The worst book you have ever read.
Discussion
captain_cynic said:
Roberty said:
RHVW said:
- The Bible.
Amen to that!paulguitar said:
captain_cynic said:
Roberty said:
RHVW said:
- The Bible.
Amen to that!captain_cynic said:
2. Ancillary Justice by Anne Lecke. One of the few books I couldn't finish. I found the entire thing too contrived, the attempt to keep mystery in the novel just ended up annoying me. Put it down when a shipment of Neil Asher novels arrived and I haven't gone back.
I loved the whole trilogy, it felt like reading some 60s era Anne McCaffrey, so was a huge nostalgia trip to my teen years for me.The book that stands out to me for being over-hyped recently was The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley. It started off promising enough, some nice atmospheric descriptions, and intriguing characters, but after a while it felt as though Hurley didn't quite know what to do with his creation. Filed under disappointingly underwhelming.
Bradgate said:
Pride and prejudice.
I accept that as a bloke, I'm not in the target market, but I just couldn't bring myself to give a toss which sister ended up married to which unsuitable bloke, or why.
I read it as something of a penance. The BBC series of the 1990s was excellent, real quality, but having to walk around a museum in Bath to view some of the frocks made me rather irritated and I said something negative to one of the staff. She asked me If I'd read the book and I had to admit I had not. My wife told her she'd ensure I did read it. I accept that as a bloke, I'm not in the target market, but I just couldn't bring myself to give a toss which sister ended up married to which unsuitable bloke, or why.
Now I've read it I can see that I was completely right in what I said to the woman. The book is dreadful. It might have been better if she'd ever met a bloke, but I doubt it as her characterisation of women was poor.
Someone mentioned Conrad. I was forced to read him as a kid at school. I thought it was poorly written. When moving house what should I find but my old school books and The Rover was there. I was entranced and since then have read The N****r and the Narcissus, Lord Jim and have started Nostromo.
I thought Catcher in the Rye was magic when I read it as a youth. It, like me, hasn't aged well though.
Derek Smith said:
Bradgate said:
Pride and prejudice.
I accept that as a bloke, I'm not in the target market, but I just couldn't bring myself to give a toss which sister ended up married to which unsuitable bloke, or why.
I read it as something of a penance. The BBC series of the 1990s was excellent, real quality, but having to walk around a museum in Bath to view some of the frocks made me rather irritated and I said something negative to one of the staff. She asked me If I'd read the book and I had to admit I had not. My wife told her she'd ensure I did read it. I accept that as a bloke, I'm not in the target market, but I just couldn't bring myself to give a toss which sister ended up married to which unsuitable bloke, or why.
Now I've read it I can see that I was completely right in what I said to the woman. The book is dreadful. It might have been better if she'd ever met a bloke, but I doubt it as her characterisation of women was poor.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/giles-coren-why...
AstonZagato said:
Giles Coren agrees
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/giles-coren-why...
Great minds and all that.https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/giles-coren-why...
I've recently sat through Persuasion, the BBC production with Ciaran Hinds. Here we had the captain of a man-of-the-line, who was victorious in the West Indies, fighting the nasty French yet too frightened to speak to the woman he loves. At the end they sent him fight Napoleon. Well best of luck with that, mate. I felt sorry for his crew.
Every girl was empty headed except, of course, the heroine.
Austen is heralded as the first feminist because of her railing against the unfairness of her not inheriting money on the death of her father. Nowhere did Pride and Prejudice mention the lives of the women who served the five daughters who did bugger all for their indolent lives. Stitch a hat and then go for a walk. Wow! How unjust. Men were working in Beer Caves giving themselves horrific skin problems and there she was, life of luxury, and loving it.
Perhaps that is feminism.
Re the BBC film: I thought it well made, well acted, but the story sucked.
Edited to add: the illness suffered by many miners in silica rich seams is potters rot or silicosis. Not nice. One of the biggest killers of miners world wide.
But Austen didn't go down the mines.
Edited by Derek Smith on Thursday 22 February 16:51
jas xjr said:
yung cheng ? wild swans . it was a big thing back in the eighties. i have never struggled as much with anything else i have ever read. i am a voracious reader and i always see a book to the end. i di manage to read it but god was it depressing and boring.
