Books to avoid like a bookworm on a diet

eZe^

Anything from the Twilight series. Seriously.

Goat Mouth

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Bored the arse off me.
If you even bother critisizing this comment, think twice.
It might have been good in it's day, the legacy it's created is momunmental sure, but, it has not standed the test of time.

Mr Benevolent

Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood. So bad I tore it in half and dumped it in the bin halfway through.

I know I'll be laughed at, but I found Catch 22 terrible.

Agree about Deception Point... dire compared to Angels & Demons.

Lots of war bios - especially Gulf War & Afghanistan, notably Apache by Ed Macy. 'I'm great because I killed people for no reason other then it was fun and I got paid for it.'*

*Not a direct quote

All of Tom Clancy's later efforts - formulaic rubbish.

thethedev

"Don't read this book if your stupid...."
Just dont read this book fullstop!!
Can't remember the authors name but hes not doubt a pompous ass. I really thought it was utter ****e, a book that was trying desperatley to be full of meaning but just tried to hard. It was almost written like someone was practising writing, if you know what I mean.

Elliemental

I'm unsure if this one's been mentioned, but Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, has to be one of worst books to befoul the world's book stores.
Anyway, it's a Dan Brown rip off, with a paper thin plot thats riddled with typos.
Its a wonder to me, how this trash ever managed to get published.

Locamon

Elliemental wrote: »

I'm unsure if this one's been mentioned, but Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, has to be one of worst books to befoul the world's book stores.
Anyway, it's a Dan Brown rip off, with a paper thin plot thats riddled with typos.
Its a wonder to me, how this trash ever managed to get published.

Well connected author who worked in publishing might have had something to do with it

turgon

Goat Mouth wrote: »

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Am currently reading it. Found the first 5 chapters kind of enthralling, but once the setting moved to Britain the pace slowed drastically and it became way too technical.

Elliemental

Locamon wrote: »

Well connected author who worked in publishing might have had something to do with it

I should've known.:(

yeahyou1212

This is really a great thread

My rule of thumb is if I decide to pick it up I give it 3 chapters, if it hasn't grabbed me by then, I thrash it

jbree

theCzar wrote: »

Something Happened by Joesph Heller, I just. Can't. Finish. I have never ever ever not finished a book so technically, I'm still reading it. been reading it for two years now, woeful.

What disappointment from the man who wrote my fav book.

I've just finished Heller's 'Closing Time'. And boy it was a struggle at the end, it bored me to tears. And I really wanted to love it. He's lucky he wrote Catch 22.

Locamon

yeahyou1212 wrote: »

This is really a great thread

My rule of thumb is if I decide to pick it up I give it 3 chapters, if it hasn't grabbed me by then, I thrash it

Life is too short for reading bad books but it's hard to give up and sometimes a book only takes off when you are half way through. That's why recommendations are great -at least you read with the hope there is a great finish

pauline fayne

jodi piccoult . was given one of her books as a present .....Cant remenber the name of it
(sorry !). One whole chapter ripped off from Stephen Kings 'green mile '. Tries to cover up for that by having a character in the following chapter call the protagonist 'Mr. green mile'.
The most annoying book i have ever read ....

Beldarin

eZe^ wrote: »

Anything from the Twilight series. Seriously.

If ever there were a series designed to make perfectly happy 15yr olds suicidal and depresed, here it is.....

The Shack- OMG, as a novel it's sort of ok, I resent the outright lies about the fact it is FICTION
(despite the author's misleading opening chapter about how he's ghostwriting for a friend, it IS in fact a novel)

I work in a bookshop, and read both of these coz of the sheer number of people saying " You HAVE to read blah blah blah..." but sheesh,
I wish I'd done my usual and said "yeah, fantastic book" (after reading only the blurb on the back)

ally2

Dunno if it was mentioned but Eat pray Love had me running for the hills. It is a very smug and insincere book. I forced myself to finish it so I could see what all the fuss is about. The book was lauded on Oprah's bookclub and Richard and Judy's, etc. and women were going on about how it changed their lives. Frankly, I find that very depressing.

chenguin

I read The Full Cupboard of Life from Alexander Mccall Smith. Why o why did I do that. I really wish I could get back all that good reading time...

lostboy75

The Last Legion by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. Probably the greatest pile of *&£% I have ever read. Laughable

Funglegunk

The Butlerian Jihad by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson

Far and away the WORST book I have ever read (not that sci-fi prequels have reputations for being any good anyway)

VanishingActs

Deception Point by Dan Brown
Life As We Knew It by Susan something-or-other
I also didn't like Catch-22, as someone else just said. xD

MonicaBing

Beldarin wrote: »

If ever there were a series designed to make perfectly happy 15yr olds suicidal and depresed, here it is.....

