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The Worst Books of All Time
What do you think are the worst books ever written; the ones you least enjoyed reading.
Please respect everyone's opinions, even if you think their opinion is downright stupid.
Please respect everyone's opinions, even if you think their opinion is downright stupid.
7,898 books ·
18,378 voters ·
list created May 20th, 2008
by Michael Economy (votes) .
Tags:
abominable, abomination, awful, bad, disgusting, dislike, disliked, earliest-list, hated, horrendous, horrible, loathed, resented, terrible, worst
Michael
726 books
285 friends
285 friends
Elizabeth
1637 books
1255 friends
1255 friends
Otis
1545 books
2025 friends
2025 friends
The Crimson Fucker
435 books
225 friends
225 friends
Rena
157 books
80 friends
80 friends
Cynthia
23572 books
236 friends
236 friends
Ruth
2634 books
374 friends
374 friends
Suziqoregon
1235 books
84 friends
84 friends
More voters…
Comments Showing 1-50 of 2,600 (2600 new)
Anyone else notice how many of these were probably required reading for high school English classes? Coincidence? I know 3 of the 7 I voted on were required reading for me.
I'm with Jason and Lisa, with no standards for rating a book on GR, (Imp. the biggest drawback on GR at present). These lists are pure hype with no base and make no sense. The easy to find category POPULAR of the total ratings make a whole lot more sense. There I think the truth of how GR members feel about the books they read lays.
To Lisa-I read it. I'm a conservative and a Texan, which puts me pretty far right, but I have enough sense to fact check the footnotes. It appears that Ann's readership and her publishers do not.
a lot of the books are some of my favorite books of all time and I think this list is a bunch of crap. Twilight for one is a wonderful book and I loved it so much I read the series twice. A great and terrible beauty is another great book and the series, while it takes some time to get into, is totally worth readin in the end. And are you seriously telling me that the grapes of wrath and pride and prejudice are 2 of the worst books ever written? Whoever made this list may have a couple things right but the rest of the list is complete shit. Thats just my opinion but coming from someone who has a passion for reading and doesn't do it just becuase my teacher or proffessor told me to I think I might know what I'm talking about.
"Smart guy" knocks big sellers, Oprah's book club, en vogue lit, and even Pynchon, Fitzgerald, Faulkner and Golding. What an incoherent, silly list. I regret having bothered to read it.
Some of my very favorites are on this list...but it is a free country. This is art, and like all forms of artistic expression, beauty can be in the eye of the beholder.
It's perfectly okay to not like any book you want, but I defend my assertion that The Bridges of Madison County is the worst book ever printed. It was so bad I wanted to smack the author for allowing trees to be cut down to make paper to print his execreble excuse for a book. The story was crap, the writing was crap. That there are people out there who thought this was ROMANTIC is astounding to me. IT WAS GARBAGE.
I love the diversity of people. Some of these books I thought were okay, some I disliked but can't say they were the worst ever written and some I actually liked a lot. It's what makes a list like this work, different opinions, different life events that influence those opinions. It's great!
The list was just opinion. Every one has their lists of favorites. I like a lot of the books on this list, but some of them are real crap. Funny how a lot of them were required reading in school...and that may be why they were disliked. Honestly, Tess of the D'Urbervilles was PAINFUL reading in 9th grade, as was the 'classic' Of Mice and Men. My memories of those books are not fond ones. Each has their own opinion, and the list is interesting. Many of the "Oprah" books are on this list, which is amusing to me. There have only been about 3 books on her "bookclub" that are really worth a read to me. I often wonder if Oprah actually reads the books before choosing them. A large majority of her choices are CRAP. But again, we all have different tastes.
It sounds like some people think this is one person's list. It's not. One person started the list and then the rest of us voted for the books we hate. The higher we place the book on our own mini lists and the more votes a book gets, the higher a book is placed on the main list. If you're unhappy with some of the choices other people have made for this list, go add the books to other more positive lists. It's all pretty democratic. If you look closely, a lot of books show up on both the "Worst books of all time" list and the "Best books ever" lists. Everyone's entitled to his or her own opinion.
Ender's Game and Dune on this list? This list looks soooo not convincing.
This list is AWFUL! Some of the greatest books on earth ever written are on that list, everyone may be entitled to their own opinion, but some people's opinions are inconceivably, WRONG.The people who added some of those books have a warped sense of what good writing is.
definitely this list is the worst idea of what is bad!
I'm not sure how some of these books could ever be picked as the worst books ever. And it is totally a specific political edge here, none of the horrible liberal/democrat books seem to be listed.
