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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:
SixKindsOfCrisis · 07/08/2007 14:46

Nope, not Angus, not you. In a feeble attempt to be relevant to the thread, I've just finished Mark Haddon's Spot of Bother and thought it was brill. Is anyone going to tell me it was the worst book ever?

jaynehater · 07/08/2007 14:43

Well, I've got the brown hair.......please tell me you weren't schooled in Angus in the late 70's and early '80's - it wasn't me, I didn't even know I was taking French till I was 14

Marina · 07/08/2007 14:42

Aw six, that was not the intention
It's a huge NO jayne. Ridiculous twaddle (what I read of it).

HappyDaddy · 07/08/2007 14:33

So?

SixKindsOfCrisis · 07/08/2007 14:33

All I can remember about my jaynehater is that she had brown hair and was a little bit of a bitch. So deserved the teasing about her 'french leave'.

HollyGoHeavily · 07/08/2007 14:29

I also only got 2/3rds of the way through George and Arthur by Julian Barnes. I remember that i was enjoying it but i think i just got distracted before i finished it (and i can't be arsed to go back and read the whole thing again) - can anyone give me a quick precis of the ending

Bluestocking · 07/08/2007 14:26

Fie, HD. "Andy McNab" (for he does not really exist) is a dreary congeries of grubby pubescent boys who spend far too much time looking at "Big Firearms Monthly".

HollyGoHeavily · 07/08/2007 14:26

I rather liked the Dave Eggars book - although i remember it being really depressing at the start....

I have recently not managed to finish Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell despite trying hard - i keep being told the stories all make sense together at the end. But it's about 600 pages long!!!!! i just don't have the stamina [sigh]

HappyDaddy · 07/08/2007 14:15

A book called Columbia Road. Supposed to be a bit of a Fever Pitch, type thing. No it wasn't, shit characters, shit scenarios, shittily written.

It was shit.

I am, unashamedly, partial to an Andy McNab, though. Good fun and some political dodginess going on.

jaynehater · 07/08/2007 14:14

Is that a no on the book, btw?

jaynehater · 07/08/2007 14:14

And six, just to add to your discomfort, I passed French with an easssssyyyy A. {unpleasant preening emoticon] {followed by as I can now only remember how to ask for a ham sandwich.]

Tell me more of your jaynehater, we can form a sisterhood

SixKindsOfCrisis · 07/08/2007 14:11

Oh. I feel stupid now.

Marina · 07/08/2007 14:10

Six, that's the title. Dave Eggers is a pillock and no mistake

SixKindsOfCrisis · 07/08/2007 14:08

Which book gets that puff jaynehater?
I used to know a jaynehater at school. We teased her because at age 12 she scammed a week off school by saying she was 'worried about French o level, four years away. [talking irrelevant nonsense emoticon]

edam · 07/08/2007 14:08

Can't remember the title, but that murder mystery about Sigmund Freud visiting the US. Jed Rubenstein or someone? Utter tosh.

jaynehater · 07/08/2007 14:04

Has anyone read 'a heartbreaking work of staggering genius'.

Gift from dh (?) not sure if I can be bothered.

TnOgu · 07/08/2007 13:53

Strangely I absolutely do agree with you, Q.

FluffyMummy123 · 07/08/2007 13:52

Message withdrawn

Quattrocento · 07/08/2007 13:51

Oh Kevin was enough Lionel Shriver for one lifetime, thank you very much.

Louis de Bernieres. What a load of derivative drivel. Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but I doubt Marquez is flattered.

The only novel of LdB's that isn't, erm, paying homage to Marquez is that Corelli thing. But does anyone else out there think that it has echoes of Calvi?

Spockle · 07/08/2007 13:47

Forgot Sophie's World...! Not sure if it's a bad book or a bad translation (or both); how can you tell, without learning a new language and reading the original?

DaftAndFussy · 07/08/2007 13:45

Ooops, sorry, didn't give reasons - erm, drones on and on and on and on and all-far-too-depressing-how-on-earth-are-kids-going-to-get-through-this-flabby-text followed by action-action-action clearly prompted by panics of a 'bum I've written 300 pages and not got very far towards the end' nature. Yawn. She's done well for herself, that's great, but I'll never understand why?

DaftAndFussy · 07/08/2007 13:43

In recent times, it would have to be the latest Harry Potter - am I allowed to say there here?

bossykate · 07/08/2007 13:41

just skimmed this and popped in to say that although i too thought that labyrinth by kate mosse was utter * - we are off to the languedoc on holiday on friday because i read it!

Spockle · 07/08/2007 13:39

If you think Kevin was badly written you should try her new one; The Post-Birthday World. I did better at school. Strangely gripping though...the worst one I can remember is Straight Talking; I got it free with a magazine, which says it all really. Total trash, awful writing, but I'm sticking with it for a bit of mindless escapism!

Quattrocento · 07/08/2007 13:36

Oh god have just read whole thread now. I agree with almost all of them. All of them I tell you. Except perhaps Mary Wesley who has got something.