# What's the worst book you ever finished, and why did you read it?



## amygamet (Aug 26, 2012)

School assignments don't count.

I had a heck of a time getting through _The Friday Night Knitting Club_. Not a bad book, but not my kind of book. I was reading it for a book club I'd been invited to join, and didn't want to show up without having finished it. I've since decided I should start my own book club, where we only read books with happy endings!


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## Jonathan C. Gillespie (Aug 9, 2012)

_Timeline_, by Michael Crichton.

I adored _Sphere_ and, as a fan of all things dinosaur, loved _Jurassic Park_. But _Timeline_ was just...awful. You can dig up my rather ancient review on Goodreads, if you so choose, but I guess what bothered me about Timeline was that it just felt so mailed-in. I didn't think I was reading a Crichton at the top of his game. I felt more like I was reading an author that just decided to avoid virtually every major question the reader would have -- and even with the big one, "_Can't we screw up the timeline just by being there_?", his explanation involved a crude analogy with a major professional event.

I don't buy that going back in time and assassinating, say, Kublai Khan or Winston Churchill wouldn't have had at least _some _effect on history.


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## lvhiggins (Aug 1, 2012)

Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD. I read it because of all the buzz it got, years ago, but it's such a grim, depressing book I hated every minute of the experience. I don't always need a happy ending, but I prefer a _satisfying_ one!


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## me3boyz (Jan 10, 2010)

The Twilight books...all 3 of them. Why I kept reading after the 1st, I'll never understand.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

The Alphabet Versus the Goddess. The premise of the book is that the written word has made people excessively left-brained and made them misogynistic. A lot of pop psychology exaggerating the left vs. right brain. One of the examples is that the right hand, controlled by the left brain is the hand that holds the sword, while the left hand is the hand that holds the baby. What this simplistic analogy ignores is that the left hand only holds the baby so that the dominant right hand is free for other matters: the left hand may be holding the baby, but the right hand is holding the spoon or wiping the baby's face.

A book laden with anecdotes, devoid of evidence. Everyone should read this book so they can enjoy despising it.


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## StaceyHH (Sep 13, 2010)

Jonathan C. Gillespie said:


> _Timeline_, by Michael Crichton.
> 
> I adored _Sphere_ and, as a fan of all things dinosaur, loved _Jurassic Park_. But _Timeline_ was just...awful. You can dig up my rather ancient review on Goodreads, if you so choose, but I guess what bothered me about Timeline was that it just felt so mailed-in.


Ditto. This was one of my top yuck books for awhile, but _Sandworms of Dune_ recently bumped it. I mean, what the hell? Absolutely terrible, AND it went so opposite to what F. Herbert was writing in the original series. Why did I read it? HUGE fan of the _Dune_ series and I guess I bought into the (what MUST be) lie that KJA and B. Herbert are working off copious notes. I'd say this book proves that either there are no notes, or that KJA can't read.

Runners-up: 
Cornwell's _Portrait of a Killer_ - abysmally bad argumentation and completely run through with her confirmation bias. Why I read: Interested in Jack the Ripper lore, kept reading to see if she'd come up with any actual evidence.
Kostova's _The Historian_ - Little girl who has to one-up daddy and prove she's smarter? And that stupid "surprise!" ending, whatever. Why I read: I bought the hardcover, back when I didn't have much money, and I felt like I had to try and get my $$ worth. What a waste, I'd rather have the time.
Seigal's _Derailed _- I can't believe they made a movie out of this, it was barely a book. Why I read: I have no freaking idea.

A few weeks ago, I abandoned _Wolf Hall_ on page 71. I was very proud of myself for not wasting my time and adding another terrible "I finished it anyways" book to my "time I will never get back" wall of shame.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

If I'm reading for pleasure, I simply do not finish really bad books, or even not-so-bad books that just don't work for me. I'm sure I could come up with a sizable list of mediocre books I've finished, but nothing I'd call _bad_ (and therefore be eligible to be the "worst"). Even with a book I agreed to read in order to review on my blog, I gave up after 50% or so, and that's almost like a school assignment.


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

I just don't finish books that I don't like. I even, on one occasion, got to the final chapter, realised I didn't really care what the conclusion was, and put the book down.


