# What is the worst book you have ever read?



## RLC (Mar 19, 2013)

Hi All, 

I thought I would post this question as it is always useful to know what to avoid. Personally, I really did not like Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Just terrible.   

Richard


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

RLC--

I'm going to move your post over to the Book Corner, where we discuss the books we've read!

I couldn't really say what was the worst. It wasn't The Da Vinci Code, but that wasn't the best, by far. There's a discussion going on in the Book Corner about the Da Vinci Code; you might want to join that!

Betsy
KB Mod


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

I remember - a long time ago - trying to read Ulysses by James Joyce..  I thought it was vulgar and boring.. but maybe that's just me.. I never finished it.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

The worst book I ever finished was The Alphabet Versus the Goddess. It still amazes me that the book gets four stars on Amazon. It's heavy on anecdote, but light on actual evidence. The author claims that literacy lowers the status of women. A lot of right-brain vs. left-brain pablum. http://www.amazon.com/Alphabet-Versus-Goddess-Conflict-Between/dp/0140196013


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

I don't know if it qualifies as the worst ever ever - that encompasses a lot of books. But the worst in recent memory, the one I stopped at about 35% and know I'll never go back to, was Fifty Shades of Gray. It wasn't the kinky stuff - I never even got to the kinky stuff because I just couldn't stand the writing.


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## Not Here (May 23, 2011)

_The Scarlet Letter_. It's not the worst writing ever but it's the one book that ticks me off to this day (and I read it over 15 years ago).


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## Maverick (Nov 8, 2012)

Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Though considered a classic, I could not get into it.


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## Holly (Mar 8, 2011)

Endgame.  Had to read it for a sociology course.  Just didn't get it!


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

RLC said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I thought I would post this question as it is always useful to know what to avoid. Personally, I really did not like Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Just terrible.
> 
> Richard


This made me chuckle as I saw the thread name and the first book that sprang to mind was the Da Vinci Code - and ironically, the thread below this was about Dan Brown's book. Serendipity!


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## Hilary Thomson (Nov 20, 2011)

Two books that everyone besides me seems to like:  Daisy Miller and The Great Gadsby.  I couldn't stand either of them.  In the case of Gadsby, I can't believe any grown adult is still surprised and awed by the message that money can't buy happiness, thus inadvertently revealing they managed to miss two thousand years of the teachings of Judeo-Christian ethics during the whole time they spent growing up.  It's a trite book with a trite message.  As for Miller, I kept thinking, 'Go off and die of whatever disease you have, dearie, you'll be less of an annoying nuisance that way.'


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## metal134 (Sep 2, 2010)

The Fresco by Sheri Tepper.  It is a strong feminist book and while I largely agree with her sentiment of the problem, she takes it into extreme Orwellian territory.  But all that aside, her writing is terrible and lacks ANY bit of subtlety.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I assume I didn't finish the truly worst book, so it is impossible to say. Two that I did finish and loathed were Anna Karenina (which arguably doesn't count, I read it as an assignment in high school) and The Bonfire of the Vanities (which was entirely self-inflicted). In retrospect, I'm amazed I finished Bonfire. I despised every significant adult character in the book, and was not at all engaged to care about them.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I assume I didn't finish the truly worst book, so it is impossible to say. Two that I did finish and loathed were Anna Karenina (which arguably doesn't count, I read it as an assignment in high school) and The Bonfire of the Vanities (which was entirely self-inflicted). In retrospect, I'm amazed I finished Bonfire. I despised every significant adult character in the book, and was not at all engaged to care about them.


To paraphrase Anna Karenina, "Good books are all alike; every crappy book is crappy in its own way."


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

When I was a book reviewer, RedAdept made me review 2 short books by one author. By far, the worst I have ever read, the stories were terribly written, not edited at all, the plot line of one,  beyond implausible, the other was a mystery/whodunnit, and the obvious baddy from the first chapter, was the villain, while the TSTL heroine bumbled her way through the story.

My teenage kids could have written better stories, and at least their sentence structure and spelling would have been legible.


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## nmg222 (Sep 14, 2010)

The Gate House by Nelson DeMille - 700 pages of nothing.  No plot development, no character development, nothing.  What made it worse is that it is a sequel to one of my favorite books, The Gold Coast.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

The worst book I ever read is a self published one which I honestly think was written by someone who is mentally challenged. Seriously, I've been considering deleting my review on GR because if the person does has special needs, I should probably just leave it alone. Either that or the author has a very strange sense of humor and it's all a big joke. In fact, the book has since been removed from Kindle. 

