What is the worst book(s) you have ever read?

[Et_Cetera]

For some reason, I knew someone would say an Orwell novel. I am in middle school and have read all his books, and I think Animal Farm is genius. But for some weird reason, I knew someone was going to say an Orwell novel.

You have good taste, especially for someone in middle school. Keep it up. I can’t imagine someone putting an Orwell novel in their pick of worsts. 1984 changed me.

 

[Oren]

Somebody said God Emperor of Dune.
I totally agree. I forgot about that. I almost got through it, but could not. I loved the first three…but that one ended it for me, I never finished it or read any of the rest.

 

[57classic]

In no order:​

• the Da Vinci Code
• the General Directory for Catechesis (ET 1997)
• Salvifici Doloris

The GD for C is unreadable. It repels the most determined attempt. I would bet a tidy sum that it was composed by monkeys, because it treats the English language with a disregard for style & meaning that has to be seen to be believed. Yet even that, barbaric as it is, fails to plumb the depths reached by the Worst Ever Specimen of Prose in English - which is a translation of a document about Communism that emanated from the French bishops. It is heroically bad; unfortunately (???) I can’t at present recall where my copy is; so count yourself lucky

“Long years ago” - in this case, before 1960 or so - translations of Catholic documents were expressed in good English, were free of “abstractitis”, observed the rules of grammar, syntax & punctuation, & paid due attention to the meaning of words. No longer. Calvinists can still write - Anglicans & Catholics are the folk who seem unable to

I can’t stop laughing. Wish I could think of as worthy a description for Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. I threw the book across the room at least 3 times before I just burned it, wouldn’t even give it away. I guess each alcoholic’s family developes their very own skewed sense of humor in order to cope but I was nauseated.

 

[lemonlime]

I just stopped reading Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk less than 50 pages from the end because the descriptions of awful stuff people do when they’re trapped together became more than I could endure. Someone on another forum to which I belong recommended the title; he’s getting an animated fistshake from me the next time I run into him.

White Noise by Don DeLillo probably doesn’t count as a bad book but I found it thoroughly disagreeable to read. I’m just too stupid to understand the author’s brilliance, I guess.

The Books of Wraeththu trilogy by Storm Constantine is another one that stands out. The initial premise of the books is vile and the plot deficiencies make whoever wrote that Destroyer series look like a good writer (there are like 75 books in the Destroyer series, all starring a guy named Remo and Chiun, Remo’s teacher in the assassin’s arts) .

The all-time worst for me was Firefly by Piers Anthony. Ah, my misspent youth.

 

[Quarles47]

Try Reading some of the Medical Textbooks that medical students have to read. You’ve never seen one on the best seller list. :twocents:

But seriously, I can’t decide so it’s a three way tie between the “Koran”, “The Book of Mormons”, or that watchtower version of Holy Scripture.

 

[Cracker_Mom]

I can’t stop laughing. Wish I could think of as worthy a description for Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. I threw the book across the room at least 3 times before I just burned it, wouldn’t even give it away. I guess each alcoholic’s family developes their very own skewed sense of humor in order to cope but I was nauseated.

I actually liked the first part of Angela’s Ashes.Thought it was very well written.Then the book became terribly sordid & ruined it for me.
The Irish have a wonderful way with words but sometimes waste them.

 

[57classic]

I actually liked the first part of Angela’s Ashes.Thought it was very well written.Then the book became terribly sordid & ruined it for me.
The Irish have a wonderful way with words but sometimes waste them.

As I said, each alcoholic’s family develops their own way to cope, our warped sense of humor is not the same has his warped sense of humor. I wouldn’t have picked the book to read except for the part of the blurb that said “humorus”. I never noticed the well written part, it just hurt too much. After a year of on and off reading I got within spitting distance of the end and quit.

 

[LynnGM]

FICTION: For me, I’ve stopped reading many Elizabeth Berg books. I sort of liked one that took place in 1940s America. I checked out some of her other books and disliked all of them. I was creeped out by a father abusing his teenage daughters, and then it being all tied up at the end. (Ugh, the father character had issues!) Her other books were kind of like the abusive father one and I had to stop.

Jodi Piccoult puts out some very negative stuff. I threw out My Sister’s Keeper because it was too dark, in a bad way, and took turns with narrators. I tried to enjoy her other books, but they were also very dark.

Also, the Temperance Brennan novels by Kathy Reichs. I am bothered by the violence done to humans and animals, especially overly descriptive passages about murder, body decomposition, and animal torture. I thought Bones to Ashes was good, but I returned two others to the library. Absolutely dark and boring.

The other day, after a long break from the series, I purchased THREE early books. Deja Dead was awful on so many levels. I am now stuck with the next two in the series. EEek!

 

[DanteAlighieri]

Hinds Feet on High Places
I just about got a cavity reading this treacly, half-baked Christian allegory. Yeesh.

Flush
As if the eco-agenda nonsense in Hoot were too subtle, Hiaasen decided to bash you over the head with the 2-by-4 of his environmental consciousness. Ow.

EDIT:

Now that I think about it, shouldn’t we distinguish between what’s worst in terms of artistic merit versus what’s worse in terms of moral content? Isn’t that really two different conversations?

