well, THAT was the worst book ever!

[Giggity]

The Wideacre series by Phillipa Gregory.  I only read two of the series and didn't want to read the third (learned my lesson about pushing through whole series after reading "Breaking Dawn") but a ? for others who have read her other books, is she just all around the historical fiction version of V.C. Andrews?  I mean..gah, the incest!! *looks for brain bleach*

Yes. Yes, ma'am, she IS. You so nailed it.

[lipli]

My most loathed is Kafka. I loved The Metamorphosis, so I decided that my senior year high school English paper would be Kafka. Compare and contrast several works by one author, look for themes, etc. Well, I didn't know going in that Kafka never finished anything, and was a completely paranoid human being.  I wrote a scathing evisceration of the works, and my teacher loved it. At least I got an A out of struggling through The Trial, The Castle and Amerika.

YES!!!!  I read Metamorphosis and enjoyed it (in high school - perfect timing).  As I am wont to do, I went out and bought several other of his books.  Started in on The Castle and was having a difficult time with it.  I skipped to the ending, to see how it ends (a guilty pleasure of mine).  I realized that it ended in the middle of a freaking sentence and just put it back on the shelf.  Didn't bother trying to finish it.  Can you finish reading a book the author didn't finish writing?

[Giggity]

The Da Vinci Code may just fit the bill as The Worst.

It has so much to recommend it in that regard ... religious bigotry, ridiculous dialogue, an utter misunderstanding of history, and total buy-in to one of the 20th century's best hoaxes. Which, let's not forget, HAS BEEN EXPOSED AS A MAMMOTH HOAX.

Grrrrrrrr.

And all that is even before we get to Tom Hanks' hair. WHUT.

[Lisbeth]

With apologies to Ehell's Lisbeth, I was meh on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  The main character turned me off with his amazing ability to attract women who wanted to sleep with him.

He wasn't the reason why I chose the name Lisbeth!

[Thuringwethyl]

The Necromancer. Interesting setting, decent build-up, different take on vampires in general, and a terrible ending. Loads of villain decay (and so much energy was put into making him a brilliant strategist! What a waste) and everything miraculously resolved itself to help the protagonist. I think the author just wanted the book done.

[Cz. Burrito]

For me?  "Great Gatsby."  We had to read it in 8th grade.  I hated it with a passion.  Thought the characters were stupid, the book was stupid...you name it.

I can't believe you had to read that in 8th grade!  We read it in 10th grade, and I absolutely hated it.  And then I went to see the play when I was in my mid-20s (was the first play for the new location of the big theater here due to Fitzgerald being from this area).  Something clicked.  It was wonderful.  It made so much sense.  There's no way that high schoolers should be expected to get it and enjoy it.  

[Hillia]

The Golden Compass.  I loved Narnia, so I thought this would be an interesting counterpoint.  Nope.  Couldn't stand it.
Wicked
Places in the Heart

[Allyson]

I agree on "White Oleander" and other books of that ilk. It seemed that there was awhile where everyone would rave about some book, and it would turn out to be basically a story of some young female's constant abuse. I don't have much patience for books or stories where pretty much everyone the main character meets does them wrong in some way, and it's like a succession of trauma. I remember telling my friend I was reading some book that seemed to go along those lines. 'I was just waiting for the abuse to happen...oh, yeah, there it is, Chapter 12.' I haven't encountered this as much lately, so either it's not as much of a thing to write about, or the people I know have stopped liking them.

My most-hated fantasy series is definitely 'The Wheel of Time'. I read 7 or 8 of them, too, before I finally had to stop. I found the writing engaging and the plot interesting up to a point, but the main character...I have never before wanted to leap through the pages of a book and beat someone with a shoe before. The whining about absolutely everything was just too much, especially when it was often about things that weren't even that bad, he'd just choose to feel guilty. Also, Robert Jordan had some very weird ideas about women and gender relations, and just couldn't leave them alone. I'd go more into this, but I'd be here for days...I eventually needed to stop when I almost threw the book across the room after yet another meltdown by the main character about female warriors sometimes dying in battle.

[Clara Bow]

"The Fountainhead". I wanted to machinegun everything in the book. It was awful, pretentious, stupid, everything bad and then some. I do believe that book killed puppies and ate kittens when I wasn't looking. That book makes babies cry. It is TERRIBLE.

[hobish]

The Golden Compass.  I loved Narnia, so I thought this would be an interesting counterpoint.  Nope.  Couldn't stand it.
Wicked
Places in the Heart

I wanted to like The Golden Compass, too. I really tried. The friend who reccomended it to me and i have weirdly similar tastes in novels so it was really a surprise. I just couldn't get into either the book or the movie.

[Rohanna]

For me it's a toss-up between the latest in the Da Vinci series (The Lost symbol) or the latest Auel-spew, Painted Caves. Both, to me, were poorly written with irritating protagonists, infuriating inconsistancies, excess verbiage and plot holes big enough to park a Buick in.

 

[siamesecat2965]

The Golden Compass.  I loved Narnia, so I thought this would be an interesting counterpoint.  Nope.  Couldn't stand it.
Wicked
Places in the Heart

I wanted to like The Golden Compass, too. I really tried. The friend who reccomended it to me and i have weirdly similar tastes in novels so it was really a surprise. I just couldn't get into either the book or the movie.

That makes 3 of us.  I was really excited to read the books, but they were not nearly as good as I expected them to be.

Hannibal too for me was horrible.  Silence of the Lambs was SOOOO good and creepy, this one was just bad.

[whiterose]

- Golden Compass I tried liking it, but it did not stand out.
- I could not get through My Sister's Keeper.
- I do not know what the big fuss about Wicked is, though I hear the musical is better.
- I remember disliking A Passage to India back in high school.
- I disliked The Lovely Bones movie- haven't read the book yet. I was expecting something different- guess I watch too many crime shows.

[hobish]

Was Hannibal the one where one of the characters makes martinis from children's tears? I remember that from something and i think that was it, right? Tears of Small Children Martinis was a really terrible running joke with my friends for a while.

[TeamBhakta]

Hated the Odyssey. The ending bugged me

Things Fall Apart really bored me

The Green Mile = I received it as as a sweet 16 gift. Someone who gets grossed out easily should not be given that book. What the heck was my friend thinking, buying that for me