It can be old or recent.
I think Stephanie meyers (?) who did Twilight is up there by default. *shakes fist*
Also, I can't stand Jane Austin. All that pride and prejudice is boring . I don't find anything from that sexist time romantic.
Quote from: Sweetdeath on September 11, 2011, 08:32:15 PM
It can be old or recent.
I think Stephanie meyers (?) who did Twilight is up there by default. *shakes fist*
Also, I can't stand Jane Austin. All that pride and prejudice is boring . I don't find anything from that sexist time romantic.
Oh I
love Jane Austen. History was always my favorite subject in school, even tho the textbooks were beyond boring. Jane Austen was history made as interesting as it could get for me. True, she didn't deal with the big issues of her day but I could get books about those anywhere -- Austen dealt with the day-to-day lives of regular people, and I just ate that up.
I've never read Meyers (things I'd heard were enough to give me hives) but in the same genre I wish Anne Rice had never hit ink. I have a very low tolerance for purple prose, but even without that I don't think I'd find Rice a good writer.
Stephen King I wish could be restricted to short stories and non-fiction. I think he's quite good at those but his novels are just a mess.
Austen^ Excuse the typo.
I've only read snipets of Meyers' Twilight, and I swear it brought down my I.Q.
I also never considered Rice a great writer. I loved Tale of the body theif, but she loves to drag on for pages about one subject, and it gets quite inane.
I agree that King is best at short stories. Skeleton crew is one of my favorite books. He is great at horror though. Misery, the stand... I couldn't finish "it" because it scared me too much.
Quote from: RunFromMyLife on September 11, 2011, 09:08:04 PM
"Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher." -Flannery O'Connor
I was thinking of just that quote, but couldn't remember who said it. Thanks, Run. I've read so many bad authors in my life but unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) their names don't stick with me. I remember reading a book by some guy who claimed (among many, many other things) that people who wrote their "w"s rounded instead of pointed were sexual deviants for making a letter resemble a woman's bottom. I was a teenager at the time but even then wondered how such a loon got published -- I should have checked to see if he was self-published.
Quote from: Sweetdeath on September 11, 2011, 09:05:55 PM
I agree that King is best at short stories.
Not to get off-topic but have you read his "On Writing"? It's a combination memoir and writing advice book and I think it's not only the best thing King's ever written, but one of the best books of its kind. I was astonished when I read it because I was very much anti-King at the time. Now I cut him some slack.
My wife used to read all the Steven King stuff, they were staple birthday and xmas presents, but went off them as the quality dropped. I only ever read The Stand and enjoyed that, but not enough to tackle another one.
OK, I'm going to throw a name out that some may consider sacrilegious, and that even I'm not completely certain belongs here.
Emily Bronte. There, I've said it. I'm not certain about putting her in this thread because I do think she had writing talent but I hated "Wuthering Heights" with a passion. Whenever Heathcliff or Cathy turned up I just wanted to slap them -- I didn't find either one in the least bit romantic and had no sympathy for their situation. Worse yet, the only characters in the story I liked were the ones I was apparently meant to despise. That always makes me grumpy.
^ Not familiar with that person to comment. :(
Am I the only person who didn't give a crap about the books they forced us to read in grade school? A raisin' in the sun and Lord of the flies?
Quote from: Sweetdeath on September 11, 2011, 10:28:03 PM
^ Not familiar with that person to comment. :(
Am I the only person who didn't give a crap about the books they forced us to read in grade school? A raisin' in the sun and Lord of the flies?
Only the textbooks, which I think were designed to put students to sleep and get them in trouble. The rest of it they didn't have to force me to read, by the time it turned up on the school's reading list it was usually a re-read for me.
C'mon guys!!??!! It's common knowledge that the three worst poets in the universe are:
1) Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings of Sussex. She died, though.
2) Azgoths of Kria
3) Vogons
Unless we aren't including poetry, in which case, carry on...
We are discussing all forms of literacy! :D
I am not a big poem reader though. :(
Well let's forget poetry. Author I detest...Bill O'Reilly. Someone really should kick him is his little puckered turd-cutter.
Quote from: fyv0h on September 12, 2011, 12:27:30 AM
Well let's forget poetry. Author I detest...Bill O'Reilly. Someone really should kick him is his little puckered turd-cutter.
I second that!
Quote from: Sweetdeath on September 12, 2011, 12:12:35 AM
I am not a big poem reader though. :(
Me either. I wish I was but I can almost never figure out what they're going on about.
