Anti-suggestion thread: Books

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Fraught

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xitel said:
Shakespeare. Seriously, how can people stand him?
I have never read his books, but I saw a play of one of them, and it was so non-sensical that I hated it.
 

Alleged_Alec

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Terry Goodkind's books. Really, the first book is okayish if you skip the part with the dominatrix, but the story shits itself rather quickly. I have the links to prove it.
http://sandstormreviews.blogspot.com/2006/08/goodkind-parodies.html
http://m-mcgregor.livejournal.com/116180.html
 

Aardvark Soup

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Shakespeare actually isn't a writer but a playwright. You should watch a play or a movie based on his works and they can be quite fun to watch, especially modern interpretations.
 

Alleged_Alec

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Dalisclock said:
The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman.

I really enjoyed The Golden Compass, and the subtle knife almost as much. They both set up an awesome final book....which I'm still waiting for, because the Amber Spyglass is really, really badly written and disappointing. It's hard to describe how, but when there's a massive battle between heaven and well, everyone else,(the climax the trilogy has been building too) and I'm having a hard time realizing that because the author doesn't seem to think actually talking about(in a coherent way) this is really important, I find that to be a bit of a large flaw. That and I have to reread the same chapter 5 times to figure out what's going on. And the nuclear bomb that homes in on Hair DNA while teleporting across dimensions was a little much as well.

The "Killing God" thing is actually fairly low on my list of complaints. The horrible writing and the general feeling that the author somehow just stopped caring between books was much worse. So much that I've pretty much taken the position that Phillip Pullman died just after writing "The Subtle Knife" and so there will never be a concluding book(which is too bad, because it would have been awesome!).
I loved the entire series, especially the last book. And yes, the homing nuclear bomb was a bit 'eh', but the rest of the book was (imho) just as well written as the rest of them.
 

Cxizent

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Tolkein was a good writer in the same way that a minigun is a good weapon. Sure, it gets the job done, but a sniper really could have done it in one bullet.
Of course, I loved LOTR, and even read his unfinished tales etc. Good stuff.

On-topic: cor... let's see. "Amara" I think was the name of this shocking, shocking mummy book that the missus gave me... and I gave back shortly after. Also the bone people. That was such a self-indulgant Mary Sue escapade I'm not entirely sure that I didn't kill myself.
 

Dramatic Flare

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Jun 18, 2008
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I'm waiting for all the Eragon books to come out so I can read them, and then film me lighting an entire collection of the series on fire and posting it on youtube.
 

rabidmidget

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Haliwali said:
Eragon. While I wouldn't say to avoid it at all costs, if you've seen Star Wars you can guess the first two books. Not until the third does he actually make the story his own.
funny, i thought the exact same thing after i read them
 

Trilby

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Here [http://hradzka.livejournal.com/194753.html?format=light]. Just don't read John Ringo.
 
Feb 13, 2008
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GothmogII said:
Moving onward: Preacher by Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon
I've seen this series been recommended a number of times and generally held up as MOST AWESOME THING?, however, after reading through the first two books, and flicking through the next few, it soon became apparent that the series devolves into little more than an ugly violent swearfest, and, normally, this isn't something I've got a problem with, I do like me some grim n' grit...when there's a decent story to back it up, which in this case appears at least to me to be lacking. So, wouldn't recommend it :p
Thank you. I've been having my ears battered at HOW AWESOME this is but it's really bad.

From my POV, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Boring, nasty and ridiculous.
 

Ken Korda

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'The J Curve' by Ian Bremmer

I realise it's not fiction but really it is very poor. All that can be said for it is that it provides a series of brief histories of a number of countries. He completely fails to justify the concept he is attempting to prove and even ends the book with a description of a state which disproves his entire concept. I'm not saying he is necessarily 'wrong' per se but he is completely unconvincing and bases his arguments on unjustified assumptions.

I'm going to sound very smug and superior now: I seems like the kind of book people will read to convince themselves they understand International Relations without going to the trouble of studying the subject. I would be very wary of the political opnion of anyone who said they thought this was a good book.
 

santaandy

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As for comics, I would have to say almost anything that Joe Quesada is responsible for. He's not entirely untalented, but he misdirects his talent into writing things that only he can appreciate.

For example, the Ultimate Marvel stuff seemed to be to be a good idea until I actually started reading some of it. I never even read Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk once I saw pictures of the Hulk *literally* ripping Wolverine in half. That offended me for two reasons: first, that is pushing the violence envelope *way* too far, and second, having Wolverine recover from even *that* makes the storyline lose all sense of credibility. I am not a violence junkie, nor am I incapable of appreciating good writing just because there's pictures to go along with it. I do however enjoy the snippets of The Ultimates I was able to read. It seems pretty wierd, but strangely interesting. I doubt I will read any "Ultimate" book other than that. The Ultimate Universe seems little more than Quesada's fan fiction take on the real Marvel Universe. Different is cool (What If books are usually good), but Quesada-different is largely just wrong and uninteresting.
 

PersianLlama

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Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. There is nothing redeeming about this book. It's about a whiny ***** named Jane Eyre who just whines the whole book, until the end, where everything is magically fixed and perfect. Bronte herself is also a horrible writer who enjoys describing every fucking thing and not forgetting any details.
Aschenkatza said:
Lord of the Flies, evil book, EVIL
Bah! Amazing book, AMAZING.

As for the person some where down the topic who said Shakespeare. He's a wonderful writer, but it all depends on how your teacher makes you study his works.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens was also pretty boring, but not as bad as Jane Eyre.

Victorian literature can go die.
 

TwistedEllipses

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Gormourn said:
carnkhan4 said:
Any book that has the author's name in bigger lettering than the book title. Yes I am asking you to ignore the popular saying about covers. Avoid any books by Dan Brown or any autobiography from footballer or other celebrity who has no writing abilities on their own.

Oh and if you're going to read Lord of the rings, skip the bits with Tom Bombadil...
What!? Tom Bombadil is the best character in the whole trilogy.

Seriously.
I don't care if Tom Bomadil is infintely powerful in his own domain or if he's a metaphor for pacifism, any character who speaks as follows is annoying:
"Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo!/ Ring a dong! hop along! fal lal the willow! Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!" (now imagine him singing it)
 

TheRightToArmBears

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MsDevin92 said:
Never go near Eragon. I suffered a migraine from all the sheer TEXT when the main character was meditating in the forest. And, going back for a second time, there seem to be an awful lot of cliches...
Quite on the contrary, I would recommend the Inheritance Cycle. I rather enjoyed the books. However, I find it funny how the plot nearly matches perfectly to the first Star Wars trilogy.
 

TheRightToArmBears

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Wow! I'm the only person that lies the inheritance cycle! Well, what are you waiting for? FLAME ME PEOPLE! It's inevitable.
 

PersianLlama

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carnkhan4 said:
Gormourn said:
carnkhan4 said:
Any book that has the author's name in bigger lettering than the book title. Yes I am asking you to ignore the popular saying about covers. Avoid any books by Dan Brown or any autobiography from footballer or other celebrity who has no writing abilities on their own.

Oh and if you're going to read Lord of the rings, skip the bits with Tom Bombadil...
What!? Tom Bombadil is the best character in the whole trilogy.

Seriously.
I don't care if Tom Bomadil is infintely powerful in his own domain or if he's a metaphor for pacifism, any character who speaks as follows is annoying:
"Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo!/ Ring a dong! hop along! fal lal the willow! Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!" (now imagine him singing it)
I thought he was epic. Especially the singing.