>(as if the author was stoned while writing),

I read that too, and suspected at the time that he was.

ana, I was referring to your whole comment, and was just suggesting that the reason you may have seen the negative part that I didn't, is that you were stuck in a trailer in Cornwall, in the rain. Just me being silly :)

Oh, speaking of Danielle Steele, there is a very cool book called The Best Seller, by Olivia Goldsmith (same author of First Wives Club). The book starts with a publisher who gives an award for the best new book of the year. Four vie for the award, including a DS character. Oh, its good. A great summer read, btw.

Ah, yes, Cindy - being stuck in Cornish rain on a holiday caravan site may well have sharpened my critical faculties...

It would sharpen my critical verbiage-as in "leave me alone or die!"

It's funny-I agree that Karon got deeper in treacle with each book, but I hesitate to nominate her because my mother has had such pleasure from her books! As my mum has aged, she has now decided that she will no longer read "ugly" books-the news depresses her enough. She'll take a nice cozy mystery, but no graphic violence, or dysfunctional families, or sad without end stories. So I need to leave Karon and her ilk-The Ladies from Covington is another "feel good" series-on the "they are what they are and don't try to be anything else so it's okay" list.

For some strange reason I have read all of Anita Shreve's books (probably because she's our librarian's favorite- however, her husband cheated on her and she must identify)) and her books get my vote. But I tend to think that about most dysfunctional family books, including The Corrections, and I Know this Much is True.

The Maeve Binchy books of the past several years have been abominable, magnified because her earlier works such as The Copper Beech and The Glass Lake were so good.

But, because they are so poorly written and market driven, The Left Behind series is on the top of my list for recent worst books.

I second the good opinion of Goldsmith's The Bestseller. Great beach read. Easy, fun, and all about books.

PAM

And some of the characters are based on real folk in the publishing industry, including the fictional publisher (except for the ending, of course)

A trip to the used bookstore today reminded me of another awful novel. There were two, count them, two copies of Wild Animus in the bargain bin. Now, for anyone who went to any of the book fairs, festivals or conventions a few years ago, you probably were handed a copy of this book, por gratis. Wow, great, a free book. Got home and read the first page. After I finished laughing my fool head off, I tossed it in the 'trade' bag for my next used bookstore visit. So apparently did everyone else - I keep finding examples of them everywhere. Pretty awful stuff.

And does anyone remember Love Story by Erich Segal?
A good candidate for one of the worst books, in my opinion.

Love is never having to say you're sorry...

Yeah, right. I wonder how far I'd have got in the last twelve years if I'd never said sorry.

Of course, I may be being unfair - that was a quote from the film, and might not be in the book....

Martin I'm sure there was a series of sickly and 'cute' cartoon-type little books with the over-all title 'Love is Never Having to Say you're Sorry' featuring two chubby, coyly-naked characters, simpering from page to page. Yuk!

Ken Follett, almost anything after Pillars of the Earth. For example: Night Over Water, The Third Twin.... I wondered if it was the same guy that wrote Key to Rebecca et. al.

The Mists of Avalon is THE worst book I have ever read.. It just droned on and on and on... I kept turning the pages waiting, watiting for something to happen that never did... It seemed like it took me years to read that book....

I thought my best freind would like it, she is really into the mystical and she hated it too, and for the same reasons....

I recommended it to her because I thought possibly I was missing something, that maybe she could point out to me, since it was such a well loved book... I had heard such great things about it....

It would almost be simpler to ask what modern fiction do you find the best.

Give me the older writers any day. Nothing beats a Daphne Du Maurier book!

Nothing beats a Daphne Du Maurier book!Well, usually. Yvonne, you probably know Daphne du Maurier is my favorite writer, but I have to admit that there are a lot of books that beat Rule Britannia, her last novel. Have you read that one?

>And does anyone remember Love Story by Erich Segal?

Oh god yes! I was 13, and I must have read it a hundred times in a year (and probably cried at the end each time as well). It was one of those books which traveled with me through all my moves. Then when we were ready to move into a house, I decided to prune. Picked that up and started reading it. Bleh! Garbage! So I am glad that I am older and wiser. But oh it was my fav for a long time (and so was the film)

What about the Chicken Soup for the Soul books? I hate to call these the Worst Books, because I know many people get inspiration and comfort from them - but if one more person buys me Chicken Soup for the Teacher's Soul I am going to scream. I think I read (or tried to read) the first one in the series and needed some extra insulin to make it through my day. The whole series is just way too oversentimental for my taste, and I'm not sure what the point it. So they are the worst for me, but again, I know others who love them

Bumblebeez, finally somebody else to affirm my opinion of the Left Behind books. If, by WORST book, one means the work with the least literary attributes, not necessarily one you just didn't enjoy, then Left Behind is a top contender. These books were written to make a couple of people very very rich and a tremendous number of the faithful fell for it.

