Worst book you've ever read?

[CommunistLegoBloc]

Inspired by the film thread, what's the worst book you've read?

I think mine was The Miniaturist purely because it was SO hyped. It was completely overwritten, ridiculous, boring, and you'd think for that amount the author got paid, she'd have bothered to come up with an ending.

50 shades of shite. So unbearably bad! The slap. Ullyses is the one I have tried the most and I just think it's a pile of pretentious wank.

Some worthy contenders on this thread but I reserve my vote for La Cucina by Lily Prior.
It contains the worst ever line I’ve ever read in my 57 years. So bad.

50 shades. Only read two pages and just couldn't. And anything by Dan Brown.

The Terracotta Dog by Andrea Camilleri
On Chesil Beach as mentioned by a pp

@Cheeseycheeseycheesecheese
I'm making Year 7 study this in September...I personally love it but I can see why you don't. Great for teaching though!

I'm currently reading my first ever Danielle Steele. It's not exactly my usual thing but I do like an historical novel and and quite happy to read something trashy light. She's sold an awful lot of books so I thought I'd find out why they're so popular.

I expected a trashy page turner but it's awful. I'm finding the writing really stilted.

I loved Never let me go.
I didn't necessarily love Danielle Steeles but they were entertaining old shite when I was travelling in the days before internet and I only had 2 tapes for my walkman
Ditto Jackie Collins.

If you knew nothing about sex and read Fifty Shades it would put you off for life, wouldn't it? Boring, repetitive, shallow, joyless and SO badly written.

I LOVED both Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Remains of the Day unlike many others on MN it seems. In fact Louis De Bernieres can do nothing wrong in my eyes. Birds Without Wings my absolute favourite. And Ishiguro has written some other crackers!

Just to add a plea not to describe fiction that isn't Literary Fiction as 'trash'. Please. It takes just as long to write light, entertaining fiction as it does to write a Booker Prize Winner!

And also to add a novel called 'Demon' to Worst Book Ever Read. I tell my writing students to keep a 'bad book' on their shelves, so that when the rejections flood in they can keep themselves going by reassuring themselves that 'if THIS got published, then I can...'

Demon is mine.

It's not OK to refer to a novel as trashy but it's OK to have 15 pages of the worst book ever read? Presumably those books took time to write too.

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse - dragged myself to the dreary end because it was supposed to be good and I kept thinking it would improve. It didn’t.

Time travellers wife - creepy and hated everyone but book club so persevered.

Stuff I’ve given up on, catch 22 (had several goes), the slap, several Philippa Gregory’s but I’ve really liked some of hers . The 100 year old man who climbed out the window - just “and then ....and then...and then”

I read Owen Meany years ago and loved it then reread it last year and hated it

I loved Never let me go too.

I gave up on captain corellis mandolin. 50 shades, a 6th former could do better...

I've always loved the historical novels of Phillippa Gregory but the recent Tidelands I picked up in the supermarket didnt impress me at all, she can paint the surroundings well and I can imagine everything but a really unbelievable set of events and a predictable plot, ending on a point only to make you buy the next installment.

On a recent charity shop run I thought I'd try Joanna Trollope again now I'm older (I hated them when young) they're stil crap! Such horrible characters always.

So glad to see others mention We Need To Talk About Kevin, I’ve been lynched for saying I hated it!
Fleishman Is In Trouble, absolute drivel, I couldn’t finish it.

Shipping News - Annie Proulx

I gave up on Tidelands by Philippa Gregory too.
Also had to give up, after several attempts on The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. Really disappointed as I loved her first book The Night Circus and couldn’t wait for her next book. It’s beyond me what the bloody hell is going on!

The Lovely Bones. Borrrring

The time travellers wife. Tedious and totally pointless.

Off the top of my head Wolf Hall or Captan Corellis Mandolin.

I'd have to say Captain Corelli's Mandoline. I tried twice and gave up - couldn't work out what all the fuss was about.

I also didn't like the Cormoran Strike books by JK Rowling. Far too long and wordy although my FiL is currently reading one of them and raving about how well written it is

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse.

Didn't get very far into it so I can't say I read it really. Extra awful because friend forced it on me and said she loved it. Had to pretend I had in fact read it before years ago so I could give it back to her quickly.

The Lake House by Kate Morton.
So, so bad, read it to the very end where the very worst of the writing and plotting was waiting for me! Oh god it was terrible.
I read another of hers and liked it, I'm not sure what happened with this one.

Another vote for A Little Life here. Ghastly misery porn and weirdly detached from reality. Had to give up reading Wind Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami after a torture scene so awful it haunted me for weeks. Never been able to read a Murakami since.

50 shades

It was shite wasn't it @dementedma I was genuinely gutted, I don't know how it went to print, it didn't flow or make ANY narrative sense and The Night Circus was so good too

50 shades of grey. The phrase"internal goddess" was used WAY too much