The Shack- OMG, as a novel it's sort of ok, I resent the outright lies about the fact it is FICTION
(despite the author's misleading opening chapter about how he's ghostwriting for a friend, it IS in fact a novel)

I work in a bookshop, and read both of these coz of the sheer number of people saying " You HAVE to read blah blah blah..." but sheesh,
I wish I'd done my usual and said "yeah, fantastic book" (after reading only the blurb on the back)

<Le sigh, i used to work in a bookshop too, i miss sneering at the angst ridden teen girls as they came in frothing at the mouth for the latest Meyer, i miss the smell of the books and getting excited when a title i REALLY wanted to read came in, i miss recommending Dumas and F Scott to people who never read them before, i miss good natured disagreements with customers over their book choice, basically i miss it, end of sigh>....

But i digress, The Shack, Utter cack....;)

Porkpie

VanishingActs wrote: »

I also didn't like Catch-22, as someone else just said. xD

Totally agree. I bought this 'classic' book, foolishly believing it would be brilliant from all the reviews. Have just read about 70 pages and am really disappointed. Absolute rubbish. It was becoming too much of a chore to read it so I gave up. What a waste of money.

Mink

I might have said this already... Norwegian Wood (can't remember the author - Japanese guy). I rarely give up on books but just couldn't take it anymore after 2/3 way through. Dreary, no real plot & whiny characters.

Also never finished Catcher In The Rye. Feel guilty about it though, feel like I should make the effort & "get it"

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown wasn't amazing. I was expecting it to live up to DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons, which I'd enjoyed somewhat.

jen_da_fer

BopNiblets wrote: »

Doris Lessing - The Grass is Singing.

Depressing bore fest.

I would disagree, I thought it was pretty enjoyable.

And while I am a fan of the classics I have to admit that 'Mansfield Park', by Jane Austen pushed me over the edge. Absolutely hideous novel.

rajagiri1

The Grass is Singing.

Sammy Jennings

Catch 22 seemed dismal - but then I didn't read beyond seventy pages. Heller's humour would be just about bearable coming from an ingratiating acquaintance across a bar counter, but otherwise I'll avoid it.

Kraftwerk: I Was a Robot by Wolfgang Flur
400+ pages of self-aggrandising, score-settling, moronic certitudes and masturbation anecdotes from the German Ringo

Elliemental

Prozac Nation - Elizabeth Wurtzel.

I`m sorry for her troubles, but the way she kept blaming her mother for her depression made me want to smack her in the mouth.

994

Robinson Crusoe was important in its day, but it's incredibly dull.

Quentinkrisp

Terry Pratchett - unfunny and can't write to save his life.

You have some nerve, sonny:mad:

ALRIGHT, whoever dissed pratchett stand up while i slap your knuckles

I absoluely concur, a firm boot up the offender's hole wouldn't go amiss either:cool:

turgon

994 wrote: »

Robinson Crusoe was important in its day, but it's incredibly dull.

Id agree to a certain extent. Some "classic" books not actually enjoyable, but they are termed so because the effect they have had on the world.

Gullivers Travels was partly a response to Robinson Crusoe (and that whole genre) I believe.

**Timbuk2**

Mink wrote: »

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown wasn't amazing. I was expecting it to live up to DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons, which I'd enjoyed somewhat.

I agree.. I thought Angels and Demons was excellent but Digital Fortress wasn't up to his usual standard.

What is his other book like? Deception Point I think is the name of it

crazychld69

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

I agree.. I thought Angels and Demons was excellent but Digital Fortress wasn't up to his usual standard.

What is his other book like? Deception Point I think is the name of it

Both of those books are good in standards in my opinon.

mkaobrih

I really didn’t like American psycho – boring violence and/or shopping - pages and pages on buying a Whitney Huston CD or Bono looking at him in a weird way. Minute detail of getting washed in the morning before work .I did enjoy the movie though – it removed all the boring stuff (and some of the very disgusting stuff).

