Worst Book Ever

[Kalkin]

Well, yes, and there are many other games called pelota as well, as pelota means ball, but in this case he was refering to this Aztec game.

[Avatar]

Ya learn something every day. I thought that was the one and only.

--A

[ninjaboy]

I must say i must have been pretty lucky. The worst book I've read was Titus Alone, the last book in Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. Actually the whole trilogy was an absolute effort to get through.
Then there's The Amber Spyglass. Such a disappointment.

[duchess of malfi]

Overrated - The Catcher in the Rye - pretty poor i thought, what is the fuss about? i hated the whiny brat. It was a real effort to finish it.

Maybe it's a novel to read when you're 14, not 28 though.

No, it is a book to read after you have experienced deep life changing grief after the loss of a beloved one.

That is the whole point of the book and why the kid is such a whiny brat - he has experienced deep life changing grief after the death of his beloved brother, and his family is trying to cope with the death by sweeping everything under the rug and suppressing their own pain and trying for "normalcy" whilst ignoring the elephant in the room. And he simply cannot go along with that - it is why he keeps whining about phonies, etc.

He is a sensitive and intelligent kid in deep grief, terrible emotional pain, and probable clinical depression and is acting out to get help.

Rather than telling a story as such, it is exploring the effects of death and grief upon this one character and upon his interactions with his family, who are in danger of losing this son because they are so dysfunctional after losing the other.

[Avatar]

Oh good. Now I don't have to reread it. Because I didn't like it either.

--A

[SerScot]

Anything by Robert Stanek, that's not technical writting?

[duchess of malfi]

Anything by Robert Stanek, that's not technical writting?

I think have heard of that "writer". Is he the one who writes glowing self reviews at Amazon of his craptastic stuff and threatens lawsuits towards people who submit negative reviews of his books? (Or is that someone else)?

[SerScot]

DoM,

Indeed he is. He is craptacular.

[deer of the dawn]

I wonder if anyone actually READS any Wm Faulkner, or if they just agree that he's so brilliant, but how can you read that stuff?

I LOVED the book, Last of the Mohicans, and was totally disoriented by the flick: opening scene identical, after that no resemblance whatsoever, and what of the Singing Master and all the dry humor he provoked? Good movie, but I had to forget the book in order to watch it.

I also can't stand books about rich, whiney people. Seriously. Or "coming of age" books about suburban boys.

Worst book? When I was 12, I picked up a copy of The Exorcist off a rack of novels when I was in a tourist trap with my family. I thought I was really getting away with something. I opened and read a half a page about the girl abusing herself with a crucifix, closed the book and replaced it on the rack with a hollow feeling in my stomach. That put me off horror pretty much forever, although I read Carrie and Perfume but those were pretty tame, really.

Worst book in terms of just plain bad writing? I wish I could remember the name of some fantasy crap I read about 20 years ago. Like this guy cleaned up Tolkien's vomit with Captain Kirk's jockstrap.

[Orlion]

I wonder if anyone actually READS any Wm Faulkner, or if they just agree that he's so brilliant, but how can you read that stuff?

My limited experience tends to agree with you. He seems to do all right with short stories, by As I Lay Dying was such a waste of my time. I told people this, and they said that I didn't understand that the journey was important. I told them I understood that, I told them I knew about the symbolism, etc, etc... the book was just badly written.

[aliantha]

I read "As I Lay Dying" in high school, on the recommendation of a friend. Yes! I read it even tho I wasn't forced to! Anyhow, my friend thought it was trippy. So did I, when the POV shifted to the corpse. Haven't read much Faulker since. Maybe none, in fact.

But he's not the worst writer ever. Not by a long shot.

[Tulizar]

I wonder if anyone actually READS any Wm Faulkner, or if they just agree that he's so brilliant, but how can you read that stuff?

My limited experience tends to agree with you. He seems to do all right with short stories, by As I Lay Dying was such a waste of my time. I told people this, and they said that I didn't understand that the journey was important. I told them I understood that, I told them I knew about the symbolism, etc, etc... the book was just badly written.

I know what you guys mean. Absalom, Absalom was enough Faulkner for me. I thought I would really enjoy the use of multiple narrators to piece together a story with conflicting recollections of how things went down.
I guess his technique was flawless, but those damn never-ending sentences drove me nuts!

[[Syl]]

Only Faulkner I've read is Go Down, Moses, but it was outstanding.

