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Original poster

Books to avoid

217 replies

Redglitter · 23/07/2015 22:37

Plenty of threads for recommendations but what books would you advise people to avoid

For me it's 'Her' by Harriet Gray

A total non story with a dreadful ending. I actually thought my kindle had forgotten to download the last chapter. Don't know if the author was running late for her deadline or what but ugh avoid

OP posts:
ErrolTheDragon · 25/07/2015 23:02

One of Stephen frys, I think it's called the tennis players balls. It was simply horrible.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 25/07/2015 22:59

The Slap- I hated that almost as much as Gone Girl.

marshmallowpies · 25/07/2015 22:56

I used to work in a charity book shop and I always noted the books that came in in large quantities- ones that people read but didn't keep or went through phases of being 'book group' favourites. There were always Dawn French books in stock and always lots of copies of The Slap.

marshmallowpies · 25/07/2015 22:53

Hate Saturday by Ian McEwan so very very much. Dull and stupid and pointless. Have avoided reading any of his other recent stuff like the plague.

The books I've tended not to keep are the ones that upset me or got under my skin in such a way I know I won't ever want to re read them.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is one.
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
and the Suspicions of Mr Whicher.
All 3 upset me so much I had to get rid of my copies.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 25/07/2015 22:52

Oh yes, When God was a Rabbit. That was the title I was trying to remember.

suzanneyeswecan · 25/07/2015 22:51

I read perfume many years ago...seem to remember liking it

Costacoffeeplease · 25/07/2015 22:50

Yes, dawn French, extremely disappointing, only read her first novel but it was painful

steppemum · 25/07/2015 22:38

I love Time Travellers Wife, one of my all time favourites.

whattheseithakasmean · 25/07/2015 22:38

When God was a Rabbit - steaming pile of shite, basically over rated shallow chick lit piggy backing on real life events to try & seem more meaningful.

SirChenjin · 25/07/2015 22:36

Anything by Jodi Picoult - poorly researched, completely unrealistic stories about ishoos

I've just finished Colm Toibin's The South - I say I finished it, I actually deleted it from my Kindle in disgust. Self indulgent, appallingly badly developed characters that had me shouting at the man. He should know better.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 25/07/2015 22:33

Oh yes Dawn French, shockingly bad surprisingly .

Judy Finnegan, dear oh dearHmm

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 25/07/2015 22:31

Perfume is amazingShock

Mintyy · 25/07/2015 22:09

Perfume by Patrick Suskind (although everyone has already read that any way).

Anything by Joanna Trollope.

I wouldn't even contemplate reading any of the EL James nonsense. Really, there's no need to warn people off it! Anyone with half a brain cell knows that it is the pond-scrapings of literary effort.

prorsum · 25/07/2015 21:59

Kate Mosse - Labyrinth
The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
Both shockingly bad.

MrsHenryCrawford · 25/07/2015 21:41

Interpretation of a murder is truly awful.
Life of pi-complete rubbish
Anything by mitch albom- pseudo meaningfull clap trap

One day, how could anyone give a shot about the two main characters?

I loved Lord of the rings and the wind up bird chronicle

springalong · 25/07/2015 21:33

That awful Interpretation of Murder by Jed Butterfield. I never let a book defeat me - I did finish it but resent the wasted time.

Shades of Twat - to page 12 and died of boredom.

suzanneyeswecan · 25/07/2015 21:23

I do remember that I only made it about 2 pages into a harry potter (dont know which one it was)
come to think of it I also read 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' but didnt like it...guess I just carried on because it was shortConfused

suzanneyeswecan · 25/07/2015 21:18

I cant really think of any because I stop reading them pretty quickly if I cant get into them.

Fwiw, I liked
the lovely bones,
kevin,
cloud atlas,
lotr (as a teenager)
time traveler and fearful symmetry

Pilgrimforever · 25/07/2015 21:00

Gone Girl - I kept thinking that surely it would get better only to reach the end and realise that actually it doesn't.

50 Shades - There are far, far better books about BDSM out there.

LifeHuh · 25/07/2015 20:54

Never let me go.
Whole world structure made no sense at all. Which wouldn't have mattered if I'd cared about the characters at all, but I didn't .
But I liked The Lovely Bones!

Love the idea of a book called We Need To Witter On About Kevin Grin

SirVixofVixHall · 25/07/2015 18:52

I hated On Chesil Beach. So unrealistic that they would divorce over one tiny quarrel. 50 shades of grey sounds so totally ridiculous that I can't imagine ever wanting to read it.

camsie · 25/07/2015 18:43

Wolf Hall
Lord of the Rings
50 shades of shite
On Chesil Beach
Anything written by Dawn French

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 25/07/2015 18:39

What was that book with rabbit in the title ?Confused God that was dire, one funny paragraph and that was it!

mumslife · 25/07/2015 18:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Cooroo · 25/07/2015 10:22

I thought Cloud Atlas and Midnight's Children were wonderful.

Only book that made me really angry was The Alchemist by Paul Coelho. Pile of shite.

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