Worst Books You've Ever Read

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Back when Twilight was popular, I promised my sister I would read the first book just to try it out. I almost got all the way through, but alas, I failed because it was just so blah.

Anything by L. Ron Hubbard.

Any religious tract by Jack Chick.

Any self-help book written by a New-Age author.

When I responded to this, I wasn’t thinking about religious books! I’ve read tons of awful religious books.

Well, if it's okay to mention those (they were the first to come to mind, but I didn't know if that would be accepted), then I've never read a single religious book or scripture nor a New Age one that was worth my time.
Some might be funny for their sheer awfulness, but that's about it.

I have a feeling some people would say "The Bible" out of irony or personal dislike for religion, but even if you were a raging atheist you would be pretty foolish to ignore its merits as literature, as poetry and especially its immeasurable and unparalleled influence on the arts. Even Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have praised it as great literature. Unsurprisingly, people are quick to both praise it and condemn it without actually reading it, and I take issue with both sides.

I can't honestly say every bit of the Bible is amazing - with at least 66 books by different authors (depending on which Bible) it inevitably varies; the lists of laws and genealogical records could be skipped entirely - but most of the prose and poetry are fascinating reads, no matter which angle you choose to look at them. I mean, for a book which literally shaped the entire English language, it's a decent bet there's some writing of acceptable quality. Granted, it's a difficult book to read; I read someone once compare it to reading Tolkien's 'The Silmarillion'. It's easier to digest in separate chunks rather than reading front to back.

I know this is a thread on books you hate, but as the conversation was starting to slip in that direction, I thought I'd offer that slight rebuttal. I've honestly never seen an earnest critique of the Bible which didn't end up turning into a rant about Christianity and religion in general, much less from people who've actually read the whole thing. Not that I have a problem with atheists or anti-theists, but if you're gonna bash a book - and alternately, if you're an evangelical who's going to aggressively praise and enforce the contents of the same book - you better have actually read the darn thing first.

The Bible was written in a certain time. It must be remembered that it was a reflection of that time.

Obviously, it was biased towards the Yahweh religion of the Levant in the Old Testament....and the followers of Jesus of Nazareth in the New Testament. From an objective standpoint, it was a work of propaganda "propagating" such things as the "word of God" and the divinity of Jesus Christ.

It wouldn't have made sense for the compilers of the Bible to promulgate something based upon objective, scientific evidence. They wanted to promote the greatness of the "one true religion." And of the primacy of monotheism over the "primitive" polytheism which sinfully worshipped "idols."

It was a multifarious work making use of many genres of literature, mythology, and history.

People tend to use it for their own purposes......

I don't think Sir Anonymous was expecting a debate of The Bible's merits.

Are there other books which people haven't liked?

I never liked Gibbons' "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."

I'm not too thrilled with Plutarch, either....

Anything by Flannery O’Connor. I took a contemporary literature course in high school my senior year (only because I had 5 study halls in a row in the morning my first semester every freaking day of the week) in order to relieve the boredom. I should have kept the study halls...

Then there’s the bane of all music majors in college: Donald J. Grout’s A History of Western Music. I, of course, was the weird one: I read the entire tome in 1 sitting (yes, just as a former music teacher from high school told me: I’m a glutton for punishment.)

I nearly peeled my eyeballs while reading Anthropology texts, so I'm glad I've met people who can make it more interesting.

I also disliked Tolkien and I've never liked Atwood. I actually debated with her in Uni.

Any "Fanfic": They usually feature an obvious "Mary Sue" and sexual exploits that are impossible to replicate in the real world.

Any self-published anthology of rambling emo freeverse: How many different ways can one person describe how bleak and hopeless they perceive their life to be? At last count, about five volumes worth...