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Post by anxiousmom on Apr 5, 2016 12:24:28 GMT
Joyce Carol Oates Bret Easton EllisThe books I read were too dark for me. I don't want to risk more soul-sucking darkness. Pat Conroy The rape scene from Prince of Tides was so upsetting that I don't dare pick up another one of his books. I am still haunted by it - it makes me feel physically sick to think about it. I sure do sound like a Pollyanna! I can and do enjoy books with difficult characters and painful situations (The Bone People, anyone?), but something about those I listed make me not want to try again. I read American Psycho years ago and it STILL bothers me. In fact, it is the only book I have ever read in my almost 50 years on this earth that I felt had zero redeeming value. I felt that it was only written to fulfill some need to share his gratuitously violent sexual fantasies against women and in a fit of irrational anger, sent my copy of the book back to the publisher suggesting that they send me a full and total refund for that craziness. My sister tells me that they talk about it in college literature classes as a major work that reflects a part of our social psyche-and that in some circles my outrage is considered to be naively ignorant of what the book is trying to tell us about our society or some such bullshit, but frankly?? I think it is the view not unlike the Emperor's New Clothes-group think designed only to snub those who think differently. (As you can see, this stupid book still irritates me. The fact that they made a movie out of it irritates me even more. At some point, I think there is supposed to be or was supposed to be a Broadway play that irritates me beyond my ability to articulate. )
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Post by peasapie on Apr 5, 2016 12:52:38 GMT
Nora Roberts. I loved her books for a while, but it's the same story over and over.
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Post by ferblover on Apr 5, 2016 13:20:22 GMT
Agree with Patrica Cornwell, Dianne Mott Davidson, Sue Grafton(seriously still the 90s!!!), Mary Higgins Clark and I have one to add, Joanne Fluke. Really?!?!?! The main character has two suitors who are best friends? She can't choose and oh yeah, no one does anything more than just hug or maybe a little peck. please!!
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Post by woodysbetty on Apr 5, 2016 13:27:36 GMT
Mary Higgins Clark for me.....her books feel like paint by number kits.....
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anniebygaslight
Drama Llama
I'd love a cup of tea. #1966
Posts: 7,402
Location: Third Rock from the sun.
Jun 28, 2014 14:08:19 GMT
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Post by anniebygaslight on Apr 5, 2016 14:02:04 GMT
I gave up on Jodi Picoult ages ago when it became clear that she was just rehashing the same old same old, with a few tweaks and name changes.
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scrappyesq
Pearl Clutcher
You have always been a part of the heist. You're only mad now because you don't like your cut.
Posts: 4,060
Jun 26, 2014 19:29:07 GMT
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Post by scrappyesq on Apr 5, 2016 16:43:57 GMT
I was literally just talking about this the other day. I quit reading Julia Quinn I used to auto buy all of her books. Then I stopped. I re-read one of hers recently and all I could think was why??
ETA: The authors name. That would help, right?
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Post by checkwheelsdown on Apr 5, 2016 17:16:29 GMT
Anne Rice. So. Many. Words. Boring. Wordy. Words. I slogged through her first three on the enthusiastic recommendation of a rather dark young lady who babysat for my children. Apparently you should never trust a goth-loving 15 year old's taste in literature. Therein lied the problem I suppose, I was attempting to appear hip at the ripe old age of 33. I decided I couldn't devote any more of my life to the Vampire Lestat. Soul sucking.
Norman Mailer. Ancient Evenings. Don't, just don't. Could not finish. It's historical fiction and takes place on one looooong evening where the main characters tell stories. Looooong overwrought stories about battles and pharaohs and reincarnation and gods and...zzzzzz. Too bad, I was fascinated with ancient Egypt at the time. Not going to take a chance on anymore Mailer works.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Apr 5, 2016 18:58:23 GMT
"So. Many. Words. Boring. Wordy. Words."
HAHA!! This reminds me of The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, in English class in high school (?) or because it was a classic and I thought I *should* read it (?) I don't think I made it through the entire thing. There are soooo many adjectives in those descriptive passages, I remember being bored to tears-- I just want to get to the 'action' of a story, not picture it quite so *exactly* in my head as his descriptions are written. Maybe I could do it now, as an adult? But I don't think so. Not sure if all Steinbeck's writing is like this, but I don't want to find out.
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Post by utmr on Apr 5, 2016 19:33:37 GMT
Cornwell, Evanovich. Getting annoyed with Grafton but I'd like to see it through. Karin Slaughter got way too graphic for me, but I loved Will Trent and his dyslexia.
Bored with the last couple of Faye Kellerman's, the move to NY was not helpful. Jonathan Kellerman us still ok, although I sometimes confuse his Alex Delaware with Stephen White's Alan Gregory.
Agree there is a tipping point where they seem to run out of stories. Although others like Lawrence Block and John Sandford keep churning out books for years without that problem.
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Post by jemali on Apr 5, 2016 19:45:58 GMT
I used to read every Danielle Steel book but gave her up many moons ago....every book was the same and it got tiresome. Yep, me too. Girl falls in love with guy, he dies, she meets someone even better. Every time.
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