Authors you just don't get?

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Letora
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Re: Authors you just don't get?

Post by Letora »

The only author I have so far been confused by is Kurt Vonnegut. I've tried reading Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions. I just don't understand how he is humorous, or how he even makes sense. When I try to read him, it's like I'm on a drug trip. I can't even really see a plot line or theme for his novels. Maybe there are tamer books out there by him, but I gave up years ago.
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Post by Joe Hadithi »

Glad to see I'm not the only one who has a hard time reading Faulkner. I tried and I tried and couldn't read ten pages.
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R Lawrence
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Post by R Lawrence »

I could never get into John Green's books. I tried Fault In our Stars shortly after it was made into a movie and I barely finished it. I seemed like there was so much build up to this one event and it turned out to be a bit of a let down. Then I tried to read Paper Towns because so many people seemed to love his books so I figured I'd give it another chance. Both books were very unmemorable in my opinion. I know many people like him so maybe I'm just missing something.
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finebunchofnothing
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Post by finebunchofnothing »

This might not be a very popular opinion but I absolutely don't get Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy, I find their books way too boring for me
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SunVixen
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Post by SunVixen »

Some authors of the last century (like Hemingway or Faulkner) are really overrated. Their books are too difficult to read.
At least the books of Charles Dickens tell us about Victorian customs. I like history. Therefore, I have no problems with his books.
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Post by flaming_quills »

I honestly just don't get E L James. I mean, it's all fine and dandy that people like her books but I just couldn't get into them, they didn't have much of a story for me.
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Dave
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Post by Dave »

Letora wrote: 18 Jan 2019, 09:39 The only author I have so far been confused by is Kurt Vonnegut. I've tried reading Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions. I just don't understand how he is humorous, or how he even makes sense. When I try to read him, it's like I'm on a drug trip. I can't even really see a plot line or theme for his novels. Maybe there are tamer books out there by him, but I gave up years ago.
I've always loved Slaughterhouse Five but I can see how it might be difficult for some people. The book is written from the point of view of Billy Pilgrim, who has lost his mind. That's how I take it. Mother Night is a more straightforward novel that I liked a lot, it was made into a movie with Nick Nolte which was good. Any other KV book is as you say, I just can't understand them.
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Post by VAwkOb12 »

I don't get Why people like the works of William Shakespeare. His writings to me are just plain boring. So boring i have to force myself to keep awake just to manage a few pages. This man is overrated because i can think of way better authors than him!!

Let's move on to authors who produce novels with the same content from previous novels. The characters might be different but as long as the author is talking about the very tiresome,already done and shouldn't be repeated ideas of a damsel in distress getting saved by some prince charming, the readers are likely to find it boring to tears!!
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Brendan Donaghy
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Post by Brendan Donaghy »

Careful now - there are plenty of Shakespeare fans on this forum! :D
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Post by aby johnson »

that would be Paulo Coelho for me. cause I have read the alchemist and I absolutely loved it. but all of his other works felt kinda misplaced and I couldn't quite interpret what he was trying to convey. anyone felt the same?
Smile, for better days are yet to come :D
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James Fleming
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Post by James Fleming »

I cannot fathom John Green, William Faulkner, J.R.R. Tolkien, or John Galsworthy. John Green because of the mushiness of his books; Faulkner for his incomprehensibility and Tolkien and Galsworthy for their verboseness.
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Riya Sarkar
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Post by Riya Sarkar »

DakotaA wrote: 04 Dec 2018, 07:40 I don't get Douglas Adams... as in I literally don't understand his books half the time! I've been trying to get through the entirety of Hitchhikers Guide (the 4 story book) for a few YEARS now. I've been in the last 'book' for maybe a year and half now and struggle to get through a single sentence sometimes. I genuinely think his mind exists on a higher plane than mine. That being said, I love the absurdity of his writing and ideas.
I am going through the same thing, literally! But I have only finished reading the first book, I couldn't get past the second one. I kept waiting for the things to make more sense but it never happened and then I lost interest.
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Katherine Powell-Polkey
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Post by Katherine Powell-Polkey »

HalcyonFlower wrote: 11 Oct 2015, 15:55 E. L. James D:

I tried to read her novel to get out of my comfort zone but found her writing to encourage abusive relationships and from what I hear, a misrepresentation of the BMSD community. Because of the heavy emphasis on it, I couldn't finish reading the book at all. Sometimes it's hard to figure out whether an author is a self-insert or if the character is truly an original piece and in this case...I don't know.

Just to clarify, I don't hate her but just don't understand her approach to the subject she writes about.
I feel the same way. I have several friends in the BDSM community and they all hate her books. It's even worse when you realize that the first book began as a Twilight fanfiction. I was very disappointed by E. L. James. I definitely don't understand all of the hype for her.
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Michael Adam Glidden Forteski
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Post by Michael Adam Glidden Forteski »

Kitkat3 wrote: 18 Apr 2017, 22:41
Christina O Phillips wrote:I myself do not like Hemingway and I do not think he is overrated, I just don't think he is my kind of writer. I absolutely hated The Old Man and the Sea. And last year I finally read The Great Gatsby and did not like the writing style: there was so much narration: They talked, they ate, they decided to go and drive over to...Gah! Just let me see them talking! Show me more, don't just tell me about it all. Is that novel overrated? Probably not, but like the title of this thread says, I just didn't get it.
I don't like Hemingway either. I had to read A Farewell to Arms in high school, and I remember being so angry when I finished reading that I threw the book across the room. It was just so depressing, and I couldn't connect with the main character AT ALL. He just seemed so heartless over and over again and so numb, and it drove me insane.

I really liked The Great Gatsby though. The lack of dialogue was a little strange, but the way that Fitzgerald wrote is just amazing to me. Every line is so eloquent; I felt like I was reading a poem. I would say the artistry with that book is the way that Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby's loneliness and how money really does not buy happiness.
Yes, exactly. What is the deal with Hemingway. I don't understand it. I was similarly angry at the end of Farewell to Arms.
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Micah_4
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Post by Micah_4 »

This might be a hot take but I can't read Tolkien. I find him to long-winded and overly descriptive. It's not enjoyable for me to slog through massive paragraphs detailing the contours of the mountainside or the species of grass that dominates the underbrush in this one specific forest. I respect the work he put into creating Arda but there's a point where you have to accept that your reader doesn't need, nor at times want, to know everything about your world.
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