You know what they say: don’t judge a book by its cover; leave the judging for the people on the internet instead. And judge, they will! For every Books You Have To Read To Be A Respectable Member Of Society list, there’s a list bashing those very same books into obliteration for being dull, uninspiring, and plain boring. Oh yes, not every classic novel leaves the same imprint on every reader, and we bet you might agree on some of these top choices on the most boring books as submitted in this exciting Reddit thread.
Now, of course, these famous books did not become literary classics for being utterly dull – they do have extraordinary value and carry significant importance in the literary and cultural worlds. However, each reader feels a bit different about the books they read, even if we’re talking about something as famous as The Great Gatsby or Headless Horseman. I, your humble writer, deemed the latter to be an excruciatingly boring book with its pages-long descriptions of barren vistas that give absolutely no significance to the plot itself. Confusing!
And what do you think makes these iconic books so dull? Although we’re no literary critics, we think that they come off as so boring because they did not withstand the test of time. They might’ve been novel and daring way back when, but nowadays… A hundred years ago, the story might’ve been like nothing you’d read before, but now much better attempts have been made to tell the very same story. That said, even if some of these books on the list did not keep up with the passing of time, they still are significant pieces of our cultural history. You might want to cross them out of your reading list, though.
So, ready to take a look at a list of the most boring books ever, as deemed by people who have attempted to read them? If so, you know what to do here! One more thing, though – as of now, these books are in no particular order, so be cool and be kind, and rate them by their dullness!
#1 Twilight By Stephenie Meyer
“I was forced to read the entire Twilight series. The second one is by far the most atrocious. It literally has several pages that just say the name of a month and “I miss Edward.””
Image source: Stephenie Meyer , Commenter
#2 Fifty Shades Of Grey By E L James
susancol said: “I couldn’t get past the first few pages of Shades of Grey(?). Everyone was reading it and loving it and I compared it to a Harlequin romance that was poorly written.”
grave_rohl replied: “I tried so hard because I wanted to see just how inaccurate the BDSM culture was, but very early on a paragraph described the woman exiting a freeway, describes her thoughts and feelings, and then ended the exact same way – exiting the freeway… that she already exited? First book I put down without finishing in years.”
Image source: by E L James, susancol
#3 Atlas Shrugged By Ayn Rand
“That was when I realized how many douches have read that book for the sole purpose of telling people they read the book. I get it, it’s a big book.”
Image source: Ayn Rand, CommanderShift
#4 Harry Potter And The Cursed Child By J. K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany
Artaxxx said: “Granted it’s a screenplay but what a bag of nothing. Reads like bad fanfiction and the plot was beyond ridiculous. I was genuinely angry when I finished it.”
caralilykins replied: “Extraordinarily bad fanfiction. I wrote better HP fanfic when I was 12. It only reads ok if you assume it’s satire of horrible fanfiction.”
Image source: J. K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany, Artaxxx
#5 The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald
ZombieCrab92 said: “It has always been extremely dull in my eyes. None of the characters are appealing and the whole plot seems like its going nowhere.”
OkBobcat replied: “I hated that book in high school, but I’ve been thinking about trying it again as an adult.”
Image source: F. Scott Fitzgerald , ZombieCrab92
#6 The Catcher In The Rye By J. D. Salinger
“Its 25 chapters of the main character whining, complaining and being a hypocrite.”
Image source: J. D. Salinger, Alex99937
#7 The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough: The Secret Murders Of Milwaukee’s Jeffrey By Anne E. Schwartz
“You’d think it’d be difficult to mess up a book about a serial killer, and yet… she did. It was mostly Schwartz patting herself on the back for being the first reporter on the scene and how great she was for developing a great relationship with the Milwaukee police department. I wanted to know about the guy who ate people.”
Image source: Anne E. Schwartz , shineevee
#8 The Pilgrim’s Progress By John Bunyan
“Say what you will about classics, but THANK GOD this one had little notes in the margins summarizing what was going on. The allegory in it was so heavy-handed that it was like getting stoned to death with popcorn. I had to read it for my sophomore English literature class in high school. That. Book. It is easily the most boring book I have ever read. I only passed the quizzes because of the typed quick notes in the margins.”
