Teenage Bookcase Embarassments... that you hated as a teenager

Can't abide that book. Self-indulgent, whiny little pipsqueak. Grr.

Ayn Rand- I've read all her fiction, and where I don't agree with everything that she says, I got something out of it. I'm not a hard core fan of it... I think she could have said the same thing in a 100 pages instead of 700.

Haven't read the Beat stuff yet. So I have no opinion there.

The other book I absolutely hated was "Lolita" - we were given it as 16/17-year-old sixth formers. Everyone else raved about it, but it seemed little more than low-grade soft-core porn to me.

Over twenty years later, I haven't been able to bring myself to revisit either of these books - perhaps it's time I did.

So far all us Holden hataz have failed to address JD's point. I think J.D's right. The whole point of Holden's character is that he's unashamedly unappealing as a person, but I don't think you're supposed to hate him for it. I think the point of the book is to identify with his outsider nature and to feel that you too are disillusioned with the world in a way that's difficult to articulate. You know, you say "turbulent nihilist", I say "whingey self-obsessed wanker". Let's call the whole thing off.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was another one I never got into. I'm just not that interested in the minutiae of motorcycles, and was never stoned enough as a teenager to appreciate this book.

i think Catcher is a fantastic book. I think Zen and the Art is a fantastic book too. In my opinion, it has very little to do with the minutia of motorcycles and being stoned. I appreciate Rand too, but like Kelly I think she coulda said it in 100 pages instead of 700. sometimes it's just toooo drawn out.

i like catcher more for style and Zen and Rand more for content. I wouldnt hold up Robert Pirsig or Ayn Rand as great writers per se. the books are good, but their writing doesn't hold up too well. prisig's is more of a meandering essay and rand is just too goddam repetitive for chrisake. it really is.

Fountainhead is my favourite. I drew a lot of atheism from it, and, being fond of architechture, I reveled in the imporatnce she placed on buildings, and their importance in society. All the Gail Wynand stuff was ridiculously overblown, but again, that's the fun of Ayn Rand. We The Living was a little less grand, but even more obvious, if possible.