Most Disappoining book you've read

[The Unabomber]

Zen and the Art of Mortorcycle Maintenence
Just couldn't get into it, i heard that it was such a great book before i read it too.

Villa Incognito - Tom Robbins
Love the guys books, pretty much all of them but when this came out it was like reading a different author.

[feartheflames]

the devil wears prada, VERY disappointed

[Kipper is King]

The Da Vinci Code. Anyone with any knowledge of art whatsoever could smell the BS coming from that book a mile away! Dan Brown blows!

[The Goon]

A Separate Peace - What's with these guys swimming together naked? Wait, they're gay? And the one guy died from a broken leg? Huh?

[FireFly]

Anything by Danielle Steele. Seriously, how this woman sells so many books is totally beyond me. They suck. Horribly written, very predictable, poor character and plot development, subpar language. Just awful. Scoop my eye out with a rusty spoon awful.

Also, I finally finished Feed My Dear Dogs by Emma Richler. It's written in a stream-of-conciousness way by from the viewpoint of a child. Really hard to read. As she gets older, it does get easier, but still... and 500 pages of it. Painful to get through.

[FireFly]

Now that I think about it, I have to add in The Hobbit. I couldn't even finish it. I don't think I made it through the first chapter.

[Bobblehead]

It's funny how many books are in this thread AND the Best book thread.

[Reaper]

I'm waiting for someone to say "The Bible."

[Devils'Advocate]

RE: waiting for someone to say the bible:

No way. Bible is great. My copy is filled with highlighted passages that I thought funny. Heck, most of Deutronomy is highlighted. Like, Deuteronomy 23:1 (no man who has had his testicals crushed or penis cut off will be accepted into church of God). And the one about "if a man rapes a virgin, he must then agree to marry her" is pretty good too. I keep all my fiction books separated into horror, humour, classics, etc. I never know where to put the bible exactly.

ANYHOW, I certainly can understand why there is an overlap between this thread and the "best" thread. Because if the book didn't come highly recommended, I wouldn't be disappointed. I've disliked a great number of books and gave them away to anyone who would take them. But that's to be expected... just like music, I like some, dislike others.

However, one that comes to me is "Heart of Darkness". My Grade 12 English teacher gave us a list of "books she was no longer allowed to teach". Catcher in the Rye, Brave New World, Crime and Punishment, etc. Now you know why she handed out the list... if you want Grade 12 students to read something you tell them that the administration doesn't want those books taught. I read the entire list. Except "Heart of Darkness". I really have a hard time reading Joseph Conrad. I know lots of people really enjoy the book, but the language he uses and the structures he employs make it brutal to trudge through.

[flip]

while i completely disagree with anyone saying heart of darkness but i can understand why some people would have trouble reading it. the only reason i understood it on the first read was because of my phenomenal english 30 teacher (thank you mr arsenault of st francis fame...what a hippie). i was never blessed with a great ability to turn books into my own imagination and that book has a lot of imagery that is important and my eng 30 teacher helped me not only read conrads sometimes difficult writing style but also develop a picture of his words in my mind.


personally i think the worst book and most disapointing ive ever read is easily the lord of the flies. what a load of crap and a waste of time that was.

[RougeUnderoos]

I don't know about the "most disappointing" but I recently read "Children of Men" by PD James because I'd heard it was such a good movie. I still haven't seen the movie but the book was just plain awful. Awful enough to throw on the floor at the end of it.

"Mason and Dixon" by Thomas Pynchon was disappointing, I think. I had read a couple of his earlier books and liked them but I couldn't figure out where he was going with that one and it was so damn heavy (literally) I just gave up.

[sadora]

Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen. I've read and loved some of Cohen's other works and I got excited when I found this title. Unfortunately the title was the best piece of this book.

Life of Pi. It's a good, basic premise for a story but IMO the book tried to be too poetic which at times just felt too muddled.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by fredr123

Pretty much everything I've read by Dan Brown. Granted, I've only read The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons but both were pretty tough to digest. The ideas that underlie the plots are interesting (strangely enough, they probably weren't his own ideas anyway) but the style of writing and the execution are simply sub-par.

Blargh... I read Angels & Demons while I was living in Rome. His little chases all over the city were ridiculous. Going from Pantheon to Piazza del Popolo in 5 minutes by car? I don't think so, Tim. Maybe if you were Ben Johnson all hopped up on 'roids. But by car? I laugh.
Of course, I'm a brutal cynic when things leap logic. I'm still choked that Doc Brown (re-) invented time travel in 1885 when he couldn't do it in 1955.




But probably the most disappointing book I've read lately was Sophie's Choice.
Started out really well, added some good historic references, carried along nicely, then BAM! BOOOORING. Page after page of sad, sad WWII concentration camp/psyche damaging tales that should be reserved for WWII buffs and Social Studies classes.

[PsYcNeT]

Rant - Chuck Palahniuk

Just finished reading this one and was severely disappointed that Chuckie has continued his downward spiral since the brilliance of Fight Club and Survivor...

This one was just an extremely pointless novel

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Rant - Chuck Palahniuk

Just finished reading this one and was severely disappointed that Chuckie has continued his downward spiral since the brilliance of Fight Club and Survivor...

This one was just an extremely pointless novel

I know...it is pretty bad. I think chuck has ran out of ideas.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

I would say Harry Potter and the half blood price was pretty disappointing.

[Staypuft]

I'm a guy that enjoys Stephen King, but I just could not read "Dreamcatcher".
I ended up finishing it, but I just really disliked it.
Funny how King writes some of my favourite books, but also the worst one.
I can certainly agree about Michael Crighton though, Timeline was a book that I just wanted to punt.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by sadora

Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen. I've read and loved some of Cohen's other works and I got excited when I found this title. Unfortunately the title was the best piece of this book.

From what I remember it was pretty disjointed but who can forget the ventriliquism act by the girl with "the luxuriant growth of ..... hair that, with daily brush training"

[MickMcGeough]

The Dark Tower series conclusion by Steven King.

After reading that series for years and years; THAT'S the conclusion you come up with King!? Seriously?

[Dr GonZo]

Originally Posted by burn_baby_burn

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2001. It was very well written. But the story was boring and it was very long.

Oh wow! Kavelier and Clay is one of my all-time favorites! I totally agree iwth you on how it's written, the dude has a way with words, it's unbelievable. I guess the story got me too, I thought it was wonderful. And obviously, because I enjoyed it, it didin't seem too long...

To each his own...