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

Some of King's more recent books have been good...though most of them have not.

"The Girl who loved Tom Gorden" was a good book. So were some of the "Dark Tower" books that came out, especially the last installment, book 7. "Cell" would have been a great book if not for the ending. I even liked "Blaze" written as Richard Bachman.

Dean Koontz is a good author, and I especially like the Odd Thomas series. I also listened to the abridged version of the first Frankenstein book and now am dying to read it unabridged, and then, the sequels. My problems with Dean Koontz are these: 1.) He can't seem to write a book without getting on his libertarian soapbox at least once to talk about how much he hates the government. 2.) He sometimes stereotypes liberals, which offends me, as a liberal. 3.) His books are sometimes formulaic: There are books which have villains that are almost identical with the villains in other books... he's written more than one book, for example, about a villain who cuts apart his victims but is highly intelligent, super-sensitive, soft-spoken, and completely insane. Another example is he's written several books about super-intelligent dogs. I've read many of his books, only to say, "This is exactly like another one of his books."

 

Maybe I'll add it to my list after all haha. I'm going through the whole Battletech series right now. Good god these books are expensive!

 

If you take them out of the library they're free!

There are also used book stores, garage and yard sales, flea markets/swap meets/tag sales, and a multitude of internet sources for cheap books!

Just don't bother with (bringing us back on topic..."worst book" thread) From a Buick 8, and definitely don't bother with the "Colorado Kid", which was the worst Stephen King book ever!

Charlie

 

Lets now go there with the last 4 Dark Tower books. I don't like crying (though 7 was the best of the last, and the ending was great).

Question is, how bad with the 8th installment be. My money will be watch this tread in two or three years time.

Worst King book ever?

FOr me Wolves of the Calla, because it came after my favoutire book of his (Wizard and Glass).

Stand alone book, Black House (because it was supposed to be informative about the Dark Tower books to come, which it didnt). Or Buick 8

 

Wasn't part 7 the last book? It sure ended like it was the end, which was my understanding...

(Interesting... I liked Wolves of the Calla and I didn't like Wizards and Glass. I just couldn't get interested in Rolland's childhood love life.)

 

Read the short story? The Sisters of Whatever?
What a load!

 

(Dark Tower spoilers!)

Spoiler

The only things I remember about Wizards and Glass are, the boring story about Rolland's youthful love, the hokey Wizard of Oz ending, and the one thing I thought was well done in the book... the story of how Rolland killed his mother.

In the context of the later parts of the story, the Wizard of Oz ending now makes more sense though...now that I see how our fiction and Rolland's fact blend in Rolland's world, as in Father Callahan.

Charlie

 

In the 10th grade, I found a new sleeping aid....any Willa Cather novel. My English teacher made us read three books by Cather and I fell asleep everytime I started reading any of the three. Maybe it's just not my type of writing, but it was so hard to get through that loooooonnnnng unit.

 

I'd like to throw The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren on the pile. I didn't read far enough to say with certainty it is the worst, but it has the unique distinction of being the only book I've set aside after reading the first two paragraphs.

 

I actually read that one and also had many problems with it.

I'd like to read the other side of the story, the parody,
"The Reason Driven Life."

Charlie

 

Indian Killer was complete garbage. It never had a proper resolution, and just left you feeling like you missed something important.

 

I don't know about you guys, but when I read Pet Sematary I thought it was bad. It just wasn't scary. The idea was a great one, but I just didn't like it. However, I liked another short story King wrote, about a toy monkey that, whenever it was played, somene would die. I don't remember the title, though. But that was good, I thought.

 

That short story was good up until its lame ending.

 

SK just seems very overrated to me. Some of his books are worth reading, others are crap. I just think he shouldn't be given as much praise as he's been given.

 

^ most are crap, there are very few good books, dispite what you might hear.

 

I read The Godfather by Mario Puzo a couple of years ago and it was awful. The author's embarrassingly melodramatic tone and his constant breaches of the rule 'show don't tell' were just.. ugh.

Best part had to be the first few paragraphs, all talking about some character stuck in a tricky situation, with each paragraph ending something along the lines of "He had no other choice. There was only one man he could turn to now. THE GODFATHER."

 

Twilight series. No offence to anyone who likes them, but I just can't focus on them or get into them. That being said, I'm not a big HP fan either, but my goal is - as soon as I get on some concentration medication - to read all eight... or seven... books.

 

I find Lovely Bones really really boring.
Feels like nothing really happens after chapter 1.
And especially towards the ending I'm like "SO THAT'S IT!??!"

 

I love Lovely Bones and really look forward to when it comes out in cinemas!

Worst book in all my history is 'Chosen', which was a book in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer merchandise, that summarised the whole of season 7. It was released in such a rush that it tops the list of most spelling, grammar, punctuation and character errors. It had an average of 9 errors per page, and was nigh unreadable.
Then again, it was from Simon & Schuster, one of the notorious rip-off publishers.

 

I dont even remember the title but it was written by Katherine Kerr. Everybook was about the reincarnation of several character. For example two lovers: they meet, love begins to grow, they die. Then the next book, new names but same people. They meet, love begins to grow, they die. It goes on forever, I stopped at the fifth book. I know not every story has a happy ending, but I deffinetly don't need to read that ending several times!

 

Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks - oh I couldnt get a quarter of the way through andI struggled with that.

 

I have three, though I don't want to offend anyone:

Twilight, which I could only manage to read half of, is the worst insult to English literature I have yet witnessed.

The Trial, by Franz Kafka, is just far too frustrating. I suppose that was what Kafka intended, but I just can't stand it.

Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond is the most obvious example of a book that could have been reduced to one sentence (Location is all that matters to the survival of a country) and saved a lot of people a lot of time. Instead he lays down example upon example long after his audience should have gotten the point.

 

Everyone I know who's read the Lord of the Rings series really loved the books...besides me.

I mean, the books were really good when something exciting was going on, but then you get to points when the characters seem to just be walking through mountains and pondering the scenery for days...
I think The Hobbit was much better.

 

To Kill a Mockingbird has been my absolute favorite book for probably the past two years. What was it you found boring?

 

Mark Twain's, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"

I just can't stand that southern drawl through out the whole book. It drives me insane. I couldn't even get through the books when I had to read them in class, I just paid attention to everyone in class, read footnotes about the chapters, and passed all my tests that way.