I just read a terrible book

[Orangeis]

Bring me back, B A Paris.

What a load of absolute tosh. A man's partner dissapears, 6 years later he gets with her sister and lives with her. The big twist is.....the new girlfriend is actually the missing sister. He didn't realise this as she had a different hair do.
That's hours of my life I'll never get back. I feel like taking the book in to the back garden and burning the bugger.
What's your worst book and why?

Loving this thread, BTW.....a sort of anti-book club. Though it's distracting me from my work!!!

The absolute worst I’ve read is Still Standing by Vicki someone. The most self indulgent pile of poor me drivel I’ve ever read. Terribly written as well. The reviews were good so I kept expecting it to get better but it really didn’t. Thank goodness I only got it on a kindle 99p special!

Even worse was One Night in August (or words to that effect) which was the same story told differently.

I bought Lessons in Chemistry because everyone was raving about it, I gave it twenty pages and couldn't go on.

❤ yes Marian is queen and he can go and fuck himself from behind

Oh and another - the books by John Marrs. They sound right up my street, Black Mirror type thing, but I just dislike them so have to give up trying more now. The concepts are good but the storylines/people themselves are too unbelieveable for me that I can't enjoy them.

The Darkest Corner, which was recommended on here with people absolutely raving about it.
It was total shite, a woman meets a very rough shagging bouncer who seems irresistible to women who have their shit together including her mate, he turns psycho in about two pages, she then gets PTSD and starts counting forks, and of course some nice guy swoops in.
Think I worked in the sector at the time and was reading it thinking oh piss off!

Me before you was mawkish shite.

Also hated that one about Appleyard. Stupid premise.

I really liked Thursday Murder Club though (slinks away from thread)

Totally agree. I hated all the characters and didn't care whether they got there or not.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - gave up - couldn't see the point. but funnily enough I read and thought Piranesi by the same author was okay

It's a hideous book. Hated it.

WRT to the Twilight books (saw soemone
mention) I actually reread the first one for a book group recently and we had some super interesting and surprising conversations. They were all the rage when I was a teen but rereading as an adult with context was fascinating. I didn’t know the author was a Mormon and reading the novel from that perspective, plus seeing the racism etc, is so interesting.

Not sure if already mentioned but the School for Good Mothers.

Completely unlikeable characters, the author seriously wants you to sympathise with someone that leaves their 18 month old baby alone at home for hours. Not that any of the other characters were better. Then pages and pages of repetitive shite at the 'school'. Just fucking awful.

Anyone read any of Fiona Valpy's historical novels? Thoughts?

I loved the first one I read - The Skylark's Secret - as I was on holiday in the area at the time (Loch Ewe, Wester Ross, Northwest Scotland). However read The Dressmaker's Gift, set in Paris also in WWII. Cameto the conclusion it's a bit smaltzy.

oh I see @beastlyslumber has already mentioned it... that was a few days of my life I'll never get back!!

I'm glad to see The Time Traveller's Wife on here. I don't know what was so brilliant about it. Hated The Miniaturist as well.

I love this thread! I wonder if listening to these books, specifically Thursday Murder Club, is better on Audible or similar. I absolutely loved listening to them!

I remember getting Michelle Obama's first book, and I just couldn't read it. AT ALL. But I was interested, so tried the audio version - and enjoyed it.

Never to replace books, though... Sometimes I find it a lovely way to relax.

Wuthering Heights for me. The most frustrating book I've ever read.

Agreed, utter trash

I used to be such a Marian Keyes fan but after Last Chance Saloon she really fell off, in my view. Now she seems more interested in writing books which espouse all the right woke opinions in favour of plot.

I still love Rachel's Holiday though.

I can't believe someone else read Zelda's Cut! Honestly even remembering that book is like a fever dream so I'm glad to discover it was actually real.

I hated Cloud Atlas; The Time Traveller's Wife (creepy spying on a child) and - I'm almost scared to admit it because it was so popular - but I hated The Kite Runner. I hate books that are obviously deliberately emotionally manipulative - which covers most of Jodi Picoult's too.

I was scrolling to see if anyone remembered the Fear Street book with the same plot. It was Sunburn - Alison was thought to have drowned, she actually hadn’t but blamed her sister Marla for “letting” her die. Comes back and murders Marla and starts impersonating her. Invites the now dead sister’s group of old friends around to murder them too. Gave me nightmares when I was 10 from the description of the decomposing sister found I think in a shed?

Haha amazing! I'm glad I'm not the only one!

I see someone has nominated To The Lighthouse and that reminded me of The Waves, oh and Orlando while I'm here. I bloody hate it when authors try too hard to be clever at the expense of a coherent or interesting story. I unfortunately got lumbered with reading Wolf one semester at uni. Self congratulatory nonsense, mostly.

@DatasCat the premise of School for Good Mothers was so good. I was just so disappointed by the execution. It had the potential to be an amazing critique on how hard we are on mothers collectively and as a society and instead we have crappy unlikeable characters and a completely implausible plot. I'm still so angry about it!!

I have to admit that the MN all time favourite book The Heart’s Invisible Furies, although it was an okay read, the coincidences that were written in to the plot to make it ‘work’ were so unlikely that it totally spoilt it for me.

Eleanor Oliphant

everyone kept saying wait for the twist, but it was so predictable I had guessed the “twist” early on . Also didn’t like or sympathise with the characters

The My Brilliant Friend books. I've read the first two and thought they were just about ok, but the third one I've started twice and I don't want to continue with it. Maybe it's the translation but the prose is very clunky. And I hate all the characters. It wouldn't bother me, but Elena Ferrante is SO feted and revered it irritates me. I just don't get it.

I haven't read A Little Life as it absolutely does not appeal to me. I get that we're all different, but I struggle to understand how people can willingly put themselves through such a misery fest? The world is horrible enough, why depress oneself even further?!

A Secret History: I read this at the time, literally decades ago, and was underwhelmed. Couldn't understand why everyone else raved about it.

Sally Rooney: have read the first two and won't bother with her anymore. Intellectual millennial navel-gazing. And I BLOODY HATE THE LACK OF SPEECH MARKS!!!

And Wuthering Heights. Not the book per se, but the interpretation of Heathcliffe as the epitome of a romantic hero. No, he's a narcissistic emotional abuser, and Cathy is a prime example of 'Not Like Other Girls'. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is better by miles.

Feel better now!