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## Sam Kates (Aug 28, 2012)

Strange (and fortunate) that we have such diverse tastes. Two of the books mentioned on here (_The Road_ and _Wolf Hall_) are two of the most enjoyable books I've read in the last twelve months or so.

The worst book I've read recently: _The Flu_ - can't remember who it's by. Why read it? I bought it for my brother for his birthday. Why finish it? I thought that since I'd inflicted it on my brother, the least I could do was endure it to the end. Turns out that my brother had enjoyed it...


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Cornwell's _Portrait of a Killer_ was bad, but it was another one of Cornwell's that was actually the worst one I ever read and finished. Don't remember the title, but I had at least moderately enjoyed several of her novels and then suddenly she apparently decided she was too successful to need a publisher.

It really stank but I stuck it out for some reason. I think I kept expecting it to get better and it didn't. Haven't touched one of her novels since.

I do like both _The Road_ and _Wolf Hall_, but tastes vary don't they. 

ETA: Ah, I checked a list of Cornwell's titles. It was _Predator_. Terrible.


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Outside school and university, the worst book I ever had the misfortune to read was _Demon Rumm_, a reprinted category romance by Sandra Brown. It had an unlikable hero, a big secret that made me go "That's it", when it was finally revealed (and that made the book seem outdated, because the "big problem" has been solved by science since then, though that's hardly Ms. Brown's fault) and some of the stupidest euphemisms in sex scenes I've ever seen.

As for why I finished it, I had to take a family member to the doctor, the wait was very long and this was the only book I had with me.


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## Devin Smyth Author (Sep 14, 2012)

The first book in the LEFT BEHIND series. I read it as research for a satire I was hoping to write. Even though I disagree with the book's premise, I could've looked past that had the characters not been so wooden and one-dimensional. And while I realize the authors were using the Bible as inspiration, the scenarios they extrapolated based on the text were still outlandish.


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## Lyndl (Apr 2, 2010)

The worst book I ever finished was The Scarlet Letter
I didn’t like the characters, the story or the style.  I finished it because I spent money on it. I don’t even remember how it ends! 

This thread is a great example of how ebooks have altered my reading habits.  Before Kindle, if I bought a book , it would be read to the end no matter how bad. When you’re paying upwards of $20 for a paperback, you need to get your money’s worth.  Since the advent of the Kindle , I’ll now abandon a book if it’s really bad.  I’ll often slog through a mediocre book if the story is worth it, but I’ve found myself doing that less and less.


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

You know, I can't think of a particular book, but one I just finished was hard to slog through.

I don't want to give the title to be nice.

But, basically, it was a Viking time travel romance (not Sandra Hill) where out of nowhere the pregnant MC began to worry that her child wouldn't be Christian, but would instead worship Odin...oy vey. That came completely outta left field for me.


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## Chris Northern (Jan 20, 2011)

Not sure if I'm going to finish a S. King novel, The Long Walk. It's turning into a battle of wills, ironically enough.


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## Jonathan C. Gillespie (Aug 9, 2012)

Chris Northern said:


> Not sure if I'm going to finish a S. King novel, The Long Walk. It's turning into a battle of wills, ironically enough.


Keep at it. It's worth it, in my opinion. Plus, if you're into the whole YA dystopian thing -- there are seeds in that book that I think simply must have inspired _Battle Royale_ (the film), and some other works.


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

Mockingjay!  I loved the first two which is why I read the third.. but the whole tone of the third changed.  Katniss's personality changed.  It was very depressing and I hated it..


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## Todd Wheeler (Mar 6, 2012)

The turning point for me was _Diamond Age_ by Neal Stephenson. Not saying it was a terrible book, but just couldn't get into it and kept reading and reading and was disappointed with the ending.

Up until then I felt a compulsion to always finish the book. That was the point I realized that sometimes it is just okay to put it down and move on.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

"The Da Vinci Code."  Awful writing, ridiculous plot, 0.5 dimensional characters.  Why did I finish it?  I have no idea!


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## D. Nathan Hilliard (Jun 5, 2010)

The Regulators - Stephen King

I personally think Stephen King may be the greatest American author of the second half of the 20th century, but I don't think he was even trying with this book. I was seriously angry by the time I finished it.


