What book did you passionately hate reading? Why?

1. 60

   White Sapphireposted 14 years ago

   What book did you passionately hate reading?  Why?
   
   Is there a book that is so awful you wish you could travel through time and personally strangle the author? 
   
   Why was it horrible?  Was it poorly edited?  Was there a problem with the characterization?  Did the story last 100 pages longer than it should've?

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2. 60

   kbarnesposted 14 years ago

   Without a doubt, "Moby Dick"!  That was three months of my life that I will never get back.  I was made to read it in high school and literally have not hated anything more since.  It was FAR too long and totally self-loathing with a redundant plot.  I know its supposed to be a "classic" but that actually made me hate it more.  I think the only reason they made us read it was because it was expected!  Just awful....

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3. 59

   Matt in Jaxposted 14 years ago

   Voltaire's "Candide"!! I despise that book and I've been forced to read it six times through high school and college. Decent the first time, but sufferable all the others.

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4. 59

   duffsmomposted 14 years ago

   Huckleberry Finn by Twain.  I thought I was going to go crazy bu the time it was over.  The worst part about it was the colloquial language he uses--trying to read it is so tedious.

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5. 74

   Patty Inglish, MSposted 14 years ago

   In 7th grade English class, a group of us with advanced reading levels were forced to read a 6th-grade level romance; it was worse than a bad comic book. Comic books had a higher reading level and better storyline. I particularly hated it and made sure not sign up for any more of this teacher's classes. She also assigned the class a project to accompany another book -  building small log cabins out of mud and sticks from our yards, saying she would grade them either A or F, no other grade. Well, we ALL got C's without her even looking at the houses - except for the girl whose dad was an architect and built her another type of house altogether, not a log cabin. That was an A.  Incompetent teachers cause many people to think all teachers are bad.   
   
   Later I had a GED student insist on reading only 6th-grade level romances. I told her she would never be able to raise her reading level that way and she said she was unconcerned -- Her case worker was forcing her to take GED classes. What a world...

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6. 87

   Austinstarposted 14 years ago

   There was a book written on the holocaust by Leon Uris. It was called QB VII. After reading the book, I vowed never to read another book that was about WWII. I stood in the shower and cried for an hour trying to wash the images from this book from my mind.
   I've never read another WWII book and I probably never will.

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7. 37

   maria.roseposted 14 years ago

   I hate these two book's,
   1.Kill a Mockingbird
   2. War and Peace

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8. 61

   KRadkeposted 14 years ago

   Any book I was assigned in school. I think it was because I was told to read it and not because I chose a book based on interest.

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9. 60

   Sparhawkeposted 14 years ago

   The worst book in the history of the world is The Secret History by Donna Taart, if people think that Mocking Bird, Huckleberry Finn and War and Peace are hard going they are mistaken.
   
   At least with those three books they did some social commentary within the story and the language was appropriate for the time, Ms Taart on the other hand is so pretentious and up herself with her constant use of big words meant only to show her intelligence that it breaks the flow of the story constantly...I don't think there was a single chapter where I didn't have to keep reaching for a dictionary to find out what she was banging on about...
   
   A book should flow easily from one scene to the next, effortlessly weaving a web of images and thoughts; a book should not lurch from one ridiculously long word and long winded concept to the other without much thought to who might actually be reading...
   
   And to think the Daily Mail put this pile of crap in with its list of 100 books that most people have never read along with Beatrix Potter and other REAL classics??!
   
   If anyone did come across this book as the first to go through I can guarantee they'll never pick up another book in their life.
   
   The concept is good, don't get me wrong, it is basically about a group of college kids who think they are smarter than the police so plan the perfect murder, the actual implementation though leaves a hell of a lot to be desired.
   
   I think that authors who use big words just to show how smart they are and for no other purpose should be put against a wall, pelted with lamb chops and left for the lions.
   
   There is no excuse.

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10. 81

    NateSeanposted 14 years ago

    Jodi Piccoult's House Rules.
    
    It was a book that promised it's main character had Asperger's. And it was almost like Jodi researched every possible way to annoy someone with Asperger's and she managed to hit every single point repetedly.

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11. 60

    Evil Stepmotherposted 14 years ago

    Besides some of my really boring textbooks?  I could not get into A Separate Peace.  It was a choice one year in high school, the next year, after I moved, it was required.  I skipped it when I could, and then it was all new, and all boring to me.  I don't know what it was about it, to this day I have not re-read it to see. 
    
    It could have just been the school I hated, and the resultant life changes from the move.  It did not last two months.

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