Worst Books You've Ever Read

[Penelope]

I have read a lot of Stephen King's books, but not the one you mention. I think I've only read his early ones - about eight or ten I think. They are absolutely engrossing but the foul language makes me uncomfortable. They are great stories, but that sort of language gets into ones brain pattern and manner of speaking.

So, when my husband said something to annoy me and I thought in my head, 'Shut the f.... up' - which I would never say really, it would shock him.....I thought I'd better stop reading Mister King.....before I voiced my thoughts. LOL

I really, really loved 'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Angels and Demons' - and I think Dan Brown is a really good read. I don't care what the carping voices say about the books being badly written. They are not meant to be literature....they are just a jolly good and interesting read.

I've read a couple of James Paterson's too.....and enjoyed them. He's usually at the top of our best-seller list for fiction in the UK.

[Penelope]

I've been thinking about the loss of your father at such a young age. That is so hard because smoking tobacco wasn't frowned upon so much in your father's youth. Soldiers in WWII were supplied with cigarettes and whilst they must have known it wasn't good for them....I don't think perhaps they realised how detrimental smoking was to their health.

It must have affected you to see your father have such a hard passing.

Growing old is a privilege not granted to all of us. There seem to be more and more funerals to attend as one grows older. It is somewhat disconcerting but it makes me determined to enjoy my later life on behalf of those ones who didn't get the chance.

Not that I don't have a good old grumble about my bloody achey knees.....It's not great getting older...but better than the alternative.

[Suzanne]

Hello and welcome James!

I have enjoyed this conversation very much. I'm so happy the plot of it has been easy to understand not like some of the books that have mentioned. It's funny, I've been reading, "Orlando", Virginia Woolf, the last two nights now I've asked myself "do I want to continue reading this"? Last night I answered honestly and threw it back on the pile unfinished. I have found VW's life story to be more interesting than her fictional stories.

I've decided to continue on through "The Dark Tower Series", by King. I'm now on the third book of the series. I tend to agree with you James about King's endings, I've found myself being dissapointed in some. But with "Tower" I have five more books to go through before I get to the end!

So, when my husband said something to annoy me and I thought in my head, 'Shut the f.... up' - which I would never say really, it would shock him.....I thought I'd better stop reading Mister King.....before I voiced my thoughts. LOL

[James Vaught]

Thanks for the three posts.

I tend to avoid King's "fantasy" work (like the Dark Tower series), but usually like his horror and apocalyptic works, although I guess there is some bleedover between the genres. Of his long works that I've finished, I'd say Under The Dome is the worst, especially the ending. I was extremely disappointed that he took me down that LONG path only to feed me a crappy ending.

I'd say that Salem's Lot was his best, even though it was fairly short. Another good one is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and, of course, his classic The Stand.

One thing I marvel at is his stamina in producing a work like The Stand without a word processor. How in God's name he was able to type that manuscript on a regular typewriter is a miracle all unto itself. I took a year of typing in high school, but never achieved a speed high enough to even consider writing a 1000 page manuscript on a manual typewriter! My fastest timed drill in high school was 45 wpm and that was going 'all out.' I shudder to think back on that drudgery. But, it made using computers seem like heaven, so I guess there's a silver lining in every cloud.

Yeah, it was a true horror show to watch my father die of liver cancer. If there's a worse death, I don't want to know about it. I'd never really considered taking up smoking but watching him die from it was the final "cure" to any desire to do so.

[Charlie Johnson]

One memorable one that I only read becuse someone lent it to me, was Catcher in the Rye. I hated it.

[James Vaught]

Well, I read Catcher in The Rye. I didn't hate it, but, at the same time, I didn't (and still don't) see what was considered so GREAT about it. I suppose it wasn't a waste of time to read it, but I'd recommend many other books over it.

[Aqueda_Veronica]

I have a rule: I give any novel at least 100 pages before I quit, no matter how painful it is.

On one hand I do understand your point Avid Reader. It is only fair that we give some kind of a chance to any book. On other hand, don't you believe that your reading time is too precious to waste it on a bad book? "Life's too short and there are way too many titles waiting for me" is my motto

Thoughts?

And since I'm a King fan too I have to agree that his early work used to be much better. Gripping and thrilling to the point that it would keep me up almost all night... I loved "Carry" and "The Shining". Some of the new stuff - like "Duma Key" - is not as good. Oddly enough, when it comes to his short stories - it seems to be the other way around

[BookCritic101]

A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, way too much profanity.

[James Vaught]

I've never read "A Day in The Life" and don't suppose I will. Russian novels are way too long for what they have to say. In my opinion, of course.

[witch love]

There are very few books that I can not find some beauty in, that doesn't mean I loved them all, some of them were not so great, some of them were so boring I could weep.

When I was about 14 I read "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle" - Mark W. Scott, and I must say, it was truely awful, I kept it thinking maybe one day I could get through it and be richer for the expierence, or some non-sense. I have since given it away.

I also am not a big fan of King ... though I have been to his house, and he did sign my copy of "Misery", I just can not get into any of his new(er) stuff.