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/lit/ - Literature

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3855204 No.3855204 [Reply] [Original]

What's the worst book you've ever read?

>> No.3855213

Some book about ancient Egyptians. Don't remember much, only that it was an ongoing series and there was some fucking and swimming or whatever.

It was terrible.

>> No.3855223

I had to read Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism in high school once.

>> No.3855230

Doom: Hell on Earth, also I read all of the Star Wars novels as a kid. I suppose they were okay for what they were, but I bought one at a thrift store the other day and it was pretty cringeworthy.

>> No.3855233

>>3855223
What was it like? And what kind of high school did you go to?

captcha: excreta werenGut

>> No.3855234
File: 86 KB, 318x475, gooflumps.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3855234

>> No.3855237

>>3855234
>this spoof is just a goof

Jesus man, I'm so sorry.

>> No.3855238

>>3855233
it was the worst self-serving ideological tripe I've ever read. It's whole point was "lol fascism started on the left" as if this, even if it were true, eternally tainted all political views to the left of ronald reagan's right nut

it was part of a summer reading thing where we could choose three books from a list, and that one sounded cool.

>> No.3855243
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3855243

>psychology class and meditation are just attempts by the Devil to put his minions in your head

And the prose was atrocious. I specifically remember two different people use "circumnavigate" to describe their independent wandering about a fairground. Dropped it after the protagonist's daughter claimed he had raped her and had him thrown in jail.

>> No.3855266
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3855266

>>3855234
>R.U. Slime

>> No.3855270

>>3855234
why did you read that in the first place

the real goosebumps are bad enough...

>> No.3855290

>>3855204
I only read small parts out of sick fascination, but it was a Magic The Gathering tie-in novel. Something about some druid fighting some evil dude by summoning badgers. Anyway, worst writing ever.

>> No.3856124
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3856124

Thanks for making all those awful, traumatic memories resurface. This is as bad as books get imo.

>> No.3856177

>>3855234
What was it about, if I dare ask

>> No.3856179

Coehlo's Veronica Wants to Die or whatever it's translated as. Absolute worst shit ever. A birthday present.

>> No.3856184
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3856184

I ran out of books whilst traveling and swapped my copy of A Brave New World for it.
Wish I had never had bothered.

>> No.3856224

>>3855204
The lovely bones.

>> No.3856229

Some book on Angels written by a hyper-religious guy. It was really badly researched and had no useful information in it at all.

>> No.3856232

Gravity's Rainbow.

>> No.3856234

>>3856229

The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven

>> No.3856238

>>3856234
No it was more like a dictionary of angels or something dumb.

>> No.3856242

Some independently published book. Jesus christ, I even forgot the name.

>> No.3856246

The Turn Of The Screw.

>> No.3856248

Kafka on the Shore. Girlfriend forced me to read it during the summer. Then she broke up with me.

>> No.3856249

>>3856246

>didn't get that the governess might be crazy

>> No.3856257
File: 44 KB, 400x678, siddhartha1[1].jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3856257

This. I had to force myself through it, as short as it is, because my best friend strongly recommended it to me and went as far as to lend me it.

I found it absolutely loathsome, colonial tripe. a conceptually empty parody of eastern culture that was as vacuous as all of the new-age bullshit it inspired. Pretty much in turns either insulting or dull, pure fetishisation for the sake of it.

It's the least I've ever enjoyed a book. The last part with the river was pretty good at least, one or two great passages, but not enough to redeem the rest of the book. All I can say is it just must have aged terribly. When it was released it must have been fascinating, but culturally we are so far past this crap. I honestly believe there is more to be learnt about eastern spiritualism from Kung Fu Panda than this pile of shit.

>> No.3856259

>>3856257
I adored it so, so much.

>> No.3856260

I really didn't like The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy very much. I wanna say that.

>> No.3856266

>>3856248

The worst book you've ever read? I don't think so. Stop pandering to /lit/

>> No.3856268

>>3856177
aliens coming out a toilet and dragging everybody in or something

from the humor it seemed more like a book for teens, but I don't think anybody out of middle school would read it

>> No.3856271

>>3856268

IT'S DREAMCATCHER.

>> No.3856272

Snow Crash

>> No.3856274

Not sure if it's the worst ever, but I read Larry Niven's Ringworld a month or so ago and it was bad as fuck.

