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Gimme 1 book that you read in its entirety, but absolutely hated. (1 Viewer)

kupcho1

kupcho1

Footballguy
For me, that would be The Royal Family by William T. Vollmann. I only wish I'd read the NYT review before reading this book.
It is primarily Vollmann's own fixation on street prostitution that's to blame. On this subject, ''The Royal Family'' is positively corpulent with anecdote and detail, of which let the following be a representative example (although it's exceptional in being printable by this newspaper): ''Just that day on Ellis Street he'd met a stinking girl who lived in the Lincoln Hotel and who had begged him for money for epilepsy medicine, a favor he'd granted her; she'd said God bless you and kissed him with her reeking herpid lips; she'd said: If you ever need a woman. . . .''
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I'm no prude, but man this guy's got issues. The Royal Family is the only book that I've ever thrown directly into a garbage can after finishing it. I'd have probably set it afire if I hadn't finished while traveling; I don't think the hotel would have appreciated it.

Whatcha got?
 
I’ve told this story before, but I read The Royal Family by William Vollmann and promised myself on page 950 that even though I had one hundred pages to go, if the prostitution clan recharged their energy by the drinking the Queen’s urine again, I would stop reading the book. I did. Never did find out how it finished. I’m slightly curious now, but never was before.
 
kupcho1 said:
For me, that would be The Royal Family by William T. Vollmann. I only wish I'd read the NYT review before reading this book.
It is primarily Vollmann's own fixation on street prostitution that's to blame. On this subject, ''The Royal Family'' is positively corpulent with anecdote and detail, of which let the following be a representative example (although it's exceptional in being printable by this newspaper): ''Just that day on Ellis Street he'd met a stinking girl who lived in the Lincoln Hotel and who had begged him for money for epilepsy medicine, a favor he'd granted her; she'd said God bless you and kissed him with her reeking herpid lips; she'd said: If you ever need a woman. . . .''
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I'm no prude, but man this guy's got issues. The Royal Family is the only book that I've ever thrown directly into a garbage can after finishing it. I'd have probably set it afire if I hadn't finished while traveling; I don't think the hotel would have appreciated it.

Whatcha got?
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Oh my God. Have you read me say this before? I swear that I didn’t read your OP before I posted, but was going to go back and read them all. I did. And I found your gem.

eta* I really hadn't read the OP. And if you search for "Vollmann" by member rockaction you'll see quotes going back to 2013. Apparently I'll tell a yarn a sell a yarn once every couple of years. I was so damn frustrated with the ridiculousness of urine as nourishment and crack cocaine as ritual cleansing (okay, I'm making that last part—the last part—up) that it's stuck with me for a while.
 
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This is sort of like when I started the thread about Wire's Pink Flag about nine years or so ago, teasing the reader about what I thought the best punk album ever was and pantagrapher posts “Pink Flag” and then has the same realization that I did. That the OP was kind of crucial to the whole thing.
 
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Vollmann’s Whores For Gloria, on the other hand, was a pretty readable novella. More pathos than in The Royal Family, and more likable characters, to the degree that violent and homeless San Franciscan addicts can be likable.
 
For Whom the Bell Tolls

love Hemingway, but reading that book, with him writing it as if he was translating the literal Spanish to English, but writing it as a Basque speaker would say it... if English speakers understood the spoken Spanish language... and it was so heavy on the love interest angle. just too much for me.
 
rockaction said:
Vollmann’s Whores For Gloria, on the other hand, was a pretty readable novella. More pathos than in The Royal Family, and more likable characters, to the degree that violent and homeless San Franciscan addicts can be likable.
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I'll never know. :D
 
I’ll check in with one I’ve read. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

I didn’t appreciate the bombast even in my twenties. Thompson was so full of himself, I thought. What should be a light-hearted romp suddenly got all damn serious in its mission and actions. The ease with which Tom Wolfe wrote and committed beautiful acts of journalism can be juxtaposed against Hunter and studied about how to disappear completely or how to center yourself in everything.
 
Lots of books that I hated that have stopped reading over the years. This is cheating a bit, but probably the one that I finished and hated the most was a Paw Patrol book that my son loved that had typographical and grammatical errors on every page. I would have my pen in hand while reading it to him, so that I could correct the text in the book. I probably read that book fifty times and it annoyed me every single time.

Speaking of typos and errors, one that I gave up on recently was a book about Teddy Roosevelt (this was not a kid’s book, but a book written by a history professor) that opened page one by referring to Abraham Lincoln as our 17th President. I again got out my pen to correct the mistake. Saw another mistake a bit further on and gave up on the book. Dropped it off in the Little Library down the street because I never wanted to see it again.

I may be an editor at heart.
 
