Books You've Thrown Across The Room with Force

I've thrown more game controllers than I have books (that would be one long list), but here are a few I can think of:

1. As a kid, The Sign of the Beaver. I hated that book. Still do. I refuse to ever reread it b/c of how much I hated it.

2. Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud b/c I hated the ending. How could he? I still can't believe it.

3. The Half-Blood Prince b/c of how stupid I thought it was. I've read better fanfics. And I didn't cry when Dumbledor (spoiler warning) kicked it, but I did laugh. That's how much I hated it.

4. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. Okay, I didn't throw it, or even want to, but I did hide it b/c I don't want to know how it ends. I don't want to loose any of the characters I really like. But Sansa can die. I wouldn't mind that at all.

Warp said:

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Not much of a spoiler warning there - anyone who's reading it would automatically skip along to the next word which gives it away!

I hate any books with deus ex machina endings...yeah, THAT Jodi Picoult novel. I threw it out! Anything that relies too heavily on DEM or coincidence really rips my nips. Anything that isn't researched correctly (Dan Brown this means you). Anything written in bad English.

A Bard's Tale by Mercedes Lackey actually. Mainly because it failed to live up to what it promised in so many ways. Well, okay more dropped to the floor in disappointment.

Ilium - Dan Simmons. It's episodic. No climax after 700 pages, just a 'to be continued'. Not with my 8 bucks it aint.

Ben Marcus' The Age of Wire and String.
I just didn't get it, and I hate not getting things.
Violence solved that problem. I still have it, though.

THE GOLDEN GATE, a thriller by Alistair MacLean. In the first chapter the hero drives from San Francisco to Oakland across the Bay Bridge, enjoying the warm August sun on his head and admiring the green hills behind Oakland.

The Eastbound direction of the Bay Bridge is on the lower level, so you won't get any sun, you can barely see out past the web of girders, and the Oakland hills are BROWN in August, not green. Most years, by August we haven't had any rain for five or six months.

I'd hate to write a book that anyone would want to throw across the room. I only throw books across the room when they strike me as being profoundly BAD in some way. Not so bad they're good (then I just skip to the end) or so bad they're boring (then I just give up). I mean, infuriatingly badly written, or with a badly thought out ending, or characters who transform into someone else midway through the novel, or other unforgiveable shockers. This usually only happens when the novel shows some promise to begin with and then it all goes horribly wrong. The strongest instance I can think of: 'The Ruins of Ambray' by Melanie Rawn (cliff-hangers are not big, Ms Rawn and not clever).

My Sister's Keeper - Worst disappointment ever!

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber, a name I will never forget or read again - lost time.

Forbidden Snowflake said:

My Sister's Keeper - Worst disappointment ever!

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This is my favorite book of Jodi Picoult’s.

Mine too. The ending left me breathless.

Well, I've never actually thrown a book across the room (I had a hard enough time even highlighting them for school ), but I have abandoned a few. The latest was "The Memory Keeper's Daughter." Everything told me I'd like it: it's classified as literary (the author's MFA did raise a pink flag, though), the story sounds good, a friend said she liked it -- even some critics like it (not that that's a reliable indicator I will). Nope. Can't get to p. 100. It's boring and she uses adverbs like they're going out of style. (Kind of like the way I use cliches and hackneyed phrases in posts. Seriously, where else can I use them?) Now, I'm not against adverbs, per se, but I fail to see how a horse can move darkly. After I'm jarred out of a boring story more than once by something like this -- I'm done. Too many books and too little time.

That said, I'll still give her next book a shot since the premise of this one was so interesting. Hopefully her execution will be different on the next one.

Thanks, Train and aadams -- When I saw Forbidden's post about My Sister's Keeper it scared me a little. I don't know how I managed it, but The Pact is the first of hers I've read, & that was in October. I loved it, & plan to read MSK before too long.

Let me say that after I have published my book, and you have bought it, you can throw it across the room if you want to, cuz I've got yer money, sucka!

Little Women. First book in a long time I couldn't finish I was so annoyed with the storyline.

I usually don't throw books across the room though... it may damage the walls...

I have to agree. I would never want to write a throw against the wall book. I want people to enjoy what I write and to buy more. You *usually* only get one throw...

Forbidden Snowflake said:

My Sister's Keeper - Worst disappointment ever!

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Yup, that's the book I referred to up there^^^.

aadams73 said:

Mine too. The ending left me breathless.

