20 Books On The “Worst Of All Time” List

Perhaps we get a little hyperbolic when it comes to judging a book that we didn’t enjoy; declaring a book as “the worst” certainly makes a statement. There’s an old saying, “In matters of taste, there is no argument.” Sometimes arguing taste (or preference), especially when it comes to food, wine, art, etc. is very difficult; the only answer is that some things are simply not your “taste”. This is also true when it comes to books. We like what we like, and have very strong opinions on what we don’t like. There are books that people will praise as “important” and “life changing” to some audiences, but those same books come off as tedious and poorly conceived to others. We’ve all read a book or two (maybe more) that were disappointing, but that disappointment left us hungry to get the bad “taste” out of our mouth and find something that leaves us satisfied.

While many of the titles most criticized were pop culture phenomenons, or books about/written by various celebrities from Hollywood, music, and the media, a significant percentage are books on this list were written by people generally acknowledged as great writers. For the most part, what makes a book particularly painful is the quality of the writing, the overall plot, the ending, and certainly character development (or lack thereof). But, again, we’re brought back to the issue of “taste.” We love a robust conversation on books, and this list is sure to stir up more than a few opinions. Did your least favorite book make the list?

20 Books Considered “The Worst”

— The Twilight Series, Stephanie Meyer

— Fifty Shades of Grey, E.L. James

— The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown

— To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee

— A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole

— The Red Tent, Anita Diamant

— Moby Dick, Herman Melville

— Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy

— The Road, Cormac McCarthy

— Into the Wild, John Krakauer

— Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer

— For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway

— Cold Mountain, Charles Frasier

— The Secret, Rhonda Byrne

— The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

— Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert

— Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks

— Moon People, Dale Courtney

— The Fault In Our Stars, John Green

— A Reliable Wife, Robert Goolrick