Books to Avoid

DocHorror · Post by **DocHorror** » 2003-01-29 07:22am

Fair enough, I wouldnt go that far...but I do agree that Holden was a whiney little git...

He was just a pretty average teenager...maybe thats why I found him annoying...

I think that a persons opinion of Catcher depends on what age they were when they read it...I read it last year & im 22...while a good fiend of mine read it when he was in his teens & loves it...

Not conclusive evidence Il admit.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-01-29 07:24am

Well, I read it when I was 17. But it must have REALLY hit a nerve with me.

DocHorror · Post by **DocHorror** » 2003-01-29 07:25am

Fair enough, maybe its just a book your doomed to loath...I guess you should could yourself lucky theres no chance of you being a Manchurian Candidate...

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-01-29 07:29am

Well, I hate Ragtime more than Catcher (actually, I think I might hate it more than anything else in the world). So much that I had to pick C. over R. for a HS paper on a book that I disliked. I didn't to have to read R. again, and I didn't want the paper to end up as something like a 25 page uninteligible rant...

Seriously, Catcher in the Rye is a book that I hate. Ragtime is a book that I have a violent loathing for...

DocHorror · Post by **DocHorror** » 2003-01-29 07:36am

I havent read Ragtime, but from your obvious dislike Il asume its rather Cak...

Seriously though, I think those Bladerunner books are the Devils seed in paper format...

You get the impression you wasted valuable moments of your life reading those abominations...gah! & double Gah!

Malecoda · Post by **Malecoda** » 2003-01-29 01:19pm

Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding me Spank--"Gravity's Rainbow" by Pinchon. Argh.

IRG CommandoJoe · Post by **IRG CommandoJoe** » 2003-01-29 01:34pm

Darth Garden Gnome wrote:
IRG CommandoJoe wrote:[Luke]No! I'll never join you![/Luke]
(Hops in X-Wing and starts blasting up the Matrix "servers.")
(Squiddies deploy.)
(Calls in for Rogue Squadron B-Wing and Y-Wing backup.)
(Rogue Squadron disables them with their ion cannons.)
(All starfighters start launching proton torpedoes at the Matrix thermal exhaust port...er...USB ports....err.....BOOM!)
(Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, and all of the agents die when they are in the Matrix, thus screwing up the plot forever.)

NOOOOO!!!!

*throws ceramic garden gnome at IRG's head* STUPID ROYAL GUARD!!!!

*hops in shuttle and escapes the....exploding....Matrix....er....yeah...*

There will be a next time! I'll build a bigger, stronger Matrix. The Matrix II! And I'll tip off those annoying RGs to attack it, BUT IT'LL BE A TRAP! And I'll foolishly let a commandoe team attack my....er....USB port? And THEN I'll foolishly not let my ISDs attack their fleet, only using fighters.

AND THEN! I'll foolishy bring IRG CommandoJoe to my bridge (where there will be a brain-bugish bottomless pit-o-doom) and try to convert him to....to...um...the gnomish side? Er...yeah...ITS A GREAT PLAN! I've seen way too many sci-fi movies to know that this plan is foolproof.

[Palpatine]Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational.....USB...port...uh...BOOM?[/Palpatine]

LOL
(Jots down plan that Darth Garden Gnome told.)

Post by **Zaia** » 2003-01-29 02:11pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Holden (or Catcher, as I called him) to me was a whiny little hypocritical, oversexed, psychopathic bastard who spend the entire God damn book bitching about how he hates everyone and everything, except for his little sister, Phoebe. And quite franky his scenes with her creeped me out because he sounded kind of like he had an unhealthy infatuation with her.

I felt that he deserved to end up institutionalised at the end. Why anyone would want to read a book about such a worthless excuse for a human being is beyond my comprehension.

But that's just my opinion.

Interesting. I absolutely adore that book.

DocHorror · Post by **DocHorror** » 2003-01-29 02:34pm

I think its a book that has a split audence...

Some love it, others dont...

IRG CommandoJoe · Post by **IRG CommandoJoe** » 2003-01-29 03:57pm

DocHorror wrote:I think its a book that has a split audence...

Some love it, others dont...

Since when does 100% of readers like or dislike books?

Jadeite · Post by **Jadeite** » 2003-01-29 04:08pm

The songs are a part of the mythos. Every culture has some sort of oral tradition

Yes, but this isnt a culture, its a book. And I wouldnt have minded them that much if there were less, but noo, there has to be at least 1 a chapter.

DocHorror · Post by **DocHorror** » 2003-01-29 04:14pm

Since when does 100% of readers like or dislike books?

Since I became supreme overlord of the known & unknown universe...

And since Im too tired & overworked to make anything else but hasty generalisations...

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2003-01-29 08:59pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Holden (or Catcher, as I called him) to me was a whiny little hypocritical, oversexed, psychopathic bastard who spend the entire God damn book bitching about how he hates everyone and everything, except for his little sister, Phoebe. And quite franky his scenes with her creeped me out because he sounded kind of like he had an unhealthy infatuation with her.

