[COMPETITION: This list includes a competition.] There are many titles given to great literary works, and many awards to recognize truly great literature. This list wants to concentrate on the other side of the board: those books that are considered “classics,” but are in fact heavily overrated. These could be wildly popular books that were best sellers, but just weren’t that good, or books that are considered “among the best ever” by academics but fail as being readable or good literature beyond some fancy literary trick. In at least one case (see #10), this list also includes good books that are fun reads, but are rated way above the actual quality of writing. Here is the list of ten of the most overrated novels:
What better way to start a list than with controversy? “The Lord of the Rings” remains a cornerstone of the fantasy adventure genre, and the story is certainly epic. That being said, Tolkien was more of a professor and creative inventor than a writer, and that shows in these books. “The Hobbit” was by far and away the best written of all his works, and while the story from “The Lord of the Rings” is excellent and ambitious, the writing itself leaves a lot to be desired. There are the wandering plots, the many pages of details that are completely superfluous, and the often occurrence of “dues ex machine” to keep the plot moving. The story may be good, but for a series often considered one of the best of all time, the writing itself won’t measure up to that lofty praise.
Buy at Amazon: The Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniversary, One Vol. Edition
“A Passage to India,” is widely considered E.M. Forster’s best novel, and is still popular in academe. It is often hailed as an early radical work on race relations that was shocking at the time. Modern critics point out that as opposed to Hemingway, Joyce, Huxley, Sinclair Lewis, or other authors whose works are still popular outside of academic study, Forster’s characters sound like wooden caricatures. The writing is dated and slow, the “social commentary” questionable, and the Indian natives in this novel don’t seem that much different than the Brits, dulling it of the impact that the writers of the Harlem Renaissance had. These critics all have very valid points.
Buy at Amazon: A Passage to India (Penguin Classics)
This is a two for one deal. Don Delillo is absolutely adored by many English professors. His works are equally despised by many grad students and other English professors. These works seem to find the far majority of their fans among professors, while the common readers aren’t biting. Add the fact that just as many professors seem indifferent to these works, and Delillo can be considered badly overrated.
Buy at Amazon: White Noise (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)
Ayn Rand might be the most divisive author not named L. Ron Hubbard. There’s also the chance she is just as divisive. While often pointed out as one of Rand’s “epic” works, “Atlas Shrugged” is a slow paced, thinly veiled, political and moral treatise whose hype is so far beyond the quality of the story that there was no way this book could avoid this list – even if it was generally considered a quality read by the majority of readers. [JFrater: you can't say we don't allow different opinions to have a voice on this site: this is one of my favorite books!]
Buy at Amazon: Atlas Shrugged (Centennial Ed. HC)
“A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking was nicknamed “The unread best seller,” by many critics who noted it was a best seller, but very few people actually read past the first few chapters. “100 Years” is the fictional equivalent. This is considered a genius work that is incredibly complex and ushered in magical realism as a genre, but when you need cliff notes as extensive as the book itself to kind of understand the plot, and this book is kept alive mostly by being taught in colleges, you have a problem. For a book that is almost a lock to be on any “100 best books ever” list, it is amazingly unreadable if you need to actually understand what’s going on.
Buy at Amazon: One Hundred Years of Solitude (P.S.)
This is a book loved by the masses, and isn’t thought of well at all by literature majors or professors. A lot of basic facts are wrong, the writing is poor and amateurish, the narrator mixes with the main character’s point of view, and there’s a lot of thinly veiled social opinions pushed forward as facts. Why is this novel not the most overrated of all time? Because a lot of readers already recognize this for what it is: a story with enough controversial elements and a good marketing gig to hit the best seller list, but a work that was not very well written at all, and a story with a ton of holes in it.
Buy at Amazon: The Da Vinci Code
The story behind this novel is fascinating: the author commits suicide after failing to find a publisher and ten years later the novel is published and wins the Pulitzer Prize. This is a story that is a somewhat modern and Americanized “Don Quixote.” The writing is fairly good, but this is a “funny” story that does enough to get an occasional smirk, but also throws out thirty jokes that just don’t do it. Following that, this book breaks one of the cardinal rules of literature: if you’re following one character as the ‘hero,’ he has to be someone the reader likes, or can at least sympathize with. This book is an acceptable read, but its reputation now grossly exceeds its actual quality.
