Awful, awful, awful books....

[capt_birdseye]

I think doing books at school often ruins them. I came to Hardy of my own volition and really loved Tess, Jude the Obscure and Far from the Madding Crowd.

Agree about Anil's Ghost, really dreary and a cast of totally unsympathetic characters. I seem to remember quite liking The English Patient though.

[Moos]

Isn't it terrible how many people get put off books by the very thing that's supposed to be making them love books! Argh.

Have to take issue with you, willow and Mockers, re: HDM - I loved them and thought they were full of brilliant creative ideas, as well as the blazing anger of the theme. They are certainly children's books and should be judged so, but I think they have loads to offer adults too.

I like Thomas Hardy too, but never managed to limp my way past a few chapters of the only James Joyce I've tried - Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Just really dull. Anyone out there willing to convince me otherwise?

[SteveT]

I found Hardy a bit depressing, but readable and understandable.

I have yet to finish, or understand a James Joyce book.

I never got through This Sceptred Isle either, so many repetitive battles, what a yawn.

[PeckhamRose]

... The Surrendered Wife.

The Old Testament

The New Testament

[Jah Lush]

Oh yes James Joyce's Ullysses. Only thing I haven't read of his is Finnigan's Wake. Perhaps Ullysses's flow of consciousness put me off of it. Enjoyed Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man and Dubliners though.

Now then...on a similar level, William Burroughs' The Naked Lunch, The Ticket That Exploded, The Soft Machine and The Wild Boys, for some reason I ploughed my way through all of them. All using Brion Gysin's cut up technique. Every now and then you'd get a good few paragrahs that were rather amusing but as a novel way of writing a novel, complete and utter bollocks and bordering on homo-erotic pornography. Enjoyed Junky though but that was without the cut up technique and all the better for it.

[mockney piers]

Agree with you Moos, they are full of indignant anger and fizz with ideas, it's just that there's something peculiar to children's literature, I guess necessary to engage with young minds, a certain pacing and tone, that just leaves me cold.

China Mieville and Neil Gaiman have both written children's books, and love their normal stuff dearly as I do, those books are just a mystery to me.

[Tony.London Suburbs]

The Silmarillion has occupied a place in my bedroom cabinet for nearly 25 years now and I know I will never read it in this particular lifetime-too obscure pour moi.

For width of imagination and fertility of the mind thogh JRR Tolkien is unsurpassed in my experience.

Totally beyond my comprehension how one person can be so inventive.

Never saw the LOTR Trilogy of films as I don't know how anyone can do justice to this magnum opus(cue for 1 or 2 to dislike it-LOL)(6):)):))

[PeckhamRose]

"Travels with Macy" by the vet Bruce Fogle, father of Ben, who is married to Julia whatsit who was in Half a Sixpence and 50 yrs later the Esure ads with CalmDownDear Mr Winner. Anyway, this book was his attempt to travel around USA with his Labrador in an RV (recreational vehicle) following the footsteps of John Steinbeck and Travels with Charley.

Bruce is neither a good writer nor a travel guide. I was very frustrated as he passed through towns without telling us anything about them let alone his views which may have been good or bad. He did talk about the environment, from the view of his gas guzzler, and his views on the way animals are treated in USA, but really the book was a cheap shot and had he not been who he was (married to or father of) I don't think he'd have had a chance of writing it! Deeply disappointed. Yet

I have to recommend Looking for America by Ian Mutch. It is self published, has quite a few spelling errors, but so what, it is passionate, fascinating, and funny. And the second best USA travel guide book I have read after Mr Steinbeck's himself. Mr Mutch does it on his Harley.

[bignumber5]

Tried to read Hemmingway's "A Moveable Feast" once and the man cannot structure a sentence. A series of descriptions that seem to be trying very hard indeed to be vivid yet obscure, all separated by "and". Commas, man, commas. Not so much a book as a diary - just descriptions followed by never mentioning that object again. Anyway, crap.

[Jah Lush]

Bignumber5 I'm not having that. Part of Hemingway's genius was his precise and short and concise sentencing. He could describe brilliantly in one sentence what it would take others 20 paragraphs to describe. Try again.

[bon3yard]

Anything by that Antipodean Gasbag Clive James. Wordwankage ahoy!

