To ask about the worst book you have ever read.

[Whereisthecoffee]

Title says it all really. What book or books have you absolutely hated and why?

I read Martyn Pig a few years back, and liked it well enough. But The Bunker Diary has put me off ever reading anything else by him ever again. I don't want to wander around in that psyche thanks very much.

And that's from a huge Shirley Jackson and Stephen King fan.

There are so many I couldn't name them. Have nearly trained myself out of reading to the the bitter end once started, life's too short. 6 chapters or so, if it hasnt become interesting by then, it's for the bin.

American Psycho, undoubtedly.

I've found a lot of 'must reads' dull - Labyrinth, Time Traveller's Wife, Lovely Bones etc, but AP is the only book I have ever thrown out so as not to have it polluting my house (not envy)

And anything by Zadie Jones - poorly written crap.

I came on to say "White Teeth". Her actual writing and turn of phrase I think is beautiful but her storytelling is woeful and there wasn't a single character to like and/or care about.

I now avoid prizewinning novels like the plague I'm afraid (which is one of the reasons I would never join a book club).

It's not my worst book but a long shot but I had to give up on the Got books around book 4 because I couldn't take anymore reading pages and pages of who was related to who in the Iron Islands - I don't care!

I did really enjoy Eleanor Oliphant but it was definitely one of those 'OMG this is the best book evaaaaahhhh' bandwagon books, and I did think the ending was rushed and a bit 'meh'.

The Green Road by Ann Enright was as dull as dishwater. Won a prize, as well. They always do.

Scarlett, the sequel to gone with the wind.
I knew it was going to be crap, in just didn't realise it was going to be that crap.

Read the Minaturist and the monkey sister one while breastfeeding my baby for hours at the time they came out. In my befuddled new mum state I fell for the marketing. Still resent the time I wasted on them. And it was obvious it was a monkey from about the 20th page.

Read the Minaturist and the monkey sister one while breastfeeding my baby for hours at the time they came out. In my befuddled new mum state I fell for the marketing. Still resent the time I wasted on them. And it was obvious it was a monkey from about the 20th page.

You read them back to back? Well done! I read monkey sister and then immediately after read The Girl on the Train, and that was so fast paced, gripping and brilliant in comparison!

I knew it was a chimp because I had read a spoiler somewhere (it wasn't much of a spoiler tbh) and was surprised it was so near the beginning because after that nothing happened! I had all these ideas of where the story was going to go and none of them materialised, in fact, nothing materialised!

Oh yes, Scarlett was awful. It messed with everything that made the original good - Scarlett's flaws, the historical realism - in favour of new agey crap.
I couldn't see how the Margaret Mitchell estate could have decided THAT was the way to go with an official sequel having refused to allow so many others. (Well, I do see really - the projected sales figures at a time when the publishing industry was booming.)

More votes for 50 shades, wolf hall, the second half of the goldfinch, parts of lord of the rings (but other parts my favourite book of all times), the silmarillion, several of the Pride & Prejudice ‘sequels’ (but weirdly love P&P&Zombies et al).

Thank goodness for Kindle Samples.

What is this monkey sister book of which you all speak?

Another Hobbit hater here - also Bleak House and Moby Dick

I struggled with Warlight - should have known better as I didn't enjoy The English Patient either - Herodotus was a much better writer so I went back to that.

I love Wolf Hall/Bring up the Bodies but I am a Tudor nut - I can see that it might be confusing if you're not sure which Thomas is which.

What is this monkey sister book of which you all speak?

It's called 'We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves'. I bought it after people were raving about it on here, but to be honest, I wouldn't bother.

@MawkishTwaddle
I agree about The Buried Giant. I had to admit defeat. It was fucking terrible.

Anything by Kate Mosse or Philippa Gregory also shite.

I know you're not supposed to say this because it's a classic, but I think Wuthering Heights is absolute trash. I think the narrator and the whole device of the housekeeper telling the story are really weak, and I didn't have any sympathy for the characters.

Me Before You. Mawkish, sickly sweet and predictable. Film just as dire.

What is it with Kate Mosse? Imo awful writer and Philippa Gregory too. And Dan Brown for crying out loud. Terrible. And a few years ago, I couldn't venture into a bookshop without seeing shelves of novels about abusive childhoods, presumably fiction. Who wrote them? Why? And more importantly who bought and read them? Repellent.

Another vote for The Lovely Bones and One Day. The best book I read was actually by Alice Sebold's husband

The very worst was Candace Bushnell ‘4 Blondes’. I read it in a period of my life when I could only handle candy floss books, but that was just too ridiculous and very badly written.

A PP mentioning 18th century erotica has reminded me that I absolutely hated Fanny Hill and all the prostitues having simultaneous orgasms with the punters. As if.

Some I started but found totally boring:
The Alchemist
Cloud Atlas
We Were Liars (or is it When We Were Liars)
The Virgin Suicides

The I have pretty lowbrow tastes in books. I just want to be entertained and for the writer to tell a story in a straightforward manner.

Unashamedly love Jodi Picoult's books though and Elinor Oliphant

Tbh* I have

Ecstasy by Irvine Welsh