That's the downside to self publishing, especially now that it's so easy with ebooks - literally anyone can do it.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I've been thinking about this thread every time I see it. And I think there's a difference between "worst book" and "the book I hated the most."

When so many people (apparently) liked a book like _Bonfire of the Vanities_ and I hated it, I have to think that it's a matter of taste rather than just the quality of the book.

Same with _To Kill a Mockingbird_, my favorite book of all time, and widely admired. Yet one of our members detests it. *shrug*

Betsy


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## Not Here (May 23, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I've been thinking about this thread every time I see it. And I think there's a difference between "worst book" and "the book I hated the most."
> 
> When so many people (apparently) liked a book like _Bonfire of the Vanities_ and I hated it, I have to think that it's a matter of taste rather than just the quality of the book.
> 
> ...


I was just looking at this thread and thinking the same thing. I, for example, hate _One Hundred Years of Solitude_. Everything about that book drives me crazy. I know it's well written and yet I still hate that book. My husband loves it as much as I hate it. The ones that are the "worst" as far as writing goes, just don't seem to bother me as much.


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

QuantumIguana said:


> To paraphrase Anna Karenina, "Good books are all alike; every crappy book is crappy in its own way."


Most excellent! I must remember that quote - I can think of endless situations in which it would be applicable.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I've been thinking about this thread every time I see it. And I think there's a difference between "worst book" and "the book I hated the most."
> 
> When so many people (apparently) liked a book like _Bonfire of the Vanities_ and I hated it, I have to think that it's a matter of taste rather than just the quality of the book.


It can depend on how you interpreted worst. I took it as a personal evaluation, rather than some absolute scale of goodness. Great Expectations is considered a great book, and I liked it when I read it in school, but I couldn't read it and ended up abandoning it when I tried to reread it a couple of years ago. If I were asked to rate Great Expectations, my answer would depend on whether my personal opinion was sought, or if the views of The Establishment were wanted.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## jhendereson (Oct 22, 2010)

Bonfire of the Vanities, IMO, was a fantastic novel, one of Tom Wolf's best. No book stands out in my mind as least liked, but there are several that I've tried to listen to on audio and was bored to tears.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I assume I didn't finish the truly worst book, so it is impossible to say. Two that I did finish and loathed were Anna Karenina (which arguably doesn't count, I read it as an assignment in high school) and The Bonfire of the Vanities (which was entirely self-inflicted). In retrospect, I'm amazed I finished Bonfire. I despised every significant adult character in the book, and was not at all engaged to care about them.


I concur completely with your assessment of _Bonfire_. I read it when it was _the thing_ and just kept thinking, "Why is this getting so much hype: it's crap?"

And I don't think that about many books.


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## metal134 (Sep 2, 2010)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I despised every significant adult character in the book, and was not at all engaged to care about them.


I don't think this is necessarily always a bad thing. Sometimes that can make it interesting. I'm reading The Corrections and just about every one of these characters makes me seethe with rage (especially Enid), but that's what is making the book interesting to me.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> It can depend on how you interpreted worst. I took it as a personal evaluation, rather than some absolute scale of goodness. Great Expectations is considered a great book, and I liked it when I read it in school, but I couldn't read it and ended up abandoning it when I tried to reread it a couple of years ago. If I were asked to rate Great Expectations, my answer would depend on whether my personal opinion was sought, or if the views of The Establishment were wanted.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


And no, I don't necessarily think it's against an absolute scale of goodness; it's still a personal opinion. And clearly even the meaning of "worst" is subjective, as your post indicates. But to me "worst" book would include things like poorly edited and badly constructed plot. (Like some of the books posted here in the early days of then KindleBoards. Some of those books really seemed to be written and posted with no editing at all.) But I can hate a book even if it is well edited, has a plot that hangs together and is competently written.

I guess the question is, are "worst book" and "book you hated the most" the same question in your mind? To me, they're different. If they're the same to you, then, clearly, you won't have a problem with the question.

