Is there an author you just do not like?

[thestrangewinston]

Or is their a book you just can't stand?

Personally I can't stand Ayn Rand. I read Anthem in school and it was okay, but a lot of my friends really built her up so I tried diving into her other works and I personally found her philosophies both selfish and hypocritical(she was on welfare).

How about anyone else?

[nickusp]

English majors from my university have to take a seminar every year (freshman can't declare a major so it started with sophomore): Sophomore seminar is on a genre, Junior seminar is on an author, and Senior seminar is on a certain discourse and they change based on semester and who teaches. Well, my Junior seminar was on Toni Morrison so we read a vast majority of her work. I just couldn't get into it. It's not that she's a bad writer, she's wonderful really, but just wasn't my cup of tea. The novels seemed really similar and I got kind of bored.

[thestrangewinston]

Ah I read beloved in high school and had some serious trouble getting through it. Just wasnt a fan. You are right she is not a bad writer though

[embonpoint]

Jodi Picoult. Oh my god, Jodi Picoult.

[flute88]

Jon Krakauer. I think his writing style is just so dry. I made it through Under the Banner of Heaven because the material was interesting enough, but we had to read Into the Wild in high school and I hated it. I won't touch anything else of his with a ten-foot pole.

[wildechild]

Charles Dickens. I know, I know, he's great - yada yada. Despite knowing how fabulous he was, and actually really liking the plots he laid out (I'm a daughter of Oliver! the Musical), I couldn't make it through a whole book, despite trying three times. However, last semester I was required to read Hard Times and I actually really enjoyed it. Maybe I'm on the road to recovery.

[alyoshka]

Jun 3, 2011 16:02:24 GMT -5 embonpoint said:

Jodi Picoult. Oh my god, Jodi Picoult.

definitely. I also agree with Ayn Rand. /gag

[rayyychul]

This Jodi hate is getting me down

I don't like Dan Brown or Stephen King.

[nickusp]

Jun 3, 2011 16:02:24 GMT -5 embonpoint said:

Jodi Picoult. Oh my god, Jodi Picoult.

This. Mom has a few of her books in the house, but they all sound like the same story to me. It seems like she writes them specifically so they can be made into Lifetime movies.

I have a bit of distaste towards the authors that seem to pop out a book every few months. The James Pattersons, Lisa Gardeners, and Dean Koontz' of the world. How can you write a truly wonderful book in just a couple months. And with the time it takes to edit and publish I can only assume they throw them together in weeks. Some of my favorite authors take years just to put one novel together...

[embonpoint]

Jun 3, 2011 18:23:45 GMT -5 @nickusp said:

Jun 3, 2011 16:02:24 GMT -5 embonpoint said:

Jodi Picoult. Oh my god, Jodi Picoult.

This. Mom has a few of her books in the house, but they all sound like the same story to me. It seems like she writes them specifically so they can be made into Lifetime movies.

This is my exact problem with her. The book of hers I read was about a mother who had to make a difficult decision regarding her sick child (and the father was a policeman); the book they advertised at the end was about a mother who had to make a difficult decision regarding her sick child (AND THE FATHER WAS A POLICEMAN); My Sister's Keeper is about a mother who has made many difficult decisions regarding her children, one of whom is sick; another one of hers my sister has read... was about a mother who had to make a difficult decision regarding her sick child (and the father was a fireman).
And if that was boring to read, imagine reading actually reading all the books.

That, and apparently she massively ripped-off The Green Mile with Change of Heart.

I mean, seriously, wtf?

[rayyychul]

This is my exact problem with her. The book of hers I read was about a mother who had to make a difficult decision regarding her sick child (and the father was a policeman); the book they advertised at the end was about a mother who had to make a difficult decision regarding her sick child (AND THE FATHER WAS A POLICEMAN); My Sister's Keeper is about a mother who has made many difficult decisions regarding her children, one of whom is sick; another one of hers my sister has read... was about a mother who had to make a difficult decision regarding her sick child (and the father was a fireman).
And if that was boring to read, imagine reading actually reading all the books.

I wondering what all these "mother and sick child" books are that she's written and where I can read them. Of the novels she has written, I can think of two (possibly three) that are about a mother and her sick child.

Don't get me wrong, you're absolutely allowed to dislike Picoult (or whoever else you want), but what you wrote was an unfair generalisation on the two or three novels of hers that you have read.

[embonpoint]

Jun 3, 2011 18:49:30 GMT -5 rayyychul said:

I wondering what all these "mother and sick child" books are that she's written and where I can read them. Of the novels she has written, I can think of two (possibly three) that are about a mother and her sick child.

Don't get me wrong, you're absolutely allowed to dislike Picoult (or whoever else you want), but what you wrote was an unfair generalisation on the two or three novels of hers that you have read.

It wasn't an unfair generalisation, because I only mentioned the books I know about. I didn't say that she only wrote about that; I said that she wrote four books about basically the same thing and I have a problem with that.
I also mentioned that there were significant similarities between her book, Change of Heart, and Stephen King's, The Green Mile, (or I said something to that effect, anyway!) and I have a problem with that.

I agree that one shouldn't make unfair generalisations about a writer (or, indeed, anybody/anything) and that's not what I was doing.

[rayyychul]

Jun 3, 2011 18:56:10 GMT -5 embonpoint said:

Jun 3, 2011 18:49:30 GMT -5 rayyychul said:

I wondering what all these "mother and sick child" books are that she's written and where I can read them. Of the novels she has written, I can think of two (possibly three) that are about a mother and her sick child.

Don't get me wrong, you're absolutely allowed to dislike Picoult (or whoever else you want), but what you wrote was an unfair generalisation on the two or three novels of hers that you have read.

It wasn't an unfair generalisation, because I only mentioned the books I know about. I didn't say that she only wrote about that; I said that she wrote four books about basically the same thing and I have a problem with that.
I also mentioned that there were significant similarities between her book, Change of Heart, and Stephen King's, The Green Mile, (or I said something to that effect, anyway!) and I have a problem with that.

I agree that one shouldn't make unfair generalisations about a writer (or, indeed, anybody/anything) and that's not what I was doing.

When you said you agreed with "they all sound like the same story to me," it sounded as though you were agreeing to that generalisation about all her novels. I apologise if I misunderstood!

I do (humbly) disagree that even those novels are the exact same, though. I agree the sick child/worried parent combo comes up in a few of her novels, but I think the "bigger picture"/plot around the characters is different in each (and to be fair regarding the policeman father/husband/lover/what-have-you, I think it's the same character!).

[tastyink]

Jodi Picoult is definitely on my list. Also Sarah Dessen and John Green. I have read and enjoyed a few of their books in the past but then I started to realize they were all so similar.

[embonpoint]

Jun 3, 2011 19:09:40 GMT -5 rayyychul said:

When you said you agreed with "they all sound like the same story to me," it sounded as though you were agreeing to that generalisation about all her novels. I apologise if I misunderstood!

I do (humbly) disagree that even those novels are the exact same, though. I agree the sick child/worried parent combo comes up in a few of her novels, but I think the "bigger picture"/plot around the characters is different in each (and to be fair regarding the policeman father/husband/lover/what-have-you, I think it's the same character!).

Oh yeah, ok, I see what you mean. I was agreeing to it, but only in a 'yeah, the ones I know about are the same' kind of way! x) (If that makes any sense). No need to apologise

I'm sure that they are different because, I mean, there are so many different ways you could explore the issue, but I just kind of feel like it's cheating, do you know what I mean?