The worst books you have ever read.

[Bugman]

This is of course entirely subjective. We like what we like.

I'll start with anything written by Ken Follett. Collections of cliched characters that even I could come up with, paired with predictable and uninspired plot lines.

 

[desdemona]

Anything written by Dan Brown... if you can't guess the ending, let alone the bad guys...

And I like Ken Follett, Buggy 😛

 

[Bugman]

And I like Ken Follett, Buggy 😛

That, my dear, is your problem. 😛

 

[chicago]

Great Gatsby

Grapes of Wrath

Shane

 

[bum heeter]

THE worst book hands down was this horrible evaluation of the revisionist/post revisionist view of slavery in america. I don't even remember the name or the authors, but it was so wordy and almost vague, that if you didn't know what the discussion was about, you would have no idea after ready any given chapter!

 

[ChapInTheHat]

Anything written by Dan Brown... if you can't guess the ending, let alone the bad guys...

Gonna have to agree with this. The thing is, he wouldn't be NEARLY as annoying if he didn't go around claiming that all his novels were based off facts, rather than a mixture of stuff he made up, and stuff conspiracy theorists made up.

 

[Amnesiac]

The worst books I ever read:

Camelot 30K - Robert L. Forward
Dune: The Butlerian Jihad - Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson
The ENTIRE DARK TOWER SERIES (except The Gunslinger); Insomnia, Dreamcatcher - Stephen King
Chapterhouse: Dune - Frank Herbert
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls (this book, more than any, made me give up recreational reading even though it was a school assignment)

I'm sure there's more, but these ones were a slog, and I've largely kept recreational reading on the back burner for about 10 years because of them.

The Great Gatsby
The Grapes of Wrath
Shane
- AnnieHall

Oi! I like The Grapes of Wrath! It made me wanna be a writer! I'm giving Gatsby another go in a few weeks/months, so we'll see if I agree with you.

 

[jhop220]

House of the Seven Gables....horrid...stop reading mid-book and got the cliff notes for the paper

Jesse Ventura's 101 Conspiracy Theories....I went into it thinking it would have flow, but it doesn't...and many of them are way out in left field.

The Rock's Autobiography....I went into this one thinking it would be as good as Mick Foley's first Autobiography...it wasn't even close. Mick's first book entitled "Mankind" was the best autobiography that I've ever read....hands down.

 

[milagros317]

Are Men Necessary? When Sexes Collide by Maureen Dowd
Probably one of the worst books ever written and surely the worst book I ever read.

By the way, her answer is "No, and I am glad that they will become extinct."


A close second:
Why Not Me? by Al Franken

 

[Tifaranger]

Rethinking World Politics: A Theory of Transnational Neopluralism by Philip G. Cerny

The way in which this academic addresses political science is sad, not so much in content, but the amount of made up jargon within this book made me sick.

 

[Bohemianne]

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

Oh no, I loved this book when I was 14 or so... And I have a crush on Heathcliff. 😀

 

[C.A.B.]

"Catcher in the Rye"

Probably the worlds most over-rated book and author; filled with pointless self-serving angst and whiny prattle, and yet, a favorite of predatory English teacher's everywhere looking to score cheap points with vulnerable coming-of-age students.

 

[chicago]

Wuthering Heights was great. Catcher in the Rye was exactly how CAB described. I wanted to kick Holden Caufield's ass so bad.

 

[milagros317]

Wuthering Heights was great. Catcher in the Rye was exactly how CAB described. I wanted to kick Holden Caufield's ass so bad.

I confess that I have never read Wuthering Heights.
I was obliged to read Catcher in the Rye for 9th grade English class. I thought Holden Caulfield was a pretentious moron.

 

[Bugman]

For the life of me I can't remember the title or author of this...book.

The premise was, Jack the Ripper had made his way to San Francisco, was living there as a minister, and a young William Randolph Hurst was trying to expose his real identity. The narrative was both disjointed and rambling, and I don't recall a paragraph longer than four sentences. Completely unreadable, although I slogged through four chapters before returning this doorstop to the library. What a waste of good paper.

 

[Wildtime]

Hannibal - Thomas Harris

Basically, the author kills off all of his characters so he doesn't have to write about them anymore. I read it because both Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs were both compelling reads. However, all of them far surpass their screen adaptations (save that new TV series).

Anything by Tom Clancy

Military techno porn wrapped around weak plots and two-dimensional characters. In this case, the screen adaptations and associated video games surpass the books.

 

[kopfhorer]

If a book really sucks, I don't read it. I don't finish it. It's one thing to veg in front of a TV and watch a mediocre program, but reading takes effort, which I can put to better use.

 

[Musicroxmysox]

Okay folks sorry, but I loved Catcher in the Rye, probably always will.

Let's see bad books I've read recently....The Vampire Diaries (don't do it, just don't.) Oh the 50 Shades of Grey crap (borrowed it from a friend, what a waste of time reading those three.) Umm....not much else that I can think of, I've been trying to only read things that sound good to me and skip everything else in recent times.

 

[desdemona]

Hannibal - Thomas Harris

Basically, the author kills off all of his characters so he doesn't have to write about them anymore. I read it because both Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs were both compelling reads. However, all of them far surpass their screen adaptations (save that new TV series)

I'm really enjoying the new tv adapation. I agree, the later works (and subsequent movies) were weak in comparison. Rumor has it the movie studio wanted Harris to continue the Hannibal series and he refused. Apparently, they own the character, so it was either he write for them or they were going to take over the novels/screenplays. Very unfortunate - commercial greed killed this the rumors are true.

If a book really sucks, I don't read it. I don't finish it. It's one thing to veg in front of a TV and watch a mediocre program, but reading takes effort, which I can put to better use.

I agree - however, if I'm trapped in an airport and somehow forgot to pack a book or have an expected lay over, I grab Dan Brown. I can relax with its predictability, leave it in the airport, on the plane, at the hotel, wherever, and not feel any guilt whatsoever. And usually finish it waaay before I get home.

 

[Cosmo_ac]

Belinda by Maria Edgeworth. An extremely dull and long book which I never would have read save it was for a class. The main character is as interesting as a piece of rock, and characters seem to love to try and use as many words as possible and as round about a fashion as possible, to get to what they want to say.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Haven't finished it yet, but fairly dull book with an author that is preaching her own views with the subtleties of a jack hammer. It wouldn't be so bad if Rand hadn't tried to present things as so incredibly black and white or lopsided. Rand also seems to love characters which have fallen in love with their own voice, and need to speak for pages on end, usually trying to figure out ways to say the exact same thing they had just said again and again and again.

 

[Dialon]

"The Old Man and the Sea"
I hated that book, it was uninteresting, and the payoff was stupid. I was so bored, but was forced to be invested in the story. so when they spent all of that time trying to catch the damn fish, I slowly began rooting for them. And they made it back only to discover sharks at their fish. NOOOOOOOOO! FUCKING SHARKS!

Objectively, the worst novel is "The Waves of Atlantis."

 

[Saeria]

I agree with the Grapes of Wrath. Miserable, dry read. I needed lube just to get through that book.

Persuasion.... really, Jane Austen's novels always infuriated me but this was an entire novel in which NOTHING really happens. I had an exhaustive research paper on this book in which I attempted to prove that the story was riddled with super stealthy ninjas... why? Because no one in their right mind is stupud enough to believe that plot with out a ninja or two helping it along.

Oh, i can't remember the name of the book, but it was a harlequin viking romance that read like it had e.
been written by very drunk preteen girl that had dropped out of school before gaining a basic mastery of the English languag