By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions. We in turn value your personal details in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Please log in or register. Registered visitors get fewer ads.
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 15:15 - Sep 17 by jontysnut
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Generally anything Victorian with people wearing bonnets
Dickens is always a slog for me, as are Russian novels with 452 characters
Foucault's Pendulum was a slog, Name of the Rose and Baudolino were more fun.
I like Dickens, though a lot is social commentary as well as story telling. At least it is well structured as he had to serialise his books, chapter by chapter to weekly magazines so if a book had 26 chapters, it would take 6 months to read.
0
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 16:58 - Sep 17 with 887 views
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 13:27 - Sep 17 by Hugoagogo_Reborn
It's a toss up between:
The Mill on the Floss (didn't finish it) The Great Gatsby (didn't finish it) Tender Is The Night (did finish it but thought there must have been some pages missing as it just sort of ended without really going anywhere or tying up any loose ends) Oh, and The Dubliners. Waste of paper, that
[Post edited 17 Sep 13:28]
Great Gatsby is good, but overhyped. Tender is the Night did sort of peter out. F Scott Fitzgerald works flow pretty well. I like his writing style.
1
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 17:09 - Sep 17 with 853 views
Has anyone read the whole of Proust's In Search of Lost Time (or Remembrance of Things Past)?
It is 4,125 pages long, and in 7 volumes.
I read the first volume (Swann's Way) last year. It was an effort partly because of the long sentences and inconclusive narrative but in the end quite rewarding. But I started on the second volume and gave up because I was not sure I could put up with another 6 volumes of it.
[Post edited 17 Sep 17:14]
0
The Oxford English Dictionary…. on 17:47 - Sep 17 with 817 views
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 17:09 - Sep 17 by DarkBrandon
The Old Testament.
I also read The Leopard by Lampedusa, which either was just terrible or (probably more likely) went way over my head.
I thought it pretty good, but then I love Sicily. Portrays a part of Sicily during the change from feudal dukedom to a republic about the time Garibaldi was forming Italy. With generous bribes of biscuits. Or something.
0
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 19:05 - Sep 17 with 758 views
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 17:10 - Sep 17 by DJR
Has anyone read the whole of Proust's In Search of Lost Time (or Remembrance of Things Past)?
It is 4,125 pages long, and in 7 volumes.
I read the first volume (Swann's Way) last year. It was an effort partly because of the long sentences and inconclusive narrative but in the end quite rewarding. But I started on the second volume and gave up because I was not sure I could put up with another 6 volumes of it.
[Post edited 17 Sep 17:14]
Terrible, it meanders along going nowhere slowly. Could not get past a few chapters of volume one. If you get to the end you deserve a medal. Looks good on the shelf though.
0
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 19:21 - Sep 17 with 742 views
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 09:34 - Sep 17 by Keno
Captain Corellis Mandolin it just goes on and on and on ..... with so many tangents
I did like the film tho
I know an actor who was in that film. He played a big part in a subplot of the film. Unfortunately that subplot was cut from the final cut of the film, and he was in the film for 30 seconds.
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 16:51 - Sep 17 by Hugoagogo_Reborn
Urgh - yes, the Victorian's and detail! I hated Wuthering Heights because it had way too much detail and all of the characters were either utterly dislikeable or insipid.
But you'd be hard pushed to find a more boring detail-driven writer than Thomas Hardy. His books are hard work at the best of times and pretty depressing, too.
For A Level, John Milton’s Paradise Lost was on the menu. Bad. Very bad. We also had to read Bunyan’s A Pilgrims Progress as a warm up. How I got through that sorry collection of unintelligible tedium I’ll never know. Pride and Ffing Prejudice was almost light reading to that little lot.
I have to say going into the Victorian era, I got on fine with Dickens and to this day he is possibly my favourite author - but you do have to get through 20 words when one will do Victorian writing.
1
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 20:00 - Sep 17 with 703 views
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 09:32 - Sep 17 by JimmyJazz
Had to read Jane Austin for O levels at school. Might have been more receptive at an older age, but at that age it was dreadful and maybe contributed to why I failed English Lit
One of my A level English essays was my considered thoughts on Jane Austen's Emma being Jacquie magazine for the middle classes. Not well received.
This was pretty dull too...
"They break our legs and tell us to be grateful when they offer us crutches."
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 17:10 - Sep 17 by DJR
Has anyone read the whole of Proust's In Search of Lost Time (or Remembrance of Things Past)?
It is 4,125 pages long, and in 7 volumes.
I read the first volume (Swann's Way) last year. It was an effort partly because of the long sentences and inconclusive narrative but in the end quite rewarding. But I started on the second volume and gave up because I was not sure I could put up with another 6 volumes of it.
[Post edited 17 Sep 17:14]
I gave up about 4 volumes in. It really does drag on.
I also discover that the chap who translated it from French to English was a massive prude, who censored the (few) sex scenes making the narrative make even less sense by obscuring what was actually going on.
