What is the most godawfully bad book you have ever read? (1 Viewer)

[tallkid34]

In year 10, I had to read "The Name Of The Rose" by Umberto Eco. It was the most painful experience I ever had in reading. The storyline itself was a horrible fusion of latin (half the book is in latin which doesn't help too much when you don't understand the language) and some god awful plot about gay monks who liked to kill each other with poisoned books. Even if you could wade through all the philosophical meanderings and old fashioned detective work, you have nothing more than a convoluted plot which is most likely incomprehernsible for the average 15 year old. Thank god I was on Fijian island resort at the time reading it because I promptly threw the stupid book in the ocean and got on with my life.

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

okay, well as much as some people seem to like Dune, i have to say: i HATED it. it was painful...the first like hundred pages are okay, but thats all i could get through without wishing i'd never picked ext english in the first place. congrats to anyone who read it and liked it, you're probably made of stronger stuff than me.

i like Austen, however. give her a chance...

 

[Seryn]

Without counting books I was forced to read for school I would have to say The Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings. For those who prefer more light-hearted fantasy it would likely be a reasonable read but it was plagued by so many convenient coincedences, far-fetched events and inadept enemies that I couldn't force myself to read past half-way. The worse part is that it made it into the top 100 reads by Angus and Robertson *sigh*

okay, well as much as some people seem to like Dune, i have to say: i HATED it. it was painful...the first like hundred pages are okay, but thats all i could get through without wishing i'd never picked ext english in the first place. congrats to anyone who read it and liked it, you're probably made of stronger stuff than me.

i like Austen, however. give her a chance...

I'll second that, Dune being the one other book I couldn't bring myself to finish. Damn that was a slow storyline.

 

[k8kate]

Heart of Darkness - Conrad
*gags*

 

[helmut]

icestation? was out a few years back. forget who it was by. my friend demanded that i read it because it was SUCH a good book. i think we have very different reading tastes. admittedly i didn't finish reading it...

i also had issue with "what katie did"... it took her about 2 chapters to get out of her bed walk to the front door and open it [this is without getting sidetracked/haveing to sneek past a sleeping onenight stand/ or even making herself breakfast... 2 chapter to describe the scenery of her home corriders?!?! kaite, what did you do?]

 

[the leader]

I had to read this book in year 8, Momo. My god it was bad. there were grey men that stole time or something...and this homeless kid called Momo had to save the world with a tortise or something...

 

[jhakka]

If I haven't said so already: My Place by Sally Morgan.

 

[Mr Lovepony]

If I haven't said so already: My Place by Sally Morgan.

Let me second that.

 

[wafflesnsorbet]

Laurell K Hamilton's more recent books (2002 onwards?) definitely take the cake. If the author starts making noticeable typos, you definitely start to worry. When porn overtakes the plot (and badly written porn, at that), it is time to burn the book (if you were idiotic enough to buy it in the first place, that is).

 

[ObjectsInSpace]

I'd have to say anything by Colin Forbes. It's usually the same plot with a different name, reveloving around someone training refugees from Asia as spies and saboteurs and then placing them into society until the time is right for a takeover of Europe (admittedly, This United State was different and possibly the author's best book). The girl is always kidnapped by the villain, who usually ends up drowning in mud or a swamp or something. There's some ludicrous scenes, such as a single bullet destroying an entire supertanker, and the author is downright xenophobic with Serbians and Muslims being the primary antagonists and usually depicted as stupid, brutish and fanatical. In fact, the protagonists have been known to mercilessly slaughter Serbains and Muslims without blinking or questioning if they're even in the right place and the author made the single biggest contradiction ever when the internet and telecommunications were completely destroyed in one book, an incident that should have put us back as close to the Stone Age as you can get, but in the next story they were working just fine despite claims of taking years to fix.

icestation? was out a few years back. forget who it was by. my friend demanded that i read it because it was SUCH a good book. i think we have very different reading tastes. admittedly i didn't finish reading it...

It's by Matthew Reilly and while being a good book in its own right, it seriously lacks any sort of character development. It's "pure escapism ... and if character development slows the plot down, then character development gets the chop!" as the author described it.

 

[turtleface]

I am in no way trying to troll but The lord of the rings (the first one) was a real pain in the ass to read (though admittedly I'd seen the movie first)

 

[Emma-Jayde]

Bwah, I didn't like the movies overly much. They left too much out

As far as books go... Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. And the 2nd one, don't remember what that was called. I had to read them both for English in year 7.
And I'm assuming that the other 3 sequels are just as bad.

 

[Aznpsycho]

I recently read the wiki for Kevin J Anderson's Saga of the Seven Suns, and my god does it come off as the most bloated verbal diarrhea I have ever seen. Wacky and one-dimensional alien species after the other, regular one-upsmanship of newer and more power dudes, and more stock standard cliches all crammed together. Fuck this man, and his bastardisation of Dune. If it turns out that the Honored Matres were running away from the AIs of the prequel series, I will get pissed.

 

[jebbie]

Emma is crap

I like Jane Austin as much as the next person, prehaps even more.. But that was one of the worst books I was made to read. Not that I finished it.

ITS CRAP

yay for video versions of year 12 texts

 

[jhakka]

Eleanor Elizabeth by Libby Gleeson was awful. It was one of those books on the required reading list at school... ended up doing it in 2 or 3 different years. Ugh!

I nth anyone suggesting Jane Austen or Virginia Woolf.

Oh yes. To the Lighthouse by Woolf was horrid. *spew*

 

[jhakka]

I stuck with it, unfortunately. Worst subject ever... apart from postmodernism.

 

[jhakka]

British Romantic Literature wasn't a bad subject. I'm not sure if they're running it in 07, but I really enjoyed it. I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I actaully did the readings too.

And they're running The World of Fantasy in second semester, so I'll definitely be doing that one. Might as well finish my English requirements on a high note.

 

[SamTan*06*]

To Kill A Mocking Bird

Summer of the Senevteenth Doll - its not technically a book, i know. But it was still bad.

Damn drama.

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

To Kill A Mocking Bird

Summer of the Senevteenth Doll - its not technically a book, i know. But it was still bad.

Damn drama.

what?! no no no... to kill a mockingbird is a fabulous book.

and i also loved 'the doll', although not many people i have talked to share my enthusiasm. but its great!

 

[SamTan*06*]

what?! no no no... to kill a mockingbird is a fabulous book.

and i also loved 'the doll', although not many people i have talked to share my enthusiasm. but its great!

HOW?? they're both about absolute crap!!!