# Worst Good Book You Have Ever Read **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2004, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-good-book-you-have-ever-read/236163 "2004-03-24T18:29:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![slackersavant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@slackersavant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slackersavant)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-good-book-you-have-ever-read/236163/141 "2004-03-29T01:15:19Z")
> [@slackersavant](#): > > Ethan Frome > > I was seriously disappointed in this book. I had read a short story by Edith Wharton (“Roman Holiday”) that I liked somewhat, and I was lulled into thinking this book wouldn’t suck ass. Oops, that’s “Roman Fever.” > [@](#): > > the “pickles and doughnuts” has to be the worst sexual symbolism I’ve ever read. Oh, I forgot to mention that it sounds disgusting. Has anyone else read _House of the Seven Gables_ by Nathaniel Hawthorne? It’s been a loooong time since I read that, and so I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt, but if it’s anywhere near as bad as I thought at the time then it would be up there with Ethan Frome. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-good-book-you-have-ever-read/236163/142 "2004-03-29T02:33:41Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I know I’m not the only one who liked Great Expectations (didn’t read it until college though) but am I really the only one who liked Ethan Frome? Such karmic irony! You’re not - I enjoyed both Great Expectations _and_ Ethan Frome. And Good Earth. And The Old Man and the Sea. Go figger. There are, in fact, few classics I’ve really not liked. I didn’t like The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant very much, but that was mostly because I despised the rapist hero, and I don’t consider the books classics anyway. I will throw one out there: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Okay, I didn’t despise it. But I didn’t like it, either; I didn’t think it as funny as it wanted to be. It might’ve been worth the few hours it took to be read, but no more. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-good-book-you-have-ever-read/236163/143 "2004-03-29T07:00:29Z")
I’ve read most of the books mentioned and enjoyed many, but wasn’t forced to read but a few of them. In high school they tried to make me read Catcher in The Rye, and I went to the teacher and straight out said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t read this.’ He didn’t miss a beat and gave me another book to read and write a report on. I’m a pretty tolerant reader, from travelling in the third world where there is one shelf of english language books at the shop. After a day or two you’re reading things you mightn’t otherwise consider. Initially I disliked this, but came to love it as one of the perks of travel. It opened a whole different world, Hell, I read a handbook for Russian Parents once! However, I am in complete agreement with Jerzy Kozinski’s Painted Bird, I’m still amazed I finished it. Also, while travelling across South America there were no affordable English books available so I was forced to read my travel companions book, The Search for The Double Helix. I hated that book, but I liked to read so much I couldn’t live without it. Still, at least once a day I would fling the wretched thing to the floor in disgust and say, ‘I hate this book!’ On the train back to Cusco, Peru, I found the only other traveller I’d met, the entire journey with a book to trade. I waited with anticipation while he dug through his pack. And what did he come up with? Catcher in the Rye ! Some days you can’t catch a break! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![misshannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3e96dc/32.png) [@misshannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misshannah)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-good-book-you-have-ever-read/236163/144 "2004-03-29T16:17:38Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Actually, _Pride and Prejudice_, and _Emma_ are the only two Austens I ever tackled. No real reason why it took me so long to get to more Austen, since I loved _P&P_, _Emma_ kind of took the wind out of my sails. > > What would you recommend as Austen’s best after _P&P_? > > Regards, > Shodan Either of the two **Idlewild** mentioned are fine to start with. I, too, like _Persuasion_. It was the first Austen I ever read. _Mansfield Park_ is the favorite of many fans. Just so this isn’t a continued hijack, I’ll concur with everyone who found _Moby Dick_ unreadable. Part of my distaste, however, came from the fact that it was the “favorite” novel of a pretentious roommate I hated. She poisoned it for me…as if it wasn’t poison enough by itself. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-good-book-you-have-ever-read/236163/145 "2004-03-29T18:37:18Z")
Thanks, **misshannah** - perhaps I’ll tackle _Persuasion_\* next. After I finish _War in Heaven_, _Nightmare Alley_, and _Choice of Evils_, that is. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-good-book-you-have-ever-read/236163/146 "2004-03-29T18:42:32Z")
Or learn to preview, for that matter. Regards, Shodan PS - I liked _Moby Dick_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-good-book-you-have-ever-read/236163.md?page=7)