I had to read Bleak House by Charles Dickens for school and I thought it would be ok because he is known for writing great stories, but man I was wrong! It is the worst book I ever read, it is super long and very dull. If you are thinking of reading it don't. I mean someone actually suddenly explodes for no reason, and it is not explained! Has anyone else read it? I want to know if I'm the only person that hates it. Maybe it's just me.

I've never heard of the book Bleak House so I've never read it before. You know the book Shiloh? Well I think that's the worst book I've ever read. Even though people think it's a good book, I just think it's stupid.

'Bleak House', in my view , is a strange choice for schoolchildren to study. Many of Dickens'other works are more lively and acceptable in content. Ihis is not to say that Bleak House is not a good book. No work of Dickens could be termed badly written or boring. However, this one does dwell rather lengthily on the ins and outs (pun on Inns ??!) of British law in Dickens'time, and how some cases could drag on for years. The minor characters are great fun, as ever, I think. Dickens was criticised at the time for using rather more sensationalism than usual, and some objected to some shortage of credibility in the story. I enjoyed it, but then I enjoy all Dickens'works and re read them many times. Maybe the choice of this one for school study is a little misplaced.

I can't decide between "Lord of the Flies" and "Moby Dick".

There was a book I had to read in 10th grade, either "The Awakening" or "Awakenings". I don't remember which it was, I just know it was the one that wasn't turned into a movie.

I hated every single word in the book, and at the end, when the main character "tragically" drowned herself (I think) I was practically cheering.

That would be The Awakening by Kate Chopin. (Awakenings is a nonficiton book by a psychiatrist made into a movie starring Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams.) I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it. I felt about the same as I felt when I read Madam Bovary--whiny, self-pitying, adulterous woman whose soul we are supposed to admire. This is pretty much required reading nowadays, though, I think, because it's considered an early feminist work. And that's how it's taught, which, unfortunately, sucks out some of the complexity of it. It's not so awful a book, if you look at it on more than one level. And, ultimately, I don't think it's about the repression and liberation of a woman at all (as it is often taught), but really something different--about the clash of cultures: Creole/ vs. Puritain. Her husband isn't repressing her--she's repressing herslef, and can't seem to find a happy medium between utter indulgence and utter rigidness. That's my take, anyway.

Thanks Skylarb. The truth is I had no idea what the book was about! I didn't study it with the class because English lessons clashed with a more important subject that year, so I had to read it on my own and every time I started reading my mind just sort of wandered off. I vaguely remember something about a holiday and something about an apartment and the wonderful part where she drowned. I think "whiny" is the perfect description.

All those British SAS guys who sold out the code and became yarn tellers. McNab comes to mind, not his real name of course, but he's not shy of using everyone else’s real names. His first book 'Bravo Two Zero' wasn't bad though a little fanciful. 'Immediate Action' followed which was actually a solid read and had some good chapters about the war in Belfast. That's where it ended. Out of seemingly real stories the non-fic kicked in. I suffered through one rambo story and retired the author.

"every time I started reading my mind just sort of wandered off"

I had this problem with "Lord of the Rings". I know I'll probably generate lots of howls of protest, but I really couldn't get into this book or others by Tolkein. I sat through the movie and thought it was boring! I wouldn't say it was the worst book I've ever read since I never actually read it - just couldn't get into it. I have to admit though that I don't care for fantasy as a genre so these comments pretty much apply to most fantasy books.

Thank Goodness MG!! I am exactly the same about LOTR, although I just about managed The Hobbit! I really like real things in my books, Goblins etc are not for me. Oooh dear, sorry all!

Thanks Ren, it's nice to know I'm not alone, especially when it seems like the rest of the world has gone Tolkein-mad!

I'm with you two on this one. I do like most fantasy (especially children's fantasy) and I did quite enjoy The Hobbit, but it took me almost a year to get through LOTR- I kept on getting totally bored and leaving it alone for months at a time while I read other books. I really didn't enjoy it, and I felt the ending was rather anti-climactic.

Welcome to the club, snm! Anyone else out there willing to admit that they can't understand the current LOTR craze?

