What's the worst book you've ever read?

[Free4Life11]

For me it was "Runaway Heart." I got it from some book-club and it was just LAME. It was about some chimera creatures and the main character just happened to be staying at Barbara Streisands mansions, because she was friends with him. The most ridiculous thing I've ever read.

 

[luvmydogs]

"Hannibal", the sequel to "The Silence of the Lambs" by Thomas Harris.

I'd waited for months for that book to come out, as I was a huge fan of "Silence" and Harris's other work. Preordered it from Amazon, and stayed up the entire night finishing it. What'd I get? (Possible spoilers):
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Killer mutant pigs, a sickening child predator with no lips and Clarice & Lechter as a couple!!!

Worst $$$ I've ever spent on a book.

 

[pixiemomma]

Lost by Gregory Maguire. There are probably worse books but this is the only one I've ever read and still have no idea what it is about.

 

[GoofyDad869]

Both of those were somewhat disappointing to me too. "Lost" was well below MacGuire's normal quality, or else it was too cerebral for me. "Hannibal" was when Thomas Harris 'jumped the shark' in my opinion.

John Irving's "The Fourth Hand" and "A Widow for One Year" were disappointing, but well written.

But if any of those books had been written by a less 'name' author, I probably wouldn't have been as disappointed.

For me, my most disappointing recent read was Penn Jillette's "Sock". It started out really funny, but by the end it was a chore to get through.

 

[Magix]

"A Confederacy of Dunces" - a highly regarded book that I found it almost impossible to get through. Also, there was one that was popular a while back, I think it was called "The Bear Went Over The Mountain" or something like that. About a bear that starts living in the human world, acting like a human. Ugh! What a piece of junk. Supposed to be one of those things that enlightens you about your life. Just terrible.

 

[liamsaunt]

Worst book ever read is really tough, I read so many books, and I am sure there are bad ones I have blocked out. Books that I distinctly remember disliking include:

Cold Mountain. I actually threw this book across the room because I hated the ending so much.

Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. Total treacle, and so many people really liked it, which added to my disappointment.

Books that tortured me in college: The Faerie Queene, Old Grizzly.

Finally, a special mention for Gerald's Game by Stephen King. I was reading this book in the kitchen, got to a particularly grotesque part involving attempted escape from handcuffs (details omitted!), and actually passed out, fell backwards, hit my head on the floor, and ended up with a concussion!

(but I finished the book anyway)

 

[Parkhopper]

Anything that I read that was Oprah's pick. I read 3 of her books and hated each of them. They were so depressing!! Don't ask me to name them, I have tried too hard to block the memories.

Suzi

 

[Parkhopper]

Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. Total treacle, and so many people really liked it, which added to my disappointment.

Oh, I forgot about THAT book. Didn't like that at ALL!

Suzi

 

[Maleficent13]

"A Confederacy of Dunces" - a highly regarded book that I found it almost impossible to get through.

Try "Managing Ignatious"...it's the true story that was based on. It is hysterical.

Worst book I ever read was something about a "little blue dress". Can't remember any more than that. I think I blocked it out.

eta: It was "My Little Blue Dress" by Bruno Maddox.

 

[Crankyshank]

Unfortunately when you read a lot like I do, you come across some doozies. I have way too many to name, but the main book that stands out to me is

"Bite" by Richard Laymon. Absolutely horrible book. A book so bad I lent it to others as a "omg you won't believe how horrible this book is"

 

[alliecats]

I hated A Prayer for Owen Meany. I thought the way he always talked LIKE THIS IN CAPITAL LETTERS TO ILLUSTRATE HOW HE SPOKE was so irritiating and gimmicky...it distracted me from what was being said. Plus I figured out the ending (in general, not specifics) before the 25th or so page--I don't know if the author gave it away on purpose or what. Just not a love connection for me with this book!

I also did not like Bridges of Madison County...all the metaphors and fussy phrasing...again, style can make or break a book for me. A friend of mine read it and said she thought the author must have had a list of literary devices and tried to get as many as possible in each chapter.

Sorry if I have trashed anyone's favorite books. We all like different things, and what may "speak" to me may not do anything for you! No offense intended.

 

[Mandabella]

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

 

[Laura]

Oh, I hated Tess, too! Two others that I absolutely loathed were The Stranger by Albert Camus and Beowulf.

 

[Mulan'sMom]

But I'd have to say it's a tie between "Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco - pretentious cr*p by an author whose other work I generally like, and the first "Tekwar" novel by William Shatner, which I had to read as an assignment for work. (No, really.) In a former life I worked in television production, and was preparing my anchor for an interview with Shatner. He wanted me to put together a synopsis of the book so he could ask Shatner about it during the interview. ****WHAT FOLLOWS WILL BE TOO MUCH INFORMATION FOR SOME READERS*** I am an avid reader, and if I'm sitting anywhere, and I do mean anywhere, for more than 2 minutes, I generally have a book in my hand. I told my boss I'd rather count the tiles on the bathroom floor than bring it into the WC with me again. Now that's a bad book!

 

[merrily]

The worst book I ever read (actually I barely read any of it because it was so awful) was called A Monk Swimming. It was written by Malachy McCourt, the brother of the author of Angela's Ashes, which while depressing was a good book.

 

[stinkerbelle]

****WHAT FOLLOWS WILL BE TOO MUCH INFORMATION FOR SOME READERS*** I am an avid reader, and if I'm sitting anywhere, and I do mean anywhere, for more than 2 minutes, I generally have a book in my hand. I told my boss I'd rather count the tiles on the bathroom floor than bring it into the WC with me again. Now that's a bad book!

hehe - I'm the SAME WAY!

my mom always passes books off to me...some are great, other suck.

I think it was by Koontz..."door to december". OMG...130 pages in and I still hadn't figured out what was supposedly going on!

 

[Crankyshank]

I am an avid reader, and if I'm sitting anywhere, and I do mean anywhere, for more than 2 minutes, I generally have a book in my hand. I told my boss I'd rather count the tiles on the bathroom floor than bring it into the WC with me again. Now that's a bad book!

I always have a book with me too. I usually have a few in my car and 2 in my bag. DH used to make fun of me and then he got stuck waiting for his work car to be worked on for hours and had nothing to read.
Pillars of the Earth is my standby book. I had a fit when DH cleaned out the car and actually brought it in and put it on the bookshelf!

 

[Rex Rules]

Carl Sagan's The Dragons of Eden.

And I'm probably going to be majorly flamed for this - but The Purpose Driven Life. I thought it was horrible crap - and not just horrible crap, but horrible self promoting, buy my stuff crap.

Also, One Hundred Years of Solitude, that was just not right.

 

[Saphire]

I also did not like Bridges of Madison County...all the metaphors and fussy phrasing...again, style can make or break a book for me. A friend of mine read it and said she thought the author must have had a list of literary devices and tried to get as many as possible in each chapter.

Oh, that book was bad, really bad. I remember being on the beach when I read it, rolling my eyes and snickering often. I read some passages to my husband and he was roaring. "Fussy phrasing" is a great way to describe it!
My least favorite was 'Pride and Prejudice'. I couldn't even finish this silly book, although I tried since it is a classic. Not for me.

 

[jennyl772003]

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

EEEk! I hated that one too. In highschool lit, we were given a list of books we needed to choose from. My teacher would give a brief synopsis of the books, and we would choose from the list, read, and then do a litererary critique on the book.

He RAVED about Tess, saying it was his favorite book. I chose it, read it, and hated it. I then wrote my paper on how stupid the book was.

My teacher gave me an A on the paper, with a note on the top, "There is no accounting for taste"