Buy at Amazon: A Confederacy of Dunces
This book went out of print for nearly three decades. Yeah, Fitzgerald was that important. Then almost thirty years after the rest of the world moved on, two professors wrote a ton of academic papers about Fitzgerald’s “brilliance” in the 1960′s and this book was put back into print to be taught in every high school in the nation. You can almost hear the recurring groans of every student who has ever wondered how this lame rehashed soap opera was ever brought out of printing banishment.
Buy at Amazon: The Great Gatsby
This book is a classic because… well… there doesn’t seem to be much explanation for that. This was a highly ambitious book, and the Brontes did make a name for women authors, but just because a book was ground breaking at the time doesn’t mean it should remain a classic. Some books are horribly dated, badly structured, and not even all ground breaking books are well written. Many argue that “Wuthering Heights” is guilty of all three literary sins, and this novel’s extremely high place in the literary canon makes it number two on the overrated list.
Buy at Amazon: Wuthering Heights (Penguin Popular Classics)
Say what you will, but any book where pretty much nothing happens for 400 pages before the naïve girl suddenly matures and marries the much older man named “Mr. Knightly” (and lives happily ever after) should not be considered the greatest book ever. Through colleges and grad schools, many students have heard this book repeatedly called the perfect novel, the perfect plot, and the best novel ever written. It may have been ground breaking at the time, but it is now the equivalent of chick lit with a very basic plot that is heavily dated. It might be light summer reading for teenage girls, but it is not the best novel ever written by a long shot, making this the most overrated novel of all time.
Buy at Amazon: Emma (Barnes & Noble Classics)
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Contributor: Shane Dayton
I loved “Atlas Shrugged”, but i understand people having divided opinions about it, but “100 Years of Solitude”, i cant imagine an argument against that one.
I love it!
Yeah. no dought Maria is a great alyper. No one hardly knows about Justine Henin which is quite unfair her being world number one and all. I hope one day people will look at me, ignore my looks and my grunts but just see me as a great tennis alyper Maria Sharapova
@jfrater
Can you make a list of underrated but great books, or do you have it already?
what part of austalia?hey, id etharr tell her my opinion honestly. i am a blunt person and if she asks my opinion i will give it to her, no ifs ands, or buts.harsh it may be, but this world needs honesty and not sunshine and rainbows, becasue people arent going to be nice, and thats just life and she needs to get used to it.
I can't believe that "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is considered overrated by you… I am disappointed! I read it when most of my friends read it – when we were 16 and we loved it, just like most people in Europe (still) do… Maybe Americans need to keep notes to read it but it is probably just a language barrier since Americans are not used to Spanish names and surnames (since the family tree (the Buendias) is so large). As far as the plot goes, it is probably a cultural barrier, most Americans can't grasp the idea of magical realism much less the concept of true family values and even lees the concept of love (of any kind) (I lived in the states for 9 years, I think I have the right to say this)…
You should stick to writtiing crime lists
This is easily the funniest and dumbest diatribe against the United States I've ever seen.
"most Americans can't grasp the idea of magical realism much less the concept of true family values and even lees the concept of love (of any kind) (I lived in the states for 9 years, I think I have the right to say this)… "
I can't stop laughing.
You truly have no idea what you're talking about. Generalizing is one thing. Generalizing and being utterly wrong is another one.
I’ve read other books by Gabriel García Márquez… like “La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Eréndira y de su abuela desalmada”, “El amor en los tiempos del cólera”, “Del amor y otros demonios”" and “Memoria de mis putas tristes”… maybe some of the writting theme got lost in translation…I still think that he was a great writter… on Da Vinci Code, totally agree, it’s just an amusing novel, not as complicated as others (I read it in three days)
P.S. sorry if my writting is not as good…english is not my first language.
