What is the worst book you've ever read.

Mine is a book called Dead Run written by P.J. Tracey.
Infact the book was so bad that I don't even look at anything written by P.J. Tracy if I see it.

It was just terrible badly written the usual.



~Raven.

This awful 'thriller' about a depraved serial killer. It had everything in it, torture, rape, abuse, necrophilia, murder. It was disgusting and extremely graphic. And I think it was a best seller. The name escapes me but my mum lent it to me!

This awful 'thriller' about a depraved serial killer. It had everything in it, torture, rape, abuse, necrophilia, murder. It was disgusting and extremely graphic. And I think it was a best seller. The name escapes me but my mum lent it to me!
I personally like extremely graphic stuff, but that's just me.

I don't really have a "worst book," but I really dislike anything to do with Fantasy. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

There are a lot of bad books out there. One of my least favorite books is actually The Catcher in the Rye. I don't think that it speaks so much to a contemporary audience . . . Holden is rich.

I didn't like State of Fear though . . . see the thread below.

I too like graphic discritpion in stories. I find it helps to give a better picture in my mind.
At the end of the day if thats not the type of thing you like just don't read graphic.



~Raven.

Oh, I can't remember the actual book title and author but if anybody can recognize this book..it's a sort of a superhero fantasy except that its about saving these people plagued by a strange sex disease called "dreamer's disease" where you dream of having sex and being hurt by somebody but it doesn't really happen but somehow, if you dream of having sex with a person who has it, you catch it too...there's one hero that solves mathematical equations in a jiffy to change his surroundings...they're out to defeat the evil incarnate who brought the disease to mankind...anyway, like i was saying, it was bad...

There are a lot of bad books out there. One of my least favorite books is actually The Catcher in the Rye. I don't think that it speaks so much to a contemporary audience . . . Holden is rich.


:eek:

The Catcher in the Rye is one of my favourite books....

:eek:

The Catcher in the Rye is one of my favourite books....I know. There are a lot of books that I disagree with the majority on.

For instance, I think that the Lord of the Rings should have been pared down about about a third, and I don't like Eragon either. They're not in the worst though.

Like I said, when I read Catcher in the Rye, all I wanted to do was deck Holden Caufield. Ugh. Self-righteous prick. Shallow to the core.

LoL - if I had to hit a "classic" it would be Wuthering Heights. Wasn't much redeeming in that book for me. Haven't read Catcher in the Rye - sorry :( Want to talk bad movies though - I can give you a HUGE list of those

One of my least favorite books is actually The Catcher in the Rye. .

i kinda agree with spherical. I didnt like that stuff much.
some ideas went round and round in circles at some points

I would have to say King Lear. I know technicaly it is realy a play; however, it is one of the few books that I have actualy tried to read from cover to cover and failed.
Although, thats not to say I dislike shakespeare. I've read Hamlet and Othello several times from cover to cover with ease often delving into the little notes on the side.
I have found a use for the book though. I've found that more often than not novel induced insomnia can be alleviated either reading King Lear or flipping through the UCC.

the worst book that i have ever read has got to be Alice in Wonderland//Through The Looking Glass. i just didn't like the structure of the story at all, lol.
heather

I personally like extremely graphic stuff, but that's just me.

I don't really have a "worst book," but I really dislike anything to do with Fantasy. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Why? Personally I love Fantasy...

Cry, the Beloved Country had to be one of the most horrible books I have ever read. It was whiny and depressing and boring and long. It was like the slave version of emo.

Ah, the slave version of emo... that puts a really funky image into my head...

I find that I don't like most books; at least, I almost never finish them. However, I really hate:

Any fantasy books where the magic system is derived from latin. It's like a mangled corpse ripping out my thumbs and saying "ridiculous!" and then I just effin grown new ones?!? WTF?!?

In my opinion, magic systems should be given thought to. BE ORIGINAL. And none of that concentration crap either... *stumps away like an old man with a cane*

-Resident Mexican

Eragon. I doubt an explanation is needed.

Well, Eragon may suck, but it's hardly the worst book in existence. Old fu*ker paolini tried, I'll give him that.
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Ok, you're right. Eragon is the worst book in existence.

