The books you hated!

[onehitwanda]

Which I assumed was Northern Scotland and no-one else knew any better.

Northern Scotland is a hell of a lot prettier than Dunkirk. Mind you, there are bits of Slough that are prettier than Dunkirk.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Northern Scotland is a hell of a lot prettier than Dunkirk. Mind you, there are bits of Slough that are prettier than Dunkirk.

Now Betjeman had a way with words!

Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!

I'd like to explore more of northern Scotland and the islands. Took the sleeper to Inverness for a weekend break a while back. Didn't see Nessie, did see seals and otters in the river. And some excellent castles. Urquhart is ruins, but Cawdor (as in Macbeth, Thane of) is still standing and furnished (only dates back to the 1400s, though, so not the famous guy's home).

 

[StillStunned]

Now Betjeman had a way with words!

The man was a genius.

"Let us not speak, for the love we bear one another—
Let us hold hands and look."
She such a very ordinary little woman;
He such a thumping crook;
But both, for a moment, little lower than the angels
In the teashop's ingle-nook.

- In A Bath Teashop

 

[onehitwanda]

I'd like to explore more of northern Scotland and the islands. Took the sleeper to Inverness for a weekend break a while back. Didn't see Nessie, did see seals and otters in the river. And some excellent castles. Urquhart is ruins, but Cawdor (as in Macbeth, Thane of) is still standing and furnished (only dates back to the 1400s, though, so not the famous guy's home).

Glencoe Pass is how I imagine Elysium will be.

 

[HordHolm]

Mind you, there are bits of Slough that are prettier than Dunkirk.

Oh boy... Dunkirk must be bad...

 

[onehitwanda]

Oh boy... Dunkirk must be bad...

Think of the most depressing, ground down English seaside tourist town about two weeks before midwinter, and then make it French.

There's a reason the A16 bypasses Dunkirk - and it's not just because of the vampires.

 

[Duleigh]

Many Moons ago I was finishing up a college level course on WWII. I was eating this course up, it was more of a dream come true than a college course, the professor was wise, well spoken, and somehow was able to describe something as massive as WWII in a single semester. Our final paper was easy, write 2500 words on a book about WWII. 2500 words? I could do 2500 words standing on my head, and I had the perfect book picked out - The Wild Blue by Stephen E. Ambrose. (Or more accurately The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys who Flew the B-24s over Germany) This was a dream come true - I LOVED Stephen E. Ambrose. He wrote Band of Brothers and Citizen Soldiers and Nothing Like It In The World, all books that had a proud place in my library. I loved the B-24 and wanted to learn more about it so I got the book and tucked in for a good read.

It was a lie.

Even the title was a lie. The closest it got to Germany was Sicily. It never actually mentioned the B-24 itself. The Most Produced Aircraft in History! Bigger, faster and able to carry more bombs than the B-17 much further than the B-17, how could he have missed all that? Instead the book was a love letter to the politician and the man who suffered the worst presidential defeat in American history, George McGovern. George was a B-24 pilot later in the war and he flew out of Italy when he finally got over to the ETO. He flew just a few combat missions, "milk runs" many were called, and then the war was over. The book never addressed the thousands of B-24's that flew over Germany, the hundreds that went down in flames, Ambrose never addressed the tactics the formations the profiles or even the men who flew the B-24 (How could he not mention Jimmy Stewart?) How can you write a book about the B-24 and not talk about Ploesti??? And worse, Ambrose committed plagiarism in the book.

I trashed it, I called it boring, uninspired, a political favor, and "one chapter worth of information stretched out over 90,000 words." It was the worst thing Ambrose ever wrote. I gave the paper to my professor and he glanced at the title and said, "Oh, Steve Ambrose, he's a personal friend of mine."

I spent the week waving good-bye to my GPA, I mean, I really trashed him. But when I got my paper back I got an A-, my professor agreed with everything I said and his only comment was that I should have raked Ambrose over the coals more for the plagiarism.

 

[Duleigh]

I agree with Simon that the worldbuilding is just plain silly and lazy. I could name many examples of why it doesn't work.

I think Gaiman is jealous of Terry Pratchett's ability to create an entire multiverse and keep it together for decades.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I think Gaiman is jealous of Terry Pratchett's ability to create an entire multiverse and keep it together for decades.

We should all be jealous of that.
All though there are some glaring inconsistencies from the first two books to the later works. Trolls for instance are completely different.

 

[Sappho_CGN]

1. "Katz und Maus" from Günther Grass. I had to read it at school and for me it was boring and ugly. Never got his message.

2. "Ansichten eines Clowns" from Heinrich Böll. From my persoanl view a plattitude about post-war Germany.

 

[HordHolm]

Think of the most depressing, ground down English seaside tourist town about two weeks before midwinter, and then make it French.

Aahh, Sheerness... (no, not a tourist town, a port instead, but then so's Dunkirk)

 

[Duleigh]

We should all be jealous of that.
All though there are some glaring inconsistencies from the first two books to the later works. Trolls for instance are completely different.

