Old Books, New Readers discussion

What are some of the worst books you have ever read and why?

Old books? Or any books ever?

Any books ever! Like Twilight. A new height to be considered the worst book ever and it achieved it almost without trying.

I actually liked Twilight. I thought it was really original. I didn't love the writing or Bella, but I read them. Again, Great Expectations. Hated it. Everyone was so annoying. And Evermore? Didn't like it either. The narrator was real annoying, and the writing wasn't very good either.

What is Evermore? I haven't heard of it? Not like the poem by Edgar Allen Poe right?

No, like this one book series that sounded intriguing and wasn't.

HAhaha bummer. I hate it when that happens.

Hmmm, worst book ever for me was Swordsmasters...that was one book that was devoured by flames.

I really did not like divergent. A complete waste of time that should have stayed in that woman's head.

Oh seriously? I thought it was amazing, actually.

Really. It was pretty much a girl who thought she was weak and worthless while everyone else thought she was amazing and she ends up with the perfect guy, and the way the lady wrote was very repetitive. Her vocabulary was small and the language weak and uninteresting. Further more she really liked everything to be super violent with much bone cracking and blood which I don't mind I just though the way she used it was childish.

I think she is weak, especially in the beginning, so the story is her learning not to be. Because she wasn't born Dauntless, she has to figure out how to be brave, the right kind of brave. And I like that she's not described as beautiful, but instead striking. And Four's not perfect either, though I love him. I like that he still has his own past to get through. And I didn't mind the violence. A lot of the time I thought she used it well, and it added to the Dauntless atmosphere.

well... I still disagree but I shall allow you your own opinion because I am nice that way.

Ah, that's very kind. Thanks for allowing opinions :D

Your welcome. I hope it doesn't come back to haunt me :D

Anyone read Cold Mountain? I was just thinking about that book (one we had to read for school and that I didn't actually read... Faked my way through that one) and how much I hated it.

Great Expectations was awful! I despise Charles Dickens' work.

Oh my gosh, Great Expectations was the worst, wasn't it?! Every one of the characters was annoying, and Pip was an idiot.

Ha I haven't ever read it. I saw the movie and thought it was very sad, very bland, and pip was an idiot. I only watched it because it had an actor I liked in it. I started the book several times but never got past the first three chapters.

It was another school-read for me. One I couldn't get away with not reading, unfortunately. It's what's making it hard for me to pick up another Dicken's novel. I haven't and I will never see the movie :)

Yeah, a school-read for me as well. Why do they not let us read good books in school? Jane Austen, Phantom of the Opera; I would have loved to read those. Alas...

Haha, I've read a few good books from school that I'm grateful for, because if my teachers hadn't made me read them I never would have. But yeah, overall, school books suck

Yes, I'll admit I never would have read The Great Gatsby, Ethan Frome (which, I'll admit, took a few months and a quick reread to decide I liked), or Fahrenheit 451 if I didn't have to for school, and I ended up loving them. But how I ever got through Catcher in the Rye or The Odyssey without hitting my head against a wall, I will never know. I think the good books and the awful books are about equally matched and the rest tend to be mediocre. Not particularly fond of them, but not sorry I read them.

Another book that I didn't really like (i.e. gagged my way through it) was Firelight. :P I thought is was going to be about shape-shifting dragons...and it was...but it really wasn't. More about half the book was kissing/making out and the other half was her trying to keep her draci alive...which pretty much meant making out some more with the guy she obsesses about likes.

Hahahaaha Love your review Tabi!

You oughtta read the one I put on the book...;)

Julian Barnes The Sense of An Ending, Ian McEwan's Child In Time and Kate something's The Awakening - hate hate hate them all!!

The last two were school reads - thank goodness the rest of the school reads made up for those two failures! As for Barnes I am SHOCKED how it beat the other shortlisted books for last year's Man Booker Prize >:O

Just put down a book that I started reading because it looked cool. Glimmerglass by Black someone...ech! :P Ok story..but the plot is SO lame!!! Plus, there's way too much really really heavy kissing in there for me...(like the kissing that leads to you-know-what-begins-with-an-"s".)
If it wasn't a library book, it'd be one of the ones that I would give to a very eager pyromaniac..i.e., my bro. ;)

Hahaha! Tabi your so funny. I almost wish I had more books to hate to try and out clever you, but in the end I read very few bad books and I usually don't finish them.

