[juzzza]

We have a lot of best book/best film posts.

What about the worst book ever read in SF, F or Horror genres?

Mine has to be...

Ooh it's too hard, I'll have to have a think.

[cgw]

You'll have to make the worst book actually read.
I have bailed out of a lot of books after a page or chapter or two.

[juzzza]

Tell me, which ones? If they made you bail out after a few pages, they must be bad and deserve to be named and shamed.

In the movie version of 'Hearts in Atlantis' Anthony Hopkins had a beautiful line that really struck a chord with me.

He said:

'Give an author a few hours to hook you and if he can't, wish him well and move on to another.'

Something along those lines anyway. I try and live by that rule.

[Miriamele]

Hmmm...that's a tough one, because usually books that I hate I tend to just forget about.

But the worst book I've read that I can remember is a Danielle Steel book that I picked up a couple of years ago. It was filled with grammatical mistakes and it was about a second grade reading level, honestly.

A friend of mine also tried to get me to read Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy, because it was her favourite book. Same thing--filled with typos, and the story was boring to boot. I couldn't get past the first chapter.

But neither of those are fantasy. I can't remember reading a fantasy book that I really hated.

Oh wait--I though of one. A few months ago I picked up a hardcover book in the bargain section of a large bookstore called Tad Williams Mirror World. Of course I thought it was by Tad Williams, but when I started reading it I realized it really wasn't...it was by a bunch of no name authors who were writing stories based on Tad Williams' Mirror World comic book from way back when. The writing was atrocious and the artwork was cheesy. I tried really hard to read it but gave up a quarter of the way through.

[juzzza]

Hmmm interesting. I too seem to be suffering from the phenomenon where my mind has simply deleted any memory of reading a bad book.

I know a couple of Koontz were suspect but their names escape me.

I must admit, re-reading LOTR after being delighted by the movie became a labour of love, but you can hardly describe that as a bad book!!! I wonder if that is blasphemous!!!;)

[manticore]

WoT, book 9. nuff said.

[SusF]

The one that sticks in my mind as the worst fantasy ever was Sword of Shanara. I actually read 2/3rds of it, so I can honestly say I gave it a fair go.

It is the book responsible for my abiding dislike of epic fantasy. (Tolkien excluded, of course.)

Susan

[Fenn628]

I just finished White Shark by Peter Benchley and can honestly say that that was the worst horror/Sci Fi/Fantasy book I have ever read. DO NOT waste your time.

Mike

[Cadfael]

I collect and enjoy 'Dragonlance' and 'Forgotten Realms' books... but the FG book 'Baldur's Gate' by Philip Athans is the worst book I have read in any genre.... a work of drivel... in fact... Athans should be taken out and whipped with a rancid haddock.

[Caly]

I tried really hard to read and like A Shadow on the Glass by Ian Irvine b/c it was a book club book for me. It was the worst drivel I've ever read. I couldn't believe it managed to get published. Nothing about it made sense and the characters were totally inconsistent and unbelievable. My SO and I were both reading it for the book club and we really wanted to burn it when we finally gave up on it, but we didn't want to get our balcony all ashy.

Caleyna