1. SPS Accounts:
    Do you find yourself coming back time after time? Do you appreciate the ongoing hard work to keep this community focused and successful in its mission? Please consider supporting us by upgrading to an SPS Account. Besides the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from supporting a good cause, you'll also get a significant number of ever-expanding perks and benefits on the site and the forums. Click here to find out more.
    Dismiss Notice
Dismiss Notice
You are currently viewing Boards o' Magick as a guest, but you can register an account here. Registration is fast, easy and free. Once registered you will have access to search the forums, create and respond to threads, PM other members, upload screenshots and access many other features unavailable to guests.

BoM cultivates a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We have been aiming for quality over quantity with our forums from their inception, and believe that this distinction is truly tangible and valued by our members. We'd love to have you join us today!

(If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you've forgotten your username or password, click here.)

Great books that disappointed you

Discussion in 'Booktalk' started by Late-Night Thinker, Nov 30, 2005.

  1. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,653
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    570
    Gender:
    Male
    There's nothing wrong with Dragonlance. It's not high fantasy, but then, it doesn't aspire to be. It's aimed at the young adult population, but it has plenty of fans even among older readers. There's way more bad fantasy out there that's miles below Dragonlance. And anyway, speaking about "Dragonlance" in general is pretty pointless, considering it's a shared fiction world with dozens of different writers contributing to it besides Weis & Hickman.
     
  2. kuemper Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Joined:
    Jun 19, 2005
    Messages:
    8,926
    Likes Received:
    8
    I will most likely get smacked for mine. The Hobbit, or There and Back Again and Lord of the Rings were too boring. I could not wrap my head around what J.R.R. was writing. I didn't get beyond the first chapter in either. :sleep:

    Pride and Prejudice was equally as boring. It read like a diary without the juicy details, imo. I still don't see why Mr. Darcy was so sigh worthy. :confused: Though I did struggle through Mayfair, which really turned me off Jane Austin.
     
  3. Oaz Gems: 29/31
    Latest gem: Glittering Beljuril


    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2001
    Messages:
    3,140
    Likes Received:
    0
    The Grapes of Wrath, the book with bipolar disorder. An intercalary chapter would be good, but the chapters between were drawn out and tedious.
     
  4. Late-Night Thinker Gems: 17/31
    Latest gem: Star Diopside


    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2003
    Messages:
    991
    Likes Received:
    2
    Awww...

    I'm surprised that _Catchers in the Rye_ seems to be so disappointing to many here. I blubbered like a baby at the end of that book! This is completely my own interpretation, but I felt the book illuminated how it is mankinds' innate predisposition to love one another, and then throughout childhood and youth we learn why we should not love one another. Yes, the main character is completely unlovable, but try to view him through his little sister's eyes.

    Oh well.

    But then again, I always found Shakespeare to be absolutely unbearable, so possibly my taste is somewhat suspect.
     
  5. AMaster Gems: 26/31
    Latest gem: Diamond


    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2000
    Messages:
    2,495
    Media:
    1
    Likes Received:
    50
    The Hobbit bored me so much I put it down halfway through and never went back. Ditto for Dune, though seeing the (older) film before reading it may have contributed to that. Terry Goodkind's fantasy series, or at least the first book in it, as I didn't get any further than that. It struck me as a book featuring 2D characters moving around in a 2D world.
     
  6. Apeman Gems: 25/31
    Latest gem: Moonbar


    Veteran

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2002
    Messages:
    2,153
    Likes Received:
    3
    I totally agree with you Kuemper. Even though I finished it I found LoTR quite boring to be honost.
     
  7. Falstaff

    Falstaff Sleep is for the Weak of Will Veteran

    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2002
    Messages:
    956
    Likes Received:
    8
    Gender:
    Male
    You make me cry.

    I'm jumping on the Hitchhiker's bandwagon - my brother-in-law swears by it, and has read it about ten thousand times. I read it, and while I chuckled a few spots, as a whole, it was fairly inane. I'll probably include Dune with this - it's good, but I don't see it as quite the masterpiece it's heralded to be.
     
  8. Cernak Gems: 12/31
    Latest gem: Moonstone


    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2004
    Messages:
    457
    Likes Received:
    3
    I have to agree with the nay-sayers on "Hitchhiker's Guide" and "Dune". Perhaps I expected too much from my friends' recommendations, but they just didn't spark. And I think "Stranger in a Strange Land" just plain falls apart in the second half; the beginning of Heinlein's decline. A problem that also afflict Farmer's Riverworld novels: brilliant beginning, limp ending. Tolkien's writing at its worst is stilted, and some scenes are embarassingly overwritten, but only a few, and the magnificence of his conception saves him, at least for me.
     
