the Best and Worst Books You've Read Thread |
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ForumAdmin
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I was going let this go, but I just now finished the book and it was soooo crappy. To put this in perspective, I read Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose right before Pillars of the Earth. Name of the Rose takes place in a 13th century monastery and it is spectacular. The language is like poetry, sophisticated and clever. Pillars of the Earth is some of the most simplistic juvenile prose I've read in a long time. The book has sentences in it that are 3 words long. Sentences like "He liked that." and "That was better." In The Name of the Rose, characters discuss 13th-century ideas and use 13th-century language. Within 20 pages of Pillars of the Earth someone says "She's gonna puke." This is in the year 1135. It's retarded. If Ken Follett is a great writer, that's great for him. This book however, is not a well-written book. |
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msmadz
Honor Roll 8+ years on CIH Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Location: New York Status: Offline Points: 9952 |
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2 great books I've read were both by the author Caleb Carr:
The Alienist
Angel of Darkness
I didn't like his futuristic book (name escapes me).
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The artist formerly known as Madawee
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PaWolf
Revolutionary Hoary Ol' Chestnut... doncha know.... Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Location: GreatWhiteNorth Status: Offline Points: 40769 |
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YES!!!
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X <sig.nature>
"What we do for ourselves dies with us, What we do for others is and remains immortal." - Albert Pike |
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Big Momma
Honor Roll I donated. Joined: 17 Apr 2008 Location: New Hampshire Status: Offline Points: 4920 |
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BEST,
Little Women
A tree grows in Brooklyn
Raintree County
The Awakening Land trilogy
The Alexandria Quartet, by Lawrence Durrel
Angela's Ashes
King Lear
The Winters Tale
Julius Cesar
Henry V
Flowers For Algernon
The Shell Seekers
Anything by Fannie Flagg!!!
Anything by Miss Read (Dora Saint)
The Luncheon Of The Boating Party
To Kill A Mocking Bird
A Separate Peace
All Creatures Great And Small (whole series)
Sooooooooooo many more!!
WORST
The Christmas Box ( and the rest)
Nights in Rodantha.........crap!!
Bridges Of Madison County.........AWFUL
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HollyRock
Moderator Group Illustrious Video Moderator Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Location: Mass. Status: Offline Points: 2873 |
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Except it's about nine million pages long.
Also crazy long, and how the hell did you stay awake? Best books (in spit of them being crazy long): The Red Tent by Anita Diamant Mary, Called Magdalene by Margaret George Katherine by Anya Seton Also good: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (who copied her style from Anya Seton) The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent Books that suck: Anything else by Philippa Gregory Anything by Dan Brown |
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Let's try not to be boring, mkay?
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Jimbo
Honor Roll Joined: 19 Apr 2008 Location: Florida Status: Offline Points: 56960 |
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Well after I posted my reply to your initial commentary, it occurred to me that I should've asked you...
"If it's so awful, why are you reading it?"
But after reading your most recent post, now I have to ask...
"If it was so awful, why did you read the entire book?"
I mean, the thing is over a thousand pages. Unless one is into some kind of masochism trip, I can't understand why someone would subject themselves to a thousand pages of a book they supposedly couldn't stand. But hey.... that's all your own private conflict.
I couldn't remember a line in "Pillars" about someone puking, so I took out my old copy & skimmed over the first 20 pages where you said it was & found nothing remotely related to anyone puking, although Tom Builder & his son did take a break from working on the house they were building to have some warm beer out of wooden cups & the little girl took a drink. He warned her about drinking too much & getting dizzy, but there was no reference to puking. Also, I think I can safely say that there is no way in hell Follet used "gonna" anywhere in that book, especially the dialogue. He's an Englishman... they just don't talk that way.
Just out of curiosity, I checked on the etymology of the word puke & found that it dates back to about 1600, so if he did use it, he wasn't too far off. I'd give him a pass on that because, personally, I'm just not that anal retentive about such trivial matters, preferring instead to enjoy the story rather than nit-pick over how accurate the language they used was in terms of a particular time period.
Also, on the same subject, I read "Timeline" by Michael Crichton, which is another book set in medeival Europe. In that book, they used some real "authentic" language from the same approximate time period, & all I can say, is if someone were to write an entire book with dialogue consisting of authentic medeival language, you wouldn't be able to understand it. It would be like reading "A Clockwork Orange". They'd have to include a glossary in the back of the book so you could stop in the middle of every sentence & look up WTF they were talking about.
Re: "Name of the Rose".... well, they made a movie out of it, so I guess it just HAS to be good. Wasn't Tom Cruise in it?
And being written by an author with a name like Umberto Eco, you're sure to sound über cool & sophisticated when dropping it in conversation, so yeah, I suppose can see the appeal. For some people.
And as for discussing "13th century ideas", if I want to read deep, philosophical discussions of "13 century ideas", I'll think I'll read something a bit more serious than a who-dunnit mystery novel that happens to be set in that time period.
