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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:
Monkeytrousers · 15/01/2008 10:51

Martin Amis wrote a great essay about pornography. Why do women not like him?

redadmiral · 15/01/2008 09:37

Martin is really not popular with women!!

LoveAngel · 15/01/2008 07:23

Only read the last few posts here.

Martin Amis - hideous man, awful writing

Disagree with Zadie Smith, though. I thought 'On Beauty' was incredibly sophisticated and dealt beautifully wit issues of race and class in America. Think there were signs of a truly great writer coming through there.

duchesse · 15/01/2008 00:20

Reassuring to see I'm not alone. hehe

duchesse · 15/01/2008 00:18

Definitely Dan "Factual Inaccuracy" Brown.

Also Martin "I'm only an author b/c I couldn't think of anything else to do and well, Daddy is one too" Amis.

Good thread btw.

Oh, and Alain de Botton. wtf?

colditz · 15/01/2008 00:03

Thomas Hardy.

expatinscotland · 15/01/2008 00:01

i tried, MT.

i got about 100 pages in and thought, 'this is shit. these people are shit. this book is shit.'

Monkeytrousers · 15/01/2008 00:01

must go back to wuthering heigthts to see if distain is worth it

Monkeytrousers · 15/01/2008 00:00

I like Martin Amis's essays. Not bought any of his books.

Food for thoght though

paulaplumpbottom · 14/01/2008 21:12

Thats the guy. Sorry cracked screen so I can't see if my typing is correct. I haven't read anything else he has written but I don't think I'll be picking any of it up

Shoobiedoo · 14/01/2008 21:11

Martin Amis. Oh my god, Martin Amis.
Zadie Smith

Monkeytrousers · 14/01/2008 21:07

Tony Parson's gets the vote for me. At least Archer know's he's scum.

IorekByrnison · 14/01/2008 21:06

Do you mean The Book of Dave? Will Self?

paulaplumpbottom · 14/01/2008 21:04

Who wrote that horrible Book Dave? Horrible Horrible book. How it ever made it onto the Bestsellers list is beyond me

purplemonkeydishwasher · 14/01/2008 14:30

Kate Mosse.
didn't make it to the end of the ifrst chapter.

heard her on Radio2 last week and she seemed really nice. i felt bad, but not bad enough to attempt to read her book again!

Sunshinemummy · 14/01/2008 14:29

GP Taylor. Appalling, badly written, poor plots and unbelievable characters.

Trolleydolly71 · 14/01/2008 14:24

Message withdrawn

donnie · 14/01/2008 13:57

JEFFREY ARCHER - yuk!!

MaryAnnSingleton · 14/01/2008 13:53

thank you Unquiet - I am still trudging through the waffling pre story bit - gah !

Sobernow · 14/01/2008 13:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mumblechum · 14/01/2008 13:00

Salman dreary ugly fucker Rushdie
Martin creepy Amis
That Irish bloke who wrote the Blackwater Lightship

redadmiral · 14/01/2008 12:57

(Had completely forgotten that I loathed 'Money' the first time I tried to read it. Picked it up again when desperate for a book and suddenly 'got' it. Have read and re-read it since and still find it funny.)

sfxmum · 14/01/2008 12:02

I have a violent distaste of Martin Amis which will probably prevent me from reading any of his books, although I managed to get through the one about his dad, he writes well but I really dislike him

and since I quite like to spend a couple of days once in a while with a crime novel I tried Patterson once no discernible plot or even characters utterly vile

don't get most chick lit either

UnquietDad · 14/01/2008 12:01

LOL at "Daisy Meadows".

She's a committee, you know?...

UnquietDad · 14/01/2008 12:00

A while since I read it, but it just seemed a bit lop-sided with the "real" Cathy and Heathcliff story only taking up about half the book.