Please or to access all these features

What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

I just read a terrible book

687 replies

Orangeis · 06/02/2023 11:29

Bring me back, B A Paris.

What a load of absolute tosh. A man's partner dissapears, 6 years later he gets with her sister and lives with her. The big twist is.....the new girlfriend is actually the missing sister. He didn't realise this as she had a different hair do.
That's hours of my life I'll never get back. I feel like taking the book in to the back garden and burning the bugger.
What's your worst book and why?

OP posts:
Fanacapan · 06/02/2023 18:12

The Guest Cat - supposedly a Japanese masterpiece. I’ve no idea what it was all about!

BellatrixLestrangesHeatedCurlers · 06/02/2023 18:12

Whatislove82 · 06/02/2023 17:58

Me too.
So very out of kilter with her other ones

Omg the nightingale is hilariously bad. I’m so beautiful that everyone hates me and I’m going to be a spy with a really obvious code name blah blah blah. There is an AMAZING takedown of it on Goodreads, here

LobeliaBaggins · 06/02/2023 18:11

I find non-fiction better than fiction these days. Or old favourites like Daphne Du Maurier or Margaret Atwood.

BellePeppa · 06/02/2023 18:09

Alcemeg · 06/02/2023 18:01

🤣

I'm finding it really hard to find any books I can be arsed with nowadays. So many seem to be pointless drivel.

I used to be a real book worm years ago, always had a book on the go, but I haven’t found a book I’ve really engaged with for many years.

Novatherova · 06/02/2023 18:08

BellePeppa · 06/02/2023 18:07

Glad I’m not the only one. I’ve read both and didn’t really get either of them. I didn’t mind the film version of The Lovely Bones though as I think it probably helped me understand the book more. I found both books boring and definitely not page turners.

Yes didn't like lovely bones and could not be bothered grabbling with time travellers which I'm glad about as the film sucked.

Novatherova · 06/02/2023 18:07

I've read this book and couldn't agree more. It's awful awful.

He then magically forgives her for everything and she somehow forgets to be insulted she was so easily forgotten that he couldn't tell it was still her and not her sister.

BellePeppa · 06/02/2023 18:07

FancyFanny · 06/02/2023 17:33

The Lovely Bones and The Time Travellers wife. I could never be bothered to finish either of these- both make no sense to me!

Glad I’m not the only one. I’ve read both and didn’t really get either of them. I didn’t mind the film version of The Lovely Bones though as I think it probably helped me understand the book more. I found both books boring and definitely not page turners.

Maireas · 06/02/2023 18:03

I was thinking the same, @Alcemeg
All the ones I've read recently have been awful.

beastlyslumber · 06/02/2023 18:02

DatasCat · 06/02/2023 16:24

@beastlyslumber I thought it was a shame - Jessamine Chan could have written so much more convincingly if she’d explored the real relationships in that book, the manipulative ex and the Orwellian social services and the impossible demands of work and childrearing at the same time. I think she’s got a point about ideal modern motherhood being a bit of a cult, but going all sci-fi wasn’t the way to do it.

Give me Margaret Attwood every time.

Yes - the opening chapters of the book were actually really good. I was amazed at how badly wrong she got the rest of the book. Where were the editors who should have been helping her? It was so bad. And it did not make any sense! If there was that kind of technology, would the government have exclusive use of it for the purpose of educating parents? How much would that all have cost? Why would you throw everything we know about child psychology completely out of the window? It was so dumb. Sorry. It made me cross how bad it was!

Alcemeg · 06/02/2023 18:01

Kanaloa · 06/02/2023 15:05

Oh I see ALL has already come up 😂 it’s like a reverse fan club. A Little Life Hate Club. I was actually tempted to go see the play just to continue my deep seated hatred but I’m trying to be a bigger person. I would just love to see it and discover why they’ve bothered casting an actor to play the character of Malcolm. I would have saved the money and just stuck a wig on a lamp and sat it in the back.

🤣

I'm finding it really hard to find any books I can be arsed with nowadays. So many seem to be pointless drivel.

