I have a month to go in the year, yes, but I am pretty sure this list is solid. Here are the worst books I read in 2012, ranked in order of how much I hated them.
- Swamplandia!, Karen Russell
- Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward
- NW, Zadie Smith
- The Savage Detectives, Roberto BolaƱo
- At Home, Bill Bryson
- The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga
- I Sailed with Magellan, Stuart Dybek
- Under the Net, Iris Murdoch
- Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri
- Doting, Henry Green
- Arcadia, Tom Stoppard
- Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry
- Kitchen, Banana Yoshimoto
- Snow, Orhan Pamuk
- The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein
- Amongst Women, John McGahern
- Madeleine Is Sleeping, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
There are some much-beloved names on this list, I know, but I just have to be honest with you, faceless Internet readers. Wanna fight with me about some of these? I am up for it.
Otherwise, what were some of the worst books you read this past year?