What is the worst book you have read recently and why was it so bad?

Haven't finished Robert Harris's "Imperium" yet, but I'm tempted to give up. Too much narration, not enough character and dialogue. It's not the worst book I've read but it's a disappointment after "Pompeii", which I enjoyed.

"the oxford murders" not sure whether it was badly written, badly translted into English or both. I never do this, but i might write to the publishers. It was that bad.
The story itself is far-fetched and the end, predictable so it is not all down to the writing itself

I thought 'The lovely Bones' was dire

The accidental is emperors new clothes crap - no one ever admits a)they didnt understand it and b) by page 17 didn't give a toss anyway and gave up on it.

Oi, UD, I write and have a 'de' in my name, so piss orf.....

i have the memory keepers daughter on my shelf, think i'll give it back to the charity shop from whence it came after reading this!

just couldn't get into Brick Lane or The Island (victoria Hislop)

shopaholic is shitey

the five people you meet in heaven i didn't like but for one more time, i enjoyed

Nick Hornbys A Long Way Down was a total disapointment

I don't read books when I don't like them. I was told in a book group that I should finish them, regardless. But how can you - if you hate it and think its doggeral.

Last book I hated and stopped reading was WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN.

I found the constant expositional passages to be boring and turgid.

And that's when I got in trouble with the book group I was in - oops.

Oh dear, was it Killing Floor. Have to read that for book group next.
A lot of our book group choices have come up on this thread.
Lee Child
Labyrinth
Five People You would like to despatch to hell at the earliest opportunity
Chocolat
Ukrainian Tractors
Lovely Bones.
All chosen by various members of our book group.
Do you think I should print out this thread for them?

Wasn't exactly expecting deep, intellectual literature but just read a Lee Child novel, about Jack Reacher and a kidnapping leading to the British countryside (name evades me). Was CHEESE.

"Reacher - men want to be him, women want to be with him"

Couldn't get past the contrivance.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards, pretty dire I thought.

the five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom-a right load of drivel

Saturday by Ian McEwan, I was so looking forward to it, my experience with McEwan so far has been good and Saturday started promisingly and then turned into a wading through concrete experience. I persevered because I thought it would get better but it didn't. I think I was so captured by the opening scenes and then the book disappointed me.

"I believed in his power of verisimilitude, of true emotion, of human understanding. I believed in his art. I imagined the serious book group convening in a new and luminous spirit, reborn, having felt the incomparable benediction of recognition, of the vanquishing of time by truth. I imagined them becoming ... serious."

Chekhov, master of sparse simplicity, will be turning in his grave.

Casbie, we're a very small group of three in the wilderness, and we obviously have no appreciation of the finer points of HP, but - sorry - the writing IS dull [bravely standing up against the hoardes of HP fans running at her with stakes emoticon)

anna - boo hiss!

harry potter is pure escapism, i love the books so there!

[stick tongue out emoticon]

Mrs Merton - agree. I read about 30 pages of the first Harry Potter (and forced myself to see the first film). Completely beyond me to understand why everyone was so excited.

The Island. Historically very interesting but the story and characterisation were very weak.

Mrs Muddle - quite agree about Arlington Park. Rachel Cusk goes from bad to worse - I quite liked her early novels (much better than chick-lit), but On Motherhood was really grim and bore absolutely no resemblance to any experience of mine and Arlington Park is just silly/bad.

Mrs Merton, another voice in the wilderness! Hurrah !

Harry Potter - could never get dd interested in the series as we agreed the writing was so poor (felt like voices crying in the wilderness at the time). Friends assured me she got better. Tried a few pages of the last one and.... no.

I know I'm probably in the minority, but I couldn't be bothered to finish the first Harry Potter, or read any of the others. Over wordy, and D.U.L.L

the Da Vinci Code was brilliant.

brilliant, heart-stopping rolla coaster ride.

the film was utter crap, hanks as a swave US proffessor - gimma a break!

Oh sorry- why: Absolutely illiterate, bristling with factual inaccuracies, pile of paranoiac tosh. Will that do.

I must disagree with the Louis de Bernieres and Annie Proulx naysayers. AP is one of my alltime favourites- try Accordion Crimes for size (could also be used as a doorstop if necessary).

Not recently as I haven't succumbed to the latest craze since then, but The Da Vinci Code- what a load of crap.