Lol, a bad book becoming popular increases its 'worst book' potential. Besides from everything everyone waffles about concerning the cliche, the bad writing and characters, I hate Eragon because it's popular, but also because it's popular to those who've not read better, who haven't read enough fantasy and think he's a genious.

Chris P. is a fraud, and I'm still surprised he wasn't sued.

- FoY

Eragon. I doubt an explanation is needed.

I love you now. *hugs*
Seriously, all the kids at my school are Eragon-crazy, and it just makes me sick. I tried reading Eragon and Eldest, but it sounded like something straight out of a D-and-D handbook. They all say how amazing it is that he published a masterpiece at 16, when what they ought to be saying is, "Wait a second...we're reading something by a high schooler who's daily thoughts are influenced by peer pressure, hormones, and deluded flights of fantasy. And as if that's not bad enough, this book is burning my flesh off with the sheer power of horrible cliches. All of a sudden, I have this horrible sinking feeling. Is it too late to get a receipt on this book?"
At that point, said person is probably mobbed by geeky little sixth-graders with large glasses and toy swords who think they can master "The Speech" or whatever it's called.

Yeah. I'm sick of that series.

Amen.

I really hated "The Old Man and the Sea".
Not so much because of how boring it was, but that the old man didn't have a brain.
So the damn swordfish is too big to fit into your boat, and sharks are eating it. Once they've eaten a quarter of it, put it in the bloody boat. It should be light enough now. Sure you won't get top dollar but you'll get some money out of it.

I hated high school English.

I have to say (and I'll probably have people disagreeing with me) that the Thomas Covenant books by Stephen Donaldson were terribly boring. They're currently imprinted as the worst book(s) I've ever read. I never actually made it through all of them.

Actually, the worst book I've ever read is Nothing But the Truth by Avi. It's supposed to be a "highly realistic moral debate" with "hooking characters" and "shocking conclusions."

Really, it's a retarded debate about whether a kid can sing to the Star-Spangled Banner. The protagonist is a whiny little b__ch, the so-called "antagonist" is just a nice lady, and the conclusion is dumb and pointless.

The protagonist is a whiny little b__ch
:p I enjoyed that one.

I bet no one here has ever heard of ALWAYS 東京三丁目の夕日 but let me assure you that it is the worst book ever penned by mortal man
Reading it has the kind of effects that H.P.Lovecraft ascribes to the reading of the Necronomicon - you will tear out your hair, smash your teeth out with a brick and spend the rest of your days living under a bridge, smelling of urine and muttering to yourself.
If you see this book, burn it Farenheit style and send the ashes with hate mail to the idiot that penned this babylonian whore in novel form.

Nightpeople by Anthony Eaton, it sucked dick

I really did not like Dracula by Bram Stoker, I had to read it for English and I almost didn't read it because I disliked it so much, and I usually like almost everything I read.

Just my 2 cents.

The worse book I ever read was Ginger Pie. It was sssoo boring.

The worst book I read was The Valley of fear by Conan Doyle.

The thing is, I love his other sherlock holmes books. My favourite being the hound of baskervilles.

The Valley of fear was a huge let down for me.

the worst book I've ever read is Portrait of An Artist As A Young Man. By James Joyce. *shudder*

I hated that book.

This awful 'thriller' about a depraved serial killer. It had everything in it, torture, rape, abuse, necrophilia, murder. It was disgusting and extremely graphic. And I think it was a best seller. The name escapes me but my mum lent it to me!

If you're referring to American Psycho, it's my favorite book. Catcher was so badly written and the main character was both a total idiot and a shallow, pretentious twat that I could not carry on with the book. Got half way through and literally began dreading having to read on. Put it down and haven't picked it up again. In a word - dire. Catcher in the Rye should have been burned by Hitler. Had he been alive to suffer it.

I have to say that if it is Psycho you're referring to, then you totally miss the point of the book. It's an attack on consumerism and morality. The sex and violence is a nessesary part of the story.

I have two books and an entire series that I hate.

