You Imagine discussion

Why was it the worst book you've ever read? Sometimes the books we can't stand are the one's that teach us best how to write what works, because we discover what doesn't.

A self-published book by a friend of a friend. No talent, none. When my friend asked me what I thought about the book I had to be honest and say it was amateurish. The friendship survived perhaps because he hadn't written the book, it was his friend whom I didn't even know.

The worst book I've ever read was years ago.
'The Spy Who Loved Me' by Ian Fleming. Now let me say I'm a great James Bond fan (the books, I was never too fond of the character, but the stories were great.) This seemed like a rather poor 'fan fiction' though. The plot ambles on, focussing on the main female character. James Bond eventually comes on the scene and saves her from rape, then she(of course) ends up in bed with him. And that's it, no interesting badf guys, no twisting plot and very little of James Bond himself. As I said it's an awful long time since I read it, but I think the fact I remember it so well, for all the wrong reasons, shows how bad it was. Perhaps it's just me, but if I'd read this first, I would probably never have bothered reading all the other Bond books.

A self-published book of erotic short stories. I started it for a site I used to review for; I couldn't finish it. There some good points, but all of the female characters talked the same and a lot of grammar issues.

I have read several other self-published novels and really enjoyed most of them.

Hmmm, the worst book I've picked up and never made it past page 128 was Anne Rice's "The Witching Hour". After that many pages read it still didn't garner my attention enough to hold me until the supposed "good part" that people seem to rave about. It was just soooooooooo slow I had to put it down, and I love Rice, but that book was a disappointment. :(
L

I thought it was just me, Steph. I pushed myself to finish The Pillars of the Earth and wondered what it was that pulled people in. I wonder if it appealed to a wider audience because of the short sentence lengths, as though it were a young adult novel in disguise. Hmmm.

I'm with you on that one. Hated that book.

I firmly believe in ditching books that don't keep my interest, so I have a hard time even recalling titles. For me the hallmark of bad writing is unrealistic dialogue and unbelievable characters. I WANT to lose myself in the story and experience the characters' feelings and frustrations. I can't stand cliches.

Beth Fehlbaum, author
Courage in Patience, a story of hope for those who have endured abuse
http://courageinpatience.blogspot.com
Chapter One is online!

I can't remember all the books I've read in my life, but i can remember the last book i labelled "The worst I read in my life". Well, it might come as a shock to many, I know, so this is kind of a confession but I hated A million little pieces- I hated it to the point that I put it down before I finished it, and it's the only book that drove me to do this, I always finish my books no matter how strongly i disagree with the author, but the dosage of anger and loathing and rejection of everything sacred made this book just appaling to me!

That 'poetry' book by the rock singer, Jewel. It was so bad that I've forgotten the title---"Nights in Armor"?

Jewel may be a decent singer and an otherwise OK person, but the gal has a tin ear for poetry. "I hear the bravuras of birds. . ." YEESH! This was teenage journal verse-writing at its very worst. This is an example of why people who hate poetry. . .well, hate poetry. And to think, it was a best-seller!

Poetry books by 'celebrity' authors tend to suck like a Hoover upright. Jimmy Stewart, Ally Sheedy, rockers of various ilks---they've all wasted a lot of paper and ink. These folks need to stick to their day jobs.

I am with Beth. If a book is really bad, I just give up. Life is too short...

I'm with Beth and Catherine. I stop reading when I realize I can't stand it. By the way, Catherine, thanks for telling me about the tube having trouble in London. Turns out the rail system was down over Easter, too. So we flew to Scotland instead.

I read or started to read a book by Cathy Cash Spellman. I didn't realize it was Horror till I got into it. I came across a section where they were using kids as sacrifices. Too graphic had to stop.

I can't really think of the worst book I've ever read. I think, when I truly hate a book, I completely forget that it exists until someone mentions it and then I say "Oh yeah, I read that and it was a complete waste of a tree. Too bad I'll never get those lost hours of my life back after reading that crap." So, right now I can't think of one. I'm sure I've come across books that I thought would be great for kindling in my fireplace, but right now I can't think of even one.

Probably, my first attempt at a novel, years ago. I'm shuddering as I sit here typing.

honestly, the worst book I ever read was eragon, mainly because it was too long and I read all the harry potter books for the first time after eragon, so when I got back to it, i saw it lacked some detail, and I thought it had too much in it. Right now, all I say is I think eragon sucks, no offence to some people.

Moccasin Trail. I could not get into that book AT ALL!

Probably Wuthering Heights. I know it's a classic and all, but the characters really annoyed me to death. I mean, there wasn't even one slight aspect in them that showed any good qualities...ughh.

Worst Book: The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Why: I thought it was going to be a great book, but it turned out that it was about a girl being accused of witch craft, and i found it very boring. The plot wasn't exciting enough for me.

Eragon wanders around as if Christopher Paolini didn't have a clue what his characters should be doing. They seem to be killing time.

