Stangman68

F. Scott Fitzgerald
J.D. Salinger

Um, these are the only two that come to mind at the moment--will get back to you on the other three...

Sorry...

Tuan Jim

one offhand: Faulkner. I hate him for foisting off on the world "Absalom Absalom". What a piece of crap.

Tuan Jim

darkside

This is always tough. I hate to bash author's that might be favorites of others, but the following have just never appealed to me.

Tom Clancy - His books always feel unedited to me. Way to long and filled with information that seems unimportant to the story. I liked the movie versions of his books though, so I'm sure there is a good story in there somewhere.

John Grisham - Not a fan of legal books. The mention of a jury in a book is usually enough for me to close the book and never pick it up again. I know the legal system sucks and I don't need to read about it in every other book.

PD James - Considered the new Agatha Christie by most, considered a really dull writter by me. I've yet to like any of her books.

Mary Higgins Clark - Again she is the number one mystery writter in the US, but I just don't like her books. I think its because I like the more classic style of mystery writting. However, her daughter Carol is a terrible writter and its obvious she would have no career without her mother's reputation. Sad to see that happen.

James Patterson - I have a love hate relationship with Patterson. I went a long time after Kiss the Girls finding any of his books I liked, but Roses are Red and Violets are Blue were pretty good Alex Cross novels. Overall though I don't like many of Patterson's novels.


To be fair I usually will give these guys a chance from time to time when they have a new novel. Ocassionaly one of their books will hit me the right way and I will end up enjoying it.

movielib

I really hate J. D. Salinger and Philip Roth. These are the two most overrated hacks I've ever read.

Josh-da-man

Ayn Rand wrote trashy novels with b-movie trappings and philosophical pretensions. Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead are, however, guilty pleasures of mine -- which really puts the guilt in guilty pleasures. There's also a lot of inadvertantly hilarious stuff in them, especially Atlas. Godawful writer, but compulsively readable.

Stephen King Okay, I love his early stuff (excepting The Stand which left me feeling cheated), but he's been (successfully) coasting on his name for years. Good Lord, how many times can the man retell 'Salem's Lot?

Tom Clancy Pornography for the military-industrial complex. Actually, that description sounds sort of fun, which his overwritten, overwrought, overblown tales are definitely not.

P. G. Wodehouse Probably an excellent writer, but I had a really bad experience involving one his stories in high school english class. Sort of soured me on him. Grossly unfair, I know. Have to revisit his works in the future.

Any celebrity author -- some actor, athlete, wrestler, comedian, or talk show host using their celebrity clout to hammer out a narcissistic autobiography or recycling material from their "acts." Bookshops don't deserve to be polluted with this crap. Okay, Steve Martin writes novels, but at least he doesn't put a headshot on the front cover.

grunter

I'd have to say Robert Jordan (cheap Tolkein rip-off fantasy), Piers Anthony (for pretty much the same reason) and pretty much anything on the top 10 bookshelves. Pop-novels bore me.

ziggy

jeez, you are all naming some of my favorite authors - I like Fitzgerald and Salinger. I thought "Absolom, Absolom" was great. I've only read one thing by Roth, but I liked it. I don't see why Ayn Rand has to be a guilty pleasure - all of her novels are good, with the possible exception of "Anthem." And I think King's newer stuff is soooo much better than his older stuff - what was the last new thing that you read josh-da-man? Because he did have a lull there for awhile - when he was doing lots and lots of coke - but Everything I've read by him for the past couple of years has been great. 'k My least favorite - hmm...I think Swift is overrated - good poetry, but everything else is kinda week - and Lovecraft isn't too good either - everthing he wrote was exactly the same - though I liked the first short story I read, the rest were just the same - It's hard to say who I don't like because, I don't read what I don't like.

Tuan Jim

Someone from one of my lit classes described AA as Faulkner writing a standard murder mystery novel, dropping all the pages on the floor, mixing them up and then stapling them together in random order. Really, that's the way it ends up. I don't mind reading page long sentences when they're written by someone with class like Herman Hesse (who makes sense), but Faulkner couldn't make a point if he tried.

Tuan Jim

ziggy

No, its not the point that matters - its how you say whatever it is you're saying - at least it is with the modernists. In Absolam, Absolam there was an Open parenthases "(" and the close of that parentheses ")" did not come for 31 pages - that was one single thought line - Faulkner writes poetic prose - it is not supposed to be easy to understand - its supposed to be art. I think that it is - I can't define art, but I know it when I see it

Darren H

Amen. I guess it doesn't bother me that so many undergraduates stumble upon Rand and mistake her for being profound. Readers who never grow beyond those delusions, though, scare the hell out of me. My guilty pleasure is We the Living.
Salinger is definitely love/hate. He's an important figure in my life as a reader, but I haven't felt any desire to read him in a long time. Roth, on the other hand, can do no wrong by me. The Human Stain was almost too timely and I Married a Communist was a tad bitter (even by Roth's standards) but, otherwise, he's been on an amazing run over the last decade. I don't know what particular novels your basing your opinion on, but The Ghost Writer and American Pastoral are as good as anything an American's written in the last fifty years. I know many people who don't care for Roth, but none would ever call him a hack. Technically, he really is one of the most skilled, intelligent, and proficient living writers.

