The worst book you have read

[Chrischa]

Don't emphasize it... I feel silly enough for sticking with this one. But it was in my book closet and there was nothing else to read and I was bored and I thought it can't be that bad... .

Lots of excuses but no reasons.

[NeverBeenWise]

Twilight and its ilk. Ugh. *shudder*

I decided to read them because I wanted to know what the heck everyone was talking about. I stuck with the series because I kept hoping against hope that the books would get better. (They didn't.) With each page turn I kept thinking to myself, "I should put this down. This is awful. Why am I still reading this? This is painful. Ouch, awful characterization." Stuff like that.

On a funnier note, my friend has noticed that you can tell if a book is fluff or not by actually weighing it in your hands. I noticed that my paperback version of Assassin's Apprentice seemed to feel heavier than the hardcover Twilight I was reading... so what's up with that?

A different friend has summed it up like this: "The Twilight series is like a Twinkie. They both are terrible for you, they both cause the degeneration of both mind and body... but sometimes, you just want a Twinkie!"

So stay away. Avoid them like the plague, or if you're feeling fantastical, avoid them like traditional Six Duchies folk avoid the Witted.

Oh, one last thing. The Cullens live in the woods and sparkle in the sun. They're fairies.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Twilight eh? Although I haven't read them, I do know how it ends, so there's even less incentive for me to do so now.

The weight of books can be pretty funny, can't it? I remember my Garth Nix novels weighing much more than other paperbacks, but to have a paperback weighing more than a hardcover, now that's weird...

[FoolMoon]

Hm... first comes to mind a short novel i was forced to read two years ago as a school assignment called "montedidio". i don't know, it was just... "leave me alone" kind of book.
it's very sexual in the disturbing way. the main metaphor in the book being a boomerang as the protagonist's... well, "private part". so the sex scenes were a bit traumatic. furthermore, the protagonist and his, lets call it, girlfriend are both barely 14, and there is no cultural excuse in this one and they're so naive that it's just disgusting.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

A boomerang? I'm morbidly curious about how that metaphor actually worked.

[FoolMoon]

A boomerang? I'm morbidly curious about how that metaphor actually worked.

in a terribly disturbing way.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Disturbing how exactly...? (It's okay if you don't want to recall it. I have no intention of traumatising you all over again.)

furthermore, the protagonist and his, lets call it, girlfriend are both barely 14, and there is no cultural excuse in this one and they're so naive that it's just disgusting.

While I do think 14 is too young, the fact is that it happens. Why shouldn't a novel deal with that? (Of course, it does matter a great deal how the novel handled it.) I mean, as far as I know most readers of A Song of Ice and Fire don't approve of incest, but it doesn't stop them from the reading the novels.

[joost]

The unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera. I was bored throughout the book, but had to read it for English class. Not my type of book.

I actually liked the Twilight books. Light reading for afternoons .

[FoolMoon]

Disturbing how exactly...? (It's okay if you don't want to recall it. I have no intention of traumatising you all over again.)

furthermore, the protagonist and his, lets call it, girlfriend are both barely 14, and there is no cultural excuse in this one and they're so naive that it's just disgusting.

While I do think 14 is too young, the fact is that it happens. Why shouldn't a novel deal with that? (Of course, it does matter a great deal how the novel handled it.) I mean, as far as I know most readers of A Song of Ice and Fire don't approve of incest, but it doesn't stop them from the reading the novels.

it's not the fact that they were 14 as the fact that they were immature. it felt as if they were a lot younger. it less bothers me when the couple is young but mature.

['thul]

Biologically, it is both possible and natural for humans of that age (14ish) to attempt or accomplish reproduction. It is not very common, but it does happen. In ancient times of less developed humans (not [i]homo sapiens[/]), reproduction started even earlier. The human life span has increased dramatically since then, but the ability to reproduce at such low age has not disappeared. The immaturity of such characters is natural, as humans are rarely mature at that age.