What's the most boring book you've ever read?

[RandallJohn]

I'll probably draw heat for this, but I loathe "The Eye of the World." I hated most of the characters, I hated the repetitive storyline, I hated the tangents it went on... I realized I wasn't going to like it about halfway through, but when I start a book I just have to finish it.

 

[spartan231490]

Have you ever read a book that you just had to force yourself through, whether it be for school or to see what the big deal behind the book is? If so, what was it?

Mine would have to be The Great Gatsby. I hate, hate, hate that book. It's boring and uninteresting. I didn't care for the characters at all. Thank goodness it was a short book because after a while I couldn't take it anymore.

Great Gatsby was brutal, I couldn't even finish it. The Awakening was even worse, I couldn't even sit through the in-class talks really. I managed to finish Catcher in The Rye(the first of that 3 book tricathalon of hell) to my deep regret.

However, the worst, the absolute worst book that has ever been penned: was Last Night at The Lobster. I had to read it for college, all freshmen did, as did our parents. Know how I know that was the worst book ever penned? No one liked it. Not one person, out of almost six thousand people, liked it. Not only was it boring, but it had no merit as literature either. Let me save you some time, it started with the lamest man you could imagine getting high behind a dumpster, and it went quickly and dramatically downhill from there. If anyone says they liked it, they are a troll. There is literally no legitimate way to give that answer. Out of hundreds of people I personally spoke to about it, the highest praise I ever heard was: "I didn't hate it as much as I hated Catcher in The Rye." Literally every other person I spoke to considered it the worst book they'd ever read(or in many cases tried to read). I never even heard "I know someone who didn't hate it." Not once.

I am 100% serious, if you ever get the chance to buy that book, do so and burn it to save someone else the misery of reading it, the cosmic karma you will get is easily worth the book's price a dozen times over.

Edit: when I say worst ever penned, I am including non-fiction and science text books. I'm including the text books for Material's science, Physical Chemistry, and Calculus(1,2, and Dif Equ). I even count the semi-autobiographical, fantasy setting short story written by an acquaintance in middle school. Dare I say it, I even count bad Fan-Fiction.

 

[Spinhorse]

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman, I read it for English literature in school and it was just terribly paced, he'd build a pile of suspense and never deliver, and generally there was just never any hook to keep you reading or get you invested in the story, then plotlines would crop up out of nowhere and it just devolved into a loose mess by the end.

That's good to know. I really enjoyed Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, though. It's a very deep book, albeit hopelessly flawed.

OT: I'd have to go for Gabriel García Marquez "La Hojarasca". I found the book going through my library the other day and as a testimony of how boring the thing is I found a 150 page frame-by-frame animation drawn into it of when they made us read it back in school.

As an interesting sidenote, one of the books which I consider most boring is alsoone of my favourites: Mann's Zauberberg, specially the first part, but the sense of boredom plays a central part in the plot and in the general symbolism of the novel, which is curious.

 

[spartan231490]

snip

As an interesting sidenote, one of the books which I consider most boring is alsoone of my favourites: Mann's Zauberberg, specially the first part, but the sense of boredom plays a central part in the plot and in the general symbolism of the novel, which is curious.

This actually reminds me of a book called "How to Survive in a Science-Fiction Universe." I read it for a sci-fi literature class(great class) and it was boring as all hell. The boring is, in a way, the whole point of the story, but it has great symbolism, and actually manages to have some very interesting moments among the absolute, mind-crushing boredom. However, despite a painfully boring read, it is a blast to analyse and talk about.

 

[darkcalling]

It's times like these that I regret reading so much since I've come across quite a few stinkers in my time.

Shadowland by Peter Straub - sounded interesting. Two high school freshman staying with one's Uncle a magician that may be teaching them real magic. Dark forces at play, etc. but I was unable to get farther than about halfway. I couldn't follow half of what was going on and what I could follow didn't make any sense.

LotR - I love the movies. I respect what Tolkien did. But I've never been able to finish the trilogy. By the time I started Return of the King I just couldn't force myself to care anymore. It's like reading a history book. And Yes I know about Silmarillion and it's amplifyng these problems. My own Dad who LOVES LotR warned me about that one.

