Zoff, I totally agree. I tried to read Interview on two seperate occasions, and was unable to finish both times. Later, I picked up Queen of the Damned, and could only make it through a couple of pages.
GuanoLad, I think Sara Douglass’ books are about to be published in the U.S. I have the advance reader to her book The Wayfarer Redemption, but I haven’t read it yet. Is that the first book in the second series that bombed in Australia?
I’ve got a couple of submittals for worst novel of all time:
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I was eager to read this after I heard many glowing reviews from friends of mine, wasted 13 dollars buying it, and thought it was complete trash! I will admit he’s got a great flair for visual imagery, but the book was repetitive and boring, and his literary devices (for example, discussing in EXCRUCIATING detail what each character is wearing, eating and drinking – he can spend half a page telling you about someone’s suit, for Chrissake) really leave something to be desired.
Anything by John Grisham or William Shatner. Could we make some characters who are a little MORE wooden, fellas?
Billy Budd, Sailor by Dickens. Had to read this in high school English and am still carrying a grudge. 100 pages about nothing. Just goes to show that classical literature ain’t always interesting, kids.
Add me to the detractor’s list for “Catcher in the Rye.” My dislike of the novel comes from the narrator’s repulsiveness. But then, maybe that was the whole point.
“Under the Volcano,” by Malcolm Lowry, has a tremendous reputation amongst literary types. But I’m not impressed enough by the author’s command of English, German and Mexican Spanish to be reverential. I’ll bet Arizonians love the novel.
Although I’m not qualified to comment on “Jonathon Livingston Seagull” (since I only read about 20 pages), I would like to mention that it made me rather ill. This book inspired the inventor of the word “icky.” I’d rather watch Lifetime than read this thing.
I liked “Pickwick Papers,” but not “Oliver Twist.” And I have enjoyed most of the brain-candy books in the Dragonlance series – until “The Fifth Age.”
I think Melville wrote “Billy Budd.”
Thanks for the correction, AlbertRose. (See? I hated the book so much I’m trying to block it out of my memory!)
Yep, Melville wrote Billy Budd. Man, that book was a chore when I read it in high school. I was literally falling asleep every five pages. So far, it’s scared me away from attempting Moby Dick, but maybe someday I’ll give it a try. Just as soon as I finish Gravity’s Rainbow (which I’m actually kind of enjoying).
–sublight
I can’t believe anyone got through the entire L. Ron Hubbard Mission Earth series. I thought only Scientologists bought any of the later books. I tried, but gave up soon into the fourth. The first was able to keep my attention, even though it was written atrociously, but then I blew through Battlefield Earth in 2 days, sometimes I just enjoy trashy brain candy. The second had it’s funny moments but was surprisingly inferior to the first. figuring it couldn’t get worse I read the third. I checked out the fourth one and gave up about 50 pages in. Definitely some of the worst fiction ever.