Anyway, I figured since we're talking about a book I haven't read, I ought to at least see if I could find some passages out of it if nothing else. Here is some of what I found....
Aside from being dry, teadious & rambling, it sounds to me like a lot of pseudo intellectual prattle. But then again, as I said before, there's no accounting for taste. |
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jeroboam
Honor Roll Joined: 17 Apr 2008 Location: Portland, Or Status: Offline Points: 2255 |
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Why are you so butt hurt that Nathan doesn't like your book Jim?
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Jimbo
Honor Roll Joined: 19 Apr 2008 Location: Florida Status: Offline Points: 56960 |
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"Butt hurt"????
I've never been butt hurt, as you so snarkily described it, in my life. Especially not over something said on an internet forum by someone I've never met nor ever will.
I just replied in kind (but with more style) to his own snide comments that were obviously not really about critiquing a book, but about indirectly taking a jab at me via something I said that I liked. Old trick, done to death.
You yourself termed it "my book" as in, I recommended it & said I enjoyed it on more than one occasion, which is the only reason he trashed it.
I seriously doubt that Nathan ever really even read the book in question.
His remarks about it were too off the wall & sounded like he just made them up as he went along. They were vague & didn't have the ring of authenticity to them.
That plus the fact that they aren't remotely true.
Anyway, on internet forums like this, I'm just about giving back better than I get & I gotta say that I thoroughly enjoyed it & appreciate having been handed the opportunity to do so in that particular instance.
IOW, I had fun.
That about explain it?
Any other burning questions I can answer for you?
Let me know.
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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...the ads take aim and lay their claim to the heart and the soul of the spender
Jackson Browne - The Pretender C'mon, man! Joe Biden - 46th President of the United States |
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jeroboam
Honor Roll Joined: 17 Apr 2008 Location: Portland, Or Status: Offline Points: 2255 |
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Ha sorry, I never looked on this again.
I have never been amid your cross hairs before. Forgive me if it seems flippant but I am kind of honored. And to think after 5 months it still weighs on you. I think I was intrigued by the length of defense. Mind you looking back, Nathan was a bit invested in his critique thus making a simple thing more complex than need be I am sure. Sorry I didn't get back to you. |
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Synesthesia
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Harry Potter, all of them, even the second one. I do like the Twilight series, but the Host is better. I love the Elfquest series except for maybe the later ones which were not drawn by Wendy Pini, those I kind of like but not love. I love Sandman, Neverwhere, American Gods, Stardust, all of the Neil Gaiman books With the Light is the best thing I've read about autism every I used to like OSC but, he annoys me. I hated Ender in Exile as not only was it pure steaming dog crap, but he wants to change the original series to reflect that. It was bad enough that the Bean series was full of nagging, endless nagging about morality and having babies. Urg! I hate Gate to Woman's Country. I wonder if I should read it again. But I loathe that book and I could be reading about Saudi Arabia instead. I did like the early LKH books as pure fluff and entertainment, but now I think she should probably retire. Why Does He Do that is a good book about domestic abuse. The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog is essential for everyone to read. The Tillerman series by Cynthia Voight was good. more later. |
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Is this love big enough to watch over me?
Big enough to let go of me Without hurting me, Like the day I learned to swim?-Kate Bush The Fog |
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Jimbo
Honor Roll Joined: 19 Apr 2008 Location: Florida Status: Offline Points: 56960 |
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No problem.
I think "weighs on me" is a bit strong.
But the term "butt hurt" did stick with me.
I'd only ever heard it once or twice & never directed at me.
Anyway, I just filed it away under the "one of these days when the opportunity arises" section of my mental "Retaliation File".
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...the ads take aim and lay their claim to the heart and the soul of the spender
Jackson Browne - The Pretender C'mon, man! Joe Biden - 46th President of the United States |
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Hootman
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"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
"The Exorcist"
"Candy"
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msmadz
Honor Roll 8+ years on CIH Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Location: New York Status: Offline Points: 9952 |
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"One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish"
"Go Dog Go"
"Are You My Mother?"
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The artist formerly known as Madawee
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Hootman
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Mad! I love "Go Dogs Go"....
"Do you like my hat?..."
I used to read it to my kids, then lost it after they were older.
My son bought me another copy when he was a teen.
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msmadz
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"Green Eggs and Ham" ranks right up there, too.
"Would you, could you in a box?
Would you, could you with a fox?"
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The artist formerly known as Madawee
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Hootman
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"It's a dog party...a big dog party!!!"
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jeroboam
Honor Roll Joined: 17 Apr 2008 Location: Portland, Or Status: Offline Points: 2255 |
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Yeah the dogs are tearing it up on top of a giant tree.
My daughter is obsessed with that book. She can seek it out and she shoves it in our hands. We have actually "misplaced" it and she finds it. We can't win. |
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Grant
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I'm very glad to read the last three replies. That picture always got to me, too. Thanks to Go, Do Go, I've always wished that trees "worked that way." (And yes, I make a point of still having a copy.)
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