Golf's Sacred Journey: Seven Days at the Links of Utopia by David L. Cook - I had to read this for an Ethics class here at college. I HATED this piece of garbage. It fails on every level. As a novel there is no plot, no real character development of any kind. As a story about golf and advice on playing I'm told that what little it has to say has been said before by better authors and mention is made of a "revolutionary" new method of putting that is poorly explained and I've been told would likely be considered illegal in the world of pro golf. Worse yet nothing ever comes of this in any way. It's just kind of there. It also fails as an evangelical work. Like all religious based inspirational books it falls into the same plot. Man loses sense of self due to failure (in this case he lost a golf tournament), moves to tiny no-name town (because true enlightenment can't possibly be found in the big city), meets wise old man with "superior" knowledge of whatever the protagonist was failing at, finds success due to old man's advice, old man converts protagonist to author's chosen religion (Christianity in this case). just an all around disappointment.

 

[Fijiman]

I would have to say either Tale of Two Cities or Lord of the Flies. Although that's mostly due to having a really crappy teacher. Other than that I can't think of anything I've at least read half of.

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman

I actually remember liking that book as well as the two books that come after it. Then again I didn't have to read it for class so that might have helped.

 

[lacktheknack]

Life of Pi. I can't even explain what happens except that there was a tiger. And he was on a boat...

Life of Pi is wonderful... ;___;

OT: "Night", by Elie Wiesel.

Don't get me wrong, it's a very important book. It's written competently, it's interesting (in the same way as a train wreck), and its subject, an unflinching stare at the atrocities of the Holocaust, is a very tragic and important one indeed.

But I felt sick reading it, had to force myself to finish, and I will never read it again.

Everyone should read it once... and only once.

 

[Reise]

A Moveable Feast by Hemmingway.

Although maybe Xenocide by Orson Scott Card (of Ender's Game) might be worse. At least Hemmingway's book was short. Xenocide was 500 pages of stuff you already knew.

 

[Brian Tams]

Fucking Eragon. Christopher Paolini is, and will always be, male Stephenie Meyer. The dude just can't write.

The book is about 400ish pages, and about half of that is stuffed full of useless fucking shit like "Eragon made dinner. Eragon sat down at the table. Eragon ate dinner."

And it only gets worse in the second book, Eldest.

 

[Reise]

And it only gets worse in the second book, Eldest.

I actually sorta liked the parts focusing on the brother...

 

[AuronFtw]

Lord of the Rings, easily. So much inconsequential bullshit is given so much page space, huge setpiece battles start and finish often on the same page, then you get slapped with 50 pages of them resting up, recovering from injuries, then setting off again. Worst bit was...

Spoiler

Return of the King, where frodo completes his quest halfway through and you're like wat? Then you spend the entire rest of the book, several hundred pages, just reading about everything being alright and people getting married or getting on boats or some shit, oh my god I just couldn't stay interested.

 

[Xman490]

The Fountainhead, which got boring in Chapter 2

My uncle gave me this book that inspired him, so I read it. The first chapter was interesting enough, but then the second chapter was page after page of a school principal talking on and on about how great his school is or something.

 

[soren7550]

Life of Pi. I can't even explain what happens except that there was a tiger. And he was on a boat...

Life of Pi is wonderful... ;___;

OT: "Night", by Elie Wiesel.

Don't get me wrong, it's a very important book. It's written competently, it's interesting (in the same way as a train wreck), and its subject, an unflinching stare at the atrocities of the Holocaust, is a very tragic and important one indeed.

But I felt sick reading it, had to force myself to finish, and I will never read it again.

Everyone should read it once... and only once.

OP asked about boring books that we've read start to finish, not books that made us uncomfortable/sick/whatever.

OT: Umm... I think it was called The Stranger. From what I can recall, it's about this dude that gives no shits about anything. Mother dies? Doesn't care. Gets a hot girlfriend that wants to marry him? Doesn't care. Friend gets the shit beat out of him? Doesn't care. He murders a dude because the sun was in his eyes? Doesn't give a shit. Going to be executed? Gives no shits whatsoever.

What really pissed me off was that my teacher made us do work about how deep the book was, and I think I actually yelled at her that the book was a boring piece of shit that featured a dude that had no traits whatsoever, and that what she was asking us to do was impossible.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Starship Troopers.
Man, I never expected to find a case where the movie was way better than the book.
It's just a lot of talking, politics and boring patrols. There's not even a single battle against the arachnids!

There was one in the prologue to tease you IIRC, but yeah, when I read it I was like "I'll bet it picks up when they start fighting aliens!"
And then it never came.