1. A Separate Peace.
First of all it was ridiculous. The main character, Gene was selfish and kind at the same time. The supporting character was basically a god at their school and he didn't have and Achillies heel till after Gene pushed him out of a tree. WTF!
Then Leper Lepelier was insane and not a leper. He was so a psycopath! He ran away from the army! Then Chet Douglas was jealous of Gene's great mental-5kill but watch out Gene, he sure can play a trumpet! And who knows what Brinker Hadley was thinking.
I just couldn't stand reading it. The entire book was basically two private highschool boys and the student body who acted like they were in a frat house.
And one more thing that made the novel it's own, "The Super Sucide Society of the Summer Session" you join by jumping out of a tree.

2. Eldest, I liked Eragon. I didn't hate the book, I just hated reading it. Very repetative and the Author couldn't quite grap the concept that some things are self explanitory. That and my favorite characters were only featured at limited times. I miss Solembum, he was awesome.

3. I LOATHED the entire series of Cirque Du Freak. WTF WTF WTF was it about. First, the guy who wrote it (he doesn't deserve the title of Author) constantly miss-spelled things and couldn't even comprehend sentence structure at all. The books were extremely short, I read the fourth in less that 7 hours at a slow pace. Then at the end the preview wasn't even gripping. NOTHING HAPPENS, it's all boring and it's all been done. AND! if it hasn't been done before this book that means this guy shouldn't have wrote it!
I liked the first book and that was it. The super spider and the secret circus was nice, but it wasn't really a circus but juuust a freak show, an illegal one at that.
What is the worst thing you ask? J.K.Rowling gave it praising reviews! WTF...

Those are my picks, I just might have to add to them later.

The Wasp has spoken, it's okay if you didn't listen.

one i got for christmas was The Historian by Elizabeth someone and it is absolutly terrible. it is so boring i hae attempted to read it like ten times and had to put it back after the first few chapters. i promise i will finish it one day but God, it is so boring.
Heather

The Historian? I heard it was really good...I was gonna read it soon.

I have read a lot of terribly-written books, and there have also been many that were so bad that I never finished them. But one that does stand out was the first full Star Trek novel, Spock Must Die, by James Blish. The dream war between Spock and his evil twin (I kid you not!) was absolutely horrid, and the Organians condemning the entire Klingon race to a time bubble was beyond awful.

I think Catcher in the Rye was an awesome awesome book...primarily because it was shallow. It showed both the sides of the issue...how we might hate something while doing the same thing...

One of my least favorite books is The Fountainhead. My girlfriend gifted it to me and said that the Howard Roark's character resembles mine. I couldn't go past page 350 (after force reading the previous 100 pages). Man, I've never seen more two dimensional characters...the bad people were always bad, the ugly people were always ugly...come on, people have layers upon layers of characteristics...good people are bad, and bad people can be good.

One of my favorite books has to be Megacorp. Its a really really sleazy book by Jonathan Black...but there is just something bout it that I totally love.
Then I like Catch-22.
I'm currently reading The Plague, and I like it quite a bit so far...though its a translation, so I can never know how Camus writes in French.

I can't even remember the "bad books" because if it's that horrible, I usually don't get past the first 10 pages... haha.

The Historian? I heard it was really good...I was gonna read it soon. yeah, so had i, that's why i asked my mam for it for christmas. but when i started reading it it just sounds so much like a history book that you would read in school, rather than entertaining. like it is so matter-of-fact about things it makes it soooooo boring. just my opinion on it though, it might be brilliant and i don't have a very good taste in books :)
Heather

I was lent it once. Didn't get two pages in. That's the one about Dracula, right?

Anything I've been forced to read in School and any of the books I've read on a school Summer Booklist.

To name a few

The 5 People You Meet In Heaven
The Old Man And The Sea
The Pearl
Of Mice And Men
The Scarlet Letter
The Alchemist
The Things They Carried
Fahrenheit 451
To Kill a Mockingbird
Great Expectations

I know. There are a lot of books that I disagree with the majority on.

For instance, I think that the Lord of the Rings should have been pared down about about a third, and I don't like Eragon either. They're not in the worst though.

Like I said, when I read Catcher in the Rye, all I wanted to do was deck Holden Caufield. Ugh. Self-righteous prick. Shallow to the core.

When it comes to Eragon, I couldn't agree more with you. It is awful. But to compare it with The Lord of the Rings? Personally, I like Tolkien, but that is not the point. Lord of the Rings is an original piece of work, while Eragon is the plot from Star Wars wrapped in a fantasy-cover. A complete rip-off. I can not believe how so many people came to worship it.

