Curious ? what’s your LEAST favorite book?
Curious ? what’s your LEAST favorite book?!
Thought I would change it up ?
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Curious ? what’s your LEAST favorite book?!
Thought I would change it up ?
50 Shades Of Gray
Ha. I wasn’t a fan either.
The writing is so bad.
I have to agree – so bad!
Absolutely agree. It didn’t even qualify as good porn. Can’t believe it got as popular as it did.
So badly written. Such ick characters.
I refused to read it, but hate it anyway based on reports of the crappy writing ?
Plus it gets bdsm wrong.
Read first book and stopped half way through the second. Couldn’t torture myself with the writing anymore
I wouldn’t even read that trash.
I distracted myself by counting the number of times she described Christian’s long fingers. Long fingers All. The. Time. It drove me nuts!
So far this year my least favorite book has been Janet Evanovich’s Hardcore Twenty-four. The storyline has lost its punch and this one was just dumb in my opinion.
I only read a few pages. Put it down and have read many other books since. Sad, loved the first 15 or so
S Myers vampire books
Twilight???
@Nicole all of them
Oh yeah! I read the first one thinking it’d be great fun – and what a pile of shit. ?
I loved them but I was in a weird place. I found myself relating to the battle between the man who was the sun and the man who felt like right too. Finding your place in the world, finding the magic
The Help. I know many really loved it but I never could get into it and never did finish it.
Haven’t read the book but loved the movie!! I could see it being a slow book tho.
I agree.
I didn’t either.
I thought the book and movie were really good
The movie was great – didn’t read it
Catch 22. Started reading it a few years ago and hated it. Used to read on the ferry every day on my way to work but got so angry with it I threw it overboard. I’m the sort of person who won’t even fold the corners of pages so it was a traumatic experience for me.
One of my least favorite too.
Oh dear!! That’s horrible!! That would be hard for me to do too!
That ranks with my mom burning The Exorcist in a hotel room sink at 2 am….. alarms went off and whole hotel was evacuated.
It took me a year to read Catch 22… I never considered throwing it overboard however!!! ??
It took me a long time to read, but I really liked it.
Many of the ones I never finished.
Walden, followed closely by The Passage to India.
Haven’t read either!
Walden was so preachy, I ended up throwing it across the room. Passage was 2 months of my life I’ll never get back.
Fates and Furies, The Kitchen House and The Husband’s Secret
Oh no! 3 bad ones!
The Kitchen House was hard to get through, but it really stayed with me.
Loved it.
I couldn’t stand fates and furies!
I ditched F&F but I’m still going to give husbands secret another go.
Gone GirL! i hated it and could not understand alł the hype
Whaaat?! It was slow in the beginning, I’ll give you that, but I loved that book!
I loved it
I loved it
I liked the plot twists but hated both main characters. By the end I was sorry I wasted moments of my life reading about two miserable people who deserved each other.
Preach ✌?
Billy Budd by Herman Melville. Ugh.
Moby Dick
Oh no! I have Moby Dick on my TBR pile!
I slogged through Moby Dick, but even on audio, it was tough.
I’m onboard here.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. I just hated it.
It was different but I liked it!!!
I didn’t even understand the character descriptions. I had to watch the movie to understand. I didn’t like the movie and hated the book.
It had so much promise but I thought it was awful.
Any Dean Koonts book
Into the water by Paula Hawkins. I fell asleep every time I tried to read it
That one was slow, but I did manage to read it and thought it was pretty good!
I tried for a whole week, I manage to read about 30 pages but I kept falling asleep before quitting because it would take me forever to finish it, plus so many characters to keep up with
Paula Hawkins has many slow books. I don’t understand how she ever got published to begin with
@Lisha I agree. And in my opinion she wrote this one thinking it would become a movie like her previous one (I didn’t read that one though)
Seriously that book was great the last 100 pages
As a feminist I’ve been told many times I should read Jane Eyre and that I would love it. I’ve tried to read it repeatedly and have never been able to get through it.
I want to love it, but also couldn’t ??
Glad I’m not the only one. ?
Love Jane Eyre. ?. Glad we can disagree.
Jane Eyre rings a bell at a certain age- As an adult, too much is wrong with it
@Beth it rings more true to me as I am older. I admire the character.
Girl on the Train
I thought that was a great book. Read it in one day
I liked that one!!
I pretty much guessed it but I didn’t really like the book either…
It was so blah to me. Wasn’t bad but not good either. 3 ⭐️
Wicked.Middlesex. 50 Shades. Tropic of Cancer. Catch 22. The Alchemist.
Wicked. That was awful.
Agreed with Wicked and 50 Shades
Agree with The Alchemist – got nothing out of it.
Middlesex was a tough read but it was so well written.
-American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld, just hated it
I don’t enjoy Tammi Hoag(spelling ?
David Copperfield
Really? Haven’t cracked Dickens in a while but I loved this one at UofM. I had Bert Hornbeck, that Dickens prof who’d dress as Dickens, he was one of few who got me excited about the books. And while he can be hard to plow through he was a sharp guy for his era.
For an English major, I know it is nigh unto sacrilege to deny Dickens his rightful place – but I couldn’t get with one single tome of his – same with the Russians. Good story lines but thick, unwieldy prose. In my opinion only.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by DH Lawrence.
Sarah’s Key. People love it. My book club loved it. I think it’s such a terribly written book about such an important subject matter. E verything about it makes me crazy
Hmm haven’t heard of it but that sounds terrible! ?
Oh, I liked that book.
Loved that book too!!
I found it to be too depressing.
I didn’t hate it, but my least favorite was the old man and the sea. It seemed drawn out and repetitive and I have a short attention span. I would recomend it to those who are into that genre though
Oh my gosh! It’s such a short book and it’s taken me forever to read It! Lol I’m struggling too
Granted my class is slow at reading but it took them 2 months to get through it.
Yeah that’s a long time!
Yes! I don’t finish books I don’t like. That was required reading in high school and it sucked!
I really really hated it. I would never impose it on another.
Jane eyre
So surprised by how many people hate this one!
@Nicole I loved it. 🙂
Loved it. ?
Loved it
I’m with you Audrey, was assigned for a graduate school class, so I had to actually finish it rather than just putting it down like did when I was younger!
One of my favorite books of all time. I’ve probably read it 10 times, plus I’ve also read Wide Sargasso Sea.
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Loved loved it.
I have it and can’t seem to get into it. ??♀️
Fire and Fury. So poorly written and edited that it was painful to read.
Ha! I only made it halfway through this one for the same reason. Also, I sadly didn’t think he was revealing anything new!
I agree with the nothing new but the writing was so bad. I read a novel years ago called something like On Golden Shore about an immigrant family. The grammar was so bad I actually had to get a red pen and punctuate the thing before I could finish it. I was reading it for a book club I used to belong to.
I will stop a book I don’t like no problem. But I HAD to read one for a book club I was leading. I was filling in for the librarian who had picked the book, and I take book club seriously ?? the book was Blue Thread and I hard the hardest time with it. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12247405-blue-thread
I ditched it
Sarah’s key, such a horrible story, am sorry I read it.
The handmaids tale
Bummer! Have you watched the show?
@Nicole no
@Nicole no
I was just about to type this title, Rebecca. I hated it.
I’ve heard the show is good! I was just curious how it compared to the book!
It follows the book fairly closely. I thought the book was amazing, but I’m an Atwood fan.
I hated this one too – abandoned it halfway through.
I tried and tried to get through this. I just hated it. Tried both reading and listening to it on audio. I finally gave up after 150 pages
I loved the Handmaid’s Tale. I read tons of her books after that one.
I always find it interesting when there’s a good mix of good and bad reviews.
@Nicole yes!
I’m always so surprised when someone doesn’t like a book that I love. This is one of the few books I’ve read more than once because I loved it so much!
Wicked was bad too
Love in the Time of Cholera
Burnt Mountain…awful.
