What is the worst book you have wasted your time on and why?

[Cindy]

"Dreamcatcher" by Stephen King was too gross for me. Either I can't put his books down or I'm sorry I picked it up. I don't like to not finish a book though.

[Tressa]

Since I usually don't finish a book I'm not liking, there have been few I didn't like but finished. However, The Passage was the biggest disappointment in years. I also didn't care for Little Bee and had high expectations for it. The characters did something so stupid at the end I was left shaking my head. It stretched believability.

[Phebe]

I won't finish a bad book. I agree with A Denise on that.

It's not the worst I have read, but Time Line by Michael Crichton was so poor I tried to read twice and stopped both times. It's a rip-off of Connecticut Yankee and is hackneyed and predictable with obvious and implausible tropes. It's one of Crichton's later works, which aren't as good as his early stuff, as with Robert Heinlein and Dean Koontz.

[Chris]

I can usually find something worthwhile in even the most banal and poorly written book. Even if I can't stand it, if I do some soul searching, I can usually extract at least ONE enjoyable thing from that experience.

That said (and this may not come as much of a surprise to some) the one book I could find NOTHING of value in was "Twilight." This book made me legitimately angry reading it, that's how much I detested it. I could rant for hours about what a pitiful excuse of a human being Bella is, how she sets the women's rights movement back about 500 years...and the abortion topic in the later books.....good GOD the abortion topic....I was FUMING at this point.

I'm not going to offer my political stance on abortion since its not relevant to the topic....but if you're going to write about something as serious as abortion...especially to a teenage demographic....you better DAMN well know what you're talking about. I was so livid at Meyers for her handling of this subject I was shaking. Meyers is WORTHLESS....its no wonder she's the laughing stock of the literary world....and I think its safe to say I HATE her books....and hate is not a word I use lightly.

[David]

I liked Time line..I thought it was a decent movie also.

[Phebe]

David wrote: "I liked Time line..I thought it was a decent movie also."

I didn't know they made a movie. Huh, I think I'll send for it. Thanks. I don't know when to quit, I guess. I love time travel, in principle at least.

[Mixofsunandcloud]

Of the books that I've finished, all I can think of is The Pearl by Steinbeck. Had to read it in school. But even though it's been nearly two decades, I still haven't been able to pick up another Steinbeck. Part of it is probably that when you don't like a book you read in school, you can't just put it aside and forget about it, you still have to pick it apart and analyse it for a few weeks.

[Tressa]

Oh, I also read The Giver last year and have to say it was a disappointment, especially since I had considered it one of those praised classics that everyone should read and love. But it wasn't awful.

I love reading, even "dry" classics, and majored in English in college. I was so tortured by the God awful Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens that I'm surprised I ever picked up a book again. I cannot stand his books with the exception of the fabulous A Christmas Carol, which I read or watch or listen to every December because its theme of having a chance to change your life even at an advanced age is wonderful.

[Phebe]

Huh! I sort of liked Our Mutual Friend, read it twice and saw the movie. Humorous, more than some of Dickens, anyway.

[Char]

Traci L. wrote: "Ugh. I never finished Moby Dick. One day I want to. But just... ugh. Most boring book I have ever (tried to) read."

Traci, *high five*
The most BORINGEST book EVAH.

[Char]

Peter wrote: "Charlene wrote: "I know it's blasphemy, but it's Moby Dick."

I read Moby Dick as an adult, thinking I would better myself somehow. Instead it had the opposite effect. It made me more cynical than ..."


Peter!! AMEN!

[Rebecca]

As a southerner it's almost illegal to say this but I have a really, really hard time getting through Faulkner. I have started AS I LAY DYING at least three times.

As far as contemporary books go, THE ALMOST MOON (I think that's it...the follow up to THE LOVELY BONES) was painful for me. Absolutely painful. I stuck with it out of sheer will.

[Char]

Tressa wrote: "Oh, I also read The Giver last year and have to say it was a disappointment, especially since I had considered it one of those praised classics that everyone should read and love. But it wasn't awf..."

Tressa, no Dickens at all? I actually enjoy Dickens. For some reason we never tackled Dickens in school, so in my mid teens I picked up Oliver Twist and I really enjoyed it. I read David Copperfield last year, I think, and again, I enjoyed it!
I love the way Dickens describes things...he can make the most horrible insult in the world sound cultured and nice. His sly humor cracks me up.

[Teresa]

I was doing 12 hour shifts at a hospital .. computer support. I was by myself and Had a beeper and had to stay at the hospital..it was very slow.. So I grabbed twilight everyone kept saying how great it was..

