Books You're Ignoring

Trilby • Feb 10, 2009 5:31 pm
Anything by ANY Russian and/or Polish (that's you, Joseph Conrad) author.

ANY Sci-Fi of ANY stripe.

Jane Austen (Emma can really just go ---- herself)
Tiki • Feb 10, 2009 5:48 pm
Oh god.

I am a compulsive book purchaser, and as a result I have somewhere between 50 and 70 books on/near my bedside tables, all of which got there because I was "about to" read them.
lumberjim • Feb 10, 2009 6:46 pm
Brianna;532958 wrote:

ANY Sci-Fi of ANY stripe.


If you don't read Ender's Game, we can't be friends anymore.
Trilby • Feb 10, 2009 7:12 pm
lumberjim;532974 wrote:
If you don't read Ender's Game, we can't be friends anymore.


well, shoot. OK.. I'll read it. It better not suck.
Shawnee123 • Feb 10, 2009 7:14 pm
I've managed to avoid anything to do with little kids running around in otherworlds.

Twilight, or any of its derivatives, ignored.

I've been bad about reading lately, though, and have 4 books waiting...

This darn internet.
lumberjim • Feb 10, 2009 7:16 pm
Brianna;532987 wrote:
well, shoot. OK.. I'll read it. It better not suck.

jinx even liked it. and she HATES sci fi
Griff • Feb 10, 2009 7:20 pm
Shawnee123;532990 wrote:
I've managed to avoid anything to do with little kids running around in otherworlds.


Get a copy of Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Actually it isn't kids...

I'm sure there is something I'm ignoring... must be doing a good job.
Beestie • Feb 10, 2009 7:22 pm
lumberjim;532974 wrote:
If you don't read Ender's Game, we can't be friends anymore.

I just finished it a few weeks ago. OK, I'm a little behind on my reading.

I highly recommend it.

I also found a very short Ender series book and read it last year - it was spectacularly good. Oh - A War Of Gifts.

The guy just knows how to write.
Clodfobble • Feb 10, 2009 7:51 pm
I have a Julian May book called "Perseus Spur" that I started back before the baby was born and haven't touched since. At this point, I'm intentionally ignoring it until I forget the last few details I can remember, and then I can just start at the beginning again.
glatt • Feb 10, 2009 8:13 pm
lumberjim;532992 wrote:
jinx even liked it. and she HATES sci fi


my wife was the same way with Ender's Game.

That book is fantastic.
lumberjim • Feb 10, 2009 8:51 pm
Griff;532995 wrote:
Get a copy of Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Actually it isn't kids...


excellent book....and he narrates it himself on audio book. (he won audible.com's award for best author/narrator) also liked American Gods and Anansi Boys by him

Beestie;532998 wrote:


I also found a very short Ender series book and read it last year - it was spectacularly good. Oh - A War Of Gifts.

The guy just knows how to write.

yep...quick but good. I'll read anything by Orson Scott Card
SteveDallas • Feb 10, 2009 9:09 pm
Brianna;532958 wrote:
Emma can really just go ---- herself

Yeah, I have some videos of that if you want to see. (Or, I dunno, maybe she was using a stage name.

Brianna;532987 wrote:
well, shoot. OK.. I'll read it. It better not suck.

There's a paperback edition floating around that has a preface by Card. I recommend you try to get hold of it if you can--or maybe the preface is posted somewhere separately.

Most of Card's other stuff that I've read I considered boring, creepy, or both.

What books am I ignoring? I'll have to think about. (For me "ignoring" goes beyond "they're lying around and I'm not reading them." It has to be something I'm willfully not reading that I feel I ought to.)
Chocolatl • Feb 10, 2009 9:32 pm
I have willfully ignored Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for about the past ten years. Many people have told me that I MUST read the series because I will LOVE the books. The minute someone tells me I MUST read a book, listen to a song, or watch a movie, it's pretty much guaranteed I will have nothing to do with it for at least a year.
Aliantha • Feb 10, 2009 9:33 pm
Just be kind to the mice in the mean time. ;)
Juniper • Feb 10, 2009 10:17 pm
I have a certain book that I WISH I could ignore.

