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What is the most tedious book you have ever read?

368 replies

Figmentofmyimagination · 26/02/2015 20:12

I am going out on a limb here for my first thread - I am struggling through The Well of Loneliness by Radcliffe hall. Aargh. I read it out of "historical interest" because I was interested by her boldness and by the obscenity trial etc but bloody hell she should have got herself an editor. The writing is truly dire. I am not sure I am actually going to make it to the end.

OP posts:
kidyoullmovemountains · 27/02/2015 20:29

The old man and the sea. At school. Do not do it.Just don't.

Bonsoir · 27/02/2015 20:24

This thread just highlights discrepancies in taste. Some of my all time favourite books get dissed, others I found unbelievably dull are adored!

OublietteBravo · 27/02/2015 20:20

I quite like Catch 22 though.

OublietteBravo · 27/02/2015 20:19

It's a tough choice: the Pillars of the Earth (and I usually like historical fiction), both the Hobbit and the Silmarillion (although I quite like LOTR), Sophie's World, the Great Gatsby, and Wuthering Heights are all bloody tedious along with pretty much anything that has won the Booker Prize

However, the most tedious book ever is The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

rosierelala · 27/02/2015 20:19

I loved pamuk's 'snow'. But 'my name is red'. Yegods I could not finish it. And I am a trier. I tried wolf hall twice a year for three years. Eventually got it when I was on long term sick leave for depresssion. Go figure. BUTB was easy by comparison. I devoured that.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 27/02/2015 20:04

I just don't 'get' 'Catch 22.' Dp, on the other hand, loves it.

Did, 'The Secret Agent' for A level. Urgh.

RainingSocks · 27/02/2015 20:02

Crime and Punishment was dire, but I'm not sure if it counts as it was a set text, not something I chose to read. Of the books that I have voluntarily read all the way through, The Heart of Darkness by Conrad was really, really dull. If I hadn't been stuck in hospital with nothing else to read I would never have finished it.

Baddz · 27/02/2015 19:59

Catch 22. Boring and badly written.
War and peace...keep trying with that one as it's supposed to be the best novel ever written. Allegedly.
LOTR...but love the films.

KatieKaye · 27/02/2015 19:52

I have blanked out whatever happened in Lord Jim. Suffice to say I have avoided Conrad in the ensuing 35 years since I was forced to read it.

Anything by Kate Mosse. Dreadfully turgid.

Ditto for Hilary Mantel.

Oh, and Catch 22. Never got past the first chapter.

KissyBoo · 27/02/2015 19:43

Atlas Shrugged. Fecking tedious.

magimedi · 27/02/2015 19:38

If we are venturing into kids' books, may I put forward 'The (fucking) Bears' Bazzar'.

Dear Lord that was so tedious & DS just adored it.

DS is about to become a proud father - I think I wil lfind a copy of it for my PFGC .

fustybritches · 27/02/2015 19:15

The French Lieutenant's Woman

Simpering Victorian romance meets pomo bullshit iirc (uni reading list)

AllThePrettySeahorses · 27/02/2015 19:08

Another vote for LOTR. Beyond me why so many people love it.

I read Paulo Cohelo's Veronika Decides To Die and actually quite enjoyed but deeply regret trying to read any of his others. Particularly Maya.

Almost anything nominated for a Booker.

Kids' books - one called Tickly Sheep. Tickly shit more like.

postmanfox · 27/02/2015 18:27

Sophie's World - just so unbelievably dull. Got good reviews when it came out, so I rushed to buy it, but had to force myself to read to the end.

Michael Morpurgo books.(With the exception of War Horse). I know that's probably controversial, and I know he's considered a 'good writer' in terms of style, etc etc, but the stories seem to move incredibly slowly with lots of boring, insignificant detail. DD has just bought some of his books home from school, and I'm struggling to find any enthusiasm for them. The Emperor's new clothes of writers, for me!

Love Moby Dick though, also Middlemarch....

SunnyBaudelaire · 27/02/2015 18:13

Bring up the Bodies
Wolf Hall

ThatBloodyWoman · 27/02/2015 18:10

Plenty I've not finished -but from the ones I have I think 'Far from the madding crowd' - Thomas Hardy.
I kept waiting for something go happen like zombies,but nothing did.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 27/02/2015 18:05

Love Miller, especially, A View From The Bridge' and, 'All My Sons.' And, 'The Crucible' when well staged.

BOFster · 27/02/2015 17:50

Yes, I devoured all Arthur Miller's plays as a teenager. And JB Priestley's. I may have been a bit odd though.

PuppyMonkey · 27/02/2015 17:06

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves.

We Are All Completely Bored to Tears, more like.

DuchessofMalfi · 27/02/2015 16:56

Am also a bit shocked to see Death of a Salesman here. Was one of my A level set texts and loved it. Made me a bit of an Arthur Miller fanSmile

magimedi · 27/02/2015 16:36

Slug - Because I think Pamuk writes so well, with the caveat that some of that is down to the translator (Maureen Freely). I haave read a Pamuk that was translated by someone else & it was dire & I then read the same book translated by Freely & it was like reading a different book.

I love it also because I think Turkey is an amazing & fascinating country & I think that Pamuk conveys all the angst of a society that is so torn between East & West.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 27/02/2015 16:25

Astonished to see, 'Death of a Salesman' here though.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 27/02/2015 16:24

There are some great 'real' Moby Dick books. 'Into the Heart of the Sea' by Nathaniel by Nathaniel Philbick and, 'The Sinking of the Whaleship Essex' by Owen Chase excellent. The latter is by the first mate of the ship.

Just remembered, 'The English Patient.' Some nice lines but...nothing...at...all...happens...all...the...way...through...the...damn...thing. So dull.

slugseatlettuce · 27/02/2015 16:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Greenrememberedhills · 27/02/2015 16:12

Wolf Hall