The worst book you've ever read or had to have read

Great expectations.

Whole book was a snooze fest for me, I could not stand the pacing one bit.

 

1. The Scarlet Letter.

Do I honestly have to say more? This book was so unbearable I sparknoted the entire thing for English, and STILL was bored reading the condensed version! I've read Shakespearre, touched base with The Catcher in the Rye, and books that just flat out confuse people, but this one took the cake on so many levels.

2. The Glass Menagerie

It sucks ten times more when you have to watch the movie, too. You know, the one where someone with the last name Hepburn is in it, and she's old as fudge, her daughter's supposed to be only 24-28 and she looks just as old as her mother, and the boy of the family, Tom, is a younger version of that guy from Law & Order.

The book was bland, repugnant, repulsive, etc, etc, etc, etc. Laura was so incredibly 2D I cried at the idea of reading it. Amanda was a hateful, horrid witch, and Tom was so self-centered even when he was selfless it was somehow selfish. Williams needs to perish in the flames of hell for writing that piece of crap.

 

Anyone read any poetry by Carol Ann Duffy?
I know she's revered as some kind of wondeful poetry genius, but I loathe her work.

It's just that she uses such UGLY words/phrases.
Totally frustrating!

 

You wait til you hear Carol ann Duffy read her own poems live. Then you'll know what true pain is. (Our entire party of people, including our two tutors were bored stiff.)
Worst book I probably ever read was a very random novel about a killer tomato. I've never seen or heard of it since.

 

TRUE STORY. I had to read that book once in high school and twice in college. WHY, GOD, WHY???

That's my uncle's favorite book, so I made a valiant effort to read it a couple times, but I never made it through...terrible book.

My senior year, my English teacher had us read that whole story as a class. One of the worst experiences of my life.

 

Grapes of Wrath & Billy Budd

 

Roll of thunder hear my cry.

 

George Orwell.

Ironically, he's one of my favorite authors...

Animal Farm was genius in my opinion, but oh well.

Let's see, worst book ever?

Animorphs *twitches and seethes with hatred*

 

I'm very curious if anyone has picked up

Eve- The Empyran Age by Tony Gonzales.

This book is so bad i'm sure if most people here read it they would by the end of the 3rd chapter, realise that they (you) would have a much, much, much better chance of having your own book published.

Everything i have learned here about whats not great in writing is in this book. First its not very tight ("was", an "And") written a few dozen times every page. Bad book sadisms everywhere. Telling rather than showing.... awkward, awkward writing etc etc.... Italics EVERYWHERE...

I kid you not. Even though i only read 20 pages out of the 500 it offers, i would rather kill myself then go on.

I brought this book with money from my birthday. Sadly the cover looked great and the back read well.... big mistake.

I will use this book when i finish mine. So at least if mine isnt great i can read this, knowing i'm better then at least one published writer.

 

I have two that I hated reading.

1. Catcher in the Rye.

2. House of Seven Gables

Catcher in the Rye was too angst-filled and too much like dealing with whining children ... I couldn't stand it. House of Seven Gables ... the writing was too dry and the climax of the novel was so anti-climatic I nearly threw the book across the room. It seemed pointless to me.

 

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
Not a novel, and no plot, but by far the most boring book I was forced to read.

 

Well, there is a handful that I can think of....

One: The Scarlet Letter

The most boring 'love' story of all time! Couldn't even read through the second chapter...bleh.

Two: Gulliver's Travels

.....

Three: 1984

Some may say its amazingly genius, eerily foreboding. Me, I say its whack.

Four: Heart of Darkness

Never, ever again will I read a book that was recommended by a History teacher...

Five: Romeo and Juliet

It wasn't a book, I know, but I needed to have a true 'handful', so I'll just put this on the list because I found it to be awful.

....But wait, I can think of some more.

Say Goodbye by Lisa Gardner, The Great Gatsby (The Great Gagme as I dubbed it), Their Eyes Were Watching God, Odyssey.

