i am beginning to seriously resent books that i read and then they are shit

[grumpypants]

i accept i am an unpublished writer etc, and therefore a bit of anyone published, but just lost two nights of my life to The Way We Were and it is pure, drivelly, cliched drivelly drivel. How the hell does this stuff make it to the shelves?

[JemimaMuddledUp]

I am feeling the same about The Slap.

I am halfway through and I hate it. I don't want to read any more, but I hate leaving books unfinished.

[rushofbloodtothefeet]

YANBU.

Is it me or are more books drivel these days Apart from classics I can't think of one book I've read recently that has left me feeling satisfied!

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

This is why I never buy fiction (other than new Stephen Kings which I buy immediately!) and buy history books instead. I get fiction from the library, so that if it's crap, as it so often is, I don't feel I have to finish it anyway.

[JemimaMuddledUp]

I even feel that I have to finish library books. I know it is silly but I hate leaving books half read!

I'm working on a reward system at the moment, for every chapter I read of The Slap I get to read a chapter of the very lovely History of the world in 100 objects

[rushofbloodtothefeet]

Don't bother with The Slap - honestly, just don't bother.

[duchesse]

Bloody Labyrinth by Kate Moss. Seriously, don't bother. Utter shite and I thought Da Vinci Code was bad...

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

That's the one - truly dreadful.

Oh and The Girl With...was even worse. I gave it up in disgust after about 30 pages because it felt like it had been written by a train spotter. DD1 loved it though.

[droves]

I bought a couple of diane chamberline books .... i wish i had my toenails pulled instead . . .

Ashamed to admit , i did finish both books , kept hoping the plot would improve !

[gailforce1]

Remus are you ColonelBrandon in disguise?!!

I gave up on The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy and only finished The Story of my Life by Jay McInerney because it was so short! Both were recommendations on MN!
I hate having to "give up" on books - weird I know, but I feel as though I'm letting the writer down and that it is my fault somehow for not "getting it"!

[shrinkingnora]

The Slap is truly dreadful - it is the first book in a decades that I haven't finished. The girl with gets better after the first hundred pages, but definitely feels like you are a reading a translation all the time. I have recently read and hated One Day and the new Dawn French one. And I am currently reading the Memory Keeper's Daughter. I actually want to burn it ........ I hate everyone in it including the babies. Perhaps I am a bad person.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I am indeed, Gail - well spotted! :)

[grumpypants]

all of these mentioned, aside from the slap, i truly hated too. there is so much dribble out there, which is so ironic when you keep getting told how hard it is to get stuff published! it's just the clunking plot; the characters doing stoopid things; the unreal conversations or secrets they keep - gah!

aside from that, the one book (out of the 3 i read a week) that was amazing was 'every last one'. try it!

[freelancescientist]

Apparently you should deduct your age from 100, and then read up to that page in a book. If you are not enjoying it by then you are allowed to give up. So (for example) I am 21 (in my head) so I only need to read a rubbish book up to page 79, then I can pack it in.
Too many books, so little time. Don't waste it on 'The Slap'......

[Besom]

I got about 2 chapters into 'The Slap' and gave up, because I didn't give a flying fuck... Glad i'm not alone.

[grumpypants]

blimey terra - how contentious can you be on a book thread

[duchesse]

It was a spammy advertising type thing pointing to a book om Amazon.

[plantsitter]

God I HATED 'every last one' - partly because I nicked it from my sister without reading the blurb or anything and thought I was reading a completely different kind of book than it turned out to be.

[Catslikehats]

I understand your pain

I have recently bought a kindle and it has taken me about 7 books to realise that there is a reason some are free, and that most E books are beyond bad.

[grumpypants]

plant that is why I loved it! Weird huh - I can appreciate some books are not to my taste but are good, (Bridget Jones type ones) but I just get so cross about the badly written cliche ridden that would never happen type ones. All wafty types doing stoopid things just to carry the creaky plot.

God yes. Free E books for a reason.

[HarlotOTara]

I have been thinking exactly the same thing today just finished an absolutely crap book called 'The very thought of you', and was wondering how it ever got published. Agree about 'The Slap', 'One Day', 'Labyrinth', but would like to add anything by Jodi Picoult, 'The Island' and all of the Stieg Larson ones. So many people have recommended the above and I can't understand why.

[steamedtreaclesponge]

Yep, hated One Day and Labyrinth. Have only read one Jodi Picoult book and I thought it was rubbish so haven't read anymore.

Would like to respectfully submit 'The Forgotten Garden' by Kate Morton as possibly the worst book of all time. Just AWFUL. By the time I finished it I was hoping that all the characters died in freak accidents and that the sodding garden got turned into a theme park.

Quite liked the Larson books though.

[grumpypants]

oh my god yes steamed is that the mad old lady one (again) with flicking between pat and present and some evacuated one?

[Catslikehats]

I liked the Larson books but Jodi picoult makes me want to pull my fingernails out.

[WillowFae]

Has ANYONE either liked or got to the end of The Slap? I gave up.