# A book you hated by an author you love?



## Terry D

For me it would be _Hannibal_ by Thomas Harris. He took one of the best antagonists in history and tried to make him a hero. Harris Dexterized Lechter by having him do his gruesome work on only bad people. For me Hannibal Lechter doesn't work as a sympathetic character, he is, and should remain, the embodiment of sociopathy.


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## escorial

Sea Of Cortez...pains me to say it...i think my expectations were to high after Travels with Charley...don't get me wrong it's worth a read for sure...but since his friend Ed Rickets
was the inspiration for Doc..who was for me Steinbeck's best character...


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## kilroy214

Under the Dome by Stephen King. Such a long read that lead up to a horribly unsatisfying ending.


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## Caragula

1Q84 by Murakami


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## Sam

_Lies, Inc. _by Philip K. Dick. 

The first, and to date only, PKD novel that utterly disappointed me. It should have stayed as the short story The Unteleported Man. 

_The Bear and the Dragon _by Tom Clancy. 

After the incredible _Executive Orders _and _Rainbow Six, _this is where it all really started going downhill for Clancy. 

_The Phantom of Manhattan _by Frederick Forsyth. 

It should have been written under a pseudonym. This is not Forsyth's finest hour. 

_The Evil That Men Do _by John Brunner. 

After reading _Stand on Zanzibar, _anything would be a let-down.


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## stevesh

I won't say I 'love' James Patterson, but he wrote some pretty good thrillers back in the day. The books he's currently publishing under his name, but which are actually written by other authors, are universally wretched.


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## EmmaSohan

I love the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. I read the first book in the new Wicked Series. The characters were implausible, the plot was implausible, the magical powers seemed random, and the book had few if any redeeming qualities. A waste of time and money and a disappointment.


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## KateMarie999

I'm a big Roald Dahl fan but I didn't like The Witches. I don't know what he was thinking with that ending, it's got horrible implications and it's supposed to come off as happy.


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## Jon M

KateMarie999 said:


> I'm a big Roald Dahl fan but I didn't like The Witches. I don't know what he was thinking with that ending, it's got horrible implications and it's supposed to come off as happy.


Haven't read that one, but I thought Esio Trot was absolutely horrid, especially given that it is for kids.

Patrick Rothfuss has a rather entertaining review of it on Goodreads.


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## AaronR316

Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. I just couldn't get into the style he wrote that in. I love Chuck Palahniuk, though.


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## J Anfinson

77 Shadow Street- Dean Koontz. I'm still using it as a doorstop. I started hating it about a quarter of the way through, hoping it would get better, but it was a massive letdown for me.

The Border- Robert McCammon. I love the heck out of McCammon, but I couldn't read this. It seemed badly written, like he tried to do all the editing himself and missed tons of things. I think I only made it a couple chapters.

Agree with Hannibal. Not so great. Don't think I even bothered to try Hannibal Rising. I hated the movie.


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## krishan

Every book I've read by Palahniuk has been more disappointing than the last. I found _Rant_ particularly poor. He doesn't seem able to recapture the brilliance of _Fight Club_ or _Survivor_, only vaguely impersonate it.


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## Shbooblie

I've seen that Chuck Palahniuk has been mentioned a few times already in this thread.  I am a fan of most of his work but I just couldn't get through 'Tell - All'. I'm reading 'Rant' at the moment and whilst it's not my favourite (that's a  choice between Invisible Monsters or Fight Club), I am still enjoying it.


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## Bard_Daniel

Mosquitoes by William Faulkner. I really did not like it. But maybe I'll try and read it again someday.


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## moderan

The Scarlet Gospels, by Clive Barker. Clive has been in ill health  recently, having had a couple of bouts with pneumonia, and this novel  shows signs of that, or just simple lack of inspiration. The days when  Barker's stuff was revolutionary are far behind him, but he's been  putting out reasonably effective stuff until that volume.  His short  story in the "Gutted" horror anthology likewise shows that time may have  passed Clive by. It's a decent piece, but is not up to the level of  most of the anthology.
The Scarlet Gospels is nearly unreadable at times, and not in the "it's-beyond-me" Joycean sense. I suspect ghostwriting.