Image source: John Bunyan, rivlet
#9 The Stranger By Albert Camus
“It was boring in a good way, however. I read it for high school and all my classmates complained about how boring it was. But I enjoyed it because of how accurately it depicted apathy which was something I struggled with a lot as a teenager. It’s really written in a way that shows how little the main character cares about literally anything and it gave me something to relate to in a way.”
Image source: Albert Camus , Francis-Hates-You
#10 The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Commenter said: “Was forced to read it in high school. Adultery bad, Puritans are *ssholes, Redemption is possible. Oh, that was just the first two chapters.”
theshoegazer replied: “For me, the writing style was what made it boring. A major plot point is over and done with in a single sentence, and then Hawthorne spends the better part of two pages describing the contents of a room.”
Image source: Nathaniel Hawthorne , Commenter
#11 Intellectual Character By Ron Richhart
“Oh God. My employer (school) gave every teacher a copy of ‘Intellectual Character’, by Ron Richhart.
Anyway, I’m flying internationally with a layover in Tokyo. I’ve got some time to kill, so I pull out this book.
I found myself reading the same paragraph, over and over, and over… and had no idea what it said.
I turned to a different chapter.
Same result. Tried again. Same result.
When they eventually called for boarding, I left it on the chair and walked away. My wife looked back, pointed at it and said, ‘Is that yours?’
‘Not anymore.'”
Image source: Ron Richhart, toomanyukes
#12 Moby Dick By Herman Melville
“Herman Melville’s novel is masterfully written. But that seemingly endless discourse on whale blubber and whale anatomy was tedious.”
Image source: Herman Melville , Back2Bach
#13 The Last Of The Mohicans By James Fenimore Cooper
“I was unfortunately required to read the book junior year of high school and I couldn’t stand reading more than a few chapters. Such a dry and repetitive story.”
Image source: James Fenimore Cooper, Simple_As_That_27
#14 Doctor Zhivago By Boris Pasternak
“I didn’t actually finish it, either. I got about half-way through, watched the movie (also super-boring), lost interest in THAT, then got the cliff’s notes and wrote a 13 page report based on that.”
Image source: Boris Pasternak , Commenter
#15 Beowulf By Seamus Heaney
“I was really excited to reading it, and then I honestly just couldn’t get into it. I was so annoyed because I wanted to like it but I couldn’t.”
Image source: Seamus Heaney , Tetisheri
#16 Jonathan Strange And Mr. Norrell By Susanna Clarke
holyherring said: “It’s slow, sure, but it would have been just that I’d not for the footnotes that drag on and on. I was already annoyed at them and when one came that needed two pages since it could not fit, I just couldn’t take it anymore.”
DigitalDefenestrator replied: “I don’t mind crazy footnotes and slow starts, but getting through the first half or so of that book was tough. I liked it overall, but I could totally see not being able to make it.”
Image source: Susanna Clarke, holyherring
#17 Wuthering Heights By Emily Bronte
MetalGilSolid said: “I can’t even remember anything but Heathcliff’s name, it was that boring.”
canIsleep_ replied: “Oh my god i picked up the book, two pages in and i was already confused, the use of language was so tiring and i had to read the same lines again and again just to figure out what it meant.”
Image source: Emily Bronte, MetalGilSolid
#18 A Separate Peace By John Knowles
Frost-on-the-Willow said: “It was very dull.”
salothsarus replied: “I read that in high school. Everyone found the book to be incredibly homoerotic but the teacher got mad if anyone pointed that out.”
Image source: John Knowles, Frost-on-the-Willow
#19 The Lord Of The Rings By J. R. R. Tolkien
TheJesseClark said: “I probably have to give it another read, and I’m sure everyone here will m*rder me for this. Tolkien is a masterful, brilliant world-builder and I love reading other people’s summaries of what he’s created. And obligatory ‘I love the movies.’ But his writing style is SO encyclopedic and dry that I’m sorry, reading page 2,545 of ‘The Council of Elrond’ was a bit of a chore.”
beamishbo replied: “I was a little obsessed with Tolkien in high school but honestly, I never get offended when someone says they don’t like him. He IS dry and encyclopedic.”
