Which of these should I read?

[muddleduck]

Had a huge book clearout at the weekend and these are all the ones that I've not actually read - which ones shall I bother with?

Zadie Smith - the autograph man
Salman Rushdie - midnight's children
Douglas Coupland - generation X
Louis de Bernieres - Senor vivo and the coco lord
Louis de Bernieres - the ware of dom emmanuel's nether parts
Paulo Coelho - the alchemist
Paulo Coelho - by the river piedra i sat down and wept
Kiran Desai - the inheritance of loss
Milan Kundera - the unbearable lighness of being
John king - human punk.

[grumpypants]

None of them. They are all pretty much the ones I chucked out after a few pages. Life's too short. Try Harlan Coben, Jodi Picoult (but not many) , and Muriel Spark.

[OrmRenewed]

Salman Rushdie - midnight's children

One of my favourite books. Don't know the other books but quite like Zadie Smith and Louis de B.

[winnybella]

Rushdie and Kundera are good.

Definitely get rid of Coelho- I know he's very popular etc, but it really is crap.

[30andMerkin]

Autograph Man worth pursuing in my book (no pun intended!).

But, more importantly, how can you throw books away???Especially ones you haven't yet read. I can just about bear to part with total trash that I've read and disliked, but everythign else stays!

[CaptainNancy]

Coupland, then de bernieres. Dump the coehlo.

[MadreInglese]

Bin the alchemist, it's shite

(and I would assume his other books will be too)

[muddleduck]

Thanks ladies.

so the coelho books are now both in the charity shop bag (so someone else can have a turn to not read them).

undecided on the rest...

I think I got about 50 pages into both the Zadie Smith one and the 'inheritance of loss' - not a good sign.

[brightyoungthing]

Zadie Smith books are so boring aren't they?? I'm glad I came here cos someone recommended Coelho to me but I don't think I'll bother now!

[pollywollydoodle]

unbearable lightness of being and midnights children are good reads but you have to have a wodge of time to get into them imo

Zadie Smith - the autograph man...a bit superficial and contrived

Douglas Coupland - generation X ,Kiran Desai - the inheritance of loss...both sitting on my shelf never read them either

Paulo Coelho....read 3 of his before i admitted that they were insubstantial

John king - human punk...not heard of this one

[janeite]

Douglas Coupland the best imho. The Autograph Man is v daft but I quite liked it!

[muddleduck]

Thanks again.

I can't quite put my fingure on what irritates me about Zadie Smith's books. I've read all the others and while there was some really great stuff in them it seemed like a lot of work for the reward IYKWIM. Part of this is my laziness - you need read really carefully as the important stuff is often hidden away in dull decsription. I did really enjoy White Teeth, but I felt there was a much better book (that was half as long) hidden within it. Needed a good editor IMO. Make sense?

Maybe I'lld keep everything except the Coelho and the de Bernieres and try again next time we're on holiday.

[kiwi4]

aah, you've reminded me about Milan Kundera's 'the unbearable...', I read it years ago and loved it. One of the v few books I'd read again. Treat yourself.

[londonartemis]

Have never really got on with Paulo Coelho...don't think you're missing anything if you chuck those!

[mattellie]

Midnight?s Children is one of the great novels of the past 50 years, please don?t throw it out without trying it! Of course, you might hate it, but give it a chance

DH used to work with John King and knew him well. Ashamed to say haven?t tried any of his books because they?re mostly about football, but DH says they?re excellent.

[nighbynight]

I would chuck them all, tbh.

They all belong to the stupid/overrated, or impenetrable-mist-swirling-in-the-mountains school of authors.
None are actually FUN to read.

[Nux]

You really must read Midnight's Children, it is truly brilliant. Coupland - weirdly I have read pretty much all of his books except Generation X, they are all great so I would give that a go. The Alchemist is shite, truly. I LOVED the de Bernieres books, especially that trilogy (you are missing one?). The Autograph Man was meh for me. I have to disagree with Nighbynight, some of these really are fun to read (Coupland and De B), the Rushdie takes longer but is worth it. Don't know the others.

[realitychick]

Generation X is really good. Coupland is great to read - very funny and easy to read with brilliant ideas. I'd definitely keep that. The Unbearable lightness of Being is worth reading - bit heavy going in places. Haven't read any of the others.