The Book Vipers discussion

There are a lot of books I've disliked reading but The Last Of The Mohicans is the worst. I hated every thing about it. The writing style (so long-winded), the plot, the characters. I was so relieved when I reached the final page, then angry that I hadn't given up 400 pages ago!

I seem to be alone in this but I really hated The Virgin Suicides.

Ohh Helen that's on my to-reads, is it really awful?

I battled through Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger at the end of last year, it was so dire I had to put it down for a week and read something fun!

Did Lauren Weisberger write The Devil Wears Prada? I didn't really enjoy that book, wasn't my cup of tea.

Yes that's the one! I haven't yet read The Devil Wears Prada, is it one to give a miss?

Hmmm... I'm always a bit weary about telling people not to read a book as everyone has different tastes and I'm the first to admit Chick Lit isn't usually my cup of tea.

But the blurb to Everyone Worth Knowing, sounds really similiar to what happened in The Devil Wears Prada, so I'll say avoid! Watch the movie instead :P

Eat Pray Love was ghastly,I had to put it down the main character annoyed me so much.

Valley of The Dolls, awful just awful - an unusual case in that the film is definitely better than the book!

Oh and Death Comes to Pemberley <>

Sophie's World - the only book I have ever not finished. I felt bad but life is too short. I am feeling a bit like that reading Caitlin Moran's book right now but will give it a bit longer.

Jen, I found the infatuation with the girls really tedious and unbelievable but so many people love it so maybe I was missing something! But when I'm thankful I've finished a book it only gets one star!

I've seen the movie of The Virgin Suicides, so I could well hate the book any ways (have never been able to read The Da Vinci Code since I watched the movie first!)

Struggling with Atonement as well, I started it in August and gave up, so I've still got that to read.

I struggled with Atonement. I had to read it and Enduring Love (both by the same author) for my Literature A Level. The plots were alright (the plot for Enduring Love was really good in places) but I hate the author's writing style.

I enjoyed Enduring Love but started Atonement and never finished it, I just couldn't get into it. I was disappointed as I loved Ian McEwans short story collections First Love, Last Rites and In Between the Sheets. I have read The Devil Wears Prada and it was pretty awful and I didn't really like The Da Vinci code either. You know that a book is bad when you really don't care at all what happens to the characters, as long as it happens quickly so you can finish the book and start reading something else.

I struggled through about 200 pages of The Da Vinci Code and gave up. Really awful.

I disliked The Da Vinci Code too. I've read another book by Dan Brown called Deception Point. It was slightly better but not by much.

See I adore Angels & Demons, The Lost Symbol and Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (Deception Point not so much!) Seems naughty not to give The Da Vinci Code a go, I'll do it one day... maybe ;)

I think it was his writing style that put me off, because I saw the film and quite liked that.

Katieee wrote: "I struggled with Atonement. I had to read it and Enduring Love (both by the same author) for my Literature A Level. The plots were alright (the plot for Enduring Love was really good in places) but..."

I read Enduring Love as a boyfriend suggested it and I took it as a *sign*. I didn't really like it and the relationship didn't, um, endure!

I've just forced myself to finish Caitlin Moran's How to be a woman and really hated it. Couldn't understand the hype about it. I hate not finishing books though so did force myself to chug through it in the hope of it improving but it didn't.

Emma wrote: "I've just forced myself to finish Caitlin Moran's How to be a woman and really hated it. Couldn't understand the hype about it. I hate not finishing books though so did force myself to chug through..."

That bad? It's half price in WH Smiths at the moment, and I was tempted to buy a copy when I was in there yesterday. Quite glad I didn't now :).

Emma wrote: "I've just forced myself to finish Caitlin Moran's How to be a woman and really hated it. Couldn't understand the hype about it. I hate not finishing books though so did force myself to chug through..."

Totally agree. Not worth the hype at all. And it's going to be on TV/a film???

I did not like Caitlin Moran's "How To Be A Woman" either. Sadly, I think if it had been sold as a memoir (which it is) I would have loved it. But it is being marketed as a feminist text, and that it most certainly is not. It is only a compilation of Moran's opinions. Pithy and humorous as they may be, they are nothing more than her opinions. It is a disaster when she starts generalising about the entire female population!

This book is a great example of how marketing, publicity, and knowing the right people can send an otherwise mediocre book into the bestseller list

Ooo, I'd blanked Devil Wears Prada from my memory. It makes such terrible reading. The movie is awesome though; way better than the book, which doesn't happen that often!

