It's called Useful Idiots. First and last time I ever buy a book based on the cover and the title. So boring, didn't grip me in the least.
Ever read a book so bad that you actaully stopped reading?
- Thread starter retyopy
- Start date
Recommended Videos
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin. Absolute drivel, a philosophical feminist lecture drowned in bad intentions.
The Grapes of Wrath. I don't understand how this one got to be a famous book. It might be a good indicator of Depression-era America, but it's mind-numbingly dull. Poor characters, overemphasis on themes and description combined with no sense of flow make for a terrible book. And this is coming from someone who managed to finish Atlas Shrugged.
You think the end was bad? here ill ruin the second book for you. why didnt the humans just run into those caves in like...the first few seconds of the battle with the orcs at helms deep? I mean its much easier to defend or they could have just run and left like 50 guys behind to distract the orcs...and why didnt the orcs have a troll throw the bomb at the wall?Siuki said:
off-topic: Sup mate.
I could not get through Dracula, the titular character is right there in the first 2 chapters and then completely dissappears for the next 18, I assume he comes back at some point but I never got that far. Also 'Paradisio', the third part of the Divine Comedy, Inferno was good, Purgatorio was bearable, Paradisio was awful.
Dude, me too. Dear god it was boring! I tried twice to read it and I just couldnt do it. "Here's a blade of grass. It's green. Light green at the tip and becomes darker green at the base. And right next to it is another blade of grass. It's also green... *200 pages later* ...And this one is also green at the base. And now there's a rock..." It was a really good way for me to get to sleep.DJDarque said:
And Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. It wasnt quite as bad as LoTR, but almost.
Well, it's not technically a book. More like a manual.
The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer.
My brother told me it was hilarious. I found it wanting.
The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer.
My brother told me it was hilarious. I found it wanting.
Well there's always the Eagles. You could call the eagles to ride yourself off Saruman's tower but you couldn't send a fleet to carry Frodo to Mount Doom? Gandalf the Grey does not look like the kind of person who has people give him "one time only" favors. Besides, the only remotely dangerous flying creature in Middle-Earth is the wyvern that the Witch-King was riding. And that died pretty easily. One good chop and you're home free.boyvirgo666 said:
Not sure if this is relative, but I used to be a huge fan of the series Cirque du Freak. I got through the first 9 books in less than a month. Then after waiting about a year for the new series to come out; after reading through a single chapter of the 10th book I said to myself, "How could I ever read this crap?". It was awful, childish, and just plain stupid. I'm not sure whether I just grew out of my vampire stage, or if the author just got lazy.
Kind of reminds me of the episode from South Park...
Kind of reminds me of the episode from South Park...
^ This, This piece of shit right here.....OH GOD! It was so fucking atrocious. For the sake of all sanity, don't subject yourself to this most foul of books. No seriously, y-you'd be better of reading even Twilight compared to this crap.
I also would like to give special mention to Remembering Babylon which i was forced to read for class in high-school. While not anywhere near as bad as...the book above, it was still damned bad. Uninteresting setting and characters, writing that's all over the place and pacing that is so terrible that you start to wander how long Mr. Maloufs attention span is and whether or not he's being distracted by something ever five seconds in the middle of writing. David Malouf, no offense, sure you are a lovely man but, if i ever meet you I AM going to punch you.
Moby Dick.
Oh, god. Moby Dick.
I mean... I am a fourth-year English major. I like reading "classic" literature. I count Dracula as one of my favorite books. But... ugh. I just couldn't get through Moby Dick.
Oh, god. Moby Dick.
I mean... I am a fourth-year English major. I like reading "classic" literature. I count Dracula as one of my favorite books. But... ugh. I just couldn't get through Moby Dick.
great expectations. That book is torture. I really can't understand why Charles Dickens got so famous. He's so drab and boring in the way he writes that it honestly sounds like he'd rather be doing anything else instead of writing the book you're reading.
Some series called 'Orcs' that I got cheap during the closing sale of my local Borders.
Standard fantasy setting, with humans raping the land of its majiks and all the native creatures being enslaved, genocided by the racist and oppressive pseudo-Puritans, or conscripted into the also-evil counter army. The story follows a warband of Orcs that are an example of the latter. Basically ends up a 'quest for the maguffins' story (In this case, star shaped objects. 'Cause it is always stars). Never read far enough to find out what the fiddly little things did.
