Worst book(s) you read in 2020

[makingitupaswegoon]

So I haven't participated in the 50 book challenge this year and was planning to ask for your best / worst reads during 2020 but see someone else has started a thread on best reads.

But I also want to know what to avoid. What did you spend your time reading that you really wished you hadn't wasted your time on or gave up on partway through?

Usually there's a good few 'must reads' that are absolute pants ... 'girl on the train' and 'we are all completely beside ourselves' spring to mind ...

Oh, I also really liked We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, OP!

Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls, basically a coming of age novel where very little of any consequence happens and mostly featured around a very tedious staging of Romeo and Juliet. A shame as I loved "Us" his previous novel.

I'm currently struggling through The Devil's Edge by Stephen Booth, given to me by a friend of my daughter with glowing recommendations. He also sent others in the series. It's so slow and I keep getting characters muddled as they aren't memorable. I will finish this one but unless it improves rapidly I won't be reading the others. I definitely got the short straw after giving him my Robert Galbraith books in return.

Stephen Booth had such potential when he started but I agree he's so ploddy. Just no USP.
"Haven't they grown" would be high on my list of utter crap for 2020. Sophie Hannah just sort of fizzles out in all her books. Premise is always good, then you get going and they just go nowhere.

But my worst read (possibly of the decade) (and picked up because it was recommended on here I can only presume by the author's wife or something) was The Artemis Files- spy/thriller/terrorism etc. Sheer utter total shite. Badly written, holes in the plot that made it Emmenthal. That "oh dear lord please no" moment when you realise who "Artemis" is....and ridiculous inspirational literary quotes dropped onto each page (virtually) You ended up skimming and thinking "ooh nooo I can see some italicised inspiration coming up"

Just dreadful.

Where the Crawdads sing was absolute dross - worst book I’ve read in ages!

I Am Not Your Babymother was a pile of shite. Platform Seven was almost as crap.

I agree with some others about Queenie.

The real standout one for me was Where The Crawdads Sing, it was dreadful. I kept going in the hopes it would get better but it went from bad to worse. Straight to the charity shop pile without going back onto the shelf.

I don’t usually bother finishing books I don’t like - life’s too short - but two that I struggled through this year were Platform Seven and The Pull of the Stars.

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
Unpleasant characters, nasty events, plodding narrative.
Wasn't keen on Platform 7 and Haven't They Grown? either.

I hated Perks of being a Wallflower.
(Wallflower, my Arse!)

Normal People for me - totally overhyped, not using punctuation doesn't make you a more interesting or cleverer writer. It read like a teenager's snapchat, or at best, a bad 1980s Brat Pack movie without the benefit of a good soundtrack. Utterly dull. Being sucked in by the hype makes me cautious about Crawdads. I feel I should read it - that many people can't be wrong surely, but then I remember about Normal People.

Closely followed by Three Things About Elsie. Drivel.

But the prize for the worst book this year goes to Wuthering Heights. I tried, I really did. I started with Audible with one of my favourite narrators (Juliet Stephenson - who also narrates North and South, which I loved. Despite the excellent narration, I just couldn't sort out my Lintons from my Haretons and gave up.
I tried again with a Kindle version but still found it a slog, but I was obviously missing something as so many people say how they love it and it is a literary masterpiece. I am not scared of a classic - Jane Eyre, Dickens, Tolstoy don't put me off.
So I invested in an annotated paperback version, thinking the notes would help me see what I was missing. It didn't.

Apart from the urban fantasy books on Kindle Unlimited that I tried which weren't worth reading (it can be hit and miss), the worst book for me this year was Norwegian Wood by Murakami. I cannot understand why people think it's so brilliant.

Also hated Eleanor Oliphant, but that was last year.

The Binding. Was so far of the mark.
The Truants. Rubbish.

@FenEel

Ha - of those mentioned I loved Rodham, Where The Crawdads Sing and Milkman. I haven’t read anything truly awful this year but my worst was The Last, a murder mystery set in a hotel of survivors of a nuclear war. It just didn’t make sense for me. But I didn’t hate it. I also found Haven’t They Grown ridiculous but think I read it last year, and I also gave up on A Little Life but again that was last year.

Ha! I read The Last and although I also didn't hate it, I thought it was impressive (not in a good way!) how the author made the end of the world sound really dull and boring. Then again, it was written before the pandemic, so maybe she was right

I really enjoyed Queenie.
Hated Normal People and also really didn’t enjoy Girl, Woman, Other.

But the prize for the worst book this year goes to Wuthering Heights. I tried, I really did. I started with Audible with one of my favourite narrators (Juliet Stephenson - who also narrates North and South, which I loved. Despite the excellent narration, I just couldn't sort out my Lintons from my Haretons and gave up.

Wuthering Heights is the worst book I read this year. I was determined to see it through to the end, through gritted teeth. I listened to the audio version (not Juliet Stevenson narration, though). I could follow story and had a family tree in a print copy but I hated it so much. Huge disappointment.

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh for me as well. Awful characters and a flimsy storyline.

I've got Where The Crawdads Sing on my Kindle but I've seen so many poor responses that it's put me off. There's a few that's come up on here that I've loved though - Milkman, Educated, Normal People so who knows.

I did find Sweet Sorrow tedious as well @rookiemere.

Ducks Newburyport. The biggest pile of utter drivel I have read in a long time.

Untamed by Glennon Doyle was awful.

Also struggled to get into Milkman. Gave up after 100 pages and I know of a friend who did the same.

Really interesting thread!

I’ve just given up on The Binding. Intriguing central idea, awful, awful writing. Felt like wading through treacle. Life’s too short.

I loved Queenie!

I enjoyed Crawdads but also agree that it wasn’t up to the hype. Once I’d finished it I felt a bit irritated by it.

I enjoyed The Last, but I do quite enjoy dystopian end-of-the-world stories.

I haven’t read Normal People because I was so irritated by Conversations with Friends (Sally Rooney’s first book). I am mildly curious though so might still give it a shot.

I could appreciate the writing skill of Girl, Woman, Other but the characters largely left me cold. I felt as if I was being preached to at times.

I am pilgrim - couldn't get more than 1/3 through, utter shite. Also didn't like Normal People, the characters were just so stupid. Downloaded a sample of A Little Life on kindle, didn't think much of it so won't be purchasing.

@BookWitch

Normal People for me - totally overhyped, not using punctuation doesn't make you a more interesting or cleverer writer. It read like a teenager's snapchat, or at best, a bad 1980s Brat Pack movie without the benefit of a good soundtrack. Utterly dull. Being sucked in by the hype makes me cautious about Crawdads. I feel I should read it - that many people can't be wrong surely, but then I remember about Normal People.

Closely followed by Three Things About Elsie. Drivel.

But the prize for the worst book this year goes to Wuthering Heights. I tried, I really did. I started with Audible with one of my favourite narrators (Juliet Stephenson - who also narrates North and South, which I loved. Despite the excellent narration, I just couldn't sort out my Lintons from my Haretons and gave up.
I tried again with a Kindle version but still found it a slog, but I was obviously missing something as so many people say how they love it and it is a literary masterpiece. I am not scared of a classic - Jane Eyre, Dickens, Tolstoy don't put me off.
So I invested in an annotated paperback version, thinking the notes would help me see what I was missing. It didn't.

I've read WH about four times (mainly because I think I should and because I used to fall in love with nasty bastards who'd give abusive Heathcliff a run for his whiny money ) but only ever with the bloody family tree in front of me.

I liked normal people and milkman, just goes to show really how divisive things can be and how books can get such two opposite reactions.

My worst of the year is Lorna Doone, absolutely hated it. The main character isn't even Lorna but instead a man who views Lorna once and then practically stalks her for half the book. Lorna herself is like an idealised victorian lady who faints at the whiff of any upset. I kept reading thinking it would somehow get better and because I camp in the area the whole thing is set in and couldn't go this year.

The final Cromwell book was a cringer for me. Nowt of the serpentine suggestivity of the other two, read like a shopping list.

Hilary Mantel says that when she worked out the final scene she burst into tears - your sobs were not as loud as mine when I read it, mate.

Although every word David Mitchell writes is explosive genius, Utopia Avenue was a bit of a plod. He can't do everyday, cos he does it so well it's as meh as unedited reality. Books about other art forms don't work - even if they did, I'm a David Mitchell fan, not a music fan.