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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:
oregonianabroad · 30/07/2007 21:39

agree total chaos. liked human traces for similar history of psychology stuff much more seamlessly written

SpacePuppy · 30/07/2007 21:39

a book by Mauve Binchy, it was so fucking "love story" the syrup ran down the covers every time I picked it up!

UnquietDad · 30/07/2007 21:39

I hated that bloody Ukrainian Tractors book. Gave up after 40 pages. She has a her fan club among the chatterati of Sheffield though.

LyraBelacqua · 30/07/2007 21:38

Am I the only one who enjoyed Interpretation of Murder? And Kevin?

TotalChaos · 30/07/2007 21:36

oregonian - re:interpretation of murder - I didn't think it was awful but it was clunky the way the author shoehorned the research in. Frank Tallis covers that sort of territory far better IME - Vienna Blood/Mortal Mischief

pointydog · 30/07/2007 21:34

I've just read the Memory Keeper's Daughter too. Poorly written, over-written.

(Is there a Winter Book as well as Summer Book by Tove Janson?)

MuminBrum · 30/07/2007 21:32
Posey · 30/07/2007 21:24

Hassled - Oh really? Shame. That was on my To Read list

Ellbell · 30/07/2007 21:20

LOL Pruners... I was thinking 'white aunties'????

Ellbell · 30/07/2007 21:19

I liked the Ukrainian Tractor thing, and loved The Poisonwood Bible.

And please can I have extra ponce points for having read (and finished) The Name of the Rose in Italian?

RosaLuxembourg · 30/07/2007 21:19

I'm really looking forward to One Good Turn - I loved Case Histories. What I am most looking forward to is William Trevor's new book of short stories - Cheating at Canasta - DH has ordered it with his birthday Amazon voucher so we can take it away on holiday.

Pruners · 30/07/2007 21:19

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oregonianabroad · 30/07/2007 21:18

agree tractors was bad.
liked brick lane.
am reading interp of murder at mo; teach a level psychology and parts of it read like an intro to freud, and he has a wierd aversion to jung, plus the whole thing is clunky but haven't given up on it yet.

Pruners · 30/07/2007 21:18

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Hassled · 30/07/2007 21:18

Ha! I've finally thought of something at least middle-brow I hated - On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. I usually enjoy his stuff - this was just plain dull. Beautifully written shite.

FluffyMummy123 · 30/07/2007 21:17

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Ellbell · 30/07/2007 21:17

Couldn't get beyond the first chapter of Kathy Reichs. She is meant to be very clever, but OMG talk about over-use of the sodding simile. Every-bloody-thing she mentions is like some-bloody-thing else. I was shouting 'Just tell the story, woman' at the pages! And she was so patronising towards speakers of other languages (not even foreigners, as this was supposed to be in Canada, iirc). So a character would say 'Bonjour' and she'd explain 'She understood, having lived in this area for 10 years now, that Bonjour is the French for "Hello"'. No shit, Sherlock?

Like I said... I had to give up.

FluffyMummy123 · 30/07/2007 21:17

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RosaLuxembourg · 30/07/2007 21:17

I don't know Cod,my mum liked it but DH really really hated it - mind you he really, really hates Jane Austen too so we don't always agree. He says none of the characters were sympathetic and there was a lot of unnecessary explaining of stuff that most people would know - Freud, Shakespeare etc. He read me out some stuff about Hamlet that sounded like the worst sort of undergraduate essay for instance.

Pruners · 30/07/2007 21:16

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FillydoraTonks · 30/07/2007 21:16

ukranian tractor ok I thought, two caravans (same author) a lot better.

couldn't finish Brick Lane. Lost all interest in protagonists.

Hassled · 30/07/2007 21:15

I clearly have no literary taste and will surely rot in some weird book hell. I loved everything about One Good Turn (to the extent that I wanted to start re-reading it immedietely), loved Ukrainian Tractors thingy and Brick Lane.

Pruners · 30/07/2007 21:13

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FluffyMummy123 · 30/07/2007 21:13

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FluffyMummy123 · 30/07/2007 21:12

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