True, but he admitted that he wrote those two books poking fun at authors that were making money hand over fist in the swords and sorcery until he realized he had a knack at writing satire. I got a first edition copy of The Colour Of Magic over 40 years ago and it's been a favorite ever since, even encouraging me on in my madness

 

[Kumquatqueen]

True, but he admitted that he wrote those two books poking fun at authors that were making money hand over fist in the swords and sorcery until he realized he had a knack at writing satire. I got a first edition copy of The Colour Of Magic over 40 years ago and it's been a favorite ever since, even encouraging me on in my madness

Yeah, the first two books are very different from the other Discworlds. I didn't rate either when I first read them (luckily my housemates advised me to try Weird Sisters and Mort before dismissing him), but then I read a fair bit of the fantasy he was satirising. A decade later they were much funnier (and another 25 years made them funnier still!)

 

[Duleigh]

Yeah, the first two books are very different from the other Discworlds. I didn't rate either when I first read them (luckily my housemates advised me to try Weird Sisters and Mort before dismissing him), but then I read a fair bit of the fantasy he was satirising. A decade later they were much funnier (and another 25 years made them funnier still!)

Speaking of satirizing old SF&F, I have a long train ride coming up so I picked up a couple of second hand copies of books that Sir Terry really skewered with his upside down mountain, Wyrmberg: Dragonflight and Dragonquest = The Dragon Riders of Pern. It's been well over 50 years since I read them, I can't wait to see how they survived the decades.

 

[IARainman]

I hated Tess of the D’urbervilles. I tolerated the tedious repeated returns to despair in favor of Hardy’s wonderful setting descriptions but that ending…makes me wonder if it was serialized and they stopped paying him.

More modern book, I thought “Educated “ was over-rated, and couldn’t tell if some of the usage “errors” were poor editing or meant to portray her background, which I would find a bit manipulative.

 

[HordHolm]

Oooh, here's one that just popped into my head - London Fields by Martin Amis. Way too far up its own posterior, that one.

 

[Wifetheif]

Not hate exactly but I just finished a collection of all the "Spicy pulp" stories Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian wrote. I have to conclude that the creator of the ultimate he-man most likely died a virgin. Spicy pulps were pulp magazines full of stories for "red blooded" men. The male heroes encounter beguiling women who, at some point in the narrative lose all or most of their clothing. Tame by today's standards they were hot stuff in the 1920s and 1930s and were sold mostly from under the counter. Some of the titles were Spicy Detective, Spicy Mystery, and Spicy Adventure. For readers in the know the appearance of ... and a break in the narrative indicated that our studly hero and the barely dressed babe have DONE IT! Howard submitted these stories under the nom de plume of Sam Walser. Man do they stink! Especially when compared to other writers working in the genre. Hoffman Price's spicy fiction still "does the trick" eighty years later. I am convinced after reading all his spicy fiction stories that the creator of the ultimate he-man died a virgin. Every last story reads like it was written by a guy who read about guys getting laid but never got horizontal himself! EVERY woman is 'supple" every last one. That is their main and in some cases only attribute. Supple is not an especially enlightening adjective especially when using it to refer to a woman's entire physique. His breasts have no nipples (or even clever literary allusions to them) His male heroes are just a step above rapists and have NO clue as to how to engage a woman in conversation. Most telling is a story "Desert Blood" set in French controlled Algeria our hero comes across a prissy school teacher who looks at him disdainfully and considers him a lout. Later, this prissy school teacher is forced to strip pffpage and humiliated by being driven into town on the back f a donkey naked save her glasses. This ALSO happens off page! At the time this story was being written, Howard was dating a beautiful school teacher. She said in her memoirs that their dating consisted of long drives in the Texas countryside, kissing, and heavy petting. She made it abundantly clear to Howard that she wanted so much more. He broke off the relationship shortly thereafter. Now, I ask you my fellow erotica writers what kind of erotic writer puts a beautiful, haughty white woman in a treacherous foreign land crawling with horny Arabs and French scoundrels and has her debasement happen OFF PAGE? Howard wasn't even willing to imagine his girlfriend naked for the sake of fiction. Now, does that strike you as common amongst erotica writers? No, I'm sure you agree it isn't. All the evidence points to the infamous mama's boy, Robert E. Howard being essentially ball-less.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Not hate exactly but I just finished a collection of all the "Spicy pulp" stories Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian wrote. I have to conclude that the creator of the ultimate he-man most likely died a virgin. ... Now, does that strike you as common amongst erotica writers? No, I'm sure you agree it isn't. All the evidence points to the infamous mama's boy, Robert E. Howard being essentially ball-less.

Similarly, all the evidence points to Jane Austen 'almost certainly' running an early form of bondage parlour from the comfort of her Hampshire cottage. In other news, Lord Byron's exploits 'probably overstated'...

