Books you think are overated.

Discussion in 'Discussion of Published Works' started by Lorddread, Apr 6, 2011.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. FrankBishop

    FrankBishop New Member

    Joined:
    May 1, 2011
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Missouri
    Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Seriously bothers me to the core and overrated to ridiculousness.
     
  2. hnamartin

    hnamartin New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2011
    Messages:
    19
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Flushing, New York
    The Lord of the Rings saga. Somehow I managed to read all the books but they were so stylistically tedious.
     
  3. Sundae

    Sundae New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2011
    Messages:
    361
    Likes Received:
    23
    Location:
    Astral Weeks
    This is hard to say... usually, I find that even the worst books have something to offer in the end.

    But... in my mind, a book that I would consider being overrated is one that you read once but never read again, yet it keeps popping up everywhere.

    Lord Of The Flies is this in my opinion. It's an okay book. You read it once and enjoy it, but you'll never pick it up again or have any desire to, yet it gets discussed to death and keeps being brought up over and over again.
     
  4. Dandroid

    Dandroid New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 15, 2011
    Messages:
    199
    Likes Received:
    13
    Location:
    Canada
    outside of class...i haven't heard much about this in a long time...
     
  5. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2007
    Messages:
    10,704
    Likes Received:
    3,425
    Location:
    Northeast England
    Depends on where you live I suppose - it does seem to be one of those books that, like The Catcher in the Rye, that is analysed to death.

    As much as I like him, Allen Ginsburg is rather overrated.
     
  6. Ice Queen

    Ice Queen New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2011
    Messages:
    122
    Likes Received:
    6
    Location:
    Scotland
    Ah yes, Lord of the Rings... It had a good plot, and it was interesting and I did actually like the books, but I really had to force myself to keep going with them sometimes, especially the first one with all that nonesense about Hobbit geneology and so on. :p

    I would have to say that Jane Austen is very overrated. I mean, I have tried on different occasions to read Pride & Prejudice and Emma yet I couldn't get past the first half in either- I found them immensely tiresome and I have to say that all of her books seem to have very similar plotlines- as for the whole thing about a heroine finding a rich husband. Yuck. Back in the day it was different, but even so- if you want a good book dealing with romance from that period I'd say go for Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights(LOL, Romance indeed...). I know someone else said it's overrated but I will say I loved it and it's one of my favourite books :D', probably because it's so depressing...

    Oh, and another thing... I read a lot of Redwall books as a kid, and I did love them... I think they were quite popular but did anyone else notice the Author's tendancy to over-describe every feast the wee woodland creatures ever had? I mean, page after page about all the different cheeses and pies and wine so on!!! As well as that, the plot structure was too similar in every book AND the baddies were always rats or foxes or weasels and whatnot. Every bloody mouse or squirrel or otter was saintly! Blatant species-favouritism XDDD
     
    1 person likes this.
  7. CelenaGaia

    CelenaGaia New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2011
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    1
    Location:
    The heart of the land
    With you on that one, hon - anything remotely vermin was a) evil b) crass c) stupid or d) all of the above. He even had a thing against pine marten, honestly :p No reasons were ever given for their wickedness, either - no background. You just assumed they all had wretched childhoods; but then, Tsarmina's father, though wild and sometimes brutal, wasn't totally unkind. He at least had some sense of honour.

    My favourite scenes were inevitably the last-battle scenes, especially the bittersweet ones where someone pivotal (Finnbarr Galedeep, affected me deeply) was lost. But yes, i gave up after "Marlfox", when the stories became atrociously formulaic. Moved onto Robin Jarvis, instead ;) nice and bloody, with a good dose of black magic.
     
  8. Jessica_312

    Jessica_312 New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2011
    Messages:
    337
    Likes Received:
    23
    Location:
    Florida
    My thoughts exactly. Someone once described them as "literary junk food" - not necessarily the best written or most thought provoking, but entertaining

    I also agree with Jane Austen - I, too, have tried reading Pride and Prejudice but I found myself bored pretty early on.
     
  9. teacherayala

    teacherayala New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 7, 2011
    Messages:
    308
    Likes Received:
    15
    Location:
    Panama
    haha! I also noticed that about the Redwall books. I wonder if the author was hungry while writing or just trying to go about his way of describing what would be to the woodland creatures an ideal community--I mean, I guess food would be a primary way of knowing whether all is well or not...
     
  10. Jessica_312

    Jessica_312 New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2011
    Messages:
    337
    Likes Received:
    23
    Location:
    Florida
    Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is also a bit of a letdown if you're expecting a horror novel.... I was a far bigger fan of Stoker's Dracula.
     
