Which books kicked your butt?

[21st Century Man]

I guess I must admit I couldn't finish this one.

I find King to be immensely readable.  Some of his books are intimidating in length but they are very rewarding.  The Stand being the primary example. 

Another writer I had a problem with was James Michener.  He had a tendency to start his novels at the creation of the world and goes through all of the Earth's mutations until he gets to the meat of his story.  Usually, this takes around 100-150 pages to slog through and it is quite a chore to read.  Centennial is a good example of this though I did manage to finish the book.

[trostol]

Honestly..Lord of the Rings..i just find him overly..wordy in his descriptions of things

Atlas Shrugged as another mentioned...just couldn't do it after a while

Inferno...i think i got sidetracked though

The Magicians..its kinda sittin there just staring at me to actually pick it up

[GravitySucks]

I find King to be immensely readable.  Some of his books are intimidating in length but they are very rewarding.  The Stand being the primary example. 

Another writer I had a problem with was James Michener.  He had a tendency to start his novels at the creation of the world and goes through all of the Earth's mutations until he gets to the meat of his story.  Usually, this takes around 100-150 pages to slog through and it is quite a chore to read.  Centennial is a good example of this though I did manage to finish the book.

The Stand was frustrating. *** Spoiler Alert ***






He kills off 95% of the world in 50 pages, spins a great tale for another 775 pages and the says "Oh shit, I have to end this book". So he just ends it.

[21st Century Man]

The Stand was frustrating. *** Spoiler Alert ***






He kills off 95% of the world in 50 pages, spins a great tale for another 775 pages and the says "Oh shit, I have to end this book". So he just ends it.

LOL. He can be frustrating in that regard especially of late.  I wanted to like Dr. Sleep and I enjoyed it up until the climax of the story where the two forces meet.  It was anticlimactic and over within a page and a half and I went, that's it?  Surely there's got to be more to this!

[pate]

The Old Testament.  When I was younger I made it through the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus but then got bored.  Recently, I tried  again, made it into Numbers and once again got bored.  I'm thinking about skipping the rest of the Pentateuch and moving into the other books.  I've read the New Testament 2 or 3 times and that was basically a breeze.

I've also wanted to read all of Gibbons Rise and Fall as I love Roman history but the sheer length of all the volumes has been too intimidating what with the archaic prose.

Naut Shore that you saw Kings and all that stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPyIpNa31-c

There was a sequel, but I skimmed instead of scanned that part.

Most of the fist/fit bit was awesome but then...

Lurchin' makes me head hurt!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC95wlh3BQk

[GravitySucks]

LOL. He can be frustrating in that regard especially of late.  I wanted to like Dr. Sleep and I enjoyed it up until the climax of the story where the two forces meet.  It was anticlimactic and over within a page and a half and I went, that's it?  Surely there's got to be more to this!

I was not aware that he eventually finished the Dark Tower series. When he stopped after the 3rd one I said I would never buy one of his books again. But now I want to reread them and finish the set.

[trostol]

The Stand was frustrating. *** Spoiler Alert ***






He kills off 95% of the world in 50 pages, spins a great tale for another 775 pages and the says "Oh shit, I have to end this book". So he just ends it.

only thing of his i read was Rita Hayworth...and The Green Mile which was excellent i thought

[GravitySucks]

only thing of his i read was Rita Hayworth...and The Green Mile which was excellent i thought

He has several collections of short stories that I really enjoyed. Night Shift is one.

I went to see Children of the Corn just to see how they could make a movie out of a short story from Night Shift.

At the start of the movie, the couple is driving down a country road and a copy of Night Shift is on the dashboard. I broke out laughing, and was chastised by the rest of the audience that did not see the humor.

[trostol]

He has several collections of short stories that I really enjoyed. Night Shift is one.

I went to see Children of the Corn just to see how they could make a movie out of a short story from Night Shift.

At the start of the movie, the couple is driving down a country road and a copy of Night Shift is on the dashboard. I broke out laughing, and was chastised by the rest of the audience that did not see the humor.

the one i kept meaning to pick up is Salem's Lot

[GravitySucks]

the one i kept meaning to pick up is Salem's Lot

That one is pretty good and it actually sets the tone/introduces characters/concepts for some of his later books

[21st Century Man]

He has several collections of short stories that I really enjoyed. Night Shift is one.

I went to see Children of the Corn just to see how they could make a movie out of a short story from Night Shift.

At the start of the movie, the couple is driving down a country road and a copy of Night Shift is on the dashboard. I broke out laughing, and was chastised by the rest of the audience that did not see the humor.

I think he does his finest work in short stories.  The stories are concise and he gets to the point quickly.  I have all of his short story collections.

I read all of the Dark Tower books but now I've forgotten how it ended.    I guess it has been a decade at least since I read one.  I really liked them but I think I was rather disappointed with the ending which is probably why I forgot it.

[21st Century Man]

the one i kept meaning to pick up is Salem's Lot

Salem's Lot is my personal favorite of his.  I saw the old miniseries before I read the book and I thought it was well-done.  I'm a huge James Mason fan and he was chilling in that. With all of that said, the book is even better.

[GravitySucks]

Salem's Lot is my personal favorite of his.  I saw the old miniseries before I read the book and I thought it was well-done.  I'm a huge James Mason fan and he was chilling in that. With all of that said, the book is even better.

I think The Dead Zone was my favorite.

[Lt.Uhura]

This book kicked my butt for sure. Like one of the reviewers, I read it many years ago and have never forgot it. An incredible true life story.

The Survival of Jan Little
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0670815144/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485154602&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX161_SY232_QL65&keywords=the+survival+of+jan+little&dpPl=1&dpID=31KvqfjjWSL&ref=plSrch

[21st Century Man]

I think The Dead Zone was my favorite.