Red Badge of Courage **shudders** is slightly behind or ahead 50 shades of really bad writing. R B o C is a better book but I couldn’t finish either.
It’s interesting how ones place in life and current attitude affects the reading experience.
History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding. Was risque’ for it’s day but I found it boring and had to force myself to finish it.
Go Set A Watchman. I loved To Kill a Mockingbird but the sequel was a drag to get through. I was very disappointed.
I agree. Totally did not need a sequel.
I had borrowed the book from a friend and ended up taking months to get through it. Haha oops
Very very disappointed.
Go set a Watchman was not a sequel it was the original draft To Kill a Mockingbird
@Debby yes. And sure shows how important editing can be. So sad it was published IMO. Atticus?!!??
It really is it’s something she chose never to release I find it interesting as she was dying and someone else had control of power of attorney that it was now released so I hope no one judges her work based on that one
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf! Awful. Couldn’t finish it! Hated the stream of consciousness!
I hated To the Lighthouse by her. So slow.
I started this book, Mrs. Dalloway, with the support of an AP English teacher. Then stopped?. I would LOVE to continue reading, but really need support. Any help or support through the book would be appreciated. ???
You are a braver person than me! I hope you enjoy it Grace.
I hate to hear this! I just watched The Hours today and was going to search for the book.
@Tabbitha love!!!!! The Hours!!!!!
@Amy, are you up to it. (no pressure?)
I’ve read Dalloway in 3 different lit classes (though it’s been a while now!) and I loved it, but it’s definitely one I liked talking through and poking at in a class. Also liked To the Lighthouse but I had a Virginia Woolf class so I’m partial to her!
It took me a while to get into it and understand what was going on, but once I did I liked it. I liked it more once I read her bio included in the book and realized the parallels and understood her a little better.
Red badge of courage. My mom suggested that I read it and it was the most boring thing I have ever read.
True blood books. I just couldn’t get into them
Haha, they are poorly written but I thought they were entertaining, and really quick reads.
Sophie’s Choice
Blindness. A scatological nightmare! If you like feces, you’ll love this literary masterpiece!
It’s one of my very favorites. But it does get kind of gross when everyone goes blind and can’t find their way to the toilets. So I can see why that could be bothersome.
For anyone considering reading it, it is not a big part of the story, just one of many difficulties.
I hated every minute. A friend that I really admired gifted it, so I felt it must have some redeeming value. I finished it, but it was truly painful. Every minute. ???
Never finished that book. It was on my kindle which I don’t like reading.
I finished, left it on the plane. Another passenger: You forgot your book!
Me: No, left purposely. Be my guest. Worst book ever! ?
Twilight and A heartbreaking work of staggering boredom.
Devil in the White City
Ah! I’m reading this now!
@Nichole I tried a couple of times, it’s not for me.
I loved it.
The Celestine Prophecy. Couldn’t understand why it became a bestseller. The writing was so bad, I had to put it down. Wanted to like it!
Anything by Alexander Dumas and I’ve tried all of them. Ironically, I love the movies. ?♀️
The Corrections
Yes! This is my husband’s favorite book and he couldn’t wait for me to read it ??♀️. I may have broken his heart when I told him that I didn’t like it at all ??
A hundred years of solitude, i think that was the title.
I’ve been trying to read The Catcher in the Rye. It will probably be my least favorite if I even finish it!
I couldn’t finish it. It may be the only book I’ve ever walked away from. No thank you lol
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah…..
I couldn’t finish this one.
Lordy I thought I was going to get it I told this lady after she asked me what I thought of it and she burst into tears…
I didn’t hate it, but it was NOT GOOD. Do not understand the hype, at all.
Loved it. ?
There were many books I don’t like but then again, when I come across books that I started reading and few chapters in I didn’t like it? Then I won’t finish it.
Mrs Dalloway
50 Shades of Grey (aka 50 shades of poorly written and inaccurate prose)
50 shades of ridiculousness.
The Twilight Series after watching the movies.
Eat, Pray, Love
I loved this when I first read it, but I suspect it was because of where I was in my life at the time. Pretty sure I couldn’t get through it a second time, so I’ll just leave it there in that happy place. ?
Interference. No freaking joke. Its so bad i would almost recommended it. It has a huge twist but its the mosy aweful waste of a twist that it is shocking if thats what youre looking for.
I hated nearly every single word of “Eat Pray Love”
Why did others love it? One of the worse
My spirit sister ! Every word made me want to smack her!
I honestly don’t know! My sister loved it. I told her I felt like we were strangers after that. Ha.
@Dawna OMG my sister told me to read it and loaned it to me?
Our sisters are weirdos!
EPL was absolutely BRUTAL. Couldn’t stand her. Ugh
Hated that book
Hated it too.
The Beach by Alex Garland. I never even saw the movie because I hated the book so much. Most of my book club liked it, but not me.
I also hate Wuthering Heights, and I’ve read it 3 times over 30+ years trying to give it another chance.
Eat Pray Love. I absolutely hated it.
So did I. Worst self-absorbed drivel I’ve ever read.
Anything Stephen King or Agatha Christie!
I love Stephen King
Whatever James Patterson book I read years ago. It was horrible. Gave away the best part in the middle of the book. Never read another one of his again.
Kite Runner
One of my favorites.
I had to put it down. I may pick it up again one day… but it was way cheeseball for me
@Sarah it is his first novel.
Hannibal by Thomas Harris. He was a favorite author until he wrote Hannibal. I thought Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs were wonderful. I will never read anything by him again. I felted betrayed by the way he ended the series.
Yes! Yes! Yes!!!! I threw the book against the wall when I finished it.
Totally agree!
SOTL was gooooood!
The Night Circus or Gone Girl
Liked both. Not great books, but enjoyed reading them.
That’s what makes life interesting. How dull it would be if everyone liked the same thing!
Yes!
Reading The Night Circus was like pulling teeth for me.
@Lauren ha!
So far this year is luckiest girl alive. Currently reading gone girl and have to say that it was going to come into my “least favorites of 2018” but I’m on part 2 and quite enjoying now. But not happy that it took over 100 pages to become interesting.
I couldn’t read luckiest girl alive but tried it on audio and enjoyed it a lot.
Anything by Nicholas @Sparks
Gone Girl. I loathed both main characters.
Me too!!
@Stephanie Yay! I thought it was just me!
Me too
Me, good!
The Life of Pi so far
Could never get into it
I tried so hard to finish it. Just couldn’t
I just finished it, took me forever. I loved the overall story and writing, but it was hard to get through all the suffering. It’s a modern day Old Man in the Sea plus in-depth guidelines on how to survive off of dorado and turtles and coexist with a tiger lol.
OMG. That is probably my most-hated book. I change all previous answers.
That was terrible!!!
The Shack
Oh I loved The Shack. Did not care for the movie though.
We Were the Mulvaneys. Although it was beautifully written, I was devastated by it.
One Day by David Nicholls.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED ‘ONE DAY.’ ❤️❤️❤️ I was hooked once I was a few pages into the story. Though both characters were in the UK, I could totally relate to them as I, too, had graduated from college in the mid-1980s. (As for the movie version, not good. Disappointed with that one.)
Daughter of the Blood. I feel sorry for the paper it’s printed on.
Fahrenheit 451!!!!
Totally agree, and now they’re making it into a movie!
1000000% agree
I didn’t like that one either
The Winter of our Discontent by Steinbeck
Atonement…I know most won’t agee with me on it but I just didn’t care for it. And then the atrocity that was 50 Shades of Gray…I felt like I needed a red pen to correct as I read, it was so hard to read because of all the errors. If she had an editor..that there was worlds worst editor vote for me then.
Agree with Atonement!
I never picked up 50 Shades of Gray after reading the comments about how poorly written and edited it was. Not worth the headache of correcting in my head while I was reading.
‘I am number four’ well of course..i like it..
But it’s one my least favorites.