Keep reading
Thats funny most people accuse Europe of abandoning family values. Perhaps nine years wasn’t enough. Ive lived here my entire life, I can tell you there is plenty of love.
‘probably just a language barrier since Americans are not used to Spanish names and surnames’
Um, actually Spanish is Americas second language and there are tens of millions of people living there with Spanish heritage, names and surnames. You do know that America borders Mexico right and that a large part of the USA was once Spanish speaking Mexico?
Little tip for you. Next time at least try knowing a little about what youre talking about. Otherwise you will just continue to come off as a total moron.
i myself have many problems with America, but this is one of the most idiotic things i have ever read regarding the place. You do realize that there is a huge latin-american population that has heavily influenced american culture for the last 500 years? your own personal anecdote about the bad time you had doesn’t mean anything in regards to the rest of the country.
"Wuthering Heights" – the song was MUCH MUCH better!!!
The band is even better.
While I may not agree with a few on here this is quite a well-written list…
But where is Twilight?
Worst book ever written by a mormon who can't write to save her life…?
Good list but definately should have included Twilight.
I think “Twilight” isn’t on this list because it receives no respect from the academic community. Can you imagine any college professor assigning Stephenie Meyer?
Actually there are a few college course popping up around the country that do in fact require the reading of the Twilight series
Please tell me these are courses on sociology, not literature.
For Native American Studies, it’s relevant. SM’s complete disregard for and exploitation of NA culture raises some important ethical questions.
@NF: Well, if you know anything about Mormonism, you know that the Book of Mormon loathes Native Americans, so it isn’t very surprising.
If you feel this way, you have OBVIOUSLY not read the book. While I do agree some parts of it need a little fixing up, she can top many authors in her precise writing. Besides the fact that she had some slow parts about love, that leave much to be desired, she writes mostly fast paced interesting novels with quite a bit of action, and an imploring plot. More than likely your basing what your saying off of what others have told you, and not your own opinion. This makes you no better than the list maker himself. Do your homework before you come in with ideas you know nothing about.
“Precise writing”? Do you mean the way she spends huge blocks of text defining each characteristic of a misogynistic male lead while ignoring her “protagonist” ? Or the shallow motivations of every character, explored to the extent of “this is his/her motivation… now back to the *****.”
Twilight is NOT overrated :O i shiver at the thought you could imply that, it's one of the most compelling love stories i've ever read. But only if you are talking about Twilight itself and not the rest in the series as the rest were kind of dragging. I loved the Da Vinci Code too! But agree it lacked a strong plot. And I do not think Harry Potter was overrated either. Brilliant books gosh!
You need to start reading actual literature if you think twilight, the da vinci code and harry potter are all well written. Entertaining, maybe, but a 12 year old could have written about the same, definitely. Not to mention the fact that there isn't an original idea in any of them.
bag out twilight an da vinci code, thats fine but i think you missed the concept of harry potter. it can be read by 7 year olds its not meant to be some complex literary masterpiece. and despite this i think its the most convincing depiction of human nature ive read.
I think the point is that Harry Potter doesn't pretend to be "an immortally *****ed-up work of English literature and recipitent of the prestigious, etcetera, etcetera." I would like to meet that 12-year old.
Original idea? Really? That’s your argument? Name one thing that was an original idea? And by all means please find me a 12 year old that could create such complex and deep story lines and I will read his books as well. Don’t get me wrong I agree with you on twilight, but please enlighten us on what “actual literature” is?
Actually, there’s a lot more philosophy in Harry Potter than you think. The story in itself is simple, but the plots put different sorts of moral dilemma’s and challenges to the front; the relationships between different people are scrutinised- it is basically a book that does have various undertones that make it a complex reading if you WANT it to be complex reading. There’s an actual thought process that has gone into it. It has all the cliched fantasy stock characters, historical allusions and fundamental themes, but so do most fantasy novels – they all draw from mythologies, legends, folktales and Biblical stories.
