OT: The most boring books ...
Beth Cole
group might find this generates some interesting discussion ...
What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
For me, it is/was The Raj Quartet, which lead off with The Jewel in The
Crown. I loved the Masterpiece Theatre series by that name, taping
every episode and watching it at least three times, so my mom got me the
books (figuring that since I could get through the average fiction novel
in about 2 days, these would at least slow me down).
I couldn't get past about the 2nd chapter of the first book. I
desperately wanted to like the books, but they just plodded terribly. I
know that the writers for the TV series must have taken a great many
liberties with the story.
A close second is the first half of Tolkein's Fellowship of the Rings.
I made it through THAT once. I doubt I could do so again.
What about everyone else?
Beth
--
In the United States, one hundred years is a long time. In Europe, one
hundred miles is a long distance. It's all in the perspective.
my home page: http://www.IsleOfSky.net
Meri
> I'm stealing shamelessly from another newsgroup, but I thought this
> group might find this generates some interesting discussion ...
>
> What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
"Ivanhoe" without doubt. We had to read that one for a high school World
English class and I hated it with a passion. I may be misremembering, but
I'm pretty certain they paid Sir Wally by the word on that one. He took
something like 150 pages to tell a story that could have been just as well
told in less than 50.
Meri
Damned story wasn't even that interesting...
Gutterboy
>> What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
>
>"Ivanhoe" without doubt.
That one's baaaad. Along the same lines is some of the unexpurgated James
Fenimore Cooper. That man could go off on some of the most bewildering
tangents.
"Silas Marner" was a snore, too.
Gutterboy
---
"on october 12 i took my four children to chuckie cheese as for a reward on
there spelling test grade." -- from Planet Breedback
Lots42
>> I'm stealing shamelessly from another newsgroup, but I thought this
>> group might find this generates some interesting discussion ...
John Gardner's '007' novels. How can you fuck up Bond?
Have him turn into a nearly impotent, stupid moron who plods along while
nothing happens too him and just stares at dead bodies and destruction and goes
'DUUURRRRRRR'.
--
- "When life gives you lemons, activate the death robot."
- Read comic books. They won't bite. You just might enjoy one. -
- Proud member of the 'He-Man Child-Hater's Club'.
- http://www.livejournal.com/users/lots42/
Lee Ann
<eac...@amber.emporia.edu> wrote:
>What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
For me, it's a close run between Moby Dick and anything by Charles
Dickens. I've never been able to get more than a chapter or two into
any of them...
Lee Ann
Marley Greiner
"Beth Cole" <eac...@amber.emporia.edu> wrote in message
news:3C349471...@amber.emporia.edu...
> I'm stealing shamelessly from another newsgroup, but I thought this
> group might find this generates some interesting discussion ...
>
> What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
>
> For me, it is/was The Raj Quartet, which lead off with The Jewel in The
> Crown. I loved the Masterpiece Theatre series by that name, taping
> every episode and watching it at least three times, so my mom got me the
> books (figuring that since I could get through the average fiction novel
> in about 2 days, these would at least slow me down).
>
> I couldn't get past about the 2nd chapter of the first book. I
> desperately wanted to like the books, but they just plodded terribly. I
> know that the writers for the TV series must have taken a great many
> liberties with the story.
>
> A close second is the first half of Tolkein's Fellowship of the Rings.
> I made it through THAT once. I doubt I could do so again.
>
> What about everyone else?
>
> Beth
Anything by James Fenimore Cooper.
Gender Trouble by Judith Butler. Some perfecty good ideas are hidden
amongst academic gibberish.
Marley
Steve Lamb
Pretty much anything from Anne Rice.
Stephen R. Donaldson comes close to that list. The Gap series surely.
Covenant and Mordant's Need were ok.
Hmmmm, the first 200 pages of _Atlas Shrugged_ almost counts but serves
quite well to set up all the characters and how they will interact throughout
the rest of the book. The 40 (or was it 70?) page monologue late in the same
book certainly does. I my pace on that section was 3 pages a day. That's all
I could muster.
George Lucas. That man cannot write. Can... not... write. I love Star
Wars. Couldn't make it through the ~225 page book that he wrote. Also he had
a hand in the Willow sequal series that Chris Claremont wrote. Claremont does
a wonderful job in comics. His solo novels are ok. The Willow sequal was a
trilogy that could have been done in one book, was entirely over the top in
every single scene and so bad that I can't imagine Claremont getting there on
his own. Maybe George Lucas can make movies (though N'Sync in "Send in the
Clones" and Jar-Jar call that into question) but writing a novel is far beyond
him.
--
Steve C. Lamb | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
ICQ: 5107343 | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
To email: Don't despair! | -- Lenny Nero, Strange Days
-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------
Gutterboy
>Gender Trouble by Judith Butler. Some perfecty good ideas are hidden
>amongst academic gibberish.
Butler and her ilk of academic writers should be birch-whipped. It's
frightening to think that those people are teaching writing skills to
impressionable students.
Cheryl Greer
Beth Cole wrote:
> I'm stealing shamelessly from another newsgroup, but I thought this
> group might find this generates some interesting discussion ...
>
> What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
>
Hemingway. Anything by Hemingway. Anything at all.
The Scarlet Letter.
And I love the Cthulu mythos and everything, but H.P. Lovecraft gets pretty
damn repetitve after a while.
best I can do on short notice,
Cheryl
Jim Mowreader
> What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
Any of the "young urban angst" novels of the 1980s. Examples: "Bright
Lights, Big City" my Jay McInerney and "Slaves of New York" by Tama
Janowitz. If you can make it to the end of one of those pieces of crap,
you're a better man than I, Charlie Brown.
--
--jmowreader
xp...@earthlink.net
mytoysdammit
> group might find this generates some interesting discussion ...
>
> What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
>
> For me, it is/was The Raj Quartet, which lead off with The Jewel in The
> Crown. I loved the Masterpiece Theatre series by that name, taping
> every episode and watching it at least three times, so my mom got me the
> books (figuring that since I could get through the average fiction novel
> in about 2 days, these would at least slow me down).
>
> I couldn't get past about the 2nd chapter of the first book. I
> desperately wanted to like the books, but they just plodded terribly. I
> know that the writers for the TV series must have taken a great many
> liberties with the story.
>
> A close second is the first half of Tolkein's Fellowship of the Rings.
> I made it through THAT once. I doubt I could do so again.
>
> What about everyone else?
>
> Beth
> --
manage to read the whole thing. At the end I couldn't quite figure out why!
I may be due for a re-read though as a few bits did stick in my 16 year old
brain. (Fuschia jumping out the window, for example). Peake's writing always
struck as what Tolkein would've written had he been permanently constipated
for 20 years straight!
Kat
Linda Causey
--
Linda Causey
http://www.robotmonstertoys.com/apw/
"I hated to kill them all but they needed to be taught a lesson." - Ralph
Phillips
"Beth Cole" <eac...@amber.emporia.edu> wrote in message
news:3C349471...@amber.emporia.edu...