>> No.3856278

>>3856249
That doesn't excuse the author from not knowing what a sentence is.

>> No.3856286

>>3856278

I like your style.

>> No.3856295

>>3856266
It is the worst book that I've ever finished reading. I only did read because I promised her, and it was shit all the way through - Oh the long hours I spend trying to find something positive to say about it. Why people like it, I will never understand. It's just painful and boring to read

>> No.3856302

>>3856179
This is one of his better books.
Try reading "Pilgrim". Fuck.

>> No.3856305

>>3856302

Truly the scariest thing I've heard in years.

>> No.3856306
File: 59 KB, 343x500, The+Hangman%27s+Curse[1].jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3856306

>The story centers around an apparently supernatural case taken by a family of investigators who make up the Veritas Project. About seventy years after the suicidal hanging of Abel Frye, a student at a high school who hanged himself after being unable to cope with the pressures of bullying, Jocks from the school's football team begin to lose their sanity after seeing what they believe to be Abel's ghost, which is rumored to be under the control of a group of witches out for revenge.
Shit was awful, yo

>> No.3856307

>>3856295
To each their own. I loved it.

>> No.3856310

>>3856295
Murakami appeals to a certain sect of people, I think. The kind of person who wants to read garbage /lit/ like Palahnuik, but Palahnuik is too white and American.

>> No.3856317

Naked
Fucking
Lunch

>> No.3856321

>>3855204
What a stupid question. Well when I was 9 I thought the bearenstein bears sucked cock.
I've read a lot of shitty books. How am I supposed to decide which is worse?

>> No.3856323

>>3856307
So please tell me, what made you love it? I honestly have no idea of what make people love this book, and I really want to know

>> No.3856324

>>3856321
>I thought the bearenstein bears sucked cock

I always thought Brother Bear was a little too light in the loafers.

>> No.3856336

Ulysses. Shit novel, very third rate.

>> No.3856341

>>3856310
>Someone likes something I don't like so they must be in some way deficient

>>3856323
I found the characters charming and extremely likeable. It took me back to what it was like to be 15 better than anything else I've read about kids that age. The lightness of touch and the magic elements really appealed to me. It all spoke to an aesthetic that I recognised right from the very start, and just rang true to me. I remember when I was reading it I kept telling people that it was one of the most "contemporary" feeling books I've ever read, by which I meant it captured some element of living _right now_ that I'd never seen in other books, in the way it portrayed things. I've read plenty of newer books but none that had this particular effect on me.

>> No.3856422

>>3855204
welcome to hard times by e.l. doctorow

>> No.3856602

>>3856184
Is it really that bad? I enjoyed the film.

>> No.3856620

>>3855204
Can we get a non tumblrshit version of this gif?

>> No.3856626

Infinite Jest, except I didn't read it because I'm not that retarded

>> No.3856636

>>3856422

Why? I enjoyed Billy Bathgate, is it worse?

>> No.3856686

>>3856317
2nd

>> No.3856695

>>3856636
give it a try
I disliked it so much that I could never read anything by him again. And then when the movie Ragtime came out, if it's faithful to the book, then I just don't like his perspective. The only good thing about that was all the nudity by
Elizabeth McGovern.

>> No.3856714

sherlock holmes books

>> No.3856717
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3856717

>> No.3856722

the curious incident of the dog in the night time.

we had to read it in school.
it was written by some autist faggot about some autist faggot kid.

>> No.3856738
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3856738

>> No.3856739

>>3856257
you sound like a massive ignorant pleb.

the book is great.
if you ever read any of hesse's other stuff you should know that he likes buddhism a lot.
the beginning is kinda boring but the book is written in a very beautiful way(which is usually the case with hesse's work).

>I honestly believe there is more to be learnt about eastern spiritualism from Kung Fu Panda than this pile of shit.

i cannot fathom how much of a fucking pleb you are.

>> No.3856745

>>3856257
that book is a pile of shit

>> No.3856763

>>3856738
Having a child that near Rand is practically child abuse.

