Lord of the rings ... I couldn't even get into the movies, I always, and I mean ALWAYS, fell asleep whenever I'd put it on. It honestly became a form of preparing myself for sleep (I suffer from Insomnia, so I stuck with this for awhile)

It's not that I'm not into the fantasy genre, I am a fan of Terry Brooks and have every book he's written, but LOTR is not for me. Sorry LOTR lovers!

Ok, I wanted to say that I love LOTR. All of them (though I think I love The Hobbit just a little more) But I can see what you all mean about not liking them. The heavy descriptions, I'd have to say that theres a chapter in Fellowship that I think could be reduced to a few paragraphs and I would be just fine. But I think the descriptive quality of the books is part of what makes them so amazing. I could see in my mind absolutely everything exactly how it was supposed to be. Exactly how he meant them to be.

It's sort of crazy how deep into this world Tolkien was, He knew Everything. more than he ever used in his books. I love the idea of a world so complete. So complex but where the driving force behind it is so simple: Good vs. Evil. Love and friendship. The simplicity of this, I think, is what makes these books so appealing to younger people. I think a lot of us start out loving the world as children and it just stays with us.

I know that was long. hopefully someone read it.


As for Worst books ever: The Valley of Secrets by Charmian Hussey. I bought it because I liked the cover. well, you know how that goes. I got to almost the very end and then I couldn't take it anymore. The main character was the most whiny useless thing I've ever had the displeasure to struggle through 341 pages with. sad thing is it might have been a cool story if it weren't for all the boring parts in between.


Also, The Giver. I've taken a lot of flak for this, and I acknowledge that as I read it in the 8th grade (required) I may have not "gotten it" but I felt (at the time, it's hard to remember it now) that I had a pretty good Idea of it and I just didn't like it. Oooh, it's powerful, ooh, it's provacative. BFD. it creeped me out.

you guys rock.

Lord of the Rings is the most boring book EVER!

That "sudden explosion" was probably spontanious combustion. This does exist.

Moby Dick and/or Lorna Doone - the only books I've never even been able to finish reading and this is from someone who's read War and Peace!

Mind you I'll agree Bleak House was pretty bad as well but at least I finished that one.

I like most books, but one I didn't like was "Deadly Drive".

I'm still in school, so I'm sure eventually I'll have more books to add up here, but as far as outside reading is concerned, I battled to The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, and gave up on Two Towers.

As far as school books. . . . I gave the teacher heck about the Great Gatsby and ended up liking it, but The Iliad and The Odyssey were two of the most boring things I've ever read--and that's considering I've read Walden (Thoreau), Reflections on the French Revolution (Edmund Burke--not that bad, actually), Arrian (something about ancient wars...), and a whole bunch of other stuff for Classics (my personally least favorite history class). BORING!!!!!

I honestly do not think that Harry Potter is very good at all.

The worst and the most boring book was definitely 'Three Men in a Boat' by Jerome K. Jerome.

About LOTR, I tried reading it in yr 6 and found that the books moved waaay too slowly for me. I gave up halfway through the third one. Since then I have read them again and loved them though.

I agree with Peronella, some of the descriptions are too long-winded. They could be shortened heaps.

Hey, I liked Lord of the Rings. But that's from someone who read Helter Skelter and Moby Dick and enjoyed them. Worst book ever...humm...La Maravilla. It's hard to understand with the time difference I get confused.

"Too Many Secrets" is a stupid book.The copyright page says it was made in 1997. But it looks like it was made in 1900.

the worst books i have ever read are LOTR. i really couldnt sit there and read it. but i loved the movies.

I actually really enjoyed the LOTR books. Still, each to his own, I suppose...

The worst, and I mean WORST book that I've ever read has to have been "Atonement" by Ian McEwan. And now I hear it's being made into a movie...

Midnights Children - Salman Rushdie

Tried it twice, couldn't get past the doctor and the sheet with a hole in it. Life's WAY too short!

Heather

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"Too Many Secrets" is a stupid book.The copyright page says it was made in 1997. But it looks like it was made in 1900.

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Could you elaborate a little here. I do not know what you mean by " a stupid book"! Also what makes a book unreadable if it is made in 1900? Many books written long,long before then I have not found "stupid". Does the age of a book indicate its lack of quality? Please let us know what you mean here.

I don't have a "worst book." I love everything from Jane Eyre, to Pride & Prejudice, to Tennyson, to King to Mitchell & Tolkein.

I love something in every category, and honestly can't think of a "worst book."

Morrigan

I agree somewhat with Morrigan.

I don't love Jane Eyre, but I love something in every category.

Practically every book I have mostly considered boring or repetitive or whatever had at least one redeeming quality.

For example: Empire of the Sun was boring, but some of the imagery stuck with me. Other books have been cliched, but something saved them from being a waste of paper.

And who says that A Separate Peace is a bad book? I don't agree...when my class read it, we constantly talked about if Gene intentionally committed the crime...I enjoyed it.

OMG...Ace, You got that one 100% right. The Painted House was the worst book I have ever read! I kept reading because I knew for sure that something was going to happen...nothing happened. I was so mad!

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and i'm pretty sure the handmaid's tale is going to frighten me as well

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Yes, that one surely did it for me. Maybe not so much frightening as haunting. (Something the sub-par movie totally missed, by the way. I was disappointed.)
It just seems so possible. Not necessarily in the details, but the general idea of those that 'have' can impose their will onto those that 'have-not'. It's an old plot, but the execution is unique, I think.

I tried to read 'The Satanic Verses' by Salman Rushdie, gave up after a few chapters. I couldn't really see what all the fuss was about as it just seemed like twaddle to me.

Also 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'. I don't think I even made it past chapter two, mind you that was a long time ago. Perhaps I should give it another go.

I picked up 'Dahlgren' by Samuel Delany way back when I was a teenager and put it down after about three chapters. (I mischievously abandonned it in an unused locker of my girls' school for someone else to discover)
Not that it was hard going, it was but I enjoyed that and was tackling other literature at a similar level at that age. I was put off by the nastiness and insinuation of certain descriptions. (vivid and sensitive imagination here) I have the same problem with some Stephen King books though others I have enjoyed. I'm told Dahlgren is a good book in its genre but I had no wish to experience it further.
JMHO but I don't think it should be necessary for an author to go into gruesome detail to get an idea across. Subtlety and suggestion can be enough. If there is too much nastiness I get the feeling it's aimed at a market that wants some kind of sick thrill more than the message and the other normal delights of a good read.

I agree with the ones who say LOTR has some long passages that could be shortened. I did not enjoy the Fellowship; that was a hard book to get through. I never did get what that Tom Bombadill(sp) character had to do with anything. And I did not understand why the Ent wives were never found. I really liked the last book, I sat up most of the night reading it, it was so good.

My son is reading the Scarlet Letter and he agrees with me in not liking it. I read it in high school and could not get into it at all. The Pearl was another one I did not enjoy.

And I really liked the Harry Potter books, too.

The Walk West: A Walk Across America 2 by Peter Jenkins was one book I did not like. I wanted to like it, but his writing style just made me cringe or roll my eyes. I read the 2nd book first and recently saw the first book in a used book store. It was selling for a mere $.50, but I just could not bring myself to purchase it.

And finally, I did not like Wicked. I think I was expecting something a little lighter.