The worst book you have ever read.

[amoeba]

techguyone said:

Battlefield Earth by Ron L Hubbard - Yea him of the Scientologists 'fame' - before he invented scientology , man it's so bad.

I hate to say it, but I thought it was great.

I was probably 15 when I read it.

[tim0409]

amoeba said:

techguyone said:

Battlefield Earth by Ron L Hubbard - Yea him of the Scientologists 'fame' - before he invented scientology , man it's so bad.

I hate to say it, but I thought it was great.

I was probably 15 when I read it.

I recently watched a documentary on Scientology and they mentioned it had been made into a film with John Travolta and was absolutely panned by the critics.

[Perseverant]

Although it's a bit different from the great list of other worst books, I have a lasting dislike of "The Family From One End Street" which I was given to read as a child. Even then I thought it dull and boring, later realising how patronising and class ridden it was - large family, crowded house, dad a dustman, but never mind, they knew their place and so on. And it won a Carnegie Medal in 1938, I think. So imagine my horror when I started teaching in 1982 and discovered the blasted school had a set of brand new ones that I could use. I hadn't realised what a conservative and hidebound place it was until I got complaints from ultra religious parents about "Of Mice and Men" - precious little support from the school either.

[Harji]

rst99 said:

The Trial by Kafka.

That book is a masterpiece.

[hairykrishna]

When I was a teenager I had a fondness for Jerry Aherns 'Survivalist' series, some of which are awful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Survivalist_(nov... Not sure about worst though. There are some pap 'special forces hero' airport novellists who could learn from him.

As mentioned above Battlefield Earth is st. Not sure it's the worst though as it was almost 'so bad it's good' in a B-movie kind of way.

[kev b]

Relevant today - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Not the worst book I have read but not very enjoyable, maybe it was over my head, it seems to be well regarded by critics.

[g3org3y]

schmunk said:

havoc said:

Catch-22 is a good book with great satire and interesting characterisation. Not necessarily easy to read, but still a good book.

Indeed, it has no place in this thread.

Top book imo.

kev b said:

Relevant today - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Not the worst book I have read but not very enjoyable, maybe it was over my head, it seems to be well regarded by critics.

I found this a lot harder work than I expected, took the enjoyment out of it.


Speaking of books which are hard work, Proust. I read 'In Search of Lost Time' (book 1 of 7!) a number of years back. I'm sure it's a classic for those of a literary persuasion but for me it dragged and dragged. Doesn't help that Proust is a 'woe is me' moaner about everything. I have not planned to read the other six volumes.

[Adam B]

tim0409 said:

I recently watched a documentary on Scientology and they mentioned it had been made into a film with John Travolta and was absolutely panned by the critics.

it is the worst film I have ever watched - maybe I should try the book so my worst film and worst book answers are the same.

I have never not finished a book but would have to nominate:

Jack Kerouac - On the Road

Supposedly a beatnik classic - but IMHO a road trip where nothing happens, the lead characters are all aholes and I assume the author was permanently stoned whilst penning it

[Equilibrium25]

techguyone said:

Battlefield Earth by Ron L Hubbard - Yea him of the Scientologists 'fame' - before he invented scientology , man it's so bad.

I liked Battlefield Earth as a teenager.

So, I was very excited when the 10-part Mission Earth series started being published. That was dire beyond belief.

Another vote for the crap churned out by Dan Brown too.

[Nik da Greek]

Moby-Dick would have been OK if it had simply consisted of "Call me Ishmael...." and dispensed with the eleventy thousand pages of indecipherable, tedious, turgid drivel that followed. As it is, I'd rather poo in my hands and clap that wade through that literary equivalent of Chinese Water Torture ever again


Da Vinci Code is to the best of my memory the only book so bad I actually couldn't finish reading it. I hate giving up on stuff normally, but I was profoundly aware that every second I kept reading it was another second my life was shorter by

Adam B said:

I have never not finished a book but would have to nominate:

Jack Kerouac - On the Road

Supposedly a beatnik classic - but IMHO a road trip where nothing happens, the lead characters are all aholes and I assume the author was permanently stoned whilst penning it

I actually love that book, though oddly I agree with your precis. It's part of its appeal to me, but maybe cos I've been on a few similar trips myself, lol. One tenuously linked "classic" that utterly blew my mind was Burroughs' Naked Lunch, a book so odd and disturbing that even having re-read it I still wasn't sure if I'd enjoyed it, hated it, learned anything, been slightly debased simply by exposure to it, broadened my horizons, or would ever be able to scrub the taint off my skin.

