Books you regret reading

[wintercoat]

To be quite honest, I didn't find Twilight all that bad. I mean, sure, it was a rather mediocre teen romance written by an inexperienced author, but I've read much, much worse from that genre. It wasn't trying to be anything more than what it was.

Can't really say that I regret reading any of the books I've read. They passed the time, fulfilling their purpose. That's all I ask from a book. And like I said, I've read some really terrible teen schlock before, but at least they're somewhat amusing in their terribleness.

 

[Loki_Blackaria]

I don't know if it's been brought up yet, and I've got to go to work so I don't have time to check, but "Johnny Got His Gun" is the most depressing, morose, downer of a book I've ever had the misfortune of making it halfway through.

 

[Scarecrow1001]

To Kill A Mockingbird.... I hate that book. I do not care if it is metaphorical, or whether it is literal. I don't care. It is just so damn boring.

 

[Kermi]

What an odd question. Did I enjoy most of the books I was forced to read in high school? No. But I learned something from them. I have read books I enjoy. I have read books I don't enjoy. Reading those books, as with all things I do, shape me as a person. I would never wish to part with a life experience so trivial as not liking a book.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

The Bible.

Yes. It was overly long, the characters are all two-dimensional cut-outs who blindly do what the "God" fellow says, and towards the third act it got a bit muddled and started talking wildly about some "Jesus" guy who hadn't even been mentioned up to that point. He just appeared out of nowhere, apparently the son of the "God" guy, but with so little fanfare. And don't get me started on the countless revisions and reprintings! Most good books get rewritten maybe once or twice, but I swear this has been rewritten a good half dozen times!

But that said, there is an uncanny atmosphere of self-awareness. There's a scene in which God commands some berk to do something, but then turns out it was a test. It's like the author knows the characters are all complete pillocks, and so points it out to the audience as to assure us that it isn't a mistake. But still, it's horribly written and in verses for some utterly unintuitive reason and it's just not fun to read at all. 1 star.

 

[Nerexor]

The Sword of Truth novels, for pretty much the same reasons mentioned by those who regretted reading the Anita Blake books.

Decent protagonist and his love interest slowly morph into mindless marty stu and mary sue. The problem is that the transformation takes long enough that the by the time you realize it you've already bought 6 books and wasted a ton of money (or if you were smart, borrowed 6 books from the library, and merely wasted many hours of your life). On the plus side it least it didn't have furries and necrophilia, so I feel slightly better than if I'd read Anita Blake from what I've seen of the reviews in this thread. But only slightly.

 

[Nadia Castle]

'The Last Human'by Doug Naylor and 'Backwards'by Rob Grant, the two final Red Dwarf books. It was one of my favorite book series, and read like a really really well refined version of the TV show, then the two writers ended their partnership and wrote them separately to end it. It was like Matt and Trey decided to each write and ending to South Park where one was entirely fart jokes and the other was entirely moral philosophizing. Backwards is probably more guilty because Rob Grant actually went onto write some really good books whilst Doug Naylor just ran the TV series into the ground. It made the other books a lot less enjoyable knowing there was never a real conclusion coming.

Lord of the Rings also, I enjoyed the films and the Hobbit so I know there's a good story in there somewhere but I just can't cut through all the poems, encyclopedia knowledge and pointless tangents. I adore history and English so its not even that all that stuff is there, its just that its all really not very good...

 

[Fractral]

I can't really say that I regret reading it, but we had to read An Inspector Calls for English and it's probably one of the shittiest books I've ever read. I agree with the play's message about socialism and responsibility, but it comes off as so ridiculously preachy and the Birlings are such obvious strawmen that I can't help but think that this play would turn people away from accepting socialism.

The other book we had to read for English was Of Mice and Men, which I loved.

Thats funny, cause I read both of those books for my English GCSE, and didn't mind either of them. Although I hated how lennie acted at the end of 'Of Mice and Men', just cause it seemed so out of place with his character, at least to me.

Which leads me on to the other book that I read for my English GCSE, which was 'Never Let Me Go'. Seriously, so much wasted potential, so many plot holes, only two good characters in the whole book (in the second half of the book the main character loses all personality) and it had no plot until the last section, which is ruined anyway because their aren't any good characters to drive it.

 

[Korolev]

Dice man - I found the characters to be terrible, terrible people.

Also, the "sixth" Hitchhiker's book. Not because the book is itself bad - the book is reasonable and the author does a reasonable job of attempting to imitate Adams. But he's not Adams, never could be, and throughout the entire time I was reading the book, I couldn't help but think "This would be a lot funnier if Adams had wrote it and wasn't dead". All the book did was remind me that he's dead, and that made me sad.

 

[OreoDoublestuff]

Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. Yes, women's lives we're horrid, please just stop now. Just when you think it's heading toward a happy ending, "Nope, this dude's worse than the last guy!" (in a way)

Also, a bit off topic, where's the 180 at the end of the first Hunger games book? I've read it recently, and her actions at the end make sense for her; though granted I have a tendency to add character details that aren't there...

 

[woodaba]

The Planescape Torment novelisation.