Either way, I'd be hard pressed to pick just one. There are simply books I didn't like and books I did. Some I liked a lot, some I disliked a lot. And I don't spend a lot of time thinking about books I didn't like.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Meemo said:


> I don't know if it qualifies as the worst ever ever - that encompasses a lot of books. But the worst in recent memory, the one I stopped at about 35% and know I'll never go back to, was Fifty Shades of Gray. It wasn't the kinky stuff - I never even got to the kinky stuff because I just couldn't stand the writing.


I am so glad to see I am not the only one who was not fond of that book. I only read the first few chapters (glad it was a sample) and went no thanks.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

In recent reading another book I found not worth finishing was 
You can there from here by Shirley MacLaine.  
Sorry I can't give you a worst book I have finished because I tend not to finish books I don't like.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

I agree with Betsy that there's a difference between "worst book" and "book I hated."  There are plenty of books I didn't get into and did not appreciate - like "The Lord of the Rings."  Hated it.  But I certainly don't think it's the worst book ever written.  The worst book I've ever read is easily "The Da Vinci Code."  I just kept reading it to confirm that it was as awful as I thought.  And I wondered just where Brown was taking this ridiculous drivel.  Written on the level of a junior high school student (who has repeated seventh grade at least twice.)  Characters with less than one dimension.  A plot more preposterous than the most outrageous soap opera story.  And pretentious on a colossal scale.  I think Brown really thought he was writing some serious treatise on religion and feminism.  He wasn't.  It's crap from the first word to the last.


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## Lyndl (Apr 2, 2010)

Bethany B. said:


> _The Scarlet Letter_. It's not the worst writing ever but it's the one book that ticks me off to this day (and I read it over 15 years ago).


This is the one that immediately springs to mind for me too. Hated it with a passion.


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## Nebula7 (Apr 21, 2011)

The worst book ever I've ever read - by far is "The Shack" by William P. Young. It horribly written. It's a terrible story. And it's theologically heretical. It's so bad I read it twice. The second time was for educational purposes.


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## Carrie Rubin (Nov 19, 2012)

If I stick with traditionally published books, I'd have to say some of Patricia Cornwell's more recent novels. I finally had to give up on them. Not sure what happened, but her books have lost their appeal, at least for me. As for the book I disliked the most after having read the whole thing--maybe 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell. I suppose I shouldn't admit that--it's a classic, after all--but I prefer humans in my books. Guess it's that concrete brain of mine...


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## MineBook (May 31, 2013)

Haruki Marukami don't remember title...


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## RJ Locksley (Oct 21, 2011)

I can tell nobody in this thread has read Robert Newcomb.


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## zandermarks (May 20, 2013)

I'm going to go with _Ancient Evenings_ by Norman Mailer.

It probably didn't help that I was fifteen years old when I read it. Maybe I just didn't get the subtext.


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## meh (Apr 18, 2013)

I generally don't finish books I hate.  If there are grammar issues, etc., I just walk away.

But one that I was forced to read in Junior High I still hate with a passion:  "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck. I wanted to throw that one across the room, not because of bad grammar, but just because of events that happened in the book.


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

RJ Locksley said:


> I can tell nobody in this thread has read Robert Newcomb.


I remember reading all the hype on The Fifth Sorceress - and then how it was universally panned all over the place by readers. It was fascinating to read all the reviews, and I might, just for the heck of it, try to find a used copy somewhere to see just how bad it really is. (I pretty much did that with The DaVinci Code, which I didn't think was too bad; certainly not the worst book I've ever read).

Hard to say what book I consider the worst that I _tried _ to read; there was a time I'd read to the very end no matter what. I don't do that anymore.

So I'd have to say the worst book, the book I gave up on pretty quickly, was Neil Gaiman's _American Gods_. If he had stuck to the gods/goddesses parts that came at the end of each chapter (okay, I only read 3 or 4 chapters, so I don't know if it's that way throughout the entire book), I probably would have enjoyed it. But all the product placements, and that one god or whatever he was who hooked up with a prostitute - I'm sorry, but it just didn't work for me. And it received a ton of awards. And I read it not long after reading his _Neverwhere_, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Go figure.