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## BenJ (Sep 19, 2012)

Bleekness said:


> That first book of that ten book series by Terry Goodkind--and I read half of the second one before I threw it down. And this guys sold millions?
> 
> And I agree with D Nathan about King--he's probably my favourite US author--but he's released some stinkers and the Regulators was one of them. I also think he flubbed with the last three Dark Tower books, and one section in particular made me just stop and think... "he didn't just do _THAT_!?"


Agree about the dark tower books, especially when he


Spoiler



inserted himself into the story


. That ruined the whole series for me.


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## smallblondehippy (Jan 20, 2012)

bordercollielady said:


> Mockingjay! I loved the first two which is why I read the third.. but the whole tone of the third changed. Katniss's personality changed. It was very depressing and I hated it..


Couldn't agree more. I was soooo disppointed with Mockingjay. I just hope that if they make the film they change the ending. Otherwise, I won't want to watch it.

Against All Things Ending by Stephen Donaldson was one of the worst for me. Why did I finish it? Because I've always loved his writing and kept hoping it would get better. It didn't.


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## agilepup (Sep 30, 2011)

50 Shades of Gray, aka 50 Kinds of Ridiculous, 50 Piles of Dog Poop, you get the idea.    Terrible terrible TERRIBLE writing with unlikable characters.


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## Richard Black (Sep 7, 2012)

"The Taking" by Dean Koontz, true garbage. I read it because I was looking for something similar to Stephen King's work, and Koontz was recommended to me. Perhaps this is a poor example of his work, but it's still his work, so kind of turned me off reading anything by Koontz again.


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## jeffaaronmiller (Jul 17, 2012)

I have to second the vote for _Mockingjay_. I was so, so disappointed in how that series went, but I still love the first two books immensely.


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## Gayle Miller (Sep 22, 2012)

Trainspotting was definitely the worst book I've ever read, purely for the fact that I wanted to vomit all the way through. Was disappointed in the movie version as it had been made comical rather than stomach churning.  

forgot to say why I read it. Was bought it as a gift and once I started reading it was hard to stop.


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## jlee745 (Jul 27, 2010)

Eat, Pray,Love. I bought it(i rarely buy kindle books) because I love reading books that are being made into movies. I finished it because I didn't want to totally waste my money.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

I usually stop if the book is just too bad.  I even stopped reading a book for a college class and told the professor I hated the book so much I could not finish.  I guess I finished Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" and hated it the whole way, along with Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises."  Snoooorrrreeee....


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## Brian Dockins (May 22, 2012)

Like someone said above, Eat, Pray, Love is truly the worst book I have ever read. I dislike that book on so many levels.


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## M Ramberg (Jun 23, 2011)

I'd like to leave the actual book nameless because you'll never recognize it. It was written by an old writing instructor of mine and I read it out of loyalty to a good friend. But, ultimately, it was the poorest bit of writing I'd ever come across. Cloying, sentimental, and outright sad. Sometimes, you take one for the team.


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## LaRita (Oct 28, 2008)

MaxDog said:


> "The Taking" by Dean Koontz, true garbage. I read it because I was looking for something similar to Stephen King's work, and Koontz was recommended to me. Perhaps this is a poor example of his work, but it's still his work, so kind of turned me off reading anything by Koontz again.


I'm a Koontz fan, and I hated The Taking. It is a worse than poor example of his work, in my opinion. For a good example of his work, try Watchers or Lightning. Those are two of my favorites.


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## vikiana (Oct 5, 2012)

Sam Kates said:


> Strange (and fortunate) that we have such diverse tastes. Two of the books mentioned on here (_The Road_ and _Wolf Hall_) are two of the most enjoyable books I've read in the last twelve months or so.
> 
> The worst book I've read recently: _The Flu_ - can't remember who it's by. Why read it? I bought it for my brother for his birthday. Why finish it? I thought that since I'd inflicted it on my brother, the least I could do was endure it to the end. Turns out that my brother had enjoyed it...


As a person who like every my due or hobbie to be completely finished I want to say that sometimes is absolutely impossible to get the final page! The books of John Steinbeck were a real torture for me with little exeptions!


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## Carrie Rubin (Nov 19, 2012)

JRTomlin said:


> Cornwell's _Portrait of a Killer_ was bad, but it was another one of Cornwell's that was actually the worst one I ever read and finished. Don't remember the title, but I had at least moderately enjoyed several of her novels and then suddenly she apparently decided she was too successful to need a publisher.