QuoteAuthor I detest...Bill O'Reilly. Someone really should kick him is his little puckered turd-cutter.
I had completely forgotten he wrote. Add Ann Coulter to the list. I don't mind dissenting opinions, I just prefer the spreading light to spreading heat approaches to expressing them. Of course, it's likely neither O'Reilly or Coulter is concerned about reaching across the aisle, just performing for the applause of the far right reactionaries.
Quote from: RunFromMyLife on September 12, 2011, 12:41:28 AM
I'm going to throw another one out that some may consider sacrilegious: Dickens
I consider myself a considerably well-read person. I majored in English in college. I have yet to finish a Dickens novel. I've tried numerous times to no avail.
I've read "A Christmas Carol", but mostly because it seemed something I should tick off. In any case, I didn't feel inspired to read anything else of Dickens. I'm on the fence about suggesting Herman Melville. One one hand I've spent 30 years trying, and failing, to finish
Moby Dick and my kindest comment about the book is that Melville needs to get to the damn point, and on the other hand he also wrote "Bartleby the Scrivener", which I thought a brilliant story of a man's complete mental collapse. Maybe, like King, Melville should have been restricted to short stories.
I'm going to be the little turd nugget that soils your underwear by going against the grain of the post and list a favorite. Douglas Adams. I've read the HHGTTG series numerous times and still find myself picking the book up for another read through. My inner monologue always reads it in a british accent, because it would be right any other way.
Screw conformity. Fight the power!
I couldn't finish anything by Dickens either. He did Oliver twist? Cuz tha t sucked too.
And a xmas carol is just an annoying story in general to me.
GET BACK ON TOPIC, MEOW.
J/k.
One of my fav authors is Poppy z. Brite. :) I have most of her novels. She created some of my fav erotic scenes. >>
Quote from: Sweetdeath on September 12, 2011, 01:27:22 AM
She created some of my fav erotic scenes. >>
Well that took an unexpectedly fun turn. I must look into this Brite character of which you speak.
Quote from: fyv0h on September 12, 2011, 01:11:29 AM
Screw conformity. Fight the power!
See that, SweetDeath? You're the power!
Quote from: fyv0h on September 12, 2011, 01:33:48 AM
Quote from: Sweetdeath on September 12, 2011, 01:27:22 AM
She created some of my fav erotic scenes. >>
Well that took an unexpectedly fun turn. I must look into this Brite character of which you speak.
I would recommend Drawing Blood. It's a crazy book about a boy who's father murdered his entire family, and a computer hacker.
This was written back in early 2000 btw. When being a hacker was cool ;;
Quote from: BooksCatsEtc on September 12, 2011, 01:45:33 AM
Quote from: fyv0h on September 12, 2011, 01:11:29 AM
Screw conformity. Fight the power!
See that, SweetDeath? You're the power!
The only power I have is a high pain tolerance, and the ability to fall asleep anywhere. ;)
Quote from: BooksCatsEtc on September 12, 2011, 12:57:47 AMOne one hand I've spent 30 years trying, and failing, to finish Moby Dick and my kindest comment about the book is that Melville needs to get to the damn point, and on the other hand he also wrote "Bartleby the Scrivener", which I thought a brilliant story of a man's complete mental collapse. Maybe, like King, Melville should have been restricted to short stories.
Moby Dick does kind of drag along sometimes, but I enjoy Melville's style. By far my favorite Melville book is his last,
The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade. It's not lengthy, and is a great satire on ante-bellum America. It's good to have an unabridged dictionary to hand while reading Melville; like many 19th century writers, he used a much larger vocabulary than one normally encounters when reading more modern authors.
Shakespeare, impenetrable gobbledygook. I've been to plays and gritted my teeth for my wife's benefit, but to be honest I just don't get it. Following complicated plot lines is difficult enough but add-on a semi-foreign language and I'm f***ed. I always wonder if Shakespeare is an example of 'The emperor's new clothes.' where it is all style and no substance, but nobody is prepared to admit it because everybody is scared of being ridiculed. >:(
Quote from: Tank on September 12, 2011, 07:56:10 AM
Shakespeare, impenetrable gobbledygook. >:(
Well, that knocks my sniping at Emily Bronte into a cocked hat! When I first started reading Shakespeare I did find the English difficult to follow, but once I got into the rythmn of his speech (not sure how else to describe it) I understood him quite well -- it was like talking to someone with a thick Irish accent. As for how good the plays are, I think that's hit and miss, like any other author's work.
