Books I wish I had never read

Books that I finished for whatever reason but think were an utter waste of time, looking back. Since I haven't read all the books in the world, this is by no means an exhaustive list yet, feel free to add your favourites!
797

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3.83 avg rating — 84,593 ratings
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797

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4.36 avg rating — 22,397 ratings
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797

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3.52 avg rating — 7,462 ratings
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797

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3.64 avg rating — 33 ratings
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797

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4.01 avg rating — 172,799 ratings
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797

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3.59 avg rating — 28,705 ratings
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797

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3.76 avg rating — 4,482 ratings
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797

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3.96 avg rating — 18,785 ratings
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797

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4.09 avg rating — 67,705 ratings
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797

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3.53 avg rating — 3,129 ratings
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797

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4.14 avg rating — 475,866 ratings
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797

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4.01 avg rating — 28,516 ratings
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797

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4.27 avg rating — 226,353 ratings
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797

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4.03 avg rating — 55,040 ratings
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797

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3.59 avg rating — 1,983 ratings
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797

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3.91 avg rating — 1,034 ratings
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797

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3.64 avg rating — 193 ratings
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797

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3.80 avg rating — 3,723 ratings
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797

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3.76 avg rating — 778 ratings
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797

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3.78 avg rating — 9,060 ratings
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797

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4.26 avg rating — 580,730 ratings
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797

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3.73 avg rating — 13,447 ratings
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797

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4.04 avg rating — 118,871 ratings
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797

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3.23 avg rating — 121 ratings
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797

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3.58 avg rating — 3,552 ratings
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797

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3.91 avg rating — 1,533 ratings
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797

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3.89 avg rating — 356,909 ratings
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797

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3.54 avg rating — 91,181 ratings
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797

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3.65 avg rating — 1,339,972 ratings
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797

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3.87 avg rating — 14,085 ratings
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797

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3.70 avg rating — 230 ratings
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797

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4.16 avg rating — 3,964,230 ratings
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797

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4.29 avg rating — 186,504 ratings
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797

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3.26 avg rating — 669 ratings
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797

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3.50 avg rating — 6,097 ratings
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836

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4.04 avg rating — 9,488 ratings
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836

by
3.39 avg rating — 29,616 ratings
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836

by
3.94 avg rating — 381,033 ratings
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836

by
4.20 avg rating — 47,831 ratings
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836

by
3.52 avg rating — 1,313 ratings
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836

by
4.26 avg rating — 2,862 ratings
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836

by
3.80 avg rating — 9,553 ratings
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836

by
4.12 avg rating — 821,890 ratings
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836

by
4.19 avg rating — 66,430 ratings
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836

by
4.19 avg rating — 78,164 ratings
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836

by
3.69 avg rating — 2,060 ratings
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836

by
3.69 avg rating — 551 ratings
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836

by
3.37 avg rating — 126 ratings
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836

by
4.11 avg rating — 1,686,044 ratings
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836

by
3.07 avg rating — 574 ratings
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836

by
3.58 avg rating — 95 ratings
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836

by
4.13 avg rating — 765,477 ratings
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836

by
3.90 avg rating — 113,558 ratings
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836

by
3.78 avg rating — 8,419 ratings
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836

by
3.79 avg rating — 6,963 ratings
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836

by
2.80 avg rating — 730 ratings
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836

by
3.80 avg rating — 73,155 ratings
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836

by
3.87 avg rating — 29,827 ratings
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836

by
3.41 avg rating — 80 ratings
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836

by
3.21 avg rating — 875 ratings
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836

by
4.42 avg rating — 6,712 ratings
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836

by
4.06 avg rating — 18,655 ratings
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836

by
3.82 avg rating — 7,121 ratings
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836

by
it was ok 2.00 avg rating — 1 rating
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836

by
3.74 avg rating — 183 ratings
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836

by
4.45 avg rating — 2,689,171 ratings
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836

by
3.98 avg rating — 216,805 ratings
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836

by
4.20 avg rating — 517 ratings
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836

by
4.19 avg rating — 43,809 ratings
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836

by
3.36 avg rating — 14 ratings
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836

by
4.38 avg rating — 335,664 ratings
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872

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3.75 avg rating — 34,907 ratings
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872

by
4.20 avg rating — 19,138 ratings
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872

by
3.50 avg rating — 2,045 ratings
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872

by
3.80 avg rating — 10 ratings
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872

by
4.08 avg rating — 119,872 ratings
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872

by
3.84 avg rating — 5,236 ratings
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872

by
3.96 avg rating — 8,444 ratings
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872

by
3.60 avg rating — 1,780 ratings
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872

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3.93 avg rating — 14,001 ratings
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872