0
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 21:24 - Sep 17 with 630 views
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 19:52 - Sep 17 by Churchman
For A Level, John Milton’s Paradise Lost was on the menu. Bad. Very bad. We also had to read Bunyan’s A Pilgrims Progress as a warm up. How I got through that sorry collection of unintelligible tedium I’ll never know. Pride and Ffing Prejudice was almost light reading to that little lot.
I have to say going into the Victorian era, I got on fine with Dickens and to this day he is possibly my favourite author - but you do have to get through 20 words when one will do Victorian writing.
Dickens definitely padded out his writing to reach whatever he was contracted for by the weekly magazines his books were serialized in.
0
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 22:00 - Sep 17 with 609 views
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 22:00 - Sep 17 by balcombeblue
Anything by Kafka
I've read both The trial and The Castle. Both are about the battle against local bureaucracy and ultimately nothing is achieved. I found them entertaining but slightly dark and surreal.
0
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 22:19 - Sep 17 with 591 views
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 22:15 - Sep 17 by mellowblue
I've read both The trial and The Castle. Both are about the battle against local bureaucracy and ultimately nothing is achieved. I found them entertaining but slightly dark and surreal.
The Trial was better than the Castle. So frustrating and then a sudden end!
0
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 22:35 - Sep 17 with 582 views
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 19:52 - Sep 17 by Churchman
For A Level, John Milton’s Paradise Lost was on the menu. Bad. Very bad. We also had to read Bunyan’s A Pilgrims Progress as a warm up. How I got through that sorry collection of unintelligible tedium I’ll never know. Pride and Ffing Prejudice was almost light reading to that little lot.
I have to say going into the Victorian era, I got on fine with Dickens and to this day he is possibly my favourite author - but you do have to get through 20 words when one will do Victorian writing.
I was quite fortunate in my A Level English course. Sure, I had to deal with James Joyce's awful book of short stories, The Dubliners, but the other literature was Keats' poems and the marvelous Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I got off relatively lightly.
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 19:52 - Sep 17 by Churchman
For A Level, John Milton’s Paradise Lost was on the menu. Bad. Very bad. We also had to read Bunyan’s A Pilgrims Progress as a warm up. How I got through that sorry collection of unintelligible tedium I’ll never know. Pride and Ffing Prejudice was almost light reading to that little lot.
I have to say going into the Victorian era, I got on fine with Dickens and to this day he is possibly my favourite author - but you do have to get through 20 words when one will do Victorian writing.
Interesting isn't it as I have always found Pilgrim's Progress an engaging read. Paradise Lost less engaging perhaps but way more challenging of course (17th century poetry rather than later novels, a huge difference for writer and reader) nevertheless something I have returned to many times.
With you on Dickens and actually re-reading Bleak House (for me his best work) now.
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, truly the most tedious thing I’ve ever read. Not very long but I recall it took ages. Had to read it for my O or A level English can’t remember which but 40+ years later it’s tedium has never been surpassed
0
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 22:58 - Sep 17 with 550 views
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 22:57 - Sep 17 by Markp68
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, truly the most tedious thing I’ve ever read. Not very long but I recall it took ages. Had to read it for my O or A level English can’t remember which but 40+ years later it’s tedium has never been surpassed
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 22:15 - Sep 17 by mellowblue
I've read both The trial and The Castle. Both are about the battle against local bureaucracy and ultimately nothing is achieved. I found them entertaining but slightly dark and surreal.
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’.
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 22:55 - Sep 17 by You_Bloo_Right
Interesting isn't it as I have always found Pilgrim's Progress an engaging read. Paradise Lost less engaging perhaps but way more challenging of course (17th century poetry rather than later novels, a huge difference for writer and reader) nevertheless something I have returned to many times.
With you on Dickens and actually re-reading Bleak House (for me his best work) now.
It’s one of the fascinating things that like art, people can have such diverse views over books and there’s no right or wrong.
Bleak House is one of my favourites too. Best work? Quite possibly. But if I had to pick one favourite, it’d be Copperfield. Mainly because it’s semi autobiographical and some of the settings are familiar to me.
As has been pointed out, he wrote in chapters that were self contained little stories for serialised magazine publication - Sketches by Boz, household Words. Having been a journalist and Parliament writer he was well trained to write that way.
Not only does he bring characters to life and write a great story, but his social commentary is powerful, defining and rings true to this day. Take Christmas Carol. A short book (one of a Christmas stories collection), but one of the greatest books ever written. Getting on for 200 years on, it’s lessons are just as valid now as they were then.
2
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 05:31 - Sep 18 with 391 views
The most boring book you’ve ever read? on 22:35 - Sep 17 by Hugoagogo_Reborn
I was quite fortunate in my A Level English course. Sure, I had to deal with James Joyce's awful book of short stories, The Dubliners, but the other literature was Keats' poems and the marvelous Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I got off relatively lightly.
We never got anything as juicy Frankenstein and I have read it. Did get Keats though - Ode to a Grecian Urn n all that jazz.
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