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## Bard_Daniel

*The Dark Half* by Stephen King. It was so bad that I could not even finish.


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## Finn Hicks

Culture Apocalypse by Adam Parfray Oh my gosh!


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## C.Gholy

KateMarie999 said:


> I'm a big Roald Dahl fan but I didn't like The Witches. I don't know what he was thinking with that ending, it's got horrible implications and it's supposed to come off as happy.


I quite liked the book and the film but found the ending underwhelming.


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## Rosemary

Any and every book writen by Lois Lowery that isn't part of The Giver Quartet.


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## epimetheus

IT by Stephen King. Waded through 500 pages, not even half way, before deciding IT wasn't getting better.


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## Ralph Rotten

Stranger in a Strange Land by heinlein.
Loved the author, hated the book.


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## Meldini

The Information by the once great Martin Amis.  Loved all his books before this but this one left me feeling underwhelmed and put me off reading any of his other books since then.


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## Megan Pearson

How about a book you loved by an author you hated? 

Stephen King scares the snot out of me. But I loved his _On Writing_. I only read it because it was a gift I received at a time when I was very ill and had nothing else to read. Now I highly recommend it. (And I have a lot more respect for him as a writer as well because of it, so it was a win-win experience all-around.)

*
*
*

(But I still won't read his scary stuff.)


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## J Anfinson

Megan Pearson said:


> How about a book you loved by an author you hated?
> 
> Stephen King scares the snot out of me. But I loved his _On Writing_. I only read it because it was a gift I received at a time when I was very ill and had nothing else to read. Now I highly recommend it. (And I have a lot more respect for him as a writer as well because of it, so it was a win-win experience all-around.)
> 
> *
> *
> *
> 
> (But I still won't read his scary stuff.)



The older Stephen King stuff up to around "On Writing" is about all I have read of his. His newer stuff just doesn't seem to interest me. It seems like he's changed over time, though I'm not saying that's a bad thing because some people obviously like it. But On Writing really is a masterpiece as far as telling new writers what to do. Just write. Follow the story and don't quit until it's told. Entertain yourself first and foremost, and find your own methods. Study the masters of the craft but don't aim to imitate. I think King knows what he's talking about.


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## wagtail

Stephen King's 'It'. Thought the ending was a huge cop out and would have thrown the book at the wall but it's a pretty hefty book.


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## Bard_Daniel

I tried to read The Dark Half by Stephen King once.

Yeah, I'm not making that mistake again.


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## meegads

stevesh said:


> I won't say I 'love' James Patterson, but he wrote some pretty good thrillers back in the day. The books he's currently publishing under his name, but which are actually written by other authors, are universally wretched.



Same.  I like his Alex Cross stuff but I read Zoo and thought it was terrible.


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## Bard_Daniel

To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway.

No, Ernest. Just....no.


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## Ma'am

I loved John Irving's older work: _The Cider House Rules, The World According to Garp, A Prayer for Owen Meany_ and _The Hotel New Hampshire_. So when _Avenue of Mysteries _came out, I had high hopes_._ But it was just long and weird, and not the good kind of weird, either.


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## Bard_Daniel

Bad Interviews with Hideous Men- David Foster Wallace

I liked Infinite Jest and adore David Foster Wallace's non-fiction, but this just struck me as trite garbage.


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## Jacqui Jay

J Anfinson said:


> The older Stephen King stuff up to around "On Writing" is about all I have read of his. His newer stuff just doesn't seem to interest me. It seems like he's changed over time, though I'm not saying that's a bad thing because some people obviously like it



For me, King's writing changed when he sobered up ... but I still love him.


