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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:
Sobernow · 13/01/2008 20:32

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mrsruffallo · 13/01/2008 20:32

No! I must protest regarding the Bronte sisters!
rantinghousewife, are you quite mad?
Wuthering Heights is one of my favourite books in the whole world

Sidge · 13/01/2008 20:32

Sophie Kinsella - how she got an agent to publish those god-awful Shopaholic books is a mystery to me. My 9 year old writes better stories than her.

lennygrrl · 13/01/2008 20:32

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MinkVelvet · 13/01/2008 20:31

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UnquietDad · 13/01/2008 20:31

lannygrrl, did you enjoy "Norwegian Wood"? I found it painful to read. I struggled to the end because people had recommended it to me, but the narrator was such a twat and the women so annoying. And I got sick to death of the endless rambling descriptions of what people were eating and drinking.

bookwormmum · 13/01/2008 20:31

Would Cecilia Ahern ever have been published if she wasn't the daughter of the Taosaich (sp)? Me thinks not but I am a bit cynical.

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

GreenGlassGoblin · 13/01/2008 20:31

that bloke who does the magical realism books - Paul Coelho is it? Utter shallow tosh.

MinkVelvet · 13/01/2008 20:30

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UnquietDad · 13/01/2008 20:30

I don't personally get Rowling but I can sort of see why she is successful.

lennygrrl · 13/01/2008 20:30

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rantinghousewife · 13/01/2008 20:28

Dan Brown and Jk Rowling.
And the Bronte sisters, just chick lit dressed up in britches and bloomers.

ScottishMummy · 13/01/2008 20:28

don't mean to be disingenuous BUT

ian mcewan jodi picoult jenny colgan JKRowling

lennygrrl · 13/01/2008 20:28

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MinkVelvet · 13/01/2008 20:27

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MaryAnnSingleton · 13/01/2008 20:27

frogs - agree with you about Arlington Park !

UnquietDad · 13/01/2008 20:27

Jenny Colgan, that shopping bint and indeed the whole contingent of "chicklit" types.

Haruki Murakami.

Dan Brown.

Marina Lewycka.

MaryAnnSingleton · 13/01/2008 20:26

oh,almost forgot - Dan Brown and Paulo Coelho

MaryAnnSingleton · 13/01/2008 20:26

Agree with Tony Parsons and JK Rowling

NKF · 13/01/2008 20:25

Dan Brown.

themildmanneredjanitor · 13/01/2008 20:25

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mrsruffallo · 13/01/2008 20:18

Yes franca, the lovely bones. I think half the problem with these books is that they get such a big build up that you are expceting something wonderful and it is actually quite ordinary.
I also found this with;
Monica Ali- I though Brick Lane was terrible
and I rvine Welsh- I hated trainspotting

Hassled · 13/01/2008 20:17

Oh now I love Zadie Smith but lots of the chick-lit stuff I just don't get - that Ahern woman for example. Emily Barr - wrote a good column a few years back and now churns out mediocre and dull books.
I'm with others on Tolkein and realy just don't "get" Philip Pullman. I'm sure I will rot in hell for that.

stillaslowreader · 13/01/2008 20:13

George Eliot
Tolstoy
Trollop
All science fiction
All horrible childhood
All aga shopping books
All books with no jokes/likable characters/ jokes
Anything with accents or dialects written down

hannahsaunt · 13/01/2008 20:12

Hmmm. I like some (but not all) Jodi Picoult and love Joanne Harris.

However, still trying to work out the apparent appeal of Zadie Smith.