>> No.3856773
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3856773

>>3856745
>>3856257

where is all this siddharta hate coming from? i guess i could see if you just outright despise eastern mysticism or something but it still would have its merits i mean damn son

>> No.3856799

>>3856336
>>3856336
>>3856336
>>3856336
>>3856336
>>3856336
>>3856336

>> No.3856805
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3856805

Gamer Girl. Seriously, what the fuck even. I read it when I was 13. Nothing has ever even come close to the fucking awfulness. I'd suggest reading it just for laughs.

>> No.3856806

>>3856773
i've always hated it

>> No.3856807

>>3855204
I liked that film.

>> No.3856811

>>3856773
woah i read the word 'sudden' and it totally wasn't there. i don't necessarily despise eastern mysticism but his treatment of it made me want to vomit. im sure it has merit but what can you do with that

>> No.3856820

>>3856806
>always
You cannot possibly hate that which you did not read.

Unless a teenager.

>> No.3856821
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3856821

>>3856626
haha! ya!

>> No.3857030
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3857030

couldn't even finish it

>> No.3857066
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3857066

Had to read this one in high school. Between this and The Awakening by Kate Chopin or The Handmaid's Tale by Atwood, it only wins because of how much I can't stand reading anything by the Bronte sisters.
20 pages on tightening a corset? I'd rather take 20 pages on loosening one.

>> No.3857096

Bolo!

It a collection of short stories about a type of self conscious fusion driven mega tanks that defend humanity. It is absolute shit.

>> No.3857117

>>3857096
Sounds like you read it in elementary school. Back then, I almost always read Animorphs books. This one asshole wouldn't let me into his pillow fort during "reading time" because I reading "ani-morph-isis".

>> No.3857118

>>3856626
>Infinite Jest
God, that book is a load of shit. So fucking superfluous.

>> No.3857130

>>3856811
i guess i could see people not liking hesse's random spiritual digressions, sometimes myself i found his repeated rambling about a woman with a masculine face as a pile of disjointed semiotic spaghetti but i still think his prose is damn near objectively good, oh well different strokes i guess but i wouldn't expect siddharta to be on any worst book ever lists, i mean steppenwolf sucked ass but siddharta sheeeeit

>> No.3857140

>>3856248
God that book is amazing.

>> No.3857141

>>3856602
I liked the book actually. I'm not the guy that posted that though.

>> No.3857144

I had to read Beloved at school
that really bloated my benningtons

>> No.3857146

>>3857066

I just read Jane Eyre like six months ago and I don't remember it being all that descriptive. Where was this 20 page corset tightening scene?

>> No.3857150

>>3856257

> a conceptually empty parody of eastern culture that was as vacuous as all of the new-age bullshit it inspired

exactly how I feel about everything I've read by Hesse

>> No.3857152
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3857152

I don't know about books, but this is the worst THREAD I've ever read

>> No.3857170

>>3857152
nice post

>> No.3857171

>>3855204
Cant even remember the name of it. It was about a woman moving to la (might of been after a divorce). She is friends with someone who vetoed a script (with a laughably bad faux-gansta name) which later became successful, leading to her being fired. Another friend (or possibly herself) was living her shrinking savings from selling a script that did not make it to film. It was terribly written and the author seemed intent in showing off her lack of intelligence. Not remembering the name is starting to bug me. Anyone want to take a guess?

I read it on holiday when i was younger. I had forgotten to take any books and was stuck with whatever shit my mother was reading.

>> No.3857174

>>3857170
>He thinks his opinions matter or warrant discussion

>> No.3857196

>>3857146
It was just a hyperbole for the author's tendency to embellish on shit nobody cares about for way too long.

>> No.3857210

>>3857066

>can't stand reading anything by the Bronte sisters

Even Wuthering Heights? Do you have no sense of romanticism?

>> No.3857235

I have a love/hate relationship with A Song of Ice and Fire. I love the plot, but reading it just gets so drawn out. There's so much shit that Martin packs in there that we could all do without.

>> No.3857245

>>3856257
10/10
Nice one!

>> No.3857259

Oh god, you made me remember some horrible book I had to read in junior high school, an epistolary novel taking place in France during WWII. It was so fucking terrible that I got a shitty mark and my teacher thought I didn't read the damn thing. It was short but absolutely boring. I high school I also had to read something taking place during WWII AGAIN (I hate this war, but not for the right reasons I think). It was about some old couple hosting a german soldier and then nothing happened. It was terrible, I've read as little as possible of this, just enough to know what the fuck was going on.