Unfortunately, we're having a test on it next week.

Probably the only books that I refuse to read, without even considering them, are those fluffy series romances. Not that I don't enjoy a good romance novel, but those are almost always so poorly written I just cringe.
Clodfobble • Feb 10, 2009 11:16 pm
Chocolatl wrote:
I have willfully ignored Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for about the past ten years. Many people have told me that I MUST read the series because I will LOVE the books. The minute someone tells me I MUST read a book, listen to a song, or watch a movie, it's pretty much guaranteed I will have nothing to do with it for at least a year.


Ah yes, this is exactly like my relationship with the book Dune. I openly refuse to read it at this point.

For what it's worth, I don't think you should read HGTTG. I firmly believe it's one of those books you have to read when you're a teenager, or the window of appreciation is gone forever.
Aliantha • Feb 10, 2009 11:18 pm
I read Dune years ago (when I was a teenager). I don't think I could do it again...and that perfume Dune just ruined the whole concept of the word for me.

It's terrible. (sorry to those who like it, but it gives me a headache)
lumberjim • Feb 10, 2009 11:20 pm
SteveDallas;533039 wrote:


Most of Card's other stuff that I've read I considered boring, creepy, or both.


blasphemer!

infidel!

cock!
monster • Feb 10, 2009 11:24 pm
Far too many to mention... I have a whiole stack out of the library that i just keep renewing. Literary fiction mostly, the stuff i should read, but paperback mass-market crap is so much easier.... I've been ignoring Ovenman by Jeff Parker for over a year, and now I'm finally reading it. it's good. a little weird, but good. I'm also ignoring The Weight of Nothing by Steve gillis. it's excellent, but hard work and so i just sort of stopped, a little over halfway through. I've had that out of the library for a couple of years now.

On the non-fiction front: Making a Michigan Will :o our guilty evil secret......
SteveDallas • Feb 11, 2009 12:07 am
lumberjim;533090 wrote:
blasphemer!

infidel!

cock!

Boring... creepy.. retreads...
DanaC • Feb 11, 2009 11:09 am
I've spent fifteen years, at least, studiously avoiding the Pilgrim's Progress, only to find it compulsory reading on my new history module.
Juniper • Feb 11, 2009 12:51 pm
Aliantha;533089 wrote:
I read Dune years ago (when I was a teenager). I don't think I could do it again...and that perfume Dune just ruined the whole concept of the word for me.

It's terrible. (sorry to those who like it, but it gives me a headache)


Funny story. Kinda. :)

My SIL gave me that perfume as a gift at my bridal shower, which was also a bachelorette party. I was drunk and asked her if they made it out of giant worms. :greenface

She didn't see the humor.
Shawnee123 • Feb 11, 2009 12:52 pm
Juniper;533300 wrote:
Funny story. Kinda. :)

My SIL gave me that perfume as a gift at my bridal shower, which was also a bachelorette party. I was drunk and asked her if they made it out of giant worms. :greenface

She didn't see the humor.


lmao! giant worms...that is awesome!
Bullitt • Feb 11, 2009 1:12 pm
I guess she didn't enjoy your spice Juniper.


I've been successfully avoiding "pop" books such as The Da Vinci Code, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Harry Potter. I don't care how "riveting" or "adventurous" or "suspenseful" you think the story is, I refuse to subject my mind to such pointless drivel that the majority population, whom I pessimistically view as idiots on a whole in literary fields, feed upon and discuss endlessly as if these books were the greatest things ever put on wood pulp. You want a good read that's actually relevant? Pick up Common Sense by Thomas Paine and just about anything by Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill.
wolf • Feb 11, 2009 2:06 pm
I wish that I had ignored the Twilight series.

