The 10 Worst Books

[januaryman]

This is interesting ... I had a hard time trying to think of the top 10 or 11, not the worst? I have to admit guilty pleasures of some "worst" categories here, including a Tom Clancy or two and even Atlas Shrugged, for a look into the dark side. But a top 10 worst... let's see:


Earthquake Weather - Powers (a bitter disappointment since I love Anubis Gates!)

The Red and the Black - Stendel (I read it and can't remember a darn thing about it)

Drood - Simmons (it seemed to go on forever)

The Carpetbaggers - Robbins (why did I ever pick that up? Oh yeah, I was 17)

Ender's Game - Card (umm.. anti-climax comes to mind)

Wicked - Maquire (it sure SEEMED to be a funny concept)

Wuthering Heights - Bronte (egad!)

Running with Scissors - Burroughs (maybe 25-30 pages and that was all I could stand)

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Marquez (maybe it's me)

anything by Virginia Woolf... I just don't get her

[HomeInMyShoes]

I just have to resurrect this one.

A couple of my least enjoyed books:
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. I can suspend my disblief better than most and I tolerate almost everything, but this, this was a steaming pile of crap.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville. I should have liked the obsessive man plot and parts were interesting, but a lot of it just read like a giant encyclopedia of whaling terminology. 656 pages of microfiche print that should have been about 320 pages.

[Namekuseijin]

next we'll see new readers complaining old greek tragedies have weak narrative and the poetic form they're written in are lacking rhymes.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

next we'll see new readers complaining old greek tragedies have weak narrative and the poetic form they're written in are lacking rhymes.

Actually, a lot of Greek tragedies are just plain dull.

[larsh]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

next we'll see new readers complaining old greek tragedies have weak narrative and the poetic form they're written in are lacking rhymes.

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Actually, a lot of Greek tragedies are just plain dull.

That's 'cos they're written to be performed, not read...

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

That's 'cos they're written to be performed, not read...

same as Shakespeare by the way.

Indeed it was when the press made it possible to write a lot more (because copying it was now cheaper) that narratives became more detailed and exciting with novels. Sometimes a bit too verbose for some people's tastes...

[Coops]

Toxin by Robin Cook - so bad I reviewed it on Amazon. Still my only review on there...and here 'tis :-

"Once, many years ago, i was stuck on an oil rig, offshore. Nothing to do, and had run out of my own books.

I found a copy of this appalling book.

It is the worst book I have ever read. I had no choice.

At one point I burst out laughing like some madman, after reading some particular piece of 'dialogue'. Stunningly badly written.
So bad, I felt sorry for the editor and proofreaders.

There is a reason this book has 71 (now 72) 1 star reviews - it really is that bad, and there is no zero star option."


I can only add that I was not exaggerating when I said I burst out laughing at it.

Another would be some science fiction effort by Iain M. Banks... ah, the horror. Again, I was offshore and left with no choice but to see it through.

Now, I'm a whimperingly grateful ereader owner who never has to suffer such mental anguish. Just finished my first Bukowski ("Post Office") as an interlude between starting book three of 1Q84 by Murakami.
Marvellous.


ps Swann's Way by Proust is in my "worst" list also

[MorganM]

The Newest Book By Jean Auel. Yikes I couldn't even finish it. It was like torture for my eyes.

[covingtoncat73]

LOL! Let me see...

1. Sweet Anger by Sandra Brown. I know. What was I thinking? I dropped it like a hot potato when the guy breaks into her house and, instead of calling 911, there is stupid sexual tension dialogue ensuing.

2. Twilight Anne Rice light and I read Rice when I was 16.

3. The Song of Ice and Fire books by G.R.R. Martin. This really pains me. It started out with so much promise but he can't keep a plot together and I stopped be able to follow all the characters and what was going on. I abandoned it after the third book.

4. Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. Very annoying. I had to read it in school and Tess is nothing but a victim.

5. The Shack I forget the author's name but this was manipulative tripe (I got it from the library).

6. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. They go up a river. Kurtz dies. The horror. I care, why? Actually, no, I don't care.

7. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I suggest Holy Blood, Holy Grail if this topic interests you. I hate to pile on but a previous poster was correct in calling Brown the "McDonald's of Literature."

8. The Dome by Stephen King. One of his longest, one of his worst and I generally like King and several of his books are favorites of mine. Dissapointing.

9. Cloud Nine by Luanne Rice. Inspid, pandering, emotionally manipulative, and boring romance novel.

10. Mercycle by Piers Anthony. I liked the first few Xanth books and some of the Incarnations of Immortality books. Anyway, I didn't finish this silly book and haven't read any Piers for a decade or more.

/I knew better than to attempt Robert Jordan or Ayn Rand.

[JSWolf]

I started reading David Brin's Uplift series. The first book was not bad. I had to stop in the middle of the second book as it was awful

The first book is Sundiver and the second and series ending book is Startide Rising.

I have not read another David Brin book since.

Also, most classics from dead authors who's books are now public domain. A lot of them are just dull and very outdated.

[Skip_intro]

Originally Posted by Coops

Another would be some science fiction effort by Iain M. Banks... ah, the horror. Again, I was offshore and left with no choice but to see it through.

Oh, pray tell. I'm a big Banks fan, his SF is usually much stronger then his non-SF, though there's a dip in quality, IMHO, from Excession onwards, with a kind of 'Back to Form' with Surface Detail.

My bet is on Feersum Enjinn being the culprit, given the "Fonetik Spelin" used by one of the characters is tough going.

[miguel1626]

I don't have the time to give my bottom-ten list right now, but I just have to mention The Lair of the White Worm, by Bram Stoker.

I really liked Dracula, and I also enjoyed The Jewel of Seven Stars, but Lair... is just awful. The premise is good enough, and a lot of plot elements could be interesting if competently developed (a trunk with Mesmer's belongings, a demonic kite (!), an egyptian statue...). However, the plot dives into nonsense early on, the character's actions are unfathomable (the worm is threatening that girl because of me - I must marry her!) and only big leaps of logic keep the story going.

Avoid this book like the plague!

[Skip_intro]

My list of bad books? Off the top of my head:

1. Habitation One by Fred Dunstan. To be fair, I did buy this based solely on a review which said it was one of the worst books ever written. It is, laughingly so.

2. The Snow by Adam Roberts. Should be renamed The S**t.

3. Perdido Street Station by China Miéville. This book has won stacks of awards and lots of my friends rave about it. I just could not get into it - tried half a doxen times over the last 10 years. No Joy.

4. The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F Hamilton. Started off stupid, then got worse.

5. Just One Look by Harlan Coben. Indicative of that entire genre.

6. Flowers In The Attic by Victoria Andrews. I laughed all the way through, everything was bad, plot, characters, the dreadful attempts to invoke emotion.

[ragwitch]

violets are blue by james patterson

The appointment by Herta Muller

War Story by Gwen Edelman

Well, i'm not saying that these are really worst and i'm not recommending everyone not to buy this.. this is just my pure opinion. 'peace'