5 worst books you've ever read

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

5) Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
4) The Great Gatsby
3) Grapes of Wrath
2) Tie between every Shakespeare play
1) Tess of the D'urbervilles

[Clipper Nation]

5-2.) Any Shakespeare play: talk about a load of illegible, overrated, half-plagiarized crap....

1.) Master and Commander: some terrible, seemingly-endless book about a ship captain that I had to read for a class.... literally every single mundane thing was described in paragraphs full of intense detail, I had to give up after a few chapters....

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

5-2.) Any Shakespeare play: talk about a load of illegible, overrated, half-plagiarized crap....

1.) Master and Commander: some terrible, seemingly-endless book about a ship captain that I had to read for a class.... literally every single mundane thing was described in paragraphs full of intense detail, I had to give up after a few chapters....
Guaranteed it's not as bad as Tess of the D'urberwhatever

:cry I'm some peasant slut who got raped so I'm gonna spend the next 400 pages complaining about how I got raped :cry

[J.T.]

This thread sucks because there are 7 Harry Potter books.

Edit: Oh wait, books you've read

1. My Side of the Mountain
2. Island of the Blue Dolphins
3. Hatchet
4. Where the Red Fern Grows
5. Fahrenheit 451

Basically anything they made me read in public school.

[J.T.]

Also as far as Shakespeare goes most of his shit is similar and archaic which means you don't have to read all of it. Hamlet was pretty dope and R&J was alright because they bang.

[Latarian Milton]

i just catch glimpses of random books so im not really good at judging a book's quality but my question is, if you don't like the book why would you waste so much time reading it through? and if you haven't read the whole book from head to bottom how would you know it is one of the worst?

[DJR210]

This thread sucks because there are 7 Harry Potter books.

Edit: Oh wait, books you've read

1. My Side of the Mountain
2. Island of the Blue Dolphins
3. Hatchet
4. Where the Red Fern Grows
5. Fahrenheit 451

Basically anything they made me read in public school.

I loved Hatchet and WTRFG. Two classics I actually took home to read ahead in..

[The Reckoning]

master and commander was great tbh


worst book: autobiography of Malcolm X with jane eyre a close second

[JoeTait75]

I can't think of five off the top of my head but I can think of one- Catcher in the Rye. What a whiny bitch Holden Caulfield is.

:cryI'm a rich white private school kid. I'm so miserable. I hate everyone.:cry

[Durant82]

1-5. Moby Dick

[johnsmith]

Anything by James Patterson.

[George W Bush]

Any book with words in them. That might go a bit over 5


I'm George W Bush and I approve this message :tu

[jeebus]

I don't have 5 but The Road was pretty awful

[LnGrrrR]

This thread sucks because there are 7 Harry Potter books.

Edit: Oh wait, books you've read

1. My Side of the Mountain
2. Island of the Blue Dolphins
3. Hatchet
4. Where the Red Fern Grows
5. Fahrenheit 451

Basically anything they made me read in public school.

Fahrenheit 451? *shaking my head* That was a pretty decent read, in my opinion. Can't hold a candle to 1984, but not bad in a vacuum.


I don't have 5 but The Road was pretty awful

It had flaws, but I wouldn't put it in my top 5. I thought the whole dad/son connection was well-written, even if the book suffered from a few apocalypse cliches.

[LnGrrrR]

In no particular order

A Separate Peace (the most depressing story I've ever read in my life)
Pride and Prejudice (alternatively titled, why the early 19th century sucked donkey balls)
Wicked (holy schnikes, this overrated piece of garbage goes nowhere)
Great Expectations (everyone is an asshole)
Rage (by Stephen King, pretty pretentious crap)

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Fahrenheit 451? *shaking my head* That was a pretty decent read, in my opinion. Can't hold a candle to 1984, but not bad in a vacuum.
Agreed.

Catcher in the Rye is another one where I never understand why people didn't like it but I read it on my own and not because of a class requirement like most people did. The meaning of the book would probably be ruined if I had to write an essay about how Holden Caulfield uses figurative language for the meaning.

I guess I could have put Atlas Shrugged on the list but I couldn't even get 100 pages into the book. In addition to a retarded plot about the big mean gubbamint, it's atrocious writing.

[mrsmaalox]

Naked Lunch--William Burroughs. For me "worst" equals "difficult" because if I'm not liking the story/content I just stop reading. I stopped reading novels about 15 years ago (save the Harry Potter series lol) but I pretty much enjoyed all the classics mentioned so far. Exceptions are Wuthering Heights, Canterbury Tales, Great Expectations, Last of the Mohicans.

