well, THAT was the worst book ever!

[LadyPekoe]

Oh, and I think Chuck Palahnuik is terribly overrated too.  Fight Club was a better movie than book *ducks*.  I've read 5 of his books, he makes the protags so unlikeable (purposefully) that I hope bad things happen to them.  And that doesn't attach me to a book at all.

[Harriet Jones]

Every single one of Gregory Maguire's books.  I've read four of them (including Wicked) they were all awful.  The ideas are so good, the execution is so bad.

I really wanted to like Wicked, I just couldn't get through it.

I'm reading "The Gunslinger" right now because all my friends say it's amazing.  Tell me it gets better--I'm on chapter 4 and I'm not loving it at all.

I liked the books in the middle of the series best, it helps to have read the earlier ones, though.

[hobish]

Every single one of Gregory Maguire's books.  I've read four of them (including Wicked) they were all awful.  The ideas are so good, the execution is so bad.

I HATED The Catcher in the Rye.  HATED it.  I wanted to reach in an slap Holden.  

I also couldn't stand Atlas Shrugged.  I disagree with Ayn Rand's politics so strongly that I can't stomach the  book.  I tried, I really did.  I brought it on a trip once as the only book (and I read about a book a day--I usually bring a book for every day I will be gone +2 so this was a big deal).  I still didn't read it.

I'm reading "The Gunslinger" right now because all my friends say it's amazing.  Tell me it gets better--I'm on chapter 4 and I'm not loving it at all.

It gets better! Lots better! I had a really hard time getting into the first one; but once I did I couldn’t put it down. I spent the better part of a year being half in love with Roland. That is, until the 4th book, where I will warn you it is a lot of flashback and (to me) it just dragged on. I haven’t been able to pick it up much lately, but I am almost done book 5 and back in love with the books if not the awesome Roland all over again. It really did take me some time to get into it, but i am so glad i persevered.
Hope that helps!

[lipli]

Sorry I have another addition (pretty soon you all will think I hate reading).  I hope I can add a non-literary book to the mix.  

Note: I am an accountant with an economics background (and had to take three advanced statistics class).  I like numbers and I love statistics.  This is why this book failed. If you do not look for mathematical relationships in people's license plate number, this may not bother you as much as it did me.  I realize that it is rather wonkish. 

I love reading self-help books especially financial ones.  I bought Rich Dad, Poor Dad.  Awful.  The basic premise is good.  Don't spend money you don't have, buy quality once instead of cheap ones 6 dozen times etc.  But he attempted to use statistics to show that XX% of millionaires do X.  But that doesn't tell me carp.  I think one of them was using coupons.  XX% of millionaires use coupons.  This is reason #3 why they are rich.  But plenty of poor people use coupons.  Then I started picking apart his statistics and figuring out how he could make it better (a much better way would be to do statistical regression, instead of his survey/percentages method).  But then I realized that he couldn't without destroying his book.  Very bad data collection.  It is a poster child of bad statistics.  Maybe it got better.  Refused to wait it out.  

Again, agree with his major point but since he had decided to misuse statistics to make his point, I could no longer read it.

[Just Lori]

I HATED The Catcher in the Rye.  HATED it.  I wanted to reach in an slap Holden.

Me, too.  I had a hard time relating to him.

I didn't like a lot of the books I had to read in junior high and high school.  I really didn't like Lord of the Flies.  I loved seeing Dickens' work on stage, but I had a lot of trouble getting through the book.  Most high school and college literature was no match for my ADD.  ("It was the best of times, it was the worst - wait, is that a butterfly in the window?  What a pretty color.  I once had a shirt that color.  I wore it for my third grade school picture.  I wonder what happened to Buddy Winters.  He used to copy from me in third grade.  I wish I were in third grade.  I want to read the Little House books again.  I wish I had played Laura on the TV show."

That's why it's best for me to read books for comfort and escape.

[hobish]

Oh, and I think Chuck Palahnuik is terribly overrated too.  Fight Club was a better movie than book *ducks*.  I've read 5 of his books, he makes the protags so unlikeable (purposefully) that I hope bad things happen to them.  And that doesn't attach me to a book at all.

You may want to take my opinion with a grain of salt, then. I loooove Chuck P. Love him. I even liked Pygmy. I would read Chuck's grocery list.

[supernova]

Oddly, I'm in agreement with about 75% of you.  Most of the books listed so far I've really disliked (with the exception of Faulkner and a couple others).

Of the ones that haven't been mentioned so far:  Mists of Avalon.  I think I've ranted about this before.  It was supposed to be this total pro-feminist retelling of the Arthurian story.  The characters (at least the female ones) were interesting; the plot was really starting to move; and the story was beginning to take a really new and interesting direction. 

Buuuut...  oh wait.  The story is pulling away from Der Traditional Storyline.  Oh no; we must hogtie these characters and shove them back into their Traditional Roles!!!  So she uses the oldest, lamest trick in the book:  "And then some time passed, and the characters all decided to do ABC instead of XYZ, for no apparent reason, no motivation given." 