Rabbit
A teacher in school gave me a copy of "Silas Marner". I tried, I
really did, but I was never able to get beyond 20 pages.
Rabbit
Steve Lamb
> Hands down, "Atlas Shrugged". Ended up with a copy of it from
> somewhere, and it became one of the handful of books in my life that I
> started and absolutely could not finish. That doesn't, however, keep
> scores of Young Socialists from masturbating feverishly over its pages.
*snicker* *chuckle* *snort*
Uhm, you are aware that _Atlas Shrugged_ is a novel in which Socialism is
the antagonist, right? Pick it back up, work past the first 200 pages.
That's all setup and things don't start happening until that point.
Charleen Bunjiovianna
>On Thu, 03 Jan 2002 11:27:13 -0600, Beth Cole <eac...@amber.emporia.edu>
>wrote:
>
>
>somewhere, and it became one of the handful of books in my life that I
>started and absolutely could not finish. That doesn't, however, keep
>scores of Young Socialists from masturbating feverishly over its pages.
I'm sorry, I don't understand this comment. Could you amplify?
I thought socialism was specifically what Rand was ranting against?
Charleen
Anthony J. Bryant
>
> George Lucas. That man cannot write. Can... not... write. I love Star
> Wars. Couldn't make it through the ~225 page book that he wrote.
What book did he write?
The first Star Wars novel (the novel of the film) had his name on it, but Alan
Dean Foster wrote it.
Tony
Anthony J. Bryant
>
> Oh - anything Dickens. He WAS paid by the word, and it shows. I'd much
> rather gouge my own eyes out with rusty forks than be forced to read "A
> Tale of Two Cities" again. The only thing he ever committed to paper
> that's even tolerable to read is "Oliver Twist". You want "ponderous,
> overwrought prose"? It's name is Dickens.
>
I think a lot of that has to do with the nature of the writing. Anything
like that that appeared in bits and pieces daily or weekly for a year or
more is bound to be ponderous. Have you ever read "A Christmas Carol"? I
can't believe that the same man who wrote that inflicted the Pickwick
Papers and Nicholas Nickleby on us. <G>
Tony
Commander Cuddles
<gr...@despair.dmiyu.org> wrote:
>
> Hmmmm, the first 200 pages of _Atlas Shrugged_ almost counts but serves
>quite well to set up all the characters and how they will interact throughout
>the rest of the book. The 40 (or was it 70?) page monologue late in the same
>book certainly does. I my pace on that section was 3 pages a day. That's all
>I could muster.
Didja ever see the South Park ep where the bookmobile man was trying
to teach kids to read. The police man (Ok nothing to see here move
along) had to go back to school to learn to read. It was the "Chicken
Fucker" ep.
Anyway there were a few references to that book.
Brenda
"Never underestimate the elasticity of the Anal Sphincter"
Benton to Weaver on ER
Jader
> On Thu, 03 Jan 2002 11:27:13 -0600, Beth Cole <eac...@amber.emporia.edu>
> wrote:
> > What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
>
> quite well to set up all the characters and how they will interact throughout
> the rest of the book. The 40 (or was it 70?) page monologue late in the same
> book certainly does. I my pace on that section was 3 pages a day. That's all
> I could muster.
You're a better man than I. After slogging through about 150 pages of
Atlas Shrugged, I tossed it aside, throughly convinced it was one of
those books no one has actually read, but everyone nattered about at
cocktail parties in an effort to appear well read. A snob appeal book
if you will, the kind that will earn you little more than rolled eyes
if you dare to admit you found it more suited for wiping one's bum
while camping than actually reading.
Jade
who can call her mother if she wants to be bored witless,
thankyouverymuch
Jadite
>> What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
>>
Marley Greiner replied, in part ...
>Anything by James Fenimore Cooper.
In the unlikely event you haven't read Mark Twain's essay on the literary
offenses of James Fenimore Cooper, by all means do so. It's brilliant --
and accurate.
My vote is for anything by Henry James. He is the most crashing bore who
ever put pen to paper. Joseph Conrad is up there, too. It'll probably be
considered a blasphemy by some to admit I could never stomach Tolkien,
either.
However, I actually liked Ayn Rand and read "Atlas Shrugged" twice and "The
Fountainhead" three times -- for pleasure.
Steve Lamb
> You're a better man than I. After slogging through about 150 pages of
> Atlas Shrugged, I tossed it aside, throughly convinced it was one of
> those books no one has actually read, but everyone nattered about at
> cocktail parties in an effort to appear well read. A snob appeal book
> if you will, the kind that will earn you little more than rolled eyes
> if you dare to admit you found it more suited for wiping one's bum
> while camping than actually reading.
Let me put this in perspective. I made it through Stephen R. Donaldson's
Thomas Covenant series. All 6 books. 600 pages a piece. I made it through
his Gap series. 5 books, 600 pages a piece except for the first book which
was a light 300. On top of that for some reason unknown to me I read Anne
Rice's vampire series up to Memnoc /and/ her rather painful Mayfair Witches
series. Let's call it 450 a pop there. Let's see. That's, oh, call it 10350
of some of the most boring pages ever written. The meager 1100 pages of _Atlas
Shrugged_ is but a cakewalk after all that.
Of course this also proves something else. I am a total masochist when it
comes to reading since I just don't know when to give up on a book or a series
once I start it up. Further evidence of this is evident in the fact that I am
currently working though the two Stephen R. Donaldson books which are short
stories. At least I gave up on Anne Rice after the disgrace that was called
Memnoc.
Corine Kling
classic, but I
just don't care!
Cori
Marley Greiner
Marley
"Linda Causey" <l...@tca.net> wrote in message
news:a12ijg$oim$1...@news.tamu.edu...
Marley Greiner
"Jadite" <jad...@nopigparts.veg> wrote in message
news:u39n6s4...@corp.supernews.com...
> Beth Cole wrote, in part ...
> >> What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
> >>
>
> Marley Greiner replied, in part ...
> >Anything by James Fenimore Cooper.
>
> In the unlikely event you haven't read Mark Twain's essay on the literary
> offenses of James Fenimore Cooper, by all means do so. It's brilliant --
> and accurate.
Yeah, I've read that. I believe that DH Lawrence also published a wonderful
essay. on Cooper. You know I really like the Last of the Mohicans movies
(all of the through the years), but the Natty Bumpo series is so bad.....I
had to read the Deerslayer in American Lit class, and I couldn't finish it.
Screw the grade. The professor didn't like it either.
Marley
>
Marley Greiner
"Jadite" <jad...@nopigparts.veg> wrote in message
news:u39n6s4...@corp.supernews.com...
> >> What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
> >>
>
> Marley Greiner replied, in part ...
> >Anything by James Fenimore Cooper.
I forgot to mention Vanity Fair. I read the first 20 pages and couldn't go
any farther.
