I have just read possibly the worst book in the world

Apparently JKR has now written an adult fiction book about the goings on in a parish council. Hold me back, I want to get in that queue at the book shop.

Is her agent on magic mushrooms or something?

JKR's writing is aimed at children and is therefore, I believe, correctly structured for the original target audience. Bits of it were reminiscent of Enid Blyton's style, I think - for example, always getting people to do things "at once" instead of "immediately".

I think JKR's prose is adequate for the task. It's miles better than, say, Dan Brown.

If we're talking about genuinely poor writing I give you the Rainbow Fairies.

I feel that way about the Harry Potter books Nora. Cracking stories and wonderful imaginative tricks and ideas, but so badly written they make me gnaw off my own kneecaps.

Is it possible to read a book that is really badly written but still like it for the story? I read Christmas at Tiffanys (at Christmas :o) and, whilst it was dreadful appallingly written tosh, I still liked the story

snowdrops was OK.

I think we need to distinguish between books that are good but not to our personal taste, and books that are just really badly written, like The Island by Victoria Hislop (have I mentioned that before?).

I liked Snowdrops.
Well, someone has to.

O is next to i so I would guess you accidentally typed oin rather than in and predictive text tried to choose between ointment or oink. At least it feels that the former is more "you" than the latter...

snowdrops was book of the month on here a while back. it was shit.

Love this thread, second Jodi Picoult and I reeeally can't stand Jane Green - yet have inexplicably read about four of her books. Sucker.

My nomination is the Book of Dave by Will Self. I actually felt angry at how bad it was. Overcomplicated, boring, dreary. Couldn't begin to get into it and couldnt imagine passing it onto anybody else - there is nobody I dislike enough.

Really BikeRunSki? I'll put that on the Kindle list - I report to a different government department but bonkerness is rife as well.

I loved Salmon Fishing .... but I work in the public sector and report to DEFRA (the book is dedicated to the people who work for my organisation); the ideas in the book - pursuing ridiculous ideas to please politicians - are so close to the truth that I found it hilarious. I think though, you may need to have had a job reporting to central government to get it.

And what about Salmon Fishing in the Yemen? I could not believe the ending andcan only assume the film will go a totally different way, otherwise no one will want to see it.......

I got really annoyed reading The Island by Victoria Hislop - if I had written it I'm sure any potential publishers would have thrown it in the bin but then I don't have a famous husband

On the subject of crap sequels: Dune was AWESOME. The sequel Dune Messiah was terrible! Same characters and basic set-up but Frank Herbert seemed to have forgotten how to write...

oooh oooh ooh!

How about this one. I LOVED 'Shadow of the Wind' but the sequel had the be the most incoherent crock I had read in a long time.

Eek, must learn to refresh whilst typing out my missives.

How did the weasel get into rehab in the first place?

I've just read The Slap, it was pretty bad. I quite liked One Day and recently heard David Nichols speak, he's vair nice. Starter for Ten was far superior, however, and despite his protestations, I'm sure it was at least partly autobiographical.

I've never even heard of, 'The Colarado Kid' and thought I'd read everything King's ever written. When he gets it right I think he's amazing, though he occasionally gets it v wrong (Needful Things, Dreamcatcher for example).

I've remembered another that I had great hopes for and ended up appalled by how badly written it was - 'Daphne' by Whatshername - is it Ruth Picardie or somebody else Picardie? The one who didn't die, anyway. Appallingly badly written, in awful meandering sentences with no internal punctuation. Are editors scared to actually EDIT nowadays?

I love all Kate Atkinson's books but of the pre-Jackson books, Emotionally Weird was my favourite. The best of the Jackson Brodie books is the one with Reggie as she is just such a great character...I wanted her for my best friend by the end!

I love Esther Freud too but must admit the most recent books have not been as good as the rest & I haven't read Lucky Break as the thought of a book about actors just didn't inspire me! Her 2nd and 3rd books, Peerless Flats & Gaglow, are my favourites.

I loved the Return!!
It gave me a lot of knowledge about the civil war in Spain and also introduced me to the works of Fredrico Garica Lorca

The colarado kid by stephen king. Read it because I enjoy the tv series haven and wanted to read book it kept saying it was based on. I can't bring myself to read a stephen king novel now as it was a load of badly written drivel. Why do people rave about his work? Do they just watch the films and pretend as this may be how I'm missing the point here(I actually haven't seen the movies either but it seems that its the only way anyone could like them)