BAD books to read!

Books Forum

There is nothing worse than buying a book (especially hardcover) and finding out it sucks.

If you really disliked a book share it here and let us know what you didn't like about it.

-HECK!

I hear "Battlefield Earth" is 1200+ pages of unadulterated garbage. Written by L. Ron Hubbard (yes, the same guy who wrote the infamous "Dianetics", and the same which was made into one of John Travolta's worst career moves). Supposedly he's such a poor writer that it took him 1200 pages to express what should have been done in 400 or less and in such an inferior manner that I won't even begin to waste my time on that book. When I was a teenager, I recall oogling over the sheer size of that tome thinking I would work my way up in terms of # of pages for book completions: it took a lot out of me to commit to finishing really long sci-fi novels. By the time I'd thought I'd worked up the nerve to take a crack at it, someone broke the news to me.

I started this Nora Roberts book 'Purity In Death' and it nearly made me fall asleep. This chick has a new book on the shelf every day it seems. I think she should take a step back and collect her thoughts.

-HECK!

i pretty much find anybook they assign for school (the so called "classics") to be a complete waste...so boring...

Great Expectations?
To Kill a Mockingbird?
Fahrenheit 451?
Tom Sawyer?

I can't image finding classics such as these "boring"..

those books are good, but the teachers destroy them. they go into so much depth that you dont appreciate it anymore. they quiz you/test you and make you write essays and you grow to hate the book.

yeah...i know what ya mean..one time we were told to make inferences about an author from his writing..and somehow she got the idea the author was gay...we were all like "whoa..you're reading way to much into this..."
teachers make reading no fun...

All four of those books are on my top 20 favorite books of all time!

I read 'The Einstein Papers' a long time ago. I have always been fascinated by Einstein, and I thought this book might be a good science fiction regarding his Unified Field Theory. Instead, I was served a very poor story by a rookie who seemed to have no idea what this theory was about, or how science fiction should be written. The plot was weak, the dialogue amateurish and the climax and ending complete crap. Thankfully I don't buy books, but check them out from the library instead. If you ever come across this one, don't even worry about picking it up from the shelf.

The God of Small Things by Arundati Roy (sp?)

I bought this coz it was on sale, but it was bad, I could not get into it, and it was set out like Pulp Fiction, the end at the beggining and the beggining at the end kind of thing and flash backs and stuff to get through everything. It was just so all over the place I could not get it.

I persevered with it though and after reading it three times and getting a bit more understanding each time, now I know what it is about, but still don't think it was a very good book.

It won the Booker Prize though which is a big deal isn't it?

Last semester I had to read the Awakening. It's a "classic" about a women's journey to freedom and away from the society that oppresses her. The title seems a little ironic, since it is the only book I have ever been reading and fallen asleep mid-sentence. Everyone in our class fell asleep, I even caught my teacher dozing off. No one liked the book. Although it was only about 150 pages long, it took more than a week to read. ZZZZZZZZZZZ....... Sorry if anyone loves that book, I'm not insulting you, just stating what happened to me.

Ironic that it's called "Awakening", isn't it?

I've never read it though, I should say

I don't think I'm going to read it during school.

I'm with ShadowStalker in his opinion of the so-called classics. I was forced to read Evangaline in school and had to fight to keep my eyes open. I've been put off the classics since and have never tried to read another one. If it's known to be a classic, I have a built in prejudice.

KerryO

I just finished reading "Mirror Image" by Sandra Brown. It's pretty interesting
but preposterous. The premise was about a woman who was in a plane crash.
She was badly hurt but survived. She was unable to communicate during her first month in the hospital and was mistaken for somebody else. SHe falls in love with the husband of thewoman she was mistaken for and takes her place in her life and gets away with it for months. See what I mean? Preposterous. Could never happen in real life. Good story though.

Earlier in this thread somebody posted that they didn't care for Nora Roberts books and I basically agreed at that time. Since then I picked up on that is pretty interesting. It's called The Birthright. Never thought I would say that about a Nora Roberts book.

Seperate Peace was the worst book I have ever read. The plot was so unreal and the characters made you want to puke because they were so fake. Another horrible book I read is Pickwick papers. The whole book had no inciting incident, climax or any action at all. Just a couple of guys dressed in suits and touring cities and listening to stories.

A Heartbreaking Work of a Staggering Genius

Don't let the NATIONAL BESTSELLER on the cover fool you. This book has it's ups and downs, and downs, and DOWNS. I don't like putting a book down without finishing it, so I gave it a shot. BIG MISTAKE. After reading the last sentence, I took the book, banged it against the wall a couple of times and threw it across the room.

In two words: HATED IT.

haha illuminate! That book 'A heartbreaking work of a staggering genius' was the book I most hated. I let my dog chew it up it was so bad.

I give Jane Austen fourteen yawns. She is the most boring writer I have ever read. Her thoughts are too ancient. I mean we know women were not treated equally back in the 1800s, but do not let it influence your work because your work reflects your biased point-of-view. Her plots are basically all the same in each book except for Mansfield Park.

THE LITTLE PRINCE

We had to read this book in my 7th grade advanced reading class. It made us all wish we were in a remedial reading class where we got to choose our own books. It sucked.

Another book from that class that I hated was THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS. This book is the most boring, confusing, aggravating book we ever read in that class. Except for the last chapter. That was the only good one.

That class wasn't all bad, though, because we got to read The Fellowship of the Ring and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I started reading a book a long time ago called INVISIBLE MAN by someone named Ellis. Same guy who wrote Black Like Me. I thought it would be a really good book, and it probably is, but I was never able to get past the first chapter. It was too confusing.

Speaking of school books, was anyone else forced to read Thoreau's Walden? Man, BOOORRRINNGG, I loved Literature but used that time to nap. Our LIT teacher gave up on us trying to read it, let alone understand it, she gave us free time.

Sad.

YAWWWN.