  11. Ice Queen

    Ice Queen New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2011
    Messages:
    122
    Likes Received:
    6
    Location:
    Scotland
    Oh surely not D: -wounded- Frankenstein is one of my favourite books ever. I loved it so much. I suppose it's not entirely in your face horror, but there's so much subtlety and all. I also love it because it was one of the first Sci-Fi novels... ;A;
     
  12. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2007
    Messages:
    10,704
    Likes Received:
    3,425
    Location:
    Northeast England
    I never thought of Frankenstein as a horror novel. I always thought of it as a just a very good, and very sad, macabre tale.
     
  13. Lazy_Otaku271

    Lazy_Otaku271 New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2011
    Messages:
    0
    Likes Received:
    1
    Location:
    Wouldn't you like to know.
    I would have to say the Harry Potter books are overrated. Don't get me wrong, I own all the books and movies, and I do enjoy the series, but I don't think it's as good as the fangirls say it is. I think that there are books out there with a better story and more original thoughts. Once, again, that doesn't mean I don't like the books. I don't wanted an angry mob showing up at my doorstep.
     
  14. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2007
    Messages:
    10,704
    Likes Received:
    3,425
    Location:
    Northeast England
    Don't worry, people on here can be forgiving.

    Also Pride and Prejudice is overrated. I agree with people who have said this.
     
  15. JMTweedie

    JMTweedie New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2011
    Messages:
    132
    Likes Received:
    11
    Location:
    London UK
    I started to read Lady Chatterly's Lover last week. It's a classic that I've never read.

    I didn't get far past page 4. All tell and no show! I gave up.

    Has anybody out there read the whole thing? Is the whole book just tell?
     
  16. Eunoia

    Eunoia Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2010
    Messages:
    4,391
    Likes Received:
    81
    Location:
    England
    Same. I tried reading it but I just couldn't get into it. I'm going to try reading it again because I feel I must enjoy it as I love the TV/film adaptations of Austen's works, particularly Pride and Prejudice.
     
  17. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2007
    Messages:
    10,704
    Likes Received:
    3,425
    Location:
    Northeast England
    ^ read it for University, and I rather enjoyed it, but it's nothing amazing and over time I've thought less and less of it. Jane Eyre is, I think, vastly superior in almost every respect.
     
  18. Ellipse

    Ellipse Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2010
    Messages:
    713
    Likes Received:
    35
    It depends on what type of horror you were expecting. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is more gothic horror than traditional horror. The difference is gothic horror focuses more on the concerns and disturbing fascinations of the MCs.
     
  19. Eunoia

    Eunoia Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2010
    Messages:
    4,391
    Likes Received:
    81
    Location:
    England
    I haven't read Jane Eyre, but I imagine it would be better. I really need to read all these classics I've only seen TV/film adaptations of. >.>
     
  20. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2007
    Messages:
    10,704
    Likes Received:
    3,425
    Location:
    Northeast England
    In that case I highly recommend it. Jane Eyre isn't just a romantic story either, it has moments that are gothic, and more horror-based going along side the main story.

    I think that's why I like Jane Eyre - it's diverse.
     
  21. Eunoia

    Eunoia Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2010
    Messages:
    4,391
    Likes Received:
    81
    Location:
    England
    Ah, I know the story already obviously but it'd be good to actually read it. My mission this summer is definitely to read classics I haven't yet read.

    I don't know if this has been mentioned already, but Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres. It was raved about when I tried reading it but I just couldn't get into it. I may find it more enjoyable if I tried rereading it, but at the moment I consider it overrated.
     
  22. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2007
    Messages:
    10,704
    Likes Received:
    3,425
    Location:
    Northeast England
    ^ I remember remembering I watched that film, but I remember nothing about it.
     
  23. Eunoia

    Eunoia Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2010
    Messages:
    4,391
    Likes Received:
    81
    Location:
    England
    Haha, the film really made an impact on you. :p
     
  24. Gigi_GNR

    Gigi_GNR Guys, come on. WAFFLE-O. Contributor

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2009
    Messages:
    12,140
    Likes Received:
    257
    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    I think Jane Austen novels are pretty overrated -- I reread Pride and Prejudice recently and wondered why people liked it so much when I think it's just really cliche.
     
  25. arron89

    arron89 Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2008
    Messages:
    2,442
    Likes Received:
    93
    Location:
    Auckland
    If Jane Austen seems cliche by today's standards, it's because so many elements of contemporary romance are drawn directly from her work...
     
    1 person likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice