The worst books you read in 2017

[BestIsWest]

Inspired by @SouthEastDweller’s best books of 2017 thread, what’s your worst read of 2017?

Mine is unquestionably The End OfThe World Running Club. Just dire. Misogynistic macho drivel. And there wasn’t even much running.

Another who agrees about The Power great concept but poorly executed. I loved Eleanor Oliphant though.

My worst reads of the year were Domina by LS Hilton won in a Mumsnet competition and struggled to finish. I know there are a lot of people who really rate Elena Ferrante but I really did not get on with The Days of Abandonment I just wanted her to pull herself together quite frankly.

"Do Not Say We Have Nothing" by Madeleine Thien. Boring, up its own arse shit with no actual fucking story.

Very underwhelmed by The Keeper of Lost Things but did love The Essex Serpent and Eleanor Oliphant.

I really enjoyed The Name of the Wind. Patrick Rothfuss really needs to get his finger out though he's stsrting to make GRM look positively prolific. Sten Erikson started the Malazan Books of the Fallen in 1999 and completed in 10 books giant tomes in 12 years.

The one Sarah Perry wrote before The Essex Serpent - After The Flood or Before The Storm or Until The Drizzle or something like that.
Implausible characters and no plot.
I really wanted to read The Essex Serpent though because I know the area. I much preferred that one and I had been forewarned about the lack of ending so didn't feel I had wasted my time when it petered limply out. It still had many of the same faults as the other one but the premise and historical detail more than made up for it.

Nocturnal Animals (Austin Wright)

Everything Everything (Nicola Yoon)

Both started well. Had great potential then got weird.

Now I liked Do Not Say We Have Nothing - though it did take me a very long time to read.

I enjoyed Do Not Say We Have Nothing, if for nothing else it gave me the excuse to listen to Bach's Goldberg variations on repeat for the entire time I was reading it. It wasn’t the easiest of reads, but it was worth the climb.

I managed about 5 pages of The power, loved the idea but the prose seemed Teflon non-stick, my mind kept slipping off it.

I have to say though, I've read so many great books this year (Autumn, Book of Dust, Lincoln in the Bardo, Book of Night Women) that I still feel way ahead of most years.

Until the Drizzle
So very boring. I only managed a few pages, then gave up in disgust.

The Snowman by Jo Nesbo. Starts off with an appallingly written sex scene, and goes further downhill from there.

I also gave up on The Power. Flat characters and poor execution of an interesting premise. Modern classic, my arse. Think it won the Bailey’s award because the judges wanted to be seen as edgy and ‘cool’.

thank goodness someone else said The Essex Serpent. Absolute drivel.

oh just to add

Renee Knight - Disclaimer

much like the Essex Serpent, constant constant repetition of everyone's feelz.

Paul Auster 1234 - just didn't care about any of it. Plus a lot of male arseholes. Well, not literally...

As a writer I very rarely hate a book.
I'll usually find something that works.

But Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult stretched my patience. The self aggrandising of the woman was breathtaking.

Party Girls Die in Pearls - Plum Sykes. Dreadful. Couldn't see the humour in it. Couldn't deal with the stereotypes. Boring. Did not get very far.

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep. Honestly, my 10yo could write a better story.

Agreed about Essex Serpent (meh) and The Improbability of Love (tedious, overwritten, full of cliches).

But I loved The Power and keep recommending it to people. I can understand why it's not to everyone's taste though.

However I've just finished a big stinker to keep OFF your reading lists for 2018 - Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan. No character development, vague plot, and just endless endless boring detail about the New York shipyards during WW II. I feel bad slating it because she obviously did her homework and it feels like a real passion project, and 'A Visit from the Goon Squad' is one my favourite reads of the last 10 years. But Manhattan Beach really needs editing. Or she should've just written the nonfiction book on female army divers that she obviously wanted to.

Small Great Things was bottom of my list too. I thought it was pretty horrible when I read it but powered through for a book club and then a friend borrowed it and had to return it a few hours later because it was so bad and we spent the afternoon reading clicked poorly written passages.

My book club made me read "The Magic Strings Of Frankie Presto". Unmitigated, turgid drivel. Awful.

I quite enjoyed Manhattan Beach but I think it was wildly overpraised. I don't think it would have got any attention at all if Jennifer Egan wasn't a Pulitzer Prize winner. I would say it's sort of like an Alice Hoffman or Anna Quindlen novel-a well written, enjoyable book about a likable heroine but nothing ground breaking. That's not a criticism either-I love Alice Hoffman and Anna Quindlen for a good comfort read.
I think Freedom by Johnathan Franzen and The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides fall into the same category-nice books that get excellent reviews based on the author's past performance.

have just returned Into the Water after struggling with first 3 chapters!!

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner. I bought thinking it would be a lighthearted romp in the style of Gail Carrigher. Instead I just found every single character highly unlikable. The Privilege of the Sword was much the same. I haven't even bothered to read the third book even though I bought all 3 at once. Big mistake.

After Me Comes The Flood was extremely boring, slow and had an uninspiring ending. Completely worthless!

Interesting to see the different opinions. The Miss Peregrine book I thought was really good. Took me a while to get my head round it but I loved it once it got going and I understood the general direction!
Have both the Essex serpent and the Arundhati Roy book on my shelf. Nervous now...!

My contribution is a book my MIL left for me to read after staying here because she knows how much I love books. I think it says everything that I can remember neither the author nor title, nor even the details of the plot. Do you know the one?! It was to do with a woman whose husband doesn't come home one night and then it turns out he's mixed up in some dodgy enterprise and he gets murdered by someone she knows who then threatens her but it's all also linked to some event from his teenage years ... Drivel beyond belief.