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Mine would have to be "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" by Annie Dillard. While some parts were okay, it was entirely too weird for my tastes.
Anyway, since everyone seems to always ask for book recommendations here on Hatrack, I thought I'd start a thread devoted to book hating. If there's a book you've read but couldn't stand, tell us about it. We want to know (Maybe).
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I finshed six whole books in the Left Behind series. And I'll never have that time back. Fortunately, it wasn't a lot of time.
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Galactic Guerrilla by David Maine. Not sure about the title, I "retranslated" from Romanian. It's all that non SF-fans think SF is about. And it's bad. Really bad. I have no idea why I finished it, actually...
Roma Eterna by Robert Silverberg could be close but some (few) of the stories in it were in fact interesting, so I can't say it was a total waste of time. And this one wasn't bad... Just not interesting. The style was ok but the fact that it was actually a collection of short stories meant that you didn't get to know any of the characters and most of the plots were borderline boring.
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I sorta got into that book. It was looooong, but it was interesting enough that I wanted to read to the end just to see what happens. Let me put it this way. After spending several hundred pages building up the story, the ending read like King got a call from his publisher saying "Look, you've been writing this damn thing for 2 years. If I don't have a finished manuscript on my desk tomorrow you can just forget the whole deal." So, it read like King just pulled some random ending out of his hind-quarters, tacked it on and sent it in. Talk about feeling ripped off. Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Airport reading has severely compromised my standards on a few occasions. I've taken to just re-reading It by Stephen King if pressed. It's usually in the airport book shop, for some reason.
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KarlEd, I didn't read Tommyknockers, but I got the same feeling at the end of 'It' and at the end of 'The Dark Tower' (Book VII). King just falls apart at the end sometimes. Actually I pretty much hated DT 7 all the way through, but I had been following the story for approximately what 16 or 17 YEARS. What a let down.
But by far the worst book I've ever read was...Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I think you have to be on acid or something for it to make sense.
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Thats sucks because I'm in the middle of The Dark Tower (book 7).
Worst book ever: Closing Time: The Sequel to Catch-22.
There was no story at all really and eveything was just retarded. The ending was horrible. After I finished this book I decided that some books aren't worth finishing.
And Catch-22 was no gem either.
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By far the worst book I've ever read is To Sail Beyond the Sunset by Robert A Hielien.
I love RAH, but as he got older, he got to be a dirty old man, and this is the pinicale of his dirtiness. This one didn't get published (for a good reason) until after the Grand Master's death.
Basically 400 pages of how he really really wanted to get it on with his mother, sisters, brothers, father, daughters, sons, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmaw and grandpaw and the family dog. At time explicit in its description of incest, this book put me off reading for nine months.
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This is easy. It’s the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” I’m still trying to figure out why people like it. Horrible book.
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I've *started* lots of bad books (Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, for one, lordy), but usually I will put a book down if it just doesn't interest me. My mom will finish any book she starts (poor mom, it's a compulsion of hers), but I don't have a problem walking away.
Two books in recent memory:
*American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis I loved the movie, and for some reason, I finished the book. Mostly so I could be absolutely certain that Ellis was indeed as hacky as I thought. Yup. Who told that man he could write?
*Running With Scissors, Augusten Burroughs This was just awful. Awful and abusive. I wanted to scrub my brain when I was done. I kept thinking "surely something GOOD will happen to this person at some point, surely there will be a redeeming epiphany of some kind". Nope. H*ll to the Nope (as Whitney Houston might say).
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Aftermath by Levar Burton. The message of "nonwhite good, white baaaad" really started grating on my nerves.
Who would write a book where the white people seek to kill black people to steal the dark skin, anyways?
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I've got you beat, Tante. Not only did I read Flowers in the Attic, I also read the sequel, Petals on the Wind I think it was called. I felt thoroughly ill by the ending, and swore I would not read any more in the series.
