Worst Book Ever?

[Hatchet90]

Yes, there's some Twilight on here. But I think the biggest offense are the idiots regarding classics as literary junk. To Kill A Mockingbird? The Scarlet Letter? The Grapes of Wrath? Are you people insane? Those books are amazing!

OT: I'd probably have to agree with the Twilight saga, I haven't read it, but if the books are half as bad as the movies, than it is more than deserving.

 

[K4ndY]

I'd have to say the Twilight series... Only reason I actually read it is because I bought it to read on the airplane on my way to and back from Japan and hadn't brought any other forms of entertainment with me... The story is predictable and so corny that it left a bad taste in my mouth, and the characters have no depth whatsoever. What Stephanie Meyers did to the vampire and werewolf mythologies is nothing short of murder. Glittery vampires, really?!?

 

[Yeager942]

Of all the books I've actually finished, I have to award The Road as being the worst book ever. Now, I know every literary critic from here to Timbuktu will have my head, but the one thing that kept me sane while reading that book was knowing I was going to throw it as hard as I could against the wall.

 

[Quaxar]

http://thesegoto11.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/a251_t4.jpg
You know what's sad? It's the second edition... that means the first edition was either bought out or lost in an ironic accident involving a huge ship.

But seriously, I think I'm going with Pride and Prejudice. That book's so bad you want to travel back in time and slap the author with it. It didn't even help that I read the one with added zombie killing action and that has to mean something if a book can't be saved by the hordes of undead.
One of the few books I never managed to finish due to me not being able to stand it anymore.

Disclaimer: Personal opinion, not a professional critique. I have not read all the books in the world and I'm careful with what I read so I don't have to endure bad literature. Do not hate me for my opinion about this one book.

 

[Viivrabe]

the monk

I never made more that 1/4 of the way through

it starts off about a monk(not main char), who inspires a man(not main char), who gets a letter form a guy he met (not main char), which tells what he is doing on his trip, a trip in which he meats a girl(still not main char), whos house is haunted, so she gets an excorsist(still not main char)....
Ya I dont think I read far enough to find the main char, boy Im sorry I ever picked that book up

 

[Wolfenbarg]

Seriously, people can go on and on about Twilight, but that's easy and I don't think it's accurate. The story, characters, and pretty much everything about it is unappealing for a mass audience, but there's a reason people eat up that shovelware. A genuinely bad book has to be like a genuinely bad movie. It shouldn't sell seats unless people are only viewing it because it's so bad that it becomes entertaining.

So, with that said I nominate Marienbad My Love. It is recorded as being the longest book ever written (though it's in digital format only) at over 17 million words. It documents a situation that sounds like it might be amusing if it was only in 200 pages or so, but it isn't. Just go through the beginning if you want to experience an exercise in futility. You will wonder why the author allows it to exist or how he can go on in life.

 

[sinsfire]

My wife tried to get me to read The Electric Koolaid Acid Test, twice. I'm not sure if it was just me but I could not get through that book.

I am also slogging my way through "The Girl Who Played With Fire" I hate this book, I didn't like the first one and yet I am compelled to finish them. I think I hate them more just for that fact.

 

[SleepyOtter]

Anyway whats with all the hate for catcher in the rye, I thought it was pretty good.

Hey, wait a second.
*looks at book on drawer*
I'm reading that book now! What a coincidence...sort of.

anyway I always hear bad things about it in old reviews and such, but I thought I'd give it a try.

 

[Mosesj]

A book called "Bunker 10" or something like that
It made sure to spoil the ending before you read to make sure you can't relate to any of the characters. All the characters terribly bad accents, including the gangster accent. I only read 10 pages before I donated the book to the library

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

I'm going to choose a book I read, and that book is The Scarlet Letter, why did my school make me read it.(even though I spark noted the entire book)

 

[DustyDrB]

Spoiler: This, easily

Spoiler: actual spoilers

The book is about a warrior named Okonkwo in a Nigerian village. Basically white people come and colonize the hell out of Nigeria. Okonkwo is the best warrior in his village, and hates the white man threatening his way of life. Tension builds for many chapters. It was fun to read about the tension, and about Okonkwo's thoughts. However, Okonkwo kills himself in the final chapter making it the most anticlimactic thing ever.

