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One star books

Josie

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What are some books you've read that were really, really bad. So bad that you'd give them 1/5 stars (zero not being an option).

I'll start:

Breaking Dawn (from the Twilight series) - Gross, dumb, an adult man "imprinting" on a baby (barf), the baby's stupid name. And the movie was, somehow, even worse.
 
Stephen King's Dreamcatcher. There was some space alien virus or something, if I remember correctly, and it just didn't flow. While I enjoyed some of his earlier stuff that one put me off entirely.
 
Stranger in a Strange Land

Pretty much anything by Hemmingway (how much does a Hemming weigh?) other than The Old Man and the Sea

****ing, goddamn, The Catcher in the Rye
 

When I finally found myself on the high seas facing off against a huge ship, this book provided to be completely useless. Instead of helping me to avoid it, it instead set me upon a path that eventually resulted in an unavoidable confrontation with not one but two Huge Ships. Never again. 1 Star.

(Seriously, check the reviews, they're hilarious!)
 
What are some books you've read that were really, really bad. So bad that you'd give them 1/5 stars (zero not being an option).

I'll start:

Breaking Dawn (from the Twilight series) - Gross, dumb, an adult man "imprinting" on a baby (barf), the baby's stupid name. And the movie was, somehow, even worse.
I read one of William Shatners Tek wars or something like that. Awful.
 
What are some books you've read that were really, really bad. So bad that you'd give them 1/5 stars (zero not being an option).

I'll start:

Breaking Dawn (from the Twilight series) - Gross, dumb, an adult man "imprinting" on a baby (barf), the baby's stupid name. And the movie was, somehow, even worse.




1984. I found it tedious and tiresome. Much preferred Animal Farm
 
MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors

As a kid and teenager, I watched the MASH TV series. As a young adult in the early 1990's, I watched the 1970 MASH movie for the first time. Not too long after that, took a couple of days and read the novel.

The movie screenplay was much better written than the novel it was based on, though it follows the same basic episodic storyline. The movie streamlined the novel, for example combining the characters of Major Jonathan Hobson (annoyingly religious doctor) and Captain Frank Burns (an arrogant but incompetent surgeon) to create the ferret face we all know and love.

I have not read them, but I understand the sequels are not much better.

Watch the 1970 movie if you have not seen it and don't bother with the original novel. Loved the movie, wouldn't recommend the novel.
 
The Bible.
That was a struggle. The brilliant bits did not make up for the endless tedium. Talk about needing an editor.

Atlas Shrugged.
Let's take The Fountainhead and make three times as longer without expressing a new idea. Talk about needing an editor.
 
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Moby Dick.

Had to force myself to actually read it all the way through just so I could brag I've actually read it. Ugh.
 
Any novel (and there are many of them) where within a short space of time you see

'blah blah blah' Lisa says

followed soon after by

'blah blah blah' says Lisa

Such lazy writing lol
 
Stranger in a Strange Land

Pretty much anything by Hemmingway (how much does a Hemming weigh?) other than The Old Man and the Sea

****ing, goddamn, The Catcher in the Rye
I read Stranger in a Strange Land until about 20 pages from the end. I got so irritated with it that I threw it down and never finished it. Completely awful book, but I tried my best to finish it.
 

Heinlein Gets the Last Word​

Date: December 9, 1990, Sunday, Late Edition - Final
Byline: By Kurt Vonnegut; Kurt Vonnegut's most recent book is his novel "Hocus Pocus."
Lead:
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND By Robert A. Heinlein. 525 pp. New York: Ace/G.P. Putnam's Sons. $24.95.
Text:

I'm so sorry some of you lack the literary acumen to appreciate a groundbreaking work of science fiction that, in catapulting into the NY Times Bestseller List, sparked the consideration of modern science fiction as serious literature. It led the way for the great sci-fi revival that continues to this day.

Stranger in a Strange Land won the 1962 Hugo Award for Best Novel and became the first science fiction novel to enter The New York Times Book Review's best-seller list. In 2012, the Library of Congress named it one of 88 "Books that Shaped America"

Why do I have to deal with cretins all day? Why? Why?
 

Heinlein Gets the Last Word​

Date: December 9, 1990, Sunday, Late Edition - Final
Byline: By Kurt Vonnegut; Kurt Vonnegut's most recent book is his novel "Hocus Pocus."
Lead:
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND By Robert A. Heinlein. 525 pp. New York: Ace/G.P. Putnam's Sons. $24.95.
Text:

I'm so sorry some of you lack the literary acumen to appreciate a groundbreaking work of science fiction that, in catapulting into the NY Times Bestseller List, sparked the consideration of modern science fiction as serious literature. It led the way for the great sci-fi revival that continues to this day.

Stranger in a Strange Land won the 1962 Hugo Award for Best Novel and became the first science fiction novel to enter The New York Times Book Review's best-seller list. In 2012, the Library of Congress named it one of 88 "Books that Shaped America"

Why do I have to deal with cretins all day? Why? Why?

Once you get laid, Heinlein loses his appeal.
 
I found it to be the perfect representation of deep, clinical depression.


Cannot put it better, If that is a bit of what communism was, no surprise it met a quiet death
 
Once you get laid, Heinlein loses his appeal.

You expressed my thoughts which I couldn’t find a polite way of expressing . . . I felt as if I were reading a young teenage boy’s fantasies. I read the book long ago but I still remember the cringe from his depictions of women — I’m here just for you, baby!
 
The Bible.
That was a struggle. The brilliant bits did not make up for the endless tedium. Talk about needing an editor.


I know exactly what portions of the Bible I ever read. Only the action packed ones. It helped that I was/am Roman Catholic; it is not expected that you go through every inch of it like Protestants.

I read Genesis. Bits of Exodus; After the plagues and desert chase I gave Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy a wide berth. Joshua was good, action packed. Judges as well. Never touched Ruth. Samuels, Kings, Chronicles I read. The Prophets I never read, except for like Esther, Daniel. I read the Gospels. Read Acts. Paul's Letters only heard them in readings at mass. I read Revelations.

The cool thing is that in the Catholic Church no one really cares whether you read them or not. Actually you may draw suspicions if you start quoting verses like a Protestant :)
 
I know exactly what portions of the Bible I ever read. Only the action packed ones. It helped that I was/am Roman Catholic; it is not expected that you go through every inch of it like Protestants.

I read Genesis. Bits of Exodus; After the plagues and desert chase I gave Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy a wide berth. Joshua was good, action packed. Judges as well. Never touched Ruth.
Ruth:
Entreat me not to leave thee
Or to return from following after thee
For where thou goest, I will go
Where thou lodgest, I will lodge
They people shall be my people
And they God, my God
Where thou diest, I will die
And there will I be buried
The Good Lord do so unto to me
And more also
Should aught but death
Part thee and me.
Samuels, Kings, Chronicles I read. The Prophets I never read, except for like Esther, Daniel. I read the Gospels. Read Acts. Paul's Letters only heard them in readings at mass. I read Revelations.

The cool thing is that in the Catholic Church no one really cares whether you read them or not. Actually you may draw suspicions if you start quoting verses like a Protestant :)
 
You expressed my thoughts which I couldn’t find a polite way of expressing . . . I felt as if I were reading a young teenage boy’s fantasies. I read the book long ago but I still remember the cringe from his depictions of women — I’m here just for you, baby!

Jeez, The Number of the Beast is the worst.

Although to this day, my internal monologue says "Gay, bounce!" when the airplane I am in leaves the runway.
 
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