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?

'Possession' is bloody wonderful

Hadn't you read BA Paris's first book, Behind Closed Doors? After that I vowed never to read another by her. Truly awful.

Shantaram is, by some measure, the worst book I've ever read. I really enjoyed the Richard Osman books though! Pleasingly non-higbrow 🤣

Also disliked The Time Traveller's Wife (and indeed most books with a title formatted as The XXX of [exotic place name], or The XXX's [close female relative]).

Ahhh I LOVED Possession.

apparently. Tutor did have form for oddness - she claimed to be a medium in touch with William Blake.

Probably did loads of acid in the 60s in front of some William Blake prints. William Blake seems the kind of artist that academic types who did lots of acid would try and contact.

I didn't like this either. I had previously read Mr Loverman by Bernadine Evarista and loved it.

Also loved Cloud Atlas, but didn't really get on with Slade House and the one about clocks - I think they were the same guy.

Oh yes, I love Possession too. The film adaptation featuring Gwyneth Paltrow and some pretty looking himbo though...least said the better!

Ha! Someone else who doesn't think it's the jewel of Western literature 😉
Give me Mrs Gaskell every time

Ah, right, will take that off my rental list then

She succeeded then, as 50 shades IS just awful

Year One by Nora Roberts - recommended by someone on here I think. I like dystopian fiction and thought the premise sounded good.
I've never read such a pile of shite in my life! Total rip off of Stephen Kings the stand, but minus the interesting characters and any plot development. I had to go and check that I hadn't accidentally bought some self published fan fiction by mistake.

Agree with everyone on the Thursday murder club but shocked that someone hated a walk in the woods by Bill Bryson!

Oh no, I love A Walk in the Woods, have read it a few times, although I love Bill Bryson's style of writing generally.

It's interesting that many of the ones mentioned are by celebrities who got a big book deal. A lot of these books would not have been published on their own merits. It's a bit sad that there are probably loads of great writers who will never get a big book deal, but because someone is well known money is thrown at them to write something.

I loved A Walk in the Woods. Where does @Orangetapemeasure live that there are bears on her daily dog walk?

Some guff by Dawn French. Didn’t finish it and have now wiped it from my memory.

Well, it wouldn't have bothered me if the story was good and the characters happened to be gay- I've read plenty like that and enjoyed them- but this book was written with a specific cast of characters who were all gay, ethnic minority women- it felt like it had a point to prove, rather than actually concentrating on being a good, engaging book. It didn't seem to be about anything else - that's why I think it would be helpful if the book description mentioned what the main theme of the book is- rather than trying to trick people into believing it was a book portraying life in Britain from the perspective of a variety of black women, which would actually have been more appealing and what I thought I was buying. It's a niche book, marketed in a deceptive way to fool the masses.

Same here!! Everyone was raving about it! I was that disappointed I applied for refund (kindle version) and got it!!

Cloud Atlas, absolutely hated it

A Little Life - absolute misery porn. I just don't get why people love it so much.

Yes I gave up on 'The Seven Deaths..'

God yeah, how the fuck do so many people love that book? It is beyond AWFUL.

Hated Cloud Atlas and liked the film much better. In general, I really enjoy the premise of David Mitchell's books, but his writing style is to turgid and pleased with itself I just can't get on with them.

Lisey's Story by Stephen King is just appalling. I like King, some of his books are better than others, but this one....the run on sentences that are split between chapters. The cutesy little language the titular character and her husband have. The fact that nothing happens for like 90% of the book. I remember reviewing it at about 80% done on Goodreads saying I still didn't know what a 'bool' was, which is something Lisey and husband are always blathering about. I still don't, even though I read the whole book, because I erased my memory. Compare it to something like Joyland which was a really tight coherent story and it's almost like he didn't write it!

Having said that - Joe Hill, Stephen King's son, is a terrible writer. I don't know why I keep trying his books - thus far I've liked none of them.

I'm force feeding myself this vapid pile of drivel. Probably should give up but I always have that slight feeling it may improve...

Same

@PermanentTemporary
@ThreeKneeRepeater

I was expecting to love this but also hated it. It was like the author couldn't decide what kind of book she was writing. I found it ridiculous and completely lacking in charm.