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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:
FluffyMummy123 · 31/07/2007 22:08

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MuminBrum · 31/07/2007 22:08

BluestockingInBrum?
BitchInBrum?

FluffyMummy123 · 31/07/2007 22:08

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MuminBrum · 31/07/2007 22:07

... and that's an insult to twunts. Oh, I'm enjoying this. What else has really annoyed me in the literary line recently?

FluffyMummy123 · 31/07/2007 22:07

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Aitch · 31/07/2007 22:06

nevertheless, cod. according to recent MN threads the fact that your children are members of the aforesaid minority group does not give you the right to infer that MumInBrum suggests anything other than a downright bluestocking. do try to keep up in future. it's pc gone mad don't you know?

RosaLuxembourg · 31/07/2007 22:00

ROFL MuminBrum. What an egregious twunt.

MuminBrum · 31/07/2007 21:55

Here's another homunculus. This man's book Thinly Disguised Autobiography is truly ex-cru-ciating.

FluffyMummy123 · 31/07/2007 21:53

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FluffyMummy123 · 31/07/2007 21:53

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TotalChaos · 31/07/2007 21:52

snorting at the critiques of lovely bones and shopaholic series.

I am immensely grateful to RL though for posting that hilarious article about book groups by RC, that has really brightened my night

bundle - I also loathed Shadow of the Wind.

lulu25 · 31/07/2007 21:46

new york trilogy, paul auster. AND???

lovely bones, embarrassingly because it was a b'day present from a very close friend

loved kevin (was i the only person who thought it was sort of funny?)

margoandjerry · 31/07/2007 21:45

That Rachel Cusk article is beyond hilarious. I did like A Life's Work, I admit, but the stuff about Chekhov

This may be the most patronising and pretentious paragraph I have ever read:

"I was curious to see what the book group would make of Chekhov. I believed he would transform them. I believed in his power of verisimilitude, of true emotion, of human understanding. I believed in his art. I imagined the serious book group convening in a new and luminous spirit, reborn, having felt the incomparable benediction of recognition, of the vanquishing of time by truth. I imagined them becoming ... serious."

But it is also reminding me of another deeply pretentious and annoying person. Not quite as egregious as the Cusk example but arrogant twattishness nonetheless:

I sometimes struggle to articulate exactly why and then he does it for me

Sentimental homunculus indeed.

Aitch · 31/07/2007 21:40

lol have just been reading the rachel cusk thing in amazement and return to see jon ronson get a mention. nothing happened in the end. no column yet at least.

WallyHerbert · 31/07/2007 21:40

I do have a number of these titles on my shelf waiting to be read, am wondering whether I should bother?

I don't read anything that look remotely girly, god forbid!

Kathyis6incheshigh · 31/07/2007 21:37

LOL Rosa.
She favours us with some insights into the creative process, too ('At the time I was writing my own novel....')

StarryStarryNight · 31/07/2007 21:35

John Eldridge "Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul"

My last au pair gave this to me for Christmas, as she was deeply religious.

The idea is that through loving Jesus a womans soul is restored, after the fall of Eve, she is a sinner, but she will shine again if only she realizes the true love of Jesus unconditionally. In return she will gain beauty, physically and spiritually. etc. In my opinion it was very naive, and describes Jesus as a jealous lovelorn hysterical woman. It does not paint a very good portrait of Christianity and women.

RosaLuxembourg · 31/07/2007 21:32

Every one of us should read it Kathy. We need to be aware of how far short we fall of true intellectual discrimination. We can only aspire to the heights of erudition that Her Cuskness has achieved of course, but just standing, wrapped in awe, in the foothills of their majestic grandeur is reward enough for attempting the climb....

Desiderata · 31/07/2007 21:32

bundle .. isn't it strange! I absolutely loved The Shadow of the Wind.

Sobernow · 31/07/2007 21:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Kathyis6incheshigh · 31/07/2007 21:28

'I was curious to see what the book group would make of Chekhov. I believed he would transform them.'

Kathyis6incheshigh · 31/07/2007 21:27

Rosa, thanks for link - am roffling at,
'That's all very well, I said, but shouldn't the question be, is it beautiful? '

MuminBrum · 31/07/2007 21:26

I think you might be onto something there!

RosaLuxembourg · 31/07/2007 21:23

I don't know - but now I think about it - have you ever seen Jon Ronson and Rachel Cusk in a room together?

MuminBrum · 31/07/2007 21:21

Hey, Rosa, do you think if we're rude enough about RC, her husband will come on here and implore us to stop dissing her? What happened with the Jon Ronson episode in the end?