The Worst/Best Books You've Ever/Never Read.

[Mr. Moose]

We've had the movie threads, why not a book thread?

Whats the best book you've read, and the worst.
You didn't even have to read them.
But if you did, why do you like/hate them.

The best book I've read in a while is American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
Why? Because its a fucking Neil Gaiman novel, thats why.

The worst?
The Lord of The Rings books.
Great story, annoying writing.

EDIT :

Well, I wouldn't say worst.
It's just annoying how Tolkien changed his narrative form from the Hobbit.
He was like a grandfather telling you an interesting story in The Hobbit, but not so in LOTR.

 

[dangerousdave_42]

best book ever Hyperion/fall of Hyperion being as they they encompass the same story. Dan Simmons really can write epic and original science fiction with the best of them
worst that I can think of is The Cardinal of the Kremlin by tom Clancy for some reason it absolutely dragged on and on for me with little to no solution can't believe I forced myself to finish it

 

[Ronwue]

I really really hated Dostoievski's "White nights" collection of stories. (I am not sure of the title translation but it held White nights, The Doubled Man and Poor people)

 

[cleverlymadeup]

The worst?
The Lord of The Rings books.
Great story, annoying writing.

EDIT :

Well, I wouldn't say worst.
It's just annoying how Tolkien changed his narrative form from the Hobbit.
He was like a grandfather telling you an interesting story in The Hobbit, but not so in LOTR.

you do know that the hobbit was a story he made up and told to his kids when they were going to sleep right?

Lord of the Rings was one he wrote for adults and children alike based a lot on his experiences during the first world war

 

[fix-the-spade]

Worst book
Mostly Harmless The Fifth book of Hitch hiker's guide to the Galaxy.

The whole book read like an arbitrary tack-on that refused bluntly to go anywhere or do anything. A shame given the other four books have a vaguely coherent storyline underneath. Then it ended at an apparently random whim, I wish I'd never read it.

Best book:

H.G.Wells The War of the Worlds

It's not only a brilliant sci fi tale, but also a depressingly accurate examination of what mechanised warfare had the potential to become. Nerve gas mortars, lasers and industrial scale murder don't sound half as far fetched now as they did a hundred years ago. Primarily because they all happened.

It's succinct, managing to cram a big story into a little book. It's also one of three stories ever to give me nightmares.

 

[stevetastic]

Everything by terry Pratchett accept Jingo. special mention Nation for being his best book and my favorite.

 

[Ambarato]

For worst books, i'd have to say "Of Mice and Men" - forced to read it against my free will, depressing and boring. Glad high school is over.

The Fifth book of Hitch hiker's guide to the Galaxy.

I agree, for me the books gradually got worse and worse.

My favourite book has to be the 7th Harry Potter one. I liked all of the books but especially the last due to the

Spoiler

number of deaths, though to be honest killing Hedwig off was a bit cruel.

 

[the protaginist]

Best Book:call me what you want,but...The godfather


Worst Book: Ted Dekker's Saint. let me go see if i can find my plot summary...


"the main character is an american assassin who lives in poland named carl strople who is a great sniper,who goes to new york city to assassinate the president cuz carl's being payed by assim feroz becuase the U.S.A. is opposing the plan to disarm isreal.but then,right before he takes the shot,the target changes to assim feroz.he shoots assim,but the bullet misses all vital organs and assim is hospitalized.but then Carl goes to colorado becuase he needs to discover the power of god and find out his name is actually johnny drake.but then a rival assassin named englishman captures johnny/carl's girlfriend whose name is kelly and goes to assassinate the president becuase the target changed again,but then johnny flies by helicopter to texas and confronts englishman after he kills 300 snipers,40 tanks,and 2 APCs.
BUT THEN...englishman tells johnny that he is a demon(he's a demon by the way)sent by a man named marseveeus black to tell johnny that he's ...the messiah or something? johnny doesn't believe him becuase he's blind now cuz god made him blind.then they have a big climatic showdown."

I didn't dumb this down at all.
Thats the plot. And Ted Dekker is supposed to be a great author.

 

[TheGhostOfSin]

For worst books, i'd have to say "Of Mice and Men" - forced to read it against my free will, depressing and boring. Glad high school is over.

