Just thought of another one - Stephen Donaldson's "Lord Fouls Bane" - the first of the Chronicals of Thomas Covenant, a friend absolutely raved over these, and it was the biggest pile of steaming horse manure I have ever come across.
Agree with this fully ...tried it a few times but gave up and chucked it out in the end
Just thought of another one - Stephen Donaldson's "Lord Fouls Bane" - the first of the Chronicals of Thomas Covenant, a friend absolutely raved over these, and it was the biggest pile of steaming horse manure I have ever come across.
Agree with this fully ...tried it a few times but gave up and chucked it out in the end
My friend always said if I could get through the first one, the rest were a much easier read. Sorry, if an author expects you to plough through 400 odd pages of rubbish to get to something worth reading he does not deserve your attention. At least the Cussler book was readable.
There was also quite a famous book whose name escapes me at present. The author was American but the writing style was very stacatto with very short sentences.
Really bugging me now.
The Road?
That's by Jack Kerouac - but apparently not the one he's looking for.
Really loved that book!
Kerouac is On The Road
The Road is by Cormac McCarthy
Of course you're right, Lawrie ........ On the Road by Jack Kerouac is the one I've read. Sorry to confuse the two.
Don Quixote was a challenge, but I finished it. Read 10 pages of Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses and could go no further - picked it up again a few years later and got into it - loved it in the end. American Psycho must be the only book I've started but not finished.
Solzhenitsyn was just so over-rated. It suited the West at the time of the Cold War to promote a Russian who was critical of the Soviet system. That was as far as it went. He must go down as one of the most bought and least read writers in history.
Went travelling for a year and burned my way through shamtaram and war an peace. Not sure idve finished them otherwise. Often run out of steam, but glad i dragged myself over the line reading fingersmith by Sarah waters. Excellent.
Couldn't finish The God Delusion by Richard dawkins. I love his science books and I'm a militant atheist, but this book pissed me off. Smug as hell.
Solzhenitsyn was just so over-rated. It suited the West at the time of the Cold War to promote a Russian who was critical of the Soviet system. That was as far as it went. He must go down as one of the most bought and least read writers in history.
August 1914 and A day in the life of Ivan Denisovitch are very readable, but that might depend on the quality of the translation.
Struggled through the Corner and just at the end now.
Find it hard to be fully sympathetic to all the characters as they are consciouly aware of how they are feckin up every day and there seems to be a strong element of the world owes me a living.
Not being raised and surrounded by heroin addicts in West Baltimore probably doesn't give me a platform to be judgemental but there are people who live through/ have lived through much more destitute and hopeless situations and still make something out of themselves without the same level of patheticness and self destruction.
Cant get my head round the mindset of letting your kids go hungry but ensuring you have designer clothes and enough heroin to get you through the day. All the government and society's fault apparently.
There was also quite a famous book whose name escapes me at present. The author was American but the writing style was very stacatto with very short sentences.
Really bugging me now.
The Road?
That's by Jack Kerouac - but apparently not the one he's looking for.
Really loved that book!
Kerouac is On The Road
The Road is by Cormac McCarthy
Of course you're right, Lawrie ........ On the Road by Jack Kerouac is the one I've read. Sorry to confuse the two.
Do read some of the Cormac McCarthy books, Oggy - "All the pretty horses" and the rest of the Border Trilogy (as well as "The Road") are amazing, and genuinely powerful.
Anyway back to the awful ones.
Pretty much everything by Martin Amis. Haven't finished one yet. Slogged on with "Money" to about page 250 on the advice of a friend and then gave up. And he ended up shagging my ex now I come to think of it so his judgement was flawed.
I really enjoyed Catch 22, although I was at school at the time, so I am not sure how I would feel about it now.
I started to read another of Heller's books, Closing Time, because of good reviews. I just found it boring and gave up before halfway.
I was working at Waterstone's Trafalgar Square when Closing Time was released. Joseph Heller was in to promote it and was the nicest, most humble famous person I've ever met. He's also the famous person I'm most pleased to have met. You're right though, Closing Time was not good, unfortunately.
I'd read some of Clive James "postcard" travel books and thoroughly enjoyed them, and I picked up a novel he wrote at an airport. I think I had given up on it by the time the seatbelt sign went off!
There was also quite a famous book whose name escapes me at present. The author was American but the writing style was very stacatto with very short sentences.
Really bugging me now.
The Road?
That's by Jack Kerouac - but apparently not the one he's looking for.
Really loved that book!