I'm a compulsive reader, so I generally finish what I start, regardless of how bad it is. Except for William Gibson's Neuromancer. I started that one twice and never could get through it. But I've found that I just can't stand the cyber-punk genre in general.
Lorna Doone, by Richard Blackmore was pretty bad, too. Quite a lot of his prose was just impenetratable.
My husband just pointed out that Time Storm by Gordon R. Dickson was the worst book he's finished.
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Some Piers Anthony book. I don't recall the title.
My attention span seems to be shortening these days. Or maybe I'm just picky. A book's got to be REALLY good for me to sink into it and have a good chance of finishing. I'm currently in the middle of about six different books because I keep getting bored and distracted.
Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
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Nightseer by Laurel K. Hamilton - Although it appeared in paperback recently, it's a "reissue" of a 1992 publication. And it is really really awful. It reads like a draft from a very inexperiences writer that needed a strong editorial hand and an extensive re-write. It needed things like a little backstory, character development. I couldn't find it listed on Hamilton's website - that tells me she's not eager to have people get their hands on it.
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I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven. I remember being forced to read it in the 8th grade. I don't remember much of the plot except that I couldn't stand the book and the main character died in the end.
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I think a lot of people are listing books they didn't like, which is different to my mind than books that were really bad. Sort of like with the overrated/underrated movies thread. Most of the movies I listed in those were ones I liked but thought their press was better or worse than they deserved.
The worst book I have ever read all the way through, though...I usually put it down if I don't get into it. There are, I'm sure, many, many books people here probably liked on the list of books I Will Never Pick Up Again.
I like depressing books much better than depressing movies, for some reason. But the worst book I ever read all the way through... Would have to be something by Laurell K. Hamilton. I read her stuff, and enjoy it in a Guilty Pleasure sort of way. But I admit the last few Anita Blake stories (especially the last one... what was it? Threesomes R Us?) and probably most (if not all) the Merry Gentry stories, suck @$$. I think I read them because they make me laugh, and I can turn to Ron and say, "Oh, honey, listen to this--" and we can laugh together.
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I would probably say one of the Wheel of Time books. I think book seven or eight. At that point you can't really tell them apart anyway.
700-800 pages of nothing much happening, and then 50-60 pages where a conflict happens. I'm not even exaggerating. Books 6-8 were all that way, from the little of them I remember.
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quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: "Flowers in the Attic", V.C. Andrews. What can I say, I was stuck at the airport.
You're not alone. I had read EVERYTHING in my house at least twice, and I needed something to read. I was EMBARASSED. I hoped I didn't croak and have someone find me holding a VC Andrews book... Posts: 262 | Registered: Jun 2004
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L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth. No contest whatsoever. I'm not even going to dignify that one by italicizing its name.
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Bleh. There wasn't anything attractive about the characters, story or anything....
I also have to limit how many "Misery Drinker" filled books I read. Too much depression and tradgedy isn't healthy IMO.
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Has anybody read Stanislaw Lem'sMemoirs Found in a Bathtub? That's one book that goes beyond bad, and around and around until it reaches good again. If you actually manage to make sense of it, it means you're downright crazy! Oh, and I have great respect for Lem for writing it and actually managing to sell it! It's like those "modern" paintings that show a red dot on a white canvas and everybody wonders at the depth of the meaning that can be found in the painting! Only Lem's book is like a painting full of different colored dots and you have to find the hidden image... that doesn't exist! o_O Up to now I'm the only person I know that has actually finished it. :proud; I guess:
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quote:Originally posted by Noemon: L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth. No contest whatsoever. I'm not even going to dignify that one by italicizing its name.
I just saw the movie (After 6 attempts catching parts on TV) and finally decided I actually did want to see what happened. I don't feel much desire to read much from Hubbard, though I am very greatful for the little writing contest he started (If I ever get my writing butt to sit down long enough to rework the first drafts I have, I'll try and enter it again) Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Seconding Noemon's nomination. I had to force myself to complete it. And that was before I watched the movie - which at least ended at roughly the point where the book turned awful.
