Worst book you've read (or attempted to read)?

[fljoe0]

The worst book I ever read was a biography on the late Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones. I picked the book up not knowing anything about it or the author. There's not much info on Brian out there so I was stoked to find this book. As I was reading it, I was amazed at the amount of information and quotes the author had about Brian because much of the stuff I had never heard before. As I got a little past the halfway point of the book, the author revealed that she was communicating with Brian in the afterlife. She got most of her inside information from a dead guy. I didn't finish it after I figured out what was going on.

 

[Tilly]

50 Shades is by far the worst book I've ever attempted to read. Reading and sex are 2 of my favorite things (not always in that order) so I thought I'd really enjoy this one. Plus, everyone I knew loved it (I'm a 40-something wife/mom; basically the target demographic).
I never anticipated how horrible the writing could be. It was like not only was this the author's first book she'd written, but possibly the first book she'd ever even read.

Having 2 things in common with you, I thought the same. I saw it at a friend's house. Opened it randomly just to see how it read. OMG. I happened to get her first time with the Dude. That passage could not have been more unrealistic. Ive read Romance novels as a kid that were more accurate. So I passed on the books.

 

[Kurben]

Moby Dick....every I've ever tried to read it within 50 pages I've wanted to harpoon myself thru the eyeball.

Sounds like a classic i dont need to read. Or am i interpreting you wrongly?

 

[doowopgirl]

Sounds like a classic i dont need to read. Or am i interpreting you wrongly?

I read Moby Dick and I did and didn't like it. It was VERY long and there was more about knots, uses for whale oil and the history of whaling than I ever wanted know. That said, it was a very powerful story about obession and I will never read it again.

 

[doowopgirl]

The worst book I ever read was a biography on the late Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones. I picked the book up not knowing anything about it or the author. There's not much info on Brian out there so I was stoked to find this book. As I was reading it, I was amazed at the amount of information and quotes the author had about Brian because much of the stuff I had never heard before. As I got a little past the halfway point of the book, the author revealed that she was communicating with Brian in the afterlife. She got most of her inside information from a dead guy. I didn't finish it after I figured out what was going on.

Holy crap. If you want to know about Brian Jones read Kieth Richards autobiography Life. He has some not kind things to say. He was there and knew him well. The book is very well written and a good read.

 

[ShadowNinja88]

Out of all the books I've read, its really hard for me to hate or not finish something (mostly b/c I try to read stuff I like the synopsis of first) but the one book I can say is the worst book I've read (and endured) was What Happened by Hillary Clinton. I won't go much into why as that'd be more political aside for fact it should be under fiction. Actual criticism though, beginning was not so bad, but as you go deeper into the book she just starts droning on and on. IIRC later chapters took me 1-2 hours to complete and that is rare for me. Usually I'm a really fast reader while still understanding what I read.

 

[StephenTorrance]

Allegiant..... i think that was like the third in tbr divergent series, yeh that book was crap

 

[skimom2]

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen- I kept waiting for something to happen. Something, anything. Another one of the 'rich people who think they have problems' books.

YES! I loathe those books in general, and Franzen's writing in particular

 

[skimom2]

I read a lot of crap in books I review. My current irritation is with books set in NYC. Always described as 'darkly hilarious', always weak, brittle, not remotely funny stories about pretentious, neurotic, self-obsessed whiners.

Unintentionally funniest moment lately (from a romance novel I read for review): a sex scene on a motorcycle where the physical positioning would mean the stud in the story would have had to have been proportioned roughly like Le Frog in Flushed Away.
I laughed WAY too hard, and didn't have the heart to send in the review, because I had absolutely nothing nice to say (and I know the author).

 

[FlakeNoir]

I read a lot of crap in books I review. My current irritation is with books set in NYC. Always described as 'darkly hilarious', always weak, brittle, not remotely funny stories about pretentious, neurotic, self-obsessed whiners.

Unintentionally funniest moment lately (from a romance novel I read for review): a sex scene on a motorcycle where the physical positioning would mean the stud in the story would have had to have been proportioned roughly like Le Frog in Flushed Away.
View attachment 23413 I laughed WAY too hard, and didn't have the heart to send in the review, because I had absolutely nothing nice to say (and I know the author).

 

[Religiously_Unkind]

I read a lot of crap in books I review. My current irritation is with books set in NYC. Always described as 'darkly hilarious', always weak, brittle, not remotely funny stories about pretentious, neurotic, self-obsessed whiners.

Unintentionally funniest moment lately (from a romance novel I read for review): a sex scene on a motorcycle where the physical positioning would mean the stud in the story would have had to have been proportioned roughly like Le Frog in Flushed Away.
View attachment 23413 I laughed WAY too hard, and didn't have the heart to send in the review, because I had absolutely nothing nice to say (and I know the author).

That is one of the funniest things I've ever heard lmao.

 

[opeth]

I've been trying to finish Origin by Dan Brown for the past month but I can't seem to get into it.

 

[HedlessChickn]

Atlas Shrugged.

I finished it, sure, but JFC that was a slog.

That 200 page speech was almost enough to make me want to take a hammer to my head.

Repeatedly.

Until my brain was reduced to sludge with all of the consistency of lukewarm Jello.

 

[VampireLily]

Twilight

I had to give myself a Silkwood shower in an attempt to get the noxious stink off me. That woman is a hack and should be put in a small enclosed space far away from any type of writing device.

 

[osnafrank]

I've been trying to finish Origin by Dan Brown for the past month but I can't seem to get into it.

Never finished a Dan Brown Book.They are more Guidebooks than Thriller.

 

[GNTLGNT]

Twilight

I had to give myself a Silkwood shower in an attempt to get the noxious stink off me. That woman is a hack and should be put in a small enclosed space far away from any type of writing device.

 

[VampireLily]

why Yesssh...just like that.

 

[Kurben]

I got Black Sunday by Thomas Harris thinking it was safe. I've read ,others by him and they were ok. But this was trash! I finished it but has given it away to a second hand store now.

 

[Christine62]

Forrest Gump by Winston Groom. Horrible book. Brilliant screenwriter, Eric Roth, made this story what it became.

Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne -- Somebody screwed around with somebody. The girl took the blame. The scummy guy let her do it. It would have been so much more interesting if it would have been Hester does Houston.

Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. (Now, in its defense, the mechanics of the writing is good. It was the damn story that made me want to open a vein.)

So right about Forrest Gump! I had just seen the movie three days in a row (I was avoiding my business math class) and I wanted the book. I sat in my car and read the first page and promptly went back in the store and got my money back! Eric Roth was a genius.

 

[skimom2]

Never finished a Dan Brown Book.They are more Guidebooks than Thriller.

Agreed. His writing is not my cup of tea at all. I did finish DaVinci Code, but didn't like it one bit. Couldn't finish any others.