Count me in on that. I had to sit through three hours or so of Dune and I hated every minute of it! So there is not a chance in hades I would ever get through LOTR!
I tried to read it got to about the fourth page and that was it. I also tried to read the Dune Books! My poor Hubby was so disappointed I hated them as he read all the Earth Children Books for me!
I think it is a guy thing! PF

Lord of the Rings-yuck! We had to read the hobbit in school, which I didn't like all that much, but compared with LOTR it was ten times better.

My poor friend has been stuck on that 'House of Elron' chapter, (or Enron, whatever it was,) for a year. I thought it would never end.

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Welcome to the club, snm! Anyone else out there willing to admit that they can't understand the current LOTR craze?

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MG, I failed at the book. I even tried to watch the first movie at least 10 times and fell asleep every time. All I can tell you it was an impresive intro and had some short people that lived in odd mound houses with strange windows... I can't relax enough to enjoy the LOTR world.. I really thought it was just me!

I liked the LOTR movie! Even more so the second time. I never thought I'd say this but I can't wait 'til the second one comes out on DVD so I can watch it. Although I must admit I've never read the books,and I probably won't. Fantasy's all well and good on the silver screen, but I don't think I can get through an entire book of it...
Now I must throw in my "Worst Book Ever". It's called "Rescue Me: A Love Story" Don't let the title or pretty li'l cover fool you. It's absolutely the most horrible book I have ever had the misfortune of reading! (And that includes "Catcher In The Rye"!) I forgot who wrote it but she wrote the screenplay for "Stepmom". Anywho,it's just...nothing. It has no point.It's set in the '80s and deals with sex,drugs,and violence which might appeal to some people but,uh,no thanks. It's completely and totally unecessarily graphic. When the main character gives birth to a stillborn baby she acts as if it's nothing.I don't want to go into detail but trust me:it's BAD. I actually wanted to sell it in a yard sale but I felt bad about pawning it off on some poor unsuspecting victim. So I hid it under my bed...

I had to read LOTR in my "Popular Fiction" class and skimmed 90 percent of it. (I took "Popular Fiction" to fulfill my "nontraditional" requirement, as one is required to venture out of the classics to earn an English degree.) Oddly, I never skimmed so much and read so little as I did in that class. I don't know why I should have found the popular so boring. Of the 12 or so books we read, the only ones I was capable of reading were Stephen King's The Shinning, the (to my suprise) western Hondo, and...oh yeah, the Agatha Christie. Everything else seemed like torture.

Have just finished reading Sterne's "Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy". Wondering if anyone can still read this for their genuine enjoyment or whether this is one of those books
people read "for their education"?
"Worst Book Ever" is not the most precise qualification, but for me it's definitely one of the most bewildering books ever.

I think one of the worst books is The Scarlett Letter, Moby Dick, and Amistad, although the movies Amistad was very good.

For some reason, I could never get into these books.

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I hated every single word in the book, and at the end, when the main character "tragically" drowned herself (I think) I was practically cheering.

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You weren't the only one, snm. I had to read 'The Awakening', along with Sylvia Plath's 'The Bell Jar' and Margaret Atwood's 'Bodily Harm' for one of my university courses. It would be tough to decide which one I hated most.

"Sartor Resartus" by Thomas Carlyle, and I had to take a COURSE on the damned thing, also covering the works of several other eminent Victorian perpetrators of alleged prose and poesy. Tennyson and Cardinal Newman should also roast forever for their contributions along those lines.

Everyone else had a goof-off last semester of college during which they took courses like "Cloud Appreciation" and "Principles of Italian Ices". Me, I had a 20-credit semester, with that horrible Victorian writers course lurking within!

Moral: Never, ever let anyone else, NO MATTER HOW TRUSTED, sign you up for elective courses, whether inside or outside your major.

No doubt, that would have to be "The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane! Ugh! The story itself may not have been too bad at all, but the English language used in the book was way too difficult for me. We had to read it in school, but I really hated it. When I come to think of it, it makes me wonder why they made us read that book, as I'm sure it did not encourage a single one of us to start reading more English books!

Will you people STOP bashing LOTR?

Always loved it- Maybe it's because I keep dreaming that I am an elf (or maybe due to all that D&D I play)


Okay, Worst Book :

1) Any(and I repeat Absolutely Any) book they teach you at school.
2) Coma
3) The Painted House

I agree with Mother Goose. "Lord of the Rings" is totally stupid. I don't know why people think it's one of the greatest books ever made.