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 absolutely did not get A Heart of Darkness. I struggled through but it was not for me.

The Man in the Wall, by Emma Angstrom - horrible book. Clichéd concept from start to finish, gaping plot holes throughout, and truly unlikeable characters who appear to do things the way that they do purely because otherwise the story would be over immediately. Oh, and whoever edited it thinks that torches are "shined" on things as opposed to being shone. I was so annoyed that I returned my copy for a refund, and I never do that!

Victoria Hislop - The Island. Her other one was equally awful. If it had been written by anyone else it would never have been published. It just read so much like she got an advance for writing a book, spent a few months on holiday in Greece researching said book and then very kindly writes an incredibly shit story which fills the reader with all the self satisfied learning she did whilst on her holiday.

Wolf Hall - got that was dull - never finished it

I love the era and have read a lot of other good books about it - mainly non fiction so I thought I’d like it - I did not

The slap.... Can't remember the name of the author but was Greek-Australian. The characters were just all hideous and it jumped between points of view far too much.

I saw this and Couchpotato3 got there before me.

The detailed descriptions of the sadism still haunt me.

Horrifying book.

Lord of the rings. I've never got past the Tom Bombadil bit. Such meandering hard work! Others I have spoken to about this said the same.

Also Philippa Gregory’s books were fairly rubbish to begin with, but bloody hell the crap she comes up with now is incredible. I used to like some of her stuff for a light holiday read but the last few I haven’t even finished - the typos (how can someone who is so successful not have a proper proof reader), the deeply unlikeable characters, the dialogue where everyone explains what the are doing and why because she can’t imagine her readers would know anything about history. It’s the Tudors ffs! The stories are there, already written, already exciting and she just reduces it to mundane wank.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by David Eggers wasn’t great for me. In fact, I didn’t quite finish it. Hopefully I didn’t miss an awesome ending!

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. A book that genuinely made me angry. Tedious beyond belief and so very wtf. Awful. Avoid at all costs.

gamer I knew someone would pipe up about The Great Gatsby, I disagree it was absolutely not a joy to read, hideous insufferable characters with no redeeming features whatsoever.

The French Lieutenant's woman - self indulgent drivel. 50 shades books and the Twilight "novels". Also, the Minaturist, didn't see the point. Such a poor ending.

Oh glancing back over the last few posts, I have to agree that LOTR and Wolf Hall were pretty bad too. I know people who LOVE both though.

Oh yes and the Twilight trilogy was appalling.

Emma- Jane Austen
and the Pearl by John Steinbeck.

Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, both dire and read like a teenage girl's crush for Thomas Cromwell who in the author's eyes could do no wrong.

JK Rowling's "Casual Vacancy" was utterly woeful. I was ready to give up about a third of the way through, but persevered because I believed such a celebrated author wouldn't write such tripe, so I kept waiting for it to improve. Massive let down as I was approaching the end and realised that it was just woeful rubbish after all.

Another vote for 50 shades, it was very badly written and the sex was shite.

A book called Goodbye Johnny Thunders: utter pointless tripe.
I hated I Don't Know How She Does It by Alison Pearson too.

@Gilead I think I can claim The Magus as the worst book I've ever read as its my personal opinion. I don't think you can tell me it isn't as you aren't in my head and your opinion that it is a good book is yours (and many other people's probably). When I read it, I wasn't aware that it was a classic. I can't help the way it made me feel and I remember it with nothing but frustration and annoyance, so imo it is the worst book I have read. So there 😝

Some shit by Jodi Picoult.

It read as though she'd dashed it off in a couple of weeks, based on a flimsy notion, without thinking anything through.

The book wasn't called 'Some Shit' btw but I think that would have been an apt title. Followed by 'An Ill-Founded Notion' and 'Some Random Thought That Crossed My Mind One Day, Oh It Makes No Sense, Ah Well I've Written It Now'.

The Da Vinci Code. I was a student nurse in Finland with limited access to English books so I read it all the way through despite thinking it was unimaginative drivel.

Girl on the train! It's so hyped and it's shit.

@strawberrysparkle Girl on a train was a weird one for me - quite enjoyed reading it, but then at the end I was like... oh, that was shit. Left me disappointed