# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/81 "2011-11-09T16:18:50Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > I won’t say that I have to do it \* often \*, but if I ever found a friend contemplating reading “Hannibal”, I’d certainly do everything in my power to dissuade them. You’re a good man. I only wish I’d met you in time! ☹ > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I forget which Doper it is who said he will leave handwritten notes a third of the way through library books that he hates, saying, “Stop reading - it doesn’t get any better.” Nice. That was me. The last time I did it was with some horrid thing by Ted Dekker. _spits_ ---
**Author:** ![RoniaBorkason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9dc877/32.png) [@RoniaBorkason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoniaBorkason)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/82 "2011-11-09T16:20:27Z")
I just finished a series that I had been eagerly awaiting and I wish I could go back in time and tell myself to never start it. I’ve never read Misery, but the theme is roughly that crazy-lady wants a sequel, yes? Charles Stross should have a Misery pulled on him until he writes a real ending to the Merchant Princes series. Lovely inter-dimensional feudal/steampunk/modern intrigue story, book four ends with the discovery of a futuristic dome in yet another dimension, book five opens with a loving description of precisely what happens when a nuclear bomb goes off, accuses a thinly (so thin!) disguised Dick Cheney of being a heroin distributor, book six continues the love affair with describing the horrors of radiation sickness, etc, with Thinly-Disguised-Cheney nuking millions of relatively innocent feudal serfs, and two minor characters deciding that the nuking of their homeland means they can finally be together! Yay! What? What about the main characters? The forced pregnancy: spontaneous miscarriage at 12 weeks, after she had decided to carry to term? Really? The man that you’ve been building up as the love interest for 5 books? Nothing? Stupid, stupid, stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Prox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@Prox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prox)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/83 "2011-11-09T16:25:25Z")
_Red Mars_ by Kim Stanley Robinson. I read it, and in a bout of madness, both of its sequels. They’re full of boring characters with poorly thought out politics doing little more than wandering across the planet ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/84 "2011-11-09T16:30:51Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > …I almost want to see it just to see how bad it is. That usually does not end well. Plus, you encourage them to make more. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/85 "2011-11-09T18:37:16Z")
> [@thirdwarning](#): > > Take that book off your shelf and dispose of it. Somehow, anyhow. Whatever you do, don’t read it. I say that as someone who liked _A Canticle for Leibowitz_ The sequel was a grave disappointment. Not horrible, maybe, just sort of like nonfat Jello when you were expecting creme brulee. I was thinking about that - maybe I’ll donate it to my local library. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/86 "2011-11-09T19:35:40Z")
> [@Prox](#): > > _Red Mars_ by Kim Stanley Robinson. I read it, and in a bout of madness, both of its sequels. They’re full of boring characters with poorly thought out politics doing little more than wandering across the planet Yes, but you sure did get to learn some super interesting things about the geology of sand and rocks on Mars, on Mars, on Mars, on Mars, on Mars. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/87 "2011-11-09T21:02:42Z")
> [@Glory](#): > > Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro > > Clones baaing their way to their horrible deaths, like helpless sheep. No one really tries to escape. No PETA group tries to save them. Possibly the differences between my American sensibilities (you are a unique and special individual!) and the author’s Japanese sensibilities (community above all), but no book has ever made me more angry! Yeah, I kept waiting for them to explain WHY everyone was just cool with this situation. And I thought they would eventually, since that was the book’s style–revealing a little bit at a time. But they didn’t. I also wanted more details, like why take the organs one at a time? There’s another book with a very similar theme to this one, called **The Unit** , which I’ve just started reading. I wonder if they’ll handle it better. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/88 "2011-11-09T22:09:42Z")
Hey!! **Catch-22** is a great book that I would recommend to anyone, especially anyone with a wry sense of humor. **The Great Gatsby** and **Catcher in the Rye** , I remember as being sort of OK. I definitely prefer the short stories of both Fitzgerald and Salinger though. I was disappointed by Anne Rice. She had some interesting ideas floating around, but didn’t seem to have the skill to really develop them. At the end of **Lestat** , she whipped the curtain aside (metaphorically speaking), and there was nothing behind it except an advertisement for her next book. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/89 "2011-11-09T22:14:16Z")
Re: The Celestine Prophecy Movie > [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > That usually does not end well. Plus, you encourage them to make more. Indeed, although with a total worldwide gross of under $1,000,000 I think we’re pretty safe on that count. I’m content to go along with the professional critics opinions - listed as _4%_ on Rotten Tomatoes and 23/100 on Metacritic. They suffered so that we don’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/90 "2011-11-09T22:53:56Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > …That was me. The last time I did it was with some horrid thing by Ted Dekker. _spits_ Bless you, and keep up the good work! ---
