(no subject)

[erastes]

KWESTIONS! (because omg - so bored...)

I was talking to <lj user="gehayi"> the other day about Library thing and how I love every single book I own and couldn't consider parting with any of them, even though they threaten to overtake the house at times, when i suddenly said "Except for Benvenuto Cellini's autobiography, that is - I've never been able to read past chapter 2 without falling asleep"

And amazingly she'd tried to read it too - and had the same reaction - exactly!

I said "It's better than any sleeping pill" and she had to agree. It's bloody ironic, though. He allegedly had this major exciting life, swords, duels bisexuality and I'm going - "blah blah who cares"... Perhaps it gets better after chapter 2....

So - what's the most boring book you either own, or have ever read?

Comments

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

The Immortal Storm by Sam Moskowitz. It's possibly the only history book in which WWII is something of a minor side-note.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Notes it down to avoid...

[melora98.livejournal.com]

I feel so bad about this one because I really feel like I should love it, but I just can't get through it without snoring... Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Suzanna Clarke. I still have it because I keep saying I'm going to try it again someday.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

That's two votes for that.... and I've been meaning to read that, too!

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Really? I enjoyed that book. It was slow in some parts, but really fascinating overall.

[sionnain.livejournal.com]

Jude the Obscure, or Return of the Native.

DIE IN A FIRE, Thomas Hardy!!!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

Aw you are so mean! Poor Jude!

Return of the Native, yes, I agree...

[reddwarfer.livejournal.com]

Robinson Crusoe. Hands down. Really. Freaking. Boring.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Have to agre with that one, too.

Day 1. Sunny. Had coconut. No ship
Day 2. Sunny. Finished yesterday's coconut. No ship

etc

[sabethea.livejournal.com]

*joins the Crusoe hate*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Gad! I loved the autobiography of Cellini, for the reasons you cite - interesting life, bisexuality, duels, colourful friends and acquaintances, art, and so on - when I read it, admittedly a very long time ago now, I didn't want to put it down.

The book which bored me most was Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I'll have to try it again...

And yes! Ivanhoe! What is it with that book? I think it must be cursed, it never made a good film either.

[kenazfiction.livejournal.com]

Vineland by Thomas Pynchon.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

*adds to avoidance list*

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

"Ancestors of Avalon" by Diana L. Paxson. It's a follow-up from the Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I really enjoyed "The Mists of Avalon". But this last book, which kind of tries to cover the story's origin from Atlantis to Britain - it's one great bore.

I read it in the bath tube, and I wouldn't have minded drowning the book. Totally predictable, one-dimensional characters. I was wishing for the return button! The best part was that I never minded stopping in the middle of a chapter.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

sounds awful! What's a bath tube?

[aunty_marion]

One Of These Days^TM I will finish Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Honest, guv.

It took me over a year to read A Brief History of Time, because I kept falling asleep in the bath with it. It is therefore somewhat wrinkled in places.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I applaud that you read it!!

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I've tried to read Dune about 16 times. Same with The Mists of Avalon. I couldn't get past page, say, 25 in either of them, any of the times I've tried.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I love Dune, I have to say - but the horrid thing is the way the series gets worse and worse and worse....

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I'm a little of part I think... But I love Benvenuto Cellini and his work, and also his life... it's so interesting and exciting. So I have read "La mia vita scritta da me medesimo" di Benvenuto Cellini, but I have read it in arcaic italian: it's a difficult reading, but I think I can't define it boring... Maybe I'm influenced by the person and so I pass over some problem with the reading. With Caravaggio I think that Benvenuto Cellini is one of the most powerful artist Italy have given the born. ciao, elisa

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it's just a bad translation that I have...

[liriaen.livejournal.com]

Sad to say, Peter Ackroyd's Blake-biography. I've tried some 12 times to progress further than halfway, never made, and didn't retain a thing. Which was a surprise for me, since I normally slide through Ackroyd like a hot knife through butter.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Haven't heard of him, but will avoid!!

[schmoo999.livejournal.com]

I would have to say thinking about it I have tried twice to get through Moby Dick and half way through end up giving up. The writing for me gets soooo dry. I have also have a biography on John Adams, founding father, that I have never finished. :P

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Dry yes, for sure, but OMG SLASHY!!

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

"The Old Man and the Sea" I loathed that book and have never been a fan of Hemingway.

Pretty much anything by John Steinbeck, too.

"Moby Dick" dragged on and on, and so did "Crime and Punishment". I read both in high school, and I've always wanted to read them again to see if I'd like them better now.

I slept through an entire semester of Milton, too, and I was horribly disappointed by "Paradise Lost".

[erastes.livejournal.com]

*Stabs Hemingway*

STAB STAB STAB

And OMG Paradise Lost. OMG!!! *catatonics*

But I like later Steinbeck. Winter of my Discontent is wonderful.

[peppery-lime.livejournal.com]

there are two that i've read that I just. can't. read. omg.

The Leatherstocking Tales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leatherstocking_Tales) by James Fenimore Cooper that I read...or *tried* to read in Junior high. I didn't make it past page 72.

Also, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Know_Why_The_Caged_Bird_Sings) by Maya Angelou...autobiographical and disturbing to me. I did actually make it through this one *because I had to) but I fell asleep countless times trying to read it.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I haven't tried either of those, I have to admit, but I doubt I will do now!

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

The Sun Also Rises *ZZZzzzZZZ*

The Silmarillion, and God knows I love Tolkien.

The Celestine Prophecy

ANYTHING by John Grisham. God, does he suck ASS!

And most people would be shocked to know I've read the bible cover to cover :P

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I've never managed to read Silmarillion either, and I've SO TRIED!

And you hate Grisham? Try Dan Brown...

[iulia_linnea.livejournal.com]

Moby Dick

[erastes.livejournal.com]

REALLY????

Did you read the abridged version? I know that I did at school (only just realised this) the true version is FULL of homoerotica.

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. In college, I wanted to take a class in Irish Lit, but I avoided it for fear of being made to read Joyce again. Gah!

Also, Mark Twain's Old Times on the Mississippi made me want to pull my brain out of my head in seventh grade. And I generally like Twain. O_O

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I am firmly of the belief that Joyce was taking the piss and the literati fell for it.

*G*

Boring books

[lilian-cho.livejournal.com]

The Sun Also Rises

Hemingway should stick to writing articles. Full stop. :-P


And um, for some reason I keep on borrowing Philip Pullman books but return them before I read beyond the first chapter.

I recognize that the writing style is good and the storyline is promising, but for some reason I don't have any burning urge to read on.

...

I was pleasantly surprised at how addictive ASoIaF is.

Re: Boring books

[erastes.livejournal.com]

ASOIAF is unputdownable. no messing.

And I SO agree with you about Hemingway!!!