Kerouac is On The Road
The Road is by Cormac McCarthy
Of course you're right, Lawrie ........ On the Road by Jack Kerouac is the one I've read. Sorry to confuse the two.
Do read some of the Cormac McCarthy books, Oggy - "All the pretty horses" and the rest of the Border Trilogy (as well as "The Road") are amazing, and genuinely powerful.
Thanks for the suggestion, Mr Ticket - sounds a good one. I've got a few unread books waiting their turn, but I'll look out for them when I'm ready.
"We need to talk about Kevin" Utter shite Have been reading "On the road" for months can't get into it
I read this as a young(er lol) man and loved it, really affected my way of thinking .. tried to re-read it last year and just could no longer relate to it .. same with 'The Dice Man', 'Steppenwolf', 'The Glass Bead Game', and a lot of all those essential hippy standard texts ..
Moby Dick didn't bother to finish it. Always struggled with Virginia Wolff 'The Years' springs to mind. Loved War & Peace. Catcher in the Rye was new 'stream of conciousness' type of writing in its heyday, which appealed to many. Didn't appeal to me either.
"We need to talk about Kevin" Utter shite Have been reading "On the road" for months can't get into it
I read this as a young(er lol) man and loved it, really affected my way of thinking .. tried to re-read it last year and just could no longer relate to it .. same with 'The Dice Man', 'Steppenwolf', 'The Glass Bead Game', and a lot of all those essential hippy standard texts ..
I read The Dice Man at Uni and loved it, but I wouldn't go near it now. There is a chance I may have grown up in the last thirty odd years and no longer find the rather heavy-handed jokes that funny.
As an adult I have finished every book I have ever started. Don't ask me why but I just can't seem to opt out once I've started. Amuses/annoys my missus to hear me moaning about a book that I struggle through to the end of when if she doesn't like something she's reading she'll bin it or skim read it in half an hour. Completely stupid I know but I don't like to feel beaten I suppose. It does mean that I have to be a bit fussy about which books I start and often end up reading from a smaller pool of authors that I can rely on to deliver.
Catch 22 is not only a brilliant book it has given a phrase that everyone (most) understands even though they might not know its origin. I loathed The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. I read it hoping that I could like something in it but came to the conclusion that it was shite and pretentious shite at that. Emperor's new clothes and all that. Has anyone actually finished A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking? Apparently it is the most unfinished-read book BUT looks great on a coffee table!
Comments
Sorry to confuse the two.
I really enjoyed Catch 22, although I was at school at the time, so I am not sure how I would feel about it now.
I started to read another of Heller's books, Closing Time, because of good reviews. I just found it boring and gave up before halfway.
Couldn't finish The God Delusion by Richard dawkins. I love his science books and I'm a militant atheist, but this book pissed me off. Smug as hell.
Find it hard to be fully sympathetic to all the characters as they are consciouly aware of how they are feckin up every day and there seems to be a strong element of the world owes me a living.
Not being raised and surrounded by heroin addicts in West Baltimore probably doesn't give me a platform to be judgemental but there are people who live through/ have lived through much more destitute and hopeless situations and still make something out of themselves without the same level of patheticness and self destruction.
Cant get my head round the mindset of letting your kids go hungry but ensuring you have designer clothes and enough heroin to get you through the day. All the government and society's fault apparently.
Anyway back to the awful ones.
Pretty much everything by Martin Amis. Haven't finished one yet. Slogged on with "Money" to about page 250 on the advice of a friend and then gave up. And he ended up shagging my ex now I come to think of it so his judgement was flawed.
I've ever met. He's also the famous person I'm most pleased to have met.
You're right though, Closing Time was not good, unfortunately.
Add me to those who gave up on Catch 22.
Been meaning to read The Naked Lunch for years - bought it a month or so back and binned it about a quarter of the way through
I've got a few unread books waiting their turn, but I'll look out for them when I'm ready.
Utter shite
Have been reading "On the road" for months can't get into it
;o)
Always struggled with Virginia Wolff 'The Years' springs to mind.
Loved War & Peace.
Catcher in the Rye was new 'stream of conciousness' type of writing in its heyday, which appealed to many. Didn't appeal to me either.
I'm the same with PS3 games too!
everyone(most) understands even though they might not know its origin. I loathed The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. I read it hoping that I could like something in it but came to the conclusion that it was shite and pretentious shite at that. Emperor's new clothes and all that. Has anyone actually finished A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking? Apparently it is the most unfinished-read book BUT looks great on a coffee table!