Worst book you have ever read

[irishpixieb]

I was just wondering what the worst book you have ever read is and why you think it is so bad! :dupe:

[Varenne Rodin]

Lasher - Anne Rice

I don't remember exactly why I couldn't stand this book, I just found it to be nearly unreadable. A story for washed up cat ladies, or something. I've heard the Lestat stuff is fantastic, and I hope that's true. I couldn't get into Lasher. It wasn't well put together. The narrative flow was choppy, with flimsy twists, turns, and segues.

[chrisvia]

I remember trying out a Dean Koontz book. It was like forcing myself to eat something terrible whilst pinching my nostrils closed. It was a lifeless story with paper-thin, stock characters. The epiphany at the end was written in aggrandized prose, but the actual content--what was happening--was mundane. Kind of like when parents really talk up something ordinary to a child so that it appears to be extraordinary. Anyway, I remember feeling insulted as a reader. I'll try to remember what the title was.

[PeterL]

I didn't actually read the wordt book that I started. I found a copy of The Last Immortal by J. O. Jeppsom once. There were some post-its on it mentioning that it was unreadably bad, so I tried. I got to page three, and i believe that is a pretty good mark. There was one novel by Jack Williamson that I couldn't even get past the forst page of.

[Alexander III]

I once read some Jaques Derrida to try and understand post-modernism better, I soon found out post-modernism appears so wacky because in most cases it can't even understand it'self. I wish more philosphers learnt poetry, that way they would undestand that though poetry may sound grand and confusing and overwhelming, each word is a little god perfectly placed there - reading Derrida is like reading a seventeen year old's first poem, 12 words in one line which are there to make everything seem more grand, when in truth he knows not what they mean but they look impressive. And so must be good poetry....

It should be noted that it is also possible that I am an idiot when it comes to philosophy and my above rant sounded a lot like that other seventeen year old in math class who is always saying "what is the point of all this,I am never gonna use it in real life" - If so forgive me, and please do enlighten me if you could.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Most books I hate I quit reading (because I don't think books that have not been fully read should count), but one I did finish that come immediately to mind was Uncle Tom's Cabin. That book suuuuuucked.

[hillwalker]

In my youth I went through a stage of devouring high quality science fiction - Azimov, Poul Anderson, Theodore Sturgeon, Ray Bradbury to name but a few.

Then one day someone recommended Robert Heinlein's 'I Will Fear No Evil' to me. It was so turgid and so poorly written it turned me off science fiction for good.

Admittedly I'd already attempted James Herbert's 'Dune' trilogy and found that to be over-rated but Heinlein managed to redefine the term 'bad writing'.

Perhaps I should be grateful because such a disappointment led me to concentrate on a more eclectic reading programme.

H

[Ecurb]

Those of us who are parents realize that no book is as bad as the awful tome our child makes us read to them, over, and over and over. The idiotic "Berenstein Bears" books spring to mind.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I was just wondering what the worst book you have ever read is and why you think it is so bad!

No prizes for originality, but I had to read Dan Brown for a popular literature module a few years ago and I wanted to shoot myself. Everything about it was just so bad on every level.


I remember trying out a Dean Koontz book...

Yep, I read one of those (a long while back) horrendous, I agree.


I once read some Jaques Derrida to try and understand post-modernism better, I soon found out post-modernism appears so wacky because in most cases it can't even understand it'self. I wish more philosphers learnt poetry, that way they would undestand that though poetry may sound grand and confusing and overwhelming, each word is a little god perfectly placed there - reading Derrida is like reading a seventeen year old's first poem, 12 words in one line which are there to make everything seem more grand, when in truth he knows not what they mean but they look impressive. And so must be good poetry....

It should be noted that it is also possible that I am an idiot when it comes to philosophy and my above rant sounded a lot like that other seventeen year old in math class who is always saying "what is the point of all this,I am never gonna use it in real life" - If so forgive me, and please do enlighten me if you could.

Post modernism is not my favourite thing, however I do not think you can dismiss Derrida as a writer based upon understanding postmodernism. It is a bit like saying I don't get post modernism so he is crap, which doesn't really work.

Who's the new avatar?

