Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

Popular book that you didn’t enjoy

459 replies

Wanttocry · 19/06/2021 16:33

Not really a TAAT but inspired by the Crawdads thread.

What’s a book that has been raved about, but that you didn’t really enjoy? For me it would have to be The Goldfinch, I just didn’t really get it.

OP posts:
LawnFever · 19/06/2021 17:57

@SydneyCarton

Agree about Normal People; I was on a waiting list for it for ages at the library and thought it was going to be great. Huh. Also Wolf Hall; I have read loads of fiction and non-fiction around that period, know the principle characters, thought focusing on Cromwell was such a good idea rather than making him the peripheral villain, and I just couldn’t get into it at all Sad
Yes Wolf Hall too, I honestly couldn’t follow who was doing what I couldn’t get into it at all, I just kept rereading chunks over and over and couldn’t make any sense of it.

I have a degree in English Lit, it was beyond me Confused

jay55 · 19/06/2021 17:53

Eat pray love.

LawnFever · 19/06/2021 17:53

@TinaYouFatLard

I cannot begin to describe how much I hated A Little Life. It makes me cross to think about the time I spent reading the damn thing.
Yes!! I gave up after 300 pages wallowing in misery, I hated all the characters, I just decided I didn’t care & couldn’t even work out why they were friends, god it was awful
AuntMasha · 19/06/2021 17:52

When I was about 4. The Noddy books. Lord, how I despised that entitled bell-hatted gnome botherer.

Fyredraca · 19/06/2021 17:47

I loved Wolf Hall and Captain Corelli.
I hated My Brilliant Friend with a passion. Gone Girl was shit, I guessed really early on what was going on.

MrsMop1964 · 19/06/2021 17:42

A Little Life- the worst misery porn ever

PandemicPalava · 19/06/2021 17:40

Harry Potter. I have tried and tried to read them but I can't

TinaYouFatLard · 19/06/2021 17:37

I cannot begin to describe how much I hated A Little Life. It makes me cross to think about the time I spent reading the damn thing.

PurpleishDahlia · 19/06/2021 17:37

The Alchemist 😣

MintyCedric · 19/06/2021 17:34

Shuggie Bain...relentlessly grim.

MyCatDribbles · 19/06/2021 17:33

Jane Eyre
Robinson Crusoe
Never Let Me Go

And We Need To Talk About Kevin, I had to put it down but mostly because I was wondering whether I should have kids or not at the time

StyleAndLasers · 19/06/2021 17:31

@wanttocry - I just found it monotonously depressing and so repetitive in its misery that I sometimes couldn’t tell where I had got to. I think my issue was a lack of tone shift, it just seemed to be one bad thing happening after another.

wherewildflowersgrow · 19/06/2021 17:31

I struggle to finish Hilary Mantel.

thecatfromjapan · 19/06/2021 17:27

@EastWestWhosBest

I’m glad someone else said Catcher in the Rye. Self centred little arse.
Isn't he just.

I feel sorry about the homophobic bullying. But fucking hell ...

Freysimo · 19/06/2021 17:27

I found Eleanor Oliphant boring as well. Poor woman

I found Eleanor Oliphant boring. Gail Honeyman is a poor woman's Margaret Forster IMO.

Faevern · 19/06/2021 17:24

Wuthering Heights urgh I disliked Cathy and Heathcliff so much they should have just got together, shame to spoil two houses.

FiveGoMadInDorset · 19/06/2021 17:21

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine

UseOfWeapons · 19/06/2021 17:17

I agree about Gone Girl. Utter shite. Same with The Lovely Bones.
I usually avoid books that are hyped up, and read them a couple year later. I am an avid reader, and used to pride myself on the fact that I would be able to persevere and read anything.
Now I’m 55, and can’t be arsed with wasting time with dreary crap, poorly written rubbish, anything annoying, or self-involved drivel.
The number of available, decent books has gone down, but the books I read now, I’m thrilled to be rushing home to read.

ShowOfHands · 19/06/2021 17:14

Pillars of the Earth (a friend raved about it and I found it terrible)
We Need to Talk About Kevin
The Lovely Bones

EastWestWhosBest · 19/06/2021 17:13

I’m glad someone else said Catcher in the Rye. Self centred little arse.

Derrymum123 · 19/06/2021 17:11

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. I really wanted to enjoy it but my oh my ... just the way it is written.

Snozzlemaid · 19/06/2021 17:09

Definitely Lovely Bones.

carbuncleonapigsposterior · 19/06/2021 17:09

The Lovely Bones
The Midnight Library, thought it might be like Life After Life which I loved, no such luck!
Lincoln in The Bardo
Cloud Atlas
The Luminaries
The Thursday Murder Club - Have no idea why this mediocre book tops the best sellers week after week.

Original poster
Wanttocry · 19/06/2021 17:08

@StyleAndLasers

I liked the Crawdads but I didn’t know much about it before I read it so didn’t have any expectations. Also like Captain Corellis Mandolin and the Time Travelers Wife. I am reading The Goldfinch now. Mine are The Miniaturist (well written but disappointing plot/ ending), A Little Life (couldn’t finish it) and all Sophie Hannah books except her Agatha Christie ones. I have heard her speak, and she is great, but her books just make me cross with their inability to follow up on what is usually a really interesting premise.
Oh my gosh I loved A Little Life!!
OP posts:
onemouseplace · 19/06/2021 17:08

@oldperson1

Gone Girl The Midnight Library
Totally agree - I hated Gone Girl more than any other book I have ever read. It was awful.

I'm with the pps about Matt Haig. I didn't like How to Stop Time, then thought I'd give The Midnight Library a go. I do not like his writing style, so I won't make the mistake of reading anything by him again.