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

I found The Lovely Bones a real struggle. Hated it but I can't not finish once I've started!

(Trigger warning for this part - potentially distressing content)
Another one, of which I've forgotten the title, was set in the 1930s about twins (a boy and girl), aged about 13. They begin a love affair which culminates in the girl becoming pregnant. Then it turns out that the baby was the 2nd coming of Jesus, but the girl-twin loses the baby and it ends with a monologue from the baby saying he knew he would have been loved, but the world was not ready for him yet, so he is "leaving" to return again in the future.

Ulysses and Heart of Darkness.

I absolutely love Sarum.

Gone Girl is the worst book I've ever (not quite) read. I virtually never give up on books but that was the exception.

One of Wilbur Smiths most recent books.

It was dreadful; thinly veiled islamophobia, disgusting exploitation of women etc etc, almost pornographic in places, reading it left me feeling yucky so I returned it to Tesco and got my money back!!

Written by a dirty old man for other dirty old (white, non-Muslim) men.

Also tried fifty shades of shite. Just, no. Totally unsexy crap.

Still Alice. Totally depressing (not just the illness but also other things that happen) and the detail about the tests that Alice had to go through made me panic that if I couldn't remember any of the details I might have dementia! I can't believe they made it into a film!

Also, I once read a book that started off with a good premise - a man woke up on a train (I think) with no memory of his life but was met by his wife, taken to his house, met his son etc. But he gradually started thinking he had a different life. Really interesting and exciting then the last few pages are just as if the author couldn't think of a decent ending so made up some rubbish, and it just ended up being stupid and a massive letdown.

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
She also wrote Time Travellers Wife which I didn't enjoy but could see why others did but HFS is one of the very few books I didn't finish

Ready Player One. It probably isn't the worse book I've ever read, but I find the adoring reception it received absolutely baffling. An averagely-written piece of teenage geek wish fulfillment, interspersed with pointless eighties references that exist purely to earn some nerd cred.

The Island by Victoria Hislop.

The title of the yucky Wilbur Smith book was Those in Peril.

Foucalt's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Pretentious shite

Twilight
Just shite

Another vote for American psycho.
Some of Douglas coupland's later books are self referential and self indulgent twaddle.
Catcher in the rye.

'On the other hand'. Can't remember the author. Awful, awful book. It had a massive marketing campaign some years ago. Tube posters etc. The premise of the marketing was 'once you've read it, keep the twist to yourself. Don't spoil it for others'.

There was no twist. It was a badly conceived plot, dull characters and some basic details - the workplace of one of the characters for instance - were described factually incorrectly.

Still cross I fell for the marketing campaign.

Perfume - really really hard work for very little reward

50 Shades. Like it was written by a fantasising 15 year old who had no idea of relationships, sex or indeed, writing.

The particular sadness of lemon cake.

Absolute tripe. Poorly written with zero cultural or geographical references to allow the reader to "place" the story which was utterly irritating.

Also - he turns into a chair. Enough said!

Hideous Kinky.

Hated the writing, hated the 'voice' of it, hated the pretentious, silly and utterly cliched attempt to portray that particular kind of lifestyle.

Just to say can think of a million probable examples of worse books - but here I'm limiting it to books that are generally perceived to have some literary merit to start with - and thus the potential to disappoint massively.

American Psycho. Couldn't finish it. Awful.

Agree with PP who said there's a difference between worst as in bad quality and just stuff you personally didn't like.

Also 50 shades - Always confuses me why it’s so popular. Badly written pish... “oh my!”

Another 50 shades person, absolutely awful, but I know what Mycelialnetwork means about The Magus and I all have to agree with One Day

I have read lots of fantastic books though

God. TwiShite was awful. I read two of the books when I had to spend 9 hours at work looking at a concrete wall (seriously) and at one point the wall seemed more interesting

The Treatment by Mo Hayder it still makes me sick to think about it. Also 50 Shades although I did read all three...

Far from the madding crowd... boring!!