[LnGrrrR]

Agreed.

Catcher in the Rye is another one where I never understand why people didn't like it but I read it on my own and not because of a class requirement like most people did. The meaning of the book would probably be ruined if I had to write an essay about how Holden Caulfield uses figurative language for the meaning.

I guess I could have put Atlas Shrugged on the list but I couldn't even get 100 pages into the book. In addition to a retarded plot about the big mean gubbamint, it's atrocious writing.

I read Catcher in the Rye for my own purposes as well, and didn't hate it. Sure, the narrator is somewhat a prick, but I thought the story moved fairly well. I think Holden was written believably. Haven't read Atlas Shrugged, but I should probably give it a shot one of these years. Right now, reading the fourth book of the Game of Thrones/Fire and Ice series.

[baseline bum]

Only books I ever read that I hated were the bible and then Chacuer's Canterbury Tales for school. Fucking unintelligible middle English writing in the latter, and the former just droned on and on with either useless crap or stories of immature and overly-emotional sociopath god. I didn't think Shakespeare was too bad for school, though I wouldn't read that kind of stuff for any other reason most likely.

[baseline bum]

Agreed.

Catcher in the Rye is another one where I never understand why people didn't like it but I read it on my own and not because of a class requirement like most people did. The meaning of the book would probably be ruined if I had to write an essay about how Holden Caulfield uses figurative language for the meaning.

I guess I could have put Atlas Shrugged on the list but I couldn't even get 100 pages into the book. In addition to a retarded plot about the big mean gubbamint, it's atrocious writing.

Atlas Shrugged? I think I'd rather give my balls a Brazilian with duct tape.

[MarioSpeedwagon]

I don't have 5 but The Road was pretty awful
That book was spectacular. Do you hate your father or something?

[MarioSpeedwagon]

I don't have 5 but The Road was pretty awful
That book was spectacular. Do you hate your father or something? Raised by a single mom, maybe?

[SupremeGuy]

This thread sucks because there are 7 Harry Potter books.

Edit: Oh wait, books you've read

1. My Side of the Mountain
2. Island of the Blue Dolphins
3. Hatchet
4. Where the Red Fern Grows
5. Fahrenheit 451

Basically anything they made me read in public school.Fuck you.

[leemajors]

Also as far as Shakespeare goes most of his shit is similar and archaic which means you don't have to read all of it. Hamlet was pretty dope and R&J was alright because they bang.

King Lear is a pretty damn good story too. I didn't like the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin in middle school until I realized he was making most of it up, then I kinda liked it. I also disliked As I Lay Dying in college, but I think I had more of a problem with my prof who also made us buy his novella critique of it.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Atlas Shrugged? I think I'd rather give my balls a Brazilian with duct tape.
If I was hellbent on convincing myself that I never needed help from anyone and was completely self-sufficient the day I turned 18, I would have loved Atlas Shrugged :lol

That's why Paul Ryan loved it so much. To this day he believes he's not at all a product of having a rich mommeh and daddeh. Even though he only worked at McDonalds when he was 16 because mommeh was tired of him doing nothing during Summer break other than making her clean towels every day that he used while staring at pictures of Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged convinced him he's a rags to riches story who went from McDonalds to Congress without having anything handed to him.

[JoeTait75]

I'm as right-wing as they come and I didn't like Atlas Shrugged simply because it was boring, poorly written and about as subtle as a punch to the face.

[jeebus]

That book was spectacular. Do you hate your father or something? Raised by a single mom, maybe?

no but it's curious you brought that up. sounds like you have daddy issues.

[jeebus]

Atlas Shrugged? I think I'd rather give my balls a Brazilian with duct tape.

:lol agreed. I know a lot of people who tried to read that book but just can't. somehow a movie(s) was made of it as well

[leemajors]

I'm as right-wing as they come and I didn't like Atlas Shrugged simply because it was boring, poorly written and about as subtle as a punch to the face.

:tu

[MarioSpeedwagon]

no but it's curious you brought that up. sounds like you have daddy issues.
Hilarious. It's just easily the best father/son story ever, the only thing they have is their love for each other and thats what drives them. Really, anyone who ever loved or had a close relationship with their father should get that book.

[J.T.]

Fuck you.

No.

[Avante]

I've never read a bad book. I've started a bunch got 20 or so pages into it and said....the hell with this.

