Which famous books do you think are way overrated?

[Hypocider]

Well, my opinion hasn't changed since the last time, same Harry Potter series. :(

[Angelwang]

I'd definitely have to agree. I can't think of any others at the moment.

[Mixhael]

Famous among critics and scholars, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is the most overrated classic novel of all time.

[Fiindil]

Charles Dickens- Great Expectations

my god it's crap!

[cheese_muncher]

HARRY POTTER ALL THE WAY

[Pete]

F. Scott Fitzgerald's - The Great Gatsby
E. Eannie Proulx's - The Shipping News
Aldous Huxley's - Brave New World

[Early Demise]

The Great Gatsby and 1984. OMG I HATED THAT BOOK!

[Scorpion]

Though I do read them they aren't that great.

Harry Potter.

[Bj Blaskowitz]

the Da Vinci Code

[The Nomad]

The hobbit. I read it and didn't like it that much. Half of the book was boring even though the writer wrote very well. Better than anything I will ever be able to do.

[Richaod]

the Da Vinci Code

yay

I'd actually say the original Dune. It was certainly entertaining and raised some issues, but so little was introduced. Both the Legends of Dune and Prelude to Dune series are more detailed and actually provide a more gripping story than Dune itself. They also literally cover a lot more ground - they span many more planets and events in comparison to Dune, which has about a chapter in Caladan, leaving the rest of the story in Arrakis.

Harry Potter is overrated, but not when you put it alongside most mainstream novels...

And most "classic" novels certainly aren't as good as they're made out to be; think Oliver Twist, The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer etc. I spent a large fraction of my childhood reading those kinds of books and I'm bitter about it now. :(

[rivercitytecmo]

"the crying lot of 49" by thomas pynchon. it seems like less of a book and more of a "let me see how many references and partial sentences i can jam into every sentence and seem cool" jack fest. and naming the radio station KCUF? oh so clever omgwtfbbq

[Killer Jordo]

I have to agree with some. Harry Potter.

[Shanuti Aborina]

All the Terry Pratchett books. I couldn't read more than 10 pages >.< . He doesnt have that way of drawing you in like so many authors are doing these days.

the Da Vinci Code

Care to elaborate as to why?

[Shanuti Aborina]

I think books are overrated.


Sorry, I have to totally disagree with you there. Books have a way of drawing the reader in like nothing else can do. Films cannot do that. Books give you what the character is thinking, feeling and allows you to picture the world in your mind. It is much more involved and draws you in better than any game, Film or TV program.

[Last Fog]

Sorry, I have to totally disagree with you there. Books have a way of drawing the reader in like nothing else can do. Films cannot do that. Books give you what the character is thinking, feeling and allows you to picture the world in your mind. It is much more involved and draws you in better than any game, Film or TV program.

Nope.

You can tell what the characters feeling much better with a good actor rather than writer. And no, it doesn't draw you in as much as a visual reference.

[Shade]

Definately Dracula. It was exciting and gripping at times, but I found myself skipping some paragraphs due to sheer boredom.

[Shanuti Aborina]

Nope.

You can tell what the characters feeling much better with a good actor rather than writer. And no, it doesn't draw you in as much as a visual reference.


So you would rather be spoon fed another persons vision of a book rather than create your own?

[Shanuti Aborina]

yesiree!


>.< I've failed to get through haven't I.

We are all entitled to our opinions I suppose.

[Fiindil]

yesiree!

*sighs* Then I really feel sorry for you. If you can't imagine a character feelings based on an author's written work, then it seems there is little hope for one such as yourself. Whatever happened to culture?

[Last Fog]

*sighs* Then I really feel sorry for you. If you can't imagine a character feelings based on an author's written work, then it seems there is little hope for one such as yourself. Whatever happened to culture?

Yes, I can imagine. But I don't choose to. I'd rather see whats happening rather than making a little fake mental picture. Face it, books are archaic. I don't need to be "cultured".

Hmmm.... is this turning into a war thread? *oscar*

[Bj Blaskowitz]

I would like to add that Mansfield Park is another God-Awful book, as is the story of Gilgamesh and Beowulf.

[Admiral Anthrax]

I'm going with those who said The Great Gatsby. This was beyond bad.

Last Fog, stop trying to be rebellious.

[Shanuti Aborina]

Yes, I can imagine. But I don't choose to. I'd rather see whats happening rather than making a little fake mental picture. Face it, books are archaic. I don't need to be "cultured".

Hmmm.... is this turning into a war thread? *oscar*

The 'Little fake metal picture' Is the fun of books.