**Author:** ![Merejane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Merejane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merejane)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/91 "2011-11-10T00:17:25Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I’ve been in the same book club since 1998 and the hands-down, no-doubt, kill-me-now worst book we’ve read in all that time was _The Celestine Prophecy_ by James Redfield. Stupid, poorly-written, historically inaccurate, hackneyed New Age dreck. Stinkeroo Supremo. Man, is it _bad_… I also read this in a book club – in 1996, I think – and I could not agree with you more. It was _terrible_. While I was reading it, I would quote the most egregious parts out loud to my husband, just to share my complete disbelief that anyone could actually like this book. The thing is, I had just joined this book club. It was other parents in my son’s class (he was in first grade), so I hoped to make friends with these people, all of whom had already known each other for a year. (My son started at this school in first grade, but all the other kids except one were classmates in kindergarten.) The problem: one of the other parents had chosen this book, and at the actual book club meeting, _no one owned up to not liking it_. So I just did not feel comfortable voicing my opinion at that point. But omg, what a bad book. I did make some negative comment to the person sitting next to me (our meetings were held at a restaurant, as a Mom’s Night Out thing). That person later recommended to me two books, one of which is my all-time favorite ([Winter’s Tale](http://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/04/books/helprin-tale.html?pagewanted=all), by Mark Helprin) and one of which I hated ([The Da Vinci Code](http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/05/29/060529crci_cinema?currentPage=all), by Dan Brown). Go figure. Note: I’ve linked to my two favorite reviews of these books. I love this snippet from Anthony Lane’s review of The Da Vinci Code: “There has been much debate over Dan Brown’s novel ever since it was published, in 2003, but no question has been more contentious than this: if a person of sound mind begins reading the book at ten o’clock in the morning, at what time will he or she come to the realization that it is unmitigated junk? The answer, in my case, was 10:00.03, shortly after I read the opening sentence: ‘Renowned curator Jacques Saunière staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum’s Grand Gallery.’” ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/92 "2011-11-10T01:38:32Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > Hey!! **Catch-22** is a great book that I would recommend to anyone, especially anyone with a wry sense of humor. \ It’s one of my favourite books, but this thread really demonstrates that it takes all kinds to make the world go round. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/93 "2011-11-10T02:02:34Z")
These probably go without saying: The **Left Behind** series. I finally gave up near the beginning of the third book, but I’m not sure why I even made it that far. Anything written by Nicholas Sparks. Absolute glurge. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/94 "2011-11-10T03:01:07Z")
I get to vote on some previous selections. Yeah, _The Celestine Prophecy_ was dog shit. All through the book, I had question marks over my head, “People BELIEVE this?” I think I DID throw the book across the room when I finished it. I’ve come to the conclusion that “literary classics” are a hoax. T_he Great Gatsby_ has been mentioned. ANYTHING by William Faulkner is awful. I tried reading _Pride and Prejudice_ and ended up beating myself over the head with a 2x4 for relief. Dan Brown is terrible. Period. I admit I read every single one of the Left Behind books. The writing started out bad, and then deteriorated into smelly stuff you scrape off the bottom of your shoe, so you don’t track it in on the carpet. I think the two Evangelical preachers got so full of themselves they wrote the last half dozen books in their sleep. I finished the series simply so I could say, “Yes I read it all!” and then I could speak from authority in saying it was terrible stuff. And I reiterate: William Faulkner’s stuff is REALLY bad! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/95 "2011-11-10T03:31:01Z")
> [@GythaOgg](#): > > 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. Oh my God! My library has a copy of this \*and I read it! \*You forgot to mention the 3rd grade art-work. Not “Third-grade” as in “not first or second quality”, but “My kid is in the 3rd grade. Here is his art-work”. Yeah, that book was pretty awful. Alligator people, indeed. The only book I’ve ever said should NOT be read was _Fiasco_. Fair and balanced like Fox News, it was! ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/96 "2011-11-10T04:06:27Z")
Anyone who really likes horror should not expect to be wow’d by **House of Leaves** or\*\* The Little Stranger\*\*. Both are far closer to appropriate for a madness in literature class than something to scare you if you’re used to reading horror. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/97 "2011-11-10T04:15:00Z")
The downward spiral of misery that is Philip Jose Farmer’s _Riverworld_ series, which actually started with a good book. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/98 "2011-11-10T06:16:23Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > I won’t say that I have to do it \* often \*, but if I ever found a friend contemplating reading “Hannibal”, I’d certainly do everything in my power to dissuade them. Oh, god. I’d almost take a bullet to save someone from reading that book. Don’t even. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/99 "2011-11-10T07:21:11Z")
_The Turn of the Screw_ by Henry James. It is an over-wrought over-written travesty of a book and do _not_ tell me it was the style at the time. I’ve read Poe. I’ve read Bierce. I’ve read Mark Twain and I’ve read Saki, O. Henry, and Bret Harte. I have _loved_ all those authors because they actually wrote. They did not plant kudzu in their garden and capture it between pages after training and stultifying it to within an inch of its life. Faulkner once referred to Henry James as the “nicest old lady I ever met”; I consider that a calumny against old ladies, who are, in my experience, capable of getting to a point without exhausting all the air in the average zeppelin. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274/100 "2011-11-10T09:01:42Z")
> [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > _Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony_. Look at the pictures, read the bibliography, but don’t read the text. Cosman’s interpretation of what and how food was eaten in the middle ages is … unlike anything else. I threw away my copy not _just_ because of the shoddy nature of the recipes (Why anyone would recommend it, I don’t know), but also because of my intense dislike of Cosman’s other career as a paid-for anti-immigration liar. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-books-you-most-often-find-yourself-recommending-not-to-be-read/602274.md?page=6)