Worst book you've ever read?

[Dogtrousers]

You've made me want to read The Wizard of Oz now.

 

[Legs]

I read the first twenty pages or so of Gadsby. It's mega hard work because of the amount of circumlocution.

 

[Drago]

I'm still working on Boris' book.

It is actually quiet interesting, but the language is even more flowery and metaphor laden than his spoken word so I keep ducking out to read something else for a day or so before nipping back and and trying another chapter. It's hard work.

 

[Badger_Boom]

I'm still working on Boris' book.

It is actually quiet interesting, but the language is even more flowery and metaphor laden than his spoken word so I keep ducking out to read something else for a day or so before nipping back and and trying another chapter. It's hard work.

Can we be sure that Boris (or more likely an intern) didn't just ask ChatGPT to write something Boris-ey?

 

[slow horse]

Wow. I just looked it up. Totally unreadable.

HERMAN MELVILLE, “MOBY DICK.” 467 WORDS.​

“Though in many natural objects, whiteness refiningly enhances beauty, as if imparting some special virtue of its own, as in marbles, japonicas, and pearls; and though various nations have in some way recognized a certain royal preeminence in this hue; even the barbaric, grand old kings of Pegu placing the title “Lord of the White Elephants” above all their other magniloquent ascriptions of dominion; and the modern kings of Siam unfurling the same snow-white quadruped in the royal standard; and the Hanoverian flag bearing the one figure of a snow-white charger; and the great Austrian Empire, Caesarian, heir to overlording Rome, having for the imperial color the same imperial hue; and though this pre-eminence in it applies to the human race itself, giving the white man ideal mastership over every dusky tribe; and though, besides all this, whiteness has been even made significant of gladness, for among the Romans a white stone marked a joyful day; and though in other mortal sympathies and symbolizings, this same hue is made the emblem of many touching, noble things- the innocence of brides, the benignity of age; though among the Red Men of America the giving of the white belt of wampum was the deepest pledge of honor; though in many climes, whiteness typifies the majesty of Justice in the ermine of the Judge, and contributes to the daily state of kings and queens drawn by milk-white steeds; though even in the higher mysteries of the most august religions it has been made the symbol of the divine spotlessness and power; by the Persian fire worshippers, the white forked flame being held the holiest on the altar; and in the Greek mythologies, Great Jove himself being made incarnate in a snow-white bull; and though to the noble Iroquois, the midwinter sacrifice of the sacred White Dog was by far the holiest festival of their theology, that spotless, faithful creature being held the purest envoy they could send to the Great Spirit with the annual tidings of their own fidelity; and though directly from the Latin word for white, all Christian priests derive the name of one part of their sacred vesture, the alb or tunic, worn beneath the cassock; and though among the holy pomps of the Romish faith, white is specially employed in the celebration of the Passion of our Lord; though in the Vision of St. John, white robes are given to the redeemed, and the four-and-twenty elders stand clothed in white before the great-white throne, and the Holy One that sitteth there white like wool; yet for all these accumulated associations, with whatever is sweet, and honorable, and sublime, there yet lurks an elusive something in the innermost idea of this hue, which strikes more of panic to the soul than that redness which affrights in blood.”

Spoiler alert early on:

magniloquent

Nevertheless I did rather enjoy the challenge of reading that.

 

[Sea of vapours]

I wonder whether Melville was aware of the very considerable irony of using the word 'magniloquent', a word which many would deem fairly descriptive of the whole of 'Moby Dick'. in the longest sentence of said book?

 

[Profpointy]

Probably a sports (auto)biography. I get them for Chrismas sometimes. Occasionally, just occasionally, they are good (Brian Moore, Nicole Cooke) but mostly they are just tedious ghost written pap.

Mike Brearly's "the art of captaincy" is pretty good.

 

[Drago]

Eric Clapton's autobiography is certainly one of the worst books I've ever read.

Aside from not being well written, it shows what an arse the man is.

 

[Yellow Fang]

It is not the worst book I ever read, but I really found it hard work ploughing through One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Maybe if I were Columbian I would dig with the historical references, but to me it seemed random and annoying.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Also, not the worst book I have read, but Ulysses by James Joyce. I understood a quarter of it, and I enjoyed about half of what I understood. I reckon it was written as a text book for English Literature undergraduates. I would not be surprised if you could study a degree in James Joyce studies somewhere. You need to read a book just to explain what Ulysses all means and why it is supposed to be great. Maybe my problem is that I am a bit thick. I was always worried that was why I did not understand or like Shakespeare.

 

[Bobario]

Also, not the worst book I have read, but Ulysses by James Joyce. I understood a quarter of it, and I enjoyed about half of what I understood. I reckon it was written as a text book for English Literature undergraduates. I would not be surprised if you could study a degree in James Joyce studies somewhere. You need to read a book just to explain what Ulysses all means and why it is supposed to be great. Maybe my problem is that I am a bit thick. I was always worried that was why I did not understand or like Shakespeare.

You are of a similar opinion to me. I got about a third of the way through and was struggling to understand what it was all actually about. It is undoubtedly a beautifully written book but I'm not convinced there is an actual story being told.

 

[cisamcgu]

Indurain: A Tempered Passion by Javier Garcia Sanchez

The Thread is ended, thank you for your participation !

 

[Chromatic]

Indurain: A Tempered Passion by Javier Garcia Sanchez

The Thread is ended, thank you for your participation !

That is, indeed, a terrible book.

 

[Moon bunny]

Also, not the worst book I have read, but Ulysses by James Joyce. I understood a quarter of it, and I enjoyed about half of what I understood. I reckon it was written as a text book for English Literature undergraduates. I would not be surprised if you could study a degree in James Joyce studies somewhere. You need to read a book just to explain what Ulysses all means and why it is supposed to be great. Maybe my problem is that I am a bit thick. I was always worried that was why I did not understand or like Shakespeare.

Anyone who understands Ulysses is doing better than James Joyce.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Back in my voracious reading days, when I ploughed through lots of stuff, I did buy a copy of Ulysses. I never actually started it though.