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## Clark Magnan (May 23, 2013)

Nancy Beck said:


> So I'd have to say the worst book, the book I gave up on pretty quickly, was Neil Gaiman's _American Gods_. If he had stuck to the gods/goddesses parts that came at the end of each chapter (okay, I only read 3 or 4 chapters, so I don't know if it's that way throughout the entire book), I probably would have enjoyed it. But all the product placements, and that one god or whatever he was who hooked up with a prostitute - I'm sorry, but it just didn't work for me. And it received a ton of awards. And I read it not long after reading his _Neverwhere_, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
> 
> Go figure.


As one of my favorite books ever, I'm obligated to say you gave up on _American Gods_ too soon, though, I don't really mind. This thread is really pointing out how subjective all of this is. The worst books I've read, I haven't finished. Of those I slogged through, I'd vote _Empire_ by Orson Scott Card. That, or any of the Dune prequels. Why did I read those?


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## Mel Odious (Feb 29, 2012)

_I Killed a 300-pound Indian Woman When I was a Kid_, by John Irving. Sold in some markets as _Last Night in Twisted River_, this largely autobiographical tome self-homages a career full of memorable characters, bears, and fellatio-gone-wrong, but ultimately ends up drowning below a spring logjam. It includes a great pizza recipe.

I have also read some stinkers available only on the Kindle. It's like just _anybody_ can publish a Kindle book.


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

C. A. Magnan said:


> As one of my favorite books ever, I'm obligated to say you gave up on _American Gods_ too soon, though, I don't really mind. This thread is really pointing out how subjective all of this is. The worst books I've read, I haven't finished. Of those I slogged through, I'd vote _Empire_ by Orson Scott Card. That, or any of the Dune prequels. Why did I read those?


C.A. - No doubt you're right that I gave up too soon, and you're so right that this is all subjective.  Bringing up Orson Scott Card, there's one of his that I also slogged through, but the one for me was Ender's Game. Not the worst I've read, but I think I would have liked it better if I'd been a bit younger when I read it (I read it in my 40s), because I've seen a lot 20-somethings say they loved it.

Oh well. To each their own.


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## Clark Magnan (May 23, 2013)

Nancy Beck said:


> C.A. - No doubt you're right that I gave up too soon, and you're so right that this is all subjective.  Bringing up Orson Scott Card, there's one of his that I also slogged through, but the one for me was Ender's Game. Not the worst I've read, but I think I would have liked it better if I'd been a bit younger when I read it (I read it in my 40s), because I've seen a lot 20-somethings say they loved it.
> 
> Oh well. To each their own.


_Ender's Game_ being another of my absolute favorites, though you're right, I read it when I was an 11 year old boy so I think it might have been right up my alley. I've read most of OSC's work since, hoping for more of that magic and was universally disappointed.


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## Artista (Jul 22, 2011)

Bluegrass Courtship by Allie Pleiter. It's a Love Inspired Romance. Most LI books I would never want to read again, but this one was the absolute worst! What romance have you ever read where the heroine is a complete idiot and doesn't kiss the hero until the second to the last chapter? She was so negative throughout most of the book and the hero was so understanding it just make me sick.


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## Teutonic0 (May 27, 2013)

This is really hard, I'm blanking--this thread would be a lot easier if it was for "Worst Movie You've Ever Watched."

The only one can I think of is "Kingmaking," a retelling of the King Arthur stuff. Just way too many over dramatic/descriptive lines that made it difficult to slog through. And Arthur is a total jerk, from what I remember, anyway.


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## Michael Murray (Oct 31, 2011)

Vineland. I think it partly had to do with my having been living in the region at the time and feeling Pynchon missed the culture and the characters and the reason people were there by miles, like he drove through just to say he'd been there.

I did really like Lot 49, though.


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## kabuzzle (Jun 3, 2013)

I read a few stinkers for my English degree - the one that sticks out a mile is Moby Dick!  I know, I know, it's a classic..

Popular fiction wise, it has to be the later installments of the Anita Blake books.  The series started out with such promise and then all of a sudden turned into plot-lite porn.  I'm not against a little kinkiness in my books, but I prefer it to come with a storyline attached!


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## mistyd107 (May 22, 2009)

Meemo said:


> I don't know if it qualifies as the worst ever ever - that encompasses a lot of books. But the worst in recent memory, the one I stopped at about 35% and know I'll never go back to, was Fifty Shades of Gray. It wasn't the kinky stuff - I never even got to the kinky stuff because I just couldn't stand the writing.


