Most recently it would be Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. Ugh.

That's interesting, delilah. I've seen the "a great book" type comments here about The Poisonwood Bible and have wondered if I should add to my to-read list.

Olychick - Never read any Jodi Picoult. I generally avoid authors whose works are always on the bestsellers lists. Have you liked other books by her?

roses, I think I may have read My Sister's Keeper and liked it well enough and I did enjoy Nineteen Minutes. Not great writing but good enough and interesting premises. But I've had my fill and Small Great Things just put me over the edge because it was so trite, so filled with stereotypes and predictable scenarios. I won't ever pick up another of her books.

Picoult has a well honed story line. Same for all her books. After the first few you end up bored. At least I did. Sadly this also happened with Maeve Binchy books too.

My 1 star rating (maybe even a zero) would have to be Fire and Fury. So badly written and dismally edited. I can read most anything but oh my word this one was AWFUL. I am enjoying Fear so much more.

Well, I've just given up on The Alice Network. My pet peeve is authors who tell me about their characters rather than show me. I want to get lost in a novel. I don't want to be conscious of the author writing it.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng just didn’t do it for me. I eventually slog through almost any book, but I just couldn’t with this one. i feel the same about Jodi Picoult. Don’t even try to read hers any longer.

I just finished The Great Passage by Shion Miura. Translated from Japanese, it is the story of a group of people writing a dictionary. The description says "charmingly warm and hopeful story of love, friendship, and the power of human connection."

I found this book to be none of this. The characters were dull, the love story was essentially boy-meets-girl-gets-married. The endless description of dictionary entries was ..endless. Perhaps the translation ruined it.

I think I picked this up when Amazon had several free books by international authors. I doubt I'll leave it taking up space on my Kindle.

I have been attempting to read The Poisonwood Bible for 6 months now, I am about halfway through....guess I may as well give up and move on to something less painful.

lisaw2015, I’ll hang in if you will! I’m 150 pages in and still waiting for the great “Aha! This is what everyone raves about.” I‘m trying again because last year I met a couple who worked in the Congo in the 1960s and lived through the unrest of Patrice Lumumba’s government/Katanga’s secession from the Congo under Tshombe. From their perspective, their employer did little to help their expats adapt/survive while the UN families were ”coddled” (my term) with regular deliveries of food and other goods. The UN forces were generally seen as ineffective.

I just don’t care for the book’s construct - each chapter being told by one of five characters. Meh. It just seems to try too hard.

I gave The Poisonwood Bible a chapter? A few pages? I don't remember, but I didn't like it and won't try again. Those of you who give a book several attempts, how is that?

I didn't like the ending of Little Fires Everywhere and it negated an otherwise okay read.

A couple of years back I started reading the Three Pines books by Louise Penny in order. Despite the same group of characters, I found them to be cozy mysteries and the perfect in-between book while waiting for something else on my list. At about the 6th or 7th, I'd had enough. I could not abide the same people with their lovable quirks and habits. After a break I picked up the last in the series, thinking it all might have evolved, but it was same-same all over again. I actually like Louise Penny's writing and wish she would branch out.

I finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and while I wouldn't go as low as a 1-star review, it's not one that I would recommend to anyone else. I don't understand how it became so popular, as I found it tedious and pretentious throughout, and the ending was (as is so often the case) wrapped up nicely and neatly and tied with a bow, which is not at all how things would've happened in reality.

That said, The Poisonwood Bible was one of my favorite reads, so just goes to show that we all have very different likes.

I have more 1* books than I remember but I have been on goodreads for a long time. Some of these I read years ago and since then, with rare exceptions, I don't read books that have below a 3.5 rating on Goodreads. I will sometimes look at the 5 star and the 1 star ratings to get a general sense of why people strongly like or dislike a book. I usually try to give a brief review of every book I read, not necessarily for others, but to remind myself later why I really enjoyed a book or why I hated it in case someone later asks my opinion of a book. Often times, when I hate a book and read the 1 star reviews, I find myself agreeing with the reasons other people hated it too.

Here is my list. This only includes books I actually read through to the end or skim read to the end. I have about 8-9 on my "did not finish" list.

A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel (book club)

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (book club)

The Vacationers by Emma Straub

Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

The Sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer

Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

Ciao Bella by Gina Buonaguro

Family Pictures by Jane Green

White Rose, Black Forest by Eoin Dempsey

The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Frank

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (book club)

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown (book club)

Little Children by Tom Perrotta

I read Little Fires Everywhere and while readable, I did not really care for it, nor did I understand its huge appeal. It was okay, not a one star book for me, but just didn't understand its rave reviews. Coincidentally, and I may have mentioned this here when I first read the book, my sister lives in that town and her kids went/go to to the h.s. portrayed in the book!

I was never a fan of Jodi Picoult. I think I read two of her novels, but decided they were all too formulaic.