Image source: J. R. R. Tolkien, TheJesseClark
#20 Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton
User replied: “The worst book I ever loved.
I genuinely think it tells an interesting story that was worth telling, and one that’s painfully relevant to America today, but good god is it a bleak, boring slog with people you don’t care about because they’re all so tediously bleak and boring.
Ultimately, the idea and synopsis of the story is more compelling than any drama that could come from it (as far as I can see anyway) but I really think a slice of life story from a shrinking town, long past its relevance to the growing world around it, and the feeling of being trapped in that town after coming so, so close to escaping it is closer to more American experiences today than Huck Finn.”
Image source: Edith Wharton, Luposetscientia
#21 Silas Marner By George Eliot
J3lackJ3ird0501 said: “Book was so boring I couldn’t finish reading. Still to this day it is the only book I have never finished.”
evilpenguin9000 replied: “Was forced to read this in 10th grade. So painful. We also watched the movie and I hated that as well. So boring, nothing happens, except some dude loves his gold and adopts a daughter.
Ugh, literary melatonin.”
Image source: George Eliot , J3lackJ3ird0501
#22 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle By Haruki Murakami
“I know this will anger a lot of people, but man was that ever a long, meandering read that lead absolutely nowhere. 100 pages of the main character lying around ambitionless on his couch, his wife leaves for work and never returns (ok, finally something is happening), another 100 pages of him lying around on his couch, getting strange phone calls that don’t end up amounting to anything, hanging out with the underage girl down the alley, meeting the lady with the large hat and her sister for lunch… Then it gets slightly interesting and supernatural at something like 400 pages in, but the story never really ties up any of the loose threads and so many things are left hanging by the end. I was so angry by the end of that book.”
Image source: Haruki Murakami, Steinberg1
#23 The Red Pony By John Steinbeck
Exodiafinder687 said: “I normally love Steinbeck, but this one felt like such a let down.”
dblshot99 replied: “This one. Yes. I think the problem is that steinbeck is more hit or miss than people know. For every of mice and men, there’s the red pony. Or tortilla flat. His style is so evocative of the particular era and locations and in most of his stories it really works, but for some it just drags really bad. The red pony is always my answer for boring book. I’m glad it’s not just me.”
Image source: John Steinbeck , Exodiafinder687
#24 The House On Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros
“Had to read this book in the summer of ninth grade. Such a bad book. There’s no real plot, the style of writing is not fun to read, it was creepy in some parts. I just stopped reading 3/4 of the way through cuz I was so done with that book. Worst book I’ve ever read.”
Image source: Sandra Cisneros, NorthofSophia
#25 Cold Sassy Tree By Olive Ann Burns
Was forced to read it in high school English. It was so boring the TEACHER had us SKIP TWO CHAPTERS where nothing happened. It was awful.
Image source: Olive Ann Burns , Karaethon22
#26 Ready Player One By Ernest Cline
“It’s basically “80’s References: The Novel.” And the writing itself crackles like pudding. Absolutely no style, wittiness, or literary technique involved, the entire novel basically just reads like, “This happened. And then this happened. And this person said this. And I said this in response. And then we saw this thing, and remembered it was from a movie.””
Image source: Ernest Cline , Dahhhkness
#27 Dracula By Bram Stoker
“It has some amazing and suspenseful chapters in the beginning and end, but the middle 14 chapters are soul-suckingly boring.”
Image source: Bram Stoker, Jwoey
#28 The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle By David Wroblewski
“It is a more modern retelling of Hamlet. Had to read for AP English, and it’s like 1000 pages long of utter nonsense and long descriptions.
I would much rather have read Hamlet repeatedly, damn at least my boy Hammy had some jokes.”
Image source: David Wroblewski, AureSymbesca
#29 Sarah, Plain And Tall By Patricia Maclachlan
“I forgot about that book. I think a teacher read it to us in like fourth grade and I remember hating it even then, when I read everything I could get my hands on and loved everything I read.”
