Classics or "Must reads" that others rave about but you just don't get

Da vinci code

One Day

Anything by Dawn French

Lord of the rings

Lovely Bones

Julie Walters Bio, so dull she had nothing to say really!

I have just given up on Middlemarch, for the third time. And have also just abandoned The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch.

I adored The Great Gatsby and One Day, Catcher in the Rye and Catch-22. And Wolf Hall, loved that.

Hated Time Traveller's Wife. Smug.

I remembered another - The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Truly the most boring and pointless book written by anyone anywhere ever.

I also hate LOTR...Tom Bombadil's appearance made me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon. Ringading a dillo.

I recently read The Great Gatsby for the first time and thought it was a big pile of poo. I tried to remember the fact that it was written during the time of prohibition before the Wall Street Crash etc and could appreciate that F Scott Fitzgerald had written something quite astute but it didn't undo the fact that it was as dull as ditchwater.

I absolutely love Catch-22, have read it loads of times!
Loved the Hobbit, but detested Lord of the Rings. I managed about a quarter of an inch before flinging it across the room in total boredom.
Da Vinci Code, I tossed that back to the charity shop after two pages.
Does My Bum Look Big in This by Arabella Weir. Smug and repetitive writing, stupid names given to people e.g Attractive New Andy, and used throughout the book. Main character's self esteem is so low, she acts like a complete arse, to the extent that it's a miracle she has any friends or employment.
Lovely Bones - yawn.
Anything by Wendy Holden, utter shite and not funny at all.

I agree with Wolf Hall. I read it all and thought some passages were well written and interesting but the vast majority of the book bored me to tears.

The Mill On the Floss - just so breathtakingly dull. Only classic I have never finished.

Wuthering Heights - A classic it took me 3 years to finish because I got so fed up of the endless bloody monologues in the middle. How does a quite exciting and relatively short story manage to have huge passages which are completely uninteresting?

Lord of the Rings. I got to page 20, then gave up and gave it to Oxfam

Beloved - this was my worst read during one brilliant literature module at uni. The boredom of the book still haunts me!

Dickens - have tried....and tried.....and tried....and tried....and NEVER finished one Dickens. They bore me rigid.

Cloud Atlas, Life of Pi and The Shipping News, The Historian - aaargh all so dreary. Hated them.

I now take the good advice of my mum - life is too short to spend on books you feel you must read, and I give them a go but give up if I'm not enjoying a book. I find now I read much more - and more widely by giving it a go knowing I don't need to finish it!

One Day, yes, yes! Totally overhyped, thoroughly disappointing.

Lord of the Rings - fuck off, I don't give a shit about hobbits and the like.

Thought Wolf Hall was wonderful, though, and can't understand the Jane Austen haters.

Also Captain Corelli - never been so annoyed by a book
Loved Wolf Hall, though

Lovely bloody Bones. Just didn't get it.

I was also disappointed with the Time Travellers Wife - the favourite novel of a friend who has recommended me so many wonderful books. It was just...dull.

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. One of the few books I couldn't bring myself to finish; life is just too short for crap books...

the curious incident of the dog in the night - just couldn't see what all the fuss was about. Put it down to the fact that we live and breathe autism 24/7 with ds2 and ds3 so everything seemed perfectly rational.

Captain Corelli - very, very dull with a ridiculous and unbelievable ending

DaVinci code - irritating and pointless. The entire book is spent with the main characters trying to find out a secret which the granny knew all along and could have just told them

i loved the hobbit but lord of the rings was too long and as a result it was boring,

wuthering heights

if i'm not enjoying a book i generally don't finish it though

Any George Eliot. The Lovely Bones. Frankenstein (I so want to like it, but her writing is just gash). A History Of The World In 10.5 Chapters. The Shipping News. Most things my MIL presses on me as a 'must-read', god love her

I only opened this thread because I thought it was referring to MN Classics or must-read threads - there are loads of those that I think you probably had to be there for, i.e. they are actually a bit shit.

Perfume

Wolf Hall.

Any Tolkein,likewise the Northern Lights series,also cannot understand the attraction of Terry Patchett.

Shantaram - thought it was too long and the narrator a real pain. Also I second Lord of the Rings as have only ever read the 1st book, and that was a struggle and had no desire to read the second two. Often when I look at top book lists, it's the only book in the top 25 I haven't read.

Labyrinth - Kate Mosse

We need to talk about Kevin = Lionel Shriver (read it but honestly what a drag)

The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings - I've tried but I can't get beyond the first few chapters.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, etc - just don't get fantasy, I think

ALL Dickens' novels - just turgid drivel

One Day - David Nicholls - absolute pile of tosh

Oh I agree with Life of Pi. Bored to tears.

DaVinci Code is crap. What a shit ending!

I will give most stuff a go, sometimes it takes a second or third read to really enjoy it. I found that with LOTR and also The Historian.