Edited by Nik da Greek on Monday 15th May 18:05

adding stuff

Edited by Nik da Greek on Monday 15th May 18:06

[Halmyre]

Nik da Greek said:

Da Vinci Code is to the best of my memory the only book so bad I actually couldn't finish reading it. I hate giving up on stuff normally, but I was profoundly aware that every second I kept reading it was another second my life was shorter by

I not only finished it but went on to read 'Angels and Demons', which is even more pish, if that can be possible.

[valiant]

Halmyre said:

Nik da Greek said:

Da Vinci Code is to the best of my memory the only book so bad I actually couldn't finish reading it. I hate giving up on stuff normally, but I was profoundly aware that every second I kept reading it was another second my life was shorter by

I not only finished it but went on to read 'Angels and Demons', which is even more pish, if that can be possible.

Isn't that the one where he jumps from a helicopter and uses a hankie as a parachute and survives? Also that the the Vatican has a super duper, super hush-hush plane that gets from the US to Rome in about an hour, Because Boeing has nothing on a couple of well intentioned priests. Man, that book was bad...

Agree with Moby Dick. I know it's a classic but I just couldn't get on with it. Soooo slow and one of the few books I've given up on.

[Stickyfinger]

"Our Manifesto"
by
J R Corbyn

Thought it was frightening, then funny but in the end just fking stupid

[Halmyre]

valiant said:

Halmyre said:

Nik da Greek said:

Da Vinci Code is to the best of my memory the only book so bad I actually couldn't finish reading it. I hate giving up on stuff normally, but I was profoundly aware that every second I kept reading it was another second my life was shorter by

I not only finished it but went on to read 'Angels and Demons', which is even more pish, if that can be possible.

Isn't that the one where he jumps from a helicopter and uses a hankie as a parachute and survives? Also that the the Vatican has a super duper, super hush-hush plane that gets from the US to Rome in about an hour, Because Boeing has nothing on a couple of well intentioned priests. Man, that book was bad...

I think the superplane belonged to CERN. Whose logo incidentally is made up of '666', the number of the beast.

It's not just the endless pages of stupidity that grates; it's the presentation of made-up rubbish as fact. Both books mention various positions and alignments of real-life features - which are totally made-up, e.g. the positions of various buildings in Rome, carvings in Rosslyn chapel, etc.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/...

[droopsnoot]

I must admit I don't remember the Da Vinci Code book being quite that bad, but it's ages since I read it. "Digital Fortress", however, was terrible. Perhaps it's just because I have some work experience in IT and it's packed full of utter tosh in that regard.

[Halmyre]

droopsnoot said:

I must admit I don't remember the Da Vinci Code book being quite that bad, but it's ages since I read it. "Digital Fortress", however, was terrible. Perhaps it's just because I have some work experience in IT and it's packed full of utter tosh in that regard.

My favourite bit in the da Vinci code is the introduction of one character as the archetypal English gentlemen - who is then revealed to own a stretch Jaguar limo with whitewall tyres.

I think there's also a description of a house near Rosslyn Chapel which has a US style front porch and a screen door, as is of course commonly found all over Scotland.

[Eddie Strohacker]

probably get pelters for this but I have toiled with Dickens on occasion. I'm loath to give up on a book, even seeing Dan Brown through, but Oliver Twist defeated me. I'm aware he was often paid by the word & it was serialised originally over two years between 1837 & 39 but it felt like wading through treacle to me, such a glacial pace..

[Xtriple129]

I really enjoyed Zen and the art of... and have read it multiple times and got something new on each occasion, so the long awaited 'Lila' was a treat for me to savour.

Er, no. Dreadful thing that seemed to have been written purely because so many people clamoured for a follow up book to 'Zen'. I've tried loads of times to read it and not finished it yet.

[g3org3y]

Nik da Greek said:

I actually love that book, though oddly I agree with your precis. It's part of its appeal to me, but maybe cos I've been on a few similar trips myself, lol. One tenuously linked "classic" that utterly blew my mind was Burroughs' Naked Lunch, a book so odd and disturbing that even having re-read it I still wasn't sure if I'd enjoyed it, hated it, learned anything, been slightly debased simply by exposure to it, broadened my horizons, or would ever be able to scrub the taint off my skin.

Burroughs is next level mental.

Junkie and Queer I found much easier reads than Naked Lunch.

[perdu]

One finds oneself turning pick up Moby Dick to see what one missed





My worst could well have been 1984

I picked it up

Read four or five pages then put it back on the shelf in Sparkbrook Public Library

It just didn't work for me, and I can even enjoy Edmund Cooper

Some of them