I have successfully ignored Gone with the Wind and any number of romance novels.

I have ignored the Wheel of Time series.

I tend to ignore the sorts of books that New York Times reviewers gush over.

I have ignored anything written by Salman Rushdie.

I have ignored most of what Oprah thinks people should read. I have made a few exceptions to this, and have regretted most of them. (Checking her list, I have read three, and have regretted two. Of the one I did not regret, I didn't know it was an Oprah Book at the time that I read it, actually possibly it had not been selected at that time.)
DanaC • Feb 11, 2009 2:10 pm
I have ignored the Wheel of Time series.


*nods* yes, yes. This is one I have avoided for quite some time.

I have ignored anything written by Salman Rushdie.


*nods again* and yes, again. My ex not-quite-father-in-law is a big Rushdie fan. I tried one. Can't recall the name. I just couldn't bond with the book in any way.
glatt • Feb 11, 2009 2:24 pm
So far, I'm ignoring Anathem. Been sitting on the floor by my side of the bed since Christmas. Reading it seems like a daunting prospect.
wolf • Feb 11, 2009 2:30 pm
glatt;533358 wrote:
So far, I'm ignoring Anathem. Been sitting on the floor by my side of the bed since Christmas. Reading it seems like a daunting prospect.


Daunting, but having passed through this particular gauntlet, I believe it is worth it. Perhaps I was lucky in have an e-book, as I never experienced how much the book weighed. I am slowly making my way through The Baroque Cycle, and realize I should probably reread Cryptonomicon.

I'm just digging how Stephenson can still be writing cyberpunk when he's setting his books in the 17th Century. YMMV, but I think it's totally fucking COOL.
wolf • Feb 11, 2009 2:31 pm
A way to keep track of what you're ignoring.

If anyone would like to be my friend, pm me and we can swap account information.
dar512 • Feb 11, 2009 5:51 pm
Bullitt;533314 wrote:
I've been successfully avoiding "pop" books such as The Da Vinci Code, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Harry Potter.

I'd hardly lump the Narnia Series in with pop books. The original publication date for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was 1950. I'd also add that it is a well-crafted allegory of Christ's sacrifice.

I have a fondness for fantasy of this sort and reread the series from time to time. I can understand that you may not like it for its Christian message or you may not like it because it is essentially a children's book. But I wouldn't call it 'pop'.

Writing this post reminded me that I haven't read "The World of Pooh" since my kids were little.
Bullitt • Feb 11, 2009 6:29 pm
Oh no I know it's been around awhile, I'm more back lashing against its resurgence amongst evangelical Christian circles like it's the best Christian-themed fiction written along with the Left Behind series. I go to an evangelical Christian university so I never hear the end of it.
freshnesschronic • Feb 11, 2009 6:32 pm
I am not ever going to touch the Twilight series. College chicks dig it though, dunno why.
Bullitt • Feb 11, 2009 6:35 pm
freshnesschronic;533440 wrote:
I am not ever going to touch the Twilight series. College chicks dig it though, dunno why.


Yeah I don't get that, I had never even heard of the series and then all of the sudden 3/4's of the girls at my school are way into it.
lumberjim • Feb 11, 2009 6:49 pm
i'm re-reading the Song of Ice and Fire Series By George R R Martin

i have maybe 250 audio books at this point, and this is BY FAR the best series.


Image
Roy Dotrice is fantastic as a narrator.....but he only did the 1st 3. John Lee is OK, but....
Aliantha • Feb 11, 2009 7:59 pm
Juniper;533300 wrote:
Funny story. Kinda. :)

My SIL gave me that perfume as a gift at my bridal shower, which was also a bachelorette party. I was drunk and asked her if they made it out of giant worms. :greenface

She didn't see the humor.


To me it smells like it's made out of giant worm shit!

I'm sure some people must like it though. You can still buy it.
Cloud • Feb 11, 2009 8:29 pm
the Twilight books
dar512 • Feb 12, 2009 10:20 am
I'm not sure why everyone is dissing the Twilight books. I read them when the darlets were reading them. (before all the hoopla) They're light reading, but reasonably entertaining.

