Overrated Books..

Board@Work

I'll get the ball rolling:

Ulysses by James Joyce

Intellectual Clap Trap and an impossible read

Branoic

The Wheel of Time series. Unoriginal mishmash.

Dune + Lord of the Rings = Wheel of Time

Easily_Irritated

Board@Work wrote:

Ulysses by James Joyce

Intellectual Clap Trap and an impossible read

I disagree, but anyway....

Harry Potter - all of them, what a pile of ****. Totally over rated. Have only read a slight portion of the first one but that was enough to know I hated them all!

grimloch

Easily_Irritated wrote:

I disagree, but anyway....

Harry Potter - all of them, what a pile of ****. Totally over rated. Have only read a slight portion of the first one but that was enough to know I hated them all!

I though that too but then realised that realistically they're kids books that grow up with the reader. I'd hardly be impressed with them to be honest but the latest one was better than the rest.

Easily_Irritated

The problem I have is seeing 20 and 30 year old adults sitting on the bus readin harry potter! I mean, really! Its just disapointing.

grimloch

Easily_Irritated wrote:

The problem I have is seeing 20 and 30 year old adults sitting on the bus readin harry potter! I mean, really! Its just disapointing.

You see them in concert on the DART aswell, was going to mention that, beaten to it as usual.

I'm sure there's going to be a good few reading them on the bus soon. Ah well, a nice light read for some I'm sure. I'd be a bit embarassed to read it in public for some reason.

I thought Ulysses was the most boring thing, didn't actually get near finishing it as it was just too boring.

Easily_Irritated

Ah thats a pity, its a good book. Not as good as Dubliners, tho

What book do you think is over rated?

grimloch

Easily_Irritated wrote:

Ah thats a pity, its a good book. Not as good as Dubliners, tho

What book do you think is over rated?

Harry Potters. Also the Da Vinci Code, was a good read but not nearly as good as the hype led me to believe.

goin'_to_the_PS

all the harry potter books, aload of cliches and once apon a time crap.
Lord of the rings aswell, but not the hobbit, brilliant book.

Easily_Irritated

I agree. it was a page turner alright. Not life altering or anything as the reviews would have you believe!

Right, well, thats total agreement, there. No arguments! lol ah well

Board@Work

Ulysses simply isn't an enjoyable read. Reading is a form of entertainment and this book isn't in the slightest bit entertaining..

Therefore imo overrated.

Also I have never met any one who admits to it being entertaining or enjoyable. They admire it for its profound artistic merits but thats all

Easily_Irritated

Ah well, thats a new one for you then.

Plus all I said is I disagree, there was no need for ya to say nething else but thanks

zippo22

Board@Work wrote:

I'll get the ball rolling:

Ulysses by James Joyce

Intellectual Clap Trap and an impossible read

Think you're mistaken about Ulysses. Put Finnigans Wake in it's place and I'll march shoulder to shoulder with you though.

dudara

Never even tried to read Ulysses, so i don't know, but for me an over-rated book is "Catch 22", and "The Sound and the Fury"

grimsbymatt

dudara wrote:

Never even tried to read Ulysses, so i don't know, but for me an over-rated book is "Catch 22", and "The Sound and the Fury"

I'd agree with Catch 22 - it was a reasonably enjoyable read, but not as much of a classic as everyone says.

nesf

Board@Work wrote:

Ulysses simply isn't an enjoyable read. Reading is a form of entertainment and this book isn't in the slightest bit entertaining..

Therefore imo overrated.

Also I have never met any one who admits to it being entertaining or enjoyable. They admire it for its profound artistic merits but thats all

I found it entertaining enough. But I enjoyed Joyce's use of english.

There is more to reading than entertainment. Or one could say that there is more to entertainment than most people seem to think.

Yes, Ulysses is not very accessible. Yes, it takes a fair amount of effort to read it. But it can be very rewarding for someone who is more aware of the use of language than it's simpliest use only as a mode of communication.

Not that there is anything wrong with people who "just read the words" and who don't care about how it's phrased and the structure and style of writing.

Then again, that's just my opinion.


Oh and Dan Brown. Any of his books. Most overrated authour in ages imho.

Tar.Aldarion

''Intellectual Clap Trap and an impossible read''
OP how can this be a reason for it being bad,great book.wouldnt ever call it impossible to read....
i suppose overrated books would be most on the lc course when i did it....




''Dune + Lord of the Rings = Wheel of Time''
then let that wonderful wheel role on


''Unoriginal mishmash.''
how is lotr unoriginal,thats the one books in that genre are based on nowadys.

ykt0di9url7bc3

I'll probably get Death threats over these.... but its my personal opinion

Lord of the Rings - yawn
Dune - self indulgant
The Da Vinci Code, Digital Fortress & "NASA buried rock one" - didnt like the story telling or the characters
The Andromeda Strain, The Terminal man - Finished too quickly for me

Battlefield Earth - took me 3 months to read the ****ing thing, just for me to go and burn it afterwards....

I have many friends that have recommened these books to me and while I didnt like them, there was no regrets upon finishing them apart for Hubbards farcical atempt at sci-fi

nesf

Kingston Blue Grass wrote:

Battlefield Earth - took me 3 months to read the ****ing thing, just for me to go and burn it afterwards....