It’s ridiculous to question Harry Potter as literature. Besides, the trend now is to blindly consider anything highly commercial with a large obsessive fan following as over-rated to sound cool. Sure, it’s not Gregory David Roberts, Gabriel Marquez or Dostoevsky, but it was never intended to be. Harry Potter is supposed to be light on the language simply to market it as a book for all ages. In fact, it’s also very British youth-y. Rowling’s characters, too, are traditional in many senses – witches and wizards all seem to marry early. But, she has enough variety in her characters to not turn it into a *****ist novel. Bella is everything a woman is forced to be by a chauvinist culture, but you have Mrs Weasley in Harry Potter, who though she is very traditional, is very underrated as a character of great value – she is an excellent duellist, yet she chooses to live a homely life.
Can you ever imagine Harry Potter being the success it is if it were written in an old descriptive out-dated style of writing such as that of Rand, Tolkien or Hardy?
Also, there NO original ideas in literature, and something like fantasy borrows from the same sources: mythology and religion.
YES, TWILIGHT IS OVERRATED. Get over it, honey.
How naive do you have to be to think Twilight is good literature? Twilight is literature for those who’re too dumb to grasp anything else. Alice in Wonderland, The Little Prince or Jonathan Livingston Seagull, on the other hand, all had better narratives and writing styles than Twilight. In fact, they teach children both simple and complex values in ways Twilight will never be able to.
Twilight is not a compelling lovestory, but a novel that gives love a bad name. It’s an ingenuous attempt at creating a lovestory. What does anyone learn from Twilight? The protagonist, at best, has a vulgar obsession with a puritanical vampire who thinks he knows what’s best for Bella. Bella herself is a girl who is comfortable being subjugated by Edward – she shows no character or strength. She practically worships her. It’s not about Twilight being *****ist, it’s just a bad example for any human being to relate to. Female Disney characters like Mulan, Belle and Pocahantas are much more complex and endearing, with their own solid personalities, and the way they grow. In fact, Pocahantas was an existing woman and Mulan is based on a legendary Chinese woman Hua Mulan.
All the characters in the movie have shallow ideals. At best, Rosalie has some depth to her character, but it’s a depth that we understand for ourselves, and not something Meyer’s was able to bring out. She seemed like the only character with potential.
It’s cliche. The women are care-givers and the men are the brute force.
If you take Jacob and Edward’s relationship, it’s probably the weakest point in the book. It’s simply two high school kids fighting over a girl because “you don’t know him, he’s not good for you – just stay away from him”. A book that tells a compelling story really does a bad job considering Bella keeps swinging from Cullen to Black by her fancy. She essentially leads Black on, and then moves away from him, engages in reckless behaviour when Cullen moves away – this is not a lovestory, but a weakly built character. If you knew a girl like Bella, she’d be a social reject, too, and rightly so – for being a freaky, clingy, suicidal girl who has no aim in life, and blames the world for her social failures, considering she’s the kid who doesn’t seem to want to approach anyone.
She’s mean to her father who’s only trying to makes things comfortable for her, even though, he too is a weak character, and Meyer’s made him sloppy and clueless just so he doesn’t form part of the plot. Bella is very selfish. She doesn’t understand the consequences of her tantrums and immature decisions on her parents and her friends. In fact, the relationship between her and Cullen is given such singular importance, her father becomes invisible in the plot – the relationship that is supposed to be important isn’t even given worth.
Meyer’s is so obsessed with putting her chastity views out to the readers, she completely neglects people in the book that should be given a damn about. The relationships between the Cullen’s itself is so constipated. Edward Cullen himself is such a half-baked and raped representation of some cross between a wannabe Vampire D, Edward Rochester and an Edwardian gentleman. Bella literally endangers the lives of the Cullens by being a major hurdle in their lives – either you take it or leave it. She whines about what an intrusion she is, then she goes on a suicidal rampage when she’s made the Cullen’s forced to move out of their humble abode. The Natives are shown as jerks who won’t listen to common sense, but simply go by their ancient duty of ensuring vampires stick to eating deer or whatever it is that they do.