Richard III has got to be one of the funniest things I've ever read (not sure if that was intentional, but still) whereas
Titus, I just wonder what he was snorting when he wrote that.
Quote from: Sweetdeath on September 12, 2011, 01:27:22 AM
One of my fav authors is Poppy z. Brite. :) I have most of her novels. She created some of my fav erotic scenes. >>
Did you know that she's a he now? Not sure when that happened, but it did and, unlike Pat Califia, Brite didn't bother changing his name.
Quote from: fyv0h on September 12, 2011, 01:11:29 AM
I'm going to be the little turd nugget that soils your underwear by going against the grain of the post and list a favorite. Douglas Adams. I've read the HHGTTG series numerous times and still find myself picking the book up for another read through. My inner monologue always reads it in a british accent, because it would be right any other way.
Love HHGTTG -- it kind of makes me wonder what Adams was on too when he wrote it, but in a good way.
Ann Coulter. I read one of her books once (I think it was Godless, I read it a few years ago), and it took me three months to get through it (it was only about 300 pages), because I spent most of the time looking up the things she said only to find out how blatently wrong almost everything she said was. I will not read another book with her name on it. Also, by association, I will not read any Fox Newbs books.
Well Tank, I think some people do say they like Shakespear just sounds smarter. I do love his crazy, twisted plots and stories.
Dare I say Hamlet is my fav, then Othello.
I will agree its hard to follow the old dialog though.
@catbooks:
Wait, i'm on Brite's livejournal... I'm pretty sure she's a woman. Unless I missed something in the last decade? ??? :(
QuoteI've read "A Christmas Carol", but mostly because it seemed something I should tick off. In any case, I didn't feel inspired to read anything else of Dickens.
I know this might be off topic, buy why do people use this story as a good one? scrooge obviously did not turn good because he suddenly started caring for others. He was frightened for HIMSELF when he saw he was being buried all alone.
Quote from: MariaEvri on September 12, 2011, 06:38:09 PM
QuoteI've read "A Christmas Carol", but mostly because it seemed something I should tick off. In any case, I didn't feel inspired to read anything else of Dickens.
I know this might be off topic, buy why do people use this story as a good one? scrooge obviously did not turn good because he suddenly started caring for others. He was frightened for HIMSELF when he saw he was being buried all alone.
I really have no idea!!
And in all honestly, people ONLY change for the better when it benefits them. This story is about that crap.
Ian McEwan. He used to be OK but now he knows his audience too well (pseudo-intellectual Guardian readers) and does nothing but mindlessly jerk them off. His fans are usually the sort who never tire of hearing and talking about Schrodinger's cat, because they think they understand it and like to be reminded of how clever they are. These are the same sort of people who'll believe that something is good purely because it's
topical. They'll heap praise on "Saturday," for instance, because it uses brain-rotting diseases as a metaphor for terrorists and religious extremism. It won't matter to them that it's an utterly boring story that neither asks nor answers any interesting questions about said issue, so long as they deem it 'relevant'.
Quote from: SweetdeathQuote from: MariaEvriQuoteI've read "A Christmas Carol", but mostly because it seemed something I should tick off. In any case, I didn't feel inspired to read anything else of Dickens.
I know this might be off topic, buy why do people use this story as a good one? scrooge obviously did not turn good because he suddenly started caring for others. He was frightened for HIMSELF when he saw he was being buried all alone.
I really have no idea!!
And in all honestly, people ONLY change for the better when it benefits them. This story is about that crap.
So A Christmas Carol is bad because people only change for the better when it benefits them... and Scrooge accurately reflects that?
Dickens wasn't saying there's no self-interest in being good, he was saying the exact opposite:
don't be a dick or you'll end up an outcast. I don't think anyone has ever misinterpreted this about him. Not that I'm a fan myself. I think he's like Rudyard Kipling or Studio Gibli films in that he's unbearably twee.
Quote from: Melmoth on September 13, 2011, 02:21:00 AM
So A Christmas Carol is bad because people only change for the better when it benefits them... and Scrooge accurately reflects that?
Dickens wasn't saying there's no self-interest in being good, he was saying the exact opposite: don't be a dick or you'll end up an outcast. I don't think anyone has ever misinterpreted this about him. Not that I'm a fan myself. I think he's like Rudyard Kipling or Studio Gibli films in that he's unbearably twee.
I was also going to mention that that's a pretty standard way of convincing people, not just then but now altho many people have become less blatant about it. I can't blame people for being the products of their time, mostly because I don't want to be blamed as the product of mine. I prefer to think of it as
enlightened self-interest.