NickyNin

I once read a book written by a father and Son author team about Father and Son Spy team who were up against a Father and Son Baddie team - wonder where they get their ideas??? I can't remember the name but it was awful.

Patricia Cornwell hornet's nest - worst book ever - Her CAT was getting subliminal messages from the building and talking to its owner to pass on the important information. Yes CAT - in fact I believe he solved the case.

The most overrated book I've read is the The Life of Pi - it might have been okay but I don't know what the bit about the flesh eating island was!? :rolleyes:

Anything by Stephen King.

chezzer

Cathedral of the sea .... Absolute bull spit ..

Aard

Read the Great Gatsby a while ago, and, tbh, not that great.

galactus

Aard wrote: »

Read the Great Gatsby a while ago, and, tbh, not that great.

Frankly I agree, it features unbelievable characters:

"The eyes of Doctor T. J.Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face but, instead, from a pair of
enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose."

and in the end:

Somebody or someone....goes in a boat somewhere...

What's all that about! :pac:

turgon

I didnt get it/understand it/appreciate it at the time - I think I need to read it again. Many consider it the "perfect" novel.

-Els-

^^completely agree! Gatsby has to be one of the most (and I hate to use this phrase!) overrated books out there.

The writing wasn't bad in it, but as far as plot or characterisation goes... not great. And for a book thats supposed to emulate class struggle in America it leaves you very underwhelmed and really didnt make that much of an impact on me!

fisgon

Aard wrote: »

Read the Great Gatsby a while ago, and, tbh, not that great.

Gatsby is worth reading, if only for the line near the end, 'we beat on, like boats against the current......' ... though i agree that it is a bit overrated. prefer Hemmingway's Fiesta...

as for books to avoid...absolutely anything by Paulo Coelho, awful, risible, psuedo-spiritual rubbish.....Doris Lessing's Ben in the World, actually contains the line 'and they lived happily ever after', with no irony.

There are others......

TedB

Hey, Gatsby is a fine book and I take it as a personal affront if no-one else likes it!

I think why people dislike the Great Gatsby is, as someone has already mentioned, it is damn near to being 'the perfect novel'. Every character is crafted for a particular plot role, while the plot is slowly unravelled, a little like a master puppeteer, twiddling at all the strings together to slowly untangle it apart in a moving finalé.

femur61

Shaybo wrote: »

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse - an absolute disgrace that this ever saw the light of day and a real indictment of the media mafia in the UK that Mosse's (who's a literary biwig at the Sunday Times and in the UK in general) book has been so lavishly praised. Bady written, badly plotted and badly edited.

.

Good, because I thought it was just me.

femur61

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - Couldn't get into this book at all and couldn't wait for it to be out listening to reviews on it.

trustno1

Q&A by Vikas Swarup (slumdog millionaire) awful book and Rachels Holiday by Marian Keyes, couldn't get past the first chapter (got it as a gift) and I think Ulysses by Joyce is hugely overrated!!!..

DJsail

No-one has ever read Ulysses!!!!

trustno1

DJsail wrote: »

No-one has ever read Ulysses!!!!

Huh?

VanishingLayla

All James Patterson books are complete tripe.

Twilight, obviously, but I suppose that goes without saying.

Deception Point by Dan Brown was very poor.

minusorange

Allen Ginsberg's Buddhist Poetics by Tony Triglio

Impenetrable crap. Has all the pretensions of the big man but none of his lucidity, passion and verve

minusorange

Sammy Jennings wrote: »

400+ pages of self-aggrandising, score-settling, moronic certitudes and masturbation anecdotes from the German Ringo

ZorbaTehZ

994 wrote: »

Robinson Crusoe was important in its day, but it's incredibly dull.

But, but, but... that's my favourite book !

994

galactus wrote: »

Frankly I agree, it features unbelievable characters:

"The eyes of Doctor T. J.Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face but, instead, from a pair of
enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose."

That was a description of a billboard.

MultiUmm

For some reason I could never get into To Kill a Mockingbird. People say it's one of the best books of all time, but honest to God I couldn't take anymore by page 90. I felt like the plot was going nowhere and it was just an assortment of events really.

I might attempt reading it agian, just to see if I'll view it in a different light, but I doubt I'll suddenly fall in love with it.