In fact, most people in the book are very self-centred, consumed by their own problems with little regard for others. Rosaline is forever despondent what with being turned into a vampire, but very glad she had an opportunity to kill the perpetrators of the crime she was victim of. For a person who has lived so long, she’s quite the bitter person to live with. It’s understandable she has a penchant for giving birth, but her story was on that could have allowed for better character development and a more complex plot that included her, but Meyer’s never bothered with that. The existence of all the other characters is just a convenience to create a plot that primarily focuses on Bella being in love with Cullen. In fact, apart from this unrealistic, kitschy, vulgar and maudlin depiction of love, Twilight has nothing going for itself.
As a narrative it is overly descriptive. In fact, she makes up for the lack of a consistent plot by filling pages with descriptions of Edward, Bella or their love for each other. Most descriptions are either of the physiognomy or some sentimental, exaggerated sentiment. The language is horrible. You can’t read the book without vomiting a little.
The movies are a constipated adaptation of the book. Whilst, everyone seems to have verbal diarrhoea in the book, everyone has verbal constipation in the movie. Any conversation with Bella or Edward is awkward. Either it’s bad script, bad acting or bad direction.
It’s so hard to learn anything from Twilight because the obsession Bella has for Cullen keeps glaring in your face. It’s like she’s shoving his giant glittery balls into your face. Cullen himself is such a naive, stupid and reckless boy sometimes – like, his stupid attempt to ‘expose’ himself, essentially causing the Cullen family a lot of problems with the Voltouri or however you spell them. And, if those tourists are being lead to their deaths, I find it fascinating nobody has reported such a large gather missing anywhere.
Twilight is not an original story. Most of the concepts are used concepts in the same way that Harry Potter or LOTR are not original works- both have stock characters, themes and derive their basics from mythologies and religious stories. That’s common for any fantasy. In fact, this what makes Phillip Pullman a great fantasy writer – the relative uniqueness of his work. I would easily consider Pullman, Rowling, Tolkein, Le Guinn, and Lewis (many others I haven’t mentioned) as great fantasy writers, and would never consider Meyers to be placed in that list.
If you want a compelling love story then you should read The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki. It’s realistic – the plot, the character, the sincere depiction of emotions. In fact, Japanese literature, though depressing, has love stories that are much more moving. If you want violent love, then read Russian literature. If you want romantic love, then read some British literature. There are so many cliched options that are still of great value all across the world than goddamn Twilight. Heck, pull out a popular manga like Bleach, and the dynamics of the relationships between Ichigo and Rukia or Ichimaru and Rangiku are so much more endearing and complex than the crap you read in Twilight. Vampire Knight itself represents the relationship between a human and vampire as both depressing, frustrating, violent, passionate and confusing in ways Twilight fails to achieve. I mean, I had a better time seeing Buffy deal with her forbidden love for vampire Angel than having to suffer the torment of seeing two lovers pretending to be Romeo and Juliet by deliberating making things difficult for them and everyone else, just so Meyer’s has an excuse to continue writing a kitschy novel.
Folk songs like “On top of old smoky” has more substance and plot than Twilight.
(Excuse any typos, I was very passionate about getting this through to you.)
Completely agree on Lord of rings trilogy, and definately the Da Vinci Code. it was alright read to begin with but after all the hype i can’t stand it anymore
No No No…. Don’t agree on the justification on LOTR and Da Vinci Code..!!!
Totally agree on Emma..!!
OVER RATED–YES–But some enjoyable reads just the same.
Ugh… when will people like you learn. Hype does not take away from the story. If you dislike something because of other people, you didn’t like it at all or you’re simply a follower–no two ways about it.
I’ve read books that were very good, and despite hype, I still liked them. Why? Hype isn’t a good enough reason. If you don’t think twice about disliking or liking something, I don’t see the point in you doing anything anyway…
Cool list, couple of my fav reads are high up on the list! Oh-Oh! Ha Ha! Oh well, I like them.
Just to add my own, I’m a massive fan and all that but some of Stephen Kings’ books are overratted. He can write about pretty much anything, I’ll give him that but pages and pages of nothing-ness drive me insane. I’d take Wuthering Heights over some of SK’s Tosh anyday!
good list, i can tell it will cause a stir among the comments…
why though is Atlas shrugged here, i recall it being praised in several lists??? Have you changed your mind or do you feel like being hypocritical all of the sudden?
