Books - long and awful.

[Matthew Strongin]

Not long enough...

As a side note, I'm just about finishing up The Adolecent by Dostoevsky and thinking if I were a writer I'd love to write the story of Arkady Dolgoruky and Holden Caulfield in a semi-modern buddy story... But I'm sure even if I had the skill it would end up too long and unreadable.

I'd totally read it. Even if it was long and terribly written.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The term "Chautauqua" started to burn like lye.

Loved it. I was also a teenager and I think I was supposed to love it. Not sure I'd go back and read it again.

I majored in Russian Lit, so loooooong books were pretty much the norm. And I really enjoyed most of them. War and Peace, not so much.

[Dorman]

I might have read a dozen books by L. Ron. All are awful.* The real question is what's worse? The book or movie version of Battlefield Earth?


*Note the theme. I read lots of terrible books. Something is wrong with me.

The movie is worse. I could handle the book alright, but John Travolta as a Psychlo. Just couldn't deal with it. I'm not even going to bring up Barry Pepper.

[false_aesthetic]

House of Leaves took me 3 attempts. I'm still not exactly sure wtf its about.


Swann's Way and anything else by Proust.
Gravity's Rainbow.
Catch-22.

Just can't do em.

[lumpy]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The term "Chautauqua" started to burn like lye.

I think the real story in that book is how the narrator is preaching mechanical sympathy while ignoring his son's emotional needs. There's a lot of stuff at work in that book that may or may not be intentional, which makes it interesting.

[Scott G.]

Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard. About 1000 pages in, every other sentence read "please, kill me"

Which is why L. Ron's best buddy, A.E. Van Vogt told him to go into the religion business.
The movie is a real howler, loved the primitive tribesmen flying 100 year old Harriers.

[Ben]

214 pp constitute a long read in the Volunteer state, Ben?

If it's 212 pages too long, yeah, it is.

[Also, this is a lot more gentlemanly than my initial response to your post.]

[EricKeller]

Swann's Way and anything else by Proust.

there is a newer translation that makes it a much easier read. But because of Mickey Mouse, Americans can't read them

[Bobqzz]

Pretty much anything by Jonathan Franzen. Particularly "The Corrections". If he actually had an editor, that could have been a 180 page novel called "The Whiners."

Loved this book

[false_aesthetic]

214 pp constitute a long read in the Volunteer state

there is a newer translation that makes it a much easier read. But because of Mickey Mouse, Americans can't read them

If its more than 160 characters and doesn't come with a # I'm always confused.

[theflashunc]

Anything Ernest Hemingway.

Especially Old Man and the Sea. (Just put the fish in the boat! No one cares!)

[taz]

Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein. I made it to Michael Smith starting his own religion and gave up - I think that was about 600 pages in. Anybody that uses the word 'grok' needs to be beaten about the head with a hard bound copy.

[kohlboto]

House of Leaves took me 3 attempts. I'm still not exactly sure wtf its about.


Swann's Way and anything else by Proust.
Gravity's Rainbow.
Catch-22.

Just can't do em.

Exactly the book that came to mind when I saw the title of this thread.
I've attempted to read it multiple times...really liked the film though...

[Mabouya]

If you get it you're a better man than I am.

[Matthew Strongin]

Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein. I made it to Michael Smith starting his own religion and gave up - I think that was about 600 pages in. Anybody that uses the word 'grok' needs to be beaten about the head with a hard bound copy.

I'm surprised you made it that far. I got maybe 100 pages in before tossing the book. I didn't even want it sitting on my bookshelf as a reminder.

[RickM]

Worst Book Ever; The Shipping News. E.A. Proulx started out as a writer with so much promise..as far back as the days when she wrote bird hunting stories for Grays', she was good. Then....well, things went Wrong.

[davids]

Anything Ernest Hemingway.

Especially Old Man and the Sea. (Just put the fish in the boat! No one cares!)

So you and Ben share the same measuring stick for "long".

[SteveP]

the sound and the fury by faulkner.

always thought i should read it...
tried 3-4 times and by page 25 couldnt figure out what the hell was happening or who was who.
gave up. its over.

[SteveP]

So you and Ben share the same measuring stick for "long".

its a trilogy, right?
chapters 1-2-3?

[SteveP]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The term "Chautauqua" started to burn like lye.

many years ago...
1/2 way through i determined the guy was an idiot and gave the book away.
good title though maybe.

[Tom]

Rand: Believe it or not, I actually read two of those books. I'm an idiot but a curious idiot. My impression of the first one was that it was written like a high school girl's fantasy. The second one confirmed it, with the added thought that she owned a lot of pens.

Hemingway, some of his books were OK but in my opinion he wrote the best short story ever in the English language: "The Short Happy Life of Frances Macomber". It could have used some editing, though. "He grew balls. So she shot him."