Practically every Romantic author I've read, with the exception of Alexander Dumas (the father, I never read anything by his son). I just don't like the style.
I think I hate the romance genre in general, and this includes movies.
Quote from: Tank on September 12, 2011, 07:56:10 AM
Shakespeare, impenetrable gobbledygook.
Well some of it is and some of it isn't. I remember watching a film of a production of Macbeth when I was about 12 and had privately decided about a year earlier that I didn't believe in God. I found it easy to follow, and when Macbeth gives his speech on being informed of his wife's death, I was in awe.
QuoteTomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
It really spoke to my prematurely pessimistic little self, and I went and found a volume of Shakespeare's tragedies and memorized that speech.
I always think of that simpsons halloween episode.
I can't say that I detest a particular writer because I probably just stop reading his/her works. Like, I stopped reading a Dean Koontz novel because I just couldn't further put up with his style. I have 2-3 more chapters to read about some book involving fluorescent goo attacking a town ... and I may never finish it. I would like to find out what happens without having to subject myself to the remainder of his words. I just don't buy any more Koontz.
Quote from: Chronos on September 17, 2011, 01:05:16 PM
I would like to find out what happens without having to subject myself to the remainder of his words.
This is why I'm happy they made a TV series out of
Game of Thrones. I'm enjoying the story, and a number of the characters, but I don't have to put up with reading George R. R. Martin's writing, which I consider fan girlish.
A flouresent goo? Really? XD
Quote from: Sweetdeath on September 19, 2011, 06:36:44 AM
A flouresent goo? Really? XD
Sounds like that movie,
The Blob, which had only the performance of a young Steve McQueen to recommend it.
Quote from: Tank on September 12, 2011, 07:56:10 AM
Shakespeare, impenetrable gobbledygook. I've been to plays and gritted my teeth for my wife's benefit, but to be honest I just don't get it. Following complicated plot lines is difficult enough but add-on a semi-foreign language and I'm f***ed. I always wonder if Shakespeare is an example of 'The emperor's new clothes.' where it is all style and no substance, but nobody is prepared to admit it because everybody is scared of being ridiculed. >:(
I adore Shakespeare, but it took years of study to really put together the proper context with the adequate ability to understand his writings to really gain that appreciation. Very few people, I suspect, get Shakespeare right away. If you're going to be seeing Shakespeare, I suggest that you buy a book or take a class on his writings to glean more from them. Perhaps you'll not only be able to tolerate it, but come to enjoy it.
When I was in college, I was cast as Theseus in
Midsummer Night's Dream, and I remember this passage coming to mind, as an atheist, regarding the behavior and words of religious people:
QuoteMore strange than true. I never may believe
These antique fables nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold—
That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt.
The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to heaven.
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy.
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
Theseus responds to the outrageous story he's heard with rational skepticism and it leads him to discuss the nature of these fantasies being treated as reality because of want or wild imagination or fear. Even though this was ultimately an unimportant part of the play, it struck an incredible philosophical cord with me and to this day it remains one of the few quotes from Shakespeare that I have memorized.
_______________________________
I always get a lot of heat for this, particularly from English and literature professors and teachers, but I cannot stand John Steinbeck. I've been an avid reader since I was a very young boy, and I'd like to think I've developed a sense of what does or does not constitute quality writing. I grew up on both science fiction and literary classics, from
Dune and
Foundation to
Moby Dick and
The Sun Also Rises. I was introduced to Steinbeck in high school when my class was assigned
Grapes of Wrath as a reading assignment over the break between, I think, Sophomore and Junior year. The teacher who assigned it was beloved and respected as a fantastic English teacher, someone with a solid education and who could really connect with kids, and I'd been told that the teacher tends to assign particularly great books to read and study. I was excited. I read the book perhaps three times in a row, each time trying to 'get' what I was reading, to connect with it and appreciate it, but each time it came off like garbage. The use of metaphore was shallow and forced down the reader's throat, the socio-politics were equally shallow and, even though I'm a big supporter of labor, I found myself emotionally rejecting the message because of its poor delivery. The novel was like being promised an elegant, gourmet 5 course meal and being given a bag of Cheetos and a Diet Coke. There was no real subtlety or art, save for the art for the sake of art being done by an artist too high on the smell of his own farts. I was incredibly disappointed, so I went to the library and picked up
Of Mice and Men and
East of Eden, to better understand the context and style of Steinbeck. They were terrible.