Besides that, you were definitely right with #1. Never have i wasted so much of my time on a book…
Hard to argue with many of these, and while it pains me to say it I have to agree with LOTR being here (although The Silmarillion is even harder to follow but can’t blame JRR since he was dead when it was published). And as bad as DiVinci code is, it’s a literary masterpiece compared to some of Brown’s other works (Deception Point was totally unreadable… a 5th grader could have done better).
JUNQUEMAN: I agree – two books I love are on the list: Atlas Shrugged and The Great Gatsby. Nevertheless I do appreciate some of the sentiments here and I think it was well enough thought out to be worth posting
Donna: I totally agree on King – some of his early stuff is fantastic – some of his later stuff is tripe.
wainboy: I love Atlas Shrugged. I wrote the majority of the lists which praise it. I did not write this list. Therefore I can’t be a hypocrite – just fair minded enough to post alternative opinions to my own
Another amazing list! The Da Vince Code really is an overrated book. Im just new here and I’m still reading all the list here one-bye-one, so I’m off to a reading spree! Ja!^_^v
I agree. While the idea for Da Vinci is cool, the book itself isnt that good.
Definitely agree in #10 with The Hobbit being Tolkien’s better work. I never managed to finish ‘Return of the King’ when I read through LOTR, it was too durgy, but The Hobbit I can read over and over.
Ooooh, the second I saw that picture up there for Atlas Shrugged, I knew Jamie was going to have a little bit to say…
I definitely agree about Lord of the Rings, even though I loved the trilogy, ***** knows what the hell he was going on about sometimes, and even though the movies have stupendous, amazing battle scenes, his tend to last a page or two before delving into the political side of the aftermath.
And THANK YOU for The Da Vinci Code, it’s a brilliant idea, but it’s not a well-written book… Power to him for making squillions off it, but it’s slightly undeserved, and I think he knows it too…
Harry Potter!
The hundred years of solitude is only hard to grasp if you read it in spurts or casually. And if its a casual page turner you’re after you probably shouldn’t be reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
But i guess the family tree with multiple Buendias and Aurelios can be intimidating. But then that’s magic realism for ya !
Enjoyable list.
Very interesting read.
I humbly suggest that this website produce less “overrated” lists. I realize that the whole concept of list making is based on opinion, but it is much easier to swallow the comparisons of the good and the bad, as opposed to an individual criticizing the successful.
But seriously… Where was Harry Potter?
Oh Mr. Dayton, how you sadden me.
I absolutely love Wuthering Heights. I couldn’t stop reading it when I got it. Jane Austen books are rather slow, but I still love them.
“just because a book was ground breaking at the time doesn’t mean it should remain a classic.” Makes me think of the Beatles debate.
The most overrated book I ever attempted to read was “Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil.” I tried every way in the world and just could not stay awake past the first three chapters. I finally gave up
The Catcher in the Rye. I remember reading in a magazine that it changed peoples lives. Lmao!
THIS!
Catcher made me physically sick reading it just because of all the hype. Never understood how "whiny brat *****es about world because he has to grow up and not be a useless leech his whole life" became famous.
I agree with you about Emma. While I love the rest of Jane Austen’s books (although I am somewhat indifferent to Mansfield Park), I think Emma is by far her worst book and one which is entirely overrated. I can happily re-read Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility and even Mansfield Park (if I’m bored), I have not been able to re-read Emma with any enjoyment and now don’t even bother to pick it up. Whilst Emma is Jane Austen’s most overrated novel, I would say that Northanger Abbey is her most underrated.
I should also admit that I have never been able to make it all of the way through Wuthering Heights and have always been puzzled as to why its considered a classic.
While I agree that Twilight is overrated, perhaps it is too soon to include it on this list, as in 5 years it might be completely forgotten whereas novels like Emma and Wuthering Heights have managed to maintain their ‘classic’ status for decades.
