Fair enough if that makes you uncomfortable. And it does get more explicit as the books go on. But that is just one facet of the story, and not a theme that is central to the series.

I saw some Warhammer 40K books real cheap in a charity shop. I thought I would get them for the kids. I was bored, and thought I would read the Blood Ravens trilogy. Oh dear, oh dear. All that lore, and such terrible storytelling.
The Gor books don't count. I was too young to realise the extent of the awfulness at the time.

So you didn't actually read it? That happens only a chapter or two in.

BTW my reaction to that chapter was similar to what I've read others say about it: It's what drew us in. Not the titillation aspect, but the realization that if something like that can happen so early in the book (not the six part but what happens afterward), then all bets are off.

As long as we're including books we never finished, I'd add Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart. And if incist makes you blush...

I suppose that's how you define 'worst'...

I've read about half of the book Twilight. My girlfriend is a fan...

I've also read through The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. Which is...Bad in a different way..

The worst book I've finished would probably be The Descent by Jeff Long. The basic setting, that deep bedrock was in fact littered with caverns and one could cross continents or oceans underground, was actually pretty cool. However the novel itself tends towards the gratuitous, which is usually the best way to put me off of something. I also found the mind-transfer stuff sprung half way through to be pretty dumb, although it did ease me into the horrible time traveling messages later on.

It's one of the rare books I've also put down half way through. Also on that list are Expedition by James Rollins and Ice Station by Matthew Reilly. The former has a very convoluted plot despite largely being a cheesy adventure fantasy it felt like he was putting a lot of effort into grounding other elements in reality. Most of the characters were also clamoring to shout out their particular stereotypes. The second felt painfully formulaic, and there was no tension because it was clear that the cosmically powerful protagonist had a clever solution already lined up for every problem he faced.

All three books, although particularly the latter two, came out early in the author's career so it's possible they've gotten much better since. But it would take a lot of convincing for me to try another work by any of these authors.

Great Expectations. But I really just didn't like how it ended. Just save your time and watch the south park episode based on it.

What a misleading title, then..

Pretty much all.. three(?) of them? Hell, I even liked the Hobbit book but still wish I didn't read it, reading books for me is torture.

It's a wonder how I managed A's throughout all courses that required reading books when I really didn't.

The writing in aSoIaF is pretty good. The characters are believable and complex. It sounds like your offended that there is six in the book more than anything. It's obviously not a series for you if you shake your head at a six being described. I can't see how you can compare the two series.

If you can't handle incist being described in a book, then maybe you should read your run of the mill good vs. evil fantasy book. Violence is ok to you probably, as long as there's no six it's ok.

Dan Brown- The Da Vinci Code. "The famous man looked at the red cup." There's descriptive writing.


Edit: The Holy Bible (King James version) and the Koran are worst for me morally speaking. They're on an equal level with 120 days of sodom (Marquis de Sade) for me.

As much as I would like to post about some more modern books, the fact that they are regarded as bad by society makes me hate them less. Overall, these books will be popular for a short period of time, but will one day fade in to obscurity. The books I really dislike are the ones that have gained "classic" status despite being garbage simply because their influence can last centuries. Thus, I'll have to go with Ulysses by Joyce. I HATE that book and quite a bit of modernism, too.

Ulysses ultimately inspires the idea that obfuscation is somehow equal to "deep thought." It almost feels like Joyce set off on an experiment to see how brilliant he could appear to be. I'll give him credit by admitting that he is an intelligent individual, but the idea of writing is to convey ideas... not to make a statement about your intelligence. Sadly, elitist English majors have declared his works to be masterpieces and have propelled the book into the top ten on just about any "top literature" list.

So, y'all complain about Twilight because it gave us Twilight fangirls... but Ulysses gave us hipsters.



Meh, both you only say that because you politically disagree with the books.

A horror book called "The Amulet". It was pretty god-awful. One of the very few books I've literally had to force myself to finish reading(I always finish a book that I've started, no matter how bad). I generally re-read my books every few years or so, but that is one book I'll never pick up again, no matter how bored I get.

Actually, I just thought of one I didn't quite like: State Of Fear by Michael Crichton. I was looking more for a drama, not a 400+ page lecture on Global Warming. It got better near the end, but by then I had stopped caring. I love most of his other books, though.

"Out of the Ashes" by William W Johnstone. Overly political BS that markets itself as a post apocalyptic adventure story. Actually...all of Johnstone's stuff is crap. The hero is always a middle aged Vietnam vet special forces guy who likes to harp on about how politically neutral and unracist he is....christ..and in all those stories all Mexicans are connected to the cartels and all Muslims are evil jihadists. And how all liberals faint at the sight of a gun. Garbage. Pure garbage.

I haven't really ever read a book I would consider bad, I've read some that weren't as good as others, but never a bad book. I think its because I usually know what I'm going in for before I start reading.

Reading Game of Thrones at the moment, loving it! Probably my favourite I read in recent years was the Emperor series by Conn Iggulden, but you have to treat it as a adventure book, not a history book or you are approaching it wrong! Favourite from when I was a Kid: Truckers, Diggers, Wings

Twilight I haven't read so I can't say what I think of it, but I have heard it is for teenagers, and I'm not a teenager. Generally I find most storytelling aimed at a teenage audience to be sickeningly optimistic about life and love while laying some tacky dark veneer over the top... haven't seen (or read) Twilight, but I bet its like that.

Communist Manifesto probably. I also wasn't impressed by George Bush's latest book.

Something about flying alien trees from space.

The Wayfarer redemption. More cliché's than a sequel to a Hollywood blockbuster. So bad that a rare fit of humanity made me throw them in the recycling bin rather than take them to the second hand book store to inflict on some other poor soul.

Also the Sword of truth series. The first few were not that bad, and people tell me the later ones got better but I don't feel like taking the chance.

Hmmm...the 47 Ronin if I leave out the historical significance of the book...

Srsly?

I'm so picky with books. If it doesn't pull me in and keep me interested, I can't finish it.

With that said, I tried reading the TES novels but they were so boring. One day I'll finish them.

If Skyrim was a book....

Hmmm, seems interesting, then again I'm very interested (and biased) about anything about feudal Japan. I heard they're gonna make a movie. But Keanu Reeves is in it.

And also because Ayn Rand is a piss-poor writer who spends more time describing the contour of a penny than anything else.

Purple prose?