Worst book(s) you read in 2020

Normal People for me - totally overhyped, not using punctuation doesn't make you a more interesting or cleverer writer. It read like a teenager's snapchat, or at best, a bad 1980s Brat Pack movie without the benefit of a good soundtrack. Utterly dull. Being sucked in by the hype makes me cautious about Crawdads. I feel I should read it - that many people can't be wrong surely, but then I remember about Normal People.

Closely followed by Three Things About Elsie. Drivel.

But the prize for the worst book this year goes to Wuthering Heights. I tried, I really did. I started with Audible with one of my favourite narrators (Juliet Stephenson - who also narrates North and South, which I loved. Despite the excellent narration, I just couldn't sort out my Lintons from my Haretons and gave up.
I tried again with a Kindle version but still found it a slog, but I was obviously missing something as so many people say how they love it and it is a literary masterpiece. I am not scared of a classic - Jane Eyre, Dickens, Tolstoy don't put me off.
So I invested in an annotated paperback version, thinking the notes would help me see what I was missing. It didn't.

I hated Perks of being a Wallflower.
(Wallflower, my Arse!)

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
Unpleasant characters, nasty events, plodding narrative.
Wasn't keen on Platform 7 and Haven't They Grown? either.

I don’t usually bother finishing books I don’t like - life’s too short - but two that I struggled through this year were Platform Seven and The Pull of the Stars.

The real standout one for me was Where The Crawdads Sing, it was dreadful. I kept going in the hopes it would get better but it went from bad to worse. Straight to the charity shop pile without going back onto the shelf.

I Am Not Your Babymother was a pile of shite. Platform Seven was almost as crap.

I agree with some others about Queenie.

Where the Crawdads sing was absolute dross - worst book I’ve read in ages!

Stephen Booth had such potential when he started but I agree he's so ploddy. Just no USP.
"Haven't they grown" would be high on my list of utter crap for 2020. Sophie Hannah just sort of fizzles out in all her books. Premise is always good, then you get going and they just go nowhere.

But my worst read (possibly of the decade) (and picked up because it was recommended on here I can only presume by the author's wife or something) was The Artemis Files- spy/thriller/terrorism etc. Sheer utter total shite. Badly written, holes in the plot that made it Emmenthal. That "oh dear lord please no" moment when you realise who "Artemis" is....and ridiculous inspirational literary quotes dropped onto each page (virtually) You ended up skimming and thinking "ooh nooo I can see some italicised inspiration coming up"

Just dreadful.

I'm currently struggling through The Devil's Edge by Stephen Booth, given to me by a friend of my daughter with glowing recommendations. He also sent others in the series. It's so slow and I keep getting characters muddled as they aren't memorable. I will finish this one but unless it improves rapidly I won't be reading the others. I definitely got the short straw after giving him my Robert Galbraith books in return.

Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls, basically a coming of age novel where very little of any consequence happens and mostly featured around a very tedious staging of Romeo and Juliet. A shame as I loved "Us" his previous novel.

Oh, I also really liked We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, OP!

Ha - of those mentioned I loved Rodham, Where The Crawdads Sing and Milkman. I haven’t read anything truly awful this year but my worst was The Last, a murder mystery set in a hotel of survivors of a nuclear war. It just didn’t make sense for me. But I didn’t hate it.
I also found Haven’t They Grown ridiculous but think I read it last year, and I also gave up on A Little Life but again that was last year.

Unlike one of the PPs, liked The Binding though after the first couple of chapters.

Utopia Avenue was a bit disappointing - I enjoyed it but not in the way I’ve enjoyed other David Mitchell’s and found one of the characters cod Gravesend accent annoying and grating.

Was a bit disappointed by The Mirror and the Light too - I loved the first two but this just felt like a slog at times and in need of a heavy edit.

A Little Life, which I had been very much looking forward to reading and which I gave up on after about a third of the book. Just misery upon misery, and far too many ‘he said’s’ so I couldn’t follow the characters well at all. Having been told it got more miserable I gave up.

I finished Mythos but wished I hadn’t bothered. The tiny footnotes throughout annoyed me, they could easily have been put into the main text to make it less dry. I think I was expecting something more chirpy from it, but it was just a bit dull. Far better Greek myth books out there (Circe, Silence of the girls etc).

Crawdads was just ok. Really didn’t get why it was so raved about. See also The Salt Path. Disliked the writer and her attitudes to basically everything.

Educated got a bit repetitive. I think I may have read too much misery this year.

Where the crawdads sing - over hyped, poorly plotted, badly written, utter pile of steaming doodah.

Had to read ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ for book club and the level of hate and loathing I feel for this book ..

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde. Such a disappointment. Really wish he'd carry on some of his earlier series.
Three things you need to know about rockets. By Jessica Fox. Just not that great. Slightly interesting to hear the other side of Shaun Bythell story.

I've just finished Haven't They Grown by Sophie Hannah. I finished it, and quite enjoyed it but what a terrible book! Unbelievably far-fetched.

Has very poor reviews on Amazon, too, which I'm glad I didn't read before reading it myself.

Frustratingly, it could actually be quite good if it weren't for the annoying characters and the far-fetchedness.

I am just starting the crawdads and I know many people who have enjoyed it so fingers crossed I am in that camp.

A friend gave me her copy of The Lido-didn't get further than 20 pages, life is too short.

I loved the Crawdads though

Tope not Hope.

Based on recommendations on here, I bought some Susan Hill (Serrailler) and Rebecca Hope (Cotswolds) books. I wasn't expecting great literature, just some enjoyable undemanding reading.

What a pile of utter steaming shite!

@YewandOak couldn't agree more, very overrated.

I read some rubbish this year but one that stands out is Rodham by Curtis Sittenfield. Not what I was expecting.

Because of You - Dawn French.

Normal People by Sally Rooney. Saw such amazing praise for it and my word was it boring! I gave up about half way through and I hate not finishing a book but I just couldn't force myself through any more. Dull as dishwater!