The Fifth book of Hitch hiker's guide to the Galaxy.

I agree, for me the books gradually got worse and worse.

My favourite book has to be the 7th Harry Potter one. I liked all of the books but especially the last due to the

Spoiler

number of deaths, though to be honest killing Hedwig off was a bit cruel.

I don't think you quite understand what the words "best" and "worst" mean...

 

[sneakypenguin]

Worst book Twilight. Favorite either the Fair tax book, or any tom clancy book just because they are easy reading

 

[Trilby]

Worst book Twilight.

Seconded. There's two hours of my life I wish I had back.

Best books: P.G. Wodehouse, in particular the Psmith books. They're not the best written (that award probably has to go to Jeeves), but I enjoy them the most.

Also a lot of Terry Pratchett. IMO the best of the Discworlds is probably Going Postal.

And then a special mention to "The Time Traveller's Wife." I'm not sure why, but I loved it.

 

[Jharry5]

Best book (series) ever, in my opinion, is The Dark Tower by Stephen King. Also, the Lord of the Rings is close to that.

Worse book... probably The Black House by Peter Staub/Stephen King. It really just didn't work for me; I couldn't even finish it. Only book I've ever put down and not come back to.

 

[sheic99]

Best Book: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Worst Book:The Scarlett Letter or Lord Of The Rings

 

[Liam Wolfy]

I think my best book is Val McDermids the mermaid singing, blood and gore like your never read it before.

And anything Ye oldy type talking, like he words "We must away" instead of "We gotta get out of here." or "This pox on your pity shall be the end of you, noble!" Instead of "I'll be back! I'll be back and I'll f**king kill you!"

It sounds more Poetic, in some cases more heroic and definetly cooler. Sorry Auther Wolfy talking.

 

[klakkat]

Best: The Riverworld series by Philip Jose Farmer, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlen, and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (sidenote: a lot of people don't like Atlas Shrugged, so tastes will apply)

Worst: Wayfarer Redemption by someone I can't remember, and Plato's Republic. I'm normally a stubborn person and finish what I start, but I simply couldn't trudge through either of those; the first was plain boring and the second filled with idiocies on a level I can't begin to describe.

Honorable mention goes to Hitchhiker's Guide; though very imaginative and filled with creative and likable characters, the story is a bit stogy and unconnected. While I realize the randomness factor (not talking about the infinite improbability drive, though that is part of it) is a staple in the story, it gets old quickly and I was never a big fan of that sort of thing to begin with.

 

[OverlordSteve]

Worst book Twilight.

Seconded. There's two hours of my life I wish I had back.

Re-seconded, did you hear they're making a Movie now?

The best book I've ever read was The Last Detective by Robert Crais. Great mystery that was actually a mystery.

 

[Liam Wolfy]

Did they solve the mystery in the end?

 

[Graustein]

Atlanta Nights is the worst book ever written. Done by professionals.

"The world is full of bad books written by amateurs. But why settle for the merely regrettable? Atlanta Nights is a bad book written by experts." ? T. Nielsen Hayden

Here's an excerpt:
"Richard didn't have as sweet a personality as Andrew but then few men did but he was very well-built. He had the shoulders of a water buffalo and the waist of a ferret. He was reddened by his many sporting activities which he managed to keep up within addition to his busy job as a stock broker, and that reminded Irene of safari hunters and virile construction workers which contracted quite sexily to his suit-and-tie demeanor. Irene was considering coming onto him but he was older than Henry was when he died even though he hadn't died of natural causes but he was dead and Richard would die too someday. . . ."

You can't write this poorly by accident. It takes a collaborative effort.

 

[Jamanticus]

Worst book
Mostly Harmless The Fifth book of Hitch hiker's guide to the Galaxy.

The whole book read like an arbitrary tack-on that refused bluntly to go anywhere or do anything. A shame given the other four books have a vaguely coherent storyline underneath. Then it ended at an apparently random whim, I wish I'd never read it.

Ditto. I'm still trying to slog through that book, and I've been at it for 3 months.

I mean, it's funny and all, but it's nowhere near the quality of the previous four books in Hitchhiker's.....

I can't think of the best book I ever read at the moment, but it'll come to me.