Books you shouldn't have read

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Many a time i have put a book down and wondered how many hours of my life i was never going to get back, that was only if i actually finished the book.

So, what books do you wish you had never bothered reading, or what books didn't you finish as they were that bad?

When i was about eight, i started "The Hobbit" but never finished it, i got halfway through, decided it was boring and put it down. I did eventually finish it, years later, after i had read "Lord of The Rings" and thought it, "The Hobbit", was brilliant.

"People's History of the United States," by Zinn.

A horrible, "progressive" revisionist historian's guide to the Evils of White Male Oppressors.

"Godel, Escher, Bach"

Not a horrible book, but too convoluted, and too clever.

That, I liked. I felt my brain was oozing out of my ears, on occasion, but I don't regret the effort.


A good number of novels. The decison there is when to stop throwing good time after bad.
Books by authors who have written one or three volumes too many, possibly due to popular, editorial or contractual pressure after writing good or even great books.
The Second series of Thomas Covenant.
The Second Amber Chronicles
David Eddings,
Brian Callison,
Clive Cussler,
Geoffrey Jenkins,
Desmond Bagley,
Alastair Maclean... They all did it, in my opinion.