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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:
bigmouthstrikesagain · 11/08/2007 00:22

Just really looking forward to ds outgrowing them and fervently hoping dd won't be a fan[crossed fingers]

Dior · 11/08/2007 00:13

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EHM · 11/08/2007 00:13

weave world by clive barker

bigmouthstrikesagain · 11/08/2007 00:12

Dior I think we have every printed T the T story ever - I hate them but I know them all backwards - it really pains me as they are poorly constucted and hardly trip off the tongue...

Dior · 11/08/2007 00:08

Message withdrawn

JeremyVile · 11/08/2007 00:06

DS loves, LOVES, Dear Zoo.

He disappoints me greatly.

Tbh, i was hoping for a G&T

bigmouthstrikesagain · 11/08/2007 00:04

even ds is not keen on dear zoo but he loves friggin Bob the Builder stories and they are so badly written (cash ins - I hate them) - but I could wax lyrical on the childrens books I have [ahem] lost over the last 3 years....

DaisyMOO · 11/08/2007 00:01

Slummy Mummy by Fiona Neill (bet she's a MNetter, but tough) Trite, cliched and borrrring. Only finished it because I had nothing better to read.

ScottishMummy · 11/08/2007 00:01

awww i just bought memory keeper.. LOL one for the bin presume

Dior · 11/08/2007 00:00

Message withdrawn

ntsmum · 10/08/2007 23:59

Kevin book - bored me rigid, also Memory Keeper's Daughter -so formulaic and My Sister's Keeper - like the literary equivalent of a naff American mini series.

JeremyVile · 10/08/2007 23:57

Thats right Dior - not at all realistic.......

Dior · 10/08/2007 23:57

Message withdrawn

JeremyVile · 10/08/2007 23:56

Dear Zoo - just couldn't get my teeth into it.

bigmouthstrikesagain · 10/08/2007 23:55

foetal attraction - by Kathy Lette - crass, unfunny, plotted like a sitcom and just dreadful stereotyping of every single character - ugh awful - that said I don't think it was ever set up as great literature

bigmouthstrikesagain · 10/08/2007 23:51

Totally agree with the dissing of What about Kevin - I hated that book and kept jumping sections to try and get through it but I couldn't finish it, just was not as profound or as brave as it thought it was imo...

sauce · 10/08/2007 23:50

Hi Dior. I liked the place but that b*tch Beatrice was a non-starter. Murdering her parents, bonking her brother & practicing S&M on him (puh-lease!) as well as bearing his 2 brats? Plus giving up the lovely doctor?

ScottishMummy · 10/08/2007 23:48

the tenth circle Jodi picoult i succumbed to the half price offer - badly written poor character development shallow turgid plodding dont-give-a-feck-about-the-main-character LOL u see why i dont like it

Dior · 10/08/2007 23:47

Message withdrawn

sauce · 10/08/2007 23:45

Wideacre by Philippa Gregory. What a load of cr*p. Couldn't finish it.

SpeccieSeccie · 10/08/2007 23:35

The House at Riverton. Just dire. Written by a funky Aussie chick about life in 1914 in an English stately home. Very badly written, crassly researched and full of really ick cliches.

Thunderpants · 10/08/2007 23:15

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Have finally decided, after 60-odd pages that I cannot read any more of it. I know it's a classic, but it's just so hard to read. Anyone else have an opinion on this?

jaynehater · 07/08/2007 14:57

Sounds good, may try it. I have about six offerings at the moment that I'm dipping between, but that's my usual reading style, unless I find one of those books that you just can't leave alone. Haven't found one in a while, but I live in hope.

SixKindsOfCrisis · 07/08/2007 14:53

In some ways its similar, in that it's about people who find the whole business of 'other people' frightening and complicated. The main characters are people who panic, and adopt the craziest forms of 'irrational rationality' in an attempt to deal with their panic.
The author switches perspecitve between all of his characters and it is amazing how he can write plausibly as man, woman; young, old; gay, straight; etc.
It is very funny but also touching. It has a description of surgery-performed-on-self that made me scream with laughter and cringe with revulsion, and a gay sex scene so funny that I laughed out loud in front of the kids and had to forbid them reading rudeness over my shoulder.

jaynehater · 07/08/2007 14:48

I've only ever read 'curious incident'

Is it on the same level, what's it like?