What? Everyone else is reading War and Peace?
dar512 • Feb 12, 2009 10:22 am
By the bye, of the Ender books I've read, I like Speaker for the Dead the best.
dar512 • Feb 12, 2009 10:27 am
Bullitt;533439 wrote:
Oh no I know it's been around awhile, I'm more back lashing against its resurgence amongst evangelical Christian circles like it's the best Christian-themed fiction written along with the Left Behind series. I go to an evangelical Christian university so I never hear the end of it.

Ah. I understand. I can't listen to most Eagles tunes anymore.
SteveDallas • Feb 12, 2009 10:32 am
I am ignoring Learning SQL by Alan Beaulieu. I should read it. Instead I'm going to ignore it and start looking up pieces of code when I need something I don't already know.
Trilby • Feb 12, 2009 10:40 am
I am ignoring Learning ASL (American Sign Language) because...well, I don't know why. I just am resisting.
Trilby • Feb 12, 2009 10:41 am
dar512;533639 wrote:
What? Everyone else is reading War and Peace?


Not if it's by a Russian or a Pole I'm not.
SteveDallas • Feb 12, 2009 10:59 am
Ah! You mean War and Peace by Leeo Tollstöÿ, the well-known Dutch author.[/Monty Python]
Tiki • Feb 12, 2009 11:53 am
I just ended my ignoring streak, finished "Little Bee" last night and started "Up for Renewal". I still need to finish "The Great Mortality", "Stiff", and "Beowulf".
Cicero • Feb 12, 2009 12:43 pm
I am actively ignoring Carlos Castaneda's, "Art of Dreaming".

I was embarassed when I picked it up. Oddly....... I think it's kooky but maybe there is something to it....It's on iggy for now.
Beest • Feb 12, 2009 12:44 pm
Clodfobble;533086 wrote:
For what it's worth, I don't think you should read HGTTG. I firmly believe it's one of those books you have to read when you're a teenager, or the window of appreciation is gone forever.


I wonder if this is true of Enders Game, I read it in the last two years and didn't rate it very highly. The stuff with the brother and sister is interesting especially looking back at when it is was written, the Ender storyline was just OK.
I also put down Anansie Boys after about 20 pages.

I read The Satanic Verses to see what all the fuss was about, good book.

<For Dana, SG and maybe Limey in my head all I can hear is the Dad from Goodness gracious Me saying "Leo Tollstoy, Indian!">
jinx • Feb 12, 2009 12:57 pm
You may be right Beest. I bought the series it for my son to read about a year ago, and reread it myself. I kept wondering if it was a watered-down version or something as it didn't seem nearly as good as I remembered.
Shawnee123 • Feb 12, 2009 8:02 pm
dar512;533639 wrote:
I'm not sure why everyone is dissing the Twilight books. I read them when the darlets were reading them. (before all the hoopla) They're light reading, but reasonably entertaining.

What? Everyone else is reading War and Peace?


No, but I'm thinking of rereading Crime and Punishment. It's a great book.

:)

Any reading is good. I was the girl who never got into Wrinkles in Time, though highly recommended by friends.

Then again, I was highly entertained when reading The DaVinci Code.

I think for a lot of us it isn't so much the genre as it is the writing...so I might even take up some recommendations I've seen in this thread.
Cloud • Feb 12, 2009 8:32 pm
any book that other people recommend to me
Kaliayev • Feb 14, 2009 3:13 pm
I WAS ignoring Twilight, but after seeing the film, I decided they were too hilariously bad to leave alone any longer. I'm sure we used to hang people by the thumbs for writing this bad.
wolf • Feb 14, 2009 3:17 pm
lumberjim;533443 wrote:
Roy Dotrice is fantastic as a narrator.


Now you're making me want to rewatch Space:1999!