But are they fiction? (sorry-not to make fun of someone's beliefs, but we do have a library patron who has told me several times with great earnestness that they are prophecies given to LaHaye by God, not "just stories." For that alone I'd also nominate them.)

I thought the LB books were fiction. Thinking about it after I posted above, not sure about Chicken Soup, cause I think most of those stories are supposed to be true? Either way, I won't read them, no matter what they are marketed as.

>For that alone I'd also nominate them.)

Hee, yep.

Like ccrdmrbks, I don't want to make fun of someone's beliefs, but in my book, the LB books are pure fiction, and horrible fiction at that. I tried reading the first book after a local church left one on every doorstep in our neighborhood. I quit after a few pages. I guess if you espouse the religious beliefs on which the books are based, they must be more palatable since the authors have made a fortune from the series.

FRIEDAG.........I could not read Rule Brittania!
I also adore most by Anya Seton and Mary Stewart....and of course Pearl S. Buck, Taylor Caldwell.

Reading these authors as opposed to some of the modern authors is like enjoying a fabulous piece of homemade cake versus slogging through a store bought frozen Mrs. Smith's!

re Daphne du Maurier. I came across a copy of Hungary Hill not long ago in a charity shop and bought it.
I could not get on with it at all. About a family who make their fortune in copper mines nipping between Ireland and Cornwall. Too many characters had the same name and the females were more 1940's than 1820's. I managed about two chapters.
Has anyone finished it? Is it worth persevering with?

Oh, I think they are definitely fiction-bad fiction, but fiction. I was just pointing out that there is a core group, our library patron as one, that believe they are true prophecy and most of us are doomed.

Vee, Hungry Hill has never been one of my favorites. I have read it twice. But I recall that it is very slow and involved and not at all what I love DduM for, namely vivid characterizations and/or great plots -- I'm like you in not being able to distinguish the family members. My mother, however, informs me that she loved reading Hungry Hill during World War II and it is very dear to her, and she has read it several times. She also says that my father enjoyed it a lot. Mother adores Daphne (she's always "Daphne" to mom), and we argue about which is the best book of hers. We both agree that Rebecca gets too much attention, although we both like it -- it comes in third in my ranking of the novels, while mother says it's about fifth for her. I'd put Hungry Hill at No. 12 (of 15). To that, Mother says, "Ach!"

Frieda, what is your mother's opinion of DuMaurier's "My cousin Rachel"? I think it is as good as or better than her "Rebecca."

BTW, on some thread, somewhere, you mentioned you used to like the work of Paul Theroux. I wanted to say I agree with the "used to". He used to be one of my favorite authors, but IMO, his later works are full of middle-aged spleen and narcissistis angst.

Woodnymph2, I'm glad you mentioned My Cousin Rachel. I picked up a copy of it at Barnes & Noble the other day and was hoping it was going to be a great read.

Yes My Cousin Rachel is a winner, as is The House on the Strand if you enjoy you spine being well and truly chilled and Mary Ann if you like 'true' history; MA was an ancestor of D du M and a Royal whore (am I allowed to say that)? Her 'protector' became the father of Queen Victoria.
I've just picked up Theroux's book on his journey through Africa from the library. Will I enjoy it?
Sorry I spelt H Hill wrong! I starred at it and felt it couldn't be correct. Spelling is really difficult for me . .. much to my family's amusement. My DH claims his parents had him learn 20 new words a day and has no trouble. My school was 'progressive' so if your parents didn't teach you to read/spell it was your hard luck and my brothers and I never made much progress. And this was in the late '40's-early 50's!

Yikes! I goofed. I posted my response to you, Mary, on The Importance of a Good Title thread. Please look there.

He used to be one of my favorite authors, but IMO, his later works are full of middle-aged spleen and narcissistis angst.

So true, I'm afraid. He was always a bit curmudgeonly -- I could take that, but I've wanted to wallop him with a wet noodle several times while reading his last few books. Vee, if you can get past Theroux's grousing, he does have a lot of interesting observations in Dark Star Safari. Of added interest is the contrast of what Africa was/is forty years after Theroux first went there. Of course, being Theroux, it's not hopeful, but then I'm not sure any writer can be joyous about much of Africa these days.

My apologies for being in such a dither this morning and not answering completely...and answering in the wrong thread!

Are we off topic? If so, we can carry on in The Importance of a Good Title thread, because I really don't really care if we stay on subject in the threads I start.