I’ve known many books that were wonderfully written that I probably would not read again because I no longer wish to subject myself to the content.

Peace,
Dante

 

[RedGecko]

*The Handmaid’s Tale * by Margaret Atwood.

Very boring :yawn:

I found it to be rather creepy, although not a book I would recommend. I hear it made a better opera - not that I have seen it.

I have read that Ms. Atwood is rather ambivalent about The Handmaid’s Tale, regarding it as one of her lesser works and being displeased that so many people know of her simply as its author. But in an interview six years ago, she had some interesting things to say about it.

“Handmaid’s Tale” “had a different reception from different countries,” she recalled.

"The English said, ‘Jolly good yarn!’ They’d done all this under Oliver Cromwell and they’re not about to do it again. The Canadians, in their anxious way, said: ‘Could it happen here?’ which is what they always say about everything.

"The Americans said, ‘How long have we got?’ "

startribune.com/lifestyle/11475486.html

No contest.

The Name of the Rose

Ugh. I forced my way through to its end, waiting to be enlightened as to why so many people raved about it. I can only guess that it was much better in Italian.

No one has mentioned it yet, so I will nominate for my pick of worst book…

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

It is another one of those books which everyone raved about. But I couldn’t force my way past the second chapter.

 

[jeanne71350]

I’d have to say The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. What a load of rubbish.

-Jeanne

 

[Ghoti]

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

It is another one of those books which everyone raved about. But I couldn’t force my way past the second chapter.

I feel so embarrassed. I couldn’t get through the first chapter…I couldn’t understand most of it, as I recall.

I try to wrap my head around the most basic ideas of relativity, the speed of light, etc…and it’s futile. Like Curly Stooge said: “I try to think, but nothin’ happens.”

I’m hoping it’s just the case of not being explained properly (“properly” to mean “taking into account my mental makeup”). I remember having to retake calculus because my prof could not “properly” describe limits (the most basic principle). Once my new prof explained it, a light went on and I did well in the course. It wasn’t so much that I couldn’t calculate limits (and thus derivatives etc) – I just wasn’t sure what a limit “was” and that was blocking my attempts to use it. (I have an odd brain.)

Oh, another “worst book”? My linear algebra text from university. Hand-typed with hand-drawn graphs. All one typeface – Courier – no bolds, italics, anything to break up the visual monotony of each page; no clear topical breaks, etc – an absolute nightmare for a student with undiagnosed ADD and clinical depression. I skipped class for the semester. Four days before the final I started at page one.

Got a 40% on the final. Imagine if I had started earler…

 

[wolfgang]

The Ruins by Scott Smith

 

[Cracker_Mom]

I’d have to say The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. What a load of rubbish.

-Jeanne

I liked the “House of the Seven Gables” better.

 

[musicgal4jesus]

Emma- Jane Austen. I’m a big Austen fan, but I HATED this book! It just seemed to drag on and on and on… this is one case, IMO, where the movie is much better than the book!

Lolita- don’t remember who it’s by. Eck. Terrible book.

Parts of the Twilight series. I don’t hate this series, but the author’s writing is terrible at times. And the character of Bella? EW! Totally dependent on Edward, basically can’t exist without him around, refuses to acknowledge any sort of wrongdoing on his part; despite this, goes and makes out with her other best friend, saying that she loves him too; has about 1000 pages worth of angst between the two; even after she’s engaged to Edward, still goes back and kisses Jacob… Gr! One of the most infuriating fictional characters I’ve ever encountered.

okay… /rant. Sorry, that was kind of long.

 

[Dandelion_Wine]

Tell us how you REALLY feel!

 

[cthulhubryan]

I’d have to say The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. What a load of rubbish.

-Jeanne

The Scarlet Letter is easily among the worst of the “classics” forced upon an unexpecting youth by legions of tired old spinster English teachers out to destroy the experience of literature for the next generation.

There, that didn’t sound bitter at all

 

[musicgal4jesus]

Tell us how you REALLY feel!

Well, if you insist…

 

[distracted]

I know there are discussions on “What book are you reading?” I’m sure we’ve all read books that we don’t care for.

What is the worst book(s) you have ever read?

My pick of worst books in no particular order:

-Animal Farm by: George Orwell (I read this one back in High School)

-The Chamber by: John Grisham (When people say the book is better than the movie that’s not always true…Not in the case with this book)

-The Da Vinci Code by: Dan Brown (What a waste of time & money)

why would a person read a book if it is the worst one has ever read… I mean, wouldn’t you get a clue in the beginning that it was … the worst… or getting there… and then you’d put it down??? just a thought… but now that i think about it…

I’m guilty…

one bad book i read (have to confess i finished it… ) was the one Kitty Kelley did on the Bushes… Horrible!!!

 

[pismopal]

why would a person read a book if it is the worst one has ever read… I mean, wouldn’t you get a clue in the beginning that it was … the worst… or getting there… and then you’d put it down??? just a thought… but now that i think about it…

I’m guilty…

one bad book i read (have to confess i finished it… ) was the one Kitty Kelley did on the Bushes… Horrible!!!

You took the words out of my mouth…there are too many good books to waste one’s time on the bad or even mediocre.