Some of those...

The Worm Ourobouros
When Harlem was in Vogue
Steppenwolf
Slim
Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Why read a bad book?

[manufan10]

The Hot Zone

I had to take a Shakespeare class, and I hated it. Although there were a few plays that were decent.

[manufan10]

There were several in high school that I hated, but I've blotted them from memory.

[SupremeGuy]

No.http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lndswgG1Np1qch7pn.jpg

[Creepn]

This thread sucks because there are 7 Harry Potter books

Have you actually read Harry Potter or you just trying to score points with all the "cool" teenie boppers?

Lol pervert.

[J.T.]

Have you actually read Harry Potter or you just trying to score points with all the "cool" teenie boppers?

Lol pervert.

Go back, read my entire post, then we'll talk if you're still confused.

[ohmwrecker]

Anything by Ayn Rand.

[jeebus]

read my entire post

that's asking too much, brah.

[GoodOdor]

Battlefield Earth.

Liked it as a 12 year old, tried to reread it at 20....jesus christ.

[Thebesteva]

5) Goosebumps the mask
4) Goosebumps the scarecrow walks at midnight
3) Charlotte's Web
2) Zoobooks
1) The cat in the hat

I haven't read many books in the last 20 years

[jeebus]

Battlefield Earth.

Liked it as a 12 year old, tried to reread it at 20....jesus christ.
:lol I read it when I was like 15 and thought it was awesome. then the movie came out.....wow. I haven't tried to reread it since then; I might give it a shot in the future but that movie wound is still with me.

[Creepn]

Go back, read my entire post, then we'll talk if you're still confused.


So you were criticizing books you haven't read. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Lol pervert.

[DMC]

Never read any of the classics. I just brushed up on the talking points and aced all my tests.

I tried reading Moby Dick but lost interest early on. I read Animal Farm but it's a short story imo.

Never read any of the other stuff.

There was a story in Hustler once where this guy was saying he was on an elevator and these 2 chicks started sucking his dick out of nowhere. I didn't find that realistic at all.

[CuckingFunt]

When you say worst...

Do you mean poorest quality? Or least enjoyable? Because that will have a big impact on my answer; I've hated reading some wonderfully written books.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

1. Two Treatise on Government
2. The Bible
3. Twilight
4. Categories
5. The Tin Drum

[DeadlyDynasty]

Finnigans Wake

[FkLA]

Other than textbooks I havent read a book since like middle school tbh.

:lol losers

[The Reckoning]

m:lolth

[silverblk mystix]

Why would anyone continue reading a shitty book?

I don't have a list - as soon as I realized it was shitty and the writer sucked - I dropped it and stopped wasting my time.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Why would anyone continue reading a shitty book.

It might be required reading for school. Yeah that might suck but it's either that or dropping out of school and becoming a prison guard.

[silverblk mystix]

It might be required reading for school. Yeah that might suck but it's either that or dropping out of school and becoming a prison guard.


It wouldn't matter in your case - nothing will save you from ignorance.

[ploto]

I have really liked most of the books I have read. I actually enjoy all the classic fiction you read in school. Since then, I have read many of the titles that teachers never assigned when I was in school.

Now, the most difficult books I have read include A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Heart of Darkness. I have not read the latter in some time. I should read it again with "older" eyes.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Other than textbooks I havent read a book since like middle school tbh.

:lol losers

That's not something to be proud of tbh

I was pretty awed when I saw that 40% of all college grads in this country haven't read a book since leaving school.

[BUMP]

Some book called Beloved that I was supposed to read for an English class.

I only made it to page 20 I teenk. It was about some ******bitch who ended up killing all her kids in slavery/white man is evil etc etc etc

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

:lmao

[JoeTait75]

Some book called Beloved that I was supposed to read for an English class.

I only made it to page 20 I teenk. It was about some ******bitch who ended up killing all her kids in slavery/white man is evil etc etc etc

IIRC they made that into a TV movie starring Oprah (of course.)

[Spurminator]

The Iliad
The Fountainhead
The Old Man and the Sea
The Gunslinger
Some Ann Coulter book that basically turned me into a liberal based on how embarrassing I found it to have any philosophy in common with her.

[leemajors]

The Iliad
The Fountainhead
The Old Man and the Sea
The Gunslinger
Some Ann Coulter book that basically turned me into a liberal based on how embarrassing I found it to have any philosophy in common with her.

