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Overrated books

'Nineteen Eighty Four' is a stunning book, but have to say I enjoyed Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London a lot more and think that it is one of Orwell's novels which gets overlooked a lot.

Anyone else think that William Burroughs is a majorly overrated author? Hated 'Soft Machine', 'Junk' is just about readable. Naked Lunch, meh.
 
Crime and punishment

*don't kill me yet, statement will be qualified presently*

It is a good book, but its still overrated I reckon. Definitely not Dostoevsky's best, not by a long shot. The characters are a bit shallow and the story isn't as convincing as in his other books. He deals with stuff like the morality of crime a lot better in 'the brothers karamazov'.
 
Madusa said:
'Nineteen Eighty Four' is a stunning book, but have to say I enjoyed Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London a lot more and think that it is one of Orwell's novels which gets overlooked a lot.
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It's not a novel ;)

But I do love that book.
 
Lord of the Flies, hated it.

Memoirs of a Geisha. Probably not a classic, but talked about a lot. Hated it.
 
lynne8 said:
Lord of the Flies, hated it.
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Yeah, I dont know why that's a 'classic' either. If I'd have stumbled across it, I would have enjoyed it a bit more. Maybe. Because it's 'rated' it's rendered as nothing special to me. It was a bit of a chore to read to be honest.
 
Nikkormat said:
Overrated books: The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, The Shipping News.
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I loathe Fitzgerald. There's something about his try-hard metaphor dense prose that drives me nuts. All that crap, for example, in Tender is the Night about the beach 'spreading out in front of them like a bright tan prayer rug,' waffling inanely on, trying desperately to mask the vacuous 2D characters. Flaming watery overated ponce.
 
ThierryEnnui said:
Which supposedly 'classic' books have you read and just not been able to understand why they are so highly rated?

For me, one that immediately springs to mind is One Hundred Years Of Solitude. My brother recommended it to me, saying it was one of the best books he'd ever read. I thought it was the most meandering, pointless, flabby load of drivel that I've ever read. But it regularly gets in 'top 100' lists and I've seen several people list as the favourite book. :confused:
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How I love reading comments like this, I no longer feel as if its just me with
'100 years of solitude' . I made it up to page 130 or so , read about 15 pages a night over a fortnight or so , really trying to get absorbed into it , which after a day at work frankly seemed harder than the day job I do. Perserverence did not pay off, and I just gave up with it, my main overiding thought being 'why are you doing this to yourself in your own free time, you're not enjoying it all, and why should you give a toss whether it has been deemed a classic.'

All of which makes me think about how I hate those 'essential books you must read before you die' lists you sometimes get.....
 
I loved Catch22, and proceeded to Heller's Something Happened as a result. :mad:
Closing Time is shit as well.

He only had one good book in him.:(
 
zoltan69 said:
read a bit of Sebastian falkes and you yearn for the wit of Grahame Greene, even with his constant Catholic / ethical hand wringing
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See, I loved 'Birdsong', whereas I find Grahame Greene really hard to read, just really dry and without any kind of real feeling or anything to involve you in the story.

I also have to further nominate Catch 22 for much the same reasons. I felt like it was just being intellectual and 'clever' rather than having any feeling behind it.
 
6r7vcfgdh4565

I'll second Catch-22 and Lord of the Flies.

Other suggestions on here suggest positive cuntness.
 
Most things by Thomas Hardy but especially "The Mayor of Casterbridge", "Tess" and "Far From the Madding Crowd" - load of coincidental tosh!

Also - though this isn't a classic - to all those people he said to me "Oh my God you must read 'Bridgit Jones Diary' it is SO fantastic. It's like she's read my own diaries!" I'd say

a. Get a Life
b. It is a load of old wank

I got about a quarter into it before thinking why am I wasting my time on this drivel!
 
littlebabyjesus said:
I loved Catch22, and proceeded to Heller's Something Happened as a result. :mad:
Closing Time is shit as well.

He only had one good book in him.:(
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I couldn't finish 'something happened', in fact I was on the verge of suing the author on the grounds that the title constituted mistaken advertising :mad:

Closing time had its moments though.
 
Ayn Rand - Atlas Shrugged....well Randists rate it but no one else does. Possibly the worst book that I've ever read. There are 56 pages (count them) of John Galt's 'speech' which is, in fact, Rand delivering her own cod philosophy disguised as narrative. The characters are wooden and the prose style is inelegant.
 
Surprised No ones brought up James Joyce yet...:eek:

definately a literary example of the Emperors new clothes
 
:eek:

Can't believe that people don't rate 'Catch-22' and '1984'!

Or Dickens!

FWIW I also quite enjoyed '100 Years of Solitude'


For me the most over rated books have to be the Harry Potter series. Yes I know they are children's books but bloody hell, there's far better children's literature out there than that load of cliched, poorly written tripe.

*gets coat*
 
Madusa said:
'Nineteen Eighty Four' is a stunning book, but have to say I enjoyed Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London a lot more and think that it is one of Orwell's novels which gets overlooked a lot.

Anyone else think that William Burroughs is a majorly overrated author? Hated 'Soft Machine', 'Junk' is just about readable. Naked Lunch, meh.
Click to expand...

Junkie is a fantastic semi Autobiog

I tired of the naked Lunch also.



I really love some of Hunter S. Thompsons serious stuff - Hells angels, Shark Hunt - Rolling stone type articles - some of his early political commentary stuff

Much of His most popular "novely" filmed stuff, I just dont rate it at all.:(
 
Any of Hardy's work...but particualrly "Mayor of Casterbridge".

Not a big fan of Austen either but I suppose that's because it was very of its time and I generally despise that entire period.
 
g force said:
Any of Hardy's work...but particualrly "Mayor of Casterbridge".

Not a big fan of Austen either but I suppose that's because it was very of its time and I generally despise that entire period.
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I love Hardy and have read the Mayor of Casterbridge several times. :) I even called my kid Jude - when I told my mum she looked horrified and said. 'Not after the book!!!' :D
 
What the fuck is wrong with you lot? Philistines, the lot of ya (apart from whoever mentioned Ayn Rand and LOTR).

Why I otta!
 
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