/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.8951938]

ITT: Popular literature that's so bad its popularity offends you.

[Anonymous No.8951943]

>>8951938
Anything written by women writers

[Anonymous No.8952014]

The Martian

[Anonymous No.8952016]

The Hunger Games

[Anonymous No.8952023]

>>8952016
This
Even as a kid I knew this shit was awfull

[Anonymous No.8952042]

This entire series, especially the first few books. I think the world she created was imaginative and original, but holy fuck she writes at a motherfucking high school level.

I'm 100% serious.

[Anonymous No.8952052]

>>8952042
why can't a book for elementary students be written at a high school level?

[Anonymous No.8952081]

>>8952052
Fair point. I just think she's an awful writer. Maybe 8th grade level. I tried reading the first one the other day and it was painful. In my opinion, good children's books should be written with a simplicity that is easily understood by kids while simultaneously tolerable to adults.

[Anonymous No.8952102]

>>8952081
The writing is dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched his legs."

I began marking on the back of an envelope every time that phrase was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times. I was incredulous. Rowling's mind is so governed by cliches and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing. Later I read a lavish, loving review of Harry Potter by the same Stephen King. He wrote something to the effect of, "If these kids are reading Harry Potter at 11 or 12, then when they get older they will go on to read Stephen King." And he was quite right. He was not being ironic. When you read "Harry Potter" you are, in fact, trained to read Stephen King.

[Anonymous No.8952125]

>look at me I read all the fancy books

you don't have to impress me mr. doctor, you're dead

[Anonymous No.8952132]

The Martian

[Anonymous No.8952154]

I read The Fault in our Stars
It was fucking terrible, John Green is a hack

[Anonymous No.8952155]

>>8951943


What about the Divergent books? Assuming from the movies the books are also shit, am i right?

[Anonymous No.8952162]

the rating on this shocked me.

[Anonymous No.8952168]

>>8952162
The explanation is: Americans.

[Anonymous No.8952169]

>>8952042
Well it is a children's book though

[Anonymous No.8952172]

>>8952102

Go to bed Harold

[Anonymous No.8952177]

my diary, desu

[Anonymous No.8952188]

[Anonymous No.8952196]

>>8951938
What exactly was wrong with The Martian? I don't see it brought up a lot here but when it is, it's negative

[Anonymous No.8952202]

>>8952177There he goes again. Look, everyone! He posted it once again! Isn't he just the funniest guy around?!

[Anonymous No.8952212]

>>8952125
I was pretty disappointed with it too.

[Anonymous No.8952215]

>>8952196
Everything. Someone will say that at least it was sciencey and problem solvey, but even that was shit.

The movie was a vast improvement if only for the lack of narrator.

[Anonymous No.8952216]

>>8952102
kek

[Anonymous No.8952218]

>>8952202
Fuck off, Reddit

[Anonymous No.8952220]

>>8952023
>Even as a kid
The Hunger Games came out in 2008

[Anonymous No.8952223]

>>8952196
It reads like really, really bad fan fiction. When I read it all I could think of was that the movie could only be better because the story itself was pretty interesting, but even that was shit. Fuck The Martian. Fuck it to death.

[Anonymous No.8952246]

>>8952202
>no There he is

Do you even meme?

[Anonymous No.8952247]

>>8952196
>Oh no, I have le science problem! Good thing I am le scientist!

There's the whole plot for you!

>Oh no I'm totally isolated and this could lead to an interesting exploration of human loneliness and how they cope-
>WHOOPS I keep making jokes and wisecracking haha I'm cool and funny and smart-

repeat this shit for a few hundred pages. One of the few books that I legitimately hate.

[Anonymous No.8952253]

>>8952247
Just need to point out, it's even subtly worse than that. Cast water was fucking painful.

