To ask what is the worst book you ever read?

[Joey1471]

And why

I would say mice and men , had to read it for my GCSEs , so boring

Agree with Girl on the Train - I think it was overhyped and then just blah.

I particularly disliked The Road by Cormac McCarthy, the writing really annoyed me.

Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris for terrible terrible writing and poor editing. Let alone the plot which involves torturous faeries... I haven't got a clue who managed to get through the book to decide to option it for HBO (True Blood which I enjoyed).

However my worst book ever is Monster Island by David Wellington. Firstly as it was written as a serial/blog then published so never flowed well and secondly the scottish peat bog zombie...

Pillars of the Earth.

Atrociously bad.

Oh yes, Shantaram. "And then I did some cultural appropriating and wasn't I brave! And then I rescued some brown people and everyone loved me! And then I did this [other non-believable] thing all against the odds!" ....for 900 pages!

Couldn't even finish Lolita. The writing is very good, the subject matter was sickening.

The Island by Hislop. The writing was appalling and hacked. But the subject matter, or at least the geographic/ historic period, was interesting.

I really quite liked the girl on the train. I felt empathy for all the characters.

I ❤ New York by Lindsey Kelk. It was shallow superficial nonsense full of cliches

I came into this thread to say the same. I read chick lit (amongst other things) unashamedly, but I only got one chapter into that book before dismissing it as complete drivel.

I heart new York was terrible!

Yup. Agree 50 shades was jaw droppingly bad....
Me before you.... Errant nonsense!

Didbt like girl with dragon tattoo

Girl on train....

The twilight books. Terrible writing, boring plot, awful characters.

We need to talk about Kevin. I gave up when I realised my heart sank when I realised I'd got a few minutes to read because I love reading.
I didn't enjoy the Great Gatsby either but persevered to the end.

Don't Stop Da Carnival by Jimmy Buffett. Emergency purchase on holiday. It was one of those "want to stop reading/ can't stop reading" books.

We Need to Talk About Kevin was so bleak! Not exactly a feel good read.

I actually found The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime a really difficult read too. I loved the main character, but the adults in the book were so bleak, especially the bit with the dog.

Had forgotten how much I hated The Lovely Bones and The Gathering! And people raved about them when they were published so I thought I was missing something.

For ultimate cringe factor: The Da Vinci Code. The writing made me feel embarrassed.

Never managed to get far with The Master and Margarita or Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I know someone who considers them among her favourites but I don't get it.

I have never been able to get into Kerouac.

"The author was a bit of a tosser and remained so, no matter how much navel gazing he did!"

Did you read a different book? By the end of the book, he was loved by all, helped entire communities, and changed the fates of the disadvantaged - 2nd coming of Christ, nearly.

Given up on a few but the worst that I dragged to the finish was Fingersmith.

wenchystrumpet i'm a tim winton non-believer, on the evidence of breathe (or breath?) which i hated - the auto erotic axphyxiation one. anyone recommend a tim winton they loved and i'll give him another go?

time travellers' wife - it felt very cynically written to me with an eye on the film options and high-concept hook

before i go to sleep. raved about but had a plot hole you could drive a bus through.

interesting on the 'bad books' vs 'just not your taste' debate. i really don't get along with ian mcewan - i always feel very manipulated and like they're all technique and no heart - but can't deny he's a skilful writer.

I liked The Girl on the Train despite the appalling ending. It was recommended to me by someone in AA and I could relate so much to the alcoholic central character from my drinking days - the addiction, intention to cut down/quite that failed, obsessional traits, lies etc - that I googled the author to see if she was an alcoholic. She wasn't. So for me, the book made me feel grateful that I wasn't in that place any more.

"The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul" by Deborah Rodriguez was fucking awful, poorly written, Orientalist bullshit. I was so enraged after finishing it I wrote a bloody essay 1 star review of it on Amazon. Then she had the cheek to bring out a sequel!

Also hated "Me Before You", so stereotypical and could see what was going to happen a mile off!

Anything by Danielle Steele. I tried one of her books but couldn't read more than a few pages; utter dross

She has the weirdest writing style. It’s noy like reading a story it’s like someone has just written some narrative down and left it at that. No effort to make you engage with it or empathise with the characters.

Having said that I wasn’t that offended by DS as I saw it as generally harmless but read a dreadful one by her called 44 Charles Street. One of the characters is murdered by an abusive partner and the commentary ranges from her being addicted to the abuse and that her poor lifestyle choices (meeting men online) contributed to this. I literally could not believe what I was reading

Has anyone here read "The Other Hand" by Chris Cleave? I was drawn in by the intriguing blurb on the back but MY GOD it was astoundingly terrible and sanctimonious.

Jane of Manchester, by JG Dowe.

I like a bit of chick lit and this was billed as laugh out loud. I have honestly never read such a dull pile of utter drivel. She goes to work, eats lunch sometimes with a friend, goes home and eats her dinner. Honestly, that’s it! Oh, apart from a hen weekend in Blackpool. And her diet is just terrible, takeaways and frozen pizzas.

Awful.

Yes! I read The Other Hand for book club once. I can't remember too many details (apart from the obvious detail about hands..) but I remember thinking WTF? In fact a lot of books in this Thread were book club recommendations (The Slap, The lovely bones, The Island etc) and it once again reminds me why I no longer belong to the book club.

A Suitable Boy.

Suitably shit.

Open Arms by Vince Cable. Finishing that was an exercise in self-punishment.

I actually enjoy reading bad books sometimes, as it sharpens my appreciation of good writing, but since I got into writing myself it both depresses and excites me. On the one hand, I like to know there are published books that are - IMO - categorically worse what I have written. On the other hand, it would depress me even worse not to be published vs some crap.

That I remember- anything by Dan Brown. It's the poor quality of the writing.
I wouldn't count a style I don't like as "bad" so long as it's well written. I rarely get far if I don't like the style now. There are way too many good books out there to waste time on something I don't enjoy.