[SimonM]

>>Bignumber5 I'm not having that. <<

Heartily seconded. I have been re-reading some of the early short stories which are simply sublime. And I find "A Moveable Feast" ech time I read it a wonderfully evocative memoir. Still, different strokes etc etc

[Sue]

willow Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman.

> Boring load of w**k.

xxxxxx

Willow, how can you?!

They're f***ing brilliant in just about every respect, and amongst my favourite books ever :))

[Sarah J.]

Re: Harry Potter

Clever plagiarism at it's best....seek out all the slight variations on words, phrases, and characters from Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars and Narnia to name but a few.

It seems unfair. Wrong, even.

[Keef]

Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars and Narnia to name but a few.

Forget those, look no further than The worst witch, I remember reading these as a kid, and thought of them straight away when I read Harry Potter. That said, I still like HP :-$

[Sarah J.]

Keef, don't feel bad.......so do I! :-$

SJ

[RosieH]

Sarah J Dew Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Re: Harry Potter

>

> Clever plagiarism at it's best....seek out all the

> slight variations on words, phrases, and

> characters from Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars and

> Narnia to name but a few.

>

> It seems unfair. Wrong, even.

Maybe. However "Everything has been thought of before, but the difficulty is to think of it again." (Goethe) I've never read Harry Potter, no interest in doing so, but I think any of us would be hard pressed to ignore every reference from everything we've ever read or seen when writing something new... (particularly as there are allegedly only 7 stories in the whole world)

[Sarah J.]

I agree with your point. This is true of film too. We are all influenced by what we have read and see before. SO it is very difficult, almost near to impossible, to have a completely original thought or idea for a story.

I do think, though, that there is being influenced, and heavily relying on other people's work.

[RosieH]

You're right - I remember being horrified when I first read A Taste of Honey and realised that Morrissey had cribbed almost the entire thing for his lyrics - my how my dreams were shattered

But I haven't read HP so can't comment with any accuracy - just wanted to show off the Goethe quote!

[Sarah J.]

Nicely done too (in reference to your quote) RosieH! I was smiling when I read it :)

[indiepanda]

Whether Harry Potter is plaguarism on a grand scale or not, I think JK Rowling deserves a lot of credit for her work, seems to have made reading cool again for children who might otherwise have prefered computer games.

I've read and enjoyed them - to be honest they remind me Enid Blyton's boarding school books as much as anything else, though I can see the parallels with LOTR too.

Mind you, it has to be said, my reading tastes are not overly sophisticated. Most classics leave me cold.. I feel like I "should" read them, rather than want to, and as a result don't generally bother!

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I love JKR but I think she might also have nicked a few ideas from The Wizard of Earthsea trilogy which I loved as a kid.

[Sarah J.]

I never read those as a child, but am interested to now after all this discussion.

I also agree with indiepanda: JK Rowling has definitely opened up the world of books and reading to a generation which is plagued by computer games, MP3's and other techie gadgets. I remember when books were really the only escape from reality (aside from television)available to me.

I am, however, a big fan of the canon. Having studied canonical literature, for a long time it was all I read. Nobody should feel they have to read the 'big names' of the canon, but there are some true gems in there that open us up to a lesson in history that is genuinely enjoyable. Adam Bede by George Elliot, for example, was a very controversial book for it's time (I recommend it :) )

But, we all have our preferences, and I can understand why people don't generally gravitate towards classical novels.

[Jah Lush]

Sarah J Dew Wrote:

> But, we all have our preferences, and I can

> understand why people don't generally gravitate

> towards classical novels.

I do, or did, especially Russian and French stuff and then obviously Dickens, Hardy, Collins, Elliot etc.

[Sarah J.]

Jah Lush Wrote:

> I do, or did, especially Russian and French stuff

> and then obviously Dickens, Hardy, Collins, Elliot

> etc.

Interesting.....I haven't got any of my books with me anymore. I had a fairly extensive library of canonical lit. but couldn't move it overseas with me! :( I'll need to start my collection again.

Read any Chaucer? I bought a lovely edition of Canterbury Tales that had a modern English translation mirroring the page in the original printed English of the time. The book even smells good! Hmm, is it sad and slightly pathetic to remember a book with such a fond recall?