Anyways, when I do read I usually get recommendations from people or read things that seem interesting, so my worst list boils down to school curriculum, but to me it probably goes to "To Kill a Mockingbird." Seriously fuck that book. People seem to remember the whole racism court thing as what that book was about, when really that doesn't even get introduced until well over halfway in, and ends chapters before the book is over. The whole first half has so much useless stuff, which is drawn out horribly by the authors tendency to go into an unnecessary amount of detail. (seriously. 3 fucking pages to describe a tree with a hole in it.) Probably not the worst book I've read but definitely the most difficult to stay engaged in.

 

[Tiamattt]

Great Gasby was definitely not a fun read, but Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky wins this topic for me. There was some interest during the actual crime, but that was pretty much it. Before and after that it felt like I was chipping away at a giant mountain of useless, boring words that made me tired from the effort it took me to get through a chapter. There were many times I would "cheat" by skipping a page or two, feel guilty and go back to reread them only to find I missed absolutely nothing important or relevant, much less anything even close to interesting. It eventually came to the point where I was like 4/5 done with the book and became absolutely sick of it, I would rather watch paint dry then read another completely boring page.

 

[ERaptor]

I dont remember the authors, but it was a book called "The Elves".

Christ, i cant remember when i was bored more and hated the characters with more passion. Yes, Elves are beatiful and arrogant, but you can overdo even that. The writer actually managed to make me hate the two protagonists promptly after introducing them. They are constant dicks to everyone around them, i found the human characters to be a lot more interesting. But they only serve to showcase how "AWSUM" the two Elves are.

Then, there was one from...Markus Heitz i believe, who is my favorite Author of all time. He amde a series of books about "Albae", who are pretty much the Dark Elves from Warhammer. I really liked the first book, but at the ending, and then the two sequels, it just died down for me. The drama felt shoehorned in horribly, and i felt like the guy was just throwing in tragedy all over the place to create tension. Yes, some drama is good, so to keep me hooked. But if i want to severely depress myself, i might as well go back to play League of Legends.

 

[debtcollector]

Fucking Eragon. Christopher Paolini is, and will always be, male Stephenie Meyer. The dude just can't write.

The book is about 400ish pages, and about half of that is stuffed full of useless fucking shit like "Eragon made dinner. Eragon sat down at the table. Eragon ate dinner."

And it only gets worse in the second book, Eldest.

Pretty much. /thread.

OT: I would include Anathem by Neal Stephenson, but I can't honestly do that because I gave up after 3 paragraphs. Far too many made-up words for my taste, especially having just read Snow Crash.

Probably the most tedious book I've read is some science fiction book I read in high school. I can't remember the title or the author, but I can remember it pitted a matriarchal empire with a focus on psychic powers against a patriarchal empire that strove for physical perfection. It was preachy as hell and I think the two leaders fucked at some point and it was terrible.

 

[lacktheknack]

Life of Pi. I can't even explain what happens except that there was a tiger. And he was on a boat...

Life of Pi is wonderful... ;___;

OT: "Night", by Elie Wiesel.

Don't get me wrong, it's a very important book. It's written competently, it's interesting (in the same way as a train wreck), and its subject, an unflinching stare at the atrocities of the Holocaust, is a very tragic and important one indeed.

But I felt sick reading it, had to force myself to finish, and I will never read it again.

Everyone should read it once... and only once.

OP asked about boring books that we've read start to finish, not books that made us uncomfortable/sick/whatever.

I'm not so masochistic that I've ever finished a book that bored me, so I had to go with the next best thing.

 

[JagermanXcell]

I think around the 7th grade I had to read The Giver
No. Nonononononononono I could not stand the writing, I could not stand the plot, I could not stand the characters, the setting, the tone, and the worse part was the audio book that my English teacher played to go with it cause I guess he found a way to make the book an even worse experience. I. TOOK. MY. SHIRT. OFF. AND. THE. OLD. MAN. PLACED. HIS. HAND. ON. MY. BACK. And he groveled at then end of each word. ONeeeeegghhh. MYeeeeegggh. BACKeeeeeggggghhh.

Also the ending where our "touched by an old man" protagonist left the utopia only to maybe die was so vague and disappointing I complained about it for a week, I wasn't the only one (Yay for shared hatred! Brings friends together).