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/lit/ - Literature

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1919190 No.1919190 [Reply] [Original]

I've gone through various phases where I have or haven't finished bad books. I used to ditch them, then I kept going (for some reason), then I decided not to finish them again, now I finish them because I can't afford to get many books. I dunno. I feel trapped when I start reading a bad book, because I think I'm going to finish it, and know I'll have wasted 3 or 4 days. I won't usually finish a very bad or terrible book though, just a bad one.

It's worth reading to page 50 though, to give the book a chance.

>> No.1919204

Always read bad books.
That way, you can tell someone WHY not to read a book.
eg: when someone says "OMG TWILIGHT FR FAEGS", how many of them do you believe actually read the whole series?

>> No.1919231

Ah, I see. You read bad books to denounce idiots in a more informed way. There is merit in this.

>> No.1919233

So many Harold Bloom threads

>> No.1919236

>>1919190
That's the most depressing picture I've ever clapped a gander on.

>> No.1919241

>>1919231
wait what
no
If someone says: should I read book x?
I can feel entitled to respond: no, you should not because y
or: yes, you should because z
you can't do that without actually reading the book

>> No.1919246

I can't help but go to the end, it's a very frustrating experience. It's bearable if you know someone who has read the same terrible novel so you can commiserate on how staggeringly stupid the author is.

>> No.1919248

Sunhawk my Somersotian friend. What would you describe as one of these "bad books?" Not "a very bad a terrible book," but a "bad book." Give me some examples, I am intrigued by your criteria.

>> No.1919272

>>1919248

Are you denying the existence of slightly bad (4/10) books? Because that's what it sounds like.

>> No.1919280

>>1919272
Not in the slightest, I just wondered if you could name some books which you have had this struggle with.

>> No.1919282

>>1919280
Lolita

>> No.1919284

>>1919282
Surely you're not serious; Lolita is one of the most well-written, honest and oddly beautiful stories ever told.

>> No.1919292

>>1919284
As nice as you made it sound, I am being serious. I'm not OP though, so I won't actually derail this thread. It fell into that category for me though (i.e. "Sort of uninteresting but not bad enough to not finish).

>> No.1919294

>>1919280

Alright. Here are some random examples that I've read this year. Rabbit, Run, John Updike. Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami. The Unconsoled, Kazuo Ishirugo. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, Mario Vargas Llosa.

>> No.1919295

>>1919294
Totally with you on Murakami, he oozes mediocritty.

>> No.1919300

>>1919282

Lolita is a good book, with decent characters and plot, and great prose. I admit, though, I hated it at first. Didn't read it for 2 years because the first 10 pages were so boring.

>> No.1919323

>>1919300
The narrator is the only real character in the book. The rest are caricatures or just sort of flat. Lolita really doesn't change much. The plot is good and parts are funny. I disagree with you on the prose. That book could have had half as many words in it and would've been equally as good (if not significantly better).