Things Fall Apart. I just can’t, I was so uninterested lol sorry to my high school teacher Mrs. Miller who pushed us through it lol
I wasn’t a big fan of that one either!
@Annie I’m sure it appeals to some people, but at 15 I did not care about pre-colonial Nigeria lol
@Sophia I couldn’t get into it, and I was 27, and studying to be an English teacher when I read it! Lol!
If I don’t like a book I don’t finish it.
I wish I could do that…Time I will never get back! ?
I’m always hoping for a twist or something at the end to make it all worth it… Doesn’t always happen tho :/
@Sarah me too! Plus…I’m committed…it goes against the grain to quit! But I have read some that make me feel like a sucker. I have quit if the first few chapters are badly written and with errors!
@Janice ? agree
I read The Luckiest Girl Alive. I thought it was terrible. It was recommended to be based off my young adult fiction addiction. Hated the main character.
I DNFd that one! I couldn’t stand the obsessive cursing that wasn’t needed
Jonathan Frazen – The Corrections
I haven’t really been enjoying Call Me By Your Name as much as I’d hoped with all the hype. It’s too much 17 year old “does he like me? Does he not like me?” Drama.
I enjoyed the film. Didn’t read the book.
I’m reading this now on a friend’s stroooong recommendation and I agree with you. Is it just 300 pages of overthinking a crush? It’s getting tedious, but I’m past the halfway point now, so I guess I’ll finish…
I’m like 3/4 through and have lost interest. Meh.
Omg ?. I loved this book so much. Definitely in my top five. I think the writing was beautiful.
Last of the Mohicans.
Idk about my least favorite ever but my least favorite recently was all the bright places
Also don’t really like Girl on a Train. The main character is just tooooo flawed.
Me too…
Walden Pond
Atlas Shrugged, OMG ???
Yes! A thousand times yes! I read it for a year and then gave up it was so bad. Plus, I loathe Ayn Rand and the whole premise it’s built on.
But just the writing alone – it’s bad
Room
Because it was so harrowing?
I liked Room but then I read Jacee Dugards book. VERY similar.
It was disturbing…
Money Dick
Do you mean Moby???
Moby Dick ?
Thanks for that!!
??
When I read your question, the first one that came to mind was The Scarlett Letter. Even as an English teacher, I do not like that book!
Have you read any of Nina Baym’s work on it?
Awwwwww, no, I love this book!
@Sarah no I haven’t. Would it help me appreciate it more? I’m just not a Hawthorne fan! I think, because I first read it as a Junior in high school, I just wasn’t ready for it, and ever since, I’ve never been able to get into it. Hawthorne is just so wordy! Lol!
@Sue sorry! I’ve tried, and I just can’t! My husband liked it too, and he always tells me to give it another shot. But I just don’t think I could do it!
Yes. I love Hawthorne, but I had some great teachers (including Prof. Baym!).
Have you read any of his short stories? His symbolism is beautiful. I am not a huge fan of Dickens because of his wordiness, but Hawthorne has never bothered me because the symbols and imagery are very important.
@Sarah my favorite teacher was the one who taught me that book, and I just couldn’t get into it. I tried so hard, because she loved it, and I wanted to love it, but I just didn’t love it. 🙁
Check out the literary criticism by Baum and others. It’s amazing. I think there is a ton to unpack historically too.
Sarah Longhenry I’ll check it out one day. Maybe it’ll sway me to give it one more chance!
The one I was reading last week and decided not to finish it because it was very slow moving……..’Impossible Views of the World’ by Lucy Ives
Disliked Luckiest Girl Alive.
Same!!
@Melanie I have never read a book filled with a cast of such unlikable characters.
I couldn’t read it but I liked it on audio.
The Scarlet Letter
Trash by Dorothy Allison
Recently it’s “Man in the High Castle”
How dare you!!!
Love the Amazon series. Couldn’t even get through 2 chapters of the book!
I struggled to get through The Brothers Karamazov and came to understand why Russians are so fond of vodka. Pour me a shot or shoot me!!!
Did you read “The Grand Inquisitor” portion? It’s the best.
I read all of it, Sarah, and will agree that portions of it are brilliant. However, I still found it unbearably depressing and difficult to read..
The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn was a disappointment after all the hype…
Just finished it: Salvage The Bones-Terrible ?
Rebecca
Circle of Friends
Call me an anti-classics gal ?
I loved Rebecca. Agree on Circle of Friends.
Rebecca is one of my favorites. I love this thread. Love the opinions.
One that sticks in my mind is Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill. Won’t read any more of her books after that one.
Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard
The Road
Agree
I just said the same!! Glad im not alone…on that road. Ugggg
The Sound and the Fury. Ugh
You needed a brilliant teacher to discuss as you read. Probably never would have made it on my own but loved it in an English lit class in college.
The only book I have ever chosen not to finish: David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.
It was awful. simply awful.
I didn’t like- the radium girls- made me ill!!!
Why? Because of the content/story or because of the writing?Our book club is reading this next month…
I found it depressing- it is interesting from public health point of view – young women were lied too- my son had oral cancer and it hit to close to home… would be interested ih your opinion after u read- I gave the hard covered book to an ex-boyfriend…
I just decided not to finish that book after reading half of it. The topic was super interesting to me but I found it to be too much, too many girls to keep all the details straight and too much info. I feel guilty about it since these poor women lost their lives and deserve to have their stories told but it was too much for me.
I listened to the audiobook and it was fantastic.
@Cynthia thanks for sharing. I hope your son is doing well.
Sloane Kettering in nyc is amazing! Was a very humbling experience …we are very grateful ..
Dubliners
That’s too bad! I absolutely loved it, but ? see why it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea.
50 shades series….it sucks…idk lol
someone’s gonna have my head for this.. and while I don’t HATE the series, but the older I get, the less I enjoy the Harry Potter series for its flawed, repetitive & various plot holes.
Agreed
I can’t get past the first 50 pages of book one.
I won’t have your head, but I’ll leave you NEARLY HEADLESS ???⚡️??♂️ harry pottah fo life.
I didn’t like other books she has written.
I’ve been reading them and had to go to audio to get through them. I am up to book 7 but I agree with the repeated stuff and to me they are meh! But have to finish them as they are very popular
Clan of the Cave Bear, The Hobbitt, Lord of the Rings… take your pick!
Loved clan of the cave bear! The whole series although I skimmed over the minute details she felt the need to say
I loved Clan of the Cave Bear. Agreed on The Hobbit, and won’t even try Lord of The Rings. Blech.
The Da Vinci Code
The Dinner by Herman Koch
Oh I hated this one too!
Daring greatly. I wanted to love it but it was brutally trying to finish it. I gave up about 2/3 through ?♀️
Watership Down…with apologies to all those millions out there who adore it!
I thought it was awful too
Gone Girl
So sad 🙁 love it
I rarely finish a book that I don’t like, but here are three where I made it to the end and regretted it: The Book Thief, Shantaram (loved it at least halfway through – maybe even 75% – but then, arg…., and Tuesdays with Morrie.
Omg I’m 200 pages from the end of Shantaram and am feeling the same exactly! I’ll finish just because I made it this long and it’s only another 2 or 3 days if reading buuuut wtf!?!?! So many good bits in there it feels worth it but I dont think I’ll give it a raving recommendation to anyone I know. My bf’s mother gave it to me cause we were all in India for a month together. She loved it. ?♀️
@Shannon yeah, there’s all kinds of good in that book and a great glimpse into India. I just started to loath the bullshit the author was spewing and it spiraled downhill from there. So glad to find a fellow I-ended-up-not-liking-shantaram-after-all comrade! ?
I couldn’t finish the book thief. I really tried
@Lisha you missed nothing. It went exactly where you would have expected. ?
Amy me too! Loved great chunks of shantaram but started to grow weary of the smoke he was blowing up his own backside and only finished it cos I’d gone so far!
Loved the book thief though…
Yup me too I dnf often
100 years of solitude
Lincoln in the Bardo. Unreadable!