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## Jacqui Jay

I have just finished The Book of Bones by John Connolly, the latest in his Charlie Parker series. I have read all 17 of the books and normally can't wait for the next release. This one was 700-odd pages long, absolutely padded out with historical background stuff (of no interest whatsoever), and Charlie Parker was reduced to a man in a short black overcoat, who popped up very occasionally in a short black overcoat, philosophised briefly and disappeared again. Angel and Louis were tired, injured, ailing and appeared very briefly and unrealistically. Disappointed doesn't even begin to cover it.


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## Bard_Daniel

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens.

Ouch.


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## seigfried007

_Pirate Latitudes_ by Michael Crichton. I can totally see why he didn't publish this thing. I wouldn't want my name on it either--especially after having cultivated a name in science fiction and real world potential implications. It's just not very Crichton-y, and it took me much longer to get through because it just wasn't interesting.


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## Bard_Daniel

Some of Beckett's short plays, for me, don't really make much sense and I really didn't understand what he was trying to do. Theatre of the absurd indeed! It's not all of them, only a select few, but they left me wondering: what was the point of this at all? That is not good. If I feel there is no point to what I am reading, it's a very bad sign.

Methinks I need to read his correspondence to understand, at times, what he was trying to design.


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## Falix Oliver

One Hundred Years of Solitude i love to read this book this was written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez


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## ScientistAsHero

_Handling the Undead_ by John Aqvide Lindqvist. After reading _Let the Right One In_ (which was amazing) and then _Little Star_ (which was perfection) it was a huge letdown.


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## ScientistAsHero

I second _Under the Dome _​by Stephen King.


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## ScientistAsHero

seigfried007 said:


> _Pirate Latitudes_ by Michael Crichton. I can totally see why he didn't publish this thing. I wouldn't want my name on it either--especially after having cultivated a name in science fiction and real world potential implications. It's just not very Crichton-y, and it took me much longer to get through because it just wasn't interesting.



I read this. It wasn't terrible, in my opinion, but it wasn't that memorable either.


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## seigfried007

ScientistAsHero said:


> I read this. It wasn't terrible, in my opinion, but it wasn't that memorable either.


And that's what sucked about it for me. There wasn't anything I could take away from it or discuss with anyone. It' was just "meh" and boring.


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## Plaidman

seigfried007 said:


> _Pirate Latitudes_ by Michael Crichton. I can totally see why he didn't publish this thing. I wouldn't want my name on it either--especially after having cultivated a name in science fiction and real world potential implications. It's just not very Crichton-y, and it took me much longer to get through because it just wasn't interesting.



I agree with you completely on this.  Compared to Crichton's other works, _Pirate Latitudes_ was a pretty weak effort.  I have to wonder if it wasn't something he had planned on working into something better.


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## Plaidman

I really enjoyed Stephen King's older works like _Salem's Lot_ or _It_.  Then I read the Gunslinger series.  It started off pretty imaginative, interesting and enjoyable.  But about halfway through the series I started to feel like I was forcing myself to finish the book.  But, I kept reading the series hoping it would get better.  It didn't.  At that point I was simply determined to finish the series.  When I did, I was so disappointed by the way he wrapped up Roland's story, I swore off of of reading anymore of his stuff.

That stance has weakened though, I'm about ready to try some of his older stuff that I haven't read yet.  But, I'm still very wary of his newer works.


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## rarie

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. I just didn't enjoy it nearly as much as his other books.


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## Amy-rose

I didn't hate this book but I was disappointed. "My Sister's Keeper" - Jodi Picoult.

I felt ending was just a "quick fix". The whole story was about what the main character would choose to do, then she never got a choice. It was a great idea, very thought provoking and well written and I liked the moral dilemma but, as I said, no one came to a decision in the end. It jumped around quite a bit which made it a bit hard to follow.


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## Amnesiac

Loved the first book in King's, "Gunslinger" trilogy. After that though, it was a long, downhill slide into Crapsville.