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It was the most sickening use of Deus Ex Machina I've ever read. It certainly didn't leave me breathless; it left me nauseous that the author had copped out in such a way. The ending didn't depend on the strength of the characters; it depended on blind chance, absolving characters of all responsibility for their own actions.

Plus, the reader can see it coming a mile off. Well, quite a few pages at least.

I actually FINISHED the Memory Keeper's Daughter, I don't know why... blah.

My "throw," although I didn't actually throw it because I'm pretty sure the book was not mine, was Ahab's Wife. I was utterly disappointed by the fact that it didn't really involve Ahab; I felt like the author had just used the title as a way to rope me into the life story of some woman I could care less about. Talk about false advertising! It was one of the very rare books that I started but did not finish...

smiley10000 said:

Little Women. First book in a long time I couldn't finish I was so annoyed with the storyline.

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Don't be hating on my favorite book.

Well, I was on a surf trip on a boat with a bunch of books picked up at various bars here in Bali, tourist left behinds that tend to be genre beach reads, and I remember one that was so bad--I don't recall the title but it was blurbed as "the ultimate rat novel" (truly!)--that twenty pages in I tossed the book overboard--and I never ever destroy books, no matter how awful.

I've flung DeLillo across the room in frustration. Also CELESTINE PROPHECY.

I like the Harry Potter toss. Personally I loved the ending, it was about time the bugger canned it. If you look closely at her writing style, you notice that she is trying to adapt to become a more mature author. Personally I find it absolutly pathetic since she really lacks the capabilities.

Hmm, books I've thrown.
Well, I tossed the Count of Monte Cristo, I loved the book, but the ending anoyed me at first until I finished digesting it.

Hmm, lets see, I tossed Interview with the Vapire because that book aswell had a trash ending.
I tossed the Davinci Code 30 pages in simply because of the similarities it has with a rather well written and good book, Foucaults Pendulum.

I "tossed" (metaphorically) the last few of Goodkind's books. I read the first few when I was a lot younger, now that I understand what good writing is, those books are the personification of filth.

Hmm, can't think of any more.

I thought *I* was the only one who threw books! I feel like I'm now part of a half-mad book tossing community.

I don't remember the titles - I know I've thrown a Patricia Cornwell book, a Nora Roberts book, and a Mary Daheim book.

I would have thrown "The Davinci Code" hard enough to dent a 2x4, but it belonged to a friend of mine. I try not to toss the books of others.

MFM

I've tossed several.

1. Fellowship of the Ring. Cannot get past page 3 of that puppy. Have never, ever, read ANYthing by Tolkien, therefore. Was thankful when the movies came out so I could see what had created the main genre I write in. (LOL) More thankful when we got them on DVD so that I could pause them for bio breaks (lawsy are those puppies LONG).

2. Lonesome Dove. I know, I know, McMurtry's a god. Not to me. Somewhere around page 3 is a line, "Dawn came slow to Lonesome Dove." I looked up, said, "So does plot, dialog and action," and literally threw that book across the room. (It was a paperpack, and I aimed for the couch.)

3. (Spoilers) Agreeing with those who got sick of Harry Potter, but I lost it in Book 5, Order of the Phoenix. (LOVED books 1-4, I must say here.) I could, without trying, edit 200 pages out of that thing and it would be a MUCH better book. And I both like and write long novels. I hated Harry by the end and therefore cheered when Sirius died and was happy when Dumbledore bit the big one in Book 6. I "can't wait" to see what Book 7 has in store. I didn't throw either Book 5 or Book 6 because the repair bills when those doorstops hit would have been painful to pay.

4. Gene Wolfe's "Shadow of the Toturer", the first book in his New Sun series. My husband ADORES these books. I managed, on a plane flight from Phoenix to Frankfurt to get to page 70 (for perspective, I read the first HP book in 2 hours...I am a FAST reader). I realized over the Atlantic that if I had to keep on reading this book, I would be better off jumping out of the plane. Other than #s 1 & 2, I have never been so bored reading anything, including the back of a cereal box.

BTW, all of these things say to me that publishing is clearly more art than science. Someone loved these books that we cannot stand enough to agent, publish and promote them, and then a whole lotta people loved them enough to buy them and rave about them.

And that means that we're all just one query away from the person who thinks OUR books are the greatest things since sliced bread. Keep the faith.

I've been wracking my brain and I can't think of one that I literally threw across the room. In fact, it's rare that I don't finish a book once I start. The last one I didn't finish was "the Right Hand of Evil" by John Saul, which I got 200 pages into before I realized I was just forcing myself to keep reading.