And if you see a film, you are just seeing Another persons 'little fake picture'

[Arwon]

Famous among critics and scholars, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is the most overrated classic novel of all time.

I'm gonna jump in and say that Jane Austen's not actually too bad. Once you get into the right frame of mind, the humour is extremely well done. The main theme of the books is the irony of the gap between appearances and reality - what's said, what isn't said. It's comedies of manners and very rooted in that section of society at that time, and is very lost on us if we look at it in terms of today's society - the repression and subtlety is hard to relate to. Nuanced social comedy about a society so very different from our own isn't gonna stand the test of time that well, but I personally think Austen's stuff holds up pretty well. You just have to take it for what it is.




I'm not sure if Saul Bellow's the Adventures of Augie March was way over my unsophisticated, inexperienced head, or whether it was just bullsh*t. I suspect the former, but I dunno.

[Last Fog]

The 'Little fake metal picture' Is the fun of books.

And if you see a film, you are just seeing Another persons 'little fake picture'

At least you're seeing it. And it's not fake. It's a real image.

[louder than a bomb]

Beowulf was the original action hero and you know it.

[Chépito]

the Canturbury tales are overrated.

[higbvuyb]

All the Terry Pratchett books. I couldn't read more than 10 pages >.< . He doesnt have that way of drawing you in like so many authors are doing these days.?

They were actually good. You just don't understand them. Maybe some words have too many syllables.


(the Da Vinci Code)
Care to elaborate as to why?

Isn't it obvious? It's really famous and said to be really good, but its not. The characters meet repetitive puzzles at every turn, the police have cryptologists (wtf?), and its not a good book. Its way overrated.

[misoxeny]

F. Scott Fitzgeralds enlighteningly dull The Great Gatsby and many of Mark Twains works as well. Loads of hype, nothing that lives up to it.

[veritas]

the lord of the rings books. They are so long and boring.

[WILLETH FOR MONTHS]

Yeah, I'm going to go with the LOTR series as well. Ugh. And the later books (read - after Darkness At Sethanon) of the Magician saga.

And I wonder, how many people have actually read the books they're deriding?

[Boner]

http://www.harriscomm.com/catalog/images/b129a.jpg

[Pit]

Bill for the Win!

[WILLETH FOR MONTHS]

And how.

[nich]

I have a very strong sense of dislike for The Catcher in the Rye. I think it's the most awful book Ive ever been forced to read in a school environment. The teacher and some females in my class were talking about how much they had a crush on Holden meanwhile I think he's a whiney little prick. I've said this on occasion and people have told me why he acts that way, but that does not change the fact I don't like it. It's one of those books where you have to connect with the character to think its any good, I did not. Salinger's writing style is pretty good though.

[Lord of Spam]

Catcher in the Rye
The Bible
All of Mark Twains fiction (essaysa re gold though)
The Republic
Gilgamesh
Beowulf
Catch 22

I would say the Harry potter series, but I havent read it. I still think it would suck though.

[The Judge]

The Book of Mormon
The Great Gatsby
The Old Man and the Sea (though Santiago was a badass)
The Harry Potter Series
To Kill a Mokingbird

War and Peace, however, was an excellent read, as was Dante's Inferno.

I don't honestly see how any idiot can say with seriousness that the bible was a horrible book. Even if you don't believe in it, the bible is probably the most violent, gruesome book in all of history. And we all know how much the intellectually deviant love to read about pure, pointless slaughter.

[Boner]

I don't honestly see how any idiot can say with seriousness that the bible was a horrible book. Even if you don't believe in it, the bible is probably the most violent, gruesome book in all of history. And we all know how much the intellectually deviant love to read about pure, pointless slaughter.

Nobody said it was a bad book. I just feel it's overrated. It's been translated, hacked apart, rewritten, edited, and modified so many times throughout history that I find it amusing how so many buy into it so easily. At least Muslims are following a book that has never been altered. The Bible is a mere collection of stories (true or not), and some of them are good. As a whole, I feel it's overrated. That's why I listed it.

/end opinion

[The Judge]

I wasn't talking to you, actually, as I figured you were joking anyways. But if we're going along the lines of silly canonical texts:

http://www.whyprophets.com/images/bom.jpg
http://www.studiocreations.com/images/necronomicon.jpg
That bad boy didn't have half the dark secrets I wanted. I had to end up selling my soul to get the answers from Satan directly. :(

[maian]

The Book of Mormon is pretty dang gruesome >=O

Er, relating to the topic, I gotta say Harry Potter. It's a good series, but it's SO overrated. Just like Halo. :)