Worst Book Ever?

[Captain Pancake]

This is hard for me, cause I'm careful about what books I pick (because one will usually last me a month or two (yes I'm a slow and infrequent reader)). But if I had to pick something, it'd have to be Dune. Granted, it's a sci fi staple, and I enjoy the lore, but the original book itself was too dreary for me to continue reading after the collapse of house atreides.

 

[moose_man]

Dracula: The Undead.

Dracula is not a good guy. I loved the sinister Dracula in the first, but when he became a good guy -good-ish, maybe, but still- it sort of ruined it. Also, I thought all of the characters were really out of character.

 

[Formica Archonis]

Worst? I'm not that well-read. Personal worsts? Here we go:

Worst SF: Anything in the Ender series that isn't Ender's Game.
Worst SF but read it anyway: Orwell's 1984. Hated it, glad I read it.
Worst classic: The Old Man and the Sea.
Worst series: Twilight? HA! Junior leagues compared to my personal worst, Left Behind. 16 books in the main series, then between 20 and 50 spinoffs depending on how you count, and I've yet to see some part of it that doesn't violate rules of good writing (admittedly, I didn't look that hard at the spinoffs after my eyes started bleeding from the main series). The Slacktivist blog tears this series the most methodical new one you'll ever see, and I'm glad it does.

 

[wildpeaks]

"Justin Bieber: My Story"

ALSO Twilight and anything involving spies (Aside from Chekists)

There things that cannot be unseen... omg my eyes

 

[Xan Holbrook]

Twilight. An insult to my intelligence and to the morals of millions of free-thinking and independent women everywhere.

 

[Katbot]

I'm a psych student so the most cringe-worthy books for me are those awful self-help pieces of trash. I actually had this one recommended to me by a friend:

"WHY MEN DON'T LISTEN AND WOMEN CAN'T READ MAPS" by Allan and Barbara Pease.

I got about 20 pages into it before I had to stop for the sake of my brain cells. Who buys into this two-dimensional "men are like this and women are like this" BULLSHIT?!? Holy shit it insulted my intelligence. And apparently this stuff is really popular.

*sigh*

 

[Ambi]

A Species In Denial. I had to put it down because it made me rage. I haven't picked it up again after about two years.

It tells of this mysterious "denial of the human condition" that intellectuals shouldn't expect to understand because of the "deaf effect". He said I wouldn't understand if I thought too much. Naturally I paused and thought a lot about what he was saying. I don't know what his actual point was, but maybe if he didn't ramble so much about the denial of this yet to be explained human condition and how pissed off the reader must be and just got to the point already I wouldn't have been so pissed off and put the book down at page 72 of 515. I dare someone to try to get through it without raging. Maybe I'll want to try to finish it some day, but.. gah. These Amazon reviews and one star ratings say it better than me:

http://www.amazon.com/Species-Denial-Jeremy-Griffith/product-reviews/1741290015/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar

I also read some Christian fundamentalist books, but no particular ones have stood out to me as being the worst. Sometimes I leave little bits of paper pointing out circular logic inside library books.

 

[Kellerb]

You mean apart from 'Mein Kampf'?

 

[Eadd]

"Justin Bieber: My Story"

ALSO Twilight and anything involving spies (Aside from Chekists)

Really no point in carrying on after that no messing around, thats what i like to see

 

[Guy Montag]

someone said twilight on the first page. this thread can be closed now.

 

[Ambi]

You mean apart from 'Mein Kampf'?

I actually found what I read of Mein Kampf to be really interesting. Sure, I disagree with Hitler's beliefs, but it was nonetheless an interesting book.

 

[Thyunda]

someone said twilight on the first page. this thread can be closed now.

There is worse than Twilight out there. Far....far worse.

 

['Stache]

"Sabriel" by Garth Nix.
I've never read a book with less to it. The entire thing is a string of pointless ramblings and contrived sex scenes tied together by deus ex machinas.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

This thread begs the question: How do you actually stick to reading an entire book that could be named the worst book ever? :S

 

['Stache]

I'm a psych student so the most cringe-worthy books for me are those awful self-help pieces of trash. I actually had this one recommended to me by a friend:

"WHY MEN DON'T LISTEN AND WOMEN CAN'T READ MAPS" by Allan and Barbara Pease.

I got about 20 pages into it before I had to stop for the sake of my brain cells. Who buys into this two-dimensional "men are like this and women are like this" BULLSHIT?!? Holy shit it insulted my intelligence. And apparently this stuff is really popular.

*sigh*

Interesting. I read this and didn't think it was half bad. What specifically bothered you about it?

EDIT: Eh, I just found a copy and thumbed through it. You're right, it IS pretty obnoxious. Still, I don't see any actual logical fallacies.

 

[Naturality]

Matt Cardle: My Story

Haven't read it, but it can't be good. It was released almost as soon as the X Factor single was, and he can't have had a very interesting life story.

 

[DiMono]

Absalom, Absalom, by William Faulkner. Seriously the worst book I've ever read. The man spent three pages describing the house in which the story is told from one character to another. And that was the high point.

Also in the running is Dust of Eden. I finished that one entirely out of spite, and for no other reason. The plot relies on the main character deciding to mix in the ashes of her dead father into her red paint, and that gives the paint magical powers that- ...I can't go on.

 

[GameOverGoblin]

To Kill a Mockingbird. The only part I enjoyed reading was the court case. The rest was just a stupid story about the the 1930s told through the point of view of a 10-year-old girl.

 

[Thyunda]

This thread begs the question: How do you actually stick to reading an entire book that could be named the worst book ever? :S

If you read the original post and my examples, you'll find out that I didn't ever say you had to read the book. I only read the blurb before formulating a decision about Katie Price.

 

[Infernai]

Remembering Babylon by David malouff- It is by far the most boring piece of crap i have ever read: The whole things all over the place, as if the author just wrote about anything he saw out of his window while creating it with nothing but gibberish and skipping with no explanation to hold it all together. I had to read the damned thing for school...i want all that time back to spend on something else please.

Twilight- Don't even have to explain this one as everyone else already has... It just sucks, plain and simple.