Audible offered the first chapter of How To Be A Woman for free. It was not what I was expecting and doesn't tempt me to read anything else by her.

My FiL loaned me the The Da Vinci Code and I just didn't get into it. Not my genre. The film was alright.

One book I hated The Road and the Hills had the worst SPAG ever, how that book made it to the shelf amazes me. I could not finish it, my hand was itching to get a red pen out.

The other was because the book was all world building and no plot. It drove me mad that it just didn't seem to go anywhere. And the cover was beautiful Firethorn.

I hated listening to Green by Jay Lake. The blurb was nothing like what was in the book. His overuse of the word 'sweetpocket' drove me mad and the lesbian love scenes that popped out of nowhere were something out of a teenage boys torgid mind. Just spent lots of time grumbling about how crap the audiobook was and still kept listening.

Not too sure - if I find myself reading a really awful book, I don't bother to finish it. Why put yourself through something you hate when there are so many other wonderful reads out there?

Linda wrote: "Not too sure - if I find myself reading a really awful book, I don't bother to finish it. Why put yourself through something you hate when there are so many other wonderful reads out there?"

before DD I'd finish them just to say that I tried, now I just send them off to the charity shop, feeling slightly guilty if they are awful... kinda like the



people gave to me. I just felt that some poor new mummy would pick it up and think that this is what motherhood should be.

Kelle wrote: "Linda wrote: "Not too sure - if I find myself reading a really awful book, I don't bother to finish it. Why put yourself through something you hate when there are so many other wonderful reads out..."

Oh, Gina Ford - she's certainly someone whose books polarise views! The midwife saw a copy of The Contented Little Baby book I'd been given shortly after DD was born and advised binning it! I didn't read it.

I liked 'How To Be A Woman' but I hadn't been told anything about it beforehand!

I really hated 'The Man Who Walks' by Alan Warner and gave up early. I was so disappointed because I loved his previous books. Such a let down.

A few of my friends who have similar reading styles to me, suggested Giselle Green's books. They were the most boring books I'd read. I really struggled to pick them up and read them. Felt really disappointed.

I really did not like or got; The life of Pi.

Your Heart Belongs to me by Dean Koontz was pretty bad.

I've read two others of his books - Lightning which I enjoyed and Breathless which was awful. To be honest, after finishing Your Heart Belongs To Me, I don't think I can bare to read another one of his books.

Elizabeth wrote: "Kelle wrote: "Linda wrote: "Not too sure - if I find myself reading a really awful book, I don't bother to finish it. Why put yourself through something you hate when there are so many other wonde..."

My local charity book shop seems to have a continuous supply of some titles, always pristine and seemingly unread, I suspect that this is one of those titles. Certainly, that is where my copy, bought for me by my Nan after the birth of my DD, ended up. IIRC, it actually made me cry, although I suppose it's possible that hormones may have been partly responsible for that!

This book was very weird and I didn't like it at all. From the synopsis I thought it was going to be about two daughters of a serial killer who inherit his taste for killing. I was not prepared for all the stupid paranormal elements (if you want to call it that) and the sheer stupidity of this book. I can't emphasis the stupidity and dislike for this book. There are no real words for this c***

I despised Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Jane Eyre, 7th grade literature class made me despise it so much. Now that I think about it, we probably weren't mature enough to understand the underlying themes in it. Should I give it another go now? Maybe.

And I developed a strong dislike for Dickens' novels when I was at school. Maybe I'll feel brave enough to attempt them again some day.

I did like Hardy, though and remember getting quite upset at the end of The Mayor of Casterbridge.

School seems to be a time where you form either a love for literature or a loathing of it. It will often depend upon the teacher too. I was lucky to have some very enthusiastic teachers who encouraged a love of literature, but they still couldn't help with the Dickens though!

Unfortunately my teachers seemed like they hated their job and sometimes it felt like it was a drag for them. Though some of them were pretty cool outside of the classroom (weird).

I feel as if it's a teachers job to inspire us or something.

50 Shades of Grey and I will mist leave it at that as I could go on forever about what is terrible with this series.

It's rare that I'd finish a book that I find terrible, but on occasion I've continued to the end (and I'm never sure why I put myself through it)

Never Let Me Go stands out for me as a book I felt cheated of my time with

Wuthering Heights. Though I know I'll probably get hate mail for this sacrilege.... Maybe I should amend it to "the most overrated" book I've ever read?

It's funny isn't it Jean, I've seen reviews on here that are negative to certain books that are considered classics or great books by the masses, and the replies to the review can be astonishingly rude!