Uggg..pages and pages of silly conversation..hated that book

[Tressa]

Charlene, I read Great Expectations in high school and barely remember it; and I don't remember being impressed by it back then. Over the years I may have read Oliver Twist, but probably just watched the musical and think I read it. I know his books are fraught with deep meaning about important issues, but he's just too boring a writer for me. With the exception of A Christmas Carol, which I adore. Hmmm, maybe he was so busy writing all those long, drawn-out passages he hired a ghost writer for Carol.

[Tressa]

Rebecca, my God, not even a Southerner is supposed to have an easy time with Faulkner! I had to read AS I Lay Dying in college and was dreading it, but I not only ended up enjoying it AT THE TIME, but was proud of myself for getting through it because of all the character/time shifts when you don't know who's saying what and what year it's in. But I would never re-read it. I do like all the Faulkner short stories I've read, though.

OMG. I tried reading Almost Moon and it was so horrible I couldn't get through it. The character was so stupid! AM contains the funniest passage ever in a book:

‘‘There it was, the hole that had given birth to me,” Sebold writes. ‘‘This was not the first time I’d been face-to-face with my mother’s genitalia. In the last decade, I had become my mother’s official enema-giver.”

[[deleted user]]

I haven't read As I Lie Dying but I will one day. Have you read The Sound and the Fury? The single hardest book I have ever got through. When I was done I was glad I kept with it. I'd love to read it again now that I know what the heck was going on. But there were moments I felt like I was slamming my head against the wall.

But I like Mccarthy too. ;)

[Tressa]

Oh, hell. I meant Sound and the Fury, not as I Lay Dying. I think I attempted Dying but mega failed at getting through the first chapter.

[Michael]

As much as I like Dan Simmon's work, I could not finish . I tried for 250 pages and absolutely hated it.

I agree with Tressa on the Passage after such a promising start it went to hell in a handbasket.

[Jenn]

I don't remember the names of the books but I hated all the required reading in grade school. Since then I've dropped any book that I disliked after starting.

There are more good books than I could read, I don't see the point in forcing yourself through a bad one.

[Phebe]

Portnoy's Complaint was my all time unfavorite book. I got it after I got out of school because everyone was making a big fuss over it: it was supposedly "literature." It turned out to be this pimply kid who would go in the bathroom and ...play with himself, and no one in his family could ever get into the bathroom.

After reading this awhile, aghast in total disgust, I had a Revelation: I had graduated school, and I would NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE TO READ ANYTHING BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE SAID I HAD TO.

So I got rid of the New York Review of Books and Portnoy's Complaint and never read "literature" again as long as I lived. Great decision, turned out.

[Peter]

Phebe wrote: "Portnoy's Complaint was my all time unfavorite book. I got it after I got out of school because everyone was making a big fuss over it: it was supposedly "literature." It turned out to be this pimp..."

“Classic' - a book which people praise and don't read.” — Mark Twain
There are exceptions, but very few.

[Gregor]

I liked Portnoy's Complaint when I was 17.

[Mehmet]

Angel and demons and Da Vinci code by Dan Brown, i so wished never starting then as i struggled to finish them. Just did not enjoy the style or the subject.

[Chris]

Mehmet wrote: "Angel and demons and Da Vinci code by Dan Brown, i so wished never starting then as i struggled to finish them. Just did not enjoy the style or the subject."

Agreed....what's worse are the ignorant people who think Brown's *cough* research into the subject matter has any modicum of truth to it.

[Justin]

The Sugar Frosted Nutsack by Mark Leyner. I only read 15 pages but those 15 pages were excruciatingly painful. It was just total nonsense! Read my review on it, I'm a bit over the top and harsh but it needed to be said..that book...ahhh!!

[Mehmet]

That is true Grammer :-) so agree with you !

[[deleted user]]

I know it's very popular, but I hated Cloud Atlas. I finished it but it felt like torture. I liked the concept of the book. But the writing itself was a bore to me.

[Mehmet]

Another book that i disliked was Crusader Gold by Gibbons. The Book sounded so interesting but the writing style was not engaging enough. Sometimes the authors style is more important then actual content !

[The Angry Lawn Gnome]

Rose Madder by Stephen King. Whoa, was that an awful book. I was a huge fan of King's when I started that one, and didn't touch anything by him for close to decade after finishing it.

[Holly]

Oh my god, I have to confess that a co-worker forced me to read Celestine Prophecy so she could discuss it with someone. She was disappointed that I disliked it so much.

[Phebe]

Lumpenprole wrote: "Rose Madder by Stephen King. Whoa, was that an awful book. I was a huge fan of King's when I started that one, and didn't touch anything by him for close to decade after finishing it."