My vote is for Uncle Tom's Cabin. Great literature in a historical sense, but a horrible read. I can usually find something to like in any novel, but not this one.

[sgt.null]

if i ever get Gomer Black published - it will change this conversation. lol

[deer of the dawn]

if i ever get Gomer Black published - it will change this conversation. lol

Come now, sgt. I was brave enough to publish mine, man up and get your book out there for us!!

[Montresor]

For the life of me, I can't remember the author or the title to this book...

When I was in 7th grade (12 years old, 1980) I found a paperback of a horror book in my mmath class. It was about a high school girl who was babysitting for a family of 4 or 5 kids for 2 weeks. No sooner did the parents leave than the older boys hit her over the head and tied her to a bed. Throughout the course of the book she was repeatedly raped (not a single character was over 16), sodomized, beaten, and tortured. The night before the parents returned, the kids tied her to the fence and pushed a hot fireplace poker through her abdomen until she died.

I read this book 26 years ago, and it still sticks to me. I can't remember if there was a point to it, of if it was just sadistic. I'd actually like to read it again to see if it really is as detestable as I remember it.

By all accounts...well, almost all, Let's Go Play at the Adams', by Mendal Johnson is a masterpiece of suspense fiction. I've never read it (though I do want to), though take a look at the reviews left on Amazon. It's clear that the book isn't exactly intended as pornography (it kind of sounds like it doesn't deliver on those grounds), and is instead an attempt to A shock the hell out of the reader, and B pass some commentary on how the murder of 16-yr-old Sylvia Likens (in 1965) may have happened. From what I understand, Let's Go Play at the Adams' isn't meant to be a direct version of the Likens' murder, though the inspiration seems clear.

I'm intrigued, especially if the glowing reviews of the author's power and literary style are justified, so I may just order it and give it a go. Not that I'm expecting a pleasant or comfortable read . . .

I finally got around to reading this book. It's a true masterpiece. If anyone bought this book expecting titillation they would be severely dissappointed. Even the more extreme content of the book is described in a completely restrained and matter-of-fact way.

Let's Go Play at the Adams' is a towering work of insight, with an unremittingly bleak outlook on humanity. The fact that the narrative creates genuine empathy for each character is a testament to the writer's understanding of human nature, and his ability to craft compelling and believable prose.

The suspense unfolds with perfect structure and pace, while the psychology of the characters becomes both increasingly more complex and streamlined to its rather unforgettable conclusion. It's a tragedy the author died only three years after having this published as this book showcased an amazing literary talent.

[lorin]

I just finished reading Pillars of the Earth. AM I THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS WORLD THAT LOATHED THIS BOOK? Isn't there someone else out there that hated it as much as me? What a piece of crap! Silly one dimensional characters doing predictable things. Hated it! the bad were very very bad and the good were very very good. And BTW, all the good women were beautiful and all the bad women were hideously ugly. As The Medieval World Turns.
STUPID!!!!!!!

[Orlion]

I just finished reading Pillars of the Earth. AM I THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS WORLD THAT LOATHED THIS BOOK? Isn't there someone else out there that hated it as much as me? What a piece of crap! Silly one dimensional characters doing predictable things. Hated it! the bad were very very bad and the good were very very good. And BTW, all the good women were beautiful and all the bad women were hideously ugly. As The Medieval World Turns.
STUPID!!!!!!!

I never finished it because of this. I liked that there were some interesting tidbits of medieval history in there, but Follet seemed more intent on manipulating the reader into feeling whatever it was he wanted the reader to feel about the character. Absolutely no subtlety.

[Avatar]

What? I thought it was a great story. I think I'll reread it soon actually. And it was only one bad woman who was ugly wasn't it?

(I wasn't a big fan of the sequel though.)

--A

[SerScot]

lorin,

I just finished reading Pillars of the Earth. AM I THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS WORLD THAT LOATHED THIS BOOK? Isn't there someone else out there that hated it as much as me? What a piece of crap! Silly one dimensional characters doing predictable things. Hated it! the bad were very very bad and the good were very very good. And BTW, all the good women were beautiful and all the bad women were hideously ugly. As The Medieval World Turns.
STUPID!!!!!!!

I read it. It was sort of okay. I enjoyed the progress of the construction of the cathedral. Other than that it was pretty bad. Evil guys were EEEEEVVVVIIIIILLLLL. He should have just given them black hats and had done with it. The out of wedlock relathionship was completely unbelievable for the time period.