I have many friends that have recommened these books to me and while I didnt like them, there was no regrets upon finishing them apart for Hubbards farcical atempt at sci-fi

Did you see the movie? It managed to suck more than the book.

I really didn't believe it was possible.

"Just listen to this scientologist.."

Tar.Aldarion

lol that film is so ridiculously bad/funny!

OfflerCrocGod

Board@Work wrote:

Ulysses by James Joyce

Intellectual Clap Trap and an impossible read

Could not agree more, utter sh1t!

Easily_Irritated wrote:

Harry Potter - all of them, what a pile of ****. Totally over rated. Have only read a slight portion of the first one but that was enough to know I hated them all!

LOL you read the first part of the first book and you've made up your mind that they are all crap. Well I've read ALL of them......and I don't think they are that good really The first one is BY FAR the worst (I don't think it could get worse!) but while the series does improve as it goes on it still doesn't become something that deserves all this buzz and fuss.

Larianne

Yeah Dan Brown.... read Angels and Demons which I thought was good. Read Da Vinci Code straight after and didn't think it was half as good and then Deception Point "Nasa with rock in the ground" was a disgrace.I read it till the end to see if it got any better... NO! Don't know if I'd bother with Digital Fortress.

edibility

I think the thing about Harry Potter is that you need to have started reading them as a child to appreciate them properly. Where as now if I read the first book I'd think it was nothing special, as a ten year old it was absolutely fantastic, and far better than most of the childrens literature that was out there at the time.

boidey

the da vinci code has to be the worst thing in print for a long time. Harry Potter may be cool if the reader is 10 but ffs, come on people. Its beyond me how there are folk who read HP and little else.

Redleslie2

Atomised. A miserable flabby old frenchman riding miserable flabby old frenchwomen for about 300 pages. Dreadful.

Johnny Storm

FWIW Dune and Catch 22 are two of my favourite books of all time - not over rated at all - both written in the 60s so maybe a bit dated by now - just IMHO.


Also - who mentioned "Battlefield Earth" ? LOL - surely no one has ever rated that "book" as anything other than a POS so its hard to say its actually "over-rated"

goin'_to_the_PS

Luciano's Luck, don't know if you would counted it as a highly rated book, but i still think its the worst book i've ever read that is published.

Wheely

Ire read the first Harry Potter book when it was published, I was 14 and only read it cos everyone kept bugging me to and i thought magicians and stuff were cool. FOund it a little elementary but enjoyable and a light reading experience. I did continue to buy these books and became increasingly engrossed in them as they wentr on. They hafve gotten better. Iread the order of the phoenix in one sitting. Im 22 now and I have to say I am really looking forward to the 6th one realease. SO i cant say i agree with the notion that they're overratted. COs i luv 'em!!! As far as most overrated book ever...
jesus i dunno i found Ulysses very hard to read. I know this makes me sound really ignorant slandering Joyce while praising Rowling but it was. The most terrible and frustrating books iv everread though are Slander/Treason basically anything by Ann COulter. If u want your blood to boil give them a shot but dear god dont spend a penny on them!!

Branoic

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

''Dune + Lord of the Rings = Wheel of Time''
then let that wonderful wheel role on


''Unoriginal mishmash.''
how is lotr unoriginal,thats the one books in that genre are based on nowadys.

You mis-understood me. I never said LotR was unoriginal. I said Wheel of Time was unoriginal, because it's basically just a merged plagiarism of Dune and LotR.

ixoy

Branoic wrote:

You mis-understood me. I never said LotR was unoriginal. I said Wheel of Time was unoriginal, because it's basically just a merged plagiarism of Dune and LotR.

Indeed and the Wheel of Time turns and turns and keeps on flipping turning in the same spot without going anywhere. The political intrigue of the Bene Gesserit - oh sorry Aes Sedai (how did I get them confused so..) - consist of a load of faceless characters spewing tales of other faceless characters over interminable cups of tea and tugging of braids. Add to that some indecently poor character development (Rand doesn't understand women but thinks Perrin and Mat do, whereas they all think the same of each other - hilarious still after 8,000 pages or so..) and you've got the makings of something that deserves a smack. Still is this series rated anymore? All I ever see is people bitching and moaning about it since book six. I think Jordan's been uncovered for the hack that he is.

Oh and 'The DaVinci Code' for reasons that are obvious once you read a few pages

Eoin

Branoic wrote:

You mis-understood me. I never said LotR was unoriginal. I said Wheel of Time was unoriginal, because it's basically just a merged plagiarism of Dune and LotR.

If you put it the other way around, it probably makes more sense
Wheel of Time = Dune + LOTR

I have to agree with the Dan Browne stuff - for the love of God, do not read Digital Fortress. It's a new low even for Browne; usual ham fisted dialogue, and not even as well researched as the other books.

I also agree with Catch 22, although I really enjoy reading it, I can't really see why it is considered such as classic. Actually, anyone know does the phrase come from the book, or vice versa?

I had to read "Portrait of the artist as a young man" by James Joyce for the leaving cert, and absolutely detested it (and not just because it was part of the syllabus). I thought it was self-indulgent poo.