It was tough getting going with that book. But I ended up liking it.
Agree with you. Thought it was weird. I wanted an historic read about Abe Lincoln and his family and was horrified
It wasa tough read, but the audiobook was wonderful. I suspect the novel was a play.
The Bridges of Madison county
Clan of the Cave Bear. Hated it.
Mine is still Tess of the D’ubervilles
Gratuitous sadness. Like getting punched in the stomach for two days
Cold Mountain
That was the first book I ever have up on and stopped reading.
The Goldfinch….until I started the Curious incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. (I am an autism mom and threw it in the garbage around page 49)
Curious Incident was a tough read for me.
I refused to finish it. Life is too short.
Into the Woods
The Shack. ??
Ugh!
In The Woods Tana French
I really love Tana French. But it took me a bit to learn to read her.
Atlas Shrugged
Who IS John Galt?
So many fails, no idea how to choose
And 100 Years of Solitude. I think that’s what I’d need to read it.
Seriously.? That is the worst ever!!!
These conversations are so fascinating because 100 Years is my absolute favorite!
It’s a toss up between Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby.
Watership Down or Old Man and the Sea
I liked Old Man better at 40 than at 15.
Catcher in the Rye, Still Life with Woodpecker, Middlesex?
Ooh. Too bad about Still Life with the Woodpecker! One of my favs! But it’s been ages.
I can’t say it’s my least favorite, but I have been assigned The Scarlet Letter 3 times for various school endeavors and have never gotten past chapter 1.
Caraval ?
Caraval is on my TBR shelf. What about it did you hate? If it is a reason that would turn me off too, you could save me a lot of time and aggravation. ??
@Kim the main character is winey and insta-lusting after all the mysterious guys instead of looking for her lost sister. She just really annoyed me.
Moby Dick
http://amazon.com/
The Giver.
“Wicked” & “Son of a Witch”. Yes the musical was fabulous but those were tough reads!
Ulysses
Robinson Crusoe
Black Like Me and one Hundred Years of Solitude.
“Why Evolution Is True”. It is one of my favorite books, but it is the least one.
Lord of the Flies. I get there’s meaning and symbols, but man, I just hated it!
Yeah, me too.
Me theee
Same! Hated this book so much
We need to talk about Kevin….
Omg!! SO disturbing. Especially since I have a son named Kevin. I needed therapy after that book.
@Kim liked that book. Movie wasn’t very good though.
@Leigh I found it to be filled with overstuffed sentences and struggled throughout the entire book. ?
So disturbing, but it has stayed with me. Pretty scary!!
@Kim THAT I agree with! Yes, it was wordy, that’s for sure. And really, it took me a bit to figure out why she was writing letters. Maybe I am slow but I did not catch on right away.
Ulysses. Hands down.
Thank god for college or I never would have gotten past the first page!
As I Lay Dying
It’s a classic. But a downer.
@Cheryl I honestly wonder if it’s a cultural thing. I’m Australian, so maybe I just didn’t “get it”. I dunno.
For me “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac was THE WORST! I had to read it for a grad class and couldn’t do it. I finally opened the book randomly and grabbing quotes making my paper fit. It was horrible. It took me 8 hours to get through 25 pages
Oh! You as well! Took me 8 months to read the stupid thing!
I seriously gave up. It was horrible. I can’t believe people thinks it is important. It is seriously a drug induced vomiting of words!!
The only part of it which was any good was when he went to Mexico…
I couldn’t get that far. I hated it and I never give up. I always try and look at the positive in lit. But I couldn’t find anything in that drivel
Totally agree. I felt so uncool, I might have even pretended to like it. Glad to be beyond that age now.
Treasure Island.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. It’s not a big book, or hard to read. I just hated it.
The Hobbit. I was bored bored bored.
Same!
One of the very few books I could not read
Ahh I loved the Hobbit!
It’s a wonderful book
I’m not sure of least favorite EVER but two I finished recently that really disappointed me were Boy, Snow, Bird and The Immortalists.
I loved Immortalists! ?
I loved the first half!! Idk why but the rest was such a letdown for me. But I know people love it!!
Eve’s @Revenge
Catcher in the Rye. Holden is a spoiled, self-absorbed brat and I had no patience for him.
The Alibi Man was hard for me to get through
Lord of the Flies………….was so disturbing.
High School required reading. Hated it!
HATED IT!
Great Expectations.
Pip was as obnoxious as Holden Caufield.
I have tried 3 different times to read it and just can’t do it. Last time I got half way through, though. Haha
Great Expectations should be renamed: Incredibly Boring.
A high school teacher made the reading of It really fun and intriguing, so it’s actually one of my favorite books just bc she made it memorable
How did she do that? Maybe I should try what she did
The Catcher in the Rye…started it on 2 or 3 occasions…gave up half way through
Moby Dick.
Only read the beginning and had to stop, it was so boring and horrible. And I hate whaling
I reas Capt. Ahab’s Wife and enjoyed it. Only thing in common with MD was the name of the main character, though!
I skipped the parts on whaling. I liked the rest of the book, but I wasn’t interested in 30 pages just on whale blubber.
Outlander
That’s not what I wanted to hear. It’s on my nightstand now!!
Did not finish it.
I loved it!
@Lisha I get that not every book is for everybody, but Outlander is one of my all-time favorite books. I have recommended it to several friends and they have all loved it too. It’s on it’s 75th printing for a reason. Read it!
@Kari I am!!
Dead Man Walking
Some of the books mentioned here are some of my favorites! Weird how that works!
Some YA books I used to read a few years ago. Plot sucks, especially most John Green books.
OMG, the first time I re-read the Little House Books as an adult I was shocked. So awful (but I still adore them.)
Yep! Exactly what I felt when I tried to reread some books I used to love. I was even wondering how I was able to bring myself to read those it’s just a mystery to me.
Great gatsby, Fahrenheit 451
The Old Man and the Sea… Ugh… The worst.
Oh, and I loved it, especially the audible version! But, yes, it can lull a reader to sleep.
High school forever ruined that book for me. Lol
I will always love it, totally captivated me first time I read it. But I can totally how some ppl might hate it ?
1984
Eileen by Otessa Mosfegh & The Last Bad Man by Miranda July ???
My Antonia/Wuthering Heights
Shucks! Favs!
Oh my goodness
When I was in high school I pitched a fit because there were no women authors on the American lit. reading list. The teacher got even with me by adding My Antonia.
Wuthering Heights, so gloomy. Was told it was the ultimate story of love. Bhah. Also hated the 50 Shades.
I love Wuthering Heights but the “ultimate story of love” it is not. Definitely agree that it’s a little gloomy.
It’s not the ultimate love story at all! But I enjoyed the gloomy drama
Same here.
Harry Potter
Anything JD Robb. Yuck
Moby Dick
Reading Lolita in Tehran or The Lovely Bones to name a couple.
I liked the Lively Bones but the movie was a mess.
I think I’m finding that the more depressing the book the more I don’t like it. I like happy books I guess. ?
Lovely Bones – i agree.
@Elissa I find too that some books will hit a nerve depending on what I might be going through personally. True Crime is my favorite read so that may have been why LBones was enjoyable. Maybe I’m ill. ?
@Leigh That makes sense if you like True Crime. I tend to shy away from that genre because I’m a wimp. ?
Exactly!
Life of Pi?
Fist half was torture, back half was riviting
Tortured me all the way through. I wanted to like it, but no. ?
The Illad
One of my favorite books of all time, I wrote my thesis paper on it!
One of my favs as well, read it once in highschool and college, I still have some parts memorized lol
50 shades of gray
I couldn’t get through it. Boring.
50 Shades of Gray for sure, never finished it either.
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins. I really disliked his writing style
Uncharted by Angela Hunt. My book club read it and no one liked it. I have read other books by Angela Hunt and enjoyed them, but this one…
Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Insulting and boring.
I liked the movie though.