(slams head on desk repeatedly)

 

[Ickorus]

I've tried reading some of the 'classics' out there and came to the conclusion that the people recommending them as 'great reads' are faux-intellectuals who only state they like the books because they want to appear superior to other readers.

I'll be in my flame-retardant bunker if anybody needs me.

 

[BENZOOKA]

I discontinue reading books that I find too bad to read. Works well for me.

Maybe the worst reading experience was a book from a Finnish author whose books I liked when I was a preteen/teen. I got his new book three or four years ago as a gift. Those books were and are actually good. The twist, which was mentioned in the beginning and in the back, was that a boy was born, and this pagany old woman delivered him. She told them the day he was going to die. And the title suggested that the man in question was particularly hot-tempered, but cool at the same time.

The boy grows up, there's one or two mildly tight situations around two actual wars, but that's about it when it comes to conflict. Everything works out for him. He is pretty much perfect in every sense; very industrious, intelligent, attractive and so on. He gets rich and all along his projects turn out great, just as planned. He has everything a man could wish for during the date, his 50th birthday, which is supposed to be the day he dies. The whole book culminates into this finale. What happens? Absolutely fucking nothing. He can continue his great life. I literally threw the book in the trash bin immediately after I finished reading it.

 

[FFHAuthor]

The worst one I've ever finished, however, is "Catcher in the Rye". I keep hearing a lot of people telling me that I "just don't get it". I get it, all right. It's about a whiny kid being a whiny kid, while telling the world he is the only one who has it right, even when he doesn't. I have never disliked a main character as much as Holden Caulfield. The real phony is the author acting like they are being deep.

Thank god, I thought I was the only one who hated that book. The rest of my english class adored it, I despised it.

On thread, I can add a lot of books to the list that I thoroughly disliked yet had to read for school. Lord of the Flies, Tale of Two Cities, so many others that were required reading...so I won't go into the classics, I'll go into the modern fiction;

DeathTroopers.

I seriously hate myself for spending money on it.

 

[The Funslinger]

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/burgess-clockwork_orange.jpg

I'd started reading A Clockwork Orange a few times, and found it an exercise in frustration with the use of a made-up language and a meandering plot that didn't seem to be going anywhere. However, with continued recommendations and praise, I restarted once more and made it all the way through to the end.
I was annoyed that I had done so.

The premise may have been interesting at the time, but it's so poorly executed that it easily ranks as one of the worst reads of my entire life.

A good premise is a good start for a book, but if you're all bright ideas and no refined skill, you'll get nowhere. I say this as a smalltime published writer.

 

[CentralScrtnzr]

Can't think of one I actually regret reading. If boring at first, I tend not to give the book a second attempt.

And of the things I've been compelled to read somewhat against my will, as is part of our obligation when we're young, certainly I've learned from them, and do not regret even in any small way the irritation in the mean-time.

 

[Wereduck]

+1 for Catcher in the Rye, though I did eventually find some amusement in supposing: what if Holden grew up to become Patrick Bateman?

For me though, I most resent the time I spent reading War and Peace. In all fairness I didn't read it in Russian or unabridged but ye gods, every action of the characters and every non-historical occurrence in the world is entirely determined by whatever philosophical point Tolstoy's trying to make. Also, aside from The Lord of the Rings I can't think of another story where the author so frequently sets aside his own narrative to write only vaguely-related 5-10 page essays.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

In English class we had to read Twilight, and I was the first person chosen to read aloud.

O___O

Luckily our teacher seemed to forget the next day though, phew. Only read one page.

 

[Blair Bennett]

Cell by Stephen King...don't get me wrong, I love King and Cell is probably one of his best works but the death of a certain character just kind of made me regret ever picking it up (those of you who have read it will surely know what I'm talking about)...The death itself just shows how fucked up some people can be (And the thing is this probably would happen in real life) and how fragile life is.

Ah, Jesus, I know exactly who you're talking about. I read Cell a number of years ago, and had related pretty closely to the character in question, and then when...well, correct me if I'm wrong but..."cinderblock?" I still feel angry, as well as a little ill when I think about that particular part of the book.

As for Catcher in the Rye, I was pretty frustrated with Holden myself, but I figured that it just meant he was something of an unreliable narrator, and that by glossing over things or by not really providing any closure for certain characters the author wasn't so much saying they were unimportant, but was doing what he should have done when writing in the first person and making it nonlinear. A person like Holden's thought process is going to be a bit of a mess. As for the frequent bitching, that's really more about him being a teenager, and an angry, depressed, lonely individual.

The Necronomicon by Abdul Alhazred. It changed my life, forever. It turned me into a mass-murdering monster - made me kill everyone who was once dear to me. I cannot unsee the horrors in that book. They are burned into my mind, and into my blood and DNA. No, I am the necronomicon now. Its ink flows through my veins.

You win.

 

[MammothBlade]

The Necronomicon by Abdul Alhazred. It changed my life, forever. It turned me into a mass-murdering monster - made me kill everyone who was once dear to me. I cannot unsee the horrors in that book. They are burned into my mind, and into my blood and DNA. No, I am the necronomicon now. Its ink flows through my veins.

You win.

*shakes head* It is a prize I do not appreciate. Cthulhu is laughing at me.