Nicholas above, quite contraversial in your choices. There are some great reads amongst what you have selected there though Itake the point about the difference in a book when it is forced upon you and when it is by choice.

Scarlet Letter for example, at scholl not enjoyable one jot, nowadays a great book.

Mine some tripish drivel by Val McDermid I expect.

I liked Eragon, to an extent. Like Godshaped said it was a ripoff, but I mean I still really like Sappira(sp?)'s character. I kind of thought she was cool. That and the character Angela and her cat.

Of mice and men? That's like my number one favorite older book. I know it isn't that old, but yeah. You hate it only because you were forced to read it?

I'm usually quite cautious before picking up books, so lucky for me I haven't stumbled onto too many bad ones. There are fewer bad books that I actually did finish. If something gets too bad I usually just put it down. So I'm a quitter, tee hee.

One book I'm sad to say I ever picked up was Eragon by Christopher Paolini. Friends of mine reccomended the book to me, and I'm glad I borrowed it from them as opposed to paying $25 to get it in the bookstore. He may have been 15 when he wrote it, but that's no excuse for the quality of the writing. Even if I hadn't known that the author was 15, the voice of his writing would have given it away. I was thoroughly unimpressed. I forbid my father from ever purchasing the movie, since I've heard, God forbid, that it's even worse than the books were.

I agree that when books are forced on you, they typically are less enjoyable to read. I got through my English essays on sheer writing skill. I took what little I knew and stretched it out for several pages. Public school teachers can be so gullible.

One reason I think so many students get turned off from reading is that 'classics' get forced on them. However, classics written in a different time period were published in a different world with a different reader in mind. For instance, Great Expectations, had the exact same story been written in this time, would have never sold. The publishing world has changed, and so has the writing. If an editor saw an entire paragraph crammed into one sentence with 50 commas, they'd stop reading right there and send the manuscript back with a rejection slip attached.

I agree that when books are forced on you, they typically are less enjoyable to read. I got through my English essays on sheer writing skill. I took what little I knew and stretched it out for several pages. Public school teachers can be so gullible.

A funny story about gullible teachers. My eighth grade teacher, Mrs. Parslow ("Prune-Face Parslow"), always gave me an awful grade on my monthly book reports. One month, I got completely sick of it, so I wrote a report on a book that did not exist except inside my head. It was my first A in her class!

One reason I think so many students get turned off from reading is that 'classics' get forced on them. However, classics written in a different time period were published in a different world with a different reader in mind. For instance, Great Expectations, had the exact same story been written in this time, would have never sold. The publishing world has changed, and so has the writing. If an editor saw an entire paragraph crammed into one sentence with 50 commas, they'd stop reading right there and send the manuscript back with a rejection slip attached.

I wonder. I thought back about books and stories that were required for me. The ones I despised, I think of as "forced on me", such as James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Yet others that were required reading were very interesting. I don't know if I would have picked up Tom Sawyer without having had it pushed at me, and the same with Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Faulkner's A Rose For Emily. Yet all of these were interesting reads that I do not regret putting the effort into.

Anything I've been forced to read in School and any of the books I've read on a school Summer Booklist.

To name a few

The 5 People You Meet In Heaven
The Old Man And The Sea
The Pearl
Of Mice And Men
The Scarlet Letter
The Alchemist
The Things They Carried
Fahrenheit 451
To Kill a Mockingbird
Great Expectations

I can understand why you did not like any of the above books mentioned, but Of Mice and Men?

--C'mon!

Ugh. Hated that book.

One book that I absolutely hated was "Dangerous to know" by Barbara Taylor Bradford. I did like "woman of substance" but when I read this book I kept wondering how something so atrocious could be published. Let's just say that the incestuous twist in the end was too much to take and was so tasteless...

My head will roll when I say this but...
Farewell to arms Hemmingway
I just could not get into the book, it was just too depressing for me.
Hannibal by Thomas Harris. Just not what I expected, way too weird for me

Worse Book I have read to date. Blade Runner 2 Edge of Human K, W, Jeter

Anything I've been forced to read in School and any of the books I've read on a school Summer Booklist.

