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Karen T
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| Posted: June 24 2006 at 11:22pm | IP Logged
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aussieannie wrote:
| This thread is old but I thought I would just add the one book that I would say someone should never be tempted to read - Angela's Ashes, |
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Ugh, I read this a couple years ago when it was on the bestseller list. I couldn't understand all the hype over it; it was depressing and pointless IMO.
I just finished a book my MIL had given me, highly recommended by her, and will add it to this list (not the worst book I ever read, but a "don't bother")
It's called Father Joe, the man who saved my soul by Tony Hendra. I thought it was going to be sort of a biography of this priest, and the prologue hints at that. But the book begins with the author (true story) as a 14 yo boy having an affair with a married woman, with some explicit descriptions. The Fr. Joe is a monk who becomes his confessor and helps him straighten out his life, but he (Hendra) goes on to totally mess up the next 30-something years, until he finally reconciles with the church at the end, and the priest is dying. most of the book was the author's completely self-absorbed vanity, and very little was on the priest, who deserved a biography of his own.
I never would have kept reading this if my MIL hadn't recommended it so highly; I kept waiting for the redeeming part! She doesn't read fiction at all, and is very devout, so this was the last thing i expected from her!
karen T
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hereinantwerp
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I had fun reading this thread tonight--
My worst recent memory of a book is "East of Eden". After my first son was born I put myself on this program to read "classics" because I was afraid my mind would go to mush--I think I made it through 3, this was the last--slodged all through it and thought, WHY??--this added nothing to my life! That woman was so evil she just gave me the creeps, the whole thing felt hopeless . . .
The worst books from my childhood, the whole "sweet valley high" and "cheerleaders" series, all the Judy Blumes and etc . . . Hours and hours of waste and garbage and immorality. I WISH my reading had been supervised--! You can bet I'm doing that with my kids--!
But I liked Lord of the Flies. I was not a believer back then. It made me think about the reality of sin for the first time . . . I think that's about what it's good for.
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SeaStar
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This is a very old thread... but fun to read through 
I recently tried to read "The Jane Austen Book Club" and 
There was TMI about the members and their strange problems/experiences..
I just didn't like it at all.
And I started to read the kids a short Christmas story by Truman Capote which has also turned out to be very "not for kids"... have to figure out a way to ditch it, as my ds keeps asking when we are going to finish it.
Anyone else want to add to the lemon list?
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stellamaris
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Well, I know some really like the "Outlanders" series, but frankly I was sickened by the perverse s*x**l torture scene that is described in detail at the end of the first book. I was really disturbed. My sister gave me the book because I was interested in that period of time in Scotland (my ancestors were Highland Scots), but there was no history and lots of disgusting, graphic details. Wish I'd never read it.
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KackyK
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My mother allowed me to read the VC Andrews books when I was a teenager. I think she thought, "yay she's reading". I still have yucko images from those books in my head. I told her recently...which I probably shouldn't have done  , she felt bad. More mommy guilt. I had no idea back then this is NOT what I should be reading. I thought I was being good not reading any Stephen King which I thought would be too frightening.
I read Psycho by Brett Ellis (it's a movie now, never saw that!). It was scary. A friend of mine who was a counselor at the time recommended it, as something he said he sees people come close to...yikes! That in and of itself is frightening! I did throw this book out when I was done, didn't want it in the house and have some child "come upon it" by accident.
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stefoodie
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The Celestine Prophecy. UGH.
I was at a point in my faith when I was questioning and wondering if Catholicism was "just another religion". This book totally made it worse!!
Luckily by then I was married and dh firmly put his foot down and said, if you have questions, we'll find answers, but we will NOT cease being Catholic. I didn't even understand submission back then, but whoa! I'm soooo glad he set me straight on that one.
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Martha
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Ug. I remember reading vc andrews in jr high. that gal had some sick twisted sibling issues. I would completely spaz if my kids read that trash.
I'll add another book.
The Shack no theology docrine or even common sense combined with terrible writing.