I’m sure many will disagree with me–The Goldfinch.
I can’t finish it..??♀️
I listened to it, otherwise I wouldn’t have finished it.
I pretty much agree with you!
I have tried more than once and just can’t get through any Thomas Harris books. I don’t know why, I want to like them but I just can’t get in to them. I enjoy the movies based on his books but can’t read them.
50 Shades. ???
Oh. I see I wasn’t the first to list this.
They were pretty bad I have to agree although I still read all three
I think I read 3 or 4 chapters and I NEVER stop reading a book. Not intentionally anyway.
A Man Called Ove ??♀️?
I forced myself to finish it. Blech!!
I have that in my TBR pile
@Andrew I’m an unpopular opinion on this one. Give it a go!
Huh. I liked that one.
Eventually. I’m on a Dresden File kick
The movie was great. I’ll give the book the skip.
The Woman Who Would be King. WORST BOOK EVER !
1984
Twilight. Seriously stupid. Harlequin Romance with vampires. Could not at all see the thrill. Why, in the name of all that is holy, did grown women like this series of books? Yuck.
Agree agree agree!! Awful writing and insipid characters!
Bridges of Madison County!!
Goldfinch
I thought the story was OK although not very new. The writing was amateurish and lazy. Couldn’t believe it won a Pulitzer.
@James..the first novel by this author ( I think it was called The Secret History was much better IMO)
Wow, aren’t we all so different? I loved the Goldfinch!
Agree.
The Circle
I have conveniently forgotten the title and author.
Prayer for Owen Meaney is one of my bottom-feeders
I thought that book was so good. Also enjoyed the movie. His books can be a little tuff to read
Love that book!
Vastly over rated.
I loved the book too but I agree it isn’t an easy read by any means!
I have a silly/uniformed question to all…I am truly surprised that more “classics” are not among the hated. The Iliad or the Odessey, the Brothers Karmazov, The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, anything by Tolstoy, Farwell to Arms, anything by Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, John Stienbeck , or Charles Dickenson. Is this because they haven’t been read or that they are universally loved???
I’m alright with Steinbeck lol
I can’t remember many of the books I read in hs and college—many of the classics you mentioned. I’ve got a horrible memory + eh, I’m getting old and have limited space for those past thoughts ? so only remember a few I really disliked, and then can’t always remember if what I didn’t like was a book or if it was more of an essay-like On Walden Pond-?-awful-SO, I stuck with trying to remember more recent reads I wasn’t a fan of -without consulting my kindle or written “already read it” list.
Not universally loved. Lol at least I dont imagine, but there is a stigma about not loving the classics. I myself find a lot of them boring but I did love Beowulf and am a pretty big fan of Shakespeare.
Jane Austen is awesome! She’s so funny!
Love Austen and Iliad. Steinbeck is one of my fav authors. Scarlet letter was okay. Classics either really get to you or they’re total bores.
I loved Farewell to arms!
I read The Iliad and The Odyssey in high school and loved them both. Also have read 4 Dickens books do far and enjoyed all. Not a big Hemingway fan, though.
I loved all of the classics I had to read, except for Beowulf. Hated that book. I don’t know how I got through it
@Patricia nooo love Beowulf!
Ford Maddox Ford – The Good Soldier was excrutiating.
It looked that way to me whenever I’ve been in a bookstore and held that novel in my hands, and thumbed through the pages. That’s why I never bought ‘The Good Soldier.’
Rabbit, Run by John Updike
Rabbit Redux is worse.
@Helen I hope never to have the displeasure of finding that out for myself. ??
@Chad I do rather like John Irving though. Perhaps he can be a tad self indulgent at times with his fixation of bears metaphor, I find a little odd. Pears? dunno.
The Notebook
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Oh it was awful.
‘LOVERS AT THE CHAMELEON CLUB: Paris 1932’ by Francine Prose. I bought this book 4 years ago and for me – despite my utter fascination with the subject matter – this book has been tough going. A lot of the writing is overwrought or superfluous. I don’t know when I’ll finish reading it. But I am determined to finish reading it for the sake of having a satisfactory sense of closure.
Man, I read this book called The Chalk Man last month…that book was horrible. So much potential and such a great premise, but it’s 250 pages of nothing happening and then 30 pages of a bunch of shit happening to make you say “HOLY SHIT”, but it just comes off as cheap lol.
Noooooo!!! This is sitting in my pile of TBR ???
And you may like it lol….this book has tons of people loving it, I just dont see it.
I guess I shall see once I pick it up. I almost did this weekend.
Well hey, after you finish it…if you remember me, hit me up and we will discuss it. Tag me in here or something lol. We can make fun of it or you can criticize me, for not understanding greatness ???
Oh, I’ll remember and we can go from there. I just can’t now and want to finish the two books I’ve started over the last few weeks first. ?
Lol cool, may you get through your books swiftly and not suffer any book hangovers!
The Nest
I thought it was just me!
Madame Bovary.
So far: toss up between “Twilight” and “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” — I couldn’t finish either one.
That’s funny I despised Twilight but The Girl.. Is one of my favorite books ever. It definitely takes a minute to get into and you can’t be squeemish.
Wuthering Heights
same!
Sons and Lovers, D.H Lawrence.
Gone Girl, and The Shack come to mind
Same!!!!
I totally agree about The Shack. But then again, one of my best friends loves it–it meant a great deal to her. So I have to appreciate it’s worth to some.
Lolita.
You gotta admit the humor was appealing–what a creative way to expose an incredible evil in society. Nabokov was a genius.
Anything with the word “Harlequin” on the cover 😀
A spoil of blue thread by Anne Tyler, nothing happens!
The girl with the dragon tattoo
Can’t remember the authors name but I couldn’t get past the first page.
I’m sorry you hear you didn’t like this series (the three books are really one long story). I was captivated, by both the books and the movies, Swedish and American. The author, Stieg Larsson, got my attention with the main character being a journalist–but I agree it hard to get through those first few chapters. But it was worth it for me. In the end, the books are a valuable exposure to the evil of sex trafficking across Europe and helped bring awareness to that evil worldwide.
Dune. Didn’t get into it at all, and bitterly trudged through it to the bitter end.
The magicians
I couldn’t think of one, but this is exactly it. I hate read that book.
Really!? The tv show is pretty good!!!
The Shack, Twilight, 50 Shades series, Great Gatsby and my all time most hated book, Girl on a Train
@Ben
It may not be the least favorite, but for all the hype, I just didn’t get it: Bridget Jones’s Diary
Eat Pray Love.
Ditto
I didn’t even get through it. Not sure what the big hype was. This was several years ago.
@Tina a decade!
Lately…A Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling. Ugh!
I hear you. I couldn’t get through it. I was so disappointed that she couldn’t manage a decent adult novel after being so successful with the Harry Potter series.
I tried it as an audio book on a road trip and finally had to turn it off. Too many gross, vulgar descriptions.
An event in autumn by Helen Mankell is worst I’ve read in the last 12 months
My least favorite popular book is The Alchemist
I read his book Adultery and hated it. Thought I missed something as I never read his work and have The Alchemist from a thrift shop on my TBR shelf. Maybe I should re-think reading it!
That was a painful one.
@Marge I found The Alchemist to be a really good read–it is a bit different from the usual novel, but it was written in Spanish and translated and has a certain worldwide spiritual appeal. I was glad I read it and I’ve run into people from all over the world since who have enjoyed the book.
@Marscha thanks
Someone help me finish the Gulag Archipelago. Its very good but voluminous.
The girl you left behind by Jojo Moyes.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. I’ve been told it is a giggle from beginning to end by multiple people but after struggling through 100 pages and never laughing once I finally allowed myself to quit.
You are not alone. I struggled reading it and I’m yet to finish it. I picked it for the sole purpose it was written by a young person.
13 reasons why
hard to say. there are a number of books I have given up on before I reached the end, like Lord of the Rings for instance. of books I have finished I think 1984 by George Orwell probably is my most disliked, a horrifying story. IWould never read it again.
