My Most Irritating Read Ever — Let’s Rage Together!

hiteshp · 08-15-2025, 01:03 AM

�� The Book That Made Me Want to Throw It Across the Room (and Maybe at the Author)

Ever met a book that didn’t just waste your time, but seemed personally committed to ruining your mood?
The kind where every page feels like the author is winking at you… not in a charming way, but in a “Ha! You thought this was going somewhere?” kind of way?

Maybe it had characters so infuriating you wanted to reach into the pages and give them a stern talking-to (or a flying kick). Maybe the plot looped around like a drunk GPS. Or maybe it was the writing style — dripping with pretension, overstuffed with words that belong in an academic paper, not in a supposedly “fun” read.

This thread is for those books. The ones you finished only out of spite… or hurled across the room with enough force to alarm the cat.
Tell me your “most irritating book” and why it still haunts your memory. Bonus points if you can describe it without naming it — we’ll guess. ��

This thread is inspired from Dr. Drib's "The Most Boring Book" I read or tried to read.

The one that inspired me to start this thread is :

The Exchange - by John Grisham! More Like The Gourmet — My Top Pick for ‘Most Irritating Book’

Quoth · 08-16-2025, 02:08 PM

Almost anything by James Joyce. All I tried were DNF.

Loosheesh · 08-16-2025, 06:22 PM

Penhallow (by Georgette Heyer) might be the one. I have only a vague memory of why I detested it so much (according to Calibre, I read it at the beginning of 2013 ... and gave it one star!) but I definitely remember wanting to toss my Kindle after completing the book, I was that furious at the ending. (I'm almost tempted now to pick it up again to see what really all the fuss was about

)

nana77 · 08-17-2025, 02:14 AM

"Tereza Batista: Home from the Wars" by Jorge Amado (1975) was thought enought. Readed like 20 years ago, but still recalling it harsh (not as boring, not not-well written: strain).

Ps: a book that countered it a bit: Tortilla Flat, by John Steinbeck (1935).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tereza..._from_the_Wars
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortilla_Flat

seanyyz · 08-18-2025, 03:11 PM

“A Little Life” by Hanya somebody. Do not read. You have been warned.

Most of the 700 page book is taken up with the author physically torturing what seems to be the lead character. I got about 600 pages through before I gave up. So many people had liked it that I thought it must have some redeeming features. Nope. And a big chunk of the book is the author’s appropriation of gay men’s experience. As a member of that community that bothers me after a while.

Dr. Drib · 08-22-2025, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seanyyz

“A Little Life” by Hanya somebody. Do not read. You have been warned.

Most of the 700 page book is taken up with the author physically torturing what seems to be the lead character. I got about 600 pages through before I gave up. So many people had liked it that I thought it must have some redeeming features. Nope. And a big chunk of the book is the author’s appropriation of gay men’s experience. As a member of that community that bothers me after a while.

Holy crap! This novel by Hanya Yanagihara has gotten an INCREDIBLE amount of praise, press, recognition, etc.

Thank you for mentioning this book, (even though you didn't care for it).

After reading the complete sample on Amazon, and going through a LOT of reviews there, and then seeing that there have been 83,524 people who have rated it, I went ahead and BOUGHT THE DAMN THING!

Luffy · 08-22-2025, 12:13 PM

The Lonesome Dove. I did not throw my book at the wall, instead I made paper planes from its 10 first pages and flew them across my room.

issybird · 08-22-2025, 01:11 PM

There are many candidates, but for now I’ll go with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

How did I hate it? Let me count the ways. The general ickiness, tweeness overload. The anachronisms. The ridiculous plotting, absurd characterizations and sheer unbelievability. The Mary-Sueness of the protagonist. Yuck, yuck, and did I say yuck? And people loved it! This last is what made is so irritating. There are a lot of bad books out there but I manage to get along without giving them a passing thought. But this was recommended to me! By a friend! Who should have known better!

This is an extremely bad book.

DNSB · 08-22-2025, 02:49 PM

One reading recommendation from a friend that I detested was How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler. Not sure why I disliked the book because so many parts of it grated on me from it seeming to be a novelized isekai anime to the author's writing style. Add in that while the main character Davi may be the horniest female character of all time, reminding us of that every second page was getting boring by the end of the first 20 pages.