In point of fact, Lisa, several of the so-called "liberal/democrat" books are listed. Of course, I think you listed most of them yourself (maybe that tells you something?), but they are listed.I'm curious, btw: Could you explain the basis for your opinion that An Inconvenient Truth is one of the worst books ever written? I'm really curious about the reasoning supporting that view. Is it because you think that book is scientifically unsound, or because of something else?
Wow, these are the worst books of all time? Seriously?
The da vinci code is probably one of the worst books. no one has ever read it. only bragged about how good it was "because tom hanks was in the movie, and tom hanks did forrest gump, so that has to mean it's good, because forrest couldn't do stupid movies after that."
puhhlease. a book based on a supposed "non fiction" story and the chances of that ever happening are slim to none.
but i do have to say the great gatsby is probably the best book i've ever read. so obviously the creator of this list is blind to literary genius.
maybe someone should create a dumbest persons list of the 20th century. because the creator would definitely rank between a politician and a priest.
Eliza, there is no "creator" of the list. Many people have added books to the list -- anyone can do so and many people have. So the list has a "creator" only in the same sense that, say, the Empire State Building had a construction worker.For reasons unclear to me, this fact seems to be hard for many people to grasp. Maybe someone can explain it to me?
What is up with this list, it's complete bogus, it needs revamping, somethings not right here...you get the picture goodreads.
the question is not: how many of my favorite books are on the list?its more: how many books that i voted on are other peoples favorites?
i do think its awesome how like 80% of the books on there are required school reading
People generally don't think things through (myself included). I really liked your "empire building / construction worker analogy. A similar explanation ought to be posted by the Listopia logo.It's pretty interesting that people naturally want to blame a "creator".
This list should be called: "Books I had to read in high school but didn't like at the time."The Great Gatsby? Really? Catcher in the Rye? It like people just thought of books they'd heard of and listed them.
So almost all of my favorite books are on this list :) Next time I need to find a good book, I'm going to check out this list :)
I'm new here so I don't know how this list works, but I have to disagree with most of the choices. Of course, I tried to counter the "bad list" vote by pressing the "vote" button thinking that it would give me a choice of clicking "yes" this deserves to be here, or "no" these people are crazy and it should not be on this list. Ooops!
I guess that's not what that button is for :-/
Theresa, I'm pretty sure that if you click where it now say "voted", you can undo your vote.If you want to counteract the votes a book received on this list, go vote for that book on another list like "Best Books Ever" or something appropriate like that.
I just find it hilarious that some of the books on this list are ALSO on the BEST Books List. Just goes to show that it's a matter of taste. Come on people - the BIBLE??? Even if you don't believe what is written there, the literary and historical value alone excludes it from a list of bad books!
It amazing that some of these books are also considered timeless classics...maybe these books were a little over over people's heads in high school. Trust me, they are much better (and understandable) as an adult!!
This is unfair.....No Danielle Steele OR RL Stine or the "Silhoutte" series!! :-p
According to me, half these books seem to be here as a "challenge" to vote against good, enriching books.... and people who HAVE voted on this list would probably be those who think it "radical" to oppose solid, fundamental writing skills. (I exclude Theresa :-) )
I'm totally agreeing with Kellyjean. But maybe that is just because I love to read a book and think of how dumb some people must be to be afraid of another person's imagination. I mean come on people. Are you really afraid of free thought? Truthfully, I'm surprised that none of Anne Rice's "Beauty" series, or something along those lines is on here. Then it could truly read like a list of my favorites! Pathetic.
this is a joke, right? most of these books are great. i hope all goodreads members vote so we can get some perspective, for god's sake.
People are clearly voting against books out of spite, or out of some misguided attempt to claim their own unconventional/nonconformist taste. Just because you didn't like reading classic novels in school doesn't mean they are the worst books of all time.I totally agree with Jeremy's comment below: this list should be renamed "books I was forced to read but was too immature/busy/stupid to understand or enjoy"
The Da Vinci Code?Seriously... are there really that many Catholic extremists out here?
I do agree with some of the choices like "Go Ask Alice" for example (I never really understood that one), but "A Child Called 'It'? "American Psyco? Heck... even The Giving Tree!
checked in on this list for the second time and it still makes about as much sense as the best books list...i really don't understand who is doing the voting for these books...
and i certainly don't understand the reasoning behind them...
it's really very disappointing...something like this should be taken seriously...