Dagnabit · 06/02/2023 17:59

Orangeis · 06/02/2023 11:29

Bring me back, B A Paris.

What a load of absolute tosh. A man's partner dissapears, 6 years later he gets with her sister and lives with her. The big twist is.....the new girlfriend is actually the missing sister. He didn't realise this as she had a different hair do.
That's hours of my life I'll never get back. I feel like taking the book in to the back garden and burning the bugger.
What's your worst book and why?

Was she perhaps wearing glasses? This apparently is a fantastic disguise and worked for Superman 🤷‍♀️😉

Funkyblues101 · 06/02/2023 17:58

ReneBumsWombats · 06/02/2023 17:50

It didn't put you off??

I just know to watch out for bears and pray a fair bit.

Whatislove82 · 06/02/2023 17:58

Weightlossanne · 06/02/2023 17:52

I couldn’t finish The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah yet I quite enjoyed her other books.

Me too.
So very out of kilter with her other ones

Justinsolentnoise · 06/02/2023 17:58

SafferUpNorth · 06/02/2023 17:28

Agreed, 50 Shades is utter trash, But then again, it never pretended to be anything but. I skim-read it just so I could join the conversation.

Jamie Dornan eased the pain of the movie adaptation 😆

Very true, I don’t think the author expected a Pulitzer Prize. And totally agree about Jamie Dornan 😜

HurdyGurdy19 · 06/02/2023 17:57

Walkinginthesand · 06/02/2023 12:07

Me too! And such is the power of marketing I’m feeling tempted to read the second one in the series even though I feel I’ve read it and dismissed it already.

I've done worse, and read all three. AND contemplating pre-ordering the fourth one, out in September this year.

And I hated the damn books. Utter far-fetched, claptrap nonsense. I kept reading, waiting for the punchline, which never came.

ichifanny · 06/02/2023 17:56

I read it too OP I was furious at the end I can’t believe I wasted hours of my life on it the ending was so lazy

MissHavishamsMouldyOldCake · 06/02/2023 17:55

DatasCat · 06/02/2023 17:51

He probably hasn’t for long. He’s a media personality so most of his earners will be presenting and maybe the odd advert. I doubt he’s slaving over a hot laptop.

Google tells me he's sold over 3 million books. I'd say writing is earning him far more than the BBC afternoon quiz show gig.

beguilingeyes · 06/02/2023 17:53

Oh god, One Day. The main character is a total shit and we're supposed to be sad for him.
I had to do DH Laurence for A Level. Turgid pretentious shite.
I quite like The Time Traveller's Wife. It's also amazing how much Steven Moffat ripped it off for Amy Pond in Doctor Who..

Weightlossanne · 06/02/2023 17:52

I couldn’t finish The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah yet I quite enjoyed her other books.

DatasCat · 06/02/2023 17:51

electricmoccasins · 06/02/2023 17:49

Thank goodness. I thought it was just me. Cannot believe he has given up his day job to write more of this drivel.

He probably hasn’t for long. He’s a media personality so most of his earners will be presenting and maybe the odd advert. I doubt he’s slaving over a hot laptop.

WinnieFosterReads · 06/02/2023 17:51

I've not read the Thursday Murder Club. It seemed too hyped. But now that you all hate it, I'm almost tempted to read it to see how bad it is Grin You've all worked some reverse psychology magic on me!

ReneBumsWombats · 06/02/2023 17:50

Funkyblues101 · 06/02/2023 17:43

I've read it twice and am planning to hike the Appalachian Trail as a result - love it 😊

It didn't put you off??

Pearl63 · 06/02/2023 17:50

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine 😡 just thinking about that book gives me the rage

Dontlistitonfacebook · 06/02/2023 17:50

Skip to the end. Great concept but I just got bored and couldn't even be bothered to skip to the end to find out what happened.

electricmoccasins · 06/02/2023 17:49

AinmÁlainn · 06/02/2023 11:57

The Richard Osman one, Thursday Murder Club. I never don't finish books but I found it utterly painful and refused to give it any more of my life after about a third of the way through.

Thank goodness. I thought it was just me. Cannot believe he has given up his day job to write more of this drivel.