I grew up in a crazy family. Both my parents were / are personality disordered. My brother is a functioning sociopath / shark in a business suit.
OK, I hate any novel that really focuses on crazy family / truly crazy people.
Here is my list of most hated novels, in no particular order:
1. Don Quixote. As an English major, I appreciate why this is an important book. Even though Don Quixote is written sympathetically, I don't find him all that sympathetic. It does help to have read medieval romances / medieval literature, for this is the topic of Cervantes satire. Compared to Chaucer or the great Elisabethan / Caroline drama, it's boring. It's slapstick. Don Quixote is to medieval romances as Blazing Saddles is to Westerns. By the way, I do like slapstick sketches (and have written more than a few for various follies), but I enjoy about 30 minutes of it, before I get tired of it and find it stupid. I find Don Quixote stupid and vapid. The Spanish treat this as a childrens' book and that's where it belongs.I think this book speaks to the 'Greatest Generation' and those who were teens / adults during the Kennedy Administration / Race to the Moon. It would speak to an age where we were idealists--where one income could support an entire family, where you expected that your children would be better off than you, if you did well in school, you KNEW you were going to college even if you were poor (examples: Mario Cuomo--the late Governor of the State of New York who was truly a self-made man, the social psychologist Philip Zimbardo, who grew up in the South Bronx, did well in school, got scholarships and made it out).
2. The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner. For years, I've had problems getting through this one. I decided to take a class where we read this one. I went to the library and took out several books on literary criticism of Faulkner as well as a guidebook / glossary published by the University of Mississippi. I did get through it (and actually wrote my term paper on it) despite the fact I REALLY, REALLY HATE this book. I also REALLY hate the class and the teacher--who had very strong religious prejudices--very anti-Christian--and should have been fired for the vile crap that came out of his mouth. Other students criticized me because I had a glossary and was using it during the class. I demonstrated that the teacher didn't know one end from another. I had to challenge the grade--I was successful. I got my A and he got into trouble.
3. Moby Dick. Again, I appreciate this book from a historical sense, but I found it's detailed explanation of whaling to be downright boring. The Victorians can be quite ponderous.
4. On the Road. I hate drunkalogs, and this is a classic drunkalog. It spoke to the 'Greatest Generation' who had just faught WWII, but doesn't really speak to us now.
5. Catcher in the Rye. I really like J. D. Salinger's short stories. This novel pales in comparison.
6. Gone With the Wind. Needs an editor. Badly.
7 Huckleberry Finn. I had to read this in 11th grade. I appreciate its historical significance. However, this is clearly a childrens' book, and a pretty boring one at that.
8. Most translations of the Illiad and the Odyssey. I finally got through both of these poems when I got the Fagels translation--and actually really liked it. I hated the Illiad and the Odyssey because Lattimore's translation was way too pedantic and the earlier Victorian translations were.... too Victorian. This is an example of how bad translations make something that is great horrid.
9. Ayn Rand novels. Ayn Rand is a a true nutcase. Her political philosophy is bonkers. Her books are poorly written. She's about as bad to read as L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth Series--arguably the worst science fiction ever written, and the worst written novel I have ever tried to read.
10. Any so-called classic recommended by Oprah Winfrey. She is Politically Correct. She is a New Age Nutcase. She is completely self-centered and downright evil. She recommends books with an agenda. One of her favorite authors is Toni Morrison, who is pure Politically Correct. Another of Oprah's favorite 'classics' is The Alchemist--a NewAge Nutcase personal growth growth book vaguely disguised as a novel.
