Asklemmy

I can't really remember of all time, but recently I started reading Dune: Messiah, and I had to stop reading it was so bad. I might be in the minority but the tonal shifts, changes in character attitudes, and jumping right into these assassination plots, all of it just came out weird and misplaced. Definitely did not slap with even 1/4th the power of Dune.

the Piers Anthony novelization of the movie Total Recall. it's very bad!

Stephen King's It

Great story, but the writing was exceedingly dull, apart from the first chapter. I even tried getting through it via audiobook and still only made it halfway through. It's just a chore.

Sirens of titan. Well, Vonnegut in general. His stories are fine, probably ground breaking for the time in the sense of exploration, but the characters have no depth. It's like reading a book about npcs. Then there's the misogyny. Women are simply livestock kept around for breeding in this one, worse than an afterthought.

I don't think it's valuable to read even from a historical standpoint. Wiki synopsis would be suggested.

Catcher in the Rye. I try it again every couple of years just to see if I can relate to it, and nope - it's still just as stupid as the first time I read it.

The Alchemist and Song of Achilles are some popular books that I thought were mediocre. Probably not the worst book I've ever read though.

That probably goes to Sean Hannity's Conservative Victory that my grandma gave me when I was 12.

True slop. Fuck Sean Hannity.

I haven't read a whole lot, but so far: Madame Bovary. We had to read it in high school, because it was culturally significant and because it caused a large amount of controversy when it came out due to its subject matter. When I was reading it though, it felt like I was reading a literary version of every TV soap opera ever. It was a slog to get through and I was bored and annoyed throughout.

Probably Don Quixote. It started off really well, but it devolved towards the end into this long-unending self-referential rant full of name-drops and exposition, and I could barely follow any of it and pushing through that was a huge chore.

I later learned I had read a bad translation, and that there is one good translation out there I should try, but the whole thing has left a bad taste in my mouth and I don't want to go anywhere near that book again.

There are books I started and did not finish that I do not remember. However, there a few that I finished but hated. The worst was:

Reverie - this was a lgbt book club thing in Libby. The protagonist was a whiny incapable teen that never redeemed themself. I kept thinking it would get better and it never did. Things resolved because magic, so poor/lazy writing.

The Tarot of the Bohemians.

I was assigned Ethan Frome in a high school lit class and to this day I think it is one of the worst books to assign to emotional, angsty, experience-limited teens.

I also don't understand why Romeo and Juliet is the go-to Shakespeare work that we default to.

How do we handle complex romantic relationships? Suicide / attempted suicide, of course! Just what every teen needs to hear /s

I am not sure about 'ever' (I am old and have been reading for over 4 decades now), but a book I hate-read recently was Foucault's pendulum by Umberto Eco. It is meant to be a satire on conspiracy theories and as such it is still a relevant book after 35 years or so. However, the point of satire is to get to the point eventually, preferably within 500 pages. It was pompously written and sometimes felt like a showcase of 'look how much I know!'.

bit of a cheat but 120 Days of Sodom

The one redeeming part is the guy who fucks a horse and it gives birth to a half man half horse and then the fucks that

the rest is descriptions of pedophilia, coprophagy and torturing children to death.

I gave up on Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close after one chapter. No wonder neurotypicals think autistics are just insufferable nobs.

Moby Dick is the book I hated the most. Just the worst slog that i remember making it through.

The worst book I've ever read has to be 1984. The book is excellent, but did not do good things for me so it goes down as the worst