Ever read a book so bad that you actaully stopped reading?

[repeating integers]

Last year, my English teacher forced my class to read a book called "The Book of Negroes". It was just so bad that I couldn't finish it. It was confusing, overly long and boring because of ridiculously bad pacing. The characters were unlikeable and unrelatable. The protagonist was devoid of personality. No one liked the book.

The good thing was that it didn't matter because my teacher was going on maternity leave. The new teacher had way better taste.

The book... of negroes.

It really wouldn't be difficult for the new teacher to have better taste, would it?

Apparently, it won an award [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Negroes].

 

[rabidmidget]

I am very disappointed in all of the people who posted "The Great Gatsby" here.

VERY DISAPPOINTED

OT:I will admit I didn't make it all the way through The Fellowship of The Ring, it is very slow paced. Hopefully I will go back to it later.

EDIT: Reads through more

What? Catcher in The Rye? Farenheight 451? WHYYYYYYYY?

 

[retyopy]

Last year, my English teacher forced my class to read a book called "The Book of Negroes". It was just so bad that I couldn't finish it. It was confusing, overly long and boring because of ridiculously bad pacing. The characters were unlikeable and unrelatable. The protagonist was devoid of personality. No one liked the book.

The good thing was that it didn't matter because my teacher was going on maternity leave. The new teacher had way better taste.

The book... of negroes.

It really wouldn't be difficult for the new teacher to have better taste, would it?

Apparently, it won an award [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Negroes].

... May I just say, that is the stupidest thing I have seen all month. And I've been on the internet this month. A LOT.

Lord of the Flies. It isn't a bad novel -I'd actually say it's a fantastic novel- it just emotional unsettled my twelve year-old self to the point where I would have nightmares about the pigs head.

The fact that my class adored it terrifed me.

Lord of the Flies? I read that when I was 10. Adored it, by the way. I wonder what that says about my personality.

 

[CaptainTrilby]

I had to read the book 'One Day' for my school book club. I got half way through before I threw the book down in utter disgust and boredom. The book is just plain awful, bad characters, dull plot and generally bad writing.

 

[Daroesb]

The only one i can remember is the fifth Indian in the Cupboard book, at least i think it was the fifth

I got as far as when the boys dad went with him back to see the indian guy and i decided i had had enough

 

[galdon2004]

I've read several like that, but i couldn't stop reading them because my English teacher would have failed me if I did.

 

[Red Wyvren]

Have on occasion tried reading books written in the present tense and have never got far. Just can't bear them.

 

[The Funslinger]

I will probably catch a lot of shit for this, but Lord of the Rings.

Really? Care to explain why?

For me?

Well, personally *I* found the old fashioned writing to bog me down a little. I made it through the Hobbit, Fellowship and half way through Two Towers before I retreated to some more modern works.

OT: Lord of the Flies. I don't know why.

 

[Phasmal]

I thought `The Lovely Bones` was terrible, but I did finiah it just to see if it was any better.
The only book I couldn't finish was one my mum sent me about reincarnation which was basically just this mother insisting her child was reincarnated for tissue-thin reasons. I still have the book because I will probably finish it one day.

 

[galdon2004]

To Kill A Mockingbird. I could not read past the second page. The way it's written just bored the hell outta me.

Oh, I had totally forgotten about that book. And the worst part was it was for English class, and I couldn't be bothered to read the second half of the book at all.

I still passed though.

You have it easy - We had to read it as an entire class. Twice. Then spent months analyzing it and writing a 4 page assessment on it.
And you know what we found out just before the half term holiday?
THAT WE'RE HAVING A SECOND FUCKING TEST ON IT.
I mean jesus christ. Can't teachers just accept that not all books have been based on ones like that? And that most people just don't like them anymore.

actually many 'literary classics' were not well received in their own time either. Even more were completely misunderstood in their intentions; for example 'The Jungle' is actually about the poor working conditions in the meat processing industry; but everybody just got squicked out on the 'oh my god a guys finger might be in my sausage!' and thought poor food quality was the point. even English teachers now try teaching that the book is about food quality rather than poor working conditions.

It leads me to think that English teachers know how to structure language; but don't actually know what good writing is.

 

[Raddra]

Probably the Shannara series.

I managed to get through elf queen of shannara, but the rest were even worse.

 

[Ross Tuddin]

Congratulations I Couldn't even get through the first book of the Wheel of Time. I just wasn't gripping me to stay reading it.

 

[Whiptail]

Anna Karenina by Tolstoj, that book was sooo boring, almost 1000 pages of rich people on parties, barely managed to get to page 200, thought I was going to die from boredom.

 

[AngloDoom]

James Joyce's Ulysses...

My God, I just don't want to read any more!

 

[GiglameshSoulEater]

Probably the Shannara series.

I managed to get through elf queen of shannara, but the rest were even worse.

God, this. Predictable, tedious books.

Also, the Dawn Of War novels.
Real time strategy campaign does not equal a thrilling plot.

 

[Hazzaslagga]

The tiger in the well bored me to death. Or at least I think it was called that.

 

[mitchell271]

The Cole Protocol sooo boring

 

[devotedsniper]

I will probably catch a lot of shit for this, but Lord of the Rings.

I don't blame you. The first half of the Fellowship of the Ring is torture: slow-paced and boring. It's even worse if you saw the movie before reading the book, since the movie has much better pacing.

I don't know if I would call it "bad", but I put down Kushiel's Dart about 150 pages in. I found it very slow and dull, and Jacquelyn Carey is prone to flowery prose that is very annoying at times.

I have to agree, i started fellowship of the ring after the watching the movie and gave up 50 pages in, couldn't get into it.

 

[Jakub324]

I will probably catch a lot of shit for this, but Lord of the Rings.

HOW DARE YOU! Now I've got that out, each to his own I suppose, and your trousers must be splitting with the size of your balls.
OT: The Tenderness of Wolves. I was determined to find out what happened, but it took me three months to read 147 pages, and I could normally do that in a day. So I gave up, but then my sister read it and she was hooked... weirdo.

 

[Pearwood]

The first book, I forgot the name, of the Wheel of Time series. I read Lord of the Rings and thought that took way too much time to get going but my god that one has the pace of a snail post being crushed underfoot. It wasn't really bad just way too long winded.

Around halfway through one of the later Anita Blake books I just had a moment where I thought "What the hell am I reading, this has turned from urban fantasy to badly written erotica" and never went back to the series.