Bf2S discussion

We spend a lot of time offering praise for our favorite books. Lets switch it up a bit. What are some of the worst books you've ever read?

The Tommyknockers by Stephen King was a stinker.

Albert wrote: "The Tommyknockers by Stephen King was a stinker."

It must have been I've never even heard of it, which is rare for a Stephen King book.

Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud, and Deception to Keep You Misinformed
An absolute joke. I try to keep an open mind in life, especially when it comes to science. However, this book had very little in the way of science. The author to me seemed like he was bordering on the verge of paranoia. He talks about how environmentalist are going through his trash in order to try and get evidence to discredit him. Also, how there is a concentrated attack on him for being a "denier". All of that may be true, but that certainly wasn't what I thought the book was going to be about after reading the description. I thought there would be more tangible evidence presented in defense of the authors view, and I just didn't see it.

Kmarion wrote: "Albert wrote: "The Tommyknockers by Stephen King was a stinker."

It must have been I've never even heard of it, which is rare for a Stephen King book."

I think they actually made a straight-to-TV movie.

It's hard to pick 'worst books' because if I don't like a book I may persevere with it for a hundred pages or so before just not bothering anymore, in which case I have to ask the question: 'Do I have the right to judge it given that I haven't afforded it the courtesy of a full read?'.

Charlie wrote: "It's hard to pick 'worst books' because if I don't like a book I may persevere with it for a hundred pages or so before just not bothering anymore, in which case I have to ask the question: 'Do I h..."

I totally think so, if the books fails to engage you within 100 or so pages, then are you really gonna get involved later on?

I will torture myslef till the end if I have paid for it. Also, plenty of books start off bad and end up saving themselves by the end.

Anything by Acker I found repulsive and vile to read.

Jeremy Clarkson's books, Got bought it a couple of Christmases back by a grandparent who reads his column in the mail and I found it really dull.
Still love top gear though.

Chariots of the Gods was pretty bad. It's not difficult to counter Von Daniken's claims. From a scientific standpoint.

Don Delillo's Falling Man was also sappy, predictable, nationalist bullshit. Book critics spoke a lot about it "being the first book to handle the 9/11 atrocity in fiction", and oodles of theoretical pish-pash have been written about how the narrative technique and fiction frame and encapsulate the disaster so well. Utter nonsense. The book becomes a reduced existentialist drama, focussing on nothing more than individual emotional terror and completely ignoring any wider factors (i.e. political, social, economic, ideological themes)- essentially decontextualising the 9/11 events and turning it into a vulgar piece of emotionally-sympathizing nationalist agitprop. Boring and patronising to read.

So ignoring the interesting factors? I saw "World Trade Center" by Oliver Stone when it was in the theaters. I remember saying to myself that I would never intentionally indulge in that sort of sappy 9/11 crap for entertainment value again. I'm not saying that to belittle the emotions that people felt that day. It was very real for some of them. But I don't need a book or a movie to remind me of it. I remember it vividly. I think some people enjoy that stuff because they feel it brings them together. "Remember how bad it sucked watching people leap to their death on 9/11" .. uh yea. There is nothing unique or even interesting about that. At least not for me.

There have been some pretty atrocious efforts by American writers to 'voice' the thoughts, motives and narrative stories of the terrorists on 9/11, too... and also to a lesser degree a few attempts by British authors about the 7/7 events. They all essentially boil down to paint-by-numbers examples of crude orientalism - really horrific stereotypes, complete lack of cultural empathy and laughable levels of cliché. I really have no idea why there's an industry focussed around 'disaster entertainment', or some such phenomenon; 'terrorist thrillers', perhaps! Haha.

One of the biggest yawn-fests I used to loathe every grade once it was assigned was Great Expectations. I regarded those years I wasn't required to read it as a treat in which I didn't have to dig up an old report for some spit and shine. It boggles my mind why I've seen it as #1 on so many top Dickens lists while individually I see Bleak House and David Copperfield recommended more often. Maybe it's just that lists sucks.

To this day I don't know if it's as bad as my younger self thought, but I get a feeling of dread whenever my fingers pass over its spine. Teaching kids to love books by repeatedly bludgeoning them over the head with the same classic time after time seems counterproductive to me. Go America.