I'll agree with moby dick. Geez. Get over the fish you didn't catch already. 
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stefoodie
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LOL, I just realized this was an old thread and I gave the same answer 3 years ago. Sorry about that!
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MaryM
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stefoodie wrote:
| LOL, I just realized this was an old thread and I gave the same answer 3 years ago. Sorry about that! |
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 - at least you are consistent!
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teachingmom
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I'm another one who really regrets reading V.C. Andrews. I recently saw some of her books at a Barnes and Noble and wondered how in the world they are still around. Just seeing her books gave me the heebie jeebies.
I have another awful one to add, although it is probably not the worst. I read The Time Traveler's Wife a few months ago. The experience was rather like watching a car wreck. I knew I should have turned away, but I had this morbid fascination that compelled me to keep watching. Or in this case, keep reading. Don't bother! Although the story was entertaining in some ways, much of the language was revolting and the immorality was very difficult to stomach.
It is unbelievable to me that this is so highly regarded and practically every book club in America has discussed it. When I first put it on hold at the library, before I knew anything about this book, I was number eight hundred and something on the waiting list. It took months to finally get it. I just can't believe that so many people are reading this trash.
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folklaur
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SeaStar wrote:
This is a very old thread... but fun to read through
I recently tried to read "The Jane Austen Book Club" and
There was TMI about the members and their strange problems/experiences..
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oh, i liked that one!
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folklaur
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teachingmom wrote:
I have another awful one to add, although it is probably not the worst. I read The Time Traveler's Wife a few months ago. The experience was rather like watching a car wreck. I knew I should have turned away, but I had this morbid fascination that compelled me to keep watching. Or in this case, keep reading. Don't bother! Although the story was entertaining in some ways, much of the language was revolting and the immorality was very difficult to stomach. |
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i know so many women who really love that book! and they are on a very conservative homeschool forum, so i am really surprised! i had no plans on reading it (unless time travel is done very, very well, i have major issue with it - i can't stand the movie The Lake House!!!!)
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folklaur
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Martha wrote:
The Shack no theology docrine or even common sense combined with terrible writing.
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uh-oh. that is on my nightstand stack.
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folklaur
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oh, those were some messed up story lines. one of the few times i can say, "I wish I had NEVER read that!"
Quote:
I thought I was being good not reading any Stephen King which I thought would be too frightening.
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SK is VERY scary.
Most of his books didn't bother me, but i truly wish i had never read Pet Cemetery.
But i did like The Stand quite a lot.
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Sarah M
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cactus mouse wrote:
| i can't stand the movie The Lake House!!!!) |
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Dear Laura, Please understand if I never speak to you again.
Tee hee. I love that movie!
... still trying to think of my worst read... I don't usually keep reading a book that bothers me- I put it down right away and move on, so I'm not sure which one I'd rate the worst. The Shack was really poorly written, I think- and just overall a waste of time. Not awful, but definitely a waste of time-- and misleading in many ways.
Some books, The Kite Runner, for example- are exceptionally well-written and incredible stories, but the images that live in my head after reading them disturb me for years. So I wouldn't say it's a "bad read", but I wouldn't read it again. KWIM?
I started The Red Tent a few years ago and couldn't get past the 2nd chapter. Very disturbing.
I am, however, easily disturbed. Just a disclaimer.
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crusermom
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The Shack - It was bad on so many levels.
I can't believe I even finished it.
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The Shack - couldn't finish it; poorly written and insipid
Lord of the Flies - I still apologize regularly to my son for assigning this to him. It's on so many reading lists that I just figured it was one of those cultural literacy things that he would benefit from reading. No benefits at all!
Sophie's Choice is also way up there. Extremely disturbing; I read it probably 25 years ago and am so sorry the ideas from it are in my mind; every so often something from that book enters my thoughts and I'm disturbed all over again. And it's fiction! How could an author come up with all that yuck! If it were a true story, at least I would understand that it was not just the product of someone's imagination.
Thinking about those horrid reads makes me want to go off and read a really good and worthwhile book right now!