Marley
Jim Mowreader
> Didja ever see the South Park ep where the bookmobile man was trying
> to teach kids to read. The police man (Ok nothing to see here move
> along) had to go back to school to learn to read. It was the "Chicken
> Fucker" ep.
>
> Anyway there were a few references to that book.
You mean where the chicken fucker took Barbrady from "Teetle the Timid
Taxidermist" and "Bumbly Wumbly and the Spotted Spacecraft" straight to
"Atlas Shrugged"? IIRC, it's what convinced Barbrady never to read again.
--
--jmowreader
xp...@earthlink.net
Marley Greiner
Another one comes to mind: Hidden Passions, the prequel to the Passions
soap. I bought it only to get background material. It was truly dreadful
and barely readable. . I read it nearly in one sitting while I was having
some really horrendous downloading problems--5 minutes to download a page
for research I was doing-- with my old computer. So I just sat there and
read waiting for pages to come up. To make it worse James Reilly, the
creator and chief writer of Passions, has now re-written his own history
found in the book. There were supposed to be a series of books, but
mercifully, only one has been published so far.
Marley
Dorheca
> > I'm stealing shamelessly from another newsgroup, but I thought this
> >
> > What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
>
> English class and I hated it with a passion. I may be misremembering, but
> I'm pretty certain they paid Sir Wally by the word on that one. He took
> something like 150 pages to tell a story that could have been just as well
> told in less than 50.
>
> Meri
> Damned story wasn't even that interesting...
Oh Ivanhoe - rapture - its one of my favorites!!!! Such a love story
on so many levels. Sigh. My absolute favorite that was, at one time,
the book I thought to be the most boring is Pride and Prejudice. I
hated in in high school. I forced my self to re-read it and fell in
love.
Now, most boring, hmmmm...... Mary Shelly's Frankenstein
(snooooorrrrree) followed closely by Brahm Stoker's Dracula - I could
not get through it!
Dorheca
Critter
"Corine Kling" <ckl...@kevinkling.tzo.com> wrote in message
news:3C34E0B5...@kevinkling.tzo.com...
Thank you. I was made to read this in high school. I am against
book banning, but I think some should come with 'warning: this is
boring and stupid' stickers.
Steve Lamb
> OK--does anyone, when reading for pleasure, skip over parts in an
> otherwise interesting book that are kind of boring?
I don't.
sfw
>
> Tolkien's "The Silmarillion." Has anybody read that book and actually enjoyed
> it? Ugh.
I am a Tolkien FIEND. I have never finished it. It was his history,
not part of the story. I do NOT think it has a very wide appeal. (The
DH, only recently come to Tolkien, loved it. Then again, he has a
history fascination in a horrid, engineer sort of way - that is, he is
very detail oriented and a completist. They are the ONLY people who
could read that, I think.)
> The Bible. I have yet to find a version of it that's truly readable and
> enjoyable. Parts of it are good or great literature, and parts of it
> draaaaagggggg. I suppose that's what happens when a work is written by many
> authors and translated many times over by people of varying talents.
Yeah, I have read the whole thing. Yeah, it is better in some places
than in others. Same for the Book of the Dead, The Eddas, the Koran,
the Book of Mormon... I think that your reasons are right, and apply to
most books of that sort.
Sarah
Aynthem
Beth Cole wrote in message <3C349471...@amber.emporia.edu>...
>I'm stealing shamelessly from another newsgroup, but I thought this
>group might find this generates some interesting discussion ...
>
>What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
Most of the adult fiction I've read has been assignment reading -- I
personally prefer history, sociology, and biography. The bar-none worst,
most boring waste of ink and cellulose I've ever been forced to read was
Dickens' _Tale of Two Cities_. Maudlin drivel that was the serialized soap
opera of its day with itsknee-jerk emotionalism and thinly veiled allegory.
Then again, all Dickens is painful, but not nearly this much. That was the
only time I turned to Cliff's Notes (1) for help with comprehension, because
I simply couldn't care about anything happening in the book.
I also tried to read _The Hobbit_, and, failing to be the slightest bit
interested by that, _The Lord of the Rings_. Didn't get past the first
chapter. And for "children's literature", Lewis's _The Chronicles of
Narnia_ were snooze inducing.
Melody (who will never, ever, ever read Dickens again in any way, shape, or
form)
1) Cliff's Notes are short condensed outlines of books outlining the
characters, plots, and motivations of a given book. Used by students across
America to avoid actually having to read a book and figure out what the
author is trying to say in preparation for endless school testing and book
reports.
Aynthem
Jader wrote in message >You're a better man than I. After slogging through
about 150 pages of
>Atlas Shrugged, I tossed it aside, throughly convinced it was one of
>those books no one has actually read, but everyone nattered about at
>cocktail parties in an effort to appear well read. A snob appeal book
>if you will, the kind that will earn you little more than rolled eyes
>if you dare to admit you found it more suited for wiping one's bum
>while camping than actually reading.
It's the kind of book that people either love or hate. Myself, I've read it
all the way through, including Galt's Speech and all the other objectivist
philosophy parts, about 20 times now, or twice a year, on average. But,
then again, I do call myself Aynthem for a reason.
Rand was an outline writer for the motion picture industry after she
immigrated to America, before her successful Broadway play gave her some
ready cash. There are moments in her fiction that are absolutely gripping,
where she draws you into the book's world with vivid, picture-drawing
writing that makes you feel like you're actually living the story; those
moments are the relics of her movie writing and occur with less frequency in
her later fiction. _Atlas Shrugged_ after Galt's Speech is fantastic in
that regard (and I find the chapter early in the book where Dagny flashes
back to her childhood with Francisco unputdownable as well), as is the story
of Kira's desperate struggle to get Leo to a sanitarium in _We the Living_.
But, YMMV, and I would never presume to expect any one like a book because I
do. I can't understand this whole Tolkien thing, myself. But I did want to
let you know that there are people out there who are masochistic and/or
philosophically enquiring enough to have actually read every word of _Atlas
Shrugged_!
Melody
Sulpicia
this was fiction or not, because I couldn't get paste page 10 (and I'm a
person who HAS to be reading -- the cereal box will do in a pinch).
Unfortunately, my Victorian Literature professor thought this book was the
key to all Victorian era thought. Every essay topic was "compare 'x' to
Sartor Resartus. I didn't do well in that course.
Lady Chatterly's lover, or indeed anything by D.H. Lawrence, is a real
snorer.
Sulpicia
Ryenna
>otherwise interesting book that are kind of boring?
I did once... never again. It was a little blurb at the beginning of a chapter
of book two in a quartet. I already knew what had happened in book one so I
skipped the recap (which was all it seemed to be). Imagine my suprise when I
find it had one (1! UNO!) sentence which stated the fact that a somewhat
obscure character had died. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if the
character had truly been inconsequential but her death meant that a completely
different character was introduced in her place.
When the new character was introduced (and I knew it would be important later
in the series) I was quite shocked and had to go back and re-read the book to
find what I'd missed.