50 Shades of Grey, what repetitive drivel!
I second 50 shades
I’m just jealous that I didn’t make all the money it made from bad writing lol.
The Shack
Only thing I could not finish, because it was so clunky and died on the page, was some over baked, agonisingly overworked turd laid by nick cave that I can’t remember the title of…
I wrote that in the style of that unreadable mess x
Having lived for many years, I know bad things happen. I prefer not to wallow in their details ? So many good books to read instead!
I do not like wasting time reading something i do not enjoy… Eat Pray Love and the Shack i ended up putting down and not looking back.
I didn’t like The Shack
I put down Eat, Pray, Love as well.
A heartbreaking work of staggering genius; Dave Eggers
I loved that one, but haven’t been able to get through any more of his books.
You’re a poet and don’t we know it 😀
I loved A Heartbreaking Work and Zeitoun, but agree the rest are pretty much intolerable.
Several I could not get into in spite of all the hype: “Cold Mountain”; “Life of Pi,”; and most recently “A Man Called Ove.” The latter started out okay, but after a while, it just got under my skin. I have read enough stuff that was assigned, that I have decided it really IS okay to stop before I finish a book, no matter how high its place on the Best Seller List.
Felt exactly the same about Cold Mountain and Life of Pi…
On another note, Cold Mountain is such a good movie!
@Abby I agree! Two of my favorite actors too.
@Kelly Charlie Hunnam?! ? or Jude ? haha
A man called ov – our book club read and I found it well written but tedious!
Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections
I read that on my Kindle. Didn’t care for it either.
I read his Freedom and… yuck!
The time travelers wife. I ended up ditching the book and watching the movie to understand. The book kept jumping times without any warning of where or when it was taking place it just made me confused and gave me a headache. Loved the movie though. Most books I hate I just stop put down and never look back. So easy with the kindle app now I just delete it and it’s gone for good.
Mein Kampf. My daughter needed it for school, so I ordered it from the library. It gave me the creeps just having it in the house.
Heart of Darkness, not even my least favourite but my most hated book! Had to read it TWICE.
This book kept haunting me throughout college AND grad school … EVERY time I’d think I was done with it forever, it would be assigned in another class. UGH. The horror, the horror… BLAH BLAH BLAH.
Ulysses, by James Joyce. What an exercise in self-love.
Moby Dick – grim and pointless beyond belief the very mention makes me shudder, though millions love it
I was assigned Moby Dick in college and stayed up all night reading it. You have to get beyond the early chapters into those about ambergris and the whale itself and the mind of Captain Ahab … and the adventure, when the writing becomes exquisite — and the reading, a pleasure. I always planned to read it again but now that I’m a great grandmother, I still haven’t — though I have set out to do so more than once! Even so, I don’t think anyone can deny that only a rare genius can write like Melville. Possibly, he is America’s greatest novelist. This is a slow week, so maybe effort #5 this time …. or is it 6? Seven?
It’s probably a book I shouild never have read, as the subject of hunting animals is one am deeply ambivalent about, however, felt that I needed to give it is a classic yet no could not bear it.
The Tigers wife…
All the Light We Cannot See.
Wow I absolutely loved this! I cried my eyes out
I loved his style of writing but I didn’t like part of the plot.
I was not wild about this one either…I think it is one of those books people either love or hate. My major complaint was its (in my view) unnecessary length.
I was put off my some obvious inaccuracies (no such thing as Pakistan in the 1940s, and Niels Bohr was not German), and a general phoniness in emotionality. I felt like a hallmark of children of war – that they grow up too fast – was missing (oddly enough, with the exception of the arc on Werner’s sister, which was in any case short but which I appreciated for introducing me to the backlash against German citizens following the war). In a book revolving around children, this felt strange. The female protagonist in particular – I simply could not understand what was so special about her. If it was simply because she was sweet and helpless, I felt like her feelings about being that way were not drawn with much complexity. If it was the moment itself that made her precious, I don’t think the book did enough to draw that link. I think for me a solid theme is also very important – is it that innocence and beauty survives through the chaos of war, like the beautiful blue diamond? If so, surely it must do so in more subtle a manner than a blind child with virtually unscathed naivete and with more significance than that she became a successful scientist? If some Germans felt uncomfortable under the Reich, surely at times such as the Blitz, that discomfort was more complex and uncertain than a fear of being bullied? What is it about Werner and his sister that makes them so untouched by what (from their point of view) looks like the senseless brainwashing of their compatriots, of children who grew up with them? Isn’t that disrespectful to all the decent, ordinary German people whose heads were turned by Hitler?
Why would you write a story about such morally solid characters, where for example, Werner’s only growth is conversion of his passive disapproval to action when the war has clearly turned – and that too after 500+ pages. I feel like the beauty and unsubtlety of the language disguises the disingenuousness of this story. It is too emotionally simplistic and comfortably sad. It feeds into a narrative of moral unambiguity that I think is not good for this time of history, when everybody is so sure they know good from bad.
“A Soldier of the Great War” – the WORST novel I’ve yet read. How I managed to plow through all 723 pages amazes me! ?
Eat Pray Love – the author drove me crazy
Yes! So whiny! But others in my book club loved It! We are all so different
I agree.. We are different in terms of our taste in books and that is ok!!
Velocity by Dean Koontz.
50 shades of grey
I bought the first one but never read it. The movie came out before I got around to it and kind of ruined it for me. Never saw the movies either. I just lost interest and gave the book away.
Agree
Frankenstein
The Bridges of Madison County.
Lyrebird
The Girl in the Spiders Web from David Lagercrantz
Love it
Love what?
Wuthering Heights. (I’m prepared to be stoned, lol)
totally agree, wanted to shout ‘ get a grip and get over yourself’
@Tig Glad it’s not just me. It took me three tries to read it all the way through. That was the last time I forced myself to finish a book 🙂
Helter Skelter. I threw the book away after I read it, because I couldn’t recommend it or pass it on.
Tried reading a bio of Gandhi. Quit after 30 pages because of the names being so long. Their alphabet has 36 consonants and 13 vowels. Maybe if they had nicknames like Mack. lol
Oh I started a bio of Ghandi too! And stopped! I do want to start back up someday.
The Executioner’s Song ?
50 Shades, but I wouldn’t even call it a real book. I hated The Fountainhead, The Hobbit, and Catcher in the Rye.
I loved The Fountainhead but I was in my 20s- I should read it again
One Day…that book nearly broke me as it was so dull! x
50 shades of grey. The writing was so bad i couldn’t get past the first page!
Tom Sawyer. It was the first book I read in an attempt to read more classics. Made me question the definition of classic!
I read “THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER” when I was in high school in 1980. Absolutely LOVED IT. Read it in 2 days.
The Alchimist … too boring ??
My Sisters Keeper by Jody Picoult. Honestly don’t get why people even like this author.
That’s one of the only books of hers I liked lololol!
I hated her Song of the Humpback Whale. But loved the others. I enjoy the unique multiple perspectives
Moby Dick, Jane Eyre, ‘Little House’ series.
Heater Skelter about Charles Manson. Too sick. Recent books would be Little Women, to kill a Mockingbird, a tree grows in Brooklyn, and Steig Larsen’s Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
I think To Kill a Mockingbird is a really great book. I enjoyed reading it so much
Agreed zacchary! I enjoyed it as well. Haven’t read any of those others mentioned rho.
The Devil In The White City – could not plow through it!
I agree. Tried several times to read it but could not. Liked his other books, though.
I love reading the classics but I have honestly never been a huge Steinbeck fan. I have not read Of Mice and Men but I have read almost all of his other works and I just don’t have a taste for it.
The Hobbit
The *Great Gatsby
Didn’t like Fitzgerald’s “Tender is the Night.” But I want to read “Gatsby” and try to understand why it’s regarded as an American classic after 93 years.