I threw it against the wall and swore like a sailor on leave.  (I was in the hospital at the time; so, probably not the best idea.)  I deliberately chose TV over finishing that book -- in the hospital, bored out of my skull, and I hate TV.  Tells you something right there. 

[Firecat]

Angels and Demons a friend recommended it, but I had to skim after the 1st 3rd of the book. I can't just not finish a book...but I can skim.  

A Game of Thrones Another one that was highly recommended by a friend.  I was looking forward to it because I like complex, dark fantasy in well-built worlds.  I didn't really like any of the characters and the whole thing was just tedious. Plus, the sex & violence seemed tacked on for shock value.

The Scarlet Letter - I was doing fine reading this despite my issues with the tone and dense symbolism...until I idly wondered what would happen if Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg (from a favorite series of fantasy novels) showed up at this, that or the other point in the story.  Now I can't even see a copy of the book without breaking into giggles.

I've tried reading A Game of Thrones about 3 times. And every time I get to a certain point where the main character is doing something mind-numbingly dumb. As in suicidally stupid. And the only way I can stifle the urge to throw the book across the room is by putting it down instead.

The Clan of the Cave Bear series is another one. The first two are fine. But once Ayla started inventing everything and Jondalar turned into a whiny drama queen (seriously, I think he's the male version of Bella from Twilight), I had to stop reading.

[kethria]

POD She's Come Undone I could never get into it.

I didn't like the Left Behind series at all...

And Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card. My friend RAVED about it. I was gonna love it... the plot seemed good, in reality it was just... meh.

[flo]

Almost every Jodi Picolt book, if you read it all except the last chapter or so, they are way, way better!

I'm glad to hear other people hated Catcher in the Rye because I thought it was awful, but I was afraid to admit it in high school!

My Antonia is high on my hate list, along with anything by Willa Cather.  If you want a good Nebraskan female author, go for Bess Streeter Aldrich!  She could beat up Willa Cather with both hands tied behind her back!

[Missy Hedgehog]

I HATED The Catcher in the Rye.  HATED it.  I wanted to reach in an slap Holden.

Me, too.  I had a hard time relating to him.

I didn't like a lot of the books I had to read in junior high and high school.  I really didn't like Lord of the Flies.  I loved seeing Dickens' work on stage, but I had a lot of trouble getting through the book.  Most high school and college literature was no match for my ADD.  ("It was the best of times, it was the worst - wait, is that a butterfly in the window?  What a pretty color.  I once had a shirt that color.  I wore it for my third grade school picture.  I wonder what happened to Buddy Winters.  He used to copy from me in third grade.  I wish I were in third grade.  I want to read the Little House books again.  I wish I had played Laura on the TV show."

That's why it's best for me to read books for comfort and escape.

Oh man you just made me laugh out loud   I didn't have that problem with Dickens, but Lordy Lou, this is pretty much my exact thought process when I tried to read Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and Fitzgerald's "This Side of Paradise" (whose protagonist, as far as I remember, was basically almost Gatsby, but not quite- and I already disliked "The Great Gatsby" so... yeah, not good).
I would weigh in on the whole "Catcher in the Rye" yay/nay... but I didn't have to read it in school, and it didn't really catch my interest enough to make me want to read it during what little reading free time I had. Interestingly enough, this did prevent me from getting a job last year though- so maybe I should take the time to do that after I graduate  
I would like to nominate "Our Lady of the Flowers" by Jean Genet (I know I wasn't the only person in the class who wanted to wash my hands of the whole matter) and "Death in Venice" by Thomas Mann (by the end, I really, really wanted the title to be literal).

[bobsyouruncle]

I just read A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.  Oh my gosh....592 pages and NOTHING happens! NOTHING - it was very frustrating to read because every time it seemed like something interesting might happen it did not.  There were maybe 3 points of action in the entire thing. Seriously there are "bad guys" but instead of actually fighting them or figuring out how to solve the problem the main characters run away - which might make sense IRL but is pretty unsatisfying as a conclusion to a story (Spoilers because the book was only published in Feb)

I was so annoyed when I was done that I actually tossed the book across the room in disgust.  I'd have thrown it out but it was a library book.  

From what I understand, it's meant to be a trilogy..so she's going to draw it out over 3 more books.

I enjoyed the book in that I saw the potential that was there, but the main character came off as rather Mary Sue-ish in some ways, and I wish that more had happened. The whole book felt mostly like a set-up for the next two.

Thanks LadyClaire that makes me feel somewhat better - I doubt I'll bother reading the other two but it's good to know that wasn't supposed to be the "real" ending. 

[Lisbeth]

A number of books I like (in some cases, love) have been mentioned as "I hates" by other posters.

To each his/her own.

[happygrrl]

I'm going to date myself, but I hated "And Ladies of the Club..." that was written by an older lady, and published in the mid 80s. People just ranted about how good the book was, and how amazing blah, blah, blah. If I remember correctly, it was about 1400 pages in papaerback, and each page was horrendous.

I made it part way through, and threw it out in the yard.

[Giggity]

Aaaaaaaah! I remember trying that one and having to admit it just wasn't gonna work for me.