Wow... it actually has a high rating... but I feel it's a niche book.... As a bit of a confession I couldn't get passed the first paragraph of "TommyKnockers" by Stephen King, without falling asleep. Of course that was a long time ago in high school. LOL. . Incidentally it has a slightly lower rating than Wuthering Heights.
It's considered to be a "classic," so its reputation can never be tarnished no matter how truly dreadful it is.
Fair enough, there could have been other factors as well... so might have to try it again... most King's work I watch when it's adapted for TV....
The 'Lord of the Rings' books had the same effect of me as the movies. They were just too tedious to get through.
I read Neverwhere - the only book by Gaiman that I've read - and I didn't find it to be anything special. I have the same feeling regarding Brandon Sanderson. Neither of them really capture me. The story themselves and the premises were interesting but nothing about either author's writing really resonates with my soul, as it were. I felt nothing throughout the entire book, though granted it was interesting enough that I read their stuff cover to cover. With Sanderson, I just keep hoping the next one would be... better Worst book - probably anything by Dan Brown so many cliches. Actually, maybe it's The Handmaid's Tale. Couldn't stand it when I had to study it at school and barely read it. Then as an adult I decided to read it again, perhaps now I'd get it and appreciate it. Read the whole thing. Bored to death. It was like an expose of a dystopian world and that's it. There's no story. There're many loose ends that Atwood tantalisingly gives you but never ever resolves. Sorry, that's not a good story. That's an author's indulgence in her own fictional world and asking the world to indulge with her, except the world she created sucks.
There are classics that I don’t like, some of which I’m not sure why they’re classics. But if you’re listing a classic as the worst book you’ve ever read, you haven’t read many books or you’ve been damned lucky in your reading.
Well, I was a teenager with a short attention span. . But I do need to see about reading more... I set up Kindle on my Tablet so I could. Same, damn book was a pain to get through, and the movie was just "YAWN" , I use this word rarely but it feels over rated to me.
That, or maybe the truly worst books ever are the ones you don't even remember, thus can tell no one about. Now, I know there're a great number of those... Classics, to their credit, whether you enjoyed it or not, are usually quite memorable. Which probably also means a lot of people will cite those as one they hate. Also because they were probably forced to study one or two of them at school. Double hate
This. I have quite a few books that came to mind, and I could picture the plot somewhat, but it was so unmemorable that the name and overall plot escapes me. Wuthering Heights just always stuck out to me because I had such high hopes for it when I started it and then it crashed and burned. To death. Horribly.
Iain Bank's Dead Air. It's little more than an excuse for the writer to vent through the guise of a character, and is full of sections that contain nothing more than page after page of banal and superfluous dialogue that does nothing to advance the plot.
I can see this. There are definitely classics I didn’t like and didn’t like being forced to read. I don’t like Wuthering Heights. I’m not sure why it’s a classic. I didn’t like Handmaids Tale (if we can call that a classics now). But when those are listed as literally the worst book someone has ever read, my gut reaction is “Ah, you sweet summer child, count yourself lucky for you’ve never experienced the truly abominable depths to which the written word can sink.”
I really like The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Certainly not above criticism, but definitely not "the worst books I've ever read". Return of the King is actually incredible as far as I'm concerned. I think The Two Towers is the weakest of the LotR trilogy. The more I'm stuck reading the parts with the hobbits, the more I want to just put down the book and watch the films. (although the part in the book where Sam says "Don't go where I can't follow" makes my eyes water every time) Freshman year of high-school we had to read The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. Wow did that book suck. Senior year we read Wuthering Heights. Or, we were supposed to. I used Sparknotes because that book was mediocre. The "To Kill a Mockingbird" movie is way better than the book. And don't even get me started on "Go Set a Watchman". Whoever coerced Harper Lee into finishing that in her dotage should be ashamed of themselves. I barely got into the book before I started feeling like it was aging me and leaving me with irreversible brain decline.
Haha you sweet summer child Well hey, I guess the worst book might be those we never even finished reading. Again, got a few of those. Dan Brown just infuriated me because I was doing chemistry A-Level at the time, and the mystery puzzle this world genius mathematician couldn't solve was something I knew the answer to, and I was like, screaming out the answer for at least 20 pages before the heroine got there... not great for a climax Terry Goodkind is probably worse though. Not sure. I've read 50 Shades of Grey and though read it cover to cover, couldn't be bothered with the second book even when the first ended on a cliffhanger. You could say that's a pretty big fail. Like, the author had chances aplenty to hook me... But the thing is, I had no expectations of 50 Shades, so it came off as meh but nothing that filled me with hatred. People are probably gonna slay me here, but the 20 pages of philosophy stuck near the end of 1984? Oh my word, so dull. I'd gone glassy-eyed when the philosophy finally finished and the MCs were arrested, and I missed the climactic point because by that point I'd begun skimming, which meant by the time I realised what was happening and reread it, it'd lost its impact. I never did get back into the book, at the part of the book where you're meant to care the most. Complete fail, imo, sorry. I don't even know what Wuthering Heights is about. Why was it so bad?
I can't make it through a Dan Brown novel. I think they're awful. Brown is worse, but not by much. It's not that it's awful, I just didn't think it was anything special. The prose isn't particularly noteworthy, and the story didn't hold my interest. Not sure why it is a classic. It's basically a family drama/romance with a bit of a supernatural element.