CharlesC

I hate to be an ass and point out the obvious (obviously I'm not as well read as some people here, serious lack of the classics) but I hate Dean Koontz.

Let's pick any random book by him and I guarentee that it will have a setting in SoCal, have a cop/ex-cop as the main character, have an abnormally intelligent dog, and a villian who has a thing for body parts. Soooo repetitious I could hardly believe that he gets away with it!

movielib

After reading Portnoy's Complaint and Our Gang (I only read that one because someone gave it to me as a present; it was the worst attempt at satire it has ever been my misfortune to read; for a good, similarly themed satire from the same era, I would recommend Richard Condon's Death of a Politician) a long time ago, I thought his writing was total crap and I do think he's a hack based on these two books. I admit I haven't read anything by him since but I feel I've had good reason.

Darren H

I hope that Roth's reputation doesn't ultimately rest on that "masturbation" book. I still think that parts of Portnoy are funny as hell, but Roth has grown considerably since then. I also have never been able to finish Our Gang or The Breast, both of which were written during Roth's weakest and most egotistical period. If you find yourself with some time and nothing to read, pick up American Pastoral. It's well deserving of all the awards it won, and I promise that, even if you don't care for his particular style, it will surely reveal him to be more than a hack.

DodgingCars

The man cant end a novel either. I've actually enjoyed a few of his book up until the last few chapters. I swear.. its like he'd run with a pretty good idea... and have no idea how to conclude it.. so he'd just throw something together and hope his readers would forgive him.

And yes... all of his books take place in SoCal and generally have similar characters. My friend pointed out to me after I read 2 of his books that all his books have a male main character, a female main character, and a kid -- who all somehow get thrown together and then the guy and girl start getting the hots for one another. Blah.. it took like 5 books before I truly gave up on him. I just kept giving him another chance.

Unfortunately I don't read as much as I'd like to... so it would be pretty hard for me to name 5 authors I hate.

TeeSeeJay

I can't stand Clive Cussler. Can't stand him at all.

BoatDrinks

I do think it is better (and makes you sound smarter) to say that you don't care for someone's writing, or even hate them, as opposed to "he can't write or he's a hack."

Just because I don't like someone's writing, doesn't mean they can't write.

I don't care for:
Clive Cussler
Dean Koontz
Tom Clancy
Ayn Rand
Mary Higgins Clark
Balzac

I think that Faulkner and Fitzgerald are two of the most important authors of the last century. IMHO, those who think these guys can't write are usually people who were raised on contemporary fiction, thus having a rough time accepting the experimentation/messing with the form that was going on with these guys, or just have very little education in literature outside of HS and college 202 English courses.

Charlie Goose

This is precisely my problem wth Dean Koontz. His set-ups are great and really get me interested, but then they usually end with a fizzle.

I won't read another Robert Ludlum. I'm not much into espionage (except for John Maxim's Bannerman series - not sure if they count though), but when I read The Matarese Circle, I was completely bored.

Xytraguptorh

Anne Rice--The subject matter is interesting, but the writing doesn't flow for me at all. I get so bogged down in the language that I can't get immersed in the story.

Kaitlin Kiernan--Another overrated "horror" writer. Her writing style is even more pretentious than Rice's.

I don't know who else to pick really. Basically, I just dislike material that requires me to keep a dictionary nearby to look up obscure words. So I guess about half of all writers of "classic literature" would go on my list. I've always enjoyed reading, but I've also always felt alienated by "literary" enthusiasts--people who are above reading something by Stephen King or Michael Crichton just because they're popular. Uh, anyway, I guess I'll go finish that Bentley Little novel I've been reading....

Mister Beefhead

Ok, I just can't let this one go.

1) What about The Stand left you feeling cheated?

2) What book(s) do you find similar to Salem's Lot?

Josh-da-man

1)

2) "Evil comes to a small town and wreaks havoc. With an ensmeble cast." It's one of King's stock plots. 'Salem's Lot, It, Tommyknockers, Needful Things, Insomnia, Desperation, Dreamcatcher.

BigStinky

Speaking of editing - "way too long" ^

j/k, I never pick on other people's spelling, but I thought you might appreciate that

Clancy is a better researcher than writer, imo. I think screenwriters must have an easy time paring down his stories and turning them into interesting movies.

darkside, I don't think he has an editor either. Or at least he has a very hands-off editor.

Eric F

Ok, how many times will Stephen King come up in this thread?

The Lusty Nun

1. Jackie Collins
2. Mary Higgins Clark
3. Anne Rice
4. Danielle Steele
5. Dean Koontz

____________________________________
"This is my happening, and it freaks me out!"