Me too
I was completely underwhelmed
Harry Potter ?
The Road
Another one I don’t like and everyone else does… a wrinkle in time
You need to read it when you’re an 8 yr old 4th grader. It blew my tiny mind and has stayed in my heart.
I did not like The Road, A Wrinkle in Time , or Harry Potter. How do these books get so popular?
Different tastes! Thank Goodness ?
I am not a Harry Potter fan. Got to about page 12 in the first book and put it down. Have tried it once or twice again, but it has little appeal to me.
I can’t say for the others, but Harry Potter is a worldwide phenomenon, and literally changed the reading habits of thousands, probably millions even, of young boys around the world in the decade or two surrounding the publication of the series (I wrote an English/sociology 20-page paper on it in grad school). They are certainly not my favorite reading by a long shot, but I did get through 4.5 volumes, and I can appreciate the appeal to young readers. As a teacher, I’m glad for the influence of Harry Potter–many of the future series got read because of those books (like Maze Runner, Divergent, etc.). As a young girl I was an avid reader myself, and I remember that my sister read all of the Nancy Drew books, and I couldn’t stand them–read one and never read another, while she devoured them all. To each his own!
Harry potter literally shaped my entire childhood! I’m a huge lover and appreciate what the series has done for me over the years. Maybe it means more and is “better” to those of us who grew up with it.
The whole Wrinkle in Time series is rough. I don’t know what people see in those books. The only half-decentes book in the series, is the one about the Great Flood. Other than that, ugh.
The Catcher in the Rye
Moby Dick
Ooh, “The Little Friend” by Donna Tartt. Have never been so infuriated with a book and myself for wasting time reading it!
So far I’ve hated both Donna Tartt books that I’ve read; I won’t be giving Friend a chance.
Good choice. I kind of hated The Secret History and while I was reading The Goldfinch, I hated it, but after I’d finished, I liked it. I have complicated feelings about her! But The Little Friend was AWFUL.
I started reading it and had to take a break. I plan to get back to it eventually.
@Pam I would recommend walking away forever!
I love Donna Tartt. The Goldfinch is one of my favorite books of all time. The Secret History was also great in my opinion. I have The Little Friend, though I have not started it yet.
I have Goldfinch and now I have to go try it
A Man Called Ove
I read that with my book club and never would have finished it if I was reading it on my own.
I hated it lol
I don’t feel so bad about not being able to get through the first chapter, then. Glad to know other feel that way!
I will risk debate and say that “A Prayer for Owen Meany” was the book where I had doubts midway in, plowed through and regretted it.
Without giving spoilers, I totally saw how it was going to end, I really thought “that’s so obvious there must be some twist” but it was just that. And it’s not like I’m a clever guy at that stuff normally.
But other people here have raved about this one, and the only reason I stuck with this one was because I’d loved his other books.
That is probably because most of us read it at a very young age..
I think I was 27…
I hated that book so much
The Bridges of Madison County. The only time in my experience when the movie was better than the book!
I didn’t even want to see the movie!
The Martian is the most overrated book in history in my opinion.
Aww I liked it!! Will probably never go back into my re-read pile, but I enjoyed it!
Maybe I was expecting too much after all the hype. It was a bit predictable and I didn’t care for the detailed descriptions of him breaking stuff and fixing it.
The Shack. :p
Really? That was raved about by so many friends and I was gifted a copy, but I read the back of the paperback and was really turned off. I never tried it. What did you not like?
Fifty shades of grey. I was almost physically ill reading about how he treated her and how the author only perpetuated abuse and did absolutely NO research on the subject of actual proper bdsm. She glorified being beaten by a man for his sexual pleasure. How fucking sick.
Thank you! It glorified the actual nightmares some sexual assault victims, including myself, have suffered through! Absolutely nothing romantic about abuse.
That barely counts as a book. When I went to the big San Francisco Public Library book sale last year, there was a table of erotica, and a table of “Fifty Shades.”
Mind you I haven’t read it, the wife and I watched the second movie on a dare and yeah, stupid shallow offensive.
As a victim of sexual violence, it broke my soul to read it. As a bdsm advocate it made me FURIOUS. because that is not at all how things work. And it is only perpetuating stigma and horrific abuse. It’s mind boggling that it was so popular and actually got made into a movie… multiple movies. How could anyone watch that? And then be like “yes so hot love this” ???♀️??♀️
@Rabecca I am also so sorry about what happened to you no one should ever experience or have to go through sexual assault or any assault at all.
Every couple years there’s some “groundbreaking” controversial that gives people an excuse to talk about stuff they’re interested in but too scared to talk about. And in theory that’s good, but the Gray books misrepresent everything so much.
Many years ago I had a job interview setting up a sex toy company’s web site. I almost got it, because I scored points saying that all their product descriptions sounded like they were written by someone who wouldn’t be caught dead using them. That’s what Fifty Shades is to me.
@Mike exactly. It was an opening to a discussion but it was approached in the worst possible most unhealthy way. There is a scene in the first book where he beats her with a belt while she screams and cries. To the point where she leaves him immediately after… that was so hard to read I almost couldn’t finish the book. I cannot imagine how ignorant the author is to believe that bdsm is conducted that way.
In the second movie there’s a long stupid scene where he puts her ankles in a spreader bar, then uses that to flip her over on the bed. Which I don’t think you can actually do without dislocating someone’s hip.
Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” annoyed me in the same way, they feed this perception that the kink world is like something you’d find in a Madonna video when really, it’s like everybody in the grocery store, but naked or in latex.
@Mike so much yes. I never got to the second one. But Jesus yes that would actually very much injure someone. I hope no one tried to do that in real life my god. It would be excruciating.
@Jencie thank you. I appreciate that. And I’m sorry you went through something as well. The world is a messed up place, unfortunately.
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. Could not stand the constant oh woe is me vibe throughout the book. I wanted to throw it across some large form of water but couldn’t subject the fish to the horribleness that was that book.
Always couldn’t stand catcher in the rye. I don’t understand why people rave about it. It’s one piece of literature I wish I could unread.
I once espied a copy of “Catcher in the Rye” when I was 15. That was almost 40 years ago. Have never read that book.
I can’t decide between Ulysses and Bridges of Madison County ?
Oh no I loved BRDGES…..
@Sue that’s why there’s chocolate and vanilla, right?
Silas Marner
Read that novel back in high school in the early 1980s. Can’t say I remember much of what it was about, except that the novel was centered on the relationship between a miserly old man and a young girl.
@Komet I read it in high school in the 60s so I’ve forgotten it completely. I could never understand why required books were awful when there were so many good books to read.
Anything by Dan Brown.
But…but…but…I love Dan Brown! ? ?
@Barbara don’t you feel like he writes at an eighth grade level? He’s so overrated!
@Katie having taught 8th grade level English for 20 years I’d say maybe….high school? I guess it’s the subject matter I like the most. I love books centered around puzzles and symbols and such.
Barbara, I’ve taught eighth grade as well! ? Private schools would consider the subject more suitable for high schoolers, but the style and sentence structure reminds me of a pre-teen thriller. I looked up the Lexile measure for Da Vinci code, and according to http://lexile.com/ books, it is 850L, actually written on a 5.5th grade level.?
He has some of the worst prose I’ve ever read.
The Road. Sorry, i know it won awards but sooooo long and depressing.
I know a lot of people love The Alice Network but I had to stop because of the “current ” story line–the incessant breathless “Rose, Rose” –it did me in. I loved the flashback part though.
The older I get the less patience I have for a book I don’t like. Thus, there are too many and I don’t remember the worst one!! I remember someone posting an age rule for how many pages to read until you give up – something like 100 minus your age then divide by 2. 🙂
Interesting formula….
I’m reading Song of Achilles, and about 50% through I got bored. But I kept going. Better, but still not great. I usually have no patience if I don’t like the book, or character for that matter!
Wuthering Heights.
Thank you.
One of my favorite reads and my husband feels it is ghastly ??
