Worst Books You've Ever Read

[lady of shallot]

Probably the very worst one I read, whose title I mercifully forget, was a self published book written by a woman in our town and who placed the action also in our town.

A ridiculously unbelievable plot set in real places where unbelievably ridiculous actions take place (and I mean just the routine functions of the settings.)

The sad thing about this whole venture is that the author was (is?) and English teacher at the high school.

[Gemininski]

Maps of Hell - Paul Johnston

How I summed it up on my blog:

"This book was terrible! I read this on the train to a work conference in Manchester and picked so many faults and cliches from it that it was untrue.
There are so many typing errors in the book that it is almost impossible to see past them. The editors must have been asleep on the job when they read through it. Johnston's characters are mostly 2D and unlikeable and the main character seems to have a derogatory view of women (something that I wouldn't normally pick up on, but it was so glaringly obvious that it was difficult to miss). The protagonist outlines everything he does before he does it, and his flashbacks and such are very unbelievable.
No suspense, not much action, characters that grated on me and a whole bunch of typos - it's a shame because the cover and blurb looked so good. "

A really, desperately awful book!!!

[Tati-Ana]

The glass bead game by Herman Hesse. I gave it up as I realized that I was reading the third time on the page 17 without any understanding what the book was about. The first book I couldn't finish at all.

[Mishima]

William Gibson - Pattern Recognition

Maybe it was the excessive amount of brands/labels used as a main plot point. Not to mention Gibson constantly trying to convince the reader that he is "hip". I cringed at every "google" reference and pseudo-modern reference to fashion. This is all ignoring the stale shoot-em-up plot complete with helicopter rescue.

Gag.

[MrsBear87]

I felt that way about a book I read a few years ago, "Free Food for Millionaires." It seemed that every page had at least one reference to drinking games, or B. School. (Business School) Could the author have not, at least occasionally, used the full term?

While I'm grinding my grammatical ax, I hate the term "app." Is it too much of an effort to use a real word? Is "application" too tough to pronounce? I feel like such a curmudgeon! Please accept my apologies for this rant.

[Almalau]

My worst book was a required reading in High School: A kőszívű ember fiai - the book doesn't matter, but i wonder, why we need to read the worst books out there in School. I think this is one of the problems, people don't read much

[Khogg]

The worst book I have ever read has to be "Twilight". I went through with a pencil and fixed spelling and grammatical mistakes.

[MELANIE387]

"In the Woods" by Tana French. The book starts with a crime and then advances 20(?) years and introduces a new crime, which was similar to the first one and occured in the same location. I thought French was going to connect the two crimes, but she kept them seperate and never solved the first one. When I first started reading the book and the first crime was introduced, I assumed that was what the book was about. What I didn't understand was why, if French was not going to connect the two crimes, she repeatedly wrote about the first crime. The entire book was disjointed and repetitive.

[Suzanne]

The worst book I have ever read has to be "Twilight". I went through with a pencil and fixed spelling and grammatical mistakes.

Really, wow, that is just too funny. I have read a few self published books that have been full of spelling and grammatical errors. A few of these books have been real dogs, but, it doesn't take any talent to use the English language correctly.

I have just finished, "The Woman in White", Willkie Collins. I'm loving all the free classics I am able to download on my ereader so I thought I would give this author a try. This mystery novel is considered a classic. I can understand the popularity this novel enjoyed after its publication in 1860, but from a modern day perspective, the premise is just tired and worn out.
"Woman in White" is praised for being one of the first detective mystery novels but I don't think it has the timeless appeal of the Sherlock Holmes novels.

[David80]

The worst thing I ever read was part of my school lessons - "Homo Faber" by Max Frisch. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK if you want to stay mentally healthy. I had to force myself to read to the end of it, but it was necessary because it was the theme of our test. Anyway, I never read such a BORING story. I can forgive an author if he doesn't write well, I can forgive a story with some failures, but BOREDOM is something I cannot stand. Really. This guy Homo Faber is just the stupiest character you will ever meet, he seems not even real, his actions are unrational - even unrational if you consider his character. HORRIBLE. I never touch again something from this author.