Most Disappoining book you've read

[Buff]

An idea I've got from the best book thread. What was the most disappointing book you've read? It doesn't have to mean that the book was a horrible book. It could be one of the most popular books of all time, but you just couldn't get into it.

My choice is The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

I heard so much hype about it and was told that I would absolutely love it, that I expected too much from it and I was disappointed.

[ernie]

"The Redemption of Althalus" by David Eddings.

NOw Eddings isn't the best writer and his plots all turn out the same (surprise the child is god/goddess), but as a kid I enjoyed the Belgariad and Mallorean series. I stumbled ont his book, saw it was a standalone and not some series so decided to buy it thinking some Eddings fluff would entertain me for a few hours. It was a stressful time and I needed a little fluff escape. Wow what a terrible book. I read an amazon review after the fact which summed up my thoughts "when i finished the book first I threw it against the wall and then i threw it in the garbage". Though I thought burning it may have beena better way to go so noone else would accidentally stumble on it.

It's a book written nearly entirely as conversation. to do that properly (i.e. the Barrytown trilogy) you better be good at writing snappy and witty dialogue. Eddings isn't. Just terrible.

To this day I'm annoyed I bought the book and wasted that much of my life reading it.

[Bobblehead]

The Mill on The Floss - George Eliot
I just plain did not like it. I had to read it for a manditory English course in university and every page was like torture.

I also haven't liked anything Steven King has written. I like the ideas and the stories themselves, but hate the way he tells them.

[metallicat]

I purchased State of Fear by Michael Crichton, and only made it through about 40 pages...what a horrible read.

And after putting Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz in as one of my favorite books, I continue to be disappointed by pretty much everything else by Koontz. The books are fairly lousy, but for some reason I continue to read them. I guess I am just hoping I become enthralled again like I was with Fear Nothing.

[J pold]

Catch 22 I read how many people enjoyed it on CP, so I went out and bought it and couldn’t get past the first 3 chapters just wasn’t funny to me

[burn_baby_burn]

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2001. It was very well written. But the story was boring and it was very long.

[redforever]

Anything by James Michener. Too much detail, too many characters.

[fredr123]

Pretty much everything I've read by Dan Brown. Granted, I've only read The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons but both were pretty tough to digest. The ideas that underlie the plots are interesting (strangely enough, they probably weren't his own ideas anyway) but the style of writing and the execution are simply sub-par.

[Red]

Originally Posted by fredr123

Pretty much everything I've read by Dan Brown. Granted, I've only read The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons but both were pretty tough to digest. The ideas that underlie the plots are interesting (strangely enough, they probably weren't his own ideas anyway) but the style of writing and the execution are simply sub-par.

Really? I enjoyed The Davinci Code, I thought it was really fast paced.

My recent dissapointments:

Freakonomics and Tipping Point. Boring "sky is blue" books

[Cowperson]

Hemingway's "A Farewell To Arms" is actually a superb book . . . . . but the ending will have you throwing it across the room in shock and disappointment . . . . although that type of ending would have been common in authors writing in that time frame, the late 1920's/1930's.

Cowperson

[kermitology]

The World Is Flat.. Horribly below me.

[Frank the Tank]

Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris. Loved the other books and movies, but this latest book sucked so badly I will never even contemplate watching the movie.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by J pold

Catch 22 I read how many people enjoyed it on CP, so I went out and bought it and couldn’t get past the first 3 chapters just wasn’t funny to me

I enjoyed that book, and thought I would enjoy a Confederacy of Dunces. But I just never saw the humour or understood what was so great about it, that would be my most disappointing book. I might give it another read some time in the future.

[Ford Prefect]

I don't mean to offend fans of these books as there appear to be many based on the best book thread, but that Robert Jordan series and Catcher In The Rye just didn't work for me. And anything I've tried to read by Kurt Vonnegut.

And while it wasn't the most disappointing book I've ever read, because I didn't expect it to be good to start with, Jane Eyre has to be the worst book I've ever read. I was forced to read it in high school English by a really dry, boring teacher, who just happened to be British and worshipped the Bronte sisters. Man, was that painful.

[Knut]

I didnt really like The Life of Pi ... for some reason it just never grabbed my attention..

Jurassic Park was really the only Micheal Chricton book i liked... and that was when i was 14.

[octothorp]

Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by David Eggars. I had read his second novel You Shall Know Our Velocity first and enjoyed it a lot. But HWSG was just too self-pitying and ironic -- which, some people tell me, is the point, but I would have rather heard a bit of sincerity mixed in. I think overall he's a solid writer and certainly his work on McSweeney's has been a tremendous addition to the american literary scene, all of which make HWSG even more disappointing.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

I purchased State of Fear by Michael Crichton, and only made it through about 40 pages...what a horrible read.

.

### - someone gifted me Timeline - seemed to be more movie treatment than novel. Reading level was about grade three too. Crap.

[habernac]

Recently, it would be Ray Scappinello's autobiography. It just could have been so much more. Searching for Bobby Orr was a bummer as well. Tough to write a bio on a guy who refuses to talk about himself (and none of his friends will talk either).

Overall, I'd have to say Walden by Thoreau. I just couldn't get through it.

[rubecube]

The book I'm reading right now, All the King's Men. Have heard nothing but great things about it but I'm having a really hard time getting into it.

[gottabekd]

I really liked Dune. So I thought reading the sequels would be worthwhile. Boy was I wrong. I don't think I ever made it through Children of Dune.