Totally agree except I finished the entire trilogy because my oldest friend who never reads asked me to read it with her.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

This is a hard one to answer. I've downloaded some freebies to my Kindle that I just stopped reading and put out of my mind. I don't really invest much thought in the bad ones and can find some redeeming qualities in most that I do finish. But my wife will tell you the worst book ever written is http://www.amazon.com/Good-Dog-Story-Orson-Changed/dp/0812971493. She went through a whole series of emotions on that book: sadness, grief, and settled on rage for a long time. She wanted to bring a class action suit against the author for wasting her time and being a poor excuse of a dog owner.


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## Jeanne Marcella (Apr 5, 2013)

What was the worst book I've ever read? 

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. And not just because I was forced to read it as a book report in high school back in the early 80s.


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## cagnes (Oct 13, 2009)

Nebula7 said:


> The worst book ever I've ever read - by far is "The Shack" by William P. Young. It horribly written. It's a terrible story. And it's theologically heretical. It's so bad I read it twice. The second time was for educational purposes.


I agree, but it was a dnf for me! I struggled & forced myself to get through the 1st half of the book, then couldn't take any longer & finally gave up.


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## Mandy (Dec 27, 2009)

Fifty Shades of Grey, hands down. I _forced_ myself to get through the first one, and finally had to stop halfway through the second one. Horrible. The writing is so amateur with so many cliches and repetitive phrases. I understand the poor quality of many self-published books and can easily overlook it, but this thing is mass-produced. I think the thing that bugs me most about it is how this series is so popular and how so many people think this is excellent writing. All the great classics out there and 50 Shades is all the rage?


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## mistyd107 (May 22, 2009)

Mandy said:


> Fifty Shades of Grey, hands down. I _forced_ myself to get through the first one, and finally had to stop halfway through the second one. Horrible. The writing is so amateur with so many cliches and repetitive phrases. I understand the poor quality of many self-published books and can easily overlook it, but this thing is mass-produced. I think the thing that bugs me most about it is how this series is so popular and how so many people think this is excellent writing. All the great classics out there and 50 Shades is all the rage?


I agree I don't understand the popularity either


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## MartinLake (May 9, 2011)

Giles Goat Boy by John Barth. It was a set text at university.  But now that I've named it I may take a second look.


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## Amber Riippa (Jun 13, 2013)

bordercollielady said:


> I remember - a long time ago - trying to read Ulysses by James Joyce.. I thought it was vulgar and boring.. but maybe that's just me.. I never finished it.


I totally agree with you. Ulysses is a long, boring read. I don't care if it's considered deep, philosophical writing. It's hard to get into.

My vote, though, would be http://www.amazon.com/Sips-Blood-Mary-Ann-Mitchell/dp/0843945559_ Sips of Blood _ by Mary Ann Mitchell. It was a kinky, disgusting vampire novel with no plot and grotesque scenes of any type of sexual encounter you could imagine. I got it Half Priced Books for like $1 and thought I'd give it a try. The scene that still sticks out in my mind to this day is where this guy just had anal sex the night before (cheated on his wife) and had a really bad case of puking/crapping and was trying to use some sort of anal cream  OH WHY OH WHY.

Also...first post  Hi everyone.


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## StephenRenneberg (Jun 19, 2013)

Sons and Lovers by D H Lawrence.  Had to read it many years ago for school.  It was terrible.  In the end, I gave up, bought a study guide and pretended I read it!

Of course, anything by Jane Austen would be a hot competitor for second place!  (Sorry all you Jane Austen lovers out there. You know who you are.)


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## RobinBreyer (May 12, 2013)

The Coming of the King by Nikolai Tolstoy


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

I've never read a bad book - because I stop reading as soon as the book turns out to be bad/not my style. Having said that, I did once get to the end of a Danielle Steel book thinking '_it's got to get better at some stage or she wouldn't be a bestselling author' _- but it didn't. It was all tell and not show.


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## brainstorm (Dec 8, 2009)

The Girl With the Dragoon Tattoo. At least, worst I've read in recent years.


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## Mahree Moyle (Jun 19, 2013)

Tough one. If I'm having trouble getting through the first chapter, I'm done.


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## TWErvin2 (Aug 7, 2010)

*One Hundred Years of Solitude * would be the worst book I can remember reading...well, maybe not reallly remember. I had to read it back in college, and I did work through it, and I recall passing the test over it with a B-, but I can't remember hardly anything about the book other than the long hours of solitude having to read, and reread as I lost focus often, to get through it.

