What beloved book did you hate?
by BGourley in Six Words Questions on Feb 17, 2012 | 
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Comments
BGourley says,
To be fair, I'll start."Moby Dick"
Great American novel, my ass!
Get an editor, Melville.
I didn't need those 20 pages about the pinneal gland of a humpback whale (at least it seemed like 20 pages.)
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX says,
I was going to say the same thing, so I'll go with the runner up...The Brothers Karamazov...like a Woody Allen film without humor.tonyglim says,
One beloved book I don't give a damn about reading is "Gone With the Wind." I saw the beloved movie and hated it.favepeep says,
Ditto to "Gone with the Wind." The movie ruined the book for me as I it made me reticent to read it, so I haven't and probably won't.DynamicDbytheC says,
I didn't really get into the Great Gatsby. I guess I am too middle class or something.mom1st says,
All of them! What group of idiots gave the group of idiots that write these lists the credibility to write such a list?Level1 says,
A Movable Feastklainfla says,
Canterbury Tales. Oh wait, everybody hated that....backstagewriter says,
Huck Finn - just couldn't relateMissTChristine says,
Eat Pray LoveI have a rule to finish every book I start (no matter how bad it is). After a year and only making it 26 pages in, I decided forgo my rule and donate it. It read more like a self-help book if you ask me. No thanks!
Jujeebal says,
I'm having a flashback to high school english... glad I wasn't alone in hating Moby Dick and the Brothers Karamazov.Klainfla- my 11th grade english teacher read Canterbury Tales aloud to the class - they were much more interesting when someone else read them to you
Bevvie says,
not a novel, but I hated Melville's Billy Budd!tonyglim says,
I once tried to read "The Catcher in the Rye" but could not finish reading it. For some reason, I found the novel unreadable.sisterpoet says,
The Rise and Fall of Silas Laphamlillybrook says,
Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Half the book is about silverware and china.Dean6805 says,
MissTChristine, I used to have that rule, but there are too many good books out there waiting for me. Why make them wait longer while I suffer through trash?Mine: also Moby Dick. All the side information about the business of whaling, interspersed with the chants and songs was interminable for me. I just wanted Melville to get on with the story.
KharisJo says,
Dickens. Plodded through Great Expectations years ago, find his characters so unbelieveable. Yet I own a whole set of BBC dramatisations of his works, which I find thoroughly enjoyable on screen.sisterpoet says,
@k822....ooooohhhhh Edith Wharton is another one that was too much for me. Silverware, china, AND drapes should not be described so much!!!flikchik says,
Jack Kerouac's "On the Road". Maybe I'm not "cool" enough to get it...but I don't know what the big deal was!LeeLee485 says,
I agree with tonyglim, I really tried to like "Catcher in the Rye" but I can't bring myself to finish it. I keep thinking maybe it gets better in the end.As for the Canterbury Tales, I gained a new appreciation for them in college when a professor read them aloud to the class in the original Middle English. It was really cool. Couldn't understand a word of it, but it was interesting nonetheless.
uhLEEsuh says,
DynamicDbytheC, I also could not get into The Great Gatsby. But like many books I read in high school, I wonder if I just wasn't ready for it as a teen. So, I'd be open to rereading it... maybe. Maybe not.Great question, BGourley. :)
radmadandconfused says,
Could not bring myself to finish The Book Thief.Sagacious says,
Ulysses- impossible to read. Honorable mention to The Bible.DynamicDbytheC says,
uhLEEsuh, I reread the classics as an adult and I still found The Great Gatsby dull. However, I really got into the angst of the charater in "The Catcher in the Rye." And Sag, yes honorable mention to the Bible, there has to be a memoir in that somewhere.RainhaMom says,
A Hundred Years of Solitude. Started it in Spanish. thought I was losing something in the translation so I switched to English. Equally boring. And, Miss TChristine, it was the first book I didn't finish, about a week after graduation from college--my present to myself was repealing my law that said I had to read each book to the end.Believe says,
Eat, Pray, Love. Should've been named Whine, Bitch, Complain.SkinnyDomicile says,
In a letter dated April 26, 1862, American poet Emily Dickinson wrote of American poet Walt Whitman's LEAVES OF GRASS, "You speak of Mr. Whitman. I never read his book, but was told that it was disgraceful."I myself have read -- and reread -- Walt Whitman's LEAVES OF GRASS. It is a once hated book that I love and have always loved.
ba_miracle says,
Hate is a strong word but...much of the bible and other holy works. "Conversations with God" was an equally believable interpretation of God.SolitaryMan says,
Walt Whitman was superior to Emily Dickinson. Anything written by Herman Melville is awful.LittleMiss says,
PS I Love You.Tuesdays With Morrie.
Amapola says,
I'm with TChristine. That book got on my nerves (Eat, pray love).maryjane31 says,
Eat,Pray, Love I sold at my garage sale for a quarter. Some fool bought it. Otherwise it was going in the trash. Awful. I probably could write a better novel on my own!accidentaltourist says,
Jane AyreThe Scarlet Letter
anything by Jane Austen
favepeep says,
I thought of another one. After reading the first Harry Potter, I was underwhelmed, so didn't read the rest. I really love fantasy novels, so it was especially disappointing. And I'd like to chime in on Eat, Pray, Love. Yuck!Yogamum says,
I didn't read 100 Years of Solitude, but I really disliked another book by Gabriel García Márquez called Love in the Time of Cholera. Agree on The Age of Innocents - while I did not hate the book, I kept waiting for something to happen, and it never did.Loon says,
Bible...too much fictionMsKillie says,
The Bible for sure. The only time I enjoyed reading it was when one of my Women's Studies classes discussed its horrible portrayal of women. If you aproach it as misguided fiction, its quite a laugh!SummerBrennan says,
Hate is a strong word, but I will apply it to the oft beloved The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, in my case.This is a fun question, but let's be nice, people. No one should be shamed for enjoying reading something. Elizabeth Gilbert was legitimately suicidally depressed, and she found a way to turn her life around and was lucky enough to write a bestseller, too. You may not love her prose style. But let's keep this forum supportive for writers and readers and not call people an "idiot" for liking something.