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3.90 avg rating — 16,934 ratings
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872

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3.93 avg rating — 3,756 ratings
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872

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3.77 avg rating — 25,151 ratings
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872

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3.24 avg rating — 1,613 ratings
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872

by
4.10 avg rating — 58,356 ratings
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872

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3.94 avg rating — 8,920 ratings
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872

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3.67 avg rating — 3,380 ratings
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872

by
4.64 avg rating — 1,951,487 ratings
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872

by
3.45 avg rating — 4,892 ratings
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872

by
3.80 avg rating — 46,833 ratings
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872

by
3.02 avg rating — 138 ratings
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872

by
3.60 avg rating — 216 ratings
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872

by
3.73 avg rating — 65,279 ratings
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872

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4.02 avg rating — 2,842 ratings
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872

by
4.11 avg rating — 16,056 ratings
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872

by
3.97 avg rating — 147,203 ratings
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872

by
4.12 avg rating — 124,995 ratings
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872

by
3.57 avg rating — 6,311 ratings
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872

by
3.81 avg rating — 370,441 ratings
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872

by
4.42 avg rating — 1,005,708 ratings
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1,279 books · 1,327 voters · list created August 25th, 2009 by Doris (votes) .
42 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Doris 471 books
2 friends
Andrea 1693 books
16 friends
Krista 200 books
16 friends
Kelsey 212 books
16 friends
Cassi 1225 books
75 friends
Lilly 570 books
41 friends
Nisha 4508 books
285 friends
Noah 98 books
2 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-50 of 59 (59 new)


message 1: by Doris (new)

Doris maybe I should have also said "other than Twilight"... c'mon people, there's gotta be more bad books out there than that...


Maurizio (matemati) Really, I shouldn't 'wish I'd never read' anything: it's all part of reading experience...but I surely regret the time wasted on them.


message 3: by Rhonda (new)

Rhonda I was most surprised at "Push" by Sapphire. I had been forewarned about the language and graphic nature of the book but still wanted to read it. Unfortunately, the storyline was extremely depressing along with the graphic content..about halfway through the book, I found myself in a personal funk.

The book was just too heavy for me.


message 4: by Tpnct (new)

Tpnct Arrgg... Valley of the dolls... No doubts.


message 5: by Alice (new)

Alice Matemati wrote: "Really, I shouldn't 'wish I'd never read' anything: it's all part of reading experience...but I surely regret the time wasted on them."

Exactly. Even the bad books contribute to my palate and knowing what to stay away from in the future... but I sure wish I hadn't wasted my time on some of these.


message 6: by Lee (new)

Lee Odd that you wished you had never read Twilight nad Eragon yet you read all the sequels. Masochist?


message 7: by Danna (new)

Danna I wish I had NEVER EVER read twilight - the biggest bullshit on earth!


message 8: by Sillyfann (new)

Sillyfann I don't understand this list at all. If I don't like something I'm reading, I just stop reading it. There are too many I want to read for me to spend time reading something that doesn't interest me. Obviously I'm not in a class or a reading group.


message 9: by Tim (last edited Jan 08, 2012 11:42AM) (new)

Tim Knight One book for me that I wish I never read was 'Mein Kampf'. It's still in my library, as a warning to myself and others.

On the other hand, The De Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, to me, were abysmal dreck. I read the first and hoped the second would be better but...


message 10: by Emezie (new)

Emezie Realy interesting animal farm


message 11: by Lauren (new)

Lauren ....Frankenstein? Really? That was a waste of someone's time? And Dorian Gray? What? I shudder to think what books would have been considered "worth" your time...


message 12: by Ruskoley (new)

Ruskoley @Tim - you made it through all of Mein Kampf? Woot! Rambling crazy!

@Lauren - Yes. Shuddering here, too.

---

The biggest surprise I see is Foucault's Pendulum.


message 13: by ♫♫RiTA♫♫ (new)

♫♫RiTA♫♫ i wish i never bought and read the twilight series.......i wasted a month on it..!!!.....i can't believe eat pray love is in this list....it was a good book...on my opinion....


message 14: by Emily (new)

Emily M There are quite a number of books on here that I think people say they wish they never read it, just because other people did. If you wish you had never read it, that means you didn't like it, and normally at least by the middle of a book, you figure out if you don't like it or not. So why wouldn't you put the book down?
Putting shame on some fine authors names, that's uncalled for.


message 15: by Doris (last edited Nov 10, 2011 01:20AM) (new)

Doris The Picture of Dorian Gray was horrible. Badly written with a moral idea that was so transparent that I "got it" within the first 10 pages (and I was 14 at the time). Still, had to finish the damn thing for school. I read The Importance of Being Earnest and actually quite liked it. Hated Dorian Gray though.