>I've just picked up Theroux's book on his journey through Africa from the library. Will I enjoy it?

If you can get passed his ranting about the aid agencies and their volunteers, maybe. He does make some good observations, but there was a point midway when I had just had it with his attitude (he's been ranting about the aid agencies, then gets pissed off when one of their truck drivers won't give him a ride). I loved his early work - Kingdom by the Sea and The Great Railway Bazaar are two of my favorite travel narratives of all time. But each work he got snarkier and more judgemental, and each work showed less of the country and people and more of his slant. So I won't read him anymore.

But I'd be interested in your take on it, veer.

BTW, getting back on track, has anyone read his fiction? I say the movie Mosquito Coast but had no interest in the book. Is any of it worth reading?

Well, I did read Mosquito Coast when I was in school. It was ....... ok.

Vee, have you read Theroux's "Kingdom by the Sea"? It's about a journey he took around the UK some time ago. I think it was this book that first introduced me to the meaning of the word "caravan" as used in the UK. I think we would say "trailers." in the US. I like Cindy's word "snarky" because I think it describes Theroux's style in the above work....

Mary I have read something by Theroux; maybe it was about S America?
We don't have the word snarky over here and I noticed Cindy used it when describing Bill Bryson's Notes From a Big Country which I have just been reading. I get the gist of what it means, but does it have some 'special' meaning?
re 'caravan' our UK word comes originally from the Persian . . . think oasis, dusky maidens, camels.
The 'gypsy' caravans being pulled by a moth-eaten pony was a common sight when I was a child. The women, always rather scary, would go door-to-door selling clothes pegs and offering to tell your fortune if you 'crossed their palm with silver'. Always wise to check that you had the full set of fingers after they had left as many of them were very 'light' in that department. Many of them did seasonal work fruit/hop picking and the men collected 'scrap' metal.
They seem to have been run off the roads in these tidy days and mostly live a squalid life in 'camps' set-up by local councils. More in evidence in Ireland where they are known as Tinkers .. . great dealers in horse flesh.

When I use or see the word 'snarky', I think of something that is more than a little harsh, someone who is more than a little mean or irritable, and a feeling someone was hiding the meaness behind a veil of joking, at the expense of others (and if you didn't like the joke, you are just too sensitive)

In Brysons book (and I used to love him) he made some very good points about our government. But he also painted Americans with a very broad brush, and since this book was a collection of articles for a British paper, I thought it was particularly snarky.

Had my first experience with gypsies in Italy. I had always had sympathy for them, and felt that their reputation was unfair. Took me about a month to start to understand.

Back on topic, someone reminded me of another book that I loved as a kid, but that is pretty horrid as an adult - Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Someone in college lent me a wonderful take off on it called Ludwig Von Vulture, and I've never been able to think of Seagull without laughing.

Cindy, Vee, Frieda, and others, you might enjoy reading "Bury Me Standing" by Isabel Fonseca, which is a history of the Gypsy culture in Europe and in the UK. I seem to recall that at one point in time they were driven out of England.Anyway, it is a fascinating book, with neat photographs.The author travels all over eastern Europe and traces the differences in the Gypsy cultures in various countries....

Woodnymph: I read Bury Me Standing, a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

What a nice thread! Great chance to get some dislikes off one's chest.

After reading book reviews, I never could bring myself to read The Bridges of Madison County, The Lovely Bones, The Notebook, The Horse Whisperer, or The DaVinci Code, and congratulate myself on having avoided them.

Did read The Secret Life of Bees, but it was so forgettable that later, the mention of bees in the title led me to take it out again and I was disgusted to realize after a few pages that I had already read it.

Tried to read The Thornbirds and The Far Pavilions, and The Mists of Avalon, and couldn't even get beyond the first few pages and a few read while flipping through, though I would not call them the world's worst books of acclaim.

Smilla's Sense of Snow I managed to read to the end, all the while feeling puzzled at why it seemed so pointless and boring, when it had started out interestingly.

I agree with others about Danielle Steele, though I have read a few of her books when stuck for something to read in airports and other places. I got heartily sick of reading about someone's enormous violet eyes (Were there ever eyes of such a color, even if some would like to think so?). There was even one of her books in which the heroine was described as having (if my memory serves me) enormous brown eyes like pansies in one place, and enormous violet eyes in another. Careless writing. Formulaic plots.

Let my own contribution be to nominate anything by Ayn Rand. In my youth I read Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, and remember them as chillingly bleak and boring, to boot. Perhaps that was partly the unavoidable effect of the setting and subject of the books, but in retrospect, I know I hated them, and I can't imagine why I let them inflict themselves on me. Back then I was more patient with well-known books!