I would add as an honorable mention anything written by James Fenimore Cooper. The stories were great, but he sucked the enjoyment out of them with his endless and tedious descriptions of the mundane.
i think the list is ok, but could u please make a list on top 10 motivational books.
If we’re on the subject of bad books (and not going off into another Twilight [*****light] rant ;])
The Night Listener by Armistaud Maupin was a rather bad
It had all the makings of being an amazing story but the ending was so stupid
I’ve never been more disappointed in a book.
Except with Twilight of course
(Sorry, couldn’t help it.)
One last note:
While I may not like The Da Vinci Code much, I disagree with the statement that it is poorly written.
That scene in the elevator at the beginning of the book I think is pretty clever…
Lord of the Rings is probably my favorite read of all time but I can’t quibble with your assessment of Tolkien’s prose skills.
I take GREAT exception to the inclusion of “A Confederacy of Dunces”. I still laugh out loud each time I read it. As far as having a “likable” main character, are you unfamiliar with the concept of an anti-hero? The rest of the list is pretty right on the money, though!
May I also add my vote to include “Harry Potter”?
to state as fact that these novels are overrated is a mistake. literature is a completely subjective topic. if one of these is a person’s favorite, then it absolutely isn’t overrated.
what about shakespeare? i thought he would be on the list for sure. we groaned and grunted our way through eng. lit. classes. totally agree about da vinci code though. very over rated but marketed well cos brown knew how to be controversial. personally i think paulo coelho and edward de bono are also overrated.
shakespeare wrote plays, not novels.
The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda. What an epic snooze.
Interesting list, sure to spawn lots of heated debate. I disagree with your criticism of Confederacy of Dunces. Ignatius is a terrific anti-hero. He is just as fun to follow as any righteous nutter and his foibles make him more sympathetic. How can you not love a man who masturbates furiously when thinking of his beloved deceased pet dog?
But I WOULD say that. This book is top ten material for me.
Check out who I would cast in my dream film adaptation here: http://ilovethingsthataregreat.com/2009/01/06/my-cast-of-dunces/
sharlu:
Twilight is a blatant rip off of several other vampire love stories.
Even Stephen King said that it is very poorly written:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29001524/from/RSS/
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ proof…
To be honest the whole of Twilight sounds like a bad fanfiction with the names changed.
I agree that sometimes the Lord of the RIngs trilogy can be a hard read, but to put it on the most overrated list of all time seems a bit harsh to me.
And like spence425 said, something being overrated is completely in the eye of the beholder, what you think may be overrrated may be the greatest book ever written in my eyes.
Mouse (no.13) I think the reasons “Twilight” is not on this list is 1) Most people realize just how awful they are, and 2) in a few months, nobody will even remember what “Twilight” is, these are all classics.
One hundred years cannot be considered overrated by any stretch of imagination and i dont think it was taxing to read either.Of course once i start to defend it,people will call me biased but i consider one of the best books to read..along with fountainhead!!!
i have to agree with you on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and I’m glad that I’m not the only one who believes so (Until now, I felt a sort of shame that I didn’t like them, almost like I wasn’t quite worthy to be part of that club)
The movies are excellent, so naturally, I thought the books had to be simply epic, reading them, I found that although the story WAS there, the writing made it extremely dull. I managed to muscle my way through “The Fellowship of the Ring” but gave up halfway through “The Two Towers”
Must say that 100 years of solitude is an exceptional read. Difficult but worth it, well worth it.
What about the the most overrated book ever, the BIBLE.
To be fair, unalike most of these books, the Bible can honestly claim to have changed history.
Great List. Totally agree with LOTR and Atlas Shrugged. It took me 3 tries and 2 years to make it 3/4 of the way through Atlas Shrugged. I gave up and read the spark notes, and I’m glad I did. I never finished one hundred years of solitude and don’t plan on it. But Confederacy of Dunces was awesome!
Well we all know Twilight is rubbish.
I’m yet to read any of these, and now I’m sure I won’t touch any of them..
I agree with stevek. Its by far the most overrated.