As for my most boring read... well, I tried to get into Paradise Lost but I
just couldn't. Ever. So I didn't read it, bullshitted through a ten page
paper on it and got an A-.
-Ry
--
"Hey kids, check out my BONE SAW!"
-Manny Calavera "Grim Fandango"
Ian Harvey
<Colleen Condron> wrote in message
news:o31a3usfh4vog6boa...@4ax.com...
> Red Badge of Courage. AAARGH. Had to read that TWICE in school,
> and I don't think I EVER made it through.
>
> OK--does anyone, when reading for pleasure, skip over parts in an
> otherwise interesting book that are kind of boring?
>
>
I think I'm noticing a pattern here, boring books are the ones you have to
read.
I'm still seconding the votes for ghormenghast and Steven Donaldsons Gap
though.
Ian
Michelle Martin
Beth Cole <eac...@amber.emporia.edu> wrote:
> I'm stealing shamelessly from another newsgroup, but I thought this
> group might find this generates some interesting discussion ...
>
> What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
>
> For me, it is/was The Raj Quartet, which lead off with The Jewel in The
> Crown. I loved the Masterpiece Theatre series by that name, taping
> every episode and watching it at least three times, so my mom got me the
> books (figuring that since I could get through the average fiction novel
> in about 2 days, these would at least slow me down).
>
> I couldn't get past about the 2nd chapter of the first book. I
> desperately wanted to like the books, but they just plodded terribly. I
> know that the writers for the TV series must have taken a great many
> liberties with the story.
>
> A close second is the first half of Tolkein's Fellowship of the Rings.
> I made it through THAT once. I doubt I could do so again.
>
> What about everyone else?
>
> Beth
Lake Woebegon Days, by Garrison Keillor. Only book I can remember not
finishing, although I tried. I kept waiting for it to get funny, since
that was what it was advertised as being. It's not.
Also, even though I loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy and raced
through them, it took me three tries to get through The Hobbit. Don't
know why.
Michelle
--
"I love mankind; it's people I can't stand!" - Linus Van Pelt
Michelle Martin
Ouch. I loved Nicholas Nickleby (couldn't get through Pickwick Papers).
Also loved David Copperfield. Personally, I think A Christmas Carol is
a treacly piece of crap.
Michelle Martin
Colleen Condron wrote:
> Red Badge of Courage. AAARGH. Had to read that TWICE in school,
> and I don't think I EVER made it through.
Known to me and my classmates as "The Red Barge of Garbage."
> OK--does anyone, when reading for pleasure, skip over parts in an
> otherwise interesting book that are kind of boring?
>
> Colleen
>
Yep. Especially if rereading.
Lynn
Gone With The Wind.
I made it to page 27.
Lynn
TDS_Azathoth
Ack! Blasphemy it is!
However, I agree with you on Rand. I thought the Fountainhead was
much better than Atlas Shrugged. That monologue from John Galt at the
end bored me to tears. I skipped about half of it.
As for most boring book, I'd have to say David Copperfield by Dickens.
I honestly tried, but I just couldn't do it. The first part is
somewhat ok, because of his awful upbringing (why does that sell?
Check out the Harry Potter books), but once he's on his own, who
cares?
On the previous aside, I just read all 4 Harry Potter books, and I
thoroughly enjoyed them (I'm 30, in case you're wondering). I was
making fun of my girlfriend because she was reading them, then I
decided to pick one up to find out what it was all about, and that was
that. How embarrasing!
Maybe it's just because I know that if there was such a place I would
have been accepted to Hogwart's...
Az
Joe Fazoo
> The Bible. I have yet to find a version of it that's truly readable and
> enjoyable. Parts of it are good or great literature, and parts of it
> draaaaagggggg. I suppose that's what happens when a work is written by many
> authors and translated many times over by people of varying talents.
>
> Grim
I've read the Bible cover to cover seven times, and some of it --
particularly the unending "Raphishaf begat Lologit, and Lologit begat
Nuphidoo, and Nuphidoo begat Labbubab" are damn near impossible to get
through without falling asleep.
On the other hand, the Bible is full of useful household hints, such as
what you should do if your house gets leprosy (Leviticus 14:33).
Joe
Joe Fazoo
> However, I actually liked Ayn Rand and read "Atlas Shrugged" twice and "The
> Fountainhead" three times -- for pleasure.
"Atlas Shrugged" is one of my all-time favorites. It's long, a bit
dated here and there, but well worth the time. If Michener had been
female, a better writer, and an Objectivist, he'd have been Ayn Rand.
Joe
Gregory Morrow
>
> My vote is for anything by Henry James. He is the most crashing bore who
> ever put pen to paper. Joseph Conrad is up there, too. It'll probably be
> considered a blasphemy by some to admit I could never stomach Tolkien,
> either.
Lol...one summer in college I took a course in Tolkien -- had to read
LOTR, and I thought I was going to die. I had to struggle to get a C
in the course (and I aced most all my literature courses). I loathe
him to this day.
And yeah, James is a bore. A whiles back I got some of his stuff
cheap at a thrift shop. I tried and tried to read it, but I ended up
putting the leaden tomes on the "book exchange" table in my apartment
laundry room -- where they languished for months ;-)
> However, I actually liked Ayn Rand and read "Atlas Shrugged" twice and "The
> Fountainhead" three times -- for pleasure.
Brave ;)
Gregory Morrow
> Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
*Anything* by Hemingway - what a bunch of macho crap!
Joe Fazoo
>
> I'm stealing shamelessly from another newsgroup, but I thought this
>
> What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
>
> Crown. I loved the Masterpiece Theatre series by that name, taping
> every episode and watching it at least three times, so my mom got me the
> books (figuring that since I could get through the average fiction novel
> in about 2 days, these would at least slow me down).
>
> I couldn't get past about the 2nd chapter of the first book. I
> desperately wanted to like the books, but they just plodded terribly. I
> know that the writers for the TV series must have taken a great many
> liberties with the story.
>
> A close second is the first half of Tolkein's Fellowship of the Rings.
> I made it through THAT once. I doubt I could do so again.
>
> What about everyone else?
>
> Beth
> In the United States, one hundred years is a long time. In Europe, one
> hundred miles is a long distance. It's all in the perspective.
>
> my home page: http://www.IsleOfSky.net
The only book I've ever abandoned without finishing was James Michener's
"Space." After trudging my way through all seventy-six million pages of
his "Hawaii" and a couple of his others, I got so bored with "Space"
that I just tossed it halfway through.
The clincher for me came when one of his American astronaut characters
was said to have come from the state of "Fremont." For a book which
purported to be realistic fiction about the space program, it certainly
seemed odd that Michener felt it necessary to invent a fictitious state
for no apparent reason whatsoever -- especially since, given the
geographic references in the book, it was clear that "Fremont" must have
been either Kansas or Nebraska or Iowa. Why not just use a real state?
This, combined with Michener's tendency to use a thousand words when one
would do just as well, finally pushed me over the edge. That was about
ten years ago, and I've never read anything by him (or even made the
attempt) since.