[Anonymous No.8952254]

>>8952218
>dumb forced memes are only for us non-reddit conneoisuesrsrs

[Anonymous No.8952265]

>>8952220
>9 years ago

[Anonymous No.8952270]

Thinking about how popular Harry Potter is among adults gets me going like nothing else can.
A child being a fan of a children's series is fine, but people in their 30's telling me it's gods gift to writing makes me wish I was blind and deaf

[Anonymous No.8952334]

>>8952168
Don't blame me, I never read anything by her. Her face is also repulsive so I try to avoid even seeing her name so that it doesn't pop into my head

[Anonymous No.8952350]

>>8952196
>im gonna science the shit out of this
What did he mean by this?

[Anonymous No.8952360]

>>8952265
>tfw 2008 was 20 years ago

[Anonymous No.8952834]

>>8952155

It's literally the most generic ya series ever written

[Anonymous No.8952869]

>>8952162
>tfw I work in a book store in Australia and the Rand novels never ever sell

Conclusion: Americans are retarded

[Anonymous No.8952876]

>>8952162
it's like 1984, but infinitely worse.

[TWPoet !!mQAvKw6nzRr No.8952879]

>>8952016
Honestly this, and We, if it was ever popular.

[Anonymous No.8952885]

>>8952869
Europeans can knock the U.S., but Australia is probably THE country filled with the most low IQ proles.

[Anonymous No.8952945]

>>8952162

Rand is fairly interesting as a psychological study of the effects of communism.

[Anonymous No.8952967]

>>8952270
nobody actually reads harry potter books in their 30s and likes them, right?

[Anonymous No.8952994]

>>8952967
The vast majority of potter fans are adults who read them as kids. Many of them never grew up or moved on though.

[Anonymous No.8953103]

[Anonymous No.8954809]

>>8951938
Honestly, this must be the most boring thing I've read in my life.

[Anonymous No.8954864]

>>8951938
Seems popular both on Goodreads and here.

[Anonymous No.8954877]

>>8954809
Literally Tolkien fanfic, along with the thirty Shannara books Terry Brooks shat out.

[Anonymous No.8955005]

>>8954864
You're just a pleb. It's the simple explanation.

[Anonymous No.8955034]

>>8952994
Reactions to Trump's election on Twitter by adult Potter fans are rather icky

i.e., http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/facing-a-future-trump-presidency-harry-potter-fans-turn-to-books_us_582394e8e4b0e80b02cea67d?

No wonder these idiots elected Trump if they see their politics in light of children's books.

[Anonymous No.8955036]

>>8952879
>We
You mean "we by zamyatin"?

[Anonymous No.8955042]

>>8951938
I work in a library, and my list could go on and on.
>James Patterson
>Anna Jacobs
>Nora Roberts
>all the YA
>Clive Cussler
>Lee Child
>Linda Lael Miller
And on and on and on. Honestly, barring a few interesting sounding films and history books, nothing that people have returned (that I have to put away) has ever tempted me. We have lots of classics, but they're never borrowed.

[Anonymous No.8955047]

>>8955042
My library keeps a list of the most-borrowed titles at the front desk and I can confirm most people are plebs. Doesn't help that it's mainly senior citizens, either.

[Anonymous No.8955052]

>>8955047
The fucking bodice rippers that old women like man, it worries me.

It's not young women who view that shit as porn, it's old ones. Like, really old.

[Anonymous No.8955074]

[Anonymous No.8955087]

>>8954864
Corn Tortilla YeCarthy is just a meme. Don't worry.

[Anonymous No.8955090]

>>8952016
I remember trying to read the first book. After drudging through two chapters I gave up. Everyone else around me loved it, I couldn't understand why I didn't. I'm so glad high schools over.

[Anonymous No.8955121]

>>8955005
>muh prose
>muh biblical themes
>muh cosmic imagery
>muh biblical prose
>muh apocalyptical cosmic biblicalness
>guise whatchu think haben to kid omg did he get raep in the poohole??
>judge is babyfat like innocent baby u think he is satan???
>lel u psued he god he literally never die just dancing dancing

>no your wrong he the demiurge u Mongolian!
>muh ancient hebrew learned man approved

[Anonymous No.8955122]

>>8955074
Seconding this

It's incredible how a slightly better written Twilight for 20 something nerdy males gets away with that level of shameless self-insert pandering

It seems to attract the worst sorts of pseuds as well, the sort who are incredibly smug that they've identified Harry Potter as 'for kids' but then sing the praises of a work I can really only describe as 'for manchildren'

[Anonymous No.8955131]

>>8955042
This.

