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.

A Little Life. Misery porn. And a book I can’t remember the name of but was the only book in English when stuck in an airport for 9 hours that was about a man with a penis with teeth.

I gave up on A Little Life, but it was not badly written, I just found it relentlessly grim. I was annoyed by The Miniaturist as I didn’t think it’s ending was authentic to the rest of the book, but again it was flawed rather than awful. Some of those mentioned here, I loved - I thought The Milkman was fantastic for example. I haven’t read 50 Shades so it may be that that would be my worst, but in actual fact it is Anything for Her by Jack Jordan, which was just so poorly written it actually made me angry that I had paid for such dross. I can’t believe how many good reviews it has online, although it does have plenty that agree with me as well.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

yy to On Chesil Beach
Also:
The Woman in the Window
The Secret Agent
Call me by Your Name
Ulysses
Fleishman is in Trouble

If On A Winter's Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino. Supposedly a "classic" but it gave me murderous rage. Didn't help that I was given it by an ex who was absolutely evangelical about it - in retrospect that was the moment I should have walked away (lost all respect for him after that).

Nearly gave now-DH the heave-ho when he gave me the exact same book for my birthday the first year we were together. Mercifully discovered he'd never heard of it beforehand and had just picked it up as something which sounded interesting. Swapped it for something less rage-inducing at Waterston es and reader, I married him.

50 shades.
Couldn't finish it,
I actually threw it in the recycling bin. One less copy of this terrible piece of literature in the world.
Urgh, just abysmal writing, story line, plot.
Found if offensive to women too (and not for its sexual elements!)

Apart from a load of romance tosh, the worst well-regarded book I've read is The Book Thief. I do not understand why people rate it so highly. It was poorly written overly sentimental and faux-deep rubbish.

'My Brilliant Friend' was dreadful - I really disliked the main character and the ending was in a ridiculous place.
'Being Michelle Obama' was just tedious.

A lot of the books mentioned here I've loved, especially Donna Tartt.

Cold Comfort Farm. Set text for A-levels many years ago. Can’t even remember why but I remember loathing it!

Oh, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I think my view was a bit coloured because it was pressed on me by a housemate who was a bit of a dick, but it was just such pretentious crap.

I have read the first of the 50 shades which was erm not good...

The da Vinci Code annoyed the hell out of me, enjoyable enough as a lighthearted read but nowhere near lived up to the hype and the 'big twist' everyone was talking about I figured out less than halfway through but kept reading as I assumed it was a misdirect... nope!

My most hated books though are technically classics, catcher in the rye which was a whiney annoying kid who does nothing and is just unpleasant. The worst one ever though I had to finish as it was required reading for a uni course was Mrs Dalloway, urgh, uninteresting unlikable characters throwing what appeared to be a very boring dinner party for other uninteresting people that they don't even like...

Conversely I've seen a PP mention labyrinth by Kate Mosse, I loved that book. I read it whilst studying gothic literature for a levels. It wasn't on the reading list I found it by chance but it and another of hers called sepulchre fitted in beautifully. Plus background knowledge from sepulchre got me my highest essay mark of the year as I spotted hidden meaning in a name from another text that nobody else did as sepulchre is not the most well known word.

Its tos up between:
the Goldfinch. Didn't finish it, needed a massive edit.
Midnight's Children-tried twice couldn't get past page 30.
The Heart of Darkness - convinced my copy had numerous pages missing.
The Solitude of Thomas Cave found it tedious. Shame as I enjoyed other books of hers.

50 Shades. What dreadful load of shite.

Da Vinci Code . Friends raved about it but I thought it was dire.

Gosh, half my book case is on this thread! I enjoyed "The Power"; "London Fields"; all of Donna Tartt's; all of Ian McEwan's; "The Life of Pi"; "The Slap"; "Gone Girl"; "The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle", "Mother's Milk" and "Eleanor Oliphant..."
I did not enjoy "Cloud Atlas" and I have never finished anything by Tolkien or "A Passage to India".

Ive blocked the title from my brain in protest..
The Heathcliffe - y one......

Dear god I've tried to read it, but I hate their stupid insipid guts.

Catch 22. In 4 decades the only book I've failed to finish (attempted 3 times, never again!)

Les Miserable was a swift read by comparison

I quite enjoyed most of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, but was disappointed by the ending.

My least favourite books: A Room with a View; The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy; Tess of the Durbevilles.

Before reading any
pp's, l thought 50 Shades....terribly written and l never understood they hype.

The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James. Just too weird, even though it is a classic.

Dice man, an ex suggested it and it was dire but then he was as thick as two short planks.

Have to agree with fifty Shades of Shite.My SiL gave them to me and i read one .They are the only books that I have ever thrown into the bin.

Eat Pray Love .Utter drivel

I usually give up on a book if I'm not enjoying it, but for some unknown reason stuck with Normal People.
An absolute waste of time, utter shite.

I thought the Tattooist of Auschwitz for offensive bullshit. Hideously bad

A book about sex, first published in the 1950s. It said that homosexuals were perverse deviants who should be 'treated' with drugs. Only time that I have thrown a book in the bin.