Does any of you have some books you've read which influenced your thoughts a lot even though you didn't really enjoy reading it. For example I read a two part book series called Felicias Island and Felicias Travel. (at least I think that would be there names in a translation, I read them in Swedish) They where YA dystopian books and way to depressing for me and the plot was not that great. However they did have some really great portrayals of different kinds of societies and communities which the main characters of the book where part of or encountered. I often think of those different societies portrayed when looking at real world societies or ones described in other books. Who else has read a book they did not really care for but that still stayed with them?
There are some scenes from Stephen King's books that stuck with me (most notably The Stand and The Shining). And I still remember a lot of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code for some reason. I should add that I don't care for either of those writers.
probably Matched by Ally Condie. I found the story boring, but I still can't stop thinking about the world.
I've two: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I dislike both of them but I can't deny their value either. I've even caught myself referencing them.
I thought Alice in Wonderland would suck me in, but it didn't. I like the book anyway though and it has some of the best dialogues I've ever read. Which are "mad" of course But probably the books I dislike but still memorized them, are the books we HAD to read for our school. I don't like being forced to read. Most of my schoolmates read the reviews, but I probably hate that even more. So yeah, I dislike almost all of the obligatory school literature material, but I still remember some parts of certain stories.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Both of these works of fiction have stuck with me in one way or another. In their time I'm sure both of them would have seemed different to me, but being of this generation I had a difficult time enjoying them. The former just wasn't my cup of tea and the latter had so little dialogue in it that it felt like I was reading one very long descriptive text.
For me it would be The Lost Honour of Katherina Blum, by Heinrich Boll. I found the book horribly dry and boring to read, but the ideas in the novel had a huge impact on shaping my beliefs and opinions. I personally blame this book for my feminist views, my interest in law (which is one of my majors at university) and my distrust of sensationalist media.
I read an interesting quote from an introduction to a novel that vaguely relates to this which says - This quote is from William Boyd which I thought rang very true. In a way, we absorb the information contained in the books we read whether we liked the experience of reading it at the time or not. Often it's the more distasteful which will embed itself more readily due to the reaction it causes in the reader. I remember really disliking reading American Psycho but that's not to say I've forgotten what it contains. Even though much of it was shock-tactics, the imagery that was used is still pretty vivid when I think back to reading it.
For me, One Day by David Nicholls was such a book. I forced myself to finish it even though I didn't like it, and after that I couldn't stop thinking of it for weeks, months. Something about it made such an impression on me.
The Kite Runner, I had to really force myself to read that book, and I still can't say that I enjoyed it... But it was very powerful and sticks with me, and I appreciate it as literature, but I doubt I'll ever read it again...
Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward." I read it has as a requirement in high school and it was very dull, but I did love some of the ideas he had about the future.
Some classic novels that I feel like I was 'supposed' to like but didn't: 1984, Lord of the Flies, The Great Gatsby, and Frankenstein. Each book stayed with me in some way, how could they not when so popular and I DO get their social significance, but I struggled with keeping interest through each, let alone finishing them. Same with LOTR... I never made it passed the first, which I wasn't expecting since I did enjoy The Hobbit.
Does the Bible count? Fifty Shades of Grey for me, though, in terms of a book I hated but that I still think about sometimes. I read it so that I could understand why it was both hated and loved so strongly. And it made me so incredibly angry if I hadn't been reading on my kindle I would have thrown it in the swimming pool. The 'if you're into BDSM you must have been abused as a child' themes made me so mad that I didn't make myself read books 2 or 3, though. Thankfully... Those are hours I will never get back.
You disliked To Kill a Mockingbird!? But why!? Anyway, for myself... Dan Brown. Oooh my dearest Dan Brown. His writing was so infuriatingly bad that I wanted to scream at the pages, and subsequently remember what I read rather well for all the wrong reasons. Specifically the book was Digital Fortress, before the Da Vinci Code hype, and before I even learnt to read critically - BEFORE that point and I knew his writing was trash. Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series - I loved it at the time but now find his writing laughable and I am amazed I didn't see it before. Nonetheless, it's part of my adolescence. Chaucer's Tale - I don't remember what it's called, it was the one told by a red-haired man about how this man came to woo this woman and the woman flashed her vagina at him, or something. Had to read it for A-Level. 1984 was memorable, and I loved 2/3rds of it before the block of philosophy cut my interest short and left me very disappointed. Handmaid's Tale - did it for A-Level, I never read the book because I found it kinda dull, but knew enough of it, and enough snippets, to get full marks for my essay on the book, which annoyed my entire class so much I could feel their daggers in my back as I walked into the room. Anyway, I intend to reread it for real one day. Sophie Kinsella - terrible writing but so hilarious that I don't care, I'd read her stuff again Her books got me through a very depressing year in London because it was exactly what I needed at the time. I think in Kinsella's case, my fondness for it goes beyond simply that her stories were enjoyable and funny - it was my comfort and helped keep me sane, I needed my books then, and it was also what revived my interest and habit in reading. I'd stopped reading at 18 and started again after graduation, when I was 22 (and haven't been able to stop since), all because of Kinsella's comedy, and for that reason her stuff will always be kinda special to me I think.
