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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:
auntyspanonherbroomstick · 11/10/2007 14:11

I read something on holiday called "the Nanny" and it was utterly cr*p, even for a trashy holiday read.

chibi · 10/10/2007 11:59

Interpretation of Murder - feculent. The Alienist was far better written if you like this kind of thing.

tyaca · 07/10/2007 22:20

this thread gets seriously snobby at times

and surely the best reads are those you know are awful drivel but you just can't put down....

MaryAnnSingletomb · 07/10/2007 19:52

NAB3 - read that some years ago and I really liked it !

NAB3 · 07/10/2007 18:37

Not recently but reminded as it is about to come out on film - The Nanny Diaries. A pointless book.

MaryAnnSingletomb · 07/10/2007 17:56

also,The Alchemist - shite

MaryAnnSingletomb · 07/10/2007 17:56

M,rsMuddle - agree with you about Arlington Park !

ScottishMummy · 07/10/2007 17:54

tenth circle - jodi picoult
dull rambling, sickly narrative with characters i could not care about. dragged. i will never get that time back one for the recycle bin

DANCESwithHughJackman · 07/10/2007 17:52

I think I may have put this on here AGES ago but that 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell' - something like that. I couldn't finish it what a weird, boring pile of shi*te. Life's too short.
Mark Haddon's latest book is fab also LOVE anything by Christopher Brookmyer.

StripeyKnickersSpottySocks · 07/10/2007 17:21

Savafe Garden - couldn't fiish it was very uninterested in the whole plot/characters.

lapsedrunner · 07/10/2007 16:30

Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks

UnquietDad · 07/10/2007 16:26

Not this Something Else surely? We like that in our house!

suzywong · 07/10/2007 16:16

Time Traveller's Wife

could NOT bring myself to care a fig about the characters

and The Shipping News - didn't read past chapter 2, so contrived and affected, and the photo of E. Annie on the back cover really put me off

Reader, I judged it by its cover

Leo35 · 07/10/2007 16:15

Miaou, try One Good Turn (recommended on this thread passim). Loved it. Devoured it and then was sad that it had finished. I'd loved to meet Jackson in RL lol!!! Try and read Case Histories first though (if you already haven't) think it all might flow a bit better if you do. Nuff said I hope! PS. shouldn't you be knitting?!

Leo35 · 07/10/2007 16:12

Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy. Cliched writing. Was it meant to be funny? Think that I missed the point. Actually I like to think the author missed the point....

Have to say that what really hacks me off in books aimed at female market (chick-lit etc) are the descriptions of clothes, household items etc in terms of designers eg. her Ghost dress was hanging in the wardrobe; the Cath Kidson tablecloth graced the battered Habitat pine kitchen table. Lazy, lazy writing. Try using some imagination not flicking through the sunday mags!!

Sorry just needed to get that off my chest... HAs been building up for a while...

colditz · 07/10/2007 16:04

A book called "Something Else"

It was barbley, convoluted, and made no sense whatsoever. Great ideas, poorly written.

flicky · 07/10/2007 15:57

Semi detached was a pile of poopy pants angry

It really needed a good editing.........or pulping or something.

slowreader · 06/10/2007 23:11

Gave up on Labyrinth, Rosa. Couldn't care less about any of the characters.
Skipped huge chunks of Middlemarch. Why do people love that book?
Wild Swans- simply dreadful scene earliesh on involving Aunty. Dared not progress any further.

FuriousGeorge · 06/10/2007 22:38

Semi Detached was so boring I gave up.I don't read any 'I was abused as a child,but overcame it' stuff,or chicklit,which cuts out quite a lot of crap immediately.

kerala,I agree with you abot The Historian.I was told it was very scarey,so I ploughed onwards,waiting to be terrified-but wasn't.It seemed to end very oddly somehow.

BritTex · 03/10/2007 23:03

The house at Riverton. predictable and boring.

RosaLuxembourg · 06/09/2007 22:09

Well I finally read Labyrinth. It was a pile of poo. Not looking forward to book group next week.

MoreSpamThanGlam · 06/09/2007 18:39

Shadow of the Flippin (I wish I was Dan Browne) Wind. Big, flowery, writing classes pants.

RosaLuxembourg · 03/09/2007 23:45

Don't think she is an MNer MrsMuddle as we have been really quite seriously rude about her in the past without adverse consequences!

cherrycake · 03/09/2007 21:17

ArcticRoll I agree totally with Getting rid of Matthew, I forced myself to read on and on, hoping it would improve....how disappointing, and what a waste of reading time.
Boo Hiss!

kerala · 03/09/2007 21:13

The Historian by Elisabeth Kostova. Started off ok about vampires but was too long and ended up utterly ridiculous.