Biggest disappointments - Which book you thought would be great but did not live up to your expectation?

Agree about books having a "best time". You need to read "Lord of the Rings" at 11-15, before cynicism sets in.

"Unbearable Lightness of Being" - well, I liked the film...

Enjoyed "Miss Smilla" but I didn't like the ending at all. There's a sense of acceleration towards something and you think it's going to be terribly exciting - he misdirects you into thinking it's going to be some kind of mutant extraterrestrial whale or something - and it turns out to be a rock. (Do we need spoiler tags on here?)

Gave up with "The Time-Traveller's Wife" after about 50 pages. Tosh.

Agree Pruners -I loved The Unbearable Lightness of Being way back then but now I probably would find it pretentious tosh.

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UD, I gave up on that Sophie Hannah (Little Face) which sounded right up my street: didn't take off for me. It just felt flat and unlikely. (I love unreliable narrators though: Barbara Vine is the expert.)

I give up about half the books I attempt, with a light heart: life is too short. I used to review books and having to plod on with something that simply didn't agree with me was absolute screaming torture.

One of my biggest disappointments was We Need to Talk About Kevin which I fully expected to love. Deathly. Oh and the second Donna Tartt: The Little Friend? All that pre-publication anticipation, and then after a few chapters I was chewing off my own arm with boredom.

Vilette - I know, I know - but I just can't get into it. Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - no problem but not blooming Vilette!
Also - didn't enjoy Northangar Abbey as much as I thougt I would - but I last tried about 15 years ago so maybe I should revisit it.
On the trashy chick lit front - whilst I love the Nanny diaries, the Ivy Chronicles was crap - and there was something by India Knight that was so bad I've given it away - very unusual for me.

I liked the Unbearable Lightness of being. Mind you, I did read it when I was going through a bit of a Milan Kundera phase. I've read pretty much all his stuff. I think it helps if you understand the Eastern European psyche or something and I was studying Russian at the time.

I've always hated the Lord of the Rings, even in primary school. Just couldn't get into it.

On Beauty by Zadie Smith. No momentum in her writing, no real plot to the book. I must admit I gave up halfway through. Have been wary of buying prize winners/nominees since.
Da Vinci Code - I knew it was probably going to be crap, but I didn't realise just how crap. It was far more dire than I had expected.
Follow your Heart by Susanna Tamaro - someone lent it to me when it first came out as it was the book to read in Italy that year and everyone raved about it. It is possibly the most boring book ever. I got to chapter 3 and decided to give up before I ran screaming off a cliff from the lifeless drivel that leapt off the page.

oh what a shame - Miss Smilla was lovely

agree totally with Notes on a Scandal

Did anyone get though The Unbearable Lightness of Being? IS it worth it?

Purplemonkeydishwaher -yeah agree with you about Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
Can't believe adults rave about it -surely only suitable for twelve year olds.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

I could not get past the fist page!

Oh and agree about Norweigan Wood, although I quite enjoyed some of his other books.

the lord of the rings.
loved the films. book was dullsville. population 4 hobbits, a couple of guys, a dwarf...

The Time Traveller's Wife-lots of my friends raved about it and said they wept as it was so moving....I just found it dull and the characters rather annoying.

errr..... I can't remember!
Shows how thrilling it was...

will do thanks it just put me off after that and I didn't read another one - shame he wasn't signing any of the others. What happened in the end of song of stone? Did I miss much?

Am currently not enjoying The Inheritance of Loss either. Really really slow. Have put it to one side to read The Damned United which is great fun.

@rebelmum : Song of Stone is very hard going and not at all typical of the rest of his stuff. If you liked his first, give Espedair Street or The Crow Road a go!

iain banks's song of stone has to be my biggest disappointment, i'd just read wasp factory and was in awe of the man, i went to meet him at the book signing and queued for ages, my knees went all wobbly and I couldn't speak. When I came to read the book it was a science fiction one that was completely unrelatable, I'm not averse to a bit of science fiction but it was a dissapointing start and I couldn't persevere.

Agree abot CC's Mandolin

Wuthering Heights. I've tried, I've really tried but it's just so blooming confusing

I'm finding Douglas Coupland's J-Pod heavy going, which is odd as I really liked Girlfriend In A Coma, Hey Nostradamus and Eleanor Rigby. Couldn't finish Miss Wyoming, though.

Agree about The Lovely Bones

Zadie Smith's On Beauty

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

The Book Thief

Salman Rushdie's recent stuff

Ooh the list goes on.

Yes UD. Was told by friend the language was beautiful....

Also, does anyone get really irritated by "cheat" twist endings? Those which re done just to deceive the reader, and which rely on withholding something which would have been vital?

I eally enjoyed "After The Hole" by Guy Burt (filmed as "The Hole") at the time - zipped through it in one sitting - but the more I think about it the more I realise that it's one of those kinds of books. Basically, without giving too much away, if you are reading one person's subjective and inaccurate account of events then you have no way of knowing what really happened and the emotional "truth" of the whole book you have read is just blown apart.

Someone told me recently that there is a book by Sophie Hannah that does a similar thing?

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