Thank you, Frieda, for saving me from This Much I Know Is True. I had picked it out as a possible choice for a BOB someone proposed to me, but which fell through, and then I thought of borrowing it at the library. Now I know I won't!

Sorry. I forgot I was not writing for fellow members of PaperBackSwap.com. A BOB is a box of books swapped directly for an equal number of books from some other member. Unlike the usual book orders on PBS, BOB books do not cost you a "credit" apiece.

>In my youth I read Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, and remember them as chillingly bleak and boring, to boot

When I was in college, someone suggested I read her work. I could barely start them. BTW, one of my favorite Simpson episodes is when Maggie escapes from the Ayn Rand Day Care Center using McGyver tricks!

I embraced Ms. Rand eagerly when I was 16 and thought I'd discovered Truth. Somewhere in my 20's she became appalling. Do high school kids still read her with enthusiasm? I remember 5 years ago after Random house did their 100 best 20th Century novles, they opened up the internet polls for a readers choice and Rand was at the top.

I've only read The Fountainhead, but I still love that book. Or at least many parts of it. Quite a page turner for me, anyway.

I liked it, too, bumblebeez.

Wally Lamb's "Shes Come Undone"

I know it was mentioned earlier, but I absolutely HATED the Da Vinci code. Not only did it insult my religion (I may not be overly zealous, but I still believe in it), but my friend keeps on talking about how much of a "literary classic" it is. She is completely wrong, I have never heard such shite.

Its one of the worst written best sellers I have ever read. The appeal, I think, is that people are suddenly hearing about these new theories, which they think Brown was first to discover. They've been around for a very long time. What is also galling is that it is fiction, yet so many people take it for fact. My beliefs are such that I wouldn't be surprised to learn that what is in the Bible is only part of the story. But I know these are theories, not fact, and I approach them as such. Too many just don't get it.

And the movie, btw, is getting panned by the critics, the same way the book was. Which means the movie will be a huge hit....

i agree with a lot of these, but i just read the alchemist , and i loved it.

i would definitely nominate the ayn rand books- anthem in particular. it was boring and stiff, and devoid of any brilliant or illuminating truths that would have possibly salvaged its worth.

My M-i-L watches the TV evangelists-one that she watches enjoyed the movie, becuase "it is all fiction-not one true word in the book or movie-it's a good story, that's all." Another one was highly offended by both the book and the movie.
What I find interesting is that in the first book written about the main character, Angels and Demons, the Catholic Church is the innocent victim-in the DaVinci Code she is the perpretator of all nefarious deeds...Brown clearly just wanted to write thrillers, not necessarily attack the church. But we hear little mention of the first book. Mind you, it was as much a strain to the logic as the DVC...how he escapes so many death-assuring situations without super powers boggles the mind.

Re: The DaVinci Code, it WAS poorly written, indeed. I don't think a single one of us at RP ever claimed it was not. Yet for some of us who had not read Holy Blood, Holy Grail, it was the jumping off point which led us to do further research on some of the topics therein, e.g. Gnosticism, The Canon, early goddess religions, Emperor Constantine, etc. Thus, I saw it as a challenge for further exploration, rather an adventure....

I already came to the book with some of that backgroud, but it did certainly spark a renewed interest in finding out more. But based on what I hear among the fans of this book, looking further is not in the picture. They think they already have all of the answers.

Unless I missed it, noone has mentioned any books by Brett Easton Ellis. While I can think of many bestselling and critically acclaimed fiction books I've not been fond of or even disliked, nothing approaches Ellis' "Lunar Park." I feel suckered into having read it after seeing some glowing reviews which called it a departure from his earlier, more graphic and violent, novels. Very quickly, I was skimming and eventually put it down but was still left with the most disgusting and disturbing images. It made "The Lovely Bones" seem mild and "Fall on Your Knees" about a fully functional family.

I second the nomination for She's Come Undone. Some male authors are very convincing when they write in a female voice. Mr. Lamb is not.

The most recent offender was The Rule of Four. I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I was in that book. About halfway through I had a hard time giving a rat's a&& about the Hypnertomachia Poliphili and struggled to care about the four guys.

Bookmom, you've brought up a memory I had successfully repressed. 'Less Than Zero' by Easton Ellis was one of the very very worst books I've ever read. I was so cross with the person who'd recommended it to me that she sulked with me for a week! Instead of character descriptions, the author would tell us what people were wearing. Usually jeans and tshirts, but he'd name the brands. Wow. The bits that weren't boring were disturbing.

pulling up for posterity