  9. Vukodlak Gems: 22/31
    Latest gem: Sphene


    Veteran

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2002
    Messages:
    1,443
    Likes Received:
    6
    His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, or to be more precise Northern Lights - the first part. I managed to slug through the first book, and then had to give up. It was sooo boring, it took me nearly three months to read because I could only read about a page at a time. What is the appeal?
     
  10. Iku-Turso Gems: 26/31
    Latest gem: Diamond


    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2005
    Messages:
    2,393
    Media:
    1
    Likes Received:
    28
    Don Quixote.

    Yes, this makes me an idiot. Right? But I'm totally willing to admit that I was an idiot back then when I was seventeen.

    But since I read the Thousand and One Nights as a kid, I found that Don Quixote wasn't as good as my recollections of those stories, although it had a little bit the same kind of way of storytelling.

    IMO, Don Quixote is over-interpreted. Any book would be a masterpiece of great cultural significance, if it would be interpreted so much as it has been.

    It might be a great book, but I know I'll never read it again. Shame on me.

    EDIT: I found nothing amusing, or of great value in the way Don Quixote gets beaten over and over, because he's a little nutty. Failing to see other meanings here, or what?
     
  11. JSBB Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2003
    Messages:
    4,054
    Likes Received:
    1
    I found Don Quixote to have a few sporadic good chapters among a truck load of boredom. The second book was actually worse than the first one that way.
     
  12. Aikanaro Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2001
    Messages:
    5,521
    Likes Received:
    20
    Yeah - Don Quixote. I have it sitting on my bookshelf with a boomark halfway through it where I finally gave up in boredom.

    Other than that, I'm quite happy with the 'great' books I've read.
     
  13. shadow lurker Gems: 17/31
    Latest gem: Star Diopside


    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2005
    Messages:
    987
    Likes Received:
    0
    Hmmm...probably Harry Potter *shudder* I still can't believe I actually read it :aaa: (especially since I hate it), but everyone was going on about it so I decided I'd have a read and see if it was any good or not.
     
  14. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

    Joined:
    May 26, 2003
    Messages:
    6,586
    Media:
    2
    Likes Received:
    162
    Nothing wrong with a bit of Barry Trotter!
     
  15. Aikanaro Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2001
    Messages:
    5,521
    Likes Received:
    20
    Ah wait! That reminds me - I hated Bored of the Rings. It was just lame gag after lame gag - nothing clever or witty or even really very funny.
     
  16. Rekesalat Gems: 2/31
    Latest gem: Fire Agate


    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2001
    Messages:
    43
    Likes Received:
    0
    Terry Brooks and his Shannara Legend thingy...all my friends said it ruled, but it never got to me...just to straightforward and outright bad descritions just bored the hell out of me...the first book I've ever not finished.
     
  17. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    May 29, 2003
    Messages:
    13,354
    Likes Received:
    99
    I couldn't agree more, Rekesalat. Those Shannara books were rubbish, given how popular they are supposed to be.
     
  18. Fabius Maximus Gems: 19/31
    Latest gem: Aquamarine


    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2003
    Messages:
    1,103
    Likes Received:
    3
    I... third that. ;)
     
  19. Thais Paradox Gems: 3/31
    Latest gem: Lynx Eye


    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2003
    Messages:
    67
    Likes Received:
    0
    I've always had problems with the Shannara series. I managed to get through - and even to a certain extent enjoy the first book, but 3 chapters into the second and I was dazed and confused.

    Just out of curiosity, has anyone else here found that after going back to a series you previously enjoyed, you found the flavour gone, and storyline tough to get through (much like an old piece of gum)
    I'd been a big fan of David Eddings since Year 8 when a friend introduced me - I followed it through the Belgariad, the Mallorian, The Chronicals, The Elenium and the Tamuli, but after going back to them, I couldnt help but notice the re-used plotlines, characters and general childishness scattered throughout. I could digress, but I'm sure I've seen more than one thread dedicated to this :p

    Anyway, just a point of interest. Anybody?
     
  20. Rekesalat Gems: 2/31
    Latest gem: Fire Agate


    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2001
    Messages:
    43
    Likes Received:
    0
    Sure, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit springs to mind...the plot just moves so slowly ... bAAAAHHH

    I loved them at first, but the second readthrough got a little boring...(speaking heresy, I know...)but I can't say I'm going to read them again in the near future
     
Sorcerer's Place is a project run entirely by fans and for fans. Maintaining Sorcerer's Place and a stable environment for all our hosted sites requires a substantial amount of our time and funds on a regular basis, so please consider supporting us to keep the site up & running smoothly. Thank you!

Sorcerers.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.