"It amazing that some of these books are also considered timeless classics...maybe these books were a little over over people's heads in high school. Trust me, they are much better (and understandable) as an adult!"...No, dear, I'm voting based on whether I liked the books. Sorry if that stings, but to my tastes, Pride and Prejudice sucked. It's not like the book is over my head, I just don't like it.
P.S. I read a lot of classics when I was eleven and loved them. Quit being patronising, hmmmmm?
I think people are voting based on whether they liked the books, not on their perceived literary/historical value in educated circles. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as people realise that -- just as there's nothing wrong with someone giving a book only one star because they personally didn't get on with it.
Clearly, some users are defining a bad book as one in which its characters suffer tragedy and/or die. Perhaps these books may qualify for a "saddest books ever" award instead.
Dimitra, you really don't understand why "A Child Called It" is on the list? What's not to understand?
This list is all over the place. Really lame.If you look at the people who voted for some of the 'good ones' you'll notice that they voted it "1 out of 1" their worst book ever. Obviously, they had a bad emotional reaction to it or something and decided to lash out by posting it here. That's too bad, because I would have hoped that this list would reflect the good taste of us bibliophiles (that includes all of us) and be comprised of the truly tacky and horrible. Like Anne Coulter's books, for example.
What are some of you people smoking? Some of my favorite books (and Best Sellers!) are on this list. Tough crowd!
I've said it before and I'll say it again... just because you like something doesn't mean everyone does. And just because something's a classic or a bestseller doesn't mean you have to like it.
I'm sorry, but I just don't get this list. How can we take a 'worst book' list seriously that has Catcher in the Rye, One Hundred Years of Solitude and The Scarlet Letter on it? I mean, really! I understand that some people hate Harry Potter, and I don't have a problem with that, but just because you happen to not like a book that is a classic, doesn't mean that it is a bad book. Honestly - Don Quixiote?? There is a reason that it has been read for CENTURIES.
I may be a kid, but I have read a few books on this list. And most of them were pretty good. I mean, 'The Giving Tree?' That's a childhood classic! How is THAT the worst book ever?
I don't know if this book was ever actually published by Llewellyn; I was originally commissioned to do the cover illustration. So I go to read the original manuscript. Years later it still sticks in my mind as the worst written and poorest ploted book with bad prose and terrible dialogue and charactered developement that I have ever read.
Agreed that including time-proven classics on a list of "worst books ever" just makes Goodreads look ignorant and illiterate. Clearly many of these books are NOT the worst books ever or people wouldn't have enjoyed them through the decades and centuries. However, A Million Little Pieces got my vote - I couldn't even finish it. Aside from the fact that the author made a lot of it up, I'm sick of drug addicts and criminals thinking their stories contribute anything at all to the world.
Either you people are crazed psycho-maniacs, or this list was made by some egotistical, conceited, not well read person who reads only during a small portion of the day. I, however, read at least three hours a day and some of my favorite books appear on this list. My Sisters Keeper? The Five People You Meet In Heaven? Harry Potter? Anne Frank? Tuesdays With Morrie? The Giving Tree? Twilight? And that's only off the first page! I think maybe some people are judging books on whether or not they liked them. Instead, we should judge them on whether or not they are a good piece of writing, and whether or not they are destined to be a classic, like we learned about in my Honors English class, taught by the most wonderful English teacher in the world, Mrs. Bartholow. So please, try to not be opinionated, and only judge the writing.
I am finding it hard to vote on alot of that list as I really haven't read alot so I am going to base alot of it on the stuff i have read and reallywasn't impressed with.
I have to admit that I have read a lot of these books, and even though some, Like Pride& Prejudice and Catcher in the Rye, I didnt care much for, I didnt think they were the WOrst books of all time. Only one on the list (Paortrait of a Killer) qualified as that to me. And in fact, a large number of the books on the list I absolutely loved.
Perhaps I'm being a bit silly, but isn't "of all time" rather broad? I mean, I get it if the list's title is the "worst of 2008/2007/1960/insert year here" or the "worst romance novel" or even "the worst Western classic," but "of all time?" That's going a little too far.Also - Wow, some of these comments are harsh. :/ Some people might hate a book, some people might love it, but there's no need for personal attacks.
I think that someone is having a good laugh at our expense. I suggest that Goodreads delete this list and let it start over. WITH ONE ENHANCEMENT: if enough members disagree with an item, it's removed. (Goodreads is great for adding things (in general), but not for the ability to get rid of them.)
the grapes of wrath?...
absalom! absalom!...?
WUTHERING HEIGHTS!?!?...
i don't understand...