Anyone read the Left Behind Series?
 

I'm starting with the Prequel (three books written during the middle of the series but story-chronologically first) and then going through all additional 13 books (there's apparently not going to be any more since the 13th finished the story). I've read a couple of pages and the writing is very light and accessible.

I also want to read Left Behind The Kids. Read an excerpt and I was hooked. I can get all 40 books for around $80, so I'm thinking of doing that. Not sure yet (second-hand). They're $3.50 each new. If not, it will have to be the library, although they are missing ONE in the middle of the series. Amazon would have to fill the hole.

It's incomplete in Kindle editions so I'm going real-book for this one, since it's incomplete and it's a long series that I don't know if I'll like.

-popcorn-

I read the first one. It was pretty much what you'd expect.

I've read through the regular series. I'm not a christian, but I had a sort of morbid curiosity about them. For the most part I found them poorly written and very offensive to my (classical) liberal sensibilities.

Except for the thirteenth book which was just completely fucking bizarre. It's like Grant Morrison wrote a sequel to the bible as a goof.

You found them poorly written and very offensive and yet you continued to read over a dozen of them? Did you lose a bet or something?

I read them all except the last one. I really want to finish the series to be complete, but haven't found the time. I thought they were okay, but didn't agree with some of the things written in the books. I am a Catholic (not devout by any means) and thought some of the writing conflicted with what I've been taught/believe. However, I was prepared for that when I began reading the series.

After awhile, I just tried to read them as a mystery novel.

I got up to Assassins back when it first came out. To me it felt like they had no idea what they were writing about anymore so I gave up.

Well I'm Jewish so I'm not looking for any religious epiphany :D It just sounds like a very good fiction writing concept - the end of the world comes and you're still stuck on Earth! -eek- I'm 5 pages into the first prequel book and I like the "light" non-academic style of writing. I can read at work but it's noisy so if I have to concentrate too much I can't really read with pleasure. This kind of reading is easy enough to grasp while actively trying to drown out outside noise (I can't study with any noise at all, not even a clock ticking... I need complete silence for most kinds of reading).

8:48 - "I've read a couple of pages..."

3:13 - "I'm 5 pages into the first prequel book..."

Might want to pace yourself ;)

I read the 13 main books. They're ok. I tore through the first 8 or 9 in a few days when I was working 12-hour shifts babysitting users as we rolled out a new version of their flight scheduling program back in 2001. Very easy reads.

Beginning of the series was more interesting than the end. I believe the publishers requested an expansion from 7 books to 13 based on popularity and it really starts to feel bloated.

:lol: I don't know how many pages into it I'm at, I read the little mini-intro, somewhere between 2 and 10 pages. That's my work book, and I haven't been to work since I picked it up Wednesday. I was going to start reading it tonight but First Quarry is so good it might bump it a bit.

Like I said, morbid curiosity. That, and I was able to skim through each book in under an hour.

If you want a real mystery, ask me why I kept reading Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles up through and including "Blood and Gold."

I read a little of the first book and it was so poorly written that I threw it away. The characters were morons and the dialogue felt like it was written for a child.

I read about half of the first book. I didn't care for writing at all. It was like the worst Dean Koontz books. I actually like Dean Koontz but when he is bad he is really bad.

Well, be prepared to read about Jews converting to Christianity when they realize they were wrong in their beliefs.

I read the first 8 or so, but then my own religious views changed and I had no interest in continuing. The early ones (in publication order) were better to me. I last couple I read seemed to take 300 pages to cover 1 or 2 days, where months passed in earlier books. I'd say they are at a similar writing level as James Patterson.

My local library has a rather large collection of books for sale. In the oversized paperback fiction section, there are close to thirty of the Left Behind books grouped together, and there they will remain for quite some time, literally left behind. I think that the library should give them away for free, just like microwave cookbooks from 1981 or anything written by Anne Coulter (there are plenty of unsold copies her books as well).

That's the kind of thing I didn't care for in the books. IIRC, the Pope was lifted up in the Rapture only because he denounced the Catholic religion. The new Pope was some Paganistic world-wide church leader.

:suicide:

I read about half of the series before I became bored with it. I thought the technology that the ragtag group of Christians kept coming up with was very, uh, convenient. Using convenient technology to write yourself out of a hole once or twice might have been ok. However, they constantly used, as a crutch, devices such as undetectable bugs or ridiculously small computer harddrives that were better than anything the Anti-Christ and his people could develop. Boring.

Oh, and like Josh, I don't believe in any of it. I spent most of my childhood going to a church that thought the end of the world was always right around the corner. So I was very familiar with the authors' interpretation of the end time prophesies. I was curious.

The books are light and easy reads--even fun at first. But the mediocre writing resorts to filler about halfway through since the authors obviously didn't have enough material to span the entire series.

I think you could easily find some better written books about the end times and not have to endure the proselytizing, preaching and contempt for any other world view than the authors' own.

Fiction→ Religious→ Christianity→ Apocalyptic/millennial
http://www.iblist.com/list.php?type=...enre&genre=455

Better yet, just watch The Seventh Sign, then The Rapture. Then find some good books to read. If you need a light and easy to read, large collection, check out Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series. They are definitely not end-times , but they are great for passing time at work.

Both very good films. The latter is the better one but the former is underrated.

As an atheist of Jewish ancestry I could not imagine subjecting myself to a single page of the Left Behind books.

I actually enjoyed reading the first five books, especially the first. But I lost interest when the books got off track from the interesting cosmic drama and too bogged down in sluggishly written action scenes. And I'd agree that the series was far too long, but I'll still defend the early books as fun Christian pulp fiction.

You also might give some Frank Peretti stuff a try.

IVe read the first 2 and part of three and I own the 13 plus the prequel #1 ive been mewaning to finish the series but I started reading Unfortunate Events and Dune so Thats eaten up a lot of my time.But from the part of the series I read I liked it.

i read the first four -- none after that. the authors (supposedly christians) do there best to milk as much money out of the series that they can. How many did it finish with?? 13?

they make me sick. 7 books maybe 8 would have been sufficient not friggin 13.