I really gave Steinbeck an honest shot, but I simply cannot stand his writing. Give me Hemmingway or Joyce or Tolstoy any day of the week for classic, incredibly high-quality literature any day of the week over Steinbeck.
Quote from: BooksCatsEtcSounds like that movie, The Blob, which had only the performance of a young Steve McQueen to recommend it.
Don't forget the opening theme song, explaining the nature of the film's key antagonist and forewarning us to be "careful," what with it being such a slippery customer. :D The 1980's remake decided to miss that out, which made the whole premise a lot more confusing, I felt.
I almost said Stephanie Meyer, but actually I think it's James Patterson.
He has no sense of pacing (he runs through a hundred pages worth of so-called plot in about three), he uses the silliest, tritest metaphors I can imagine, and all of his stories are filled with laughable plotting and flat, cardboard characters.
Also, he sells more books annually than any other author alive. But then, he does put out about five a year.
Quote from: Will on September 20, 2011, 12:46:12 AM
I always get a lot of heat for this, particularly from English and literature professors and teachers, but I cannot stand John Steinbeck.
Steinbeck is like Tennessee Williams to me -- I can read a bit but a very little goes a very long way for me. I find them both forced and affected.
Stephenie Meyer. What bothers me most is that young girls read her books and think that Edward Cullen's behavior is "romantic," when it is, in fact, incredibly freaky and abusive. If it were framed as a tragedy rather than a happy romance, I'd hate it a lot less.
Christopher Paolini, because he's a joke and his writing voice makes me feel like I'm bashing my head against a brick wall repeatedly.
Last but not least, and I know I'm probably going to get drawn and quartered for this: I can't read Tolkien. His writing is just so... dry. The dialogue is cardboard. For a short fairy tale I think his style would work, but at length, it's unbearable. Tolkien was a creative genius, and the world he created is mostly responsible for a hell of a lot of things I enjoy (namely Dungeons and Dragons and its video game descendants, and, oh, maybe the entirety of modern fantasy) but I just can't stomach his actual writing.
Quote from: Fi on November 23, 2011, 10:01:16 PM
Last but not least, and I know I'm probably going to get drawn and quartered for this: I can't read Tolkien. His writing is just so... dry. The dialogue is cardboard. For a short fairy tale I think his style would work, but at length, it's unbearable. Tolkien was a creative genius, and the world he created is mostly responsible for a hell of a lot of things I enjoy (namely Dungeons and Dragons and its video game descendants, and, oh, maybe the entirety of modern fantasy) but I just can't stomach his actual writing.
My candidate in the category of acknowledged geniuses whose writing I can't stand is Virginia Woolf. There are bits of her writing I love (a description of night in the novel
The Voyage Out, for instance) but for the most part all I can say is it puts my teeth right on edge. It's prissy and precious and manages the odd feat of being self-absorbed and scatter-brained at the same time. I would think that much navel gazing would result in at least a few collected thoughts.
I gotta admit, it took me a while to go through the LOTR Trilogy, but I did enjoy them.
That's how I feel about all but two of Anne Rice's vampire chronicle books.
Ayn Rand. I tried reading Atlas Shrugged to find out what the Teabaggers see in her, but it is painfully bad.
Quote from: NHOJ on November 26, 2011, 12:50:13 AM
Ayn Rand. I tried reading Atlas Shrugged to find out what the Teabaggers see in her, but it is painfully bad.
I don't even consider her a real writer. I'm not even sure she qualifies as a hack.
Nathaniel Hawthorn. If I have to read the Scarlet Letter one more time I think I'll chuck it across the room
Stephane Meyer, she just killed feminism in its tracks.
Quote from: Melmoth on September 13, 2011, 02:21:00 AM
His fans are usually the sort who never tire of hearing and talking about Schrodinger's cat, because they think they understand it and like to be reminded of how clever they are.
*Snerk*
I dislike JT LeRoy/Laura Albert just because I find the books to be sort of needlessly unpleasant. I admit that reading is a sort of escapism for me, so escaping to that world is sort of like biting into something disgusting and trying to force yourself to swallow. Although the whole "Who is the REAL JT LeRoy?" scandal was sort of interesting.
Quote from: corgilover on January 10, 2012, 09:03:53 AM
Nathaniel Hawthorn. If I have to read the Scarlet Letter one more time I think I'll chuck it across the room
How often have you had to read it? I only got it once in 12 years of school. I actually like Nathaniel Hawthorne, it's his buddy Herman Melville I wish had had his writing hand permanently broken.