I also work in a library, and my god do I have no respect for people's taste anymore. Also, the place is just for babysitting children and tards, and welfare recipients are always there because of the free internet.

It's almost like it's not even about books anymore. I hate the job.

Also, because I'm young everyone expects me to be able to recommend YA to teenagers, and I seem to attract the aforementioned tards and children who want me to help them with their every issue.

[Anonymous No.8955149]

None, because I am not a whiny baby.

[Anonymous No.8955182]

>>8953103
This so much, I picked it up before it became as massively rammed down throats as I fancied something light and scifi for a mindless commute.

Holy shit is it poorly written, the last quarter or so reads like the author just got bored and wanted to wrap things up in a few rushed sentences. It's a criminal sin that its so badly put together especially considering it has an interesting setting.

[Anonymous No.8955185]

I really don't see the appeal of these books.

[Anonymous No.8955188]

>>8955121

What an argument

[Anonymous No.8955236]

>>8952162
Out of Brave New World, 1984, and this, Anthem is the worst offender of the "It's just 'We' but not as good" trend. What trash.

[Anonymous No.8955322]

>>8952016
The Hunger Games
The Hunt (Andrew Fukuda)
The Maze Runner

Basically every other "violent teenagers in a dystopian society" saga by some American Author

[Anonymous No.8955472]

>>8955034
>reading books written by a woman
>voting for a woman

not a hard choice, really

[Anonymous No.8955482]

>>8955185
I remember reading it as a teenager and thinking it was gods gift to literature. I tried rereading it a few months back, barely made it through the first book.

[Anonymous No.8955498]

>>8955149
this

[Anonymous No.8955600]

>>8952162
you some kinda cuck?

[Anonymous No.8955818]

>>8952220
2017-2008=9
18 (minimum age of this board) -9=9
9 years old = kid

[Anonymous No.8955827]

[Anonymous No.8956047]

>>8955149
Your post implies otherwise.

[Anonymous No.8956070]

>>8951938
These threads are even more annoying than normies are

[Anonymous No.8956096]

>>8952162
Seems about right.

[Anonymous No.8956118]

>>8951938
every YA
people shouldn't be allowed to eat shit, someone should intervene

[Anonymous No.8956233]

>>8954864
most Cormac McCarthy books are overhyped and shitty IMO

[Anonymous No.8956292]

>>8956118

Society doesn't prohibit against bad taste, and it's all the better for us. The lower the people are, the easier it is for you to create an ever widening gap between you and them.

[Anonymous No.8956294]

Fifty Shades of Gray
The Fault in Our Stars
Twilight

[Anonymous No.8956318]

>>8952967
my mom does

[Anonymous No.8956334]

>>8951938

Ender's Game.

Good. Fucking. Christ. That is a badly written book. It's like a train wreck. Except instead of being full of humans, its full of mannequins someone made to look like passengers, and the person making the mannequins has no idea how humans look or act.

The entire narrative divides its time between sucking Ender's balls for being oh-so-superior to everyone else without actually demonstrating any actual skills or abilities beyond ordinary humans - and sucking Ender's balls for being this 'terrifying presence of pure violence' despite never showing any actual skill or abilitiy in violence beyond being mildly handy in a fight.

After i finally struggled to the end, i used it to start my fireplace because i couldn't be bothered to go into my storage room and get some of the newspaper i usually use.

[Anonymous No.8956350]

>>8952885

What, over America?

I'm not anti-American by any stretch of the imagination. But surely America has more cretinous idiots than Australia. I mean, just to start with America has the black population.