>> No.3857476

>>3855204

Eragon lel. I was 13.

>> No.3857548
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3857548

>author has zero knowledge of common scientific facts, but makes up facts instead of researching

>characters that are supposedly highly educated and well-trained act in such a stupid manner that it defies all logic and common sense

>> No.3857575
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3857575

This crap.

>> No.3857582

The Awakening

Chopin points out that many women at the time were being turned into intellectual and emotional children both through a lack of education and overbearing societal expectations, but then she tries to portray her as a martyr rather than an idiot.

>> No.3857586

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

>> No.3857590
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3857590

This abortion.

Runners-up:

1. Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura
2. Warcraft: Day of the Dragon
3. Warhammer 40K: Horus Heresy – Descent of Angels

>> No.3857593

The Great Gatsby

>> No.3857596

The Book Thief

Had to read it for school. Writing style made me so angry i threw the book across my room 5 times and beat the shit out of it.

>> No.3857598

>>3857586

Oh come now. Philosophically, its bollocks, but the writing and story is pretty engaging.

>> No.3857602

>>3857598

>writing

That accent crap is fucking horrible. Is that supposed to be enjoyed? The story is cool though.

Stranger In A Strange Land is probably worse though.

>> No.3857603

>>3857118
I'm reading it now, overall I'm enjoying it. You just have to power through a few parts

>> No.3857614

>>3855238
Whoa. This sounds like the worst crap ever.

>> No.3857621
File: 31 KB, 294x475, 73906.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3857621

>volcanic activity causes the continent of Alantis to sink when it should do the opposite

>population of 100 survivors (most of which weren't masons) manage to build a grand marble palace within a year which is logistically and physically impossible

>new characters and villains appearing out of the blue with no logical introduction and disappearing just as fast

>Druidic leader suddenly embraces Christianity for no reason despite Druids being persecuted by Christians

And the last straw:

>Merlin, who had literally met and talk with God in the story, persuaded an English king to use violence against his opponents in order to create a "Kingdom of Summer" which was a God-approved country of "peace"

>> No.3857640

>>3856317
Really? I mean, yeah there are some boringly absurd parts, but there are some great chapters. Specially The Examination and the prologue.

>> No.3857648

Personally, I'd say Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. I tried to read it when I was like 14 because it was a present from my mom. It bored me to tears. Because this kind of stuff I avoided non-philosophical books during a lot of years.

>> No.3857664

>>3857648
>tfw I never read most of the books my dad gave me because they were usually young adult Christian fantasy

no regrets

>> No.3857667
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3857667

I didn't even finish it. It frustrated me to no end. Roquentin seemed like a whiny little bastard the whole time.

>> No.3857677

>>3856717
why? just why?

>> No.3857689

>>3856773
I thought it was generally liked? I don't mean eastern mysticism, its shitty western fetishisation of said mysticism that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

>> No.3857695
File: 46 KB, 304x500, Wizard Earthsea 01.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3857695

>hardly any magic use

>> No.3857712

>>3855204
Bovver by Chris Brown

>> No.3857715

>>3857689
Do you like Hesse's other stuff?

>> No.3857730

>>3857130
I've only read it in translation. For what I know the original might be one of the greatest books of all time, but the translated version I read was insulting dull, basic prose, with the occasional mention of mango trees or some other exotic signifier.
>>3856739
You keep calling me a pleb, but from the sounds of it you completely failed to understand my post. I'm sorry if I seemed arrogant in what I wrote, I honestly really hated the novel. I've got nothing against people who like it, hell I'm in genuinely in love with at least one person who does, cheap shots are not necessary. You can disagree on the quality of a book without throwing in insults. What did you enjoy about the book? Why don't you think my criticisms are valid? Tbh I'm interested in why people enjoy this book I hated so much.
>>3857715
Its actually the only thing I've read by him, though I've been told Steppenwolf might be more to my tastes. It's very high on my to-read list.

>> No.3857751

>>3857730
Siddhartha is his weakest book that I've read.

Try Steppenwolf, Demian, Narcissus and Goldmund, and The Glass Bead Game

>> No.3857770

World War Z, probably.

>> No.3857773

>>3855213
This one?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_God_%28novel%29

>> No.3857797

>>3856722
This.
This is the worst book I've read this year, followed closely by A Wrinkle in Time and Storm Front.