Joe
Kent
: I think I'm noticing a pattern here, boring books are the ones you have to
: read.
Well, those would presumably be the only ones that someone would have read
(after finding boring!). I mean, I can imagine LOTS of really, really
boring books, but I'm not going to even crack the covers so I can't
exactly "vote" them most boring.
FYI, I believe some poll or other once named _The Pilgrams Progress_ as
the most boring book.
Kent
Kent
:> > Oh - anything Dickens. He WAS paid by the word, and it shows. I'd much
: Ouch. I loved Nicholas Nickleby (couldn't get through Pickwick Papers).
: Also loved David Copperfield. Personally, I think A Christmas Carol is
: a treacly piece of crap.
I had to read _Hard Times_ for a history class (as a picture of the
"workhouse" lifestyle) and found it completely gripping and was going to
completely immerse myself in Dickens (I do like Realism--I loved _Pere
Goriot_ of all things for that reason). Of course, I never did...
And, John Irving seems to fancy himself a modern-day Dickens, which might
explain why I'm such an Irving fan (although behind on his books).
Kent
Kent
[C. Dickens]
: I think a lot of that has to do with the nature of the writing. Anything
: like that that appeared in bits and pieces daily or weekly for a year or
: more is bound to be ponderous.
Ooh, gotta disagree: Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City" books were
originally serialized, thus the chapters are very short, but I LOVE to
reread and reread them over and over (they're great for bathroom reading
when you just gotta grab something on the way to the john). The quirky
characters, clever twists and witty prose make me chuckle just as much the
45th time through as the first.
Kent
Kent
: Dickens' _Tale of Two Cities_. Maudlin drivel that was the serialized
: soap opera of its day with itsknee-jerk emotionalism and thinly veiled
: allegory. Then again, all Dickens is painful, but not nearly this much.
: That was the only time I turned to Cliff's Notes (1) for help with
: comprehension, because I simply couldn't care about anything happening
: in the book.
Ah! Your mention of Cliff's Notes made me remember the only time *I* ever
had to use them: Thomas Hardy's _Return of the Native_. I actually felt
ashamed buying the Cliff's Notes, but was desparate (and hid them from my
mother). Fast-forward to nowadays, where the Moos go storming in
bookstores DEMANDING Cliff's Notes for every book on Sprogley's reading
list, whining how "those teachers actually expect them to read and
understand this book! I can't believe it!" [true story, repeated many
times].
Kent
Charleen Bunjiovianna
>
>The strangest
>bunch I ever saw work themselves into a navel-gazing lather over
>"Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" were a gaggle of borderline
>Marxists.
You're right; that's some weird shit.
Thanks for the clarification.
Charleen
Citizen Ted
<eac...@amber.emporia.edu> wrote:
>I'm stealing shamelessly from another newsgroup, but I thought this
>group might find this generates some interesting discussion ...
>
>What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
OK.
I don't want everyone in this forum to kill me at once.
Please take your turn. Line up, keep down the noise, then feel
free to kill me one at a time.
Ready? OK.
I simply cannot stand anything by Douglas Adams. Period.
Now, I know what you're going to say:
"But, Ted! You're EXACTLY the kind of person that would like
Doug Adams! It's weird and obtuse and relevant! It's great!"
If I had a dime for every person that said that to me, I could
purchase hard covers of every Douglas Adams book, then summarily toss
them all one chapter deep. I couldn't get through Hitchhiker's Guide,
Life, the Universe and Everything or Restaurant at the End of the
Universe. I tried. Feh. Three strikes, he's OUT.
Fact is, I find his humor forced and uninvolving.
"Ooh! Look how zany THIS concept is! Oooh! Look at how I turn
cultural quirks into absurd science-fiction-like metaphors! Har har!"
Yeah, yeah. Real funny.
What's most disturbing is the fact that I'm delighted by
science and philosophy. By the standards of the buying public, I
should fit right into the Doug Adams fan club. But I find his
allegories sophomoric and his approach downright dull.
The only authors of satire or humor that I find funny are the
ones that relate something heartfelt, with the humor sublimating from
the wake of the words, not from the words or concepts themselves.
Every time I've picked up a Douglas Adams book, I get the
immediate feeling that he sat down and thought, "Ooooh! This will be
really funny!" or "Oooooh! If I make a twist of that, then couch it in
a funny term or phrase, it will be funny! Har har!"
Well, it isn't.
The best thing Douglas Adams did for literature was to die.
- TR
- preparing for the outrage.
ObFunny: PJ O'Rourke, Hunter Thompson, Al Franken, Peter Bagge
and Jim Goad.
Charleen Bunjiovianna
>
>Lake Woebegon Days, by Garrison Keillor. Only book I can remember not
>finishing, although I tried. I kept waiting for it to get funny, since
>that was what it was advertised as being. It's not.
Agreed. _We Are Still Married_ is pretty much a total loss, too.
We tuned in to PHC the other day only to discover that Keillor was going
off yet again on Jesse Ventura. Boring crap. I hate it when someone
uses their popularity as an entertainer to promote their political agenda.
Don't they ever notice how stoopid it makes them look?
Charleen
Charleen Bunjiovianna
>
>Ouch. I loved Nicholas Nickleby (couldn't get through Pickwick Papers).
>Also loved David Copperfield. Personally, I think A Christmas Carol is
>a treacly piece of crap.
Hey, Michelle: How about _Bleak House_ and _Little Dorrit_? (Two of my
favorites...) _The Old Curiosity Shop_ is just too depressing.
Charleen
Aynthem
Lorz wrote in message <3C353ACF...@pacifier.com>...
>x-no-archive: yes
>
>Aynthem wrote:
>
>> 1) Cliff's Notes are short condensed outlines of books outlining the
>> characters, plots, and motivations of a given book. Used by students
across
>> America to avoid actually having to read a book and figure out what the
>> author is trying to say in preparation for endless school testing and
book
>> reports.
>
I didn't know that, but a short search confirmed that, indeed, Mr. Cliff
Hillegass, founder of Cliff's Notes, died of a stroke May 5, 2001. He had
sold Cliff's Notes to IDG books in 1999 for US $14 million, after growing
the business from an initial $4000 investment in 1958.
Melody
Charleen Bunjiovianna
>
>The clincher for me came when one of his American astronaut characters
>was said to have come from the state of "Fremont." For a book which
>purported to be realistic fiction about the space program, it certainly
>seemed odd that Michener felt it necessary to invent a fictitious state
>for no apparent reason whatsoever -- especially since, given the
>geographic references in the book, it was clear that "Fremont" must have
>been either Kansas or Nebraska or Iowa. Why not just use a real state?
Interesting. I assumed "Fremont" was California, after General John
C. Fremont.
Charleen
J.W.T. Meakin
>
> Tolkien's "The Silmarillion." Has anybody read that book and actually enjoyed
> it? Ugh.
Loved it.
My candidate: Dickens, "Our Mutual Friend".
