What is all the fuss about? This is a stupid novel

[raybear]

First off, big ups to dommeyourass for her assistance in walking my love- pup, as it's freed up much time for me this evening to get things done. Though several of my errands will end up benefitting her later, but I can say no more.

I'm online looking for the info on a specific edition of a book and this list on amazon.com catches my eye: Books I Hated. It was so fcking funny. Mostly "classic" books (with the exception of Stephan King's Pet Semetary and some posthumous Tolkien book) and the commentary is extremely involved like "I hated this book" or "I couldn't get past page two" or my favorite "I hated the movie too". Anyway, it made me think of my own lists, so I decide to create my own damn meme.

Books I Hated But Didn't Own Up To Hating at the Time I Read Them; OR, Books I Hated But I've Forgotten That Fact:
1. Meridian -- Alice Walker
2. Les Miserables -- Victor Hugo
3. Cavedweller -- Dorothy Allison
4. White Teeth -- Zadie Smith
5. Catcher in the Rye -- J.D. Salinger (well, maybe not hate, but I certainly don't quite 'get' it)


Books I Unexpectedly Loved After Having Low Expectations:
1. Tess of the D'Ubervilles -- Thomas Hardy
2. The Last Temptation of Christ -- Kazantzakis
3. Empire Falls -- Richard Russo
4. The Martian Chronicles -- Ray Bradbury
5. White Noise -- Dom Delillo


Books I Wanted to Love But Couldn't Get Into:
1. Lullaby -- Chuck Palahniuk
2. A Heartbreaking Work... -- Dave Eggers (maybe I shouldn't count this as I've never finished it)
2a. Infinite Jest -- David Foster Wallace (again, I got close to page 100 out of 700, but didn't finish)
3. Crime and Punishment -- Dostoevksy (I love his others)
4. The Waves -- Virginia Woolf (same as above)
5. anything by Jane Austen. Now I don't really care that I don't love her, but I went through a phase where I tried really hard.

Comments

i HATE jane austen

[louche.livejournal.com]

and in college, i fought hard to have her categorized as a "major author" in my program. i was an english major and we were required to study two "major authors," all of whom were men (shakespeare, chaucer and milton). i had two motivations: first, i thought it was crap that the school wasn't recognizing any woman as a "major author," and second, i was a lazy college student and didn't feel like navigating through chaucer or milton. so i fought for jane austen because i would be at oxford studying. i thought, why not jane austen, how romantic to be at oxford reading everything she ever wrote. HA!

by the second or third book i wished she had never written a word.

[cocolola.livejournal.com]

you sicko that you loved white noise but not white teeth.

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[raybear.livejournal.com]

i didn't completely hate white teeth, it's just.....i read it in preparation for introducing her reading at Feminist Bookstore in the midst of the hype. remind me to tell you my Zadie stories sometime in person.

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[cocolola.livejournal.com]

i'm interested. it is sad if circumstances ruined the book for you- sometimes that happens, no? still, i think that book is so funny and so well written.

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[raybear.livejournal.com]

meeting authors through working in bookstores (and now through grad school) definitely offers amazing perspective on craft and personality. writers who are kind and grateful but mediocre in talent, others who are pompous and narcissistic but mediocre in talent, etc. etc. Zadie was definitely one of the more fascinating experiences. Oh, and remind me to tell you about Rosellen Brown....and Sara Paretsky....and Amber Hollibaugh....maybe I should write a series of bookstore chronicles in my journal.

[magdalene1.livejournal.com]

I can't get through The Brothers Kamarazov. Just...can't.

[sharkysmachine.livejournal.com]

I have never gotten The Catcher In the Rye and I fear it's the one thing standing between and a real writing career.

[effeminasculine.livejournal.com]

you should keep trying on The Waves. it's amazing, but you have to be in the right mindset to get into it.

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[raybear.livejournal.com]

i read it for my woolf class, and while i "get" it, as in, i get what she's doing, i just couldn't fall in love with it the way i did with all her other books. but maybe you're right, it's been several years, i should pick it up again.

[http://users.livejournal.com/ruine_/]

Was nosing at my friend friend's page and stumbled upon this entry. And have to add that Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk is a fantastic book! I think I was lucky, I had plenty of time to sit and read a fair chunk without any interruptions, and wow was I hooked! I found it an easy read, drawn right. I can't say I will be able to look at the world quite the same again!

Stick with it,it will be more than worth it.

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[raybear.livejournal.com]

oh, i finished the book. read it in maybe two days, pretty much all in one sitting. i'm quite confident in my complaints with the book -- it seemed hastily written and crafted, not fully drawn out, a better novella than novel. also, it was somewhat formulaic if you've read other Palahniuk books.

someone swore to me that his latest, Diary, would win me back to being a Palahniuk fan.

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[http://users.livejournal.com/ruine_/]

Although having seen and enjoyed Fight Club, I had never actually read any of his books. Lullaby was my first, and came at a time when I was in between books. It was perfect. Quick and easy to read, and wonderfully fitted in that gap. Better being a novella? Yes you may be right there.

I have his other books lined up now, so hopefully they will be even more enjoyable.

[stuey.livejournal.com]

Laurie just read White Teeth and hated it as well, though she really wanted to like it.

I have no idea why this is relevant.

Kisses.

[mintwaster.livejournal.com]

If there was a list of Books I Want to Read Because the Author is Really Hot But Couldn't Really Get Into, White Teeth would be at the top of my list.

here here!!

[dommeyourass.livejournal.com]

on jane austen. ugh. i hate her books. or rather...i hate the first 25 pages, since i never get farther than that if i'm lucky.

[bias-cut.livejournal.com]

Tess of the D'Urbervilles rocks! I remember being the only one in my class who loved it.