I don't consider myself a racist either. There's a lot of good reasons the majority of blacks in the US are dumb as fucking planks and it's nothing inherent in their DNA, they just got majorly raped by shitty circumstances for hundreds of years. But it doesn't change the fact that most of them are dumb as planks.

And on top of that you have the entire bible belt population continually voting for people who can be poor as fuck with no health insurance, living out of a trailor, and still voting for people who's major campaign goals are based around making millionaires into billionaires.

Surely Australia can't be more idiotic than THAT.

[Anonymous No.8956387]

>>8956350
>There's a lot of good reasons the majority of blacks in the US are dumb as fucking planks and it's nothing inherent in their DNA

thatswhereyourewrongkiddo.jpg

[Anonymous No.8956388]

>>8952162
So these books are objectively terrible and the philosophy is shlock aimed at people who don't know dick about philosophy largely in the same way novelty t-shirts are aimed at people who have no fashion sense but it's legitimately interesting if you frame it in the context of Rand's past. Her works are clearly all about the after effects of communism and why she's such a raging cunt all the time

[Anonymous No.8956397]

>>8956350
Australia has Abbos, which are by far and away worse than blacks. And they continually elect worse politicians than Trump, so you tell me whether or not they're worse

[Anonymous No.8956406]

>>8952196
4chan has a very punk mentality of like oh no it's popular and therefor uncool. Contrarianism is dirt common in Holden Caulfield wannabes which are pretty vocal in young adults, mostly males, who think their social isolation makes them deep or interesting instead of being a justification for their own horrible failures

/lit/ was creaming their pants over the martian for a while. same thing with the name of the wind, etc, etc. Then Reddit got a hold of it and the collective embarrassing tribalism kicked in. I really do not like this website.

[Anonymous No.8956408]

this book sold more than half a million copies in the US when not even her family members should've bought it so i firmly agree with this >>8956350

[Anonymous No.8956426]

>>8956397

Are there really that many aboriginals though? I kinda thought you did a better job than that.

[Anonymous No.8956435]

>>8956408
Is Rupi Kaur real? I thought it was just a meme

[Anonymous No.8956467]

>>8956435
the worst thing is, there's not only people that bought the damn thing, there's people that enjoyed it, thought it was good, and posted long 5 star reviews of how good it is

i need proof that this people were paid to do this so i can sleep at night

[Anonymous No.8956482]

>>8954877

I read every single damn Shannara book when I was a teenager and in hindsight they're dull as fuck. Still probably the best I could have gotten from my library though so no regrets.

[Anonymous No.8957364]

[Anonymous No.8957396]

>>8956408
So what's the deal with this book? Why am I seeing it everywhere?

[Anonymous No.8957477]

>>8957364
That the author on the cover?

[Anonymous No.8957550]

>>8955818
He knew it was shit on release year as a 9 years old kid?

[Anonymous No.8957556]

>>8955827
edgy

[Anonymous No.8957559]

Twenty Thousand Leagues
See it on every fucking recommended list for any sort of fantasy/sci-fi list. Why?

[Anonymous No.8957586]

>>8952188
Ugh, it's so bad. It reads as a shitty fanfic from a thirteen year old.

[Anonymous No.8957757]

>>8956406
Hear, hear.

[Anonymous No.8957774]

Malcolm Gladwell

[Anonymous No.8958001]

>>8957396
It's feel good inspirational crap and shit like it sells well with women. I've literally never heard of a man even reading this.

[Anonymous No.8958507]

Really can't stand the edgelord protagonist.

[Anonymous No.8958596]

>>8956406
And yet you remain.

[Anonymous No.8958689]

>>8955236
BNW is a good utopian, not a bad dystopian.

[Anonymous No.8958738]

>>8956426
Yeah you basically never see them. U.S is like 18% black I think, abos in AU would be less than 1% because they got BLEACHED a while back

[Anonymous No.8959550]

>>8955034
I still remember the fat Seattle/Portland state senator or w/e who spoke at the DNC, referencing Dumbledore as if it was profound, quotable literature.