It's quite possibly the only book I started and did not finish.
Bill.
J.W.T. Meakin
>
> Red Badge of Courage. AAARGH. Had to read that TWICE in school,
> and I don't think I EVER made it through.
Loved it. Bill.
J.W.T. Meakin
>
> My vote is for anything by Henry James. He is the most crashing bore who
> ever put pen to paper. Joseph Conrad is up there, too. It'll probably be
> considered a blasphemy by some to admit I could never stomach Tolkien,
> either.
How tastes differ. I positively revel in Conrad. Bill.
Jason G
>
>I couldn't past the first 30-40 pages of "Chesapeake." I thought that Indian
>would never stop paddling down that damn inlet.
>
LOL! I did read the whole book, but I know exactly the scene you are talking
about.
--
Jason G
"The fact that no one understands you
does not make you an artist."
J.W.T. Meakin
>
> Lady Chatterly's lover, or indeed anything by D.H. Lawrence, is a real
> snorer.
Agree! Though my description would be: as tedious as all get-out.
Bill.
Steve Lamb
wrote:
> The first Star Wars novel (the novel of the film) had his name on it, but
> Alan Dean Foster wrote it.
In all honesty I think this was pre-film. The book was most certainly not
an adaptation of the movie as pretty much every detail up to the introduction
of Luke (which is as far as I could get) was off in a big way that no
novelization of a movie ever is. They're either dead on or add to in ways the
visual medium doesn't allow (characters thoughts, etc) but never completely
altered in major ways.
--
Steve C. Lamb | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
ICQ: 5107343 | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
To email: Don't despair! | -- Lenny Nero, Strange Days
-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------
Jason Steiner
>
> I simply cannot stand anything by Douglas Adams. Period.
>
> The best thing Douglas Adams did for literature was to die.
>
> - TR
> - preparing for the outrage.
>
> ObFunny: PJ O'Rourke, Hunter Thompson, Al Franken, Peter Bagge
> and Jim Goad.
I think P.J. O'Rourke and Douglas Adams had the same problem. Started
out with something original and howlingly funny, and just got less
original and less funny as time went on.
Especially since P.J. became a breeder.
jason
--
Alles, was deine Hand zu tun findet, das tue in deiner Kraft!
Denn es gibt weder Tun noch Berechnung, noch Kenntnis, noch
Weisheit im Scheol, in den du gehst.
Prediger 9:10
Lots42
The true story of a bunch of idiots who built a raft and sailed across some
fucking ocean or another. We spent goddamn weeks on that in middle school, with
all the other fumbly-mouthed, nearly illeterate fuckers spitting out word after
word like they're three year olds reading 'Red Riding Hood'. I fell alseep god
knows how many times and the teacher had students throw towels at me (and the
other people who fell asleep).
I think the teacher was psychotic in the first place.
--
- "When life gives you lemons, activate the death robot."
- Read comic books. They won't bite. You just might enjoy one. -
- Proud member of the 'He-Man Child-Hater's Club'.
- http://www.livejournal.com/users/lots42/
Lots42
One plot twist happens. Then that is it. Everyone stands around and bitches.
Lots42
>I didn't know that, but a short search confirmed that, indeed, Mr. Cliff
>Hillegass, founder of Cliff's Notes, died of a stroke May 5, 2001.
To sum up, 'Cliff - stroke - 01'.
Lots42
>The Lord of the Rings_. Didn't get past the first
>chapter.
AAAAARRRRGGHHHH!!!
NOOOOO!!!!
*Sob*
Scan through the first part until Frodo and his merry band of dorks leave the
damn Shire. THAT'S when it starts getting interesting. The chase to the ferry,
the elven band on the road...it just gets better then from there.
(Frodo's cool but gawd he lived with a bunch of idiots)
Lots42
>Fast-forward to nowadays, where the Moos go storming in
>bookstores DEMANDING Cliff's Notes for every book on Sprogley's reading
>list, whining how "those teachers actually expect them to read and
>understand this book! I can't believe it!" [true story, repeated many
>times].
>
>
>Kent
This problem has been solved.
By assigning the MOVIE.
(Either that or sad and pathetic guilt ridden students are lying to the
innocent Blockbuster cashier).
Lots42
>I simply cannot stand anything by Douglas Adams. Period.
>
> Now, I know what you're going to say:
>
> "But, Ted! You're EXACTLY the kind of person that would like
>Doug Adams! It's weird and obtuse and relevant! It's great!"
I know what you mean.
I only read all of the Arthur Dent stuff because Arthur and Ford were too damn
interesting to put down. Why Tim Curry never played Ford in a big budget
extravaganze is beyond me.
The rest of his stuff is utter shite.
Lots42
> TR
> - preparing for the outrage.
>
> ObFunny: PJ O'Rourke
Witless burnt out faux rebel
>Hunter Thompson,
Oh, I smoke dope! Look at me! WANK WANK WANK
>Al Franken,
Liberal cocksucker.
Tigr Ize29
>classic, but I
>just don't care!
>
Yep. The only things I remember about CitR are 1. the protagonist's name
(Holden Caulfield) and 2. Serial killers like it.
See also, The Old Man and the Sea and my literary nemesis, _Of Mice And Men_.
CRAP! I don't mind an unhappy ending every once in a while but this one just
makes you want to shoot *yourself* in the head.
---
Mari B.
"We all live in a house on fire, no fire department to call; no way out, just
the upstairs window to look out of while the fire burns the house down with us
trapped, locked in it."
-Tennessee Williams
Tigr Ize29
>though.
Gotta disagree with Gormenghast, the characters are all insane and the prose is
so purple, it's ultraviolet. I'm halfway through and loving every sentence. :)
But, I admit to being a book geek and a speed reader. I wouldn't say I adored
_Atlas Shrugged_ but I finished it and it definitely had its moments. Plus it
was good background reading for the enormous, fractured, Discordian
_Illuminatus!_ trilogy.
Silvermoon
"Ethan Fromme" I dragged my way through that book :P
stePH
>
> On Thu, 03 Jan 2002 21:12:58 GMT, Rob Novak <rob....@home.com> wrote:
> > Hands down, "Atlas Shrugged". Ended up with a copy of it from
> > somewhere, and it became one of the handful of books in my life that I
> > started and absolutely could not finish. That doesn't, however, keep
> > scores of Young Socialists from masturbating feverishly over its pages.
>
> *snicker* *chuckle* *snort*
>
> Uhm, you are aware that _Atlas Shrugged_ is a novel in which Socialism is
> the antagonist, right? Pick it back up, work past the first 200 pages.
> That's all setup and things don't start happening until that point.
>
Whyinhell slog through 200 dreary pages on the dubious promise that it
gets better after that?
stePH
--
"Learning to dislike children at an early age saves a lot of expense and
aggravation later in life." -- Robert Byrne
Charleen Bunjiovianna
>Bonfire Of The Vanities- Avoid it all costs. Most boring piece of shit ever.
