This week's question courtesy of Parajunkee's Follow Friday is:
Q: Let's step away from besties... What is the worst book that you've ever read and actually finished?
'Worst' is such a subjective term so it's difficult to say, and I feel a little uneasy about labeling any one book as the worst. There are some books that I've had trouble finishing but did anyway. The first I'd have to say is Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. I wasn't reading this in French, although if I did I'd suspect it may have been better. I read it as part of a course in university for my French minor and the beginning of the book was torture for me. I couldn't get into it, wanted nothing to do with it...but admittedly it all came together for me in the last 1/4 of the book. More recently I had big issues with reading Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. Let me say that I wanted so much to like it as the idea of the story was so darned captivating (people trapped inside a hidden prison? what, yes, please!), but the characters for me were terrible and the writing had so many gaps that I had to do a lot of guesswork to keep the plot going in my head. It was a bummer.
10 comments on "follow friday (9)"
I haven't tried any of the books you've mentioned.
I'm an old follower just stopping past.
Have a great weekend
http://thegreatthegoodandthebad.blogspot.com/
Hm. Nowadays we don't tend to finish books that we're not into... But once, Kristan's coworker recommended a book (Furies by Janet Hobhouse) and Kristan hated it but felt obligated to finish. It was like torture!
I didn't like Incarnation either and for some reason I finished it.
New follower stopping by :)
Hmm... I have Incarceron on my TBR list, I've heard some good things about it so I hope I like it when I finally get to it! Sorry you didn't enjoy it...
You can see my FF post for this week at the link below, I'd love it if you visited ;)
Have a great weekend!!
Lea @ LC's Adventures in Libraryland
New follower here!
I was actually contemplating reading Incarceron as one of my next reads. I've heard mixed reviews, but among my circle of reading friends, even some recent popular books (Divergent, for example) have been loathed. Oh, well, I'll think about it!
Happy Friday!
Book Brats!
Yes! I love that you didn't like Incarceron! Well, I shouldn't be THAT happy but I felt like I was the only one who didn't like it. Now I don't feel so alone.
Incarceron? Really? I have that on my reading list. Now I'm worried! lol! :)
Hopping through. I really enjoyed Incarceron, but I had more trouble with Sapphique.
My Hop
New follower hopping through. I actually read Madame Bovary in French and I have to say -- I don't think it was much better. Great for learning vocabulary, though! Flaubert was long-winded, that's for sure!
Hope you're having a good weekend!
Alyssa
Reader's Refuge
@Jules: Aww, thank you. Hope you had a great weekend, too!
@We Heart YA: The only book that I think I've ever almost put down seriously is probably Incarceron, but in the end I finished it. I feel bad not finishing it, but I know it is like torture and there's only so many hours!
@Sara: Same here. Well, I liked the premise but the characters didn't work for me and if I can't jive with them then everything else falls apart.
@Lea: Welcome! I'm curious to see what you think of it, though. It definitely seems to be a hit or miss book. It does have a great idea, I just wasn't fond of the execution. :)
@Megan: That's what I love about the individuality of book blogs - I'd just as soon read a so-called negative review as a positive one just to see where I differ from people.
@Jenny: Hah - I felt the same way! I was wondering if it was just me. I saw you had Sapphique on your shelf, though, too - did you read that one? Curious!
@Christy: Don't be worried! The idea is really good - really, this book could have been great. I just didn't like the character so much. :)
@Alison: Curious! I'll have to have a peek at it sometime. I've only read reviews on Goodreads and they're hit or miss.
@Alyssa: I can just imagine how many more words there must have been for the French versus English. I might have to try it sometime. You know, for the vocabulary. ;)
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