What's the worst best novel you've ever read?

[DotCommunist]

A heartbreaking work of staggering genius



do fuck off egger, you hid something worth reading inamongst a big literary wank.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

God Knows was good though.

Not read that. I did waste several hours of my life ploughing through Coming Home (is that the right title - the last one?). His bitter humour was perfect for the insanity of Catch 22, but in a peacetime setting, it's just, well, bitter.

 

[Chairman Meow]

I loved Wuthering Heights, it was my favourite book when I was a teenager. I'm scared to re-read it though because I reckon it'll be rubbish.

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

A heartbreaking work of staggering genius



do fuck off egger, you hid something worth reading inamongst a big literary wank.

it was preposterously overblown and totally up its self, but i read all of that fucker for some reason.

 

[billy_bob]

ditto. See also most of the beats. However, when people like Ferlinghetti and Ginsberg are good, they're amazing. I thought that the Electric Kool Aid etc was better than On The Road, because it starred the same people doing real things without being bigged up by a speed-twitching egotist.

Agreed. Some of Kerouac's later work too is far better than the accepted 'classic'.

Since they've come up though, what's the deal with Bukowski? Does a mildly diverting pulp short story about losing your job, getting pissed and shagging someone with a limited grasp of the purpose of soap become classic literature just because you repeat it over and over again?

 

[sojourner]

A heartbreaking work of staggering genius



do fuck off egger, you hid something worth reading inamongst a big literary wank.

I really REALLY liked that - I raved about it something chronic on the books thread

 

[spanglechick]

Portenoy's Complaint. yes dear - it's awfully brave of you to be so shocking - but you and your protagonits come across as both boring and odious.

 

[bluestreak]

I thought Portnoy's Complaint was OK. it was The human Stain that bored the fucking shit out of me.

 

[ringo]

The Illuminati Trilogy.

It might get better, i chucked it in the charity shop pile after the first part. Adolescent stoner wank fantasy masquerading as free-love free-thought critique of modern culture. See also: Stranger In A Strange Land.

It's shit.

 

[sojourner]

Don't know.

It must be a boy/girl thing with Catcher in the Rye and Wuthering Heights.

I didn't believe any of the male characters in Wuthering Heights. They were a very innocent woman's idea of what men are.

I must own up to a bit of geekiness on this one, as I wrote an essay about it using Lacan, and using his stuff, got a whole lot more out of it than I would otherwise


Well - there's at least two boys on this thread who hated CITR, so you're wrong

 

[ringo]

Catch 22.

Catcher in the Rye.

Load of shite.

Didn't find anything funny or clever in Catch 22. Liked Catcher In The Rye, but not that much.

 

[sojourner]

I loved Wuthering Heights, it was my favourite book when I was a teenager. I'm scared to re-read it though because I reckon it'll be rubbish.

I read it at 28 and thought it was brilliant then, so maybe it's worth a reread?

 

[foo]

The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy.

 

[mystic pyjamas]

Under the volcano.
Over long and tedious.

 

[foo]

I read it at 28 and thought it was brilliant then, so maybe it's worth a reread?

i blamed Wuthering Heights for my choice of boy as a teenager. i wanted my very own tortured and passionate Heathcliffe.

 

[Orang Utan]

ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh I've got another one: Money by Martin Amis

 

[littlebabyjesus]

i blamed Wuthering Heights for my choice of boy as a teenager. i wanted my very own tortured and passionate Heathcliffe.

Heathcliffe has to be one of the least believable characters in fiction.

 

[sojourner]

Heathcliffe has to be one of the least believable characters in fiction.

why?

 

[foo]

well that just shows you what a dick i was as a teenager then

i so desperately wanted to be loved exclusively, madly and dangerously like that. i know i know...

 

[Dillinger4]

Heathcliffe has to be one of the least believable characters in fiction.

I don't really think he was meant to be 'believable'.

 

[northeastoipunk]

You know, one that comes up in top 10s all the time but that you didn't rate.

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

thats one of my favorite books ever

 

[Orang Utan]

thats one of my favorite books ever

I just hated it

 

[foo]

I just hated it

i tried to get through that book, having been told it was a kind of *must read*.

all i remember is that i gave up.

 

[Dillinger4]

As for most hated - I don't know.

I can't think of any book off the top of my head that I have not enjoyed. Or I probably wouldn't have bothered. Or something.

 

[foo]

A heartbreaking work of staggering genius



do fuck off egger, you hid something worth reading inamongst a big literary wank.

now i love that.

 

[foo]

I don't really think he was meant to be 'believable'.

really??





oh god it gets worse.

 

[northeastoipunk]

Great novel.

I thought Trainspotting was overrated.

i loved train spotting too not the film tho , in fact all irvine welchs books were good .
when my sister first took on an english literature job it was first book she introduced to her night classes , she had a 90 year old bloke reading it lol

 

[Orang Utan]

i tried to get through that book, having been told it was a kind of *must read*.

all i remember is that i gave up.

It's like a Monty Python sketch with no jokes

 

[northeastoipunk]

As for most hated - I don't know.

I can't think of any book off the top of my head that I have not enjoyed. Or I probably wouldn't have bothered. Or something.

im like that mind if it doesnt grip me i put it down if its good i read it in one session usually on a sunday instead of the papers

 

[Dillinger4]

really??





oh god it gets worse.

Well, I mean, it is a big sweeping romantic fiction, it is meant to be sensational and fantastical and tragic and doomed, that is what Romanticism is all about.