Books You Hate

[Amy B]

It's happened to all of us.

A friend says, 'Hey, have you read this?' and hands you a book. No, you haven't read it.

Or maybe you read some review in the paper and though, 'ooh, that sounds good'

So you get the book, happily take it home and start reading....

And you hate it. For whatever reason, the book just does not click with you. It could be the story, the characters, the plot, whatever. But you just can't read it.

Maybe you trudge through; maybe you close it and walk away.

As my grandmother always said, you can't like everything.

What book (or books) do you hate? Was it one that everyone else liked? A classic that you were forced to read?

A couple from me are Shipping News by Annie Proulx and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

[Kate]

The Da Vinci code.... couldn't get past the first thirty pages. Tom Hanks didn't help.

[Lindach]

I agree with you regarding the 'Shipping News' The most frustrating characters living a totally boring life! I couldn't even cope with the idea of the movie of the same!
I'd like to add the books of Ann Tyler also full of the most boring and frustrating people.

[Kate]

Ooh and here's a controversial one, Breath, the new novel by Tim Winton. It pains me to say it as a big Tim Winton fan, but I just did not get in to this. The most interesting part for me was the prologue with the ambulance officer scenario but after that I found myself seriously waning and the story seriously unengaging. Sorry Tim!

[Jane B]

I didn't like Brief Lives by Anita Brookner but kept reading it anyway. I also didn't like Theft by Peter Carey and didn't finish it and I didn't like Breath either or Dirt Music or Wepons of Choice by John Birmingham even though I loved He Died with a Falafel in his Hand. Gee my list is growing!

[Bern]

The good thing about Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist is that it inspired this review... !