Books You Shouldn't Read

I had to read through the whole thread, to see if i'd posted before... but, no, I hadn't. I'd add a vote to whomever said any of the non-Frank Herbert books of Dune. I don't believe the nonsense that he'left behind some old 3.5 inch floppies' with a loads of notes for where he wanted to take the story. The writing is appalling, and the storylines are predictable and fascile. Written for money, no other reason...
 
I liked the original notion of this thread. As the original poster wrote, "I wasn't referring to badly written books but books where the actual content, the ideas expressed, had a detrimental effect on the reader." That's an interesting concept. Just listing books you didn't like... isn't. People have different tastes.
 
Sorry. I could have put that more diplomatically. I was really tired when I wrote that. It's been a tough week. Couple of weeks.
 
Someone has already mentioned, "Mein Kampf," and - while I wouldn't ban it, I certainly wouldn't recommend the 6 hours of my life I'll never get back.
I think the little corporal should've read a few books before trying to write one.

Oh, and Speer spent the rest of his life claiming that he was largely innocent - it was only after his death that evidence emerged to put him neck deep in the crimes of the Nazis.
 
Little Women - no idea - can't get past the sexist title to want to read it!
It was written in 1868/9, and I wouldn’t think it particularly fair to judge its title on our present day views of what’s sexist or not. How about ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’? The title could be construed as sexist and elitist, but that’s not anywhere near what the book’s really about.
 
Anything written by Frank Herbert should be given a miss, I've read Dune and I wasn't really impressed by it. Anything that that I read over thirty years ago I would give a miss as well.
 
Oh, lordy - Frank Herbert. Dune I consider a classic, but all of the sequels I found to be confused and a terrible waste of time.
Are those the Frank Herbert sequels, or the Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson sequels or the whole lot, Brian? I don't mind the former (though I didn't like where they went, particularly,) but I totally agree with ol' Barebones about the rest:
Boneman said:
The writing is appalling, and the storylines are predictable and fascile. Written for money, no other reason...
 
Absolutely a classic! It has been my Top 1 favorite for years, before it was forcibly removed from that spot.
 
I have tried the first of the Brian Herbert / Kevin J Anderson sequels, for about ..... 4 pages. Never touched it again.
The sequels by Frank were acceptable.
 
Anything written by Frank Herbert should be given a miss, I've read Dune and I wasn't really impressed by it. Anything that that I read over thirty years ago I would give a miss as well.
Sorry, I'm orthodox Herbertian. Dune is my favourite book and has been for a very long time. I've also enjoyed many of his non-Dune books. So I guess we'll have to disagree.
 
Are those the Frank Herbert sequels, or the Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson sequels or the whole lot, Brian? I don't mind the former (though I didn't like where they went, particularly,) but I totally agree with ol' Barebones about the rest:

I really quite like the six Frank Herbert Dune books, intricate and interesting. I think the problem though with them is that there really should have been seven - the first four are all about the Atreides and the problem with prescient visions, which is tied up with God Emperor Dune...then he starts a new arc around the Bene Gesserit. However, he never got to the point where he reveals what the Honoured Matres were actually fleeing from, because he unfortunately died. Which I think would have nicely tied up the sequence.

I believe the gruesome twosome got the notes and the nod to finish that. Then do loads of prequels (WHY!!!!! PREQUELS RARELY EVER WORK! :))
 

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