I'm sure it wasn't that bad, just nowhere near my thing. Most folks just choose not to read books they won't enjoy. Having to pass the class and keep a decent GPA, I didn't have a choice.


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## 67499 (Feb 4, 2013)

Yes, it's true and honest to say that "good" vs "bad" book can be a matter of taste.


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

Steven Hardesty said:


> Yes, it's true and honest to say that "good" vs "bad" book can be a matter of taste. But there also is an absolute bad, as there is an absolute zero, and that book has to be "Gone With the Wind."


And yet I just saw GWTW on two "Top 100 Books in the 20th Century" type lists. So much for "absolute bad".


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Steven Hardesty said:


> Yes, it's true and honest to say that "good" vs "bad" book can be a matter of taste. But there also is an absolute bad, as there is an absolute zero, and that book has to be "Gone With the Wind." The characters are absurd, the plot nonsensical and the writing awful. Also add the history is not just wrong but bad. The movie was marginally better - at least someone edited the movie. I was dragged to a revival of the film when I was in college - when the screen faded out for intermission, I thought the film was over and got up to leave, feeling like a man just freed from a dentist's chair and thinking, Thank heaven that's done. I was stunned to hear I'd have to endure another 17 hours of nonsense to get to The End. Reading the book felt twice as long as that awful movie.


May I enquire why you bothered to read the book if you hated the movie? Was it for a project of some sort? If I don't like a book I just put it aside.


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## Mahree Moyle (Jun 19, 2013)

It was a Daniella Steele book, can't remember the name. Read the whole thing thinking it has to get better, but never did. Made me mad for minutes that I had wasted my time. But she has many good books.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Mahree Moyle said:


> It was a Daniella Steele book, can't remember the name. Read the whole thing thinking it has to get better, but never did. Made me mad for minutes that I had wasted my time. But she has many good books.


This ^ - also convinced it would change from tell to show - but never did!


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## JenniferHarlow (Jun 8, 2013)

Twilight. I was at the gym with nothing but it, and still couldn't pay attention to it. In 40 min, I read 100 pages then got off the treadmill and literally gave it to a woman without a book. 100 pages and nothing happened. The main characters were so 1D and grating, and my three-year-old cousin could write better dialogue. The second 50 Shades book was the same. I actually didn't hate the first, I read it in about 3 hours, b ut the second was beyond horrible. The few things I liked about the first were gone, and I was left with a jerk and whiny "heroine" who couldn't live without him. I really hate that trend.


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## 67499 (Feb 4, 2013)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> May I enquire why you bothered to read the book if you hated the movie? Was it for a project of some sort? If I don't like a book I just put it aside.


I read GWTW because I love books more than movies and couldn't believe the book could be as bad as the film. I was wrong!


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## terryandersbooks (Jul 8, 2013)

brainstorm said:


> The Girl With the Dragoon Tattoo. At least, worst I've read in recent years.


Same here! I feel bad for admitting to it because so many people liked it, but I just didn't like it. -_- I'm glad I'm not alone!


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## robyn26 (Jul 8, 2013)

I don't like anything that Dan Brown writes.  BORING!


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## MineBook (May 31, 2013)

That book was so BAD...
that I can't remember it...


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## Jacob Crow (Jun 25, 2013)

I have never read 50 Shades but since so many hate it, I decided to give it a try. I didn't buy it but I glanced at the preview just now. "She's articulate, strong, persuasive, argumentative, beautiful ... " Ouch. "Very attractive, groomed, blonde, young ... " Oh God, it continues.

Tendril? Tarzan? Her _hair_ consists of tendrils? Did she walk through a jungle? Oh, it's the _shape_. 
"I'm momentarily paralyzed by the view." So you like what you see. Swell. Who is talking, again? Oh the pale, scowling brunette with eyes too blue for her face. Right. Wait a minute. Steele-Grey? Oh _please_.

_Amassed?_ I feel like Victor Meldrew. Who in their right mind ... No. This is too bad. I like sex fluff, hell, I write sex fluff, but I won't read it. I can't. I click away from the opened preview of 50 Shades and a soft, slightly muffled moan of relief escapes my dry, irritated, sardonically snarling lips.

