Forum Book-Discussion The worst book you ever read

We can't seem to agree on much around here, but maybe we can band together on what books we don't like.

What is the worst book you have ever read in your life?

I think we should limit this to books we have actually completed. Its not fair to talk about a book you have not finished reading.

Also, please don't get upset if someone mentions a book you do like.

My worst book was probably "The old man and the sea" by Hemmingway. Boy, that thing went nowhere.

I don't know if I can name one...simply because if it is bad, I can't finish it! Do textbooks count?

sure, why not? It's a book, isn't it?

My worst textbook is the "Trophies" series which is used across the country to turn kids off of reading in elementary school.
God, what a waste of trees. We really need our trees, you know.

have you read that one? Its terrible.

I'm here J.c.h...but can't think of one.
I'll be back, though.

[quote=J.c.hantman]We can't seem to agree on much around here, but maybe we can band together on what books we don't like.

What is the worst book you have ever read in your life?

I think we should limit this to books we have actually completed. Its not fair to talk about a book you have not finished reading.

Also, please don't get upset if someone mentions a book you do like.

My worst book was probably "The old man and the sea" by Hemmingway. Boy, that thing went nowhere.[/quote]

I don't finish reading what becomes unbearable. Too many books, too little time. The Old Man and the Sea was a great movie though...

Even the shite books are worthwhile reading sometimes, because you learn what not to do ::smile::

exactly. We learn from other's mistakes at times, even as we are trying to improve our own craft.
Never saw the movie, but the book made me sleepy.

Yay, the system works after all.
Cheers,
Joshua

The only book i've not been able to finish (circumstances like being kicked out of the shop aside) is one that my little sister owned. I was about 14, so she was about 9 - therefore it shouldn't have affected me, but i don't think she'd read it, just liked it being on her shelf because it felt grown up.
It was a horror story - i think it was called Catacombs/Catacomb - and was about monks who could speak to the dead. The dead could feel the worms eating away at them, and themselves decaying but couldn't move. To speak to them, the monks had to put their foreheads against the corpes' rotting foreheads.

I nearly puked, but it wasn't the gore...i think it was fear of death being compounded.

Anyone ever read it/know who wrote it? I think it was published in the '70s.

It was such a nondescript book...apart from its effect on me.

The girl who loved Tom Gordon...by Stephen King had to have been the stupidest book I have ever read. The plot was kooky and I could barely get through it, I thought it was just awful.

Carla

Oh oh...thanks for the inspiration Carla...Cell by Stephen King was a massive disappointment.
Written by anyone else, it's a half-decent book...but it was not King standard ::cry::

Still not the worst book i've read though.
Hmm.

I found The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon quite hard going too...even though it's intended for younger readers.
Still liked it though.

King should have stuck to horror, alright. Its the only thing he's half-way good at.
You know what kid's book I hate? Old Yeller. Also Ring of Bright Water and even Bambi. I hate it when authors make you love the animal characters,
but then kill them off anyway.
Then again, those kinds of stories made me what I am today, so go figure.
anyone else?

For me, I would have to say Nabakov's Lolita....I mean, I understand that it's supposed to be a "classic" but my God!! I have never wanted to pry my eyeballs out of my head so badly before. *shudders* NOTHING happens.

And one more....

Venus In Furs by Sacher Von Masoch. Again, with this....I was bored silly, and I don't like masochistic men. ::biggrin::

For me it was The Scarlet Letter. I would have rather scarfed a plate of rat poison than read that book. It was assigned for my high school 11 grade honors class, god like 3 years ago. And I still remember the pain of trying to get through that book. Another book that was just as potent in my opinion was The Great Gatsby, gag. >_< Yuck. And one more before I close tonight, The Giver and Hatchet. Horrible books, but they didn't cater to my interests. And the whole murder sceen of the twin in the Giver at the end, messed with me for months. So yeah, those are my 4 lest favorite books, there are probably a few others but those are the ones off the top of my head.

[quote=C. Boylan]Oh oh...thanks for the inspiration Carla...Cell by Stephen King was a massive disappointment.
Written by anyone else, it's a half-decent book...but it was not King standard ::cry::

Still not the worst book i've read though.
Hmm.

I found The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon quite hard going too...even though it's intended for younger readers.
Still liked it though.[/quote]

I really enjoyed Cell. But I'm a Zombie fan. So it doens't matter who its written by as long as its good and keeps to a Romero standard. Which King did decently. I'm a huge King fan, but I didn't read The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

He did decent with the Green Mile and Shawshank Redeption. And those aren't horror novels. But to each their own. :)

I dont know, I thought the Green Mile was pretty scary. There were some very frightening scenes in it.

Yeah, I think the Scarlet Letter, and all books assigned in school, are less likely to be appreciated, simply because you HAVE to read them.
If you picked it up on your own, it may have been more enjoyable. Then again, maybe not.
What do I know?

I dunno, I really liked a few books that were assigned. But The Scarlet Letter was just icky. ::sad::

Books read (in school might I add) that I disliked whole-heartedly:
Johnny Tremain (spelling?)
To Kill a Mockingbird
Pride and prejudice (oh. my. gosh.)

yup, yup. I didn't like either the scarlet letter, or to kill a mockingbird, probably because I was forced to read them. Because I was introduced to them on a compulsory basis, I did not enjoy them. They were well-written, both of them, but 'icky' as was previously mentioned.
Ickiness sucks, folks.

[quote=Liz Lady Ninja]I dunno, I really liked a few books that were assigned. But The Scarlet Letter was just icky. ::sad::[/quote]

How about the Blithedale Romance? so long as we are on Hawthorne.