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Chatterbox: Blab About Books
Books that I *didn't* like
The fad for...
The fad for listing favourite books seems to be dying out, and I have nothing better to do. Please, please, please don't take offense, I'm just trying to occupy my time.
1. Twilight etc., by Smeyer. Because... yes. Moving along.
2. Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke. Mainly because of the characters, though the idea was original.
3. Eragon, by Christopher Paolini. We've been over this one, I think.
4. Howl's Moving Castle, by DWJ. Except for Howl and Calcifer, of course.
5. GIC. Anything GIC, simply because it's GIC.
6. The Pandora series that Carolyn Hennessy never actually gave a real name to because she's a dreadful writer anyway.
7. The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart. I'm really sorry, I just detested these books.
8. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E. L. Konigsburg. Don't even get me started on this...
There are others, I guess, but I don't want to bore anyone too awfully... I mean no offense to any fans, authors, etc. with this thread, I just honestly have little else to do. What are everyone else's thoughts on these books? Books that you didn't enjoy?
submitted by Mary W., age 11.61, NJ
(August 6, 2009 - 1:03 pm)
(August 6, 2009 - 1:03 pm)
Why?, just out of interest.
(August 8, 2009 - 6:14 pm)
I LOVED Howl's Moving Castle!!! And MBS!!! How come you did not like them? I agree with you for the rest though, Mary. Inkheart I hated because of the writing style. Funke has no talent. GIC is the world's scariest thing. I think we should make a thread were we rant how people think kids are stupid. I read a dumbed-down version of Heidi... the nightmares. I feel so disrespected. KIDS HAVE FEELINGS TOO!!! Now I will go take out my anger somewhere else.
(August 8, 2009 - 9:05 pm)
I'll make a GIC rant thread, Adina. With pleasure. :)
In answer to your questions:
I did not like HMC because... http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/blababoutbooks/node/39137. Hyperlink for you to my... loud... I-didn't-like-DWJ thread. :-/
MBS: Reynie was a Stu. Sticky was a Stu. And Kate was a Sue... Curtain was very possibly one of the dullest antagonists, uh, that I've ever read about. The whole kidpower! theme was just insufferable. Mr. Benedict was vert sterotyped and predictable. Rhonda was flat but tolerable. Milligan was... *chokes* ...very, ah, DULL and PREDICTABLE...
On the bright side, though, Constance was kinda cool. :)
(August 9, 2009 - 11:18 am)
Howl's Moving Castle was a great book!
And am I the only person who thinks that Cornelia Funke is awesome?
I haven't really read a book that I hated, though...
(September 3, 2009 - 7:22 pm)
My responses:
1. Ah, yes. It's even infiltrated my house. TROS!!!
2. The plot, IMHO, made up for the flat characters.
3.Eragon + name changes = LOTR. Nuff said.
4-6. Never read.
7. I enjoyed these books, although the main character had *no* personality.
8. I enjoyed this book as well, though the main characters were just stupid.
(August 9, 2009 - 8:20 am)
Ah, we have a Hitchhiker's fan, I see. It is written in thirty-foot-high letters of fire... and so on and so forth.
I disliked the book Touching Spirit Bear, because it seemed like the author had no idea what he was writing about. He certainly didn't know how long it takes for someone to starve... he was going on and on about all these nasty things this dude was eating to keep from starving, and I was like... um, after such a short time, he wouldn't really be starving yet... and yeah. Not believeable.
(August 27, 2009 - 7:46 pm)
You didn't like Hatchet? *clutches throat* *dies* *revives* Sorry, that's just one of my favorite books.
(August 9, 2009 - 11:38 am)
@ Reuben: 4-6, especially six, wouldn't sit well with you anyhow. Just a guess... But yes, I agree about the plot making up for the characters in Inkheart, though the writing wasn't... top-notch.
@ Allison: Oh goodness no. *No*.
(August 9, 2009 - 1:01 pm)
Ah, now I know what GIC is. Hate here as well. I also *loathe* Hatchet. Actually, I dislike Gary Paulsen's style. And yes, all TMBS characters are Sues, except Constance. Still, it had an interesting perspective on control.
@MaryLizW: Thanks for the location-nod.
(August 9, 2009 - 4:25 pm)
Hatchet rocks!
(August 18, 2009 - 5:37 pm)
Oh, I HATE GICs! Ugh - I tried to read those versions of Little Women and White Fang - HOW DUMB DO THOSE PEOPLE THINK KIDS ARE?!! Sorry, but they're just horrid. Ick.
I just read a book called Alligator Bayou that I didn't care for. It was very well-written, and realistic, and the characters were believable, and the plot was well-thought-out, but... it just wasn't my type of story.
@Allison: Why didn't I like Emily Windsnap? Well, the writing style doesn't appeal to me much, and the characters were uninteresting. I actually used to like it a little, but then I read the Ingo books by Helen Dunmore. They made me change my mind. It was just like Emily Windsnap a lot better. The characters were amazing, the description enough so that you can really see everything, and hear it and smell it and feel it and taste it, but not so much that it was purple prose, andit was just great overall. However, the plots are nearly exactly the same. Ingo was written before Emily Windsnap, so it was Liz Kessler who copied off of Helen Dunmore and not vice versa. If you've read the Ingo books and didn't find them to be the same, let me show you the similarities. Here's a brief summary that fits both series (SPOILER ALERT if you haven't read either one):
A girl lives near the ocan. Her father disappears. The girl finds out she has Mer blood on her dad's side, and can swim long distances underwater, talk underwater, etc and makes a Mer friend. She discovers that the mer have no books and that her father is with the Mer. She vows to find her father (she does find him in the Emily Windsnap one). A Kraken awakes. The girl defeats the Kraken.
I didn't dislike Emily Windsnap because it was the same, but Ingo really is just the original, better version, and when you find a better version of something already only mediocre, the mediocre thing becomes bad in your eyes. That's the way it is with me, anyway. And no offense, by the way. I just didn't like this book.
(August 9, 2009 - 4:50 pm)
@ Reuben- Yes, Gary Paulsen doesn't appeal to me either. Haha, you guys should've heard the audiobook of Hatchet. We had to listen to it in school. It was *awful*.
@ Ima- You'd recommend the Ingo series, then?
(August 9, 2009 - 6:11 pm)
I'll try Ingo, then, Ima, and tell you what I think. :)
(August 10, 2009 - 8:31 am)
@Allison: Keep in mind that there are even more similarities in the later books. For example, a Kraken awakes in Emily Windsnap and the Monster of the Deep (the 2nd EM book), and (correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't read it in a while) she has to defeat it somehow (I think, right?). Likewise, a Kraken awakes in The Deep, which is the 3rd Ingo book. It might not seem too similar unless you've read the whole series...
@Mary Liz: Yes, I'd definitely recommend the Ingo books.
(August 11, 2009 - 10:20 am)
I hate books that are really sad with no point. Example plot- (this is real)Kid is best friends with someone.Kid's friend does something stupid.Kid's friend dies.Kid gets over it.I liked Inheart+ Eragon, but hated the ending of Inkheart's third book, Inkdeath.Red Kayak-Um... the main characters friends accidentaly kill someone and the protagonist must convict them.Tuck Everlasting- the immortal people find the main's GRAVE. I just didn't like it.Night of The Twisters- too sad.Fig Pudding- Um, the main's brother dies. Because he ran into an ambulance on his bike. Gah, Its just too much sad for me.
(August 11, 2009 - 2:57 pm)