Guess I've read a number of bad ones in my lifetime.

 

A bit off topic but a funny story nonetheless

When I was in school (was it only a year ago?) I had to do a assignment that went something like this.

Write an essay on a positive theme relevent to modern teens present the play R&J.
Yup... Suicide, gang warfare... reallllly positive.

 

Their Eyes Were Watching God was WEIRD.

I find it very interesting that most of the books I was assigned to read during school (and I majored in English, so as any other English majors out there know, you spend a lot of time reading) were horrible, but then I go to the library and check out other well-known books that have been around for a while and they're good. Makes me wonder...do I just dislike the books assigned to me because I was being forced to read them? Or do teachers only assign books that stink?

Sorry, off topic...

 

Catcher in the ray.

I had to read it to pass high school lit. and it made me consider dropping out.

 

Here here on that one.

And yes, it does seem weird, the choices that English teachers pick. For the most part, I haven't liked the classics my teachers have chosen, but sometimes, I have found myself enjoying a book assigned to me, such as what came to be my favorite book, A Separate Peace by John Knowles.

Yes, I'm sure that I understood them, that wasn't the problem. To me, 1984 was just disappointing, and I didn't find the characters likeable at all. Excellent plot to work with, I just didn't like the execution. Heart of Darkness, to me, well, it simply wasn't my cup of tea I guess. I understood the psychological aspects, the symbolism, etc., just didn't captivate me.

 

For me, The Alchemist was TORTUOUS. That Paulo guy is overrated trash. Pseudo-psychological BULL.

 

I love that book!

Worst books I've ever read - Twilight, the Forest of the Pygmies (couldn't finish that one, it was dreaful) Gone Missing (self pitying, self conscious) and tons more, unfortunately

 

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I found it very boring, couldn't get into it at all.

 

I mentioned three books in my earlier post.

I can't believe I missed this one:

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, truly the worst book ever written, because of its effects on humanity. It gave rise to the movement that has made heroes of the rich and villains of the poor, trickle-down economics, the theory that, if you make the rich richer everything will be okay, that business should be free and unfettered by regulation, theories which in many ways, has lead directly to the current economic crisis. Besides all that, having read the book and also being familiar with the basics of logic, I know that it was filled with logical fallacies, and that its entire premise is a straw-man argument as well as a slippery slope, that any restriction on business, any assistance to the poor, is extreme socialism and akin to cutting off someone's arm and awarding it to another, or, literally, putting the world on the proud Atlas's shoulders.... and that anyone who favors a single restriction on business or such assistance is a whiny, petty little stereotype (as presented in her book) with no virtue, no knowledge, and actually, have no real compassion, like the rich business-heroes who save the world by building a great utopia for profit that enriches everyone. Never mind that unrestricted business, just a few decades before Rand wrote her book, was sending children to work 7-day weeks, 20-hour days in coal mines.

 

The 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn' trilogy by Tad Williams was my introduction into fantasy books a few years ago and it aint great, suprised I ever read anymore of the genre after this.

Any Shakespere stuff we had to do back in school was very dull.

 

"The Crucible" was the worst play I have ever had to read. "The Odyssey" wasn't one of my favorites and anything Al Gore wrote...was supposed to read the book in college, told the Professor NFW on that and went from an A to a B in the class...oh well....

 

You, sir, are an intelligent man. Welcome to the club

 

I agree completely. Her early novel 'We the Living' is one of my favourite books. I was so excited to read Atlus Shrugged and The Fountainhead, only to experience a mix of disappointment and disgust.

I've never been able to like the Crucible- not because of its message or how it was written, but because I could never get into it after studying the events at Salem in great detail. It just didn't ring true to me.

 

If a book is turning out to be bad I stop reading it. I don't have time to read stuff I don't enjoy. The last bad book I started to read was a harlequin series novel a few weeks ago because my friend insisted this particular one was good and I should read it. I really tried to with an open mind. But it was awful and I stopped. I don't remember the title.