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An old colleague told me never to waste time on boring books, when reading for enjoyment, and that if you hadn't connected with a book after a couple of chapters to move on to something else.
Several on here I concur with, and several I found rivetting.
The dullest ever - The Castle by Kafka. Utterly soporific, I tried so many times but just could not get more than half way through, just sent me to sleep after a few pages every time. Austen's Pride and Prejudice - as a 14 year old lad into football, sex, motorbikes , being forced to study this for English Lit was torture. I never finished it (we did 3 books and 3 Shakespeare plays, so I scraped a pass). Anything by Dickens as mentioned above, seems contrived and dragged out to meet the obligations of his newspaper contract. Dune was turgid. Just read The Haunting of Hill House which was dull and poorly written.
Books above I really enjoyed though - Human Traces, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, My Family and Other Animals. Each to their own, huh?
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 02:34 - Sep 18 by Ryorry
I ‘enjoyed’ The Trial because of it being such a potentially realistic horror story. Conventional horror fiction and films just don’t do it for me, can’t suspend my disbelief long enough, they just make me laugh.
If Kafka were still alive, I think he might write a sequel - ‘The Evri Call Centre’.
[Post edited 18 Sep 2:50]
Or like any work meeting I seem to have.
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The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 07:16 - Sep 18 with 1089 views
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 11:44 - Sep 17 by Phantasm
The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway - admittedly at school some 20 years ago but truly turgid stuff.
Correct. Hemingway is awful. If he was Russian French or Irish nobody would have heard of him. Same for Mark Twain.
In the spirit of reconciliation and happiness at the end of the Banter Era (RIP) and as a result of promotion I have cleared out my ignore list. Look forwards to reading your posts!
I’ve thought about this extensively and the most boring book I have ever read is Less Than Zero. I would have said Underworld but I gave up on that.
In the spirit of reconciliation and happiness at the end of the Banter Era (RIP) and as a result of promotion I have cleared out my ignore list. Look forwards to reading your posts!
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 07:16 - Sep 18 by You_Bloo_Right
As I'm sure many on here are reminded when they glance in the mirror each morning, a thing of beauty is a joy forever.
‘Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness; but still will keep a bower quiet for us, and a sleep full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Ok ok I cheated and copied it!
The first couple of lines were used in Lovejoy of course.
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The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 12:07 - Sep 18 with 949 views
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 11:27 - Sep 18 by chicoazul
Correct. Hemingway is awful. If he was Russian French or Irish nobody would have heard of him. Same for Mark Twain.
Seems to be a recurring isue. Force-fed serious literature at an early age to attain a GCSE Eng Lit GCSE (or O'level in my day) puts people off authors and sometimes reading as a whole, it is too mature for the average 15-16 year old. For every person that might take it to A level and beyond there must be dozens who have found it a negative experience. Nobody must judge Hemingway by The Old Man And The Sea. It was his last major novel and he was in decline. It was overblown, would have made a decent short story, a third of the length . His early novels are pretty excellent though. Good storytelling.
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 12:07 - Sep 18 by mellowblue
Seems to be a recurring isue. Force-fed serious literature at an early age to attain a GCSE Eng Lit GCSE (or O'level in my day) puts people off authors and sometimes reading as a whole, it is too mature for the average 15-16 year old. For every person that might take it to A level and beyond there must be dozens who have found it a negative experience. Nobody must judge Hemingway by The Old Man And The Sea. It was his last major novel and he was in decline. It was overblown, would have made a decent short story, a third of the length . His early novels are pretty excellent though. Good storytelling.
No, Hemingway really is awful. The sun also rises; terrible. For whom the bell tolls; even worse. He’s just a bad writer. Imagine reading him when Graham Greene exists.
In the spirit of reconciliation and happiness at the end of the Banter Era (RIP) and as a result of promotion I have cleared out my ignore list. Look forwards to reading your posts!
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 15:37 - Sep 17 by mellowblue
Fully revealing that the beeb have to go back to the 70s 80s 90s 00s for it's period drama. They used to excel at it, now it is all Netflix, dumbing it down.
Errr ... King and Conqueror Outrageous Dope Girls Wolf Hall Gentleman Jack Peaky Blinders Miss Austen etc.
And the reason the Beeb have been re-running dramas from yonks ago is that many people, like myself, have wanted them to. Series like 'I Claudius' and 'Boys from the Blackstuff' hadn't been seen since the 70s and 80s, were absolutely brilliant, sheer quality in every respect (the music and opening/closing sequences of I Claudius were genius in themselves) and a wonderful watch.
The Beeb probably do make fewer now, but that's down to lack of funding, partly caused by contemporary multiple other forms of watching; and some people not coughing up for a TV licence that's great value for £15 monthly (half the price of many other channels that lack the Beeb's variety + radio).
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 13:38 - Sep 18 by chicoazul
No, Hemingway really is awful. The sun also rises; terrible. For whom the bell tolls; even worse. He’s just a bad writer. Imagine reading him when Graham Greene exists.
well granted Graham Greene is excellent, the words flow like warm honey, read all his stuff. I'm still on team Hemingway, though
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The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 21:50 - Sep 18 with 775 views
Not necessarily one book more a particular author .. could well be blasphemy and showing my lack of intelligence but .. Michael Crichton… sorry. My problem is that 2 or 3 of his I tried would lose me and the narrative by going off into the science of literally everything at the bottom of each page...which I understand is appreciated but it would just lose me.. especially when I wasn’t particularly interested. This would happen in perfectly simple stories marking them a slog…. Congo springs to mind if I have to name one .. I don’t know if he did this with all his novels but always seemed to in my experience.