[Climacus]

Most books I hate I quit reading . . .
Me too - at least insofar as I'm reading for pleasure. The last novel I dropped midway was Les Liaisons dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos. People were telling me that you couldn't put it down, that it burned like gunpowder. But I loathed it. Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind.

[Alexander III]

Post modernism is not my favourite thing, however I do not think you can dismiss Derrida as a writer based upon understanding postmodernism. It is a bit like saying I don't get post modernism so he is crap, which doesn't really work.

Who's the new avatar?

Sorry if I created confusion, I did read Derrida, and from his works I came to the conclusion, I did not come to that conclusion solely based on the fact that he is a post-modernist.

As to the new avatar - it is a painting of Caravaggio's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amor_Vincit_Omnia_(Caravaggio)

This may sound silly, but one night while I was stoned I watched a documentary on Carravaggio by Robert Hughes, and I had a small epiphany of the religious sorts but with his art, now I find myself obsessed with his paintings.

[PoeticPassions]

Most books I hate I quit reading (because I don't think books that have not been fully read should count), but one I did finish that come immediately to mind was Uncle Tom's Cabin. That book suuuuuucked.

I usually quit reading a book I think is awful as well, though I am sure I was required to read a few throughout my schooling. There are definitely several non-fiction books I could note (anything by Bernard Lewis for example)... but I guess one (fiction) book that springs to mind that I actually read all the way through (during a bout of boredom at the beach for a couple of weeks) is Nicholas Sparks's The Notebook. God awful, really.

Needless to say, I never read another one of his crap books, and never will endeavor to read one again.

[Jack of Hearts]

The Fountainhead. It's a perfect hate, on every possible level.








J

[PoeticPassions]

The Fountainhead. It's a perfect hate, on every possible level.


Yeah, there is a reason I refuse to read any Ayn Rand...

[Seasider]

Ayn Rand...now that's a puzzle to me. Old lefty from way back, libber of most things. And yet...I took Atlas Shrugged away on holiday and couldn't put it down. In fact in order to see if I wasn't losing my mind I read it again almost immediately straight through.Not for the writing but for the ideology which was so opposed to mine but had a certain seductive quality.
Didn't last the holiday through I'm happy to say.

[BlackCat]

Twilight...do I have to say more :brickwall:brickwall:brickwall

[Wolffman]

I haven't read it all, but I have read sections of David Nicholls' "One Day", and I thought it was some of the worst writing I've ever encountered. Whoever was the editor there should be thoroughly ashamed of his/herself.

[Brett Cottrell]

How I Becamse Stupid
The Unknown Knowns

[Insane4Twain]

. . . one I did finish that come immediately to mind was Uncle Tom's Cabin. That book suuuuuucked.I'm a quarter of the way through it and I can't imagine why you feel this way. Explain.

[cyberbob]

In my youth I went through a stage of devouring high quality science fiction - Azimov, Poul Anderson, Theodore Sturgeon, Ray Bradbury to name but a few.

Then one day someone recommended Robert Heinlein's 'I Will Fear No Evil' to me. It was so turgid and so poorly written it turned me off science fiction for good.

Admittedly I'd already attempted James Herbert's 'Dune' trilogy and found that to be over-rated but Heinlein managed to redefine the term 'bad writing'.

Perhaps I should be grateful because such a disappointment led me to concentrate on a more eclectic reading programme.

H

How can you call Asimov high quality science fiction but say that Heinlein's writing is bad?

Asimov can only be described as a good writer, technically speaking, if you compare him with the lowest of pulp writers.

His strengths were his imagination and his knowledge of hard science. He could come up with a very interesting story but her certainly was not a better writer than Heinlein.

I haven't read I Will Fear No Evil so I can't give my opinion on that story, and I acknowledge that Heinlein's stories can be hit or miss. But what I've observed from reading a bunch of stories and novels from both of these authors is that Heinlein crafts much more dynamic, diverse, and interesting characters and has much more realistic and humorous dialogue.

Neither of them are the greatest of writers, but if you're gonna compare them on pure writing skill then Heinlein is clearly better. I suggest you read some of Heinlein's juvenile novels, which most of his fans agree are his best. My favorite is Have Space Suit-Will Travel. I can re-read the first chapter of that story every day and it still makes me chuckle.