To name a few

The 5 People You Meet In Heaven
The Old Man And The Sea
The Pearl
Of Mice And Men
The Scarlet Letter
The Alchemist
The Things They Carried
Fahrenheit 451
To Kill a Mockingbird
Great Expectations


Worst books ever?
You're kidding, right?
Some of those are pretty much the best books ever written.

I really did not like Dracula by Bram Stoker, I had to read it for English and I almost didn't read it because I disliked it so much, and I usually like almost everything I read.

Just my 2 cents.

OMG? I'm reading it just now and loving it, it's so gripping.

Most people seem to be mentioning books they read at school and perhaps if you were to read through some of them just now, you might be surprised. I imagine if i had to read 'the old man and the sea' at school i wouldn't have liked it - well any hemmingway, as he's quite slow and some of what he describes I think 'what was the point in that?', but he does have talent even if his style is heavily influenced (in my opinon) by Joseph Conrad.

Books I was going to have to read for an English course I didn't end up taking that I wasn't too keen on were, 'Orlando' by Virgina Woolfe. It's the strangest story of a man turning into a woman over so many centuries. I think I read the first chapter and gave up. Also 'Oroonko' by Behn - which I couldn't get into although i think it was written in the 16th century, i think it was hard to follow if i recall

The only booksI can think of that I have actually read completely are Angels and Demons' or the 'Da Vinci code' - they are badly written and once you read one you can predict what's happening in the other, also it's more a descriptions of a film than a novel, this happened then-this- then this. They are quite big books but I finished not knowing much depth of the main characters or any.

The work book I ever had the misforune to read?

Hands down, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I hated the book and despise his writing style. That book was the first book in the history of my life that ACTUALLY put me to sleep.

John Steinbeck is alright. I don't like his writing style and I hate how he ends his books.

Eragon--I was disappointed. Finally picked up the book after hearing so much hype about it for years and it didn't captivate me enough to finish it. The writing sort of put me off to it too...

Eragon
lord of the rings (can we say: out-dated and booooring)?

Anything I've been forced to read in School and any of the books I've read on a school Summer Booklist.

To name a few

The 5 People You Meet In Heaven
The Old Man And The Sea
The Pearl
Of Mice And Men
The Scarlet Letter
The Alchemist
The Things They Carried
Fahrenheit 451
To Kill a Mockingbird
Great Expectations

wat the?

Catcher in the Rye
Silas Marner

I'd have every copy burned if I could.

Don't particularly have a worst book, although my favourite book is Pride and Prejudice!

The worst book I ever read was The House on the Gulf by Margaret Peterson Haddix. I had to get a book out at my school library and I didn't have much time, so I pretty much just grabbed it off the shelf without looking at it. Reading that book was just a big waste of time. It's not horribly written, but the plot pretty much stinks nd it was really slow, boring, and pointless. -.-

great cool awesome what a cool idea for a post. lets all bash the worst together. I posted this very Q. to another, lamer, writing forum, and the morons didn't even reply.
My worst book would have to be Old man and the sea, by Hemingway. Boy, that thing went nowhere.
and BTW, whoever said Stoker's Dracula is wack, is Nuts!

I try to read as much as I can but I dont have that many books that interest me but my aunt said the worst book that she read that's part of her book collection is "crackhead"

I once read a book so bad I couldn't get through the first few pages. And that's bad, cause it may have had a good story. The problem? There was no quotation marks. It was insane to read, the whole thing was dialogue, but you couldn't tell where the dialogue let off and the people started doing things! It was insane!

I wouldn't say worst, but I'm not too crazy about Hemingway. I don't quite get the fascination.

hmmm...

i fell asleep while our class was reading a christmas carol, and got poked awake in double quick time, it was quite boring. the mupphet christmas carol on film is so much better:D
ill probs read it again, see i can confirm my suspicions

edit: i have a friend at school who told me about eragon and such. she reads loads of fantasy and likes those books. personally they sound bit familiar

*deep voice* eragon, i am...your brother! muahahaha
*flies off on medieval star wars fighty thing*

still think theyre not bad though.

The Great Gatsby is another one ...

Pretty damn boring ...