Oh no. It's contagious. The worst preview I ever read.


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## Beatriz (Feb 22, 2011)

RLC said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I thought I would post this question as it is always useful to know what to avoid. Personally, I really did not like Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Just terrible.
> 
> Richard


Notes on a scandal made for a pretty good movie so the writer must have done something right.


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## elizabethareeves (Jul 6, 2013)

I am a fan of the Ender's Game series, by Orson Scott Card, but when I when to some of his other books like Seventh Son, I just could not get through it. I acknowledge him as good writer but there are some books that I just don't like.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Jacob Crow said:


> I have never read 50 Shades but since so many hate it, I decided to give it a try. I didn't buy it but I glanced at the preview just now. "She's articulate, strong, persuasive, argumentative, beautiful ... " Ouch. "Very attractive, groomed, blonde, young ... " Oh God, it continues.
> 
> Tendril? Tarzan? Her _hair_ consists of tendrils? Did she walk through a jungle? Oh, it's the _shape_.
> "I'm momentarily paralyzed by the view." So you like what you see. Swell. Who is talking, again? Oh the pale, scowling brunette with eyes too blue for her face. Right. Wait a minute. Steele-Grey? Oh _please_.
> ...


Be glad you didn't read the sample. It was even worse.


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## 67499 (Feb 4, 2013)

Take a look at this survey of books never finished: http://m.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/07/most-disappointing-books-recent-publishing-history/66986/


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## LovelynBettison (Aug 12, 2012)

Bethany B. said:


> I was just looking at this thread and thinking the same thing. I, for example, hate _One Hundred Years of Solitude_. Everything about that book drives me crazy. I know it's well written and yet I still hate that book. My husband loves it as much as I hate it. The ones that are the "worst" as far as writing goes, just don't seem to bother me as much.


 I can't stand One Hundred Years of Solitude. I had so many people tell me that I should read it and that I would love it, but I just couldn't finish it. I've tried to read it multiple times and I just couldn't. Like you said it's all subjective. Many people I know love that book.


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## 67499 (Feb 4, 2013)

LovelynBettison said:


> I can't stand One Hundred Years of Solitude. I had so many people tell me that I should read it and that I would love it, but I just couldn't finish it. I've tried to read it multiple times and I just couldn't. Like you said it's all subjective. Many people I know love that book.


You might prefer his "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" - completely different style of story-telling and very compelling. And it compels re-reading.


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## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

Steven Hardesty said:


> Yes, it's true and honest to say that "good" vs "bad" book can be a matter of taste. But there also is an absolute bad, as there is an absolute zero, and that book has to be "Gone With the Wind." The characters are absurd, the plot nonsensical and the writing awful. Also add the history is not just wrong but bad. The movie was marginally better - at least someone edited the movie. I was dragged to a revival of the film when I was in college - when the screen faded out for intermission, I thought the film was over and got up to leave, feeling like a man just freed from a dentist's chair and thinking, Thank heaven that's done. I was stunned to hear I'd have to endure another 17 hours of nonsense to get to The End. Reading the book felt twice as long as that awful movie.


I thought you might be interested to know that Margaret Mitchell was a journalist for an Atlanta newspaper and wrote a series of articles on the Civil War before she wrote *Gone With the Wind*. Also, she based both Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler on actual people who lived at the time of the War. I agree with you that she slanted the whole slavery issue in favor of the South, where she grew up and where she was influenced by the whole white supremacy mindset. But her history on battles, the attitude of the Confederacy toward their new nation, and the generals on both sides should be accurate, as she was a journalist who researched her articles before writing them. I notice that women seem to like GWTW more than men do anyway. In fact, Leslie Howard, the actor who portrayed Ashley Wilkes, agreed with your opinion that the whole thing was absurd but had to take the part because he was under a studio contract, so you are not alone in feeling that way. 

My own personal "worst" book I ever read is *Moby Dick* which I actually abandoned about a third of the way through. I love adventure, but it just never seemed to, well...get started.


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## sabrinaedwards_words (Jul 8, 2013)

Oh man - Twilight by far. I'm not super picky about books and I can ignore a lot of things if the story is good. But the writing in this... I just couldn't believe it. Bella had no flaws - I was just begging for _something_ about her to be human. But blecch, never.

And every spoken line seemed to sound something like

"How are you?" he asked, breathtakingly.

