Worst Book Ever?

[Professor James]

Firewing by Kenneth Oppel. Don't get me wrong Kenneth Oppel is a pretty good author. I loved the 2 previous books in the Silverwing series, but he seemed to lost his touch. We meet Shade's son Griffin who is basically an unlikable version of his father. He gets trapped in the Underworld and Shade must go on a mind numbingly boring adventure to rescue him. from what I read (which is about the first 3 or 4 chapters) the new characters become forgettable and the old characters become predictable and clichéd.

 

[Steambroom]

To me it would be "Die Leiden des jungen Werther" by Goethe.

I know it´s supposed to be a "classic", but still I think it´s just terrible.

Let me explain, the story follows young Werther who falls in love with a girl.
Girl is although promised to another man.
Ripped apart by his emotions he sets a gun to his head and ends his life.

First of all it´s nearly frigging unreadable, there are pages only committed to a single
scenery and his feelings about it all packed in over 200 year old German.

Also because of this it´s also incredibly boring, which is a painful to your eyes.

Well I wasn´t able to read it completely, therefor I bought a compilation of it
(had to be read for school).

Also Stephen Kings books are mostly very good, but what disturbs me that the endings are
out of the sudden and with no explanation.

 

[WOPR]

What would you say is the worst book you know of? You don't have to have read it - hell, if it's that bad, you'd never make it past the blurb.

For me...it's a toss-up between any of Katie Price's God-awful books or a failed, self-published attempt at cryptozoology.
I mean, I read the blurb of one of Price's books. It's about a girl name Summer who can't decide whether she should stick with her successful, well-paid, loyal boyfriend, or if she should run off with some unemployed layabout surfer guy. That's a bit of a shit plot no matter what way you look at it...and the blurb ends with a teasing question. What will she do?
Common sense says she stays with her boyfriend. Cynical predictability says she'll run off with surfer guy. Internet says she's spit-roasted by the two of them, and I say she overdoses on stupid pills and dies.

And the cryptozoology book...it attempts to prove the Bible through the existence of dinosaurs in modern day, and describes the United Kingdom as a remote part of the world.
Yeah. That about sums it up.

Something tells me this will be spammed with "TWILIGHT!" and "THE BIBLE!"

...I say twilight; I love reading and no book has ever gotten me to say "no" after about half way through the book

...seriously what book build up "he might be a vampire" for the first HALF only to say on the back of the book "I knew He was a vampire when-"

that's like reading a Sherlock Holmes book and it saying who was behind it all on the very back

and having the story stretch out on catching him for 3 more books!

...in other words just go watch the movie while someone sits next to you telling you how everything happens

 

[AlexWinter]

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.

 

[WOPR]

inb4 twilight

Twilight. I thinks it's pretty self explanatory.
Horrible plot, horrible characters and it systematically destroyed vampires as an awesome mythological creature.

EPIC

QUICK!
IF YOU READ TWILIGHT, GO BUY CASTLEVANIA SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT!
DON'T SEE WHERE I'M GOING WITH THIS JUST DO IT!
NOW!

 

[VivaciousDeimos]

The last book in David Eddings' The Dreamers series. Now don't get me wrong, I love David Eddings writing, but the way the book ends the series is complete bullshit.

The first three books in the series where good, solid Eddings books. They had everything that a one of his books would normally have. Yet in the fourth book, after building tension for most of the series about the epic final battle and then, wait for it, they solve the problem by going back in time and killing the villan before it beacame dangerous. He wasted three and a half goddamned books.

I wanted to love The Dreamers so much, simply because Eddings is one of my favorite authors, but the series just doesn't stand up to The Belgariad or The Elenium.

As for my worst list, let's see...The Eye of Argon is a classic: so hilariously bad it curves back around into readable just to see the absurdity continue. The Inheritance Cycle is like Twilight for boys, but I'm committed to seeing how it ends--a combination of guilty pleasure and bile fascination I suppose.

 

[Mechalemmiwinks]

Twilight, obviously.

Oh, and anything past the 3rd Dark Tower book, just as a matter of disappointment via contrast. Imagine, a rockin' epic cowboy knight saga...turned into a pop-culture-referencing-cheeselog-Stephen-King-poop. Not to spoil anything, but King pulls a Deus Ex Douchina and writes himself into the story to progress the plot.

 

[Thyunda]

Twilight, obviously.

Oh, and anything past the 3rd Dark Tower book, just as a matter of disappointment via contrast. Imagine, a rockin' epic cowboy knight saga...turned into a pop-culture-referencing-cheeselog-Stephen-King-poop. Not to spoil anything, but King pulls a Deus Ex Douchina and writes himself into the story to progress the plot.

Now I liked that bit. The pop-culture references made sense in the setting...

 

[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)