyone else into this great timesink!! I stopped reading them when I realized he was writing them faster then I could make myself read them. I was farther from the end of the series after I’d read the first couple then when I started. Also, all fantasy is derivative of Lord of the Rings, but the first Wheel of Time book was _amazingly deriviative_ of Lord of the RIngs. He basically renamed the characters and places (sometimes not very well, the book ends on Mt Dhoom!?) and just rewrote LOTR. ---
**Author:** ![Cryptic\_C62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cryptic\_C62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cryptic_C62)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/20 "2011-11-08T16:21:55Z")
I know I’m going to get pummeled for this, but **The Great Gatsby**. Of the books I was forced to read in High School (and of those that I actually _did_ read), this sticks out in my mind as being the most boring. Don’t get me wrong, there was some high school reading material I truly loved – namely **Of Mice and Men** and **The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn**. Perhaps if I revisited TGG today, I wouldn’t hate it as much, but still. Blech. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274.md?page=2)