I was going to say the worst book I finished was Dean Koontz's 77 Shadow Street, but then I saw your response, and I changed my answer to the last couple Cornwell novels. Not sure what's happened to her, but I used to love her books. Now I can't get through them. The last one I finished was Port Mortuary, and that took effort. The ones since, I've given up on, which is a shame since I enjoy forensic mysteries.


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## gljones (Nov 6, 2012)

The Illuminatus Trilogy!  I felt like I needed a lobotomy after finishing it.


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## Kristine McKinley (Aug 26, 2012)

So many people were bashing the Twilight books but so many women loved them. When my sister started to read them I did too so we would have something to talk about. It's so easy to say they are horrible and so many people say it, but it's true! Worst books I've ever read, but now I can tell my sister I love her so much I read Twilight.


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## Soushi (Dec 13, 2010)

HATED, 50 Shades of Grey, such poor, poor writing. I just couldn't take another paragraph of her blushing and biting her lip. Come on! There are so many good writers to pick from with out reading such trash. And no, I'm not a prude,didn't mind the sex scenes.

I just couldn't get past the first 100 pages. Life is too short to waste it reading bad literature.


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## anguabell (Jan 9, 2011)

A few days ago, for the reasons unknown, I started reading Kipling's _*The Light That Failed*_. It was quite dreadful. The characters - such as they are - don't speak in dialogs, but in long, rambling monologues. The plot is melodramatic and unrealistic. The ending is... words fail me. Still, I could not stop reading that thing. It was like being dragged through a long dark tunnel by a very strong, faceless creature.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Scott Turow's _Presumed Innocent_. It was many years ago, and the book was a bestseller with rave reviews and of a type I usually enjoy. It was tedious beyond belief and looong. Up until then it was a point of pride for me that I finished any book I started. I did finish that book and it took me weeks when I would usually finish something that length in days, but it cured me of finishing anything I didn't like. Since then if something bores me or if I hate something about it, I stop right there whether it's the first page or the next to last. Life's too short.


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

Soushi said:


> Life is too short to waste it reading bad literature.


Exactly. I will not finish a book I'm not enjoying. I have even -- just a couple of times -- got to the start of the last chapter of a book I'm reading, realized I don't particularly care what the ending is, and put it down.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

To answer the question posed, I'd have to go back to HS when I had to read _As I Lay Dying_ by Faulkner. Couldn't stand it -- but had to write a paper on it so pretty much had to read it -- even checking out Cliff Notes and such didn't really shed much light on what the thing was supposed to be a bout. . .but I faked it and got a B on the paper.


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## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

Treason: A Novel by Anthony Genualdi. Sorry, Mr. Genualdi, if you're on this thread. A friend whom I respect recommended it to me. I don't know why he liked it. (Come to think of it he was one of those adult men who lined up at midnight for the first screening of Men in Black.) I finished it because I finish every book I start. I used to think that was a virtuous habit, but have since learned it is a real waste of valuable time.


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

Like NogDog and who ever said "Life if too short for bad literature," I'm not likely to finish bad books. I'm also getting pretty good at spotting bad books at description or sample phase--after all, I've been reading full length books for more than 35 years.

As for the worst book I've finished read in the past few years: _The Hunger Games_. It was the reading equivalent of eating the remains of yesterday's McDonalds hamburger reheated in a microwave. Bland and blah. It was pick for a book group and I had my doubts going into it, but I wanted to at least try. Not only did it fail to live up to the mega hype, it just didn't have any appeal to me as an adult reader whatsoever.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Since the OP said that school assignments don't count, how about one for somebody else's school? I managed to avoid reading _Lord of the Flies _in HS (it sounded thoroughly unappealing and so I somehow cobbled together the required two-page paper from reading the dust cover) and then five years later found myself tutoring a small group of middle schoolers whose parents had hired me to make sure the kids didn't fail English again. They were reading it in school, so I had to.  And then talk about it with them endlessly.   Really annoying after successfully avoiding it the first time around. (But they passed English.)