Some books though, they're not that bad while you're reading them, only afterwards you realize: what the hell just happened? A great example of this is the Da Vinci Code. I think the reason for this is that it's actually pretty well written, it's pacy and exciting and easy to read. But! the content of the book... to call it delusional idiocy would be putting it mildly.

Then there's the category of books that have a good premise and you keep hoping that they pick up pace (or content) as they go along... but they don't. They get worse and worse and worse and end with a sad little whimper. Like For Whom the Bell Tolls and Emma.


message 16: by Timo (new)

Timo Why did you read Twilight part two when you didnt like the first part?


message 17: by Sheridan (last edited Jan 07, 2012 09:14AM) (new)

Sheridan Wishing you never read something is not the same as hating a book!!!!!!!

I wish I never read any of the Eragon books for the simple reason that the author stuffed us around so much and then when he brought out sequels they simply weren't that good!


message 18: by Crysta (new)

Crysta I like how (right now) there are 326 books and 329 voters. Almost one book per voter!


message 19: by [deleted user] (new)

Your title makes me laugh. Is it all the rage now for hipsters to feign dislike for well praised mainstream and classic literature? Perfectly acceptable to decide certain books don't live up to the hype... but this list is like you practically goggled "most popular books of all time" and the put them into a dislike list just to seem enigmatic...


message 20: by Amy (new)

Amy The Da Vinci code. I think i've said enough.


message 21: by Amy (new)

Amy Beth wrote: "Your title makes me laugh. Is it all the rage now for hipsters to feign dislike for well praised mainstream and classic literature? Perfectly acceptable to decide certain books don't live up to ..."

Wow, thats a bit presumptuous of you. I for one am not a hipster and I wouldn't presume that people are only making choices based on which books are most popular. Some people actually have an honest opinion and are not feigning our dislike of the books we voted on, because that is why this was created.

If you didn't pick that up and somehow came to the conclusion that the people who made and have voted on this list are only doing it to seem "enigmatic" then you really have missed the point. It's absolutely alright not to agree with someones opinion but you shouldn't go around labelling people and insulting them based on their views.

This is goodreads and it should be a place where book lovers like myself can learn about and give our opinions on books without being patronised.


message 22: by Doris (new)

Doris for those books on my list that I wish I'd not read it's more... I wish I'd spent the time doing something worthwhile. Reading a GOOD book, for example.


message 23: by Rabbitambulance (new)

Rabbitambulance How is it possible that The Princess Bride is on here?


message 24: by Tim (new)

Tim Knight Beth wrote: "Your title makes me laugh. Is it all the rage now for hipsters to feign dislike for well praised mainstream and classic literature? Perfectly acceptable to decide certain books don't live up to ..."

and by that logic, Mein Kampf would not be here.


message 25: by Danna (new)

Danna Rabbitambulance wrote: "How is it possible that The Princess Bride is on here?"

Yes, W-H-Y?


message 26: by Crysta (last edited Nov 25, 2012 02:31PM) (new)

Crysta I'm guessing The Princess Bride would be on the list because someone's friends raved about it like crazy, and then when the person read it he didn't find it to his taste. The disappointment of reading an overly hyped up book and finding it lacking can make you regret ever reading it, even if it wasn't necessarily a bad book.


message 27: by Crysta (new)

Crysta (i.e. The Da Vinci Code, which I personally really enjoyed, but understand other people finding very disappointing - and Emma, which is a FANTASTIC book if you like that kind of book, but is boring to people who don't)


message 28: by Kelley (new)

Kelley The Secret Garden. Please explain its presence. Too childlike for some cynical adult reader, I'm guessing.


message 29: by Emily (new)

Emily Wicked... I was definitely not prepared for that book when I was 13. I thought it would be far more along the lines of the musical, and I was so shocked i almost threw it across the room, which I never do


message 30: by Danna (new)

Danna The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, #1) by Philip Pullman ? The Pillars of the Earth (The Pillars of the Earth, #1) by Ken Follett ? Why?


message 31: by Danna (new)

Danna On second thought, I don't wish I hadn't read these books - I'm sort of glad I picked them up and threw them away quickly - because there are less crappy books for me to avoid. And I've already read The Crappiest (ehmsparkievampehm)


message 32: by nikolikha (new)

nikolikha twilight? why?


message 33: by Sandi (new)

Sandi Whipple If I dislike ebooks, they're deleted! Paperbacks are given away or donated. Decent and good ones are recommended, and given to friends. Great ones, well, I keep those. I've read quite a few books that were "yawners", but any book read is not a waste of time. Even if you improve your vocabulary by one word, or learned what not to do when writing, you've learned something. Learning is never a waste of time.


message 34: by Feli (new)

Feli Collante Creo que depende de los gustos. A mi no me gustó Crepúsculo, en cambio me encantó Hush, Hush, y no por ello estoy indignada por que esté en esta lista.


message 35: by ~☆~Autumn (new)

~☆~Autumn Doris wrote: "maybe I should have also said "other than Twilight"... c'mon people, there's gotta be more bad books out there than that..."

