Marci's thread on the best book of the year so far was popular. I wonder if you guys have any interest in talking about the worse books you read, or tried to read.

Mine was The Silver Wolf by Alice Borchardt. It's entirely my fault. Don't ask me why, but I thought this was historical romance. The worst part was, it took me about 200 pages to realize I wasn't reading a book of this genre. My only excuse is, I was sick. Sicker than I realized, I guess. ;-)

I really, really don't like horror. I kept wondering what was so romantic about domestic violence and werewolves, which is all I can remember of the story. LOL!

In the HF category, Broken Sword by Rhoda Edwards is my blah read. I didn't like all the POVs. Each chapter represented a new POV. I know the story of Richard III fairly well, but all the jumping around required too much work. The story was boring - not at all like Penman's The Sunne in Splendour.

I also didn't much care for Plain Jane by Laurien Gardner. But my dislike could have been the subject matter. Jane Seymour doesn't seem like an interesting historical figure to write about.

What didn't you like?

Hm.... I'm just going to do my biggest disappointment so far, since all the "worst" books I didn't even finish.

For me, the biggest disappointment so far this year was The Beacon at Alexandria by Gillian Bradshaw. I had read such great reviews for her work and was really let down by this book. I have three or four other books by her, so hopefully they will be better.

Books I didn't finish:

Khalifah by John Elray

Queen of the Darkness by Anne Bishop

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

Shogun by James Clavell (I just couldn't get into this one at all)

I dunno if I have a worst per se, especially since I've hardly read anything this year.  I would say my least favorite of the ones I've read up to now is Light on Snow by Anita Shreve.

The worst book so far has to be Mr. Darcy's Daughters by Elizabeth Aston.  I am a huge Jane Austen fan.  I re-read Pride and Prejudice at least once a year to remind myself how wonderful it is, so I think I know her characters pretty well.  I just can't conceive of Elizabeth and Darcy's daughters acting as they do in the book; at least not the younger ones. Also some of the peripheral characters that you get to meet in P&P are just not the same at all!  I was open to some new ideas, but hey they have to at least be good ideas or why write the book!!

There is only one book I read that I didn't like and that was Anna Karenina.  I usually love classics but for me this one was such a pointless steaming pile of crap and I can't believe I wasted almost two weeks trying to slog through it.  I don't know if I'll ever attempt War and Peace now because I hated this one so much.  For historical fiction, all the ones I read this year I've liked.

I haven't read a book in this genre that I didn't like this year, yet. Because my time is at such a premium at the moment I've been very selective. I did start one book I haven't finished because it started getting redundant so I put it aside for awhile, and that was My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler. She can be very funny, but the same shtick starts to get old in print. I planned to get back to it, but I have too much good HF to read.... I feel bad tho because there is a LONG WL for it :-(

Oooh, I LOVE Beacon of Alexandria. My priest recommended that I read it, but it has been a few years.  I also really liked Anna Karenina, and read War and Peace this year, it's actually much, much different and less difficult of a read, even though it is much longer.

I rarely give up on books, but earlier this year I gave up on The Lady's Maid by Alexandra Foster (or Forester maybe)

Of the ones I finished this year, I would say the biggest disappointment was The King's Grey Mare by Rosemary Hawley Jarman. I also didn't love the Anne de Bouhn ones as much as I thought I would.

Helen of Troy by Margaret George - I thought it was just awful.

Daphne, I have had Helen of Troy on my TBR for a while now. I have been putting it off because no one seems to like it, which is strange because her other books (Mary, Queen of Scotland, Cleopatra, and Henry VIII) are some of my absolute favorite books.

What is it about Helen that was so bad? Have you read George's other books, and if so, how do they compare with Helen?

My worst read so far - Dear Heart, How Like You This by Jane Dunn. Hated it.

I actually enjoyed Helen of Troy! It's not my favorite of George's books, but I thought it was a good read.

I've read George's books on Cleopatra and Henry VIII and liked them both.  Helen of Troy didn't start off bad; but after she runs off with Paris I thought it just didn't move very fast and it was really a chore to read.  I also think the first person narrative really limited the story (more so than usual) and as a result, George had Helen doing some strange things in order to move the story along and inform the reader of what was happening outside of Helen's immediate presence.  I just didn't think it worked.

Great Maria by Cecilia Holland- Her writing style irritated me so much I couldn't even finish it.  It's absolutely lacking in any sort of flow.

Lady of the Roses by Sandra Worth- Just lame.

The worst I read was also ANNA KARENINA to me it was long and drawn out. I guess you could say to many details.