>One plot twist happens. Then that is it. Everyone stands around and bitches.
Add _A Man in Full_. Tom Wolfe's been skating for years on the
hype of _The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test_. How does he do it?
Does a white suit convey an air of literary holiness?
Charleen
Silvermoon
> On Thu, 03 Jan 2002 11:27:13 -0600, Beth Cole
> <eac...@amber.emporia.edu> wrote:
>What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
"Ethan Fromme" I dragged my way through that book :P
Jojo
Nostromo - Joseph Conrad (like wading through tar in a fur coat)
The Promise - Danielle Steele (*shamefaced glance at shoes* --this one
was made into a truly appalling movie. Check
http://www.jabootu.com/images/promise.htm --my comments are at the
bottom.)
The Hawkmoon Series - Michael Moorcock (Loved Elric, loved Corum, but
this could make a hummingbird doze off in mid-flight.)
Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Not only depressing as all
get out but turgid as h*ll. Not fiction, of course.)
Notes from the Underground - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (You are a BORING
man.)
Pippi
Chris Henderson
> Beth Cole wrote:
> > What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
>
> "Space." After trudging my way through all seventy-six million pages of
> his "Hawaii" and a couple of his others, I got so bored with "Space"
> that I just tossed it halfway through.
The same thing happened with me when I read his book "Texas". It's
huge and I just got bogged down and set it aside and have never picked
it up again.
Another one I've never finished is called "Sarum". I can't remember
the author's name but it's on my bookshelf at home (I'm at work), so I
can check and post back later. It's about the history of England and
it goes on and on and on...
The only other book I never finished was "The Grapes of Wrath" in
highschool. It was required reading but I found it so depressing, I
couldn't bear to finish it!
chenders
(who needs to re-read LOTR now before watching the movie)
Jadite
>> What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
>
>Rainbow, hating every minute of it. I still don't know why I
>bothered--ugh. Overrated crap.
I disagree, because I'm quite the Pynchon fan. I liked "Gravity's Rainbow,"
but I preferred "V" and have read it several times. I also enjoyed 'The
Crying of Lot 49."
However, "Mason & Dixon" I've tried to read at least twice and simply
haven't been able to get into -- never could get past the first few
chapters.
And while I did like "Atlas Shrugged," I must admit to skimming through the
Galt Manifesto each time I read the book. Ayn Rand really did go overboard
there.
Colleen Condron
wrote:
>There is something about Garrison Keillor's voice that really gets under my skin. It gives me almost a
>physical reaction. I love NPR, but I always change the station whenever I hear him. Am I the only one?
>
Nope. I only listen to PHC about twice a year....when I'm at the
station on the air during the show during our fund drive. I
don't get him...some stuff is humorous, but I don't really care
for the show. However.....lots of people do. I really think
he's a love him or hate him kind of guy. Kind of like the Car
Talk guys.
Colleen
Anthony J. Bryant
> Anthony J. Bryant said ...
>
> Q:The first Star Wars novel (the novel of the film) had his name on it, but Alan
> Q:Dean Foster wrote it.
> Q:
> There was a pre-cast Star Wars novel with stylized drawings
> of Luke and Leia a couple of years before the movie came out, the
> one where the Millennium Falcon made the Kessel run in "less than
> twelve standard time parts", not "less than twelve parsecs" a la
> the movie.
That was Alan Dean Foster. Lucas' name was on it because it was "his" movie/story. In
the deal. Foster got to write "Splinter in the Mind's Eye."
Tony
SnowCat
L. Ron Hubbard Mission Earth. got 100 pages into the first book and tosses it
across the room.
Stuck it in the fireplace and burned it one night, I was so damn irritated with
it.
Thank the ghods I got it in a remainder bin.
--
SnowCat
The Ice Wench - Peu de Noir Coeur
Wench #48 Madame Cum Laude
IDIC
Anthony J. Bryant
> In article <3C34D779...@indiana.edu>,
> "Anthony J. Bryant" <ajbr...@indiana.edu> wrote:
>
> >
> > I think a lot of that has to do with the nature of the writing. Anything
> > like that that appeared in bits and pieces daily or weekly for a year or
> > more is bound to be ponderous. Have you ever read "A Christmas Carol"? I
> > can't believe that the same man who wrote that inflicted the Pickwick
> > Papers and Nicholas Nickleby on us. <G>
> >
> > Tony
> >
>
> Ouch. I loved Nicholas Nickleby (couldn't get through Pickwick Papers).
> Also loved David Copperfield. Personally, I think A Christmas Carol is
> a treacly piece of crap.
>
Yes, but it's a tightly written, SHORT treacly piece of crap. <G>
Tony
Anthony J. Bryant
> Tolkien's "The Silmarillion." Has anybody read that book and actually enjoyed
> it? Ugh.
>
Yup. Loved it. Some parts more than others, though.
> Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment," in one translation I read. Another
> translation was very good.
>
Actually, this is an important issue issue lots of "great literature" of the world.
An inspired translator can keep the magic and quality alive, while a more
workmanlike one will leave readers going, "so what's the deal?"
Tony
Anthony J. Bryant
> Grim wrote:
>
> > The Bible. I have yet to find a version of it that's truly readable and
> > enjoyable. Parts of it are good or great literature, and parts of it
> > draaaaagggggg. I suppose that's what happens when a work is written by many
> > authors and translated many times over by people of varying talents.
> >
> > Grim
>
> I've read the Bible cover to cover seven times, and some of it --
> particularly the unending "Raphishaf begat Lologit, and Lologit begat
> Nuphidoo, and Nuphidoo begat Labbubab" are damn near impossible to get
> through without falling asleep.
Ummm.... Labbubab begat Lologit. Raphishaf doesn't appear for five more begats.
Details count.
<G>
Tony
Anthony J. Bryant
> Beth Cole wrote, in part ...
> >> What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
> >>
>
> Marley Greiner replied, in part ...
> >Anything by James Fenimore Cooper.
>
> In the unlikely event you haven't read Mark Twain's essay on the literary
> offenses of James Fenimore Cooper, by all means do so. It's brilliant --
> and accurate.
>
And one of the funniest things I've ever read.
"The boat has passed under and is now out of their reach. Let me explain what
the five did -- you would not be able to reason it out for yourself. No. 1
jumped for the boat, but fell in the water astern of it. Then No. 2 jumped for
the boat, but fell in the water still further astern of it. Then No. 3 jumped
for the boat, and fell a good way astern of it. Then No. 4 jumped for the
boat, and fell in the water away astern. Then even No. 5 made a jump for the
boat -- for he was Cooper Indian. In that matter of intellect, the difference
between a Cooper Indian and the Indian that stands in front of the cigar-shop
is not spacious."
It can be found at
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/projects/rissetto/offense.html
Tony
Anthony J. Bryant
>
> Add _A Man in Full_. Tom Wolfe's been skating for years on the
> hype of _The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test_. How does he do it?
> Does a white suit convey an air of literary holiness?
