<p>@manarius: You just ripped apart a book that had meant something important to me, six months ago. Now, I’m not saying I agree with you on everything you said, but I do have to admit your analytical thoughts were very interesting. You did prove a few things, like that it was “pop philosophy” and phrases were over spoken. BUT, I think the book wasn’t supposed to be too deep or interesting at all. I have convinced myself that Coehlo meant to remind the readers that its all right to ask questions and follow your dreams.
The book’s plot and depth might have been a total let down, and your thoughts on it were quite convincing, but give the guy some credit, he did make some kind of sense, in the end. Right? Correct me if I’m wrong, please.</p>
<p>First off, I didn’t actually write that; it was a review that someone else posted on another website. Granted, those were pretty much my exact thoughts after I finished reading it.</p>
<p>Now, the “follow your dreams” stuff was fine. It’s a perfectly good message, and if it resonated with you, great. I’m not trying to say that you shouldn’t follow your dreams.</p>
<p>The problem I (and the writer of that review) had with it was not with that, but rather with its merit as a work of fiction. In that standard, it is woefully bad. The plot and the characters and the prose were all very poor. The philosophical message was pretty much all there was to the book, and the story just served as fluff.</p>
<p>Oh, I’m sorry, I thought that the link was to the article, and underneath you put your own thoughts.
I can’t argue with that, it wasn’t the best story line.
So what do you recommend as a great read?</p>
<p>I third Ethan Frome as a horrible, terrible book.</p>
<p>^^It depends on what you’re looking for. Fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, etc.</p>
<p>Here’s two books that I would highly recommend to anyone, though.</p>
<p>To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee</p>
<p>One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez</p>
<p>The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks or Message in a Bottle by . . . Nicholas Sparks.</p>
<p>It’s funny because I read the whole Twilight series – and as much as I revisit and laugh at its mediocre writing, for the most part it was easy to parse (and mostly enjoyable).</p>
<p>The two Sparks books were just terribly difficult to get through. Stupid characters, overwrought sex scenes, laughable dialogue and sap sap sap sap.</p>
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</p>
<p>HAHAHA, I love you. Awesome “review”.</p>
<p>JODI PICOULT - Handle With Care. I don’t know where to begin.</p>
<p>One Hundred Years of Solitude was too mature for me… I guess that’s an inadequate reason to hate it. :/</p>
<p>Agree @ the Alchemist</p>
<p>Little Women. Tried to read it three times–THREE TIMES!!!–and never got farther than about half-way before I gave up out of boredom.</p>
<p>For everyone who’s hating on Ethan Frome: please don’t rule out Wharton just because of that book. Her other stuff is quite different–may as well be by a different author. The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth are both excellent. The latter is my favorite book.</p>
<p>A lot of this thread makes me really, really sad.
I mean, come on–I get it that you might not like Shakespeare. But you’re honestly gonna say that Hamlet is among the WORST things you’ve ever read?</p>
<p>The Iliad, Catcher in the Rye, Faulkner and Dickens stuff–maybe it’s not your thing, but can’t you at least appreciate the beauty in it? The literary merit? Favorite DOES NOT EQUAL best; least favorite DOES NOT EQUAL worst. </p>
<p>Haha the Gossip Girl books were pretty damn bad. But what are you going to expect? And Harry Potter is so exceedingly overrated. I mean, it’s entertaining, but certainly not great fiction by any means.</p>
<p>Worst in this thread seems to mean most-overrated.</p>
<p>I usually don’t read horible books but these were exceptionally horrible reads.</p>
<p>-My Life and Hard Times
-One Hundred Years of Solitude
-The Metamorphosis
-William Faulkner’s work</p>
<p>P.S. A Seperate Peace and Catcher in the Rye are great novels</p>
<p>I will have to disagree on A Separate Peace being a great novel. There is absolutely nothing in that novel that even remotely makes any philosophical sense. Just a story about an immensely egotistical boy…with very little character dimension…</p>
<p>
In your opinion…</p>
<p>
In most cases, yes. We have these books shoved down our throats and are lectured every year by our English teachers (who all seem to have some sort of fetish for old books) because they are “The Classics”. But why are they the classic? Mostly because they defined the generation in which they were written and have a special meaning to those who experienced those times or know someone who has (or something similar). These books don’t appeal to us because we are not of that generation, they have no relevance to us. So when we read 3 pages of dialogue between two people about whether or not they think Paris is dirty (and the author doesn’t distinguish who is saying what <em>angry face</em>), we don’t see it as the epitome of our lives, we see it as a conversation, and a boring one at that, about whether or not two people find Paris dirty. </p>
<p>
In many cases, least favorite does equal worst. There’s a reason it’s someone’s least favorite. In the case of my worst read The Sun Also Rises, it is both the worst book I’ve ever read and my least favorite. I found the book incredibly boring and confusing and Hemingway’s writing style grotesque at best. </p>
<p>And obviously you cannot appreciate the beauty of Harry Potter or similar novels. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and some people find The Gossip Girl books gorgeous.</p>
<p>Waiting for the Rain was probably the worst book I ever read.</p>
<p>One word, Twilight</p>
<p>^Hahaha, don’t say that in real life…</p>
<p>catcher in the rye</p>
<p>To Kill a Mockingbird, Invisible Man, Romeo and Juliet, Heart of Darkness</p>
<p>homecoming cynthia voigt</p>
<p>After the First Death by Robert Cormier; it wasn’t part of the school curriculum but our teacher made us read it anyway. Reading it was probably the most horrible experience of my life. </p>
<p>but @smorgasbord, how could you not love TKM? Atticus is awesome and Boo is so cute!!</p>