Books - long and awful.

[Bobqzz]

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.

Wow- that is a total classic which I loved. Hmm... need to pick it up again soon.

Also loved Old Man and the Sea. Funny a cyclist wouldn't like it. BTW- it's not about the fish

[cody.wms]

funny how we have different tastes.

I've read a Confederacy of Dunces three times. I should read it again soon.

Catch 22 wasn't terrible. It must feel bad to be a one-hit wonder, and the one hit is pretty mediocre.

I've been trying to read Nation by Terry Pratchett, and it just isn't working. I've read every non-juvenile Discworld book and loved them all, but this one isn't working.

I was shocked how lazy the writing was on Stranger in a Strange Land. Starship Troopers was pretty meh. The Yes! song by the same name is great.

[doomridesout]

The Magic Mountain. Took me four tries. My roommate took at least three. Don't do it. Exhaustively detailed world that's set apart, long series of episodes and discussions, then the protagonist simply leaves and it all ends in world war I. Metaphor for prewar European society, or cruel joke about the experience of reading the book?

I had this in mind as well- I hung in until the climactic conversation with Frau Chauchat- in fucking FRENCH?

[C.Dyer]

I also really like The Corrections, as well as Freedom.

I recently read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close;I forget how long it was, not a tome, but long-ish. Anyway, I know folks love this book, but I thought it was the most cloying, emotionally manipulative, hollowly clever book I've ever read. I had violent fantasies of meeting Jonathan Safran Foer and punching his smug vegan face.

I started Murakami's 1Q84 recently, but only made it about a third through before losing patience. I actually have a pretty solid taste for Murakami, and this is in line with his usual schtick--semi sci-fi dystopian contemporary parallel world with a lot of weird sexual anxiety, ruminating lead characters, and so on; but geez, this thing was really meandering even more than he usually does. It was dreadful.

I keep expecting to see Bloano's 2666 get mentioned on here. I actually loved that book--one of the most powerful things I've ever read--but I can see how a 1,000 page book with only the barest of overarching narrative could be polarizing.

[RickM]

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."

Wasn't bad for the first third, but then the ideas, talent, and novelty all gave out at once. The Twenty-Seventh City and Strong Motion were okay.

[72gmc]

My wife almost convinced me to give Tom Joad another chance. I told her I'll wait 10 more years and then try.

[RickM]

I loved both The Corrections - a contemporary comedy of manners and neuroses - and The Aeneid (Fagles translation) - the foundational myth of Rome in finely wrought poetry (I agree they stole prodigiously from the Greeks. That was part of the fascination to me. I read The Aeneid after reading Fagles' Iliad and Odyssey translations...)

But Name of the Rose? Gravity's Rainbow? Tried and "failed". I adore Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners. But I couldn't read more that 50 pages of Ulysses. Ayn Rand? C'mon, I'm not that stupid.

Rand is a pure laugher for sure. Why Ivy Day In The Committee Room isn't on more high school and/or freshman college reading lists befuddles me. Great piece, and Dubliners is a fine collection.

[cody.wms]

I started Murakami's 1Q84 recently, but only made it about a third through before losing patience. I actually have a pretty solid taste for Murakami, and this is in line with his usual schtick--semi sci-fi dystopian contemporary parallel world with a lot of weird sexual anxiety, ruminating lead characters, and so on; but geez, this thing was really meandering even more than he usually does. It was dreadful.

Good to know. I read After Dark two weeks ago, and almost bought this one.

[RickM]

Finnegan's Wake. Scholars love to argue the deeper significances of his work (and the more idiotic claim to understand it) but no deeper meaning exists. Finnegan's Wake is a waste of time and anyone who claims to understand it is a self-absorbed windbag. Feel free to disagree.

'Tis, indeed. Ulysses has moments of complete, pure Perfection...which may have occurred purely by accident.

[Rhys]

Oh! Another.

Waaay too long... check.
Full of bullshit... check.
An exercise in meglomanical self-gratification... check.
Sits unfinished on my bookshelves... check.

SNAP!

