Most ignorant and ridiculous comment, of course, from Anne Widdecombe
The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson
I had to read this whilst judging the Whitbread prize. It is a children's book about a drunken mother and her two children by different fathers. I thought these themes should not be promoted for children, and I disliked it intensely on those grounds.
Does she seriously think that the book 'promotes' these themes (what themes, drunkenness and copulation?) Meanwhile I recommend this book for young readers as a way of dealing with the painful realisation that parents can be flawed, eccentric and sometimes plain bonkers.
The Lord of the Rngs gained the most votes BTW, followed by Brief History of Time ("Crap", Brian Sewell).
I'm not sure whether I have ever read a book right through that I absolutely hated. Oh, I've thought of one: 'The Story of O'. I kept expecting the girl to turn round and kill them all and she never did. Very disappointing.