Contributors to our regular Tips, Links and Suggestions threads usually enjoy a debate about good reads. This week, however, thoughts turned to terrible ones. We've all struggled with poorly written books; ironically, they're often the ones we can't get rid of, gathering dust on our shelves.

MsCarey kick-started the debate with these thoughts:

What's the worst book on your bookshelves? I was just browsing my shelves and came upon Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie. It's an absolute stinker. Unreadably bad.

Surprising words, perhaps, from a self-confessed "big Christie fan". Sadly, for MsCarey, "the book's turgidity, ludicrous pomposity and a literally nonsensical plot which clearly hadn't been edited properly by author or editor" are the book's only legacy.

In response, aliquidcow shifted the discussion towards more modern crime-solving classics:

I do still have The Girl who Played with Fire on my shelf. I think that may be the worst book besides The Da Vinci Code that I've read as an adult. Dragon Tattoo was clunkily written but at least had a decent plot, the sequel is just dreadful on pretty much every level.

Aliquidcow was not the only one left cold by Stieg Larsson. MsCarey admitted that the character of Lisbeth was the book's saving grace, being "very interesting but that was about it". It seems the crime-fiction genre is causing more problems than it solves.

Are well-drawn characters enough to rescue a floundering plot? Is it more important to get the characters right, or reel off a gripping story? Someone who seems to have missed the boat in both areas, according to AggieH, is Denis Johnson, with his 2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist and National Book Award winner, Tree of Smoke:

Recently abandoned: Denis Johnson's Tree of Smoke. Caricatures instead of characters. Sudden moments of B-film melodrama. Ludicrous plot leaps. Most of them necessary in order to leap across the gigantic holes in the plot. Clichés, tropes and stereotypes. Patronising (a kind adjective) depictions of Philippine characters. Unintentionally ridiculous American characters.

SnowyJohn took a kinder view:

If it's hilariously bad, I probably cherish it. 'The Stuffed Owl' is a collection of terrible English verse which includes notorious examples like McGonagall, but doesn't spare the likes of Tennyson either.

So what are the worst books that you've ever read? Or are you entertained by rickety prose? Are there any surprises in your bad books collection? Get involved in the discussion.