I don't know, but "The Right Stuff" was one of the best books I ever read. He made it all very
real to me. I could never read "Electric Kool-Aid"...
Tony
Anthony J. Bryant
Saturday Night Live had a Weekend Update on his death. "His funeral was be
on May 9, from 10am to 10:05."
Tony
Robert Myers
"SnowCat" <sno...@wench.org> wrote in message
news:3C35FE08...@wench.org...
> > On Thu, 03 Jan 2002 11:27:13 -0600, Beth Cole <eac...@amber.emporia.edu>
> > wrote:
> > > What, in your opinion, is the most boring work of fiction?
>
> L. Ron Hubbard Mission Earth. got 100 pages into the first book and tosses
it
> across the room.
>
> Stuck it in the fireplace and burned it one night, I was so damn irritated
with
> it.
>
> Thank the ghods I got it in a remainder bin.
Gug. I stuck it through the whole series. I don't know why I bothered.
Really bad: Dhalgren (Samuel Delaney?). I finished the book, and I STILL
don't know WTF it was about.
Gutterboy
>I disagree, because I'm quite the Pynchon fan. I liked "Gravity's Rainbow,"
>but I preferred "V" and have read it several times. I also enjoyed 'The
>Crying of Lot 49."
>
>However, "Mason & Dixon" I've tried to read at least twice and simply
>haven't been able to get into -- never could get past the first few
>chapters.
>
Oh, crap on a cracker! You just reminded me of the turgid-est, un-funnest, most
dreary sentence-mangler around: William Least Heat-Moon.
Some people loved "Blue Highways." I couldn't stomach it -- a writing style
like "The Bridges of Madison County" with verbal diarrhea. But NO ONE liked the
follow-up, "PrairyErth" [cq].
I just found an excerpt from it on the Web. Just cut-and-pasting it makes my
eyes glaze:
"Now: I've walked half this remnant, and I've found big bluestem and little
bluestem, silvery bluestem, cord grass, wild rye, sunflower, bundle flower,
catclaw sensitive briar, and also plants of the woodlands, including a clump of
garden iris from I don't know where. But this strip is not a relict Pleistocene
prairie because there probably never was much grass in this low spot in the
bottoms: a vestigial highway, yes, but a new prairie. The native forbs and
grasses have come in on the wind and maybe on the floods, and now they have
roots under the pavement, and soon the prairie plants will need fire to clear
away the shading and moisture-sucking trees, and until then the infant prairie
can do little more than begin...."
zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Gutterboy
---
"on october 12 i took my four children to chuckie cheese as for a reward on
there spelling test grade." -- from Planet Breedback
Gutterboy
>>There is something about Garrison Keillor's voice that really gets under
>my skin. It gives me almost a
>>physical reaction. I love NPR, but I always change the station whenever
>I hear him. Am I the only one?
>>
>Nope. I only listen to PHC about twice a year....when I'm at the
>station on the air during the show during our fund drive. I
>don't get him...some stuff is humorous, but I don't really care
>for the show.
Am I the only one who finds him breathtakingly condescending?
Steve Lamb
> As for most boring book, I'd have to say David Copperfield by Dickens. I
> honestly tried, but I just couldn't do it. The first part is somewhat ok,
> because of his awful upbringing (why does that sell? Check out the Harry
> Potter books), but once he's on his own, who cares?
Why does it sell? Because it feeds into the breeder's darkest, deepest
desires for their own children, that's why.
--
Steve C. Lamb | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
ICQ: 5107343 | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
To email: Don't despair! | -- Lenny Nero, Strange Days
-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------
Rabbit
> >One plot twist happens. Then that is it. Everyone stands around and bitches.
>
> Add _A Man in Full_. Tom Wolfe's been skating for years on the
> hype of _The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test_. How does he do it?
> Does a white suit convey an air of literary holiness?
>
Oh, dear. I'm halfway through "Man In Full", and while some of the
scenes could definitely use some trimming, I'm enjoying it thoroughly.
As I did "Bonfire".
Rabbit
Rabbit
Further to that, I just finished the part about the dinner party.
Croker's wife keeps mentioning that one of the guests is Jewish. Wolfe
also mentions that the dinner included ham and ham-studded beans. How
did that one slip by?
Rabbit
Charleen Bunjiovianna
>
>Really bad: Dhalgren (Samuel Delaney?). I finished the book, and I STILL
>don't know WTF it was about.
You too? As far as I could tell, it could have just been a long bizarre dream.
Charleen
Steve Lamb
wrote:
> I don't want everyone in this forum to kill me at once.
*Steve get's the preemptive strike* Boot to da head!
> Fact is, I find his humor forced and uninvolving.
I bet you don't like Terry Pratchett or Monty Python much, either, do you?
Rowen Atkinson?
Laurel
> The only book I've ever abandoned without finishing was James Michener's
> "Space." After trudging my way through all seventy-six million pages of
> his "Hawaii" and a couple of his others, I got so bored with "Space"
> that I just tossed it halfway through.
A friend of mine gave me a copy of "Hawaii" for my 13th birthday, and the
only way I could read it was to just skip the first chapter. It had
nothing to do with the rest of the story anyway. I used to drag that book
from class to class and read it during breaks. I was such a geek.
Anthony J. Bryant
Jewish != Kosher.
I used to regularly share shrimp cocktails with friends named Shapiro and
Sanz and...
Tony
Beth Cole
>
> Oh, crap on a cracker! You just reminded me of the turgid-est, un-funnest, most
> dreary sentence-mangler around: William Least Heat-Moon.
>
> Some people loved "Blue Highways." I couldn't stomach it -- a writing style
> like "The Bridges of Madison County" with verbal diarrhea. But NO ONE liked the
> follow-up, "PrairyErth" [cq].
>
Aiiiieeeeeee!
That was written about Chase County, Kansas. It's the next county over
from where I live.
The Local Arts Council is very proud of this, unfortunatley. In the 8
years we've lived here, they have on 4 separate occasions produced a
locally-written play that is an Adaptation of PrairyErth.
It sucks.
No one attends anymore. Everyone who has any desire to see the steaming
pile of crap has done so. But they can't just let the blasted thing die
a semi-graceful death.
Beth
--
In the United States, one hundred years is a long time. In Europe, one
hundred miles is a long distance. It's all in the perspective.
my home page: http://www.IsleOfSky.net
Charleen Bunjiovianna
>Wrote Colleen:
>
>>>There is something about Garrison Keillor's voice that really gets under
>>my skin. It gives me almost a
>>>physical reaction. I love NPR, but I always change the station whenever
>>I hear him. Am I the only one?
>>>
>>Nope. I only listen to PHC about twice a year....when I'm at the
>>station on the air during the show during our fund drive. I
>>don't get him...some stuff is humorous, but I don't really care
>>for the show.
>
>Am I the only one who finds him breathtakingly condescending?
No, but I thought that was symptomatic of Minnesota liberalism.
(Oooh, I'm in trouble now.)
Charleen