Ulysses by James Joyce. It was assigned in an English Lit class when I was in High School. A few years later, I thought "maybe I was just too young to get Joyce" and read Finnegans Wake. Nope. 14 year-old me was right.

Also, anything by George Orwell. I gave him two chances, too.
 
Uruk-Hai said:
Ulysses by James Joyce. It was assigned in an English Lit class when I was in High School. A few years later, I thought "maybe I was just too young to get Joyce" and read Finnegans Wake. Nope. 14 year-old me was right.

Also, anything by George Orwell. I gave him two chances, too.
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I originally gave this a Like for the James Joyce hate, but I removed the Like for the Orwell hate.

I don't think I've ever met someone who disliked both of these gentlemen. They are about the most diametrically opposed writers that I can imagine, in terms of style. Well, maybe Joyce and Hemingway.
 
AAABatteries said:
There’s probably several that we were forced to read for English Lit but I’m assuming you mean more for pleasure. If so, then I can’t think of any as I would have stopped reading if I hated it.
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This. I'll finish a dumb movie, because it requires no effort... Finishing a book I'm not enjoying feels pointless and far too much work.
 
IvanKaramazov said:
Uruk-Hai said:
Ulysses by James Joyce. It was assigned in an English Lit class when I was in High School. A few years later, I thought "maybe I was just too young to get Joyce" and read Finnegans Wake. Nope. 14 year-old me was right.

Also, anything by George Orwell. I gave him two chances, too.
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I originally gave this a Like for the James Joyce hate, but I removed the Like for the Orwell hate.

I don't think I've ever met someone who disliked both of these gentlemen. They are about the most diametrically opposed writers that I can imagine, in terms of style. Well, maybe Joyce and Hemingway.
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The stories didn't grab me, nor did the characters. One or the other has to stick for me.
 
AAABatteries said:
There’s probably several that we were forced to read for English Lit but I’m assuming you mean more for pleasure. If so, then I can’t think of any as I would have stopped reading if I hated it.
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I was forced to read Grapes of Wrath. But, then again, there were many books that I was forced to read that I really liked - Vonnegut is awesome, loved Shakespeare, and Night is the most impactful book I've ever read and probably ever will. I don't regard this as a disqualifier.

As an addendum I feel totally vindicated since Steinbeck is the lead in this unreadable dreck thread.
 
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SWC said:
KarmaPolice said:
My answer is a short one - The Great Gatsby. Anything longer than that and I will for sure bail on a book.
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gatsby may be my favorite book of all time fighting with the sun also rises by ernesto take that to the bank bromigos
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2 books I couldn't complete. Take it to the bank with a grain of salt, bromingo. I mostly read non-fiction and popular crap for this reason.
 
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the great thing about books is there a lot of different types and everyone gets to like what they like take that to the bank brochacho
 
SWC said:
the waste land by ts elliot took me forever to get through take that to the bank brochachos
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April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

I’ve always found that memorizing a stanza of poetry makes us feel better. This is one of those first lines I can’t forget

SWC said:
gatsby may be my favorite book of all time fighting with the sun also rises by ernesto take that to the bank bromigos
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The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises are in contention with 1984 and Tender Is The Night for my favorite twentieth century novel (along with Infinite Jest). I loved all of those books.
 
SWC said:
the great thing about books is there a lot of different types and everyone gets to like what they like take that to the bank brochacho
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Exactly. Movies are my artsy fartsy artform/entertainment of choice. I've always loved reading, but i hated English Lit classes and being told what to read. I have a hard time reading those types of books even now. I need a little more brainless with short chapters.
 
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The wife picked up the book The Last Flight when she had some book store gift cards to use up. It's from 2020, and there was a blurb about "Me Too" on the inside cover, which was a bit of a red flag for me. Not because I'm against holding men accountable of course, but I worried about a book being a quick cash grab trying to ride the coattails of the issue of the day. But it seemed like a quick, easy read for a plane ride or whatever, so I gave it a shot.

Warning for spoilers ahead if you'd like to read this hamfisted crapped out book.

I was actually somewhat enjoying the book until about halfway through when I came to a startling realization that all of the characters broke exactly along gender lines. All, and I mean all, of the women were good. And all of the men were bad. Lady who is a drug dealer? She's actually good. Guy who is a drug dealer? The absolute worst. When the guy who at first seemed sympathetic was actually helping one of the other men cover up horrible sexual crimes for no reason that I could tell (as one naturally does, apparently), I was ready to throw the book away unfinished. But a part of me needed to see if she would keep an absolute perfect gender record throughout the whole novel. It was a little dicey at one point when the male driver seemed like he wanted to help her, but of course he's completely incompetent and IIRC is in the process of delivering her to her tormentors when she jumps out of the limo.