Image source: Patricia MacLachlan , miss-morland
#30 The Mezzanine By Nicholson Baker
“160 pages of one dude’s random thoughts during his lunch break. Topics range from the merits of using hand dryers vs paper towels in public bathrooms, shoes laces (in particular how unusual it would be that both his shoelaces broke within 3 days of one another), the buoyancy of straws over time, and the general cleanliness of escalator handrails.
It was on the list of “Staff Favorites” at my favorite book store. I don’t look at that list anymore.”
Image source: Nicholson Baker , DrewFlan
#31 Middlemarch By George Eliot
“Definitely not worth the time. And it gave me a wrist strain just from holding it.”
Image source: George Eliot , LucyVialli
#32 The Undercover Economist By Tim Harford
“While the subject is incredibly interesting and his knowledge of the field is really good, it keeps feeling like he writes in a “4 steps forward, 3 steps back” fashion, so he keeps reiterating things you’ve already read ad nauseam. It took a while to get to your point since the book is actually interesting in its way, but halfway through I just got so bored that I kept re-reading sentences and just going “I know these words, but they’re just not stringing together to a sentence for me anymore…””
Image source: Tim Harford , DwayneJohnsonsSmile
#33 Great Expectations By Charles Dickens
SquirrelLuvsChipmunk said: “I don’t understand how that book is so popular.”
Commenter replied: “Dickens released the book in sections one after another over the course of a couple years. When you read it like an anime plot with a lot of filler, the weird time gaps and flow make sense. It should be abridged so the plot flows like an actual book, rather than a cliffhangy TV series.”
SquirrelLuvsChipmunk replied: “That’s really interesting. I’ve read that he was paid by the word which is why his stuff is so long and wordy. If that’s true, well played Mr. Dickens.”
Image source: Charles Dickens , SquirrelLuvsChipmunk
#34 Walden By Henry David Thoreau
“It’s sooo boring and there is literally no plot. Except the land is a plot. So there’s one plot.”
Image source: Henry David Thoreau, Issildan_Valinor
#35 As I Lay Dying By William Faulkner
IWannaCorn said: “Try enjoying a book when you cant read it without getting a headache.”
listenana replied: “Faulkner does so many interesting things with it and I understand why it’s important, but I hate it so much.”
Image source: William Faulkner , IWannaCorn
#36 The Red Badge Of Courage By Stephen Crane
shelbyhunt15 said: “Was forced to read it over the summer for an AP class and I still have no idea what happened in the novel nor do I really care.”
ChemikalBrother replied: “We had to read it in 7th grade. I was actually looking forward to it since I knew it was set during the Civil War, however this book was far too difficult for that age range.”
Image source: Stephen Crane , shelbyhunt15
#37 Pride And Prejudice By Jane Austen
Gustavius040210 replied: “I attempted to read it as a teen/tween and couldn’t get through it due to the excessive wordiness. I wasn’t able to empathize with the characters because it was so “other” compared to what I usually read. Watching through The Lizzie Bennett Diaries on YouTube helped put the characters into perspective.
I think I attributed a lot of the things that annoyed me to the writing style and became prejudiced against giving the book a fair shot. After watching the YouTube adaptation I went in with the assumption that the writing was a skillful delivery of very annoying characters.”
Image source: Jane Austen , apeliott
#38 Grapes Of Wrath By Boyd Cable
“I love classics, love them, but Grapes of Wrath was super hard to get through. Moby Dick has some amazing chapters in it (particularly the first few), but some of its chapters are insanely boring.
But in general, it’s hard to beat a self-help book for degree of boredom.”
Image source: Boyd Cable, lightknight7777
#39 Dune By Frank Herbert
Casus125 replied: “I read the bulk of Herbert’s books when I was in High School. For fun. Years later, I thought I might grab a copy for my bookshelf, thumbed through a random chapter in the book store… had to put it back and leave Dune fondly in my memory. It’s a slog.”
Image source: Frank Herbert , Commenter
#40 Short Stories By Edgar Allan Poe
SadChineseTakeOut said: “A short story about furniture.”
Osirus1156 replied: “Fun fact that short story is hidden in every single Slumberland Furniture.”
Image source: Edgar Allan Poe, SadChineseTakeOut
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