I felt that he deserved to end up institutionalised at the end. Why anyone would want to read a book about such a worthless excuse for a human being is beyond my comprehension.

But that's just my opinion.

Let me add agreement. Holden as a character is, to my view, simply another too rich brat who thinks he's always right and the world is against him...sounds a lot like RSA actually.

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2003-01-29 09:01pm

Dalton wrote:
Captain tycho wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:The passage where Sauron senses Frodo putting the Ring on at the Crack of Doom, then realising where he is, in my opinion, is one of the best passages in the history of literature.

That and when Fingolfin battles Morgoth in the Simarilion.
It IS the best passage of literature. The feeling when reading that sentence.... whoo . Tolkien is a genius.
Yeah, I just reread that and I got a shiver down my spine.

I think perhaps some of the excellence comes from the passages just preceeding it. I was rereading it and the sheer power of how Frodo curses Gollum (touch the ring and you shall be thrown into the fire) and what seems to be a curse in fact turns into the salvation of humanity, very strong stuff.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-01-29 09:07pm

CmdrWilkens wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Holden (or Catcher, as I called him) to me was a whiny little hypocritical, oversexed, psychopathic bastard who spend the entire God damn book bitching about how he hates everyone and everything, except for his little sister, Phoebe. And quite franky his scenes with her creeped me out because he sounded kind of like he had an unhealthy infatuation with her.

I felt that he deserved to end up institutionalised at the end. Why anyone would want to read a book about such a worthless excuse for a human being is beyond my comprehension.

But that's just my opinion.
Let me add agreement. Holden as a character is, to my view, simply another too rich brat who thinks he's always right and the world is against him...sounds a lot like RSA actually.

Hmm, I didn't really notice Catcher being rich (and as if that mattered in my opinion...). I hated him for the fact that he was psychotic and self destructive.

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2003-01-29 09:12pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:
CmdrWilkens wrote: Let me add agreement. Holden as a character is, to my view, simply another too rich brat who thinks he's always right and the world is against him...sounds a lot like RSA actually.
Hmm, I didn't really notice Catcher being rich (and as if that mattered in my opinion...). I hated him for the fact that he was psychotic and self destructive.

He wasn't rich so much as of more than sufficient means. He was, IIRC, away at boarding school which itself requires either scholarship or a fair deal of cash.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-01-29 09:17pm

So why base any amount of hostility simply because his family is rich?

But if that's not what you're saying, I retract.

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2003-01-29 09:20pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:So why base any amount of hostility simply because his family is rich?

But if that's not what you're saying, I retract.

It was the brattiness, he just happens to fit into the "rich brat" stereotype very well which is why I mentioned it.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-01-29 09:24pm

Still, I don't know why more kids realise that they're reading about a sociopath breaking down. Yeah, that'll let them identify with 'im!!

God damn stupid psycho Catcher....

Alex Moon · Post by **Alex Moon** » 2003-01-29 10:15pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Still, I don't know why more kids realise that they're reading about a sociopath breaking down. Yeah, that'll let them identify with 'im!!

God damn stupid psycho Catcher....

At graduation, our speaker was the senior english teacher who was retiring, and he gave out "awards" to various Honors english students. Mine was the "Holden Caufield needs to grow up" Opinion award.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-01-30 03:56am

I remember the Teacher that made us read Seprate Peace, Catcher, & Beowulf...

Actually I liked the one with the Dragon better, on the otherhand my senior year english teacher made us dissect lyrics all year. ever want to relate to the cultural signifigance of Mick Jagger?, or tell your censorship loving Asst. Principal that under his rules we can't even play Satisfaction (Rule being no refrences, to Sex, Violence, or the Occult)

[quote="Satisfaction" by jagger/richards]
And I'm trying to make some girl
but she tells me
baby come back, maybe next week, 'cause you see I'm on a loosing streak.[/quote]

or the Beachboys
[quote="I get around" by wilson]
We always take my car 'cause it's never been beat
and we've never missed yet with the girls we meet.
[/quote]
Then to expalin to him about the refrences to H.P. Lovecraft in just about all of Heavy Metal, Tolkien in much of Led Zepplin, and that even older traditonal songs make refrence to such things, He still wouldn't let me play St. James Infirmary Blues due to it's refrences to the Occult and scuicide
[quote="St James Infirmary Blues"Blues, Traditional]
She was streached out on a cold table
so beutiful, so young, so pale
let her go, let her go, god rest her soul, where ever she may be.
[/quote]

Biddybot · Post by **Biddybot** » 2003-01-30 04:11am

Totally agree with Spanky's assessment of the main character in 'Catcher In The Rye'. We had to study that book in high school English and I loathed that character, felt no sympathy at all for him. I did, however, like the writing style, if not the content.

I also felt little pity for the kids in 'Lord Of The Flies', another must-read. I remember being downright embarrassed for the human race that they were initially so easily frightened by the dead pilot (a feeling I re-experienced while watching that movie about the Blair witch project).

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Books to Avoid

Worst Books