What are the worst books you've read this year?

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Having read the What is the best book you've read this year? thread I was wondering what the worst book you've read so far in 2012 is?

Mine would have to be either 50 Shades or Before I Go to Sleep.

Agree with a twenty something not knowing about google is pretty far fetched but I'd like to take you to the city I was born in and do some market research on Pimms, pretty sure you'd get plenty of blank looks no matter what age they were .

Notmy, Duchess, Lastmango - re time constraints in choosing books, have you considered browsing for books in Amazon.co.uk, for example?

With Amazon & Kindle, it's really easy to find & quickly start to read great books. I really recommend the experience

Maybe I'm alone in this but I honestly don't care enough about finding out what others are talking about re books they've read to spend days of my life reading rubbish like FSOG.

There are so many brilliant masterpieces out there and so little time in which to read them.

Wow Cote D'Azur, did you really mean to sound so patronising? I read what I want to read :)

I enjoyed FSOG in the same way that I enjoy the occasional BigMac. Doesn't mean I don't read and enjoy more challenging, less main-stream literature.

Sometimes I like to read what everyone else is reading because I am interested in current trends and, for that matter, in other people.

No, I didn't mean to be patronising and can't imagine why you would think so

I read my last post again and can't find anything controversial in it. Don't we all agree that FSOG is rubbish? Or that there are lots of masterpieces we can read instead?

To each their own and everyone can of course read whatever they want. I'm just explaining what I think.

Out of interest Cote, do you find it easy to browse on Amazon? I find that, unless I am searching for something specific, I get weighed down in pages and pages of highly promoted new releases. I was actually going to cite online shopping and book club as the reasons I end up reading all the same books as everyone else. Oh, and obviously friends/family passing on what they have read.

The first few pages of 50 Shades, on a preview on Amazon.

One Day. Hated it.

I do, actually. Personally, I think it is much easier to find a book I will enjoy on Amazon than in a bookstore. If you have recently read a book you liked, you can easily find that author's other books, read their synopses, see what other readers say about them, and even read a free sample if you have a Kindle. It is also easy to see new books in your preferred genres, and especially those just out by your favourite authors.

I hear you re book club, though. Most Bestseller books I have read are due to our book club (Book Thief, 1000 Splendid Suns, Memory Keeper's Daughter) and that is probably why I have a low opinion of Bestsellers. That and also the reviews here on MN, of course

Picked up a book in a petrol station called The Day You Saved My Life by Louise Candlish. It was dire and I was so cross when I got to the end of it with a real "is that it?" feeling that I went and gave it a shoddy review on Amazon. Bit sad, I know, but I was just so annoyed that I'd devoted time to it when I don't have a lot of time for reading these days.

One Day was awful - completely agree with you Marian :) I liked The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides which also begins similarly with students about to leave University. A much better read.

I find it really hard to find books on amazon too. Some of the best books I've read this year have been from the book group, like song for Achilles, or recommendations on MN or by friends.

Cote - My reading isn't restricted by time constraints choosing books. I spend ages browsing Amazon, and Oxfam bookshops, Daunts, Waterstones, some amazing local bookshops... I read a great deal.

As I'm interested in literature and culture generally, I like to see what's out there. So I read a fair amount of shit as well as proper literature.

Thanks for 'recommending' reading great books - I already do! (My understanding is that this thread is about crap books, though.)

I wasn't recommending reading great books, but just explaining how I feel about wasting time reading crappy ones, just like you just explained why you like reading them on occasion. To each their own, of course, and I understand that others have a higher tolerance to bad books or more time to consecrate to reading.

DuchessofMalfi, I shall try The Marriage Plot. I like the premise.

I too like great books but also the odd piece of crap, because it lets you see how the great stuff works. But really crappity crap, nope. 50 Shades was too crap for me. This is why God made kindle samples

sieglinde

Another vote for the 50 shades trilogy, truly dreadful, boring and about as raunchy as toothache.

Can we also include most over-rated 'literary' fiction/authors in this thread?
If so, I'd like to get the ball rolling with an opening bid of Edward St Aubyn's Melrose trilogy.
And I'd like to add Justin Cartwright's 'Other People's Money'.
Any other offers?

The Alchemist
we had it for our book group- i usually plough on to the end, but this really was a case where life was too short

Over-rated 'literary' fiction? Anita Loos, Salman Rushdie IMO (both ruddy Booker Prize winners).

50 shades was the worst - and I only read about half of the first one before I threw it in the bin.

Someone mentioned The Greatcoat - I loved that.

I thought The Greatcoat didn't really work as a ghost story - not in the least chilling or frightening like The Woman in Black.

I used to always always always finish a book; it's only fairly recently I have been able to just put down a book I don't like and not finish it. Also, with the Kindle samples, it means I don't waste money on books I won't finish.

Two that were recommended on here, which from the samples I didn't like were The Poisonwood Bible and The Bronze Horseman. I didn't even manage to finish the samples of either.

Oh yes, The Alchemist.

I read Before I Go To Sleep and was underwhelmed by it, given the rave reviews. It wasn't bad as such - it just wasn't particularly interesting or compelling.

50 Shades natch. Worraloadashoite!

A Game of Thrones - the plot's as thin as tracing paper. If you took out every florid description of medieval type clothing, the book would be half as thick.

I just finished A Beautiful Disaster - a novel I picked up in Tesco in the 2 for £7 offer. Even worse than 50 Shades actually.