Had to read it twice in high school for 2 different English classes. HATED IT!!! ?
@Rene I’m with hubby lol I can’t hear wind whistling through window cracks without thinking of this book!
Lolol
Looking for Alaska by John Green was pretty awful. And The Night Circus
seems like people either love or hate The Night Circus. I have the audiobook but have not listened to it yet.
@Jason it was detailed beautifully, but so boring. it took me like 2 months to read it
I have the audiobook, so it won’t take me too long to get through it, when and if I decide to give it a try
I thought about doing the audiobook just to give it a second chance
I can’t ever read or listen to a book more than once. I love audiobooks though. I burned myself out on required readings in school and have found some fantastic books I otherwise wouldn’t have taken the time to read.
@Jason ohhh I love to read books more than once. But it has to be something I LOVE. I need to get back into audiobooks while I’m at work. Good way to pass the time
Yes, I always turn one on anytime I am driving or doing anything mundane at work.
Skeletons on the Zahara
There is only one book I really, deeply, hated, and that was “The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups” by Leonard Sax. He struggles getting the definitions of “authoritative” and “authoritarian” straightened out, never mind the fact that a lot of the book essentially boils down to “we didn’t act this way when I was a kid!”.
It’s really horrid.
My feelings about your last statement: all people act “that way” when they were kids! ?
Exactly.
Gone with the Wind
Anything by Ayn Rand. Don’t think she was much of a writer.
Haven’t tried her. Keep getting scared off by people not liking her!
@Barbara Her writing was bad, but her “philosophy” was worse and continues to persuade people to be as horrible as possible.
The quality of her writing notwithstanding, I was fascinated by her in high school. I read Fountainhead and I was hooked, especially coming out of Communist Cuba, where excellence was frowned upon, extra effort was not rewarded, and thinking outside the box,, for whatever reason, made you an enemy of the regime. It took me several decades to see the holes in her logic, and more, the danger of telling people what they want to hear.
Betty White’s autobiography
Oh drat! I have this in my TBR pile due to someone else’s recommendation. What didn’t you like about it?
Really?! I’m curious now. What was wrong with it?
Awww I didn’t even know she had an autobiography, but I’m sad it wasn’t good! She’s so cute! ?
@Krystal I’m about halfway into it and, sorry to say, I have to agree with Elizabeth Aguilar. It’s not funny (and mostly downright boring), and oddly enough Betty comes across as sort of self-serving ?.
It’s terribly written and if she wasn’t well known it would never have been published.
@Elizabeth how sad!
@Krystal Not so sad! She probably made millions!
@Elizabeth that’s true. Was it an autobiography?
Yes
@Elizabeth bummer. Sorry I see you put that at the top. I’m overtired today!
She’s Come Undone
I read part of that and just couldn’t go on.
Danielle Steele’s books
Would rather concentrate on preferred reading. Life is too short
I’m worth you both. There are many of these that I am completely shocked could be on someone’s list of bad books, but there are others that I’ve been putting off because I could never really get into them that I’m actually relieved to see here. Makes me not feel so bad dieskipping a few classics.
@Hannah I think anyone’s opinion is interesting. And it’s nice to see that everyone has such different tastes. That’s why there are so many books in the world!
Ayn Rand’s garbage writing
somewhere between Buddenbrooks and Moby Dick
The Golden Notebook..just found it too heavy-going..?
The Giver
Weird one
Aww I read that last year and liked it!! It’s not my all time favorite but I like that it’s basically the beginning for the entire dystopian franchise.
Were a little hostile about it … ?
Atlas Shrugged
Gerald’s Game. The only Stephen King novel I truly hated
Omg, I think I read that in high school? Put me off bondage for life!! ???
1984,,,, sucked sorry.. i will duck , in case someone decides to throw something at me
I loved it. But, I won’t throw anything at you. ?
I’ve dodged a few tomatoes myself. ?
I’ve tried to read it several times but never gotten into it.
The House of Sand and Fog
I couldn’t finish that one. It was way too disturbing for me.
The bluest eye
I tend to agree, to each his own, so not criticizing anyone’s taste. I’m aware that I am in the minority for not liking Harry Potter and it’s impact has been tremendous. That many people can’t be wrong, so it has something magical to have that kind of response and appeal.
Yeah not a big fan either
I started the first book several times and could not get into it. Once they all came out, I slogged through the first two. I loved the later ones.
I’ve never even thought about reading any of HP, or seeing the movies, just not my style.
Siddhartha one of my bosses made me read it to understand the meaning of life. I got more out of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears.
Too funny- that was one of my favorites when I was in college.
@Kris I think it was because I was ordered to read it. Might have enjoyed it just as a read.
I didn’t get it either/
Kris Lidinsky maybe you can explain it to us Unenlightened ones?!?
I just remember his journey and how he discovered at the end how life was like the river made up of all the songs of life. Way to philosophical this early in the am. I minored in philosophy so maybe that is why it appealed to me. Loved everything that Herman Hesse wrote.
Devoured Hesse in college. Now close to 50 years later, not interested.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Omg yes. I forgot all about this book. It’s also my least favorite.
Little Women. I’ve tried. And tried again. I think the dialogue is so unrealistic and the character development is nil. Probably an unpopular opinion but I have it up the second time around, watched the movie, and yawned through that too.
I hated that book when i finally finished it. I was 8. So furious at Laurie for falling in love with the brat and couldn’t believe Jo married some old man because they loved the same book. I almosr threw the book across the room but it was too heavy.
Pillars of the Earth; The Alchemist; Nightingale.
Pillars of the Earth was one of my all time faves!
Pillars of the Earth was one of my all time faves!
It never fails to amaze me how different we are! My own Sister Recommends some awful books?
Also, I cannot stand Jane Austen.
I love Jane Austen. The cool thing about this place is that reading/listening/ereader/paper/whatever-floats-your-boat, it all comes down to one common denominator – we all love a *good story. Good being entirely subjective, of course!
Why you cannot stan Jane Austen?
I’ve just never been able to get into her work. Or the Brontes sisters. Pride and Prejudice was almost impossible for me to get into. I found the characters predictable and the story dragged towards an inevitable conclusion. I love the classics but she’s just not my cup of tea, though lots love her.
@Janet
1984
The Letter by Kathryn Hughes. Such a promising book but so poorly written I still cringe thinking about it!
The Giving Tree – after I read it to my kids, and realized that I hated the message it was sending, I never read it to them again!
Agree.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Wild by Strayed is a least favorite, it was supposed to be a true story. We are supposed to believe her first hike ever in her whole life she hiked 1000 miles. Plus it wasn’t that well written.
Most of my favorites are on this list though! Ok when I don’t like a book I normally dnf but if I do continue to read and finish it and give it a 2 rating I didn’t like it ! Here are a few I didn’t like Fangirl by rainbow Rowell, red rising sorry don’t remember author, vegetarian, me earl and the dying girl, dietland, zookeepers wife, the bone season and so many more
‘Exit West’ by Mohsin Hamid. The narrative was all over the place and I dragged myself through the book. I was utterly disappointed.
I won’t say it’s the worst, but I don’t see why it’s so well-liked.
I guess I agree. But I had such high hopes, that I ended up classifying this as one of my worst reads.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
Oh that’s on my wish list
@Sarrah , it’s ok for super-gothy YA fantasy. That’s not my preference, I just read it for my daughter. She’s outgrown me reading books TO her, but wanted to share it with me 🙂
My husband absolutely love to these books.
I wasn’t as in to them.
I liked the first one but not enough to bother with the others seemingly!
@Louise me too. I liked the movie though
War and Peace, we were made to read it in 6th grade…..torture!
6th grade? Too much!
The last of the Mohicans. I love to read but ended up getting Cliff notes as I could not get thru it in high school.
1984
In the last few years, I’d say The Night Circus or Gone Girl. If I go back further than that I remember truly hating The Scarlet Letter when I was in 6th or 7th grade.