What’s the Worst Book You’ve Ever Read?

I’ve had this in the works for some time, and am still collecting answers to the question:  What is the worst book you’ve ever read?

My father and Uncle Steve agree: “Shipping News.”  Uncle Steve grumbles: “I read the whole damn thing.  I kept expecting it to get better.  And it didn’t.”

Cousin Dan: “I keep trying to read ‘Atlas Shrugged’ because it’s my friend Sam’s favorite book.  I’ve been trying to read it for seven months.  And it’s taking forever.”

The Minnesotan: “‘Digital Fortress,’ by Dan Brown. Epic piece of crap! Weak story. Characters were 2 dimensional at best, most were just stereotypes. He didn’t have a clue about technology and cryptography. The idea: the NSA has some OMG HUGE!!!! computer that is somehow cool enough to brute force hack any encryption. It’s just beyond stupid.”

“‘Ivanhoe.  No, wait! ‘Kindred’ by Octavia Butler. I had to read it the summer before my freshman year. The whole class had to read it and then we had these group discussions. Cheesy. Almost self-righteous. She loses an arm or leg or something in a wall. She would spontaneously travel between now and sometime during the US slavery period. It’s not even good sci-fi. It’s akin to those Star Trek episodes that weren’t about space as much as a parable / preaching for some sort of morality lesson.” – Evans T.

“The Darkling Hills, by Lori Martin. It’s this horrifying fantasy in which tremendous sacrifice is required by all parties to conceive and birth healthy children, including a scene where a witch pours the blood of the father over the mother while she’s in labor.  And everybody dies, except these three infants that are part of a prophecy, and they get hidden in some tree. I threw the book against the wall!  I finished it though, in about two days.  I was in high school, and I had a taste for angst and hopeless love.”  -Keri B.

“Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts.  I believe the line that made me throw the book was, “As she sat down the mascara, she said, ‘Do I look alright? Do you think he’ll like me? I can’t believe I’m doing this. I feel like a schoolgirl.’”I was reading it because I needed an escape from Milton and I’d read some other Nora Roberts books that I actually liked for escape reading.”  Cindy S.