Yes I agree Anna, and like you rarely finish a book I dislike a lot. But the sheer number of people (including heavyweight critics) who love Wuthering Heights made me doubt my judgement every few years or so.....and I've just forced myself through it yet again FOR THE LAST TIME (and written a damning review.) To me no book should be put on such a pedestal that it can't take healthy criticism.

THE WORST BOOK I AHVE IS ROOM EMMA DONUGHE, I FINISHEDIT JUST TO SEE WHAT HAPPEN, DON,T THINK I WILL ANY OTHER BOOK BT HER.

The worst one in recent memory (that I have actually finished) is probably Water for Elephants. I just felt like it was so over-hyped. I simply could not be compelled to care about any of the characters.

Granted, there have been a few over the last year or so that I couldn't even get through. But I kind of feel like it's not fair of me to judge an entire work before I give it a real shot, by seeing it through to the end. Sometimes there actually is a payoff for sticking with a book you're not thoroughly enjoying right from the get-go... I always think of my experience of slogging through One Hundred Years of Solitude, constantly questioning why I even bothered, only to be rewarded with the beautiful conclusion that I felt tied everything together so fantastically in the last few pages.

I cannot believe no one has mentioned Twilight. The writing was so awful it was distracting. Then when I reached the part "he glistened" in the sun - that was it. Twilight, an biography about Nancy Regan by Kitty Kelly (I believe) and The Hobbit are the only books I can recall not being able to finish.

Usually if I really dislike it that much I just won't finish it ... life's too short etc. But I'd have to say '50 Shades of Grey' as in "Why did I even pick this up?"

Finally I've found someone else who doesn't like The Hobbit! I tried and failed to finish it.

And as for Wuthering Heights. I haven't even tried. Don't like the idea of the story at all.

Sometimes I think famous books are a bit Emperor's New Clothes. We are too afraid to say we don't like them. So well done Jean for sticking up for yourself :) I can't bear Dickens - any of them, and I have tried to like them.

50 SOG I got the free sample to my Kindle, what a waste of ten minutes of my life!!! I even randomly got sent a free copy from somewhere just before the hype really hit. I gladly handed it on to a friend with the proviso that it should never cross my threshold again!

I agree with the poster who said ROOM, for me not the worst book I've ever read but grief it was pretty poor.

Also, and this possibly is the worst ever, . I am embarrassed to admit I read it, for some reason our Book Club decided to read something slightly trashy as a one off. Ugh. Never again. Beyond dreadful.

I am a lover of Wuthering Heights, just as it happens, but can completely get why people might dislike it. Each to their own, so Jean, fear not, no hate mail coming from this direction......

Elizabeth, we've just got a copy of the Hobbit. My children are just reaching the age where they have friends who are reading it, and of course there has been the film. I am going to re-read on holiday to see if they are ready for it or not just yet.

Jo wrote: "50 SOG I got the free sample to my Kindle, what a waste of ten minutes of my life!!! I even randomly got sent a free copy from somewhere just before the hype really hit. I gladly handed it on to a ..."

I think I'll give my copy to my daughter. It may appeal to her, although she won't be ready just yet - she's only 7! I can't quite put my finger on what it was about The Hobbit that didn't appeal to me. I liked Harry Potter, so it's not the genre that's the problem. Maybe it's Tolkein's writing style that's the issue. I read his Letters from Father Christmas to my daughter last December and neither of us warmed to that particularly either.

I think you've put your finger on it, Elizabeth, when you say it may be Tolkien's style that puts you off. He was an academic after all and only wrote his Fantasy stories to give England the sort of Mythology other countries have but we lack. (And yes, I do mean England, not Great Britain in this case. Wales, Ireland and Scotland each have a rich heritage.)I love his stuff, but because of its inventive content - I agree he does go on a bit!!

Thankyou Jo, for your tolerance! I do actually come from Yorkshire originally, so folk sometimes wonder why I hate that novel so much. But there's a saying there, "We don't put folk on pedestals in Yorkshire. They nobbut want dusting!" (With thanks to Gervase Phinn.) Feel free to criticise my heroes....

Which brings me back to Elizabeth - I actually laughed out loud when I read what you wrote about hating Dickens, as he is my all-time favourite writer!! I think he has just about everything in his novels. (Oh, except a few aliens and a bit of time travel maybe.) Yes, school may well be responsible for your dislike. I don't remember studying any Dickens at all (Shakespeare, Donne, Keats, Austen, Hardy, Shaw etc up to 'A' level)so when I discovered him later on, all on my own as it were, I was delighted!