Standard fantasy setting, with humans raping the land of its majiks and all the native creatures being enslaved, genocided by the racist and oppressive pseudo-Puritans, or conscripted into the also-evil counter army. The story follows a warband of Orcs that are an example of the latter. Basically ends up a 'quest for the maguffins' story (In this case, star shaped objects. 'Cause it is always stars). Never read far enough to find out what the fiddly little things did.
I'm somewhat depressed about the amount of real classic literature on this thread.
I've got an ass-tonne of books I've started but haven't finished, but that's mostly because my reading level is not as I want it to be (I read barely any books until I was 19). I would hesitate to call any of these books bad. I put my failure to finish As I Lay Dying, Nausea, Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice and others as a problem with me not the book.
The only book I've been tempted to stop reading out of pure hatred was the Alchemist. I only finished it because it was pretty short and by the time I was getting properly angry about it, there wasn't that far to go. I probably never would have read it, but some people who's opinions that I generally trust said it was good, so I thought I would give it a go.
Aside from just general poor writing, the whole book is basically a fable that tells us that if we follow our dreams, the universe will conspire to help us achieve our destiny. It also has a bunch of stuff about following omens, finding true love (in the form of the one soul mate) and speaking "the language of the world". The thing is, I can take some corniness or sentimentality, but this book just took it to a whole new level.
The whole thing about the "universe conspiring to help us achieve our destiny" I actually find to be a destructive philosophy. It basically says that if you want something enough, then the universe will hand it to you on a plate. I guess if your Oprah, that theory gets proved true on a pretty regular basis. However, while the universe seems willing to conspire to fulfil celebrities dreams of becoming more rich and famous, it seems less willing to fulfil, say, the famine stricken's dreams of having enough food to stop them from dying.
I could go way further on just that one aspect of the book. I could fill a decent few pages ranting about the things I hated about that book.
I've got an ass-tonne of books I've started but haven't finished, but that's mostly because my reading level is not as I want it to be (I read barely any books until I was 19). I would hesitate to call any of these books bad. I put my failure to finish As I Lay Dying, Nausea, Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice and others as a problem with me not the book.
The only book I've been tempted to stop reading out of pure hatred was the Alchemist. I only finished it because it was pretty short and by the time I was getting properly angry about it, there wasn't that far to go. I probably never would have read it, but some people who's opinions that I generally trust said it was good, so I thought I would give it a go.
Aside from just general poor writing, the whole book is basically a fable that tells us that if we follow our dreams, the universe will conspire to help us achieve our destiny. It also has a bunch of stuff about following omens, finding true love (in the form of the one soul mate) and speaking "the language of the world". The thing is, I can take some corniness or sentimentality, but this book just took it to a whole new level.
The whole thing about the "universe conspiring to help us achieve our destiny" I actually find to be a destructive philosophy. It basically says that if you want something enough, then the universe will hand it to you on a plate. I guess if your Oprah, that theory gets proved true on a pretty regular basis. However, while the universe seems willing to conspire to fulfil celebrities dreams of becoming more rich and famous, it seems less willing to fulfil, say, the famine stricken's dreams of having enough food to stop them from dying.
I could go way further on just that one aspect of the book. I could fill a decent few pages ranting about the things I hated about that book.
I had to read "The House on Mango Street" for school, oh whats that? You wrote an entire paragraph about tying your shoes? Well that's weird and very dumb but maybe it picks up later in the chapte....that was the chapter, ok well lets see how the next one goes.... an entire chapter about a red dress you saw... and the """"""chapter""""" is only 2 paragraphs long....the entire book keeps going like this...listen here book, I don't give a FLYING FUCK ABOUT YOUR SINGLE PARAGRAPH CHAPTER RAMBLINGS, GO TO HELL YOU TERRIBLE BOOK oh yea and this piece of shit book has the audacity to try to pull some convoluted rape chapter near the end of the book, oh yea just keep telling yourself that makes the book "deep" you horrible author
Also I noticed most books on here are just boring books, that doesn't necessarily make them bad, I would rather read about your experiences with shitty shitty books, although I am not the OP so this edit means absolutely nothing
Also I noticed most books on here are just boring books, that doesn't necessarily make them bad, I would rather read about your experiences with shitty shitty books, although I am not the OP so this edit means absolutely nothing