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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jun 1, 2013 10:35:49 GMT
I thought a useful complement to the thread on books which are possibly good but which you are unable to finish might be one about celebrated books that you regret having finished. My first candidate, which I just finished, is Robert Holdstock's MYTHAGO WOOD (1984). I have tried to read this winner of the World Fantasy Award and one of "Horror's 100 Best Books" and whatnot several times before, in the hope that I would understand what the hype was all about, but I am only left feeling poorer for having finally finished it. I should have known better; it is based on an idea which is best described as very silly.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 2, 2013 9:50:01 GMT
Would skim reading the Harry Potter series count? I only read this because I was touring on a bus in a dance show for a year and books were hard to come by. I did sort of finish it by mentally leapfrogging large sections in a bind coma
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jun 2, 2013 12:55:05 GMT
I am not sure. Did you force yourself to read them because everybody else said they were so good? (I should add that I managed to read all of four pages of the first Harry Potter novel before giving up.)
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Post by DemonSpawn on Jun 3, 2013 8:51:00 GMT
My first candidate, which I just finished, is Robert Holdstock's MYTHAGO WOOD (1984). I have tried to read this winner of the World Fantasy Award and one of "Horror's 100 Best Books" and whatnot several times before, in the hope that I would understand what the hype was all about, but I am only left feeling poorer for having finally finished it. I should have known better; it is based on an idea which is best described as very silly. Hmm, I thought that was just me. I do have a copy, but I think I have given up on it at least twice. |
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Post by cw67q on Jun 3, 2013 14:31:33 GMT
I thought a useful complement to the thread on books which are possibly good but which you are unable to finish might be one about celebrated books that you regret having finished. My first candidate, which I just finished, is Robert Holdstock's MYTHAGO WOOD (1984). I have tried to read this winner of the World Fantasy Award and one of "Horror's 100 Best Books" and whatnot several times before, in the hope that I would understand what the hype was all about, but I am only left feeling poorer for having finally finished it. I should have known better; it is based on an idea which is best described as very silly. I read this earlier this year and thought that some of the ideas were rather interesting, but I didn't like how they worked out over the book and after a while the unheady mix of pseudo-science and aimless quest-y narrative left me thoroughly bored. - chris |
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Post by valdemar on Jun 6, 2013 21:32:25 GMT
To my endless shame, I read the Dan Brown scribble 'The Da Vinci Code'. Not very far into it, I had the odd, but persistent feeling that I had read large parts of it before [the same feeling that I got whilst reading the Harry Potter books], Stupidly, I persisted, and was amused by the sudden, almost abrupt ending, almost as if Mr Brown was writing, and was called to by his mates outside: "Oi! Dan! we're going down the park for a kickabout - do you want to come?". I won't be sucked in by the hype again. Sorry.  |
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Post by dem bones on Jun 10, 2013 8:48:55 GMT
Much as it pains me to admit as much, the one that comes to mind is Seabury Quinn's fantasy novella, Roads. Was on a really good run with Jules de Grandin & friend Trowbridge, possibly 'cause I didn't have the Popular Library collections at the time so was reliant on the material Robert Lowndes had reprinted in Magazine of Horror & Co. which were easy to get hold of dirt cheap in the Fantasy Centre just then. Anyway, noticed that a critic or two - Peter Haining among them - had praised Roads as Seabury's finest achievement. Well, Peter dug Suicide Chapel, so he must know what he was talking about. Not on this occasion. My pencil note against it is an uncompromising "fucking sickly" which is maybe uncharitable, who knows, might even appreciate it these days. But somehow I doubt it, and am in no rush to find out.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Aug 1, 2022 20:27:28 GMT
James S A Corey's celebrated EXPANSE series. I read all of it. It is worthless, except for CIBOLA BURN, which was mildly entertaining.
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Post by andydecker on Aug 1, 2022 21:20:55 GMT
James S A Corey's celebrated EXPANSE series. I read all of it. It is worthless, except for CIBOLA BURN, which was mildly entertaining. I only read the first one, which I quite liked. For once the space stuff was plausible and even part of the plot. The new societies made mostly sense. Much more low key than Hamilton's supermen, and the characters were more fully formed in the tv adaption. Still, I have read worse. |
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Post by andydecker on Aug 1, 2022 21:23:37 GMT
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time.
But not because the conclusion was bad, it was okay, as Peter Sanderson did a good job with it. Because I was sad to see it go.
(Could be I misunderstood the topic. Sorry.)
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Post by dem bones on Aug 2, 2022 6:49:05 GMT
Depends on how you define "celebrated." Reality TV star Richard Felix's The People's Ghost stories is just ... after approximately one sentence I came over all "has my life really come to this?" but speed-revisiting that thread for above link, it's obvious I was enjoying myself. Perhaps a better example; after failing to see what was so great about Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat (wasn't much taken with Interview ..., either), I should never have wasted any time on Queen of the Damned. I do try to take something (however miniscule) from every book I complete. Am more inclined to abandon a novel/ collection once it becomes clear that I'm not getting on with it (though on occasion it's because I got distracted by real life stuff and forgot what I was reading, no matter I might have been engrossed in it) . |
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