to think this is the most over-rated book ever

[SlightlyJaded]

'If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things'

I love books. From big dramatic plotlines and epic storylines to subtle and beautfifully written prose with well drawn characters. I like quirky books, classic books, modern literature, poetry - anything well written or engaging.

I almost never have to 'force' myself to finish a book but always do finish a book if I've started (why do we do that? ) but thought 'If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things' was the dullest most over-rated dross I've ever read.

Or did I miss something?

And yes, this should be in books, but I prefer AIBU

Haven't read the whole thread but The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, surely? Can't count the number of times I've started reading them and then gone, oh, elves and hobbits, whatevs. The films send me to sleep instantly too. I just can't bring myself to care.

And, I also need to confess that I've never managed to finish reading Crime and Punishment.

Quodlibet, I'm with you. I read the first 50 pages of Lord of the rings and gave up, when I became obsessed with checking the map every 3 secs. It got tiring.

Filibear, I flicked through the boy with the striped pj in a bookshop once, and I did find it mildly insulting too.

HAS anyone said "The Old Man and the Sea" or whatever that tedious novelette about a dreary drunk trying to catch a fish was called?

Yes Elephants, I'm with you. I find impossible to read any Hemingway.

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle -

i thought 'the man that wrote this is obviously a perv of the kind that spends all time he doesn't spend writing downloading hentai'

i finished the book, but felt his characters were mere puppets that i couldn't care less about.

Anything by Sartre, similar crime - his characters are paper-cut-ous lacking hearts and human warmth. There as the servants of Sartres own agenda..

His philosophy was a bit pants to (Being & Nothingsness: a phenomenological ontology? FFS.)

I second Hemingway as a direful author.

Yes, all Hemingway must go on the pile (not to be burnt - burning books is bad - but we can recycle them in a green & tree-loving way into good books).

I like all Dickens apart from Pickwick Papers but there are large downsides especially his saccharine child-bride heroines.

Actually I think Hemingway is a good writer but a pitiful excuse for a man. It's easy sometimes for the author to leach into their novels and put people off. Women, mostly, because he was a complete chauvinist pig.

Oooh ooh! The Kite Runner - what a badly written, sentimental bunch of crap.

I didn't/don't know anything about him, just swapped books with a friend whilst on holiday. Only finished it because it was that or nothing. Nothing might have been better, in retrospect.

LOVE your idea jybay - can we recycle them into copies of books from the Underrated thread and give them away/leave them on trains and park benches for people to find?

There's a whole thread on The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - probably one of the books most overrated by primary teachers.

Liking that Elephants - pass me the first pile of Wuthering Heights and I'll fire up the shredder.

hully my dear, have you been downloading Hentai??

Henry James is so bloody boring. Dickens is just total shite, Tiny Tim is particular can shag off. Conrad's Heart of Darkness, what the fuck was that all about? The horror the horror indeed.

I've never managed to finish any Rushdie either, so make a space for me on the naughty bench!

I wish I could find a book group like this.

Quite liked Portrait of a Lady, glastocat.

Ok am going to put my head on the block in defence of Behind the Scenes.... Also quite enjoyed The Kite Runner and most Dickens with the exception of the Pickwick Papers, but Hemmingway...

A Farewell to Arms
Tedium in print form
end of.

A lot of this is about taste, obviously. Something like Lord of the Rings just ain't everbody's cup of tea, and it is very very very very long!
Just about to read Lovely Bones...
Boy in Striped Pyjamas is aimed at young teens, so it has its role to play for those who know nothing about the subject.(Remember reading I am David by Ann somebody aged about 10 and realising what it was all about.)
Anything by Kazuo Ishiguro, complete nonsense.
Struggling with Orhan Pamuk.
Possession is worth sticking with I would say, bits of it were heavy-going but a masterpiece of brilliance overall!

My mum has a habit of passing me books that are total dullsville, 'If no-one speaks of remarkable things' being a prime example. In fact it was only half way through this thread that I remembered I'd actually read it.

Really glad TTW was top, I loathed that book and it wasn't because I didn't 'get' the concept, it was because it was dull and cringy with no sympathetic characters and ludicrous plot holes. No a book doesn't have to have likable characters to be worth reading, both 'Kevin' and WH are good examples of this but TTW was just terrible.

The Lovely Bones as well, what a mawkish piece of crap. Horrible.

Everyone needs a pet like Sredni Vashtar :o