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quote:Originally posted by Goody Scrivener: Seconding Noemon's nomination. I had to force myself to complete it. And that was before I watched the movie - which at least ended at roughly the point where the book turned awful.
Well, the movie turned awful about the time John Travolta made his appearance. Actually, I never have seen the actual beginning of the movie, so I'm not sure where it turned awful. I just remember it being that way when I started watching it.
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quote:I hated the movie Talented Mr. Ripley. Sure as hell won't read the book!
As a wannabe Filmmaker I try to read any books that are made into films first to gain my own interpretation of it before I see how someone else has done it.
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quote:Originally posted by Boris: [QUOTE]Well, the movie turned awful about the time John Travolta made his appearance. Actually, I never have seen the actual beginning of the movie, so I'm not sure where it turned awful. I just remember it being that way when I started watching it.
Yeah, the movie royally stunk. As I recall, it was even nominated for (maybe won?) a Razzie for being so completely terrible. I liked the book, though, up until right about where the movie ended. But I seriously slogged through the second half and kept making myself go back to finish. I don't think I've ever NOT finished a book before...
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quote: I would probably say one of the Wheel of Time books. I think book seven or eight. At that point you can't really tell them apart anyway.
Thread Drift Alert!
OK, I know this is supposed to be about the books we've finished, but I found a copy of "The first part of book one of The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan lying around the office. It has a big blue "FREE" circle embossed on the cover.
I couldn't get past the prologue, which read like a parody of stock fantasy literature. Can anyone explain to me why people read this series? Does it get less awful?
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I tried for months to read the first WoT book, and kept having to re-read starting with the first chapter, because I kept falling asleep. I don't think I ever made it through the first chapter.
OSC says that writers do not compete with other writers, that a writer's natural enemy is the nap.
Naps:15 Robert Jordan: 0
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quote:Worst book ever: Closing Time: The Sequel to Catch-22...
And Catch-22 was no gem either.
So right on the first count. I think it would qualify as my entry in this thread if I had ever bothered finishing it.
But sooooo wrong on the second count. Still in my top 3 books of all time.
Also, I enjoyed Dark Tower: VII. But does that make you feel better or worse, given our split tastes? Posts: 5264 | Registered: Jul 2002
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sndrake:"Can anyone explain to me why people read this series? Does it get less awful?"
I don't understand how the second book ever got written, because there is almost nothing good about the first book. But the truth is that it does get a lot less awful. The second book is great fantasy, the third is even better, and the fourth is one of the best ever written. Unfortunately, this (as of now) ten book series peaked at the fourth book.
And, while I'm here, I'll add the worst book I ever finished. It's Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, also known as Fanny Hill. It was assigned reading in a course on eighteenth century British novels. The professor had selected Libertinism as the theme for the semester.
I understand that Cleland was horribly ashamed in later years for having written this book. I'm surprised he didn't take his own life.
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Book four I liked pretty well, for my own reasons. Then it just kept getting worse and worse, with some exceptions. (For instance, there was one book around 6 or 7 which I enjoyed the end of, but I don't remember which one it was) If I remember correctly, book 8 was the absolute worst, with 800 pages there wasn't a single plot advancement. Book 9 was an improvement (something happened to advance the plot).
The only reason I read past book five was because I already bought the set. I won't be buying any more.
Edit: I wrote this before UofUlawguy's post, so its interesting to see that he also liked book 4 a lot. It was after I enjoyed book 4 so much that I went out and bought books 5-8. Big mistake .
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In regards to the Wheel of Time series, I've only read all the way through books 1 and 2, and I've enjoyed them quite a bit. I'm on book 3 at the moment. I have heard (on other boards) that the series goes downhill after book 4, and like Xavier said that book 8 was the worst with no plot advancement at all. Sort of sad that, because books 2 and 3 are quite good in my opinion.