I know most people wont agree with me, but I think A MILLION LITTLE PIECES by James Frey is overrated. I couldnt wait to get my hands on it and after reading it I was so disgusted. MY FRIEND LEONARD was better, but I think James Frey should try fiction next time round.
hmmm, identity feeling threatened:
Lord of the Rings is great (allowing for some skim reading of course)
Atlas Shrugged (always take Ayn Rand with a pinch-a-salt and much enjoyment can be had! is The Fountain Head better perhaps?)
Confederacy of Dunces (brilliantly funny and original and not rated enough in my opinion)
Great Gatsby (how could this be on the list?! its a beautiful book of the damned with some of the best characterisation ever)
So glad to see The Da Vinci Code on here! And like at least one other here, feel somewhat vindicated in my dislike of Tolkien’s writing style. Kinda surprised that Dickens is missing though.
Da Vinci Code was awful, terrible writing. And the Twilight comments? it will never be a classic, they are dumbing down a generation, and the writing appallingly bad. But I think Stephen King is underrated, his new stuff isn’t great, but hes a great writer. Twilight being a good love story? are you kidding, more like a twisted abusive ‘love’ story, so so so bad
Stephen King is the bestselling novelist in the world, I don’t think he’s underrated. Sure, he catches some flak every now and then, but that’s just because he’s so famous.
Catch 22… definitely overrated
As far as Dan Brown’s work goes, Angels and Demons was MUCH better than the DaVinci Code.
Dead right buddy.
I COMPLETELY agree with #3 on the list, it was the 2nd worst book i can remember reading(the worst being the scarlet letter of course, couldnt stand it, too boring for me, but thats me) anyway, i found The Great Gatsby to be very uninteresting and, while it isnt a horrible book, it is way overrated, and cant compare to some of my favorite books (breakfast of champions, 1984, and others)
The Harry Potter series should definitely be on the list for the same reason the lord of the rings series is on there.
another bad list just someone saying dat dey dont like these books
stop doin list of ur own opinon
“dat dey”
“doin”
“ur”
Wow…whatever happened to the alphabet? (And WORDS.) It never ceases to amuse me when someone tears down another’s writing in broken and/or garbled text-ified English. (This is, of course, exempting ESL.)
Almost every list on this website is based off of opinion. Nobody made you read this particular one.
I have to agree with this list. Even though I have read and liked the majority of the books, they are all very overated!:(
I complained viciously all through “The DaVinci Code” about the horrible writing. Totally agree. Good choice of material for him, though.
Where’s the tora, the bible and the koran?
Yes, real cute.
ayn rand being compared to dip***** hubbard *extraordinarily vulgar comment deleted*.
I have to agree with most of these. The Lord of the rings was a good read, but nowhere near as good as people make out. And I’d also have to agree with all the others that said Harry Potter. The books are very amateurish and weakly written and the movies, well, they’re just atrocious.
I read the Lord of the Rings when I was about 13 or 14, and loved it. I thought it was basically god in book form. I still think it’s great, but as my knowledge and writing skill has matured, I now see that although it is written beautifully, plotwise there are some holes, as well as the issue of the good/evil dichotomy. However, you can’t tell me that Eomer’s charge against the Southron king wasn’t awesome…
“…and the drawing of the scimitars of the Southrons was like the glitter of stars…”
That, my friends, is my childhood inspiration to write.
-Mendacity
Reading the appendices and The Silmarillion will explain alot of the missing or confusing elements. There is a great deal going on behind the scenes, and a great deal of character motivation will be revealed. Otherwise it's like trying to understand World War II without a knowledge of history or geography.
i just had to read Wuthering Heights in school im glad to know other people hate it as much as me
That's a pity, as your grammar really could have improved through having read it!
Yes! Finally someone agress! LOTR was unreadable for me because of all the pointless detail. It was a chore to read.
And take THAT, Austen. ***** you and all your film adaptations starring Keira Knightley.
I agree with all of those books on the list, but I am saddened by the lack of Ernest Hemingway up there, specifically the old man and the sea. It’s easily the worst book I have ever read, despite its deep “symbolism.”