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#111
12-12-2006, 03:21 PM
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Re: Show Library: Pseudointellectual Books That, in Fact, Suck
[ QUOTE ]
Everything by Herman Hesse Everything by John Steinbeck Everything by Isabel Allende 90% of Remembrance of Things Past The Magic Mountain For Whom the Bell Tolls A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius [/ QUOTE ] YOUR OPINION IS DULY NOTED, NO NEED FOR A SUPPORTING ARGUMENT, YOUR AURA OF SELF-IMPORTANCE IS ENOUGH FOR ME. 
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#112
12-12-2006, 03:22 PM
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Re: Show Library: Pseudointellectual Books That, in Fact, Suck
dude, i like steinbeck [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]
rj
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#113
12-12-2006, 03:22 PM
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Re: Show Library: Pseudointellectual Books That, in Fact, Suck
[ QUOTE ]
Everything by Herman Hesse [/ QUOTE ] lol, no
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#115
12-12-2006, 03:23 PM
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Re: Show Library: Pseudointellectual Books That, in Fact, Suck
[ QUOTE ]
OK time to set the record straight. I have impeccable taste in literature. Ayn Rand - Above average. Not nearly as bad as you clowns claim. Crime and Punishment - Great Book! Easy to read yet complex! Steinbeck - Slightly over rated and mind-numbingly boring Tom Robbins - How on earth can he be mentioned in a thread about pseudo-intellectual books? He is a fun happy writer. Joseph Heller - Catch-22 might be over rated by some, but if you don't like this book you probably suck. The only other book of Heller's I tried to read was Something Happened. It sucks. Herman Hesse - Again, if you like this guy you probably are a 17-year-old goth/emo kid . [/ QUOTE ]
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#116
12-12-2006, 03:27 PM
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Re: Show Library: Pseudointellectual Books That, in Fact, Suck
StalkerCardo, This is one of the few threads where the opposite (Seemingly straightforward books that are surprisingly deep--i.e. just about the entire body of work from Michael Lewis) would be much more interesting. Maybe when you are unnaturally happy you'll start it.
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#117
12-12-2006, 03:32 PM
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Re: Show Library: Pseudointellectual Books That, in Fact, Suck
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] Steinbeck - Slightly over rated and mind-numbingly boring [/ QUOTE ] [/ QUOTE ] WTF? I'm sure there are at least somewhat valid reasons for not liking Steinbeck, but calling his writing boring is LOL.
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#118
12-12-2006, 03:33 PM
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Re: Show Library: Pseudointellectual Books That, in Fact, Suck
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] Everything by Herman Hesse - As if some goth teenager poured out his soul to a ghostwriter. Over and over again in every book. Everything by John Steinbeck - Boring, the American version of socialist realism. Everything by Isabel Allende - Magical realism without any magic whatsoever. 90% of Remembrance of Things Past - Swann's Way was great in parts...and then I got to the other six volumes. The Magic Mountain - Eh, for some reason I meant Death in Venice and put this one instead. This wasn't too bad. Death in Venice was boring and creepy. For Whom the Bell Tolls - An overwrought monstrosity, especially in light of how good his other books were. Also displays a total inability to think critically about the Spanish civil war. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Some of the early parts about him and Toph moving to Berkeley are pretty good, but overall it is pretentious and poorly-written [/ QUOTE ] YOUR OPINION IS DULY NOTED, NO NEED FOR A SUPPORTING ARGUMENT, YOUR AURA OF SELF-IMPORTANCE IS ENOUGH FOR ME. [/ QUOTE ] IS THAT OK?
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#120
12-12-2006, 03:42 PM
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Re: Show Library: Pseudointellectual Books That, in Fact, Suck
Staying on the topic of "pseudointellectual books that in fact suck," and not "books I don't like," I agree that Rand sucks a big dong. Atlas Shrugged is an 1,100 page polemic poorly disguised as a work of fiction. Whether or not you think her politics suck (which I do), her style is just plain bad.
I also endorse David Foster Wallace. His non-fiction is surprisingly good (read "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again,") but Infinite Jest is a squawking turkey--the type of book expressly written and read for the same purpose, i.e. to show off how smart you are. I think Joyce is genius, besides "Finnegan's Wake," natch, but his ouevre definitely falls in the category of "intellectual books that are too goddamn hard to read." For that matter, Faulkner may or may not be great, but I have never been able to get more than 20 pages into one of his novels. I'm surprised no one's nominated Beckett yet. As Martin Amis describes his "fiction," it's more or less "no, non the not, nor never the nay." Also, IMO Borges is pretty overrated. I'm still unclear why "the Aleph" is supposed to be such a major work.
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