HEHE!!! Unless a story is like, so bad...I'll stick it out till the end...even read a whole series if I have to.

Yeah, wow. Just the name turns me away. lol

Yeah, I've been boycotting all of those Pride and Prejudice and Zombies books because they sound ridiculous.

Hemingway is a terrible author! He writes in these short, choppy sentences, void of any emotion. And he's sexist; which wouldn't bother me so much if he weren't such a terrible writer, but all of the women in his books are completely helpless..

I didn't much care for "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies". It was amusing and well done but I just thought it was murder to Jane Austen.

Actually, I haven't found a book that is very bad although sometimes I read few book and don't finish them but not because it's totally crap. Most of all, it because I don't like the translation (I read it not in English but with my own language).

As much as possible I avoid books that you are talking about here. LOL

Haha, that's what the discussion is for! And I do the same thing: if I don't like the book I'm reading, I stop reading it. I have too many other books to get to to waste my time :D

Haley wrote: "Haha, that's what the discussion is for! And I do the same thing: if I don't like the book I'm reading, I stop reading it. I have too many other books to get to to waste my time :D"

Totally agree, Haley! :D

Worst book? Well, I REALLY can't stand James Joyce. His works just seem overly lost in its own rambling and lack of focus. Ulysses could be SO much friggen better if it cut out all of the pages between the covers, and used them as kindle to burn the cover. A dull, boring book I couldn't get more than a paragraph into before I realized how little I cared.

As for a new book, the Left Behind series is particular disgusting. The whole series feels like it's a piece of hateful, loathing novel that hates me more than I can hate it. It doesn't help that the book is also a badly written mess with no coherent description, an insane plot that justifies an ENTIRE BOOK OF NOTHING, and badly written Mary Sues who never are called out for the horrible things they do, things so bad that the author needed to make the villain the Anti-Christ just to make us remotely sympathize with them--and even then, the Anti-Christ is at least honest about the fact he's a jerk-arse. -_-

Hahaha! I am not allowed to read those book for fear of wasting my time. I know a lot of Christians think they are really good, but I also know a lot who think they are bad. I am with holding judgment.

(The left behind books I mean.)

The thing is that the books are just, in general, perversions of the Christian doctrine. It misinterprets a lot of stuff, choosing what parts of the doctrine it wants to follow. It mistakes allegory for prophecy, adds stuff that was never mentioned in the Bible at all, and other stuff. It specifically draws from a very specific sect of Christianity that is fairly unusual.

The thing is, though, even disregarding theological misinterpretations, the story isn't very well written. I don't think I can like a series where books are intentionally written to show how NOTHING happens for a year. Literally. I mean, Book Two has NOTHING happen in it. There is no progress, no character development...and this is intentional. I just--it baffles me...

I think my sister liked those books... Either that or she just has them in her room, which is unlikely. I'm withholding judgement until I read for myself. I just bought the first one, so hopefully that judgement will come sooner than later.

Yeah, definitely read it yourself. Try not to let my criticism affect your enjoyment--or loathing--of the book. ^_^

Actually, another book I just remembered that's even WORSE is Marquis de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom, a book so loathsome I felt disgusting reading it... O_o

Luckily, the title alone is enough to ensure I'm not going to pick that book up, so there's that potential crisis averted.

I'm good at ignoring other people's opinions on my books :D So you guys can talk about Left Behind all you want, don't worry about it affecting my reading.

Yeah...I picked it up because everyone told me it was the most disturbing book ever written. I can safely assure you they're right. In fact, everything by Marquis de Sade is wretched. It's...kinda hard to stomach, and this is coming from someone who loves horror.

lol! Awesome! >:]

Well now I'm curious about it. Crap.

I just looked it up and... wow. That's... something. If I ever start it, I probably won't finish.

Yeah. PRETTY horrid, right? I mean, I think it's safe to agree that the book is probably unambiguously one of the worst books ever written...or at least one of the most nightmarish pieces of literature ever.

Why is it even necessary to write a book like that? That's the kind of thing I don't understand. Why would you want that on paper, and then why would enough people read it that it becomes well-known? That's just weird.

I think the answer is simple: Marquis de Sade was a troll. There are probably better answers, but that keeps me from going insane.

LOL! "Marquid de Sade was a troll" locked in my quotes forever.

Haha, I suppose that's the only reason I need.