The Ayn Rand no one is talking about recently!

Fie on thee, Gunslinger is great.

[Spurminator]

I just couldn't get into the Dark Tower books. Maybe I started too late. I even read the second one because I was told that's when it got good. To me, it felt like a bunch of random Stephen King ideas thrown together in attempt for some kind of narrative, and it did nothing for me.

[JoeTait75]

I just couldn't get into the Dark Tower books. Maybe I started too late. I even read the second one because I was told that's when it got good. To me, it felt like a bunch of random Stephen King ideas thrown together in attempt for some kind of narrative, and it did nothing for me.

First one is weird and pretentious (he wrote it two decades before any of the others), second, third and fourth are really good, fifth is decent, sixth and seventh are straight-up rush jobs, IMO.

[leemajors]

First one is weird and pretentious (he wrote it two decades before any of the others), second, third and fourth are really good, fifth is decent, sixth and seventh are straight-up rush jobs, IMO.

I reread all of them recently after reading Wind Through the Keyhole (which was great to me, hope he keeps filling in stuff), and I liked the last few a lot more the second time around on them. I had read the first 4 many times before, and it would be incredibly difficult to name many if any books better than Wizard and Glass. The graphic novels starting with A Gunslinger Born are also good, all pre-Gunslinger timeline stuff.

[manufan10]

I just couldn't get into the Dark Tower books. Maybe I started too late. I even read the second one because I was told that's when it got good. To me, it felt like a bunch of random Stephen King ideas thrown together in attempt for some kind of narrative, and it did nothing for me.

My brother has been harassing to read the Dark Tower books, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I've read the first few chapters of book one, but that's about it. :lol

I remembered another one from high school that I hated: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

[Spur|n|Austin]

This thread sucks because there are 7 Harry Potter books.

Edit: Oh wait, books you've read

1. My Side of the Mountain
2. Island of the Blue Dolphins
3. Hatchet
4. Where the Red Fern Grows
5. Fahrenheit 451

Basically anything they made me read in public school.

Hatchet was a fun read when I was in 6th grade, tbh.

[TheyCallMePro]

All of mine came in school.

1) Macbeth (And its not even close)
2) The Great Gatsby (Just awful)
3) Hamlet (God I really hate Shakespeare. Thank God I was born in this millennium.)

Those weren't the only books I read in school...but the rest of them weren't in the same league of bad that those 3 fit into. And I never read books on my own time that I know I'd hate.

It's just criminal to make kids read Shakespeare and a piece of shit book like The Great Gatsby in school these days. Nobody thinks those books are good. Nobody.

[TheyCallMePro]

Hey, how about the best books I've ever read?

1) Jurassic Park (Better than the movie except for the ending)

2) Twilight Series (Couldn't put it down...I just loved it. If you guys would try it and give it a chance...you probably would too.) (That said, the movies were GOD-AWFUL. Please don't use the movies for any kind of validation on why you think the books must suck. They made me sick!)

3) The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. (So freakin interesting. If you love World War 2. You will absolutely love this book)

4) Harry Potter Series (Similar to the movies, which in this case is a good thing, unlike Twilight.)

5) The Hunger Games (ONLY the first book. The next books in the series were REALLY, REALLY BAD!) (On another note, this author had a GREAT idea, but not so great execution. She had a battle-royal style book and yet she hates violence and unfortunately this shows throughout the book which squanders it's potential. I would bash the movie more because it strayed away from violence but then again...so did the book.)

[Chinook]

5 -- The Innocent Man: Grisham is a terrible writer, and writing non-fiction didn't help.
4 -- Order of the Phoenix: The last 150 pages don't make up for the first 750. I almost couldn't read the sixth after that one.
3 -- Mockingjay: Not even them killing off almost every main character could save that book.
2 -- Atlas Shrugged: Too long, too boring, wanted to kill myself after first few dozen pages.
1 -- Clan of the Cave Bear: What could be worse than Twilight? Twilight set in Cro-Magnon times. Also, pointless rape conflict. So glad that series didn't catch on.

[TheyCallMePro]

3 -- Mockingjay: Not even them killing off almost every main character could save that book.

Yeah...those Hunger Game sequels were brutal. And to think Lebron was reading those during the conference finals last year. Must have been what pissed him off and made him play so good that series.

[AussieFanKurt]

Battlefield Earth.

Liked it as a 12 year old, tried to reread it at 20....jesus christ.

great film though

[AussieFanKurt]

1. Bible