(Sorry...I'm only gently mocking...it does however sound a bit too conspiracy theory-minded for me.)

 

[Wifetheif]

Similarly, all the evidence points to Jane Austen 'almost certainly' running an early form of bondage parlour from the comfort of her Hampshire cottage. In other news, Lord Byron's exploits 'probably overstated'...

(Sorry...I'm only gently mocking...it does however sound a bit too conspiracy theory-minded for me.)

I’m trying to work with what the text tells me. Imagine a stand in for your girlfriend in a lawless land hostile to westerners. She gets into trouble, trouble that your readers would really like illuminated and you decide to keep it off page. In an erotic magazine? A naked white woman in the hands of “heathens” stripped to her skin and you DON’T write about that? Either Howard is afraid to imagine his girlfriend naked (Unlike any straight man since we evolved from the primordial ooze.) Or he was a virgin who had no real idea what a woman was like sans attire.

 

[StillStunned]

Either Howard is afraid to imagine his girlfriend naked (Unlike any straight man since we evolved from the primordial ooze.)

Hey! Some of us primordial oozes are proudly unevolved!

Or he was a virgin who had no real idea what a woman was like sans attire.

From what I remember of his bio, he had an (ahum) unhealthy attachment to his mother.

 

[BabyDollinaskirt]

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline, sequel to his Ready Player One book. Absolutely unnecessary, a basic copy and past of the first book (race against the protagonist to save their virtual world by going on a quest with even more obscure fandom references) and came off pretentious and whiny.
Throughly enjoyed the first book and loved the movie, but this was the first book I seriously considered DNFing.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Huh. I have been reading "Dauntless" by Jack Campbell for the last several days. I saw it was a long series of books (The Lost Fleet) and it looked promising at first glance. Space fights between large fleets, FTL technology, intrigue, a promise of mysterious aliens... Bah.
I could forgive everything that doesn't make sense in the mechanics of the world and the unsteady pacing of the book, but the one-dimensional characterization was too much
It's literally MC = good, honorable, and smart.
Everyone who supports the MC has one or all of those virtues.
Everyone who opposes the MC is bad, stupid, or incompetent, often all three of those together. One of the two important female characters is literally as if she came out of a cartoon.

Shame, I was hoping for a fun and imaginative space opera but this is barely suitable for a teenager even if it's advertised as Adult SciFi.

 

[lovecraft68]

Years ago F. Paul Wilson wrote a great horror novel "The Keep" amazing book with one of the most memorable villains. He then wrote "The Tomb" which introduced Repairman Jack a great vigilante who ran into a supernatural race of monsters. Another novel, the Touch was a medical thriller.

He then revisited the Keep with two amazing books Reborn and Reprisal bringing back Rasalom from The Keep. In the finale, "Nightworld" he ties all the characters from the previous books together and dubbed the entire thing the adversary cycle

Nightworld was fucking epic, just a fantastic piece of horror fiction with all the characters melding perfectly and some dying off. Then....in the last thirty or so pages, he shit all over the entire thing coming up with the laziest, most contrived and absolutely bullshit ending possible. Just made no sense, like it was well, um,...yeah, uh....good guys win for....reasons?

To this day its a conflicted thing for me, five and three quarters of fantastic story then having it all go to shit at a level that rivals the last episode of Game of Thrones.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Years ago F. Paul Wilson wrote a great horror novel "The Keep" amazing book with one of the most memorable villains. He then wrote "The Tomb" which introduced Repairman Jack a great vigilante who ran into a supernatural race of monsters. Another novel, the Touch was a medical thriller.

He then revisited the Keep with two amazing books Reborn and Reprisal bringing back Rasalom from The Keep. In the finale, "Nightworld" he ties all the characters from the previous books together and dubbed the entire thing the adversary cycle

Nightworld was fucking epic, just a fantastic piece of horror fiction with all the characters melding perfectly and some dying off. Then....in the last thirty or so pages, he shit all over the entire thing coming up with the laziest, most contrived and absolutely bullshit ending possible. Just made no sense, like it was well, um,...yeah, uh....good guys win for....reasons?

To this day its a conflicted thing for me, five and three quarters of fantastic story then having it all go to shit at a level that rivals the last episode of Game of Thrones.

Ah, unsatisfactory endings of the book series that I enjoyed... I read plenty of those although I am not always sure I can separate an ending that I simply didn't like, from an ending that is just badly done. In extreme examples, it's easy to tell, but when those two are intertwined...

There is one fantasy series that feels as if an alien entity took over the author's body and wrote abominable sequels to an outstanding first book.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13569581-blood-song?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_10

This is the first book a coming-of-age fantasy story that was really well done. I enjoyed it very much. The sequels though...

 

[StillStunned]

(The Lost Fleet)

Yeah. They started out OK, if you accepted the premise that the hero is the only person in the galaxy with a brain. But it would have been better as a single volume of a third or half the length of the total six books.

Then the sequel series came out, and I gave up halfway through the first book.