Worst Book(s) You Ever Read?

[carld]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Sounds right. The one about the sex droid?

Might have to look that one up just for the LOL of it.

[carld]

Originally Posted by Pablo

Next and State of Fear by Michael Crichton

I was severely underwhelmed by Prey. It doesn't sound like his later books got any better. I wish I could find Andromeda Strain in ebook, reading that was one of my favorite memories growing up. I think I'll take another look and see if it's out yet.

[richvalle]

Originally Posted by carld

I was severely underwhelmed by Prey. It doesn't sound like his later books got any better. I wish I could find Andromeda Strain in ebook, reading that was one of my favorite memories growing up. I think I'll take another look and see if it's out yet.

I finished "Prey"... I thought it was 'ok' but not great. I also read "Airframe" and felt about the same though it was in interesting insight into the building of airplanes.

"Next" I ended up putting down because... well... maybe I shouldn't give away part of the story.

Spoiler:

When the idea was tossed out that because the company owned the guy's cells they had legal claim to his... Kids? Relatives at least, cells as well and they were going after them with syringes to reclaim their propriety I put the book down. It was already saying how the guy going to get the cells had been drinking. Or needed a drink. That wasn't going to end well and some kid was going to get hurt.

I know Crichton wasn't saying this is how it SHOULD be but giving a warning that it COULD be this way. Some of the examples he gave of current laws I wanted to look up to see if they were true but never did. The fact that it could be possible that people would think this way just... is too wrong for me to handle I guess.

[JDK1962]

Originally Posted by carld

I was severely underwhelmed by Prey. It doesn't sound like his later books got any better. I wish I could find Andromeda Strain in ebook, reading that was one of my favorite memories growing up. I think I'll take another look and see if it's out yet.

Pirate Latitudes pretty much sucked, but it was a "found on his computer after his death" book.

Hey, that's an idea! Let's start a thread on whether posthumous novels should be published!

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by queentess

Since that spot on my list currently goes to Earth Abides, I'm going to have to read this one. By Justin Cronin?

Yes, indeed, and I think I heard somewhere that Ridley Scott is going to do the movie. I haven't read Earth Abides and I love Post-A so it is going on my to-read list.

[cearbhallain]

I have mentioned already how much I didn't like Earth Abides, but if Ridley's making a movie I'll be watching it.

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by cearbhallain

I have mentioned already how much I didn't like Earth Abides, but if Ridley's making a movie I'll be watching it.

Sorry for the confusion. I said the Passage was great Post-A and Queentess replied that The Earth Abides was her Post-A. My response was that Ridley might be making a movie of The Passage and I thought I should check out The Earth Abides because I like Post-A. My communication skills are not great.

[cearbhallain]

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

Sorry for the confusion. I said the Passage was great Post-A and Queentess replied that The Earth Abides was her Post-A. My response was that Ridley might be making a movie of The Passage and I thought I should check out The Earth Abides because I like Post-A. My communication skills are not great.

I don't know that my comprehension skills are that reliable either.

I'm unfamiliar with the Passage, I'll put it on the short list. I was kind of grooving on the idea of Ridley doing Earth Abides though. It was fun to ponder which parts of the story he'd find interesting.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

...
Another book I read in school I didn't like was Heart of Darkness. Unlike Tess, I didn't even finish that one and I was usually a pretty good student. I could not get into it or care about any character in it. It has been so long I can't really explain why. Maybe I should revisit it. After all, I liked Apocalypse Now.
...

By coincidence, I only just now mentioned in another thread enjoying Heart of Darkness. But I also mention that I've heard it referred to as "the longest short story ever written", so I suspect you have many sympathisers. I too enjoyed Apocalypse Now, but I can see how your affection doesn't reconcile with the book. I'm not going to suggest you revisit it though - then you'll just blame me if you still don't like it.

I know it's a given for many, but Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is the best worst book I've ever read. For me, it was somewhat of a massive disaster, and yet I could not look away. But that's okay...an M&M McFlurry is a vile, dairy-like, calorific concoction of sickly sweetness barely passable as a foodstuff to any non-comatose tastebud...but sometimes, on rare occasions, by all the gods that didn't spawn such an unnatural, perverse creation, I'd sure as hell kill everyone in this room for one.

But the worst book I've read is The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch. Never have I had so little interest in the little lives and dramas of every, last, depthless, egotistical character in that book (one in particular), and it is without even any sufficiently compensatory tragedy to redeem it ("sufficiently" = killing-off the right people). I hated it, such that I've never had any remote desire to pick up anything, fiction or no, by Iris Murdoch ever again (though this is about desire, not commitment, and therefore always malleable to convincing argument ). I recognise this opinion of mine as being one not shared by many (better minds) who have read Murdoch's work. It is my own, and should be noted for that subjective worth.