>> No.3857910
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3857910

I was so exited because I love subways, but goddamn that writing. I can handle even the lamest Japanese visual novels, but this was just too much.

>> No.3858089

Dracula

>> No.3858096

>>3857797
What? How can you hate A Wrinkle in Time?
Granted, I read it in 4th grade, remember the two kids (Meg and her brother) being a bit insufferable, but the Happy medium was school... jeez, man.

>> No.3858131

>>3857797

I liked L'Engle's time books. That angel from Wind in the Door was jokes.

>> No.3858147

>>3858096
>How can you hate A Wrinkle in Time?

Read it again. It's absolutely ridiculous--the worst is the dynamics between the dorky narrator and football star. You can practically see L'Engle's hand up all their asses, making the mouths move.

Also, the parents are totally patronizing and the dialog is terrible in general.

"Your father left us on a mission. You must understand."
"I understand that he left us for a reason."
"I'm glad you understand. There are many things even I don't understand, so you must try to understand."

Shit's terrible.

>> No.3858149
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3858149

>>3858096
Probably because I was 21 when I've read it.
Not an excuse, tho.
Re-read The Golden Compass this month and it's still absolutely amazing, and the first time I've read it I was more or less 12.

>> No.3858167
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3858167

this shit

>> No.3858193

The House on Mango Street

>> No.3858207

Next by Michael Crichton, what the hell man...

>> No.3858221
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3858221

>> No.3858231

Read one of Dan Browns books, angels and demons maybe, on a bad speed come down once, it was literally the only thing in the house no TV out anything

>> No.3858241

The Da Vinci Code

>> No.3858256

Atlas Shrugged.

It wasn't the message so much as the writing. Rand's self-assuredness was evident in every syllable, and it was repulsive to me. (This was my impression as a high schooler who hadn't heard anything about Rand or Atlas Shrugged except that it was considered essential American literature.)

>> No.3858259

Edge by Thomas "Obvious Nom de Plume" Blackthorne

Like fuck. It was written meh, but the guy took what could have been a passably original world and story and gave out flat characters, futuristic idea porn, and shit pacing with no sense of danger of the scale of this supposedly dystopian future. Also, no knife fights until like the end when part of the tale is the legalized knife dueling. What the hell.

>> No.3858690

>>3858256
>Rand's self-assuredness was evident in every syllable, and it was repulsive to me.

This interests me - why is self-assuredness repulsive to you?

>> No.3858692

Da BIBBLE xD

>> No.3858701

the eight

>> No.3858736

50 Shades of Gray and Twilight.
Fuck that shit, my sister wanted me to read both ("If you want to criticise something, read it first"). Worst time of my fucking life. How came reviews weren't enough.

>> No.3858748

"Past the Shallows" by Favel Parrett. 250 pages of desperate pulling at emotional strings that thrived off of empathy barely anyone possesses, or the weakest nostalgia you've ever had. "THIS GUY HAD A HARD LIFE BUT IT'S EXTRA SAD BECAUSE WHEN HE WAS LITTLE HE DRANK MILO WITH HIS BROTHER, PLS KEEP READING". There was an entire fucking chapter dedicated to the younger brother making the older one a fucking sandwich, and only the LAST sentence furthered the plot at all and it was completely seperate to the last 4 paragraphs.

>> No.3858760

>>3856257
you are me

>> No.3858765

chronicles of thomas covenant.
not worst, my opinion's not fact. just least favorite.

>> No.3858769

>>3857030
ok

>> No.3858777
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3858777

I tried to read Charles Darwin but had to put that sucker down.

>> No.3858876

>>3857030
Really? I loved it. I guess it's not for everyone but still...

>> No.3858891
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3858891

Maybe I can't say it was the worse, because I didn't even finish it. But the fact that I couldn't finish it was very telling. I usually enjoy Chuck Palahniuk, but the style in which this is written makes it so fucking hard to get through.

>> No.3858898

>>3858167
I'm half way through The Two Towers. It's a series that is quite enjoyable, and funny in parts, but most of it is very slow and boring. It's tough to get through, and I keep finding myself getting distracted with other books, then eventually coming back to read a chapter or two.

>> No.3858903

>>3858149
Damn, I need to read that series, i never got round to finishing it.