Thursday, April 27, 2006

Help me with my homework

I'm working on an essay this weekend about the spoiled milk moment of literary exchange - "This smells awful! Get a whiff of this." I have one friend in particular I always give books I hate, not entirely sure why the impulse, but its there, and so I'm writing an essay about the value of hating books.

Hopin' I can impose upon any that I can rope onto this patch of blog estate to help me out by telling me about some book you just hated and why. Hated its politics, hated the ending, hated the stupid stupid narrator, hated the way it made you cry into the night, whatever. But, especially if you've ever said "This book sucked - you should read it."

I'll even start. I really hated Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead because by the time she reached the sea, the sky and Howard Roark I had long since gotten her damn point, and I don't like being hit about the head and shoulders.

(Funny anectdote - a friend of once threw Rand's Anthem at me across a cafeteria table like a throwing star because he hated it so much and I had loaned it to him. See, there is a power in hating pieces of literature.)

Oh, and I rea-hEEEEEEE-lly hated Left Behind - I mean, shit, the Jews were siding with the AntiChrist by page 100 - but I've made people read it.

If you can spare a moment and share, I'd appreciate it.