Anne Rice's, "Mayfair Witches" series. Boring, long, and boring. "Exit to Eden." Awful. Just... no. Worse yet, her "Sleeping Beauty" trilogy. The reader is beaten over the head with one mindless, cheesy S&M scene after another, until all it produces is complete numbness. Ugh.... Horrible. "Cry to Heaven," the vampire series, and, "Christ the Lord," were all so great, so amazing...

Stephanie Meyer's, "Twilight" books. So awful... A young girl's choice between necrophilia or bestiality. Her book, "The Host," was so amazing...


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## lmpierce

Megan Pearson said:


> How about a book you loved by an author you hated?
> 
> Stephen King scares the snot out of me. But I loved his _On Writing_. I only read it because it was a gift I received at a time when I was very ill and had nothing else to read. Now I highly recommend it. (And I have a lot more respect for him as a writer as well because of it, so it was a win-win experience all-around.)
> 
> *
> *
> *
> 
> (But I still won't read his scary stuff.)




On this note, I loved "The Host" by Stephanie Meyer, but despised the Twilight books (and I find many of her views problematic) for many many many reasons.


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## Deleted member 64995

Game of Thrones by George Martin.


I love Martin, but Game of Thrones, definitely not for me.


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## Tiamat

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. (I know, I know...) Glad it wasn't the first thing of hers I'd read, or I may not have read all the rest.


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## Hector

Some late Goosebumps books. RL Stine seemed to be losing his touch.


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## Paularo

YouTube master class.


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## The-90's-Sucked

Pinball, 1973 by Murakami. It's the worst novel I have ever read to completion.


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## thepancreas11

"InterWorld" by Neil Gaiman. It's just unrealized. It felt like one of those books that would be way better as a comic book or graphic novel. Good idea, bad execution.


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## Turnbull

Tales from Watership Down is really underwhelming.  It's pretty clear from reading it that Richard Adams ran out of inspiration, and it's just kind of there.  Nothing's really appealing about it.  Watership Down was an excellent stand-alone, and did not need a sequel.


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## Sinister

Have to agree with poster above who mentioned Anne Rice's Witches of Mayfair series.  It's hard to see a writer you love do that.  Some of Stephen King's efforts are bad.  In fact a lot of his books are not as good as I had been told they were.  His short stories are unmatched, though.

But the biggest offense has to go to Neal Stephenson.  His cyberpunk works(see Snow Crash) are a treasure and some of the best in the genre, pithy and hilarious.  But his Baroque Cycle was agonizingly pretentious and overwrought, imho.  Reading it is like studying glib nonsense mixed with history from the most boring teacher alive; and I like Umberto Eco.

EDIT:

I cannot believe how harsh and cruel that sounds now and it is all my opinion.  But I was just so disappointed that I think I've become bitter about the series.  I wanted to like it so much.  But when your favorite author switches genres, style and tone...well it sometimes leaves you feeling betrayed.  I'm sorry, no insult intended, Mr. Stephenson.  But...I stand by what I said, even if I regret how I said it.

-Sin


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## Joker

_Friday _by good ol' Heinlein. The, er, _questionable_ opening parts aside, it's a plotless mess nowhere near as gripping as his other works, and that's saying something considering they usually have loose plots as well.


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## Turnbull

Rosemary said:


> Any and every book writen by Lois Lowery that isn't part of The Giver Quartet.


What, even Number the Stars?  That book was great.  But I support your general distaste for her.  She isn't exactly the best writer out there.

I love GK Chesterton, but his Father Brown series isn't great.  ...And it's the thing he's most known for.  Chesterton is best at making stand alone surrealist stories, not mystery series.  Father Brown as a character is cool, and some of the stories are interesting, but Chesterton's narrative gets even more flowery and out there in these stories, so that there are times you don't get what he's saying.  That, and the perp of the crimes almost always gets away.  This is fine in some stories, like the one where a family is brutally killed and the person who killed the murderer gets away, but not all the perps are motivated by good things.  It gets really repetitive, too.


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