The worst books you read in 2017

Oh I loved the Book of Dust!

Another vote for Hot Milk. Was persuaded to buy it by the bookseller in Waterstones Leicester Square who said they’d all read it and loved it. I found it so boring, it just never got going and all the characters were annoying.

Also The Other Mrs Walker by Mary Paulson Ellis. Dull and depressing.

The Image of You: I thought I knew you. But you're a liar.
by Adele Parks

Just don't bother.

That’s disappointing about The Book of Dust rhubarb

Yes Colour of Magic Light Fantastic Equal Rites. Reaper Man is good. I haven’t read any Pratchett in years.

The Power struck me as such a silly idea from the description that I wasn’t tempted by it - it would have to be really well written to pull it off I should think.

Oh my gosh yes, The Power was so dire it was painful. Horribly written and also maddening that such a brilliant premise was pointlessly squandered into the breeze.

The worst book I read this year was Elizabeth is Missing; the (seriously bad) quality of the writing, the way the narrative kept jumping around in time, I was raging at it by the end but refused to give up. In hindsight I should have just returned it to the charity shop once I started hating it and moved on with my life.

I also really really hated Philip Pullman's new book, which was a shock as the trilogy it was a prequel of sorts to remain my favourite books on the planet. I felt so disappointed by The Book of Dust, it was like he had lost all his knack for writing fiction and there was no magic, just brutal plodding struggle with no depth, character or wit. Gutted. There was a scene towards the end which I strongly objected to his including, it felt cruel and gratuitous. (No spoilers though...)

I found the first Discworld book I read pretty dreadful - is The Colour of Magic the first one? But then I read and loved The Hogfather next. I'd recommend starting with Reaper Man or the first Sam Vimes - is it Guards, Guards?

I gave up on The Power v quickly. Dull.

More thumbs down for the power from me-I was quite angry at the end of it by how much I disliked it-also ruined the narrator for me as couldn't listen to another audiobook by her & had to return.

A street cat named bob was awful. So awful. I didn't even like bob's owner 😬

Or the couple next door, bleurgh.

Another that I didn't like but like better after having finished it was the buried giant by Ishiguro. Loved his other 2 books that I've read but this was tedious & wish washy whilst making me wonder what the deeper meaning was. Still none the wiser!

Sophie Hannah, A game for all the Family

I couldn’t read more than a page or two of Gone Girl. I watched the film though, that was enough.

If you go back to Pratchett, start slightly later, from Mort, say. The first three have a slightly different feel until he hit his stride (though I did enjoy the first two, but wasn’t even a teenager when I read them I don’t think)

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. Absolute bollocks.

I tried to read Gone Girl, but did not get very far as it was rubbish.

I read about half of Why Mummy Drinks. It's awful. I will need to be very bored and have nothing else to read to finish it off.

I read the first Discworld book and it wasn't terrible but it did not inspire me to read any more of them. I have friends who find this slightly blasphemous.

lizardlegs I have steered clear of Manhattan Beach precisely because I didn’t think Goon Squad was good enough to read another of hers. It was ok whilst reading it, but didn’t leave a big impression. Can’t even remember the characters or anything about it now.

Interesting to see the different opinions. The Miss Peregrine book I thought was really good. Took me a while to get my head round it but I loved it once it got going and I understood the general direction!
Have both the Essex serpent and the Arundhati Roy book on my shelf. Nervous now...!

My contribution is a book my MIL left for me to read after staying here because she knows how much I love books. I think it says everything that I can remember neither the author nor title, nor even the details of the plot. Do you know the one?! It was to do with a woman whose husband doesn't come home one night and then it turns out he's mixed up in some dodgy enterprise and he gets murdered by someone she knows who then threatens her but it's all also linked to some event from his teenage years ... Drivel beyond belief.

After Me Comes The Flood was extremely boring, slow and had an uninspiring ending. Completely worthless!

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner. I bought thinking it would be a lighthearted romp in the style of Gail Carrigher. Instead I just found every single character highly unlikable. The Privilege of the Sword was much the same. I haven't even bothered to read the third book even though I bought all 3 at once. Big mistake.

have just returned Into the Water after struggling with first 3 chapters!!

I quite enjoyed Manhattan Beach but I think it was wildly overpraised. I don't think it would have got any attention at all if Jennifer Egan wasn't a Pulitzer Prize winner. I would say it's sort of like an Alice Hoffman or Anna Quindlen novel-a well written, enjoyable book about a likable heroine but nothing ground breaking. That's not a criticism either-I love Alice Hoffman and Anna Quindlen for a good comfort read.
I think Freedom by Johnathan Franzen and The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides fall into the same category-nice books that get excellent reviews based on the author's past performance.

My book club made me read "The Magic Strings Of Frankie Presto". Unmitigated, turgid drivel. Awful.

Small Great Things was bottom of my list too. I thought it was pretty horrible when I read it but powered through for a book club and then a friend borrowed it and had to return it a few hours later because it was so bad and we spent the afternoon reading clicked poorly written passages.

Agreed about Essex Serpent (meh) and The Improbability of Love (tedious, overwritten, full of cliches).

But I loved The Power and keep recommending it to people. I can understand why it's not to everyone's taste though.

However I've just finished a big stinker to keep OFF your reading lists for 2018 - Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan. No character development, vague plot, and just endless endless boring detail about the New York shipyards during WW II. I feel bad slating it because she obviously did her homework and it feels like a real passion project, and 'A Visit from the Goon Squad' is one my favourite reads of the last 10 years. But Manhattan Beach really needs editing. Or she should've just written the nonfiction book on female army divers that she obviously wanted to.

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep. Honestly, my 10yo could write a better story.

Party Girls Die in Pearls - Plum Sykes. Dreadful. Couldn't see the humour in it. Couldn't deal with the stereotypes. Boring. Did not get very far.

As a writer I very rarely hate a book.
I'll usually find something that works.

But Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult stretched my patience. The self aggrandising of the woman was breathtaking.