I almost didn't vote on this list as I am so tired of people trashing Twilight. It gets to be very boring and used to upset me when I first got on goodreads. I carefully avoid the Twilight haters.


message 36: by Maureen (new)

Maureen Autumn♥♥ wrote: "Doris wrote: "maybe I should have also said "other than Twilight"... c'mon people, there's gotta be more bad books out there than that..."

I almost didn't vote on this list as I am so tired of peo..."


It is so, so easy to hate though! Easily one of the worst written series in the history of books! I only voted for the first in the series and stopped myself at 11 books that I wish I had never read and most of those I added to the list myself. This list is pretty banal. Go on being a Twi-hard! Don't let haters like me stop you from loving your jam!


message 37: by Samuel (new)

Samuel I'm not really agreeing with the list . .


message 38: by Tim (new)

Tim Knight Samuel wrote: "I'm not really agreeing with the list . ."
So suggest books!


message 39: by Samuel (new)

Samuel Tim wrote: "Samuel wrote: "I'm not really agreeing with the list . ."
So suggest books!"


Lol, okay. The Wanderer's Tale, by David Bilsborough. That is a book I desperately wish I hadn't read.


message 40: by Abhilash (new)

Abhilash Dhar @Lauren Seems to me this list is inspired by the internet memes. If you don't like it, it's made fun of. Never mind that it is a pillar of Victorian Gothic literature.
Notice how he seems to think everyone should add on to one common list of "worthless" books. Gives away all I need to know.


message 41: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Aug 22, 2015 07:58AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Doris wrote: "maybe I should have also said "other than Twilight"... c'mon people, there's gotta be more bad books out there than that..."

I've only voted for four titles, I'm afraid: Fifty Shades of Grey, Speel met mij, Verslaafd aan genot and Freedom... And to think I have two more books of the Avalon trilogy on my shelves.. But we all know the saying about a gift horse :-)

No vote for Twilight, as I haven't read the book (watched the film on television a little while ago and decided it was definitely not worth my time).

Ah, just remembered a fifth one. I'm glad I was given all of the books I voted for; at least they didn't cost me anything :-)


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Maurizio (matemati) wrote: "Really, I shouldn't 'wish I'd never read' anything: it's all part of reading experience...but I surely regret the time wasted on them."

Agreed. Which is why I finished the books I thought were a waste of my time :-)


message 43: by Karen (last edited Aug 29, 2015 02:29PM) (new)

Karen I wish I had never read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert . Self-absorbed drivel, or so it seemed to me.
I call it Eat, Buy, Love as she sells enough copies for another trip around the world, and here I sit in the USA, savin' my pennies.


message 44: by annie (new)

annie WHATS WRONG WITH YOU HANNAH MONTANNA IS THE BESTEST ROLE MODEL EVER SHES SO INSPIRATIONAL


message 45: by annie (new)

annie sorry i did it for the vine


message 46: by Feli (new)

Feli Collante Annie wrote: "sorry i did it for the vine"

Casi me lo creo.


message 47: by annie (new)

annie Felicitas wrote: "Annie wrote: "sorry i did it for the vine"

Casi me lo creo."

thanks for writing that. now i know that google translate can detect the language. technology has gone far


message 48: by Sarah (new)

Sarah Franklin I started reading The Da Vinci Code back in the spring of 2006 (after reading Angels and Demons)....I have yet to finish it!


message 49: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Jul 14, 2016 11:39AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Sarah wrote: "I started reading The Da Vinci Code back in the spring of 2006 (after reading Angels and Demons)....I have yet to finish it!"

With me, not finishing a book I don't like isn't the problem. Like someone said, even books you don't like can teach you something. It's just that sometimes (though rarely, fortunately), after finishing a book, I can't seem to escape thinking "Well, that certainly was a waste of my precious time!" :-) But more often I either like or don't like a book, and if I don't like one, I rarely feel like I've wasted my time reading it.


message 50: by [deleted user] (last edited Jul 31, 2016 12:25PM) (new)

Lee wrote: "Odd that you wished you had never read Twilight nad Eragon yet you read all the sequels. Masochist?"

Good point, so funny. I know a person who hates Twilight and yet went to see all the movies - all 4 of them.


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