Most overrated to me--House of Leaves. I remember thinking "oh, was that the scary part?". For every good idea (and there are a good few), there's ten pages of the author tediously explaining to you just how clever he is, defusing all the tension and creepiness that had been built up. Most AWESOMELY bad--Quake by Andy Remic. I went in expecting a generic, forgettable manly military thriller set in the near future, and instead I got a work of art. Seriously, you guys, this book is amazing and I think, without a hint of irony, you should go read it (and the first book, Spiral) now. It's like the entire plot was based on the principle of "Wouldn't it be SO COOL if THIS happened?!" After a certain point, my critical faculties just threw up their hands, and I enjoyed the ride. Some of the highlights: Spoiler --The antagonists are a race of genetically engineered insect people who are all chaotic evil (we just have to kind of assume they are) and are unstoppable killing machines except where the protagonist is involved. --There's a subplot about a feuding married couple that recurs a few times. Eventually the husband kills his wife and is trying to bury her body when he gets randomly attacked and eaten by a mutant panther. This has nothing to do with anything else in the story. --One of the supporting cast spends several pages on a story about an encounter with a prostitute who took a dump on his chest. This has nothing to do with the rest of the story. --The final battle features tank jousting. --The protagonist has an evil side, which is implied to be a split personality or the ghost of his best friend from when they were kids or something. --Oh yeah, those insect people? Created by rediscovered Atlantean super-science.
5o Shades, just no, it is shit and couldn't finish it. Kill it with fire and toss it on a balrog or something. Tease Me (Teased and Broken Book 1), By Ashley Black While you cannot get your hands on this mess of a dark fantasy romance (or any of her other books) it was just awful, and I didn't like the fact that 'Fuck' was on every page. And on the pages it was not on, Ms. Black made up for omitting it on those few pages. But the premise was ridiculous. A writer finishing an entire book in 3 weeks? No, just no. And the whole creepy stalker Death Metal rich guy singer, who also happens to be a demon for some reason. And the plot demands, whoa boy, nothing like a mild mannered painter hippy, turning into a Spec Ops bad ass out of bloody nowhere halfway through the story with no explanation or hint of the dudes past. So WTF, yeah I call BS on that continuity issue. It was overall just garbage with no Romance, and some angry not loving/affectionate at all sex, and lots and lots of drinking because alcoholism is a sexy trait right?
Wheels of Terror by Sven Hassel was a colossal pile of shite and The Rooster Bar by John Grisham was so bad that I never finished it However that particular accolade probably goes to Under the greenwood tree by Thomas hardy .. which I had to read for English a long time ago … basically fuck all of note or interest happens
What kind of animal crits Sven Hassel? ... Mine must be that hippy drug smuggler adventure Shenamarana, or Shitenera or sim - that turns yoga handbook halfway along the story. I can't really remember, only I remember hiding the book in case somebody I knew saw it. And I knew nobody at the time, so it was profoundly disturbing somehow.... With apologies to idol @SethLoki
We Are Monsters by... Well... Me. My God, I know it was a first draft and everything, but come on! I remember being super proud of it when I finished it a few years back, but reading it now... I still love the idea, but I've got a lot of work to do (at least one complete rewrite) before this turd can be polished enough to let someone else read.
if i finished them, then they werent "the worst" books i've read. I may not LIKE them (the ones i've finished) but they werent THE WORST. Whuthering Heights and House of Mirth were THE WORST. i just couldnt finish them. I think I MAY have finished Wuthering Heights but its like I stared at the page and nothing stuck, it as so boring. House of Mirth, I kept falling asleep. So then I decided on the audio book. that didnt make it any better. Then i found the movie with Gillian Anderson in it (X-Files fan, here) Skully can make anything seem interesting.... I was wrong. I fell asleep on the movie too. So I think House of Mirth takes the cake. I got through Catcher in the Rye, so it wasnt terrible. Just annoying. I read Great Gatsby, and that was underwhelming. I can tell you of books that I liked but with cruddy endings..... Song of Solomon doesnt even have an ending. it just stops mid sentence basically. like there is never a conclusion. its almost like she didnt know how to end it and just decided to stop mid conflict. pissed me THE F*** OFF. Boy, Snow, Bird..... finds out her abusive father is actually her mother (long story). In the end she goes back to see her "parent". thats it. the ending was unresolved. all the previous problems were unresolved. its like the author was thinking "how do i end this??? oh! remember she ran away in the beginning because she was abused? well, lets make her dad come back, even though it is completely irrelevant to whats going on now, but lets also reveal that her dad is a woman! and then lets just end the book right there!!! GENIOUS!" The Host.... aliens are bad, so lets kill them all.... but not this one. or that one. or, you know, those over there, they arent doing anything, but WE MUST SAVE THE HUMAN RACE!
Hmm. I guess the worst ones are ones I didn't finish. I don't finish books I think suck. One that got a lot of praise but I never finished was Stephen King's The Stand. Big yawn from me. I've only ever read one Dan Brown book: The Da Vinci blaargh. Just feces spread over all the pages. Brain-dead cliffhangers everywhere. I won't do that to myself again. My partner made me read The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. I hated it, because it seemed like the wrong story. Maybe at the time Leroux was writing it, all books had to be love stories, but that book is crying out to be a police procedural or a detective story of some kind. But no, Leroux crammed a "tortured genius in love" story in there and it didn't really fit. I know you're all going to slag me because I'm complaining that the writer didn't write the book I wanted him to write, but blahblahblah. So there.