Quote from: corgilover on January 10, 2012, 09:03:53 AM
Nathaniel Hawthorn. If I have to read the Scarlet Letter one more time I think I'll chuck it across the room
Stephane Meyer, she just killed feminism in its tracks.
Forget feminism. Women's rights and common sense. She is disgraceful , and I would relish in aiding her into an empty elevator shaft.
Quote from: BooksCatsEtc on January 11, 2012, 02:32:07 AM
Quote from: corgilover on January 10, 2012, 09:03:53 AM
Nathaniel Hawthorn. If I have to read the Scarlet Letter one more time I think I'll chuck it across the room
How often have you had to read it? I only got it once in 12 years of school. I actually like Nathaniel Hawthorne, it's his buddy Herman Melville I wish had had his writing hand permanently broken.
We spent two months on it in Junior Year and then we moved on to Moby Dick by Melville. Then I had to read it for Honors English in Senior Year (SL, not MD)
I don't know... I've liked Orson Scott Card, and I absolutely adore C.J. Cherryh.
But author's I don't like...? I probably haven't read them. :o
Quote from: BooksCatsEtc on January 11, 2012, 02:32:07 AMI actually like Nathaniel Hawthorne, it's his buddy Herman Melville I wish had had his writing hand permanently broken.
If you ever feel like giving Melville another chance (no reason why you should, just saying) I recommend
The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Confidence-Man). It's not very long, and I found it to be enjoyable.
Kurt Vonnegut, there I said it. :P Reading Slaughterhouse-Five is a waste of an afternoon.
Quote from: Crocoduck on January 12, 2012, 02:05:16 PM
Kurt Vonnegut, there I said it. :P Reading Slaughterhouse-Five is a waste of an afternoon.
Noooooooooooooo! *Falls to her knees, clutches her heart*
Quote from: Recusant on January 12, 2012, 11:55:14 AM
Quote from: BooksCatsEtc on January 11, 2012, 02:32:07 AMI actually like Nathaniel Hawthorne, it's his buddy Herman Melville I wish had had his writing hand permanently broken.
If you ever feel like giving Melville another chance (no reason why you should, just saying) I recommend The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Confidence-Man). It's not very long, and I found it to be enjoyable.
The "not very long" has sold me. I've found that even if I hate an author's novels, the short stories can still be worthwhile. Something about the size limit forces them to pull themselves together and write a readable story.
Does anyone here like James Patterson? He writes like 10 books s year xD...
Quote from: Sweetdeath on January 12, 2012, 04:54:35 PM
Does anyone here like James Patterson? He writes like 10 books s year xD...
Hmmm. Don't you mean he writes the same book ten times a year? I've never read any of his stuff but 10 books a year sounds a bit like a production line to me.
Quote from: Tank on January 12, 2012, 08:01:27 PM
Quote from: Sweetdeath on January 12, 2012, 04:54:35 PM
Does anyone here like James Patterson? He writes like 10 books s year xD...
Hmmm. Don't you mean he writes the same book ten times a year? I've never read any of his stuff but 10 books a year sounds a bit like a production line to me.
Yeah, that sounds about right xD
LOL, Melmoth. Count me among those who enjoy being mindlessly jerked off by Ian McEwan :).
The author I detest is Jack Kerouac. To be honest, I've only ever read On the Road and not much of that. Started it three times, but each time the blatant woman-hating was too overwhelming for me to keep reading, and I'm not what you'd call overly sensitive.
Dr. Seuss, didn't like him when I was a kid and I still don't like him.
Paul. Not only do I not care about the message those letters of his are sending, it's also very dry, boring reading. There are parts of the Bible I like, such as Jericho. That's a cool story. But Paul's letters suck big donkey dick. F--k Paul!
Quote from: fester30 on January 14, 2012, 03:45:31 PM
Paul. Not only do I not care about the message those letters of his are sending, it's also very dry, boring reading. There are parts of the Bible I like, such as Jericho. That's a cool story. But Paul's letters suck big donkey dick. F--k Paul!
I like the Song of Solomon. I have no idea what that's doing in the Bible in the first place. It's the only part of the Bible that appears to be written by a woman, and parts of it are pretty racy. I can never tell if the narrator is switching back and forth between male and female, or if it's always a woman, and she's bi. I kind of like to think the latter, which kind of contradicts the whole idea that the Bible is against homosexuality. Either way, antiquated language aside, I rather like it.
Best line: "I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate." Awwww yeah.