>>8955042
>>James Patterson
That's a brand not an author.

[Anonymous No.8959757]

>>8958689
RREEEEEE JEWS LEAVE

[Anonymous No.8959798]

I had to read this for a school project and I wanted to die.

[Anonymous No.8959809]

>>8952042
Yes yes well done, Slytherin, well done Slytherin, HOWEVER - there are some last minute issues we need to take into account.well, actually there's only one issue, and that's that Slytherin house is a part of one of the dullest franchises in the history of movie franchises. Seriously each episode following the boy wizard and his pals from Hogwarts Academy as they fight assorted villains has been indistinguishable from the others. Aside from the gloomy imagery, the series’ only consistency has been its lack of excitement and ineffective use of special effects, all to make magic unmagical, to make action seem inert.

Perhaps the die was cast when Rowling vetoed the idea of Spielberg directing the series; she made sure the series would never be mistaken for a work of art that meant anything to anybody?just ridiculously profitable cross-promotion for her books. The Harry Potter series might be anti-Christian (or not), but it’s certainly the anti-James Bond series in its refusal of wonder, beauty and excitement. No one wants to face that fact. Now, thankfully, they no longer have to.

>a-at least the books were good though
"No!"
The writing is dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched his legs."

I began marking on the back of an envelope every time that phrase was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times. I was incredulous. Rowling's mind is so governed by cliches and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing. Later I read a lavish, loving review of Harry Potter by the same Stephen King. He wrote something to the effect of, "If these kids are reading Harry Potter at 11 or 12, then when they get older they will go on to read Stephen King." And he was quite right. He was not being ironic. When you read "Harry Potter" you are, in fact, trained to read Stephen King.

[Anonymous No.8959850]

A localised thing, probably, but we had this for secondary and it was awful.

One-dimensional anti-rural stereotypes and a wafer-thin plot that has what /tg/ would call a "rocks fall, everyone dies" ending.

It was short, but that's part of the problem. If it was a dragged-out meandering multi-generational Wuthering Heights-esque thing I think he might have eventually stumbled into accomplishing what he wanted to but half-arsed out of, and what every part of "official" Ireland praises him for supposedly doing.

[Anonymous No.8959855]

>>8957559
It would have probably been a pretty interesting read when it came out. When it was written, nobody knew what was at the South Pole, there weren't powerful submarines like the Nautilus so no one knew what was at the bottom of the ocean etc. so Jules Verne basically made a tonne of predictions. With the knowledge we have today, a lot of the landscapes are pretty unexceptional, but I imagine they would have been pretty fascinating for an audience who didn't know better. Plus Captain Nemo is a passable character.

[Anonymous No.8960875]

>>8951938

[Anonymous No.8960888]

>>8959850
I thought he's meant to be good. Well at least the fields meant to be good. We had Lear for mine I know other people had the Plough and the stars

[Anonymous No.8960890]

>>8957559

It's there for its historical value and for it's imagination, and i think the reason it was so beloved at the time was for the same reason really immersive videogames are popular today.

At the time it was written the layman didn't know much about the subject matter and some of it was flat-out unknown by anyone, but the book is written as a real-life account of exploring the mysteries of the ocean and nothing else could have felt so absorbingly real.

Its got some beautiful ideas and scenery of men who live amongst the mysteries of the sea and Captain Nemo is an interesting character, both monstrous and admirable.

I read it when i was very young and have fond memories of it, but even then the inconsistencies and problems bothered me (like the idea that sharks must turn upside to bite prey, because they didnt know back then that their snouts move back and their jaws move forwards). It's aged poorly, but i think it deserves the reputation it has.

[Anonymous No.8962305]

>>8952869
Not a lot of book buyers on the golden coast luvvy? Surprised I am. Offul surprised.

[Anonymous No.8963272]

>>8951938
Margaret Atwood, Paulo Coelho, Murakami and the cunt who wrote Life of Pi. Honestly can't stand magical realism unless it's Russian


>>8956292
kek, this.