Oh, IdaClaire, I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy Hedgehog. It was one of my favs--I guess I'm a sucker for pretension. :) Good thing there are lots of us to keep many different authors busy.

Perhaps pretentious was not the right word to use ... There was just so much talk of philosophy, and it was much too esoteric for me.

I know lots of people liked Girl on a Train, but I felt it was a complete waste of time. The characters had no redeeming qualities. It should have been titled, Drunk on a Train.

4kids - That's quite the list. I haven't read any of them. I tend to avoid the low rated ones too. Wouldn't have helped much with my 1 stars though. 3.42, 3.70, and 3.84 respectively. I also look at the genres people have "shelved" it on. If "Romance" shows up I typically won't even consider the book.

Some people love those long book series. I've never gotten into them. There have been some with three or four books that I've read. Even characters I really enjoy (like Hercule Poirot) I get bored with.

" That said, The Poisonwood Bible was one of my favorite reads, so just goes to show that we all have very different likes." Abso-tively true and they're ALL correct, Ida!

I rarely give 1 star — just like I rarely give 5 stars. We Are Water by Wally Lamb was the first that came to mind as it was a real disappointment but I gave it 3 stars — I guess I was thinking surely there are worse books. I gave The Naturalist by Andrew Mayne 2 stars — I enjoyed the first half but it started to fall apart after that and completely jumped the fence, the shark and the whole bloody ocean in the end.

I have an embarrassing love of the action romance saga Storm and Silence by Robert Thier. The three books in the saga are cheesy fun and would be lucky to get one star by most here. I did have to skip over a few bits in the first book (something about pigs) but did like them all for a fast entertaining read. I'm looking forward to book four. They all start slow and build to fast paced adventure.

There, I said it. Sometimes I like cheese.

I, too, give in to guilty pleasures, JTL. Those quick non-consuming reads.

Yeah, it's all relative. My rating on a sci-fi book, for example, is pretty meaningless to both those who are aficionados of sci-fi and those who hate sci-fi.

"Sometimes I like cheese."

I've been on a "cheese" kick for a while now. Nothing too highbrow, just relaxing reads.

The Red Tent. IIRC, a tale of biblical times from the POV of the women. I thought the dialogue and sentiments were jarringly anachronistic.

A Confederacy of Dunces. Too much farting for all but 4th grade boys.

I loved The Red Tent.

I read White Rose, Black Forest because it was a freebie from Amazon Prime. It was not great lit, but fine as an interlude book while waiting for my library holds to come in.

Too much farting for all but 4th grade boys.

Thank goodness farting stops after 4th grade. :p

Reminded me that I have one no star rating (other than the 'didn't finish the book' ones). I read a YA novel for the reading challenge I did a couple of years ago. It wasn't a bad book but who am I to judge a book that is targeted at people so outside my demographic? I could try to imagine how I would have liked it at that age but I can't know. So I didn't rate it.

Hmm. What ages are YA books targeted to? I thought the book I read might have appealed to a 13/14 YO me. After that I was reading Vonnegut and Hesse. Different strokes, once again.

lol Bunnyfoof. Farting is good for us (I think saw a blurb online recently saying so - must be true, eh?). Farting as a source of amusement, or even comment, should stop at 4th grade. We all know it doesn't though. Men. ;-)

Reading is SOOOO personal! I absolutely loved A Visit from the Goon Squad as well as A Confederacy of Dunces. I know this is a one-star topic, but I also loved, loved, loved Lincoln in the Bardo and that one split our book club down the middle; some shared my admiration and others loathed the book.

So my own stinkers include the one I always mention, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane which IMO was formulaic, hackneyed bad writing spiced up with truly astounding misogyny. I'd add The Perfect Mother which I read this summer-what a waste of time. I'd have to say my all time badly written cliche-filled book was The Nightingale. OMG, there was not a single WWII trope left untrammeled in that awful book. I think it was especially jarring to have to plow through that one (another book club pick) soon after reading one of the most exquisitely written and beautiful books I've ever experienced, All The Light We Cannot See, which was set during the same time and location. Hated My Absolute Darling which was a literary sensation that turned out to be a floridly over-written story about sexual abuse. The author also utilized a deeply disturbing semi-pornographic perspective about the situation which was even more appalling. Yuck.

I started the Louise Penny series and simply didn't get into the characters at all. I finished Ordinary Grace which many here raved about, which is why I read it, and didn't see what the fuss was about at all even though I love the author's fictional series about a Minnesota former sheriff.

"Yeah, it's all relative. My rating on a sci-fi book, for example, is pretty meaningless to both those who are aficionados of sci-fi and those who hate sci-fi."

For books that are outside my typically enjoyed genres, I will usually temper my review on Goodreads with the point that my review is not necessarily based on the quality of the writing or the plot but that it just did not personally appeal to me and I will give a few reasons why.

As for YA novels, I have a houseful of teens and occasionally read a YA novel. I try to rate/review the book with them in mind.

