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Authors everyone thinks are great but you just don't get

65 replies

grumpypants · 24/06/2011 13:34

Dan Brown - can't get past the style, appreciate it;s all about the plot
Lisa Jewell - will never like her stuff. Total predictable rubbish.
Robert Pattinson - dumbed down to words of one syllable.

Can't think of anymore just yet...

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LadyClariceCannockMonty · 05/07/2011 14:20

I must add to the anti-Ian McEwan chorus. Jesus H, he's boring. Solar is a load of ill-digested research boringly presented. Atonement is pompous and in love with itself (a mood that was seamlessly translated to the film version).

Also Cormac McCarthy. And, I don't think she's dreadful, but I keep reading Rose Tremain books expecting them to wow me, but so far ... meh. Not awful, just underwhelming.

Cheria · 05/07/2011 14:05

Stieg Larson, Dan Brown and Hilary Mantel. Wolf Hall was like pulling teeth, though I believe some of her others are better.

unclefest · 05/07/2011 12:37

yy to D H Lawrence

Harlan Coben

Lara2 · 04/07/2011 21:14

Jean Auel - dear god, how many books can the woman write about the trudging around and having rough sex in neolithic times?? Drivel!!

Dickens - except 'Tale of Two Cities' and even then Lucie Manette needs a good slap!

Monica whatshername - Brick Lane - awful book!!!

Dan Brown - yawn!!

Jodi Picoult - boring and samey

Dean Koontz - Stephen King wannabe

Patrica Cornwell - just lost the plot a few books back

Littlepurpleprincess · 26/06/2011 16:43

Terry Pratchett. I read half of the Colour of Magic and can't remember any of it. Instantly forgetable, to the point that I just couldn't follow the story.

PuppyMonkey · 26/06/2011 16:38

DH Lawrence.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

chocolateyclur · 26/06/2011 16:37

Anne Rice. I should love her books. I love the plot, the characters...but her style of writing just puts up a mental block for me.

openerofjars · 26/06/2011 14:55

Patricia Cornwell: dreadful, over-explanatory style, rubbish plotting and unbelievable characters.

J K Rowling: the bastard offspring of Enid Blyton and C S Lewis.

Lonnie · 26/06/2011 14:41

agree re Dan Brown and Steig Larsson

never got Geoffrey archer either

slug · 25/06/2011 19:15

Martin Amiss. Can't write a female character.

Terry Pratchett. Read one, read em all.

V.S. Naipul. Simply don't see what the fuss is about.

Zadie Smith. She seems to have a problem with endings.

I'm not particularly fond of Salmon 'I'm such a genius' Rushdie either.

Merrylegs · 25/06/2011 18:52

See, I am really enjoying Fingersmith. And I liked The Lovely Bones.

But YY to Steig 'badly translated' Larsson and JK '..then everything went black and Harry woke up in the hospital wing' Rowling.

Funtimewincies · 25/06/2011 18:39

Agree about Sophie Kinsella. My mum thinks that they're 'hilarious'. Why shopping and lusting after shoes is funny I just don't get. And look, she's getting married and lusting after shoes. Oh and would you believe it, she got a baby and is lusting after shoes.

Oh how my sides ached Hmm.

ColonelBrandonsBiggestGroupie · 25/06/2011 16:52

Totally agree, NorthernLurker. 'Human Croquet' was ridiculous and whilst I like Jackson Brodie as a character, the books with him in are stupidly reliant on coincidence and the plots are more and more preposterous - I won't read any more of hers. I think she is a lazy and highly irritating writer tbh. Most people on here seem to worship her though.

SinicalSal · 25/06/2011 15:55

I agree with everybody

Northernlurker · 25/06/2011 15:08

Kate Atkinson. I liked 'behind the scenes at the museum' but EVERYTHING else I've tried has been awful. Derivative and often unpleasant.

Abcinthia · 25/06/2011 15:03

Dan Brown and Ian McEwan.

I quite liked the Lovely Bones but Alice Sebold's other book, The Almost Moon, was bloody awful. It is without a doubt the worst book I have ever read.

Rindercella · 25/06/2011 14:32

John le Carre.

J K Rowling

ColonelBrandonsBiggestGroupie · 25/06/2011 14:27

Agree re Sarah Waters - I've read Fingersmith (rubbish) and The Little Stranger (boring).

WinkyWinkola · 25/06/2011 14:22

Sarah Waters.

I simply cannot understand how she is rated as a writer of any quality whatsoever. And made into a tv programme as well. Awful, teenage bollocks.

ColonelBrandonsBiggestGroupie · 25/06/2011 14:16

Good God no. I tried one in desperation on holiday once and it was unreadable - appallingly badly written. Sorry - we will have to agree to disagree!

DollyTwat · 25/06/2011 14:08

See I lOved the steig Larson books but you need to keep going for a few chapters
Try Patricia cornwell, she is fab

ColonelBrandonsBiggestGroupie · 25/06/2011 13:54

Steig whatshisname - I read about twenty pages of the first one and decided I'd be better off reading a trainspotter's notebook. It was beyond dire.

Original poster
grumpypants · 25/06/2011 13:43

And Claudia Winkleman. Rubbish and drivelly on that King of show.

Kind of people you just don't get why they are so well thought of, as opposed to just irritating types.

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Original poster
grumpypants · 25/06/2011 13:42

I hated The Lovely Bones too - she managed the impossible - twee and whimsical story about the brutal rape and murder of child, and following ghost. Ian Banks - yes! Glad to see I'm not the only one to wonder how some of these got so rated.

(whispers) May start another thread about how did Jonathan Ross get so well thought of and sought after by TV people...

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MaryAnnSingleton · 25/06/2011 12:39

yes,couldn't get through The Lovely Bones either