BTT: Unread
This week’s question, courtesy of C in DC, asks:
Is there a book that you wish you could “unread”? One that you disliked so thoroughly you wish you could just forget that you ever read it?
That would have to be “Fear Itself” by Barrett Schumacher. Horrible, horrible book! I can’t believe I went on to finish it, after the one scene. Normally, I don’t have a weak stomach… I don’t puke often (sorry — I know that’s gross). But, this one scene in that book made me want to toss my cookies so badly, I’m surprised I didn’t! Ugh. So terrible, in fact, that I don’t even like to remember that book — I wish I could just forget about it entirely! Very, very disturbing. It was one of those things where you have to ask yourself, “What kind of sick, twisted mind can come up with something like this for a story?!” Ugh.
(And, no, sorry — I’m not going to tell you what was involved… if you’re that desperate to know, you can read it for yourself and figure it out… I don’t need to re-live that any more).
Of course, I read this one back before I ‘got smart’ and learned not to waste my time on stupid books. I now have a 50-page rule, where, if the book hasn’t grabbed me, or isn’t appealing to me, by page 50*, I will set it aside. No sense wasting precious time on a book I’m not really enjoying in the first place.
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Wow! That sounds REALLY bad. While you were reading it, weren’t you thinking “Why am I continuing to read this?” If you’re like me, sometimes you just feel like you HAVE to finish a book.
Ugh. That’s horrible. Thanks for answering.
Oh, do I ever! It’s called Kachima Spirit by Marilyn Meredith. I got the book at a local Book and Author festival (signed, even) and was pretty excited to read it. But, dang, DANG! It was AWful! What was worse was that it’s actually a great idea for a story, but it was so pathetically, poorly written it was painful to read! I had to follow it up with a Catherine Ryan Hyde book just to cleanse my reading palate! Now that I think about it, I bought a couple books by Reina Starr at that same book fair and they were pretty awful, too. You gotta be careful with those local, self-published authors!
Sounds pretty disgusting. Hope it wasn’t a book you paid for! And the cover looks so intriguing. Too bad.
Thankfully, no — it was a library book. But, that’s also why I couldn’t burn it. LOL.
That’s pretty bad! My response is here:
http://southerngal-lisa.blogspot.com/2009/05/booking-through-thursday-unread.html
Hmmm, I usually don’t mind disturbing things, but I don’t think a book has ever made me what to throw up either.
Sometimes books (or movies or tv shows) are so bad that you can’t seem to stop, it’s meserizingly horrifying!
Yeah — like those “world’s worst accidents” type shows on TV… I can’t help but watch.
Hmm I’m intrigued. Mine is up!
Wow, sounds like an interesting but strange book. I honestly have not read a book yet that has been to scary, or violent or nasty,lol.
I haven’t encountered something that is irredeemably bad. Books that I want to “unread” are ones written by authors whose previous reads I have enjoyed. Sometimes they just have a bad day I guess. I would like to defy time and start over again with another book.
I’ve read so many bad books that it would be hard to pick just one….glad you didn’t toss your cookies though!!
Ugh..that is one book I don’t want to even know about much less attempt to read! I have a 50 page rule too.
Ohh, that is terrible! It sounds like a horrible book. I understand about the 50 page rule — life is too short.
I rarely give up on a book, but that is probably because I rarely pick one up without knowing anything at all about the writer. I would certainly put it down, however, if I began reading something that offended or scared me in any way.