!!! How people vary.......that is maybe my favorite Stephen King; I've read it 4 times and listened to it also.

[Jon Recluse]

Silas Marner

Unspeakable in it's ability to turn readers into voluntary illiterates.

[Mixofsunandcloud]

While not the worst, I dislike all of H.G Wells' narrators. His ideas are great, his stories are great, but the narrators make me want to throw the books at the wall.

[jb]

Mixofsunandcloud wrote: "Of the books that I've finished, all I can think of is The Pearl by Steinbeck. Had to read it in school. But even though it's been nearly two decades, I still haven't been able to pick up another..."

I also hated "The Pearl".......all I kept hearing was what a great story it was and I wanted to just throw the book away. It was horrible and depressing!

[Annabelle]

For me, it would be 'Superstitions' by R.L Stine.
I was a big fan of RL Stine during my adolescence, saving my pocket money to buy all his books. I still cherish this collection! So when i saw that he actually wrote for the adult section I was most impatient to read the book but after reaching half of it book and nothing actually happened I actually decided to drop it BIG DISAPPOINTMENT!

[Tressa]

Man, I loved The Pearl even though I was expecting not to like it much at all.

Here's another I finished but didn't care for:

Apeshit

[Pickle]

i would say mine would be Pandora's Star.

at 1100+ pages it was a struggle but i managed to get to page 800 before wondering why im bothering. Chapters would end but would keep going for sometimes 5/6 pages, just end it.

It was like an epic fantasy except for sci-fi. Not for me.

[Richard]

I am still trying to get through "The Accursed" by Joyce Carol Oates. Yes, she's a great writer. Yes, Stephen King praised this book in a New York Times Book Review some time back. Yes, I am afflicted with that rare disorder that forces me to finish a book once I've started it; a curse I've carried since college. With that said, there was a very good section about a "bog kingdom" in the heart of Princeton, NJ that I wish Oates would write a whole novel about, but it will probably not happen. So, yes, I am a victim of Joyce Carol Oates' beautiful and cruel charms. Does anyone know how to break this spell?

[[deleted user]]

Do you like the book? If you're just finding it slow maybe read other things between reading it. If you don't like it I say life is too short and there are too many books and too little time. :)

[Caitlin B]

"The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove" by Lauren Kate. I love Lauren Kate so I was really excited to read it. But it turned out to be awful, I wouldn't recommend reading it.

[Lauren]

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I HATED that book so much! I had to read it for English Comp II and my teacher thought that she was more enlightened that all of her lowly students and forced us to read minority literature. I didn't like the subject or context of the book and thought it was poorly written. And all the other "literature" I read by the same author I hated.

[Tressa]

Oh, Lauren, I LOVE Their Eyes Were Watching God! Read it in college and a few times since.

[Damien]

Tressa wrote: "Oh, Lauren, I LOVE Their Eyes Were Watching God! Read it in college and a few times since."

Me too. Amazing book.

I would have to say that 50 shades of crap was the worst book I have ever wasted time on.

[Shawn]

I am SO looking forward to rereading "Heart Of Darkness" later in the year!

[David]

I would probably say either The Pearl or Twilight. I hated the pearl because for one, I had to read it for high school, and for two it was 90 pages of sheer boredom...I'm reading another Steinbeck novel which isn't as bad but it is longer so...and Twilight was just dreadful. The writing, characters, story, all terrible.

[Justin]

Though it was an audio book and it was forced upon me to hear I am going to say a book possibly autobiography by Tom Brokaw. He narrated it and oh dear lord..I never fell asleep before or after in school just that one time. That mans voice is sooo boring and what he was talking about? No clue to this day.

Parents should hire him to put their children to sleep. His voice is dull and the book was just ..gah! I thought it was bad if I fell asleep hearing it!

[Lexa]

Merrick by Anne Rice. DNF

Normally I like her tales, but with this one I trudged on to the halfway point and was still waiting for a plot to show up. *yawn*

Since I started writing, I've had a much more difficult time reading. I've developed this necessary-but-evil inner critic that won't shut up. Has that happened to anyone else?

[Lauren]

Tressa, I still have it and have been considering giving it a second chance. I had major issues with the professor. We had different ideas about a play that we had to read. After that, she would call me out in class and point out how wrong she thought that I was. I ended up with a C in the class, but all the reading that she assigned after the incident was tainted with a "I know I will hate this" attitude.

[Tressa]

Justin, how did you even understand a word Brokaw said? He's always talked like he had a mouth full of marbles; his voice always seemed so affected to me. I wouldn't give a rat's fat ass about a day out of this man's life.