That one is up there high on the list.

[pate]

He has several collections of short stories that I really enjoyed..

His "Red Storm Rising" was a better story...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWPBr4L1eyE

[zeebo]

I love horror novels and I've tried really hard to read this book.  Two attempts have been made.  I love some of Simmons other work like Carrion Comfort, Summer of Night and Song of Kali but The Terror was a slog and moved far too slow for my taste....I'm not sure if it kicked my butt or it was simply too ponderous.

His Hyperion / Fall of Hyperion set is one of my all-time fave sci-fi/horror series.  I was blown away by the scope of his worlds, the range of themes, its structure and language itself.  Challenging, but great. 

[zeebo]

I was not aware that he eventually finished the Dark Tower series. When he stopped after the 3rd one I said I would never buy one of his books again. But now I want to reread them and finish the set.

I really wanted to love the DT series, and parts of it I did, but I couldn't get past the third one.  I just realized same goes for Game of Thrones.  Storm of Swords got its butt kicked into a wall out of frustration.

[SergeantMajor]

His Hyperion / Fall of Hyperion set is one of my all-time fave sci-fi/horror series.  I was blown away by the scope of his worlds, the range of themes, its structure and language itself.  Challenging, but great.

OMG, yes! The entire Hyperion series blew me away, especially the last one! I keep hoping DS would write again in that universe, but I would hate to be disappointed.

[zeebo]

The Stand ... <snip> ... he just ends it.

Even better was after Dark Tower 3 (I forget the name now, the one with the train), he ends it on a huge cliffhanger (which he seems at the time to not want to deal with resolving) and then ends it with an author's note promising the next book real soon ... but it wouldn't come out for another six years.

[GravitySucks]

Even better was after Dark Tower 3 (I forget the name now, the one with the train), he ends it on a huge cliffhanger (which he seems at the time to not want to deal with resolving) and then ends it with an author's note promising the next book real soon ... but it wouldn't come out for another six years.

The Waste Lands - it wasn't until recently that I found out he actually finished the series.

[zeebo]

Btw, for those interested in Ulysses, despite the legitimate critiques found on this thread, I recommend the excellent podcast "Re: Joyce", found here: 

http://blog.frankdelaney.com/2010/06/re-joyce-episode-0-introduction-to-james-joyces-ulysses.html

With Mr. Delaney's good-natured and well-informed assistance, I have - at my own slow pace - actually reached Chapter 7.   

[Gemstone]

The Hiding Place
https://www.amazon.com/Hiding-Place-Corrie-Ten-Boom/dp/0800794052/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485298776&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hiding+place+by+corrie+ten+boom

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

Wieland: or The Transformation: An American Tale, written in 1798 by Charles Brockden Brown,
one of the first novels by an American author. It's also the first American Gothic novel with a surprisingly imaginative and truly twisted premise for its time involving a deranged "biloquist" (ventriloquist) who terrorizes a family for personal reasons I can't recall now. Unfortunately, the stilted, though obviously sincere, writing style makes it a slow, ponderous read that keeps it from reaching its potential to be a whole lot creepier.

That had to be a pretty far out plot for those days, and I have to wonder why anyone would put so much effort into writing something like that when books were a "novel" idea with extremely limited commercial potential because a large portion of the population were not part of the "reading public."

And if anyone prefers a detailed description and critical analysis by a smarty pants aspiring American Lit professor, this one is probably as good as any.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieland_(novel)

[Caruthers612]

     I'm sure it's been mentioned but Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. I mean. After, I think, four tries to get much past the first hundred pages I bailed. More recently, I tried Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, figuring I should at least try to get this storied work under my belt. No such luck, dude, got maybe a fifth of the way into it and started burning bugs on the sidewalk with a magnifying glass.

[trostol]

     I'm sure it's been mentioned but Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. I mean. After, I think, four tries to get much past the first hundred pages I bailed. More recently, I tried Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, figuring I should at least try to get this storied work under my belt. No such luck, dude, got maybe a fifth of the way into it and started burning bugs on the sidewalk with a magnifying glass.

lol i keep meaning to read Cryptonomicon too

that reminds me...Wizards First Rule..Terry Goodkind..heard all sorts of "oh its great blah blah blah" could't get through the first third..just ...a snoozer

[zeebo]

     I'm sure it's been mentioned but Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. ...

I spun out on that one too, as I did with Quicksilver and Anathem.  I loved Snow Crash and, although an imperfect book, The Diamond Age as well.  The latter has an interesting sort of steam-punk vision of nanotech, quite a unique read.  I guess I just can't deal with his later, more dense novels. 

[zeebo]

...that reminds me...Wizards First Rule..Terry Goodkind..heard all sorts of "oh its great blah blah blah" could't get through the first third..just ...a snoozer

I made it through that first book, and some of it is cool, but also some surprisingly unpleasant stuff in there as well.  I liked the female lead, what's her name Kaylen or something - thought she's more bad-ass than the supposed hero guy. Never was motivated to try the next one though. Anyway I admit I picked it up because I kinda liked the cheesy short-lived tv show based on it "Legend of the Seeker" - don't laugh! 

[yumyumtree]

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon.
I got through it, but damn.  I was a fractured man for weeks.

Well, it's 7 volumes. A high percentage of men I've dated claim to have read it.

[zeebo]

Well, it's 7 volumes. A high percentage of men I've dated claim to have read it.

This sounds like a good B.S test opportunity.  Maybe say "I hope you liked Volume 5 as much as I did ... Tell me, what did you think about my favorite part: 'THE TWO EASTERN EXPEDITIONS OF STILICHO AND HIS ILLYRIC POLICY', and don't leave out any details."

(I've never read it, just copied that chapter title in.)