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Original poster

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

361 replies

Miaou · 30/07/2007 20:41

I've been reading light stuff atm and just grabbed this off the "chick lit" stand at the library just before having ds2 - I struggled valiantly through to the end but was really disappointed in it. The story was turgid and predictable, the characters one-dimensional, and I felt that what could have been an interesting story with the potential for some really sinister turns, was in fact incredibly dull. The final "showdown" between the mother and son was jaw-droppingly badly written and really let the whole book down.

However I have had lots of fun picking it to pieces so maybe it was worth it

OP posts:
BBBee · 30/07/2007 22:57

Da Vinci Code

wankity wank - written as if the reader was a total idiot.

RosaLuxembourg · 30/07/2007 22:47

Tony Parsons is so vile. Even Julie Burchill couldn't stand being married to him.

CountessDracula · 30/07/2007 22:41

dino tony parsons is the most pathetic excuse for a man EVER I have to say, all his books are whingeing shite!

I LOVED kevin
and on Chesil Beach

DrippingLizzie · 30/07/2007 22:23

Just finished "Mothers Milk" by Edward St Aubyn (having read great reviews) but was mightily disappointed. Not the worst book I've ever read by any means but was expecting much greater things from it.

cadelaide · 30/07/2007 22:21

Just finished Carry Me Down by M J Hyland and it's yet another book without a proper ending.
I was so enjoying it too, and it just fizzled out.
So not the worst book I've ever read, but bloody annoying.

Dinosaur · 30/07/2007 22:19

Ooh, some load of drivel by Tony Parsons - can't remember the name - The Family Way, I think?

I took it, plus a whole load of other books, to the local secondhand bookshop and it was the only one to be rejected; clearly a very discerning proprietor.

She did accept my Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Primer.

Ellbell · 30/07/2007 22:11

Hey, thanks MuminBrum... Sorry, wandered away from thread there for a minute and missed prize-giving.

[Wanders about poking out ample bosom - you were dead right on that detail MinB - avec medal in an 'Ay'm a ponce, doncha know' kind of a way]

oregonianabroad · 30/07/2007 22:01

ha,ha someone gave me that book, unquietdad!

oregonianabroad · 30/07/2007 22:00

don't know, only vague recollection of reading/hearing something like that... also, isn't augusten burroughs being sued? or am i just spreading rumours?

UnquietDad · 30/07/2007 21:59

James Frey "exaggerated", i.e. made it all up.

Please note he is not this James Frey.

LyraBelacqua · 30/07/2007 21:57

Did he really make it all up? I haven't read his book, but I've heard of it.

TotalChaos · 30/07/2007 21:55

that was James Frey, Oregonianabroad

Liska · 30/07/2007 21:54

Lyra, I also liked both Interpretation of Murder and Kevin.

In fact, I loved Kevin (and I also read it while pregnant). The ending of the book (the relationship between mother and son) really throws the rest of it into relief.

And I loved my dd on sight, so that was relief

oregonianabroad · 30/07/2007 21:54

isn't he the guy that made it all up? or was that someone else?

expatinscotland · 30/07/2007 21:52

Nothing good, but very funny .

LyraBelacqua · 30/07/2007 21:50

I read the David Pelzer books while pg with DS1.
what's Moondog's opinion of them?

oregonianabroad · 30/07/2007 21:49

i know what you're saying, expat & lyra, but it was the obvious lack of love between mother and child which shook me to the core when i was pregnant and was pretty compelling, making me examine my own feelings about motherhood. saying that, now it does seem pretty unrealistic; but back then it was something to ponder, especially since I don't have a close relationship with my own mother.

expatinscotland · 30/07/2007 21:48

Where's moondog? Her opinions on David Pelzer books are brilliant !

auntyspan · 30/07/2007 21:47

I skipped all the bits about tractors in the Ukranian tractor book. The story interested me but the history bit were totally pointless. Although I didn't read them so I can't be sure they weren't pointless...

Worst book I've read recently was 'The Baby Club' - boringly predicable rubbish. No idea why I read it - DP was painting the spare room at the time so I could've just gone and watch the paint drying.

Also - "My Name is Red" - WTF?

expatinscotland · 30/07/2007 21:44

I agree, Lyra. It's so 'We are Columbine', but without the experience of Columbine.

LyraBelacqua · 30/07/2007 21:44

Oregonianabroad, it's very unrealistic though. it was very obvious that Lionel Shriver has never had children. if that's what she thinks it's like, no wonder she stayed childless.

expatinscotland · 30/07/2007 21:43

That Cecilia Ahren book, 'Where the Rainbow Ends'.

Even shitier shite than the Ukranian Tractor one.

oregonianabroad · 30/07/2007 21:42

lol expat

oregonianabroad · 30/07/2007 21:41

gulp. i liked kevin too. read it 7 moths pregnant with ds1 tho and it made my ambivalence about motherhood seem minor.

expatinscotland · 30/07/2007 21:41

I use that Ukranian Tractor book to kill earwigs in the bathroom.

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