Adverbs. Always adverbs, all over the place. A minefield of adverbs. But I kept going, because some of the mythology was good enough.

And then? At the end? The big climactic battle? We skip right over it! Then everyone goes to prom!

Whew. No thanks.


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## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

Steven Hardesty said:


> I agree that Margaret Mitchell has a complex family history / personal viewpoint that heavily colors GWTW, but they are what prevented her from applying her journalistic ethos to telling some truths in her story instead of what she did produce - a gaudy soap opera. The one thing about the book I do enjoy is her choice of Rhett Butler as a hero - he's a blockade runner. Blockade runners ran fewer guns to the Confederacy than they ran silk dresses and cut-glass chandeliers for sale at huge mark ups. The real Rhett Butlers were war profiteers. Not many suffering through the horrors of war thought of them as anything but thieves. And that's who she chose as her hero.
> 
> Moby Dick is a hard read, all right, but if you skip over all the encyclopedic chapters on whales, fish and the sea, you can find a terrific adventure story, with the advantage over GWTW that it's based truly on a true story.


Methinks the gentleman really, really, really doesn't like *GWTW*!!! That's fine too, because you know what? Margaret Mitchell didn't like the character of Scarlett at all, and chose Rhett as the perfect man for her because they were both "blackguards" to quote Rhett, who didn't care if the whole world went to h*** just so long as they were comfortable. She deliberately wanted to create an anti-heroine and anti-hero and she based them on a couple of colorful people who lived in Atlanta during the Civil War.

What I like about *GWTW * is the whole upside downness of it: the heroine you don't really like but who gradually changes into something resembling a human being, and the fact that Rhett, the war profiteer who thought he was done with the people who kicked him out, enlisted when Atlanta fell to fight for the very civilization who rejected him. And then there's the whole Scarlett/Ashley/Melanie triangle, where instead of one of them finally and ultimately "getting" him, Scarlett gains respect for Melanie as she gets to know her and they become as close as sisters, but as she gets to know Ashley better she loses respect for him because she realizes she never knew him at all and only saw what she wanted to in him. And believe me, a LOT of women make that mistake when they fall in love. She realizes far too late that she loved Rhett all along after breaking his heart and driving him out the door. When she finally tells him how she feels, he tells her it's too late. How many romance novels end like that? They don't; they are sappy escapism and don't teach women that men have feelings too, and their hearts are just as fragile as women's. So for women, this book rings true and an author finally told it the way it really is and not the way we would like it to be.

You can dislike it; that's your choice. As for *Moby Dick*, maybe I should try it again some time as I love Peter Benchley's books, but for me classic adventure is Jules Verne and Alexandre Dumas. You could recommend one of those to me and I would read it for sure!


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## bhazelgrove (Jul 16, 2013)

This might be blasphemous but Gone Girl. I finished it and totally forgot about every reading it. Much like candy except at least with candy there is a wrapper with Gone Girl there was virtually nothing. Guess it was gone.


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## Ergodic Mage (Jan 23, 2012)

_The Eye of the World_ the first book in Robert Jordan's _The Wheel of Time_ series. I was only able to read 100 pages before I had to stop, way too much useless detail from someone who perfected the "paid by the word" books.


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## Anne Berkeley (Jul 12, 2013)

Breaking Dawn by far was the worst book I ever read.  I liked the others. I could get past the sparkly vampire, by drinking blood from a sippy cup?  Really? And little nudge, (I think that's what she called  it) my me cringe every time she used it. Everybody ended up happy and coupled, even Charlie! It was drawn out and had one failure of an ending.


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## EllaJQ (Jul 15, 2013)

Ok I had to really think about this. Overall the worst book I've read is the twilight series. Yep, I read the whole series. I rarely venture from my favorite authors so I don't normally experience a lot of disappointment from the books I'm reading. The writing was eh but I liked to story so I got through it. I also recently toed the waters of erotic romance much to the revolt of my eyes. It was slush. New author, first book, and man oh man was it bad. I felt so bad for her I didn't leave a review. Why did I read it in the first place? I got sucked in with a picture of Chris Hemsworth on a motorcycle. I may have a slight obsession with him...


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

Just a thought...but the thread says 'worst book you have ever read.' 
The truly awful books are the ones that are so bad you can't bear to finish them...


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