Although, it's on my desert island book list, because I would have to devote a significant chunk of uninterrupted time to completely re-think my world-view.

[RickM]

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."

The collected Nick Adams Stories has a few gems. Up In Michigan is a fine short story, alsoThe Killers

It's a good set of stories for a young reader...especially if you've got a teenage boy who loves the outdoors...and who is trying to figure out Girls.

[caleb]

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.

In college I took a Russian lit seminar in Dostoevsky. When we finished The Brothers K, the prof (who had dedicated his professional life to D), simply said, "And that's how payment by the page can ruin great literature."

[lumpy]

I had this in mind as well- I hung in until the climactic conversation with Frau Chauchat- in fucking FRENCH?

A whole chapter worth! Every so often I used to wonder what I missed and google around for a translation, never found one. Haven't looked for years.

[Christian Fox]

Finnegan's Wake. Scholars love to argue the deeper significances of his work (and the more idiotic claim to understand it) but no deeper meaning exists. Finnegan's Wake is a waste of time and anyone who claims to understand it is a self-absorbed windbag. Feel free to disagree.

"Like" is an understatement. "If there was a Totally Fucking Agree" button I would have clicked that

[fmbp]

I really, really tried to get through "Godel, Escher, Bach," but I just couldn't do it.

[Matthew J]

Hell's Gate: The Cherkassy Pocket. At 417 pages it is not necessarily long but it is coffee table large. Some WW2 buffs told me this was the best researched and told story on the Eastern Front. I had to order it as no local book stores kept one in stock. No surprise there. The book is a series of photos interspersed with poorly written narrative that manages to make 60 days of what was one of the more intense battles of all time a tedious bore.

[Matthew J]

Finnegan's Wake. Scholars love to argue the deeper significances of his work (and the more idiotic claim to understand it) but no deeper meaning exists. Finnegan's Wake is a waste of time and anyone who claims to understand it is a self-absorbed windbag. Feel free to disagree.

I suspect David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest is meant as a joking reference to people who read Finnegan's Wake.

[Bud_E]

I agree with a lot of the books listed so far. But I draw the line at Joseph Heller - "Catch 22" and "Something Happened" are two of my favorite books ever.

[davids]

I really, really tried to get through "Godel, Escher, Bach," but I just couldn't do it.

I tried G, E, B when I was in school and felt stupid for not being able to get through it. Not any more!

I also really like The Corrections, as well as Freedom.

I recently read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close;I forget how long it was, not a tome, but long-ish. Anyway, I know folks love this book, but I thought it was the most cloying, emotionally manipulative, hollowly clever book I've ever read. I had violent fantasies of meeting Jonathan Safran Foer and punching his smug vegan face.

I started Murakami's 1Q84 recently, but only made it about a third through before losing patience. I actually have a pretty solid taste for Murakami, and this is in line with his usual schtick--semi sci-fi dystopian contemporary parallel world with a lot of weird sexual anxiety, ruminating lead characters, and so on; but geez, this thing was really meandering even more than he usually does. It was dreadful.

I keep expecting to see Bloano's 2666 get mentioned on here. I actually loved that book--one of the most powerful things I've ever read--but I can see how a 1,000 page book with only the barest of overarching narrative could be polarizing.

I like E L & I C a lot, but can completely understand feeling the way you did.

My wife just finished 1Q84 and loved it. She read it on her Kindle and was a little surprised when she realized how long it was. But she got completely wrapped up in it. Kept her occupied on a very long car trip a few weeks' back...

Someone mentioned not loving War and Peace. WTF? I could read Tolstoy forever.

[boxerboxer]

I started Murakami's 1Q84 recently, but only made it about a third through before losing patience. I actually have a pretty solid taste for Murakami, and this is in line with his usual schtick--semi sci-fi dystopian contemporary parallel world with a lot of weird sexual anxiety, ruminating lead characters, and so on; but geez, this thing was really meandering even more than he usually does. It was dreadful.

I just had a conversation with a friend who did the same thing about a month ago. You were really close to where things start to move. I do kind of get it, but it would be worth finishing if you can bring yourself to. Of course all IMO and YMMVW.