And ten years after that, tied for worst book (nothing revolting in it but three times as long and supremely boring) was a vanity press work by an Austrian businessman with whom I was going to be negotiating a major contract for our company, and I needed to know more about him to do that so I read it on the flight there. His book was a succeed-in-business pile of garbage, not a single new idea in several hundred pages, and everything restated multiple times. (We got the contract, he turned out to be a crook, we ended up turning him over to our lawyer. A fitting end just for writing such swill.)


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## Carrie Rubin (Nov 19, 2012)

Susan in VA said:


> His book was a succeed-in-business pile of garbage, not a single new idea in several hundred pages, and everything restated multiple times.


Sounds like a good cure for insomnia.


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## MisterPasscod3 (Dec 9, 2012)

This is an interesting one because completing a terrible book is hard to do. Usually I wouldn't continue a book if I found it to be _that_ bad!

While I don't consider it the "worst book", one that comes to mind is _Phantoms_ by Dean Koontz. I came across it while reading up on the unsolved disappearance of a small Inuit village at Angikuni Lake. Apparently, this was one of Koontz inspirations to write _Phantoms_ so I decided to give it a shot. Has it's few moments of suspense, but it suffers from being long, redundantly detailed, predictable, corny and all-in-all not-scary.


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## dawnaraver (Dec 3, 2012)

I would have to say it was the 50 Shades of Grey series. It was the train wreck Scenario, in book form.  I kept trying to look away, but I couldn't. I admit to having a love hate relationship with these books.


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## dawnaraver (Dec 3, 2012)

me3boyz said:


> The Twilight books...all 3 of them. Why I kept reading after the 1st, I'll never understand.


Ha ha I know exactly what you mean. Finish reading those books was quite a slog. Then my dog ate the fourth one and I had to buy it twice.


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## timskorn (Nov 7, 2012)

I won't name the book, but it simply didn't have a plot.  The writing was excellent, the prose was vivid and descriptive and I liked her style.  I just didn't care at all about what happened because there was no real overarching purpose to make me care.


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## courtyoung (Dec 4, 2012)

Abraham Lincoln the Vampire Hunter. The ONLY, let me stress only, ONLY reason I finished it was because I spent hard earned casholia on that baby.


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## jeffaaronmiller (Jul 17, 2012)

I will throw my vote in with those who said Mockingjay. Such a let down after the first two books. Characters suddenly changing personality for no good reason is frustrating.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

courtyoung said:


> Abraham Lincoln the Vampire Hunter. The ONLY, let me stress only, ONLY reason I finished it was because I spent hard earned casholia on that baby.


I just finished this. I'd not call it the _worst_ book. But it was certainly nothing great. Definitely don't recommend it. . . . . .


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## Avis Black (Jun 12, 2012)

Gone With The Wind.  Found it pretty dull, and I have no idea why people like Scarlett so much.  Selfish people are not likeable.


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## dawnaraver (Dec 3, 2012)

courtyoung said:


> Abraham Lincoln the Vampire Hunter. The ONLY, let me stress only, ONLY reason I finished it was because I spent hard earned casholia on that baby.


I hear that, Courtney. I didn't finish that book. I thought, screw it I'll watch the movie instead. But the movie wasn't great either.


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## Adele Ward (Jan 2, 2012)

Philip Pullman's Northern Lights. I was so disappointed because I had heard so much praise for it. I only finished it because I was reading it for a reading group. It's nothing to do with what he says in it. I just really hated his writing style. He just said everything that was happening and kept explaining it rather than bringing it to life. I disliked his style intensely from the first page but had to force myself through it. I also kept thinking something good or more interesting was going to happen or be said, but no, it was just what it seemed to be from the beginning repeated over and over....


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## Guest (Dec 14, 2012)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - seriously, I'm told it was relatively popular. I was probably outside the target audience.


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

dejames said:


> Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - seriously, I'm told it was relatively popular. I was probably outside the target audience.


I can see why you'd say that. I read the first three novels for a book group and thought they were kind of cute but nothing more. They were kids books and I'm not a kid and don't have kids. I didn't hate them, just indifferent to them. I forced myself though book five before giving and not caring.


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## brianrowe (Mar 10, 2011)

There were certainly a few in high school, but recently I struggled finishing Long Lankin, by Lindsey Barraclough, which I received for a review for my blog, Story Carnivores. I knew about 100 pages in I just wasn't digging it, but decided to keep going. Eventually you get so far into a mediocre book that you can't help but finish it, and then you wonder why you did!


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