Worst Book You've Ever Read

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The worst book I've ever read was Out of the Dark by David Weber. A story of humans resisting alien invasion, it was interesting at first before devolving into a weird repetitive conservative fantasy about how humans continue to resist when other species would have surrendered because they evolved to eat meat, which makes them more loyal to their families (all the aliens are submissive herbivores). It was mostly written from the perspective of American soldiers in different parts of the world, one of whom ends up in Transylvania. Near the end a Transylvanian resistance leader he had been fighting alongside reveals that he is a vampire (this was never hinted at) and convinces the soldier to become a vampire so they can use their vampire powers to defeat the aliens. Then it SKIPS TO AFTER THE BATTLE!! We never see the vampires do anything vampirey, it just skips to people saying that vampires got on the alien ships and killed the aliens. It wasn't even described very much. It's like the author was tired of writing and didn't know how to end it.

That book sounds like an incoherant rant thinly disguised as a story....

When a book's really awful, I rarely make it through to the end. I hesistate to do a hatchet job review of it in case the last few chapters were actually OK somehow. I made it about halfway through a book called "The Ghost In You" by one Katarina Montefiore. It's narrated from the point of a view of a ghost, which seemed like an intriguing set-up. It starts on the day she dies, which is around the time her landlady's grandson is born. While haunting the house, she watches this kid grow up from infancy and... oh crap, it's a romance. This cradle-snatching ghost is getting all lovey with this teenager who she literally used to watch in his pram. Someone clearly read that creepy "I will marry this baby" scene from the end of "Twilight," thought it was the most romantic thing evah, and decided to one-up it. Skin crawling for all the wrong reasons, I quit.

There's a SKIPS TO AFTER THE BATTLE!! in "Redemption Ark," an otherwise good novel by Alastair Reynolds. At one point in the story, an underworld gang of genetically modified humanoid pigs siezes control of a ten-kilometer-long starship crewed by deep-space-adapted cyborgs.... and we don't get to see it happen.

I know I'll be stoned as a blasphemer, but maybe the worst book I've ever read is Stephen King's It. I generally like King's work, but this book just committed the worst sin any author could commit - - it was boring. It bored me to tears! Seriously, it made me nod off while reading it! The parts about the characters as kids was good, but the stuff about them as adults came across as phony, and worse, dull. I honestly tried to get through the book twice, and both times it was just so boring that it ached!! !

I like It. The Stand is the beloved King book that I don't like. The early stuff about the virus was good but it got progressively worse as it went and it had one of the most pointless endings I've ever read.

The Handmaid's Tale, and pretty much anything by Atwood except The Edible Woman.

Best and worst... The Bible.

Best because it is full of wisdom, knowledge, inspiration etc.
Worst, because it is extremely confusing, especially for someone who is more logical than emotional.

The phone directory isn't a good read either, like the dictionary....

Extremely useful but not entertainment, more functional.

"Hard Times" by Charles Dickens. I had to read it as part of my English Literature 0 Level exam (UK age 16 exam when I was at school many years ago). Dickens' writing is impenetrable.

Not enough plot. Too many characters!

I see your Dickens and raise you a Henry James. I gave up on him when I realised I had just read a three-page scene, comprising a grand total of nine sentences, in which someone walked into a room, did absolutely nothing, and walked out again.

One winter, when I was like 12, Grandma came to visit . Traveled here for ten states over to stay with us for a couple of weeks over the Holiday season.

Then on Christmas eve mom and Dad came into my bed room after I was already in bed to tell me something.

Mom said "Grandma is going to give you a gift....and to her...its the greatest thing in the world that she could give you. Its a copy of the Bible with your name embossed on it. So when you open it up tomorrow mourning...dont be shocked, and please make sure to act like you're happy to get it.

I am glad that they warned me. And I did as ordered, and acted delighted.

And Xmas morning went fine.

Some weeks later I decided to actually read the Bible. So I cracked the one Grandma gave me, and I started at page one. Adam and eve was okay. But then I got to all of the "Begats". "Joe Blow lived 169 years, and begat John Doe, and he lived 743 year after he begat John Doe, and all of the years of Joe Blow were 912 years, and then he died. John Doe lives 234 years, and then he begat So-and-so, and then he lived 500 years after he begat So-and-so, and...." . I couldnt take it, and bailed out.

But decades later I still have that Bible on my bookshelf.

I know what you mean. I read most of Genesis but stopped at one of the genealogies and never returned.

I only have the New Testament. And the only parts of it I've managed to read are "Acts" and "Revelations." The first is interesting for the glimpse it gives of Jewish communities all around the Mediterranean 2000 years ago. The second is the ultimate bad acid trip.

Y'all are killing me. I laughed so suddenly startled my furbaby Appa awake, he glared at me. then smacked me with his big paw to pet him back to sleep.

I forgot to add, this also made me laugh a lot. I agree about Dickens, tried to read a few books and struggled through them

But I love Henry James
I know It's not a popular opinion but I enjoy reading his books. My major in college was microbiology but I took this literature class that I liked the reading list for. I was in a discussion group led by an English major TA for the class. When I started references other Henry James novels outside the one on the list he stopped me and stared at me and asked "aren't you a natural science major? Are you just repeating something you saw on the internet? Or did you actually read this other book? I told him I'd read a few others of his as well. His response was " on purpose? It wasn't required reading?" My response was of course yes. After a bunch of questions he just stared at me like I was science experiment. He couldn't believe someone enjoyed Henry James. I thought it was weird being he majored in literature. apparently the proff felt the same.

It's nice to find some more James fans. I like James, and Dickens. I'll be (re)reading The Portrait of a Lady soon. I've also read The Turn of the Screw, The Wings of the Dove, and The Ambassadors. My favourite Dickens is Great Expectations.

Worst book still stands as anything by Margaret Atwood. Also that book called "Men are from Mars".