The shame of it is that Julie Clark seems like she could be a decent writer. But I won't read one of her books again because apparently she thinks a sledgehammer is subtle.
 
IvanKaramazov said:
I originally gave this a Like for the James Joyce hate, but I removed the Like for the Orwell hate.
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I twice tried to make it through Ulysses since I'd seen it #1 on a greatest books of the 20th century list, but I got about 15% the second time and gave up. It's just not for me.

Agree on Orwell. 1984 is my favorite book.
Sand said:
Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck is a pretentious ***. Will never read his dreck again.
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I actually enjoyed Grapes of Wrath, despite the not so subtle "capitalism is evil, save us government" subtext.

I hate the ending of the book, though. I've heard people describe it as poignant. I say creepy and weird.
 
Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follette's hilariously terrible attempt at softcore erotica. This book starts by setting the table with an idiotic introduction to the main characters and goes downhill from there. I should have seen the big red light flashing and cut my losses. Saying the villain is a "comic-book level bad guy" does a disservice to Thanos and his blue minions. When a friend saw it on my book shelf and asked to borrow it, I should have warned her away but was happy to be rid of it.
 
beer 30 said:
There's been more than one but recently I'd say Dan Carlin's The End is Always Near. I love Carlin in podcast form and was hoping his book would be something along what he typically delivers. The book just didn't really go anywhere. Figured I owe Dan some $$$ for all the free content I've listened to over the years so I'm good with the donation.
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Agreed on this one. I didn't know Carlin and enjoy non fiction more than fiction but assumed he'd be tying some hypothetical situations into well researched historical situations. Kept waiting and waiting. . .
 
bonsai said:
Sand said:
Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck is a pretentious ***. Will never read his dreck again.
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Wow. This was a slog.
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Funny I loved this book when we read it in Junior year of HS. In fact I distinctly remember this being the first book we were "made" to read for English class that I actually read well ahead of the class.

I liked it so much so that I ended up reading basically everything Steinbeck ever wrote. For the most part I thought they were all hits.
 
KarmaPolice said:
My answer is a short one - The Great Gatsby. Anything longer than that and I will for sure bail on a book.
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This was going to be my answer but then I realized that I never did read the whole thing. Not sure I was even able to make it through the end of either of the movies.
 
Psychopav said:
bonsai said:
Sand said:
Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck is a pretentious ***. Will never read his dreck again.
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Wow. This was a slog.
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Funny I loved this book when we read it in Junior year of HS. In fact I distinctly remember this being the first book we were "made" to read for English class that I actually read well ahead of the class.

I liked it so much so that I ended up reading basically everything Steinbeck ever wrote. For the most part I thought they were all hits.
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Also I am eternally grateful for having read his catalogue before political tribalism became such a cultic phenomenon. I in no way walked away from my Steinbeck exposure thinking capitalism is evil and the government the savior. I did gain an appreciation for empathy, which is probably more foundational to my worldview as an adult than I gave it credit for. I didn't consider Steinbeck overly preachy and considered Ayn Rand clearly so, and I am much faster to condemn any of Ayn Rand's theme's than Steinbeck's. Despite this, I have yet to vote for a single Democratic presidential candidate. /politics reference
 
Stephen King's 'The Stand' has such a poor ending. The book started off decently enough but starts to get a little uninteresting towards the end. It seems like he wrote himself into a corner and just gives us a lazy, poor ending. Total letdown. Do not waste your time.
 
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Chaz McNulty said:
Stephen King's 'IT' has such a poor ending. The book started off decently enough but starts to get a little uninteresting towards the end. It seems like he wrote himself into a corner and just gives us a lazy, poor ending. Total letdown. Do not waste your time.
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Whoa. This is my favorite book of all-time. Have happily read all 1093 pages multiple times.

I'm racking my brain for an answer, but I truly believe every book I didn't enjoy I just stopped reading. Even recalling back to college or high school where teachers required certain books to be read, I can't remember one being really awful I hate it by the end. Maybe The Odyssey if I had to pick one but, frankly, that's because I disliked my teacher and she focused on that book for a large part of the semester.

I like books (though law school killed any desire that I have to read for "fun"). :shrug:
 
CletiusMaximus said:
Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follette's hilariously terrible attempt at softcore erotica. This book starts by setting the table with an idiotic introduction to the main characters and goes downhill from there. I should have seen the big red light flashing and cut my losses. Saying the villain is a "comic-book level bad guy" does a disservice to Thanos and his blue minions. When a friend saw it on my book shelf and asked to borrow it, I should have warned her away but was happy to be rid of it.
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Weird - I liked Follette as a kid. Never read this, though (nor any "softcore erotica").
 
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