Worst book you ever read (or tried to)

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oldbloke

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Inspired by a friend's thread on Twitter/FB...

What's the worst book you ever read (or tried to) ? [Manuals don't count, obv.]

My nomination was "What's Bred In The Bone" by Robertson Davies, but I don't read much fiction. Jonathan Livingston Seagull a close second.
Quite a few people hate Zen & The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance, apparently, but I thought it was OK and was making a valid philosophical point.
Salman Rushdie also getting some stick
 
I recently started reading "Feersum Enjun" by Iain M Banks...all the others I have read have been excellent, but this I just could not get into and I didn't even finish the first chapter. I was completely clueless as to what was going on and thought what is the point!?
 
Cononthebarber said:
I recently started reading "Feersum Enjun" by Iain M Banks...all the others I have read have been excellent, but this I just could not get into and I didn't even finish the first chapter. I was completely clueless as to what was going on and thought what is the point!?

Are you allowed to slag his stuff off so soon after him snuffing it? Wait a week....
 
Terry Pratchett-The Spirit of Fantasy by Craig Cabell. Utter garbage. It is not about Pratchett but it is Cabell's opinions on Pratchetts work.
 
oldbloke said:
Are you allowed to slag his stuff off so soon after him snuffing it? Wait a week....

Whoops! A quick google reveals that that post was too soon, I was not aware of that sad news! The book is still not good though!
 
The Silmarillion; Tolkien meets the Old Testament!!
Hardwork for even the most ardent fan!!
 
snail59 said:
Terry Pratchett-The Spirit of Fantasy by Craig Cabell. Utter garbage. It is not about Pratchett but it is Cabell's opinions on Pratchetts work.

Ah yes we recently got this as we have every pratchett thing ever, and t'missus was outraged by some bits of it as she knows they're just completely wrong, and she wasn't impressed by the rest either
 
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (not the skinny un) complete and utter snore fest
 
Shakespeare's "King Lear".

Admittedly it's technically not a book, however the novel hadn't been invented when he was writing so it's as close as you'll get from that era. I've never been a big fan of his plays anyway so it was never going to score very highly, and it probably wasn't helped by me being forced to sit through the most godawful production imaginable, in a seat so poorly designed that I had back-ache and knee-ache for two days afterwards, but I'd sooner go to a Bieber :sick: concert than sit through that again. The man really ought to have stuck to sonnets.
 
oldbloke said:
snail59 said:
Terry Pratchett-The Spirit of Fantasy by Craig Cabell. Utter garbage. It is not about Pratchett but it is Cabell's opinions on Pratchetts work.

Ah yes we recently got this as we have every pratchett thing ever, and t'missus was outraged by some bits of it as she knows they're just completely wrong, and she wasn't impressed by the rest either

We too are big Pratchett fans. My sister got it by mistake thinking it was about the man himself. Gave it to my other half and she didn't go much on it either. I never even got a quarter of the way through it.
 
Tim_Crowhurst said:
Shakespeare's "King Lear".

Admittedly it's technically not a book, however the novel hadn't been invented when he was writing so it's as close as you'll get from that era. I've never been a big fan of his plays anyway so it was never going to score very highly, and it probably wasn't helped by me being forced to sit through the most godawful production imaginable, in a seat so poorly designed that I had back-ache and knee-ache for two days afterwards, but I'd sooner go to a Bieber :sick: concert than sit through that again. The man really ought to have stuck to sonnets.

It is always a shame when people try something new and fail. He should have stuck to making fishing tackle :whistle:
 
spike418 said:
Kinleycat said:
The Silmarillion; Tolkien meets the Old Testament!!
Hardwork for even the most ardent fan!!

I would add Lord of the Rings! Interminable badly written with a trite story.
:nono: How very dare you!!! :sulk: :D
 
I paid £15 for Kevin Smith's "My Boring Ass Life" and it was exactly that.

Some reviewers would say I just "didn't get it" but it's exactly what it was - a printout of a ****, boring blog about somebody's boring life.

Managed about 50 pages, gave it to BHF.
 

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