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Original poster

Which authors' success is a complete mystery to you?

503 replies

emkana · 13/01/2008 19:15

Tony Parsons

Jodi Picoult

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 13/01/2008 20:40

I tried to read a Celia Ahren book.

I mean, I really tried!

It was about these two kids who wrote letters to each other.

And you know, they were two dumb kids in one dumb book.

So I left the tome on a park bench by a bus stop in Edinburgh.

I still feel horribly guilty for that.

redadmiral · 13/01/2008 20:40

Lois de Bernieres (Captain Corelli's Mandolin)
Dan Brown,
Marian Keyes,
Joanne Harris,
Rachel Cusk and ANY 'magical realist' author!

themildmanneredjanitor · 13/01/2008 20:40

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MinkVelvet · 13/01/2008 20:39

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cornsilk · 13/01/2008 20:39

Virginia Woolf
James Joyce
Dan Brown
Ben Elton

MinkVelvet · 13/01/2008 20:39

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peggotty · 13/01/2008 20:38

oh god yes, Martin Amis - awful!

CissyCharlton · 13/01/2008 20:38

I bought David Baddiel's first novel from a bargain basement, sell them by the weight shop. And it was signed .

Tnog · 13/01/2008 20:37

I second Celia Ahern

Dreadful, truly awful

peggotty · 13/01/2008 20:37

Rowling's getting a kicking on this thread isn't she?!

Not keen on Christopher Brookmyre 'A big boy did it and ran away' etc - the male equivalent of chick-lit.

CatIsSleepy · 13/01/2008 20:36

i was at george eliot too vacua...silas marner is one of my favourite books ever

expatinscotland · 13/01/2008 20:35

'And now they've made a ruddy film of her book!! '

Oh, yes, with Hilary Swank no less.

Nearly as bad as a film featuring BOTH Tom Hanks and three-dick gob (thanks for that description, Greeny ) Julia Roberts, but at least the former film is probably under 3 hours long.

CatIsSleepy · 13/01/2008 20:35

yep tony Parsons-horrible
reading one of his books made me feel quite vomitous

lennygrrl · 13/01/2008 20:35

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Vacua · 13/01/2008 20:34

feel very very very sorry for whoever said george eliot - adam bede is one of my all time favourite men ever and I would like to marry him

UnquietDad · 13/01/2008 20:34

I found Baddiel's novels surprisingly good.

Sobernow · 13/01/2008 20:34

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UnquietDad · 13/01/2008 20:33

Sophie Kinsella used to be Madeleine Wickham

MaryAnnSingleton · 13/01/2008 20:33

I disagree with Hilary Mantel- I rate her

themildmanneredjanitor · 13/01/2008 20:33

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MinkVelvet · 13/01/2008 20:33

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expatinscotland · 13/01/2008 20:32

i hate hemingway.

was forced to read him because he's American and pupils in high schools in the US are force-fed his piss-poor prose and misogyny and boring alcoholism as part of compulsory American 'literature' courses.

i hate to say it, but i'm glad he shortened his own literary career rather than turn out more rubbish that others would be forced to read.

he makes me sick.

MinkVelvet · 13/01/2008 20:32

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UnquietDad · 13/01/2008 20:32

bookwormmum - nepotism in the book industry? You're not suggesting? As Sawyer in "Lost" said, "What next, cop eatin' a donut?"

MinkVelvet · 13/01/2008 20:32

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