Back on topic, I'm not much of a literature person. Some of it I like, but a lot of it I hate. So when I decide what book is the worst I've ever finished, I usually pull from the pile of books I had to read for school. I'm going to leave it as a tie for worst book I've ever finished: Emily Bronte's Wurthering Heights and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Both I found to be poorly written (or at least that's how I took it) and with lackluster plots. There was nothing to grab me at the start, the middle was just as dull, and the ending left me wondering "Why did I ever read this book?" As I said though, I'm not really a literature person, so take it for what you will.
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I've been trying to read Fire Upon the Deep by Vintnor Vinge for a month now. I officially give up. Life is too short to read stupid books.
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"Dandelion Wine" by Ray Bradbury. Nothing happens. It's about "a 12-year old boy's magical summer and his exuberance at the wonders of being alive" which is a fancy way of saying "Nothing happens." Go outside on a nice day, take a deep breath. Wasn't that fun? Now you don't have to read the book.
I had to read it for American Novels class in high school. It was one of the books that they had old copies of and would be reordering, so we could keep our copies if we wanted. I did. My hobby for the next month was mutilating that book in every way my deliquent teenage brain could think up. It got ripped, stabbed, bent, soaked, thrown, beaten, burned, exploded, buried, dug up, torn into confetti, burned again, etc, etc, etc.
quote: I found a copy of "The first part of book one of The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan lying around the office. It has a big blue "FREE" circle embossed on the cover.
While I haven't read them, this issue took up several hours once when I worked at a bookstore. What you read is not the current first book. At first, they published the two books in two parts, gave away the first part and then people had to purchase the second part if they wanted to finish it. When it was combined to one book, changes were made. So maybe the current first book is better than what you read.
I started Dandelion Wine several times and couldn't finish it because it was so boring.
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It was published as one book first and then split in half for younger readers, I think. The first Wheel of Time book was definitely just one book when I read it twelve years ago.
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quote:Originally posted by Snarky: I'll second Icarus: Wizard's First Rule. I don't know why I even started on the sequels.
I'll see you and raise you. I read the first SIX BOOKS of the stupid series, all because this boy I loved thought they were the best thing ever created and I needed an excuse to keep having to borrow his books and talk to him about them.
It's OK, though - I awoke from that dark stupor and realized how awful they were and my choice was reaffirmed when I saw that boy a few years later and he was raving about The DaVinci Code.
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Confession time: I read the Flowers in the Attic series when I was a teenager and loved them. I've carried that as a dirty secret all these years, and now :sob: the truth is out....
I doubt I could stomach them now.
I liked To Sail Beyond the Sunset too.
And I liked Fire Upon the Deep.
I have tried to read several Stephen Brust books without any success whatsoever. I've never finished any of them except To Reign In Hell, which I seem to recall disliking.
One of the worst books (aside from the Left Behind series, which became unreadable) I've read was Pride and Prescience, which looked like fun on the shelf, but in fact was a mockery. It's marked as a mystery and is in the mystery section of the bookstore, but it's not much of a mystery, and probably fits Scifi/Fantasy better. The thought that Eliza Bennett could get into Spiritualism at all was beyond bizarre, but the ending was sacrilege.
I finished the book because I wanted to know how it ended, but as a "sequel" to a much beloved book it failed utterly. The author did things to the characters I thought were as almost as much a desecration as what the movie First Knight did to Arthurian legend. I was actually offended at the presumption, not only of the author but of the publishers.
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"Death Be Not Proud." I forget who wrote it, but it was required reading for Sophomore Honor's English, and I hated it with a passion. Our calss complained so much they took it off the required reading list.
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Oh, and I have great respect for Lem for writing it and actually managing to sell it! It's like those "modern" paintings that show a red dot on a white canvas and everybody wonders at the depth of the meaning that can be found in the painting! Only Lem's book is like a painting full of different colored dots and you have to find the hidden image... that doesn't exist! o_O Up to now I'm the only person I know that has actually finished it. :proud; I guess:
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