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 12:07 - Sep 18 by mellowblue
Seems to be a recurring isue. Force-fed serious literature at an early age to attain a GCSE Eng Lit GCSE (or O'level in my day) puts people off authors and sometimes reading as a whole, it is too mature for the average 15-16 year old. For every person that might take it to A level and beyond there must be dozens who have found it a negative experience. Nobody must judge Hemingway by The Old Man And The Sea. It was his last major novel and he was in decline. It was overblown, would have made a decent short story, a third of the length . His early novels are pretty excellent though. Good storytelling.
This. I don't know if modern day GCSE English Lit uses more relatable and contemporaneous works. I think they probably do. Save the classics for A level. When I did O Level English Lit, we had to do 3 books: Price and Prejudice, Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, and The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham. It was asking a huge amount from 14 and 15 year old students to identify with old classics. I thought the second two were ok, and scraped through by having read those. Later in life, I re-read The Moon and Sixpence, and found the story really gripping (it's loosely based on the life of Paul Gaugin - an artist who was utterly obsessed). It's worth a read, but not if you're in your mid teens.
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 10:58 - Sep 19 by LegendofthePhoenix
This. I don't know if modern day GCSE English Lit uses more relatable and contemporaneous works. I think they probably do. Save the classics for A level. When I did O Level English Lit, we had to do 3 books: Price and Prejudice, Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, and The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham. It was asking a huge amount from 14 and 15 year old students to identify with old classics. I thought the second two were ok, and scraped through by having read those. Later in life, I re-read The Moon and Sixpence, and found the story really gripping (it's loosely based on the life of Paul Gaugin - an artist who was utterly obsessed). It's worth a read, but not if you're in your mid teens.
Also had ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ for O level. And ‘the Scottish play’.
Maybe supports your theory that I, who loved reading a huge range of books as a youngster, incl classics, failed Eng Lit much to everyone’s shock. (Or maybe I was just a lazy gittess who cba to revise).
As a primary school teacher, I’d say A Wrinkle in Time will ensure you lose your crowd before the end of chapter 1. I assume nobody ever asked kids what they thought when rating it.
For me, Wuthering Heights is just a boring journey through a toxic relationship. The literary equivalent of the Marcus Evans years.
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 11:10 - Sep 19 by Ryorry
Also had ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ for O level. And ‘the Scottish play’.
Maybe supports your theory that I, who loved reading a huge range of books as a youngster, incl classics, failed Eng Lit much to everyone’s shock. (Or maybe I was just a lazy gittess who cba to revise).
The concepts in those classics are (i) totally out of date nowadays so it's more akin to history and (ii) often based around love and relationships, which 14 and 15 year olds are yet to experience. Even for A level students at 16-17 it's too early for them to have any real experience and understanding in matters of the heart. Also, girls are usually more emotionally advanced than boys at those ages, so to have books that relate to love and loss is just totally alien for the vast majority of teenage boys - maybe why you were more into the classics at that age?. There've been some really poor choices by the examining boards in my limited experience. I sincerely hope they are better nowadays.
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 12:45 - Sep 19 by EsherBlueStu
Anything by Thomas Hardy
Never got past the first dozen pages of 'The Woodlanders' (even the radio dramatisation was a complete yawn & I switched stations); but absolutely loved 'Silas Marner', which was an earlier school set text.
Some of his poetry is superb -
'The Self-Unseeing'
'Here is the ancient floor, Footworn and hollowed and thin, Here was the former door Where the dead feet walked in.
She sat here in her chair, Smiling into the fire; He who played stood there, Bowing it higher and higher.
Childlike, I danced in a dream; Blessings emblazoned that day; Everything glowed with a gleam; Yet we were looking away!'
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 20:30 - Sep 18 by Ryorry
Errr ... King and Conqueror Outrageous Dope Girls Wolf Hall Gentleman Jack Peaky Blinders Miss Austen etc.
And the reason the Beeb have been re-running dramas from yonks ago is that many people, like myself, have wanted them to. Series like 'I Claudius' and 'Boys from the Blackstuff' hadn't been seen since the 70s and 80s, were absolutely brilliant, sheer quality in every respect (the music and opening/closing sequences of I Claudius were genius in themselves) and a wonderful watch.
The Beeb probably do make fewer now, but that's down to lack of funding, partly caused by contemporary multiple other forms of watching; and some people not coughing up for a TV licence that's great value for £15 monthly (half the price of many other channels that lack the Beeb's variety + radio).
mmm, I had in mind Dickens, Austen, Trollope, Hardy, Bronte dramas etc not period dramas per se. I could have phrased it better. I watched an episode of I Claudius at an airport hotel the other night, fantastic acting and actors. Of the ones you mentioned, Wolf Hall was top draw, the rest not so.
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The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 23:41 - Sep 19 with 348 views
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