NO, NO! THAT BOOK IS SO GOOD.

The ending is anticlimactic for a reason. It's supposed to emphasize the futility of the African peoples' struggle to keep their culture. At very end the white preacher makes the part where Okonkwo kills the other white guy part of his book on the savage tribes of Africa, while we realize the tragedy and true story of the whole thing (that's dramatic irony for ya).

Hopefully you got the gist of that. I'm terrible at explaining things.

Yeah, I love that book as well. I read it during a World Literature overview in college a couple years ago. I loved it so much I went out and bought it. I didn't want to use the book for the class because it was a behemoth with a bunch of stories and was falling apart. Things do fall apart..

OT: I don't know what the worst book ever is. It's probably something that has gone largely unnoticed. I just hope it isn't the book I'm writing.

 

[zHellas]

This shows a pretty crappy novel.

And I'm showing this, 'cause I honestly haven't read other books or novels that I have found to be bad or that other people say is bad(bit ironic here, but he does read through some of it. That's closer than I've gotten to reading a shitty book/novel).

 

[Krunkcity3000]

Anything from Dan Brown. Pick Your Poison.

 

[SleepyOtter]

Catcher in the Rye.

A classic.

Had me thinking, next page it's going to get good on every single fucking page.

For fuck sake.

It's more of a story you have to "look" for, not just turn the page and *surprise*

Sometimes a book doesn't have to have a unique story or a gripping writing style, writing can be used as an method to get a message across, to enact an understandable idea towards the reader. You have to read between the lines to truly understand what Salinger was trying to say.

But some people don't like that style of storytelling which is understandable given it can be boring, tedious, Cliche and simply dumb in its presentation. Sometimes though, this was the writers intention, to make you question his motives for writing in such a way like the use of the word "Phony" so many times, its a message and Salinger was just bashing into your head a few hundred times to get that message across.

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

Anyway whats with all the hate for catcher in the rye, I thought it was pretty good.

Hey, wait a second.
*looks at book on drawer*
I'm reading that book now! What a coincidence...sort of.

anyway I always hear bad things about it in old reviews and such, but I thought I'd give it a try.

Do not let doubters deter you from finishing it. It is quite good and aside from the dreaded incredibly long speech does not deserve half the harsh criticism.

OT: The worst book I have read is This I believe by various influential figures.

 

[glitch388]

Great Gatsby or

The Scarlet Letter.

both equally suicide inducing.

 

[octafish]

Yes, there's some Twilight on here. But I think the biggest offense are the idiots regarding classics as literary junk. To Kill A Mockingbird? The Scarlet Letter? The Grapes of Wrath? Are you people insane? Those books are amazing!

OT: I'd probably have to agree with the Twilight saga, I haven't read it, but if the books are half as bad as the movies, than it is more than deserving.

I know right? I am astounded that anyone could think To Kill a Mockingbird is junk, or any Steinbeck. I'm not fond of Hawthorne, but I don't think The Scarlet Letter is a bad book, certainly not when there are hacks like Brown and Rowling out there.

 

[SlasherX]

Twilight, Bieber bio and em many other sthat I'm to lazy to post

 

[Canid117]

Either Catcher in the Rye or Catherine Called Birdy

If you are not familiar with the second one think Catcher in the Rye (the main character bitches nonstop) only from the perspective of a medieval teenage girl

 

[Boneasse]

Twilight. It appeals only to 13 year-old girls who are usually at the intelligence level of your below average retard anyways, so it barely counts as a book. It destroys vampires, and werewolves, and books... and movies! Stephanie Meyers once said Stephen King was her favorite author and inspiration for writing. He replied by saying he was sorry she said that and that her books were crap. No one likes her, or her work and she needs to go stand in traffic.

^This. I love you.