Peace,
Nancy
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stacykay
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I wish I had found this thread years ago, before our book club wasted time reading some real klinkers!
We are all huge Jane Austen fans, so when we read "The J.A. Book Club," boy, were we disgusted.
We just finished another clinker, "Monkeys." One really has to wonder what gets a book to attract so many it gets on a bestseller list!
Other stinky books, "1000 White Women," (so awful,) "Amsterdam," (by author of "Atonement" and just horrid.)
Others we didn't care for:
"Three Cups of Tea" We have read "1000 Splendid Suns" and were expecting this to be similar. It wasn't! It seemed too self-congratulatory.
"The Time-Traveler's Wife" We all just didn't get it.
"Eat, Pray, Love" Another self-absorbed person, from our perspective.
"Girl with A Pearl Earring" Bleh.
We are kind of restricted on what we read, as we don't want to spend the money on buying each month's book, and we have to take what is available at our local library.
"The Pearl" This was depressing.
"Of Mice and Men" Sick and depressing.
"Lord of the Flies" Same as all of you have written!
(My 9th grader had to write a paper contrasting "Of Mice and Men" and "Lord of the Flies.")
I know there are morals to be taught, but do they have to be presented in such awful ways? Like "Gatsby." I go back and forth with the need to read such stories and the need for those written in the era, ...but I guess some of the truths of these books aren't pretty and how else do you get that point across?...
And I ditto most of the other books you all mentioned, but, I really did enjoy "GWTW." I haven't read it since high school or college, though.
I am going on 4 hours sleep the past two nights, so I better stop the ramblings!
God Bless,
Stacy in MI
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guitarnan
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LOL Nancy, I refuse to make my kids read Lord of the Flies. I hated it in high school and I'm sure I really didn't understand it at all.
I just finished James Patterson's book on King Tut. A complete waste of time. It was written at about a 7th-grade reading level and Patterson appears to be astonished by the intrigues of ancient Egyptian courts, not to mention the endless mysteries surrounding King Tut. (Duh.) If you've covered ancient Egypt in your homeschool journey, you will learn absolutely nothing from this book.
(Okay, now I'll tell you how I really feel...just kidding! )
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insegnante
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When I was an adolescent, I began to find fiction meant for readers my age very upsetting, mostly for the amoral and often callous way the subject of sexuality was handled. Judy Blume's Forever, which I unfortunately read at the age of 11, is certainly a prominent example of this, but maybe the low point was actually a novel from the library that was told from the perspective of a pregnant 15-year-old girl.
I am pretty sure the pregnancy was from her st*pf*ther (I don't want to attract Google searchers with some of these terms,) and whether or not he was the father of her child, the book contained a scene of her st*pf*ther "s*ducing" her that as I recall was fairly graphic. She was "pro-choice" but unwilling to abort her child, and the book was for some reason, IIRC, in the form of her letter to a Catholic priest. I do not think this book could remotely be considered a prudent way to "reach out" to the victims of the horror of such abuse or raise awareness or any such thing, and as a kid reading it I certainly did not take away that that was its purpose. I just looked the book up and found it was reviewed as for ages 12 and up! I don't even want to name this book -- I'm figuring you ladies are too cautious about unknown "young adult" fiction not to investigate such books you know your kids have access to and don't need the warning.
I was probably 14 or 15 when I read this and it left me with the terrible feeling I often had when I witnessed how s*x was treated in media and "literature," plus a reeling mind that the book was treating this situation in such a way, with the victim to me basically seeming to enjoy it -- I know in real life the emotional response for non-forcible abuse may be a conflicted one, but it's still not a matter for leisure reading for 12-year-olds browsing young adult library shelves. I am just grateful that I continued to feel bad about this treatment of s*x and overall wanted to turn away from such things rather than become desensitized, although of course I wasn't immune to all negative effects and curiosity even when I continued to reject the overall mindset.
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Theresa
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4Real Forums : Book Club
Topic: Worst read, ever