Also, the story lacks details because Paolini didn't have the life experience to provide or imagine them.

Still, Paolini accomplished something that many older writers don't: he finished.

In spite of it being on the Best Seller list, I hated The Historian. It was supposed to be about Dracula and there were foreboding hints throughout but he didn't make his appearance until nearly the end of the book and then for a very short time. I found it very boring because most of it was description and no dialogue. "Too much Showing, no Telling" that's how the publishers rate a book and this one was just that. On and on and on...I finally gave up and turned to the end, something I try not to do, read that. Then put it back on the shelf. In spite of having written fantasy and romance, I would like to be established as a horror writer. I've written a vampire novel, and several short stories and if it has the word "vampire" or "Dracula" in the title or the blurb, I'm going to grab it, and--believe me--it takes a lot for me to give up on a book. (I'm the same way with horror movies. It has to be Grade Z for me to turn it off and there have been abot 5 that I did that to! I even sat through Plan 9 from Outer Space--twice!) I'm keeping this one in my vampire collection (to date, I have about 300)but I won't be recommending it to anyone except as a soporific. All I can think is that this author must have had a terrific agent. (Am I being too harsh? Hope I don't getg backlash from this.)

Oh, those early attempts at novel writing! I shudder, too, and now am so relieved that getting published really was a long, arduous process. My first published novel is certainly not my first written novel. Sobering reminder to self--if, early on, I'd already been famous or infamous for something else, my early attempts might have sold easily (like some celebrity poetry, children's books, memoirs, etc.).

Taste in books is pretty subjective--as we see on Goodreads. The books I love are usually ones deeply felt and well-expressed by the author. The books I dislike (and skim or toss aside) are ground out products, ones that rely too much on a gimmick instead of a story, and those with pedestrian ideas disguised by fancy covers.

Hmm, I can't think of any one title I would label 'the worst'. Three books that I love to hate are Twilight, Eragon, and the Da Vinci Code. I'm sorry if you love any of those, but I just. can't. stand. them. Why?

Twilight- well, the vampire bit made me a bit nervous, and the romance part a bit more nervous, and then Bella confirmed it for me. I don't go out much for vampires or romance, but wishy-washy characters like Bella... ugh.

Eragon--cliche! So very immature teenage writing! I will stop talking before I have a novel here for you to read about it

The Da Vinci Code--all it had was scene changes at all the right moments and a controvercial subject. Thats it.

Ironically enough, I did actually finish these three books, and I'm one of those who firmly believes in a readers right to put something down if it isn't interesting them. (After giving the book a fair chance, that is. Some books just take awhile to pick up speed, you know?)



I do think, however, that readers read differently than non-readers. Those three books above were best sellers, I think, because they appealed to people who don't read a whole lot. People who haven't read lots of other fantasy wouldn't know how cliche Eragon is. If you haven't read lots of books with compelling characters you wouldn't realize how flat Bella and Edward are. If you like action films and not novels maybe Da Vinci Code was the book for you.

(That might be an interesting topic for discussion--do 'readers' read differently than 'non-readers'? Is there a reader in everyone, and they just haven't discovered the right book to get them going, or do you think readers tend to be people who share certain traits?)

I'm a reader, and I liked the DaVinci Code a lot.

One book I really didn't like was Running With Scissors. I felt so insulted that Burroughs called it a "memoir" but it's only "loosely based" on his life. I probably would have enjoyed it more if he had presented it as fiction.

I would have to say a self published erotic/romance novel by a retired cop writing under a woman's name. Can't even remember the title. So deliciously bad it was delightful, and a bit heartbreaking. The retired cop (wrap around sunglasses and pressed uniform) would write on film sets in long hand, leaned against his Harley, and have his daughter-in-law type them up later. Honestly HE could make for a pretty good novel.

i liked Twilight and the Da Vinci Code! okay, i understand why you didn't like them, but i still loved em!

I thought I was the only one that hated Wuthering Heights, but I truly don't remember a redeeming feature from it. Like you said the characters were annoying, whiny and by the end of the book I didn't care what happened to them.

Dr. Zhivago would be a close second.

The World According to Garp I never finished, but I just couldn't get past the middle.

And I still have repressed memories from reading Charlie and Chocolate Factory when I was 9. Absolutely horrible. I should try it again to see if I enjoy is as an adult.

The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon. It could be because I'm not a fan of autobiographies or non-fiction, or it could be the fact that that book was terrible.

The storyline was pointless and unexciting, and 3/4 of the book, the main character is hospitalized (oh joy).

Just not the book for me.

Hello all,
I'm new to the group. Worst book..hmm maybe Stephen King's Imsomnia (after many failed attempts it became apart of the bedrm decor. I just couldn't from falling asleep!

Tangerine or The Martian Chronicles. Both very boring books I had to read for school.

Bless the Child--Cathy Cash Spellman. Truly a bad horror story....when theystarted talking about ritual sacrifice and children--thats when I stopped.