Jung Chang. An immensely important book, if you have any interest in modern China. I found it a fascinating read, and finally finished reading whilst in Lijiang [China] in 2009. toasty said:
Norweigan Wood - Murakami - Diary of a boring Japanese kid. Gave up halfway through.
I enjoyed Norweigan Wood', but it pales in comparison to 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle' - although a number of people whom when discussing what we were reading, made faces at the mere mention of it ['The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle']. Of all the Murakami-ism's that ring true that aside from May Kasahara, he cannot really write a 3 dimensional female character.
rowley birkin said:
The Magus by John Fowles; what a load of psychological nonsense that was (coudn't finish reading it).
I went through a phase of reading Fowles during my late teenage years and like most novels read during this period, that's where it stays. My nomination is Stephen Donaldson's 'Thomas Covenant' series. Dense, turgid, and wholly leaden. I recall chucking the book in disgust. This is the only book that I have stopped reading mid-way through because it was so abominably written.
putonghua73 said:
I went through a phase of reading Fowles during my late teenage years and like most novels read during this period, that's where it stays.
My nomination is Stephen Donaldson's 'Thomas Covenant' series. Dense, turgid, and wholly leaden. I recall chucking the book in disgust. This is the only book that I have stopped reading mid-way through because it was so abominably written.
I made it through the first two series, many years ago, but gave up on the first book of the third series just last year. In fact it was so terrible that it killed the faint desire to read the first two again.My nomination is Stephen Donaldson's 'Thomas Covenant' series. Dense, turgid, and wholly leaden. I recall chucking the book in disgust. This is the only book that I have stopped reading mid-way through because it was so abominably written.
Halmyre said:
putonghua73 said:
I went through a phase of reading Fowles during my late teenage years and like most novels read during this period, that's where it stays.
My nomination is Stephen Donaldson's 'Thomas Covenant' series. Dense, turgid, and wholly leaden. I recall chucking the book in disgust. This is the only book that I have stopped reading mid-way through because it was so abominably written.
I made it through the first two series, many years ago, but gave up on the first book of the third series just last year. In fact it was so terrible that it killed the faint desire to read the first two again.My nomination is Stephen Donaldson's 'Thomas Covenant' series. Dense, turgid, and wholly leaden. I recall chucking the book in disgust. This is the only book that I have stopped reading mid-way through because it was so abominably written.
t.Speaking of bad books, I know he's revered but I've never managed to read a Neil Gaiman other than Good Omens - which I put down to TP filtering the NG stuff.
Also the Booker prize winner ("the real ned kelly gang" or something similar) wow, how turgid was that!
For truly awful, Brake pedal down John Bratby RA
Back in the late sixties, early seventies my wife and I shared similar tastes in fiction, we are older now
We read Breakdown by Bratby, kind of liked it a bit then went on to his next work which might be Breakfast and elevenses which I liked
Then we had Break pedal down, which completely killed any desire to read any more of his stuff for both of us
Lucky really because I never heard of anything from him later, nor wished to
Anyway, my offering to the genre awfullius
Back in the late sixties, early seventies my wife and I shared similar tastes in fiction, we are older now
We read Breakdown by Bratby, kind of liked it a bit then went on to his next work which might be Breakfast and elevenses which I liked
Then we had Break pedal down, which completely killed any desire to read any more of his stuff for both of us
Lucky really because I never heard of anything from him later, nor wished to
Anyway, my offering to the genre awfullius
I’ve looked through this thread and agree that some of the books mentioned are boring or cheesy or badly written. However, none of them compare to How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman.
I read it off the back of having read (and loved) Trainspotting and reading something where Kelman’s book was compared favourably to Welsh’s. Both are by Scottish authors. One is funny, shocking, heartbreaking and a work of genius. The other is an execrable pile of unreadable turd.
I’m pretty sure none of you will have read it and I can only advise that you maintain that situation. Even 20 years later, it stands head and shoulders above anything else I’ve ever read as the worst by a considerable margin. It won the Booker Prize....
I read it off the back of having read (and loved) Trainspotting and reading something where Kelman’s book was compared favourably to Welsh’s. Both are by Scottish authors. One is funny, shocking, heartbreaking and a work of genius. The other is an execrable pile of unreadable turd.
I’m pretty sure none of you will have read it and I can only advise that you maintain that situation. Even 20 years later, it stands head and shoulders above anything else I’ve ever read as the worst by a considerable margin. It won the Booker Prize....
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