Ah, Lincoln in the Bardo. I lasted not many pages. It was probably over my head.

I stuck with Lincoln in the Bardo and A Visit from the Goon Squad and appreciated the creativity, even if they were not faves (don't think I shall ever see a Powerpoint presentation within a novel again), or the word "palimpsest"!

Reminds me I also disliked Wolf Hall for the same reasons I dislike Red Tent - imho the writing was poor because it so often lapsed into modern turns of phrase or modern sentiments.

I also very much disliked Eugenides' The Marriage Plot. Totally hoodwinked on that. Glancing quickly, I thought it said it won a Pulitzer. What it said was that the author had won a Pulitzer (For Middlesex, an all time fave of mine). Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me ...,you can't fool me again.

I just looked back through some of my "already read" and saw another less than 1* book for me that many loved: Ann Patchett's State of Wonder...omg, I hated that book. And it's made worse because I always get it mixed up (when discussing either of the titles) with Geraldine Brooks' Year of Wonders, which I adored.

My recent dislikes include The Two Family House, and Little Fires Everywhere - would give them each one star.I felt like the character development in TFH was almost non-existent, and the dialogue completely amateurish. The plot line of LFE was ridiculous. I slogged through A Man Called Ove, and it wasn't a favorite, though I'd give it more than 1 star. I also deplored A Confederacy of Dunces, but loved The Red Tent.

And to end on a positive note, I have recently enjoyed: A Gentleman in Moscow (5 stars), Ordinary Grace (5 stars), Born A Crime (4 stars), and Educated (4 stars).

I think A Confederacy of Dunces is a bad joke. I'm not sure if the author ever even existed as stated in all the bio stuff. NOT the great American novel it is touted as, IMHO. However, I loved "Lake Wobegon Days" as an upper midwesterner, and my British friend didn't "get" it when I recommended it to him after he visited my homeland. So maybe not being from New Orleans and never having visited, I didn't get the cultural references.

Edited to add that if I could give a movie a negative 5 star rating, it would be "Book Club." So unworthy of the actors in it. And the idea that accomplished, worldly professional women "of a certain age" would need to read "50 Shades of Grey" to spice up their lives, is beyond absurd. So insulting that it is hard to believe those supposedly "feminist" ground-breaking actresses would agree to be in it, but I guess money talks. The premise was so bad they rarely mentioned it in the movie. I only rented it thinking it was about women in a book club in general, not knowing the "book" was that pile of hokum. I liked "The Jane Austen Book Club" though, that was a much better exposition of the theme of a book club's relation to the member's lives. Not perfect, but loads more interesting and done with some finesse. It's getting to the point that if I see an "A-list" of famous baby-boomer actors in a movie, it is always a "must NOT see."

I haven't updated my Goodreads list in ages (since I switched primarily to Kindle), but the only books I rated one star were:

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

I rarely read books that I haven't vetted carefully anymore, because I hate the disappointment of starting a book and not liking it. I used the Goodreads scanner when I was buying real books. I came across a few duds despite the Goodreads ratings, but I was able to give at least two stars to most. Great topic!

L pink - I'm a radio Garrison Keillor fan but I find his books to be pretty awful. You'd think I'd have his voice in my head as I read and all would be well. It's not. Send your friends links to some recordings of PHC.

Runninginplace, after reading your quick review of ”All The Light We Cannot See”, I’ve ordered copies of it for myself and for my DD in grad school. Thank you!

I can now add Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson to my 0 star list. I tried twice to read it, made myself try to finish it for my book club discussion, but, I just couldn't get into it and finally gave up. It was so confusing to me and I know I missed the point, but apparently I'm never going to get it!

I don't remember my 1's although I know there are some. I probably didn't even finish reading them. But Girl on a Train was definitely one of them. We read it for book club and I struggled through it.

The Handmaid's Tale. I have only thrown one book away in my life. This was it.

diane - Them's fighting words. JK

There are a number of books that others find marvelous that I can't stand.

I am so embarrassed about the book I recommended to my book club. It's called Days Without End by Sebastian Barry. It got great reviews on NPR Books and Amazon. It is the worst book ever. It's HORRIBLE. If I gave it a rating it would be negative 10. We meet on 12/13 and I may have to go with a paper bag over my head to hide my shame.

I really disliked A Man Called Ove, too.

Another case in point, dedtired. I really liked Days Without End. Maybe your bookclub will give you a gift instead of running you out of town.

Edited to ask a question: Why did you find it so awful? Subject? Writing? ??

Really? I wonder how many Native Americans died in that book? I do like the Winona story line,but jeez. Well thanks for the encouragement, although I still disliked it.

rosesstink

diane - Them's fighting words. JK

Yeah, I know. I don't like "The Sound of Music", "Downton Abbey", or "Game of Thrones" either, but that's a whole 'nother discussion. :-)