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?

Mobs fucking Dick. Like sitting next to the worlds most boring man in a pub having them drone on and on and on about whales.

Moby not mobs

According to Yes by Dawn French

I was quite disgusted by the character’s apparent lack of morals, sanity and substance. The reader is supposed to see her as a happy-go-lucky saviour, bamboozaling her way along supposedly like a sexually appealing party clown. It didn’t work. I hated it. The character was a reflection of the author herself in completely he wrong context. Didn’t finish it. As the ending drew near it became unbearably unrealistic and ridiculous to the point of making me sick.

Was really hoping someone else would mention The Shack, thanks defineme. Left me feeling very strange for a while although couldn't quite put my finger on why. Had a clear out recently and sent loads of books to the local hospital but made a point of binning that one, it's bad enough when you're well but couldn't inflict it on someone stuck in hospital!

Tess of the d’Urbervilles was utter misery. I read it for my GSCEs and it felt like a punishment. Hated it.

50 shades is appalling writen.

Never made it all the way through Wuthering Heights as I hated the characters.

Thanks to this thread I've rebelled and binned Black Swan Green with only two chapters to go.
Loved (and indeed was the reason I bought) the 80s references but the rest of it is turgid. Was also a bit wtf to read he got his 80s references from Where Did It All Go Right? (Which is fab)

Lynda La Plant, Good Friday. So boring and badly written. My ex bought it for me to read when I was ill. I gave it a go but it was so dull I never finished it! Maybe it would work on TV but as a novel it’s dreadful.

I think it was called "Lets go play at the Adam's" or something like that. I was a teenager and read everything i could get my hands on, especially horror like Stephen King, Dean Koontz. So i saw it at the jumble sale and grabbed it thinking it would be like those writers work.

It was, basically, torture and snuff porn. A babysitter is hired for a few weeks and the neighbourhood kids tie her up so they don't get in trouble for not behaving... then take turns watching her while the others play.

They gradually totally dehumanize the 20-ish year old babysitter to the point where they don't use her name and one rapes her. They murder her at the end just when you think she might have a chance at escape because she has cleverly made the rapey kid think she is falling in love with him... but he is too weak willed to stand up to the other kids so they tske her to a field and take turns stabbing her with a hot poker.

I cried all day after i finished it and tore the book up and threw it away... something I have never done before or after to a book. It haunted me forever... i still vividly remember reading it and the shocking scenes.

Apparebtpy it is now a cult classic and costs hundreds on amazon to buy. I wish every last copy could be burned.

Oh I love this, so I’m not an ignorant idiot then? There are some rubbish books out there

Nancy75 - do you mean Jodi Picoult?

War Horse and all the other crap by Morpurgo...yes I know this is heresy.

I have tried very hard to like Morpurgo because I feel I ought to. They're not all bad, but I still don't get why he is so popular.

I haven't read 50 shades or Twilight, nor do I intend to.
Some other books I don't like are most that are 'sequels' to a classic such as Pemberley, Heathcliff, Ruth's Story and Thornfield. The worst was Scarlett, a sequel to Gone With the Wind, just awful.
The only one like that I did enjoy was Longbourne.

@flyingspaghettimonster I read that. Also as a teenager who read everything i could get my hands on, especially horror like Stephen King etc., only difference I think I picked it up in a discount bookshop. It was truly foul, I think they purposely started the hot poker torture from her feet to as they wanted to hurt her more. really gross.

I picked up a thing called Larkswood, by Valerie Mendes. I was expecting Kate Morton-style enjoyable nonsense but got a really crap gothic novel, which turned into a long apologia for incest and they all lived happily ever after. Complete with afterword which at least implied it is now the love that dare not speak its name.

In the goldfinch why didn't he turf the picture over the bridge into the river at the start so none of the contrived succeeding X00 pages were necessary.

Forgot Fingersmith. I was given a copy one world book night, and it was a real chore to read.

Have to agree that Atonement and Saturday are both pretentious and lightweight. I watched the film Atonement again recently - it's slightly annoying, not that believable and not as tragic and emotional as it's obviously supposed to be.

Cloud Atlas - couldn't finish it.
Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies - read them both but it was a bit of a chore. Some parts are well-written but they're just too long.

Harry Potter - badly written and in dire need of an edit especially the later ones.

On the other hand I loved The God of Small things (mentioned upthread) and consider it one of the best books I've ever read.

Thomas Hardy didn't write anything bad and neither did the Brontes or Austen, I'm amazed that they have all featured on this thread!

A Street Cat Named Bob

F&&king awful shite. Gift from my well meaning ex husband.

Agreed. A Street Cat Called Bob was utter, utter shite. I couldn’t work out why so many people bought it. I thought it must be cat lovers. You know, the people who would buy anything with a picture of a cat on it or anything otherwise focused on bloody cats.

Probably the nastiest I read is Klaus Kinski's biography. I love biographies and it was lying around (belonged to then DP ) so I thought I'd give it a go... I didn't finish it as it disgusted me. Such a depraved man. He had a shocking upbringing but doesn't excuse his behaviours as an adult.
Didn't surprise me at all when his daughter (not Natassia but the youngest ) revealed he used to sexually abuse her
Hope he's rotting in hell with the Savilles of this world

Zadie Smith - NW. I was irritated by the whole thing and it didn't bloody well finish properly!

'Maestra' by LS Hilton. Good god, it was dreadful. Utterly tedious, turgid, embarrassingly written shite. The main character is so unlikeable, I wanted to throttle the book and pretend it was her. I cringed throughout and was burning with shame by the end, because somebody saw me reading it.

Anything by Dan brown, Harry potter, and fifty shades. All awful in so many ways.

I also had to make a conscious effort to finish on the road.

Wetlands - just totally grim!

Fooled me with the bright cover!