08-15-2025, 01:03 AM	#1
hiteshp Connoisseur Posts: 72 Karma: 87534 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: India Device: An Android Mobile	My Most Irritating Read Ever — Let’s Rage Together! �� The Book That Made Me Want to Throw It Across the Room (and Maybe at the Author) Ever met a book that didn’t just waste your time, but seemed personally committed to ruining your mood? The kind where every page feels like the author is winking at you… not in a charming way, but in a “Ha! You thought this was going somewhere?” kind of way? Maybe it had characters so infuriating you wanted to reach into the pages and give them a stern talking-to (or a flying kick). Maybe the plot looped around like a drunk GPS. Or maybe it was the writing style — dripping with pretension, overstuffed with words that belong in an academic paper, not in a supposedly “fun” read. This thread is for those books. The ones you finished only out of spite… or hurled across the room with enough force to alarm the cat. Tell me your “most irritating book” and why it still haunts your memory. Bonus points if you can describe it without naming it — we’ll guess. �� *This thread is inspired from Dr. Drib's "The Most Boring Book" I read or tried to read.* The one that inspired me to start this thread is : The Exchange - by John Grisham! More Like The Gourmet — My Top Pick for ‘Most Irritating Book’ Last edited by hiteshp; 08-23-2025 at 10:36 PM.

08-17-2025, 02:14 AM	#4
nana77 Evangelist Posts: 451 Karma: 860470 Join Date: May 2025 Device: Kobo Forma	"Tereza Batista: Home from the Wars" by Jorge Amado (1975) was thought enought. Readed like 20 years ago, but still recalling it harsh (not as boring, not not-well written: strain). Ps: a book that countered it a bit: Tortilla Flat, by John Steinbeck (1935). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tereza..._from_the_Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortilla_Flat Last edited by nana77; 08-17-2025 at 02:31 AM.

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08-16-2025, 02:08 PM	#2
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,367 Karma: 105899727 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Almost anything by James Joyce. All I tried were DNF.

08-16-2025, 06:22 PM	#3
Loosheesh Wizard Posts: 1,681 Karma: 3137505 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Jianghu Device: PW1, PW5, iPhone SE 2016, iPhone 13 Pro, iPad Pro 9.7, iPad Pro 2021	Penhallow (by Georgette Heyer) might be the one. I have only a vague memory of why I detested it so much (according to Calibre, I read it at the beginning of 2013 ... and gave it one star!) but I definitely remember wanting to toss my Kindle after completing the book, I was that furious at the ending. (I'm almost tempted now to pick it up again to see what really all the fuss was about )

08-18-2025, 03:11 PM	#5
seanyyz Connoisseur Posts: 77 Karma: 2068472 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Toronto, Canada Device: Kindle Oasis	“A Little Life” by Hanya somebody. Do not read. You have been warned. Most of the 700 page book is taken up with the author physically torturing what seems to be the lead character. I got about 600 pages through before I gave up. So many people had liked it that I thought it must have some redeeming features. Nope. And a big chunk of the book is the author’s appropriation of gay men’s experience. As a member of that community that bothers me after a while.

08-22-2025, 12:13 PM	#7
Luffy Wizard Posts: 4,466 Karma: 429063498 Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Mauritius Device: Kindle Paperwhite 4	The Lonesome Dove. I did not throw my book at the wall, instead I made paper planes from its 10 first pages and flew them across my room.

08-22-2025, 01:11 PM	#8
issybird o saeclum infacetum Posts: 21,363 Karma: 235166015 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New England Device: Mini, H2O, Glo HD, Aura One, PW4, PW5	There are many candidates, but for now I’ll go with *The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. How did I hate it? Let me count the ways. The general ickiness, tweeness overload. The anachronisms. The ridiculous plotting, absurd characterizations and sheer unbelievability. The Mary-Sueness of the protagonist. Yuck, yuck, and did I say yuck? And people loved it! This last is what made is so irritating. There are a lot of bad books out there but I manage to get along without giving them a passing thought. But this was recommended* to me! By a friend! Who should have known better! This is an extremely bad book.

08-22-2025, 02:49 PM	#9
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 46,960 Karma: 169810634 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	One reading recommendation from a friend that I detested was How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler. Not sure why I disliked the book because so many parts of it grated on me from it seeming to be a novelized isekai anime to the author's writing style. Add in that while the main character Davi may be the horniest female character of all time, reminding us of that every second page was getting boring by the end of the first 20 pages.