Cheers,
Marc

[Ea]

Had to check my Goodreads list and found two examples of books that I found very heavy going:
The Little Book by Selden Edwards
The Princes of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd

Not classic literature, but still professionally published books that you'd expect at least a decent reading experience from.

[TGS]

I recently came to read the first 100 pages of Star Island by Carl Hiaasen. That's four hours of my life completely wasted that I will never get back.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Funny you should mention it, as I once wrote a piece about John Gardner's On Moral Fiction for an anthology with virtually the same title as that of your thread.

It was a difficult piece to write because my then-girlfriend worshiped the very same book that I despised so deeply. I half-expected to be sent away for good after she learned about that, but she proved to be far more forgiving than I was to Mr. Gardner.

[orlok]

Amsterdam by Ian McEwan (Man Booker Prize Winner). Not exactly the worst book I ever read (and I have mentioned it in another thread a while ago, so apologies for boring anyone a second time), but certainly the most disappointing book in terms of not meeting my expectations. I was a big fan of McEwan's before this, and now I will never read another book by him.

If you are interested, this was my review of the book, written a while back:

Spoiler:

The main mystery of this short novel is how it won the Booker Prize. Ian McEwan has several splendid books to his credit - unfortunately this is not one of them. Whilst there is still much of the McEwan charm in the storytelling, it's the plot that lets it down.

AMSTERDAM is the story (very much like Martin Amis's THE INFORMATION) of two friends who are also rivals, each jealous of the other's success. Clive Linley is Britain's most successful modern composer, and Vernon Halliday is the editor of a leading quality broadsheet. The friends meet at the funeral of Molly, a past lover of both men, and subsequently enter into a bargain that will have far reaching consequences for both of them.

As Clive struggles with his Magnum Opus, his grip on reality becoming more and more tenuous, Vernon expends his energy trying to scupper the chances of the Foreign Secretary Julian Garmony (another of Molly's lovers) from becoming Prime Minister. As the story unfolds, the relationship between the two friends becomes increasingly acrimonious, eventually spiraling out of control, building towards an inevitable and calamitous climax.

The denouement in Amsterdam, when the friends enact their promises to each other, is frankly ridiculous, and asks for a suspension of disbelief above and beyond what all but the most accommodating of readers could manage.

A sub-plot, where Clive is a suspect in a serial rape case, is also disappointing, as it never delivers more than a partial justification for his increasing loss of reason and self.

If you want to read Ian McEwan, start with THE CHILD IN TIME, THE INNOCENT or BLACK DOGS. Don't start here, or you may never get any further.

Amsterdam is available in paperback from Amazon.

The Author:

A protégée of Malcolm Bradbury's, Ian McEwan is one of the brightest stars in the contemporary novel firmament. He has produced seven novels, two collections of short stories, and a few TV and film scripts, including THE CEMENT GARDEN, THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS, THE DAYDREAMER and ENDURING LOVE.
Ian McEwan was a student on Malcolm Bradbury's Creative Writing Course at the University of East Anglia. Sir Malcolm Bradbury (unfortunately now deceased, as of three years ago last week) is the author of many books, including "Rates of Exchange" and "The Gravy Train". One of his best known, "The History Man" was made into a controversial TV series starring Antony Cher.

[odiakkoh]

Im probably going to get shot for this but my worst book ever is still catcher in the rye. Only book that makes me cringe just thinking about it.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by queentess

I don't hesitate to give a book 1-star... I use Goodreads.com, and on their system 1-star means "didn't like it". So I'll 1-star a book, but it doesn't mean I hated it.

In the past couple years, I've 1-starred a few books:
Hands Off My Belly: The Pregnant Woman's Survival Guide to Myths, Mothers, and Moods
Elantris (Brandon Sanderson)
Dragon Haven (Rain Wild Chronicles, #2) (Robin Hobb)
Starbound (Joe Haldeman)
Rama II (Clarke)
Ender in Exile (Card)
The Road (McCarthy)

The only ones that really stick with me as "oh god, don't ever read (or attempt to read) this again" are:
The Road (boring, writing was not for me)
Elantris (oh, the writing was PAINFUL)
Starbound (rapid perspective changes with no explanation of whose view you were currently reading)

Hahaaha. I'm a bit opposite of you. Hobb is my favorite author, so I loved the Rain Wild books so far. I thought Ender in Exile was tolerable. And I enjoyed Elantris (although it was a bit of a guilty read) - but it was one of his earlier books, right? I haven't read any other Sanderson yet.

Try reading this (free on Kindle, Nook, etc):

http://www.amazon.com/Unsuspecting-M...dp/0984312722/

And tell me all of those books really deserved 1 star. Terrible, terrible Kindle or B&N freebie. Don't believe the 5 star reviews. It's the author using puppet accounts

This wins my award by a far, far margin. It's the first book I've dropped, simply unable to finish, in years and years.

I simply don't see how anyone of any taste could possibly give this book even one star. It's terrible!