Page 7 | I just read a terrible book

Orangeis · 2023-02-06T11:29:15+00:00

Bring me back, B A Paris. What a load of absolute tosh. A man's partner dissapears, 6 years later he gets with her sister and lives with her. The big twist is.....the new girlfriend is actually the missing sister. He didn't realise this as she had a different hair do. That's hours of my life I'll never get back. I feel like taking the book in to the back garden and burning the bugger. What's your worst book and why?

Walkinginthesand · 08/02/2023 08:17

Whatislove82 · 08/02/2023 08:04

Anyone watching downtown or reading Mills and boon type historical romances - I doubt would be too up to speed with what’s historically accurate or not anyway?

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Most unfair!

Whatislove82 · 08/02/2023 08:04

PermanentTemporary · 08/02/2023 07:50

I suppose I can see the point about distorting history so we stay sympathetic to the characters. I'm reading a book at the moment published in 1943 and I don't in fact think it would be considered antisemitic for that time, but the way the characters discuss Jewish people is horrifying to the modern eye and it obviously makes it a hard read. But that's why I don't watch stuff like Downton or read historical romances where the heroine eg has sex before marriage not as a massive outlier but as normal behaviour. I can't stand the anachronisms.

Anyone watching downtown or reading Mills and boon type historical romances - I doubt would be too up to speed with what’s historically accurate or not anyway?

Kanaloa · 08/02/2023 08:03

PermanentTemporary · 08/02/2023 07:50

I suppose I can see the point about distorting history so we stay sympathetic to the characters. I'm reading a book at the moment published in 1943 and I don't in fact think it would be considered antisemitic for that time, but the way the characters discuss Jewish people is horrifying to the modern eye and it obviously makes it a hard read. But that's why I don't watch stuff like Downton or read historical romances where the heroine eg has sex before marriage not as a massive outlier but as normal behaviour. I can't stand the anachronisms.

Yes. I suppose when you are reading or watching a historical romance or period piece you sort of need to suspend disbelief in the way you would when watching fantasy. I mean nobody (I presume) is watching a film version of Anna Karenina and complaining that they are speaking English. Or watching an Austen adaptation and complaining that the characters don’t have bad teeth and hairy armpits. The fact is generally film and modern books are made for the audience. And if you have a character who is supposed to be the hero spouting disgust for homosexuality or extreme racist views about how black people shouldn’t be allowed out in polite society, you’ll have such an extremely limited readership/audience.

I’m also always a bit suspicious of those I see (usually men) insisting period pieces are unrealistic because they aren’t racist/sexist, because they never seem to have an issue with the modern makeup and grooming used, which is equally unrealistic!

PermanentTemporary · 08/02/2023 07:50

I suppose I can see the point about distorting history so we stay sympathetic to the characters. I'm reading a book at the moment published in 1943 and I don't in fact think it would be considered antisemitic for that time, but the way the characters discuss Jewish people is horrifying to the modern eye and it obviously makes it a hard read. But that's why I don't watch stuff like Downton or read historical romances where the heroine eg has sex before marriage not as a massive outlier but as normal behaviour. I can't stand the anachronisms.

summerisnearlyhere · 08/02/2023 07:02

AllTheBooks · 06/02/2023 12:48

dont bother with the newest BA Paris @Orangeis - The Prisoner is even worse in terms of plot development. Just drivel

Isn't it just! I listened to it on audible, kept having to check how much longer it was going on for, just went on and on, couldn't wait for it to end!

Ginmonkeyagain · 08/02/2023 06:59

An elegant way of dealing with the different values/attitudes of the past, is to make the make the main narrator a social or economic outsider so they can act as a link between the reader and the era they inhabit.

summerisnearlyhere · 08/02/2023 06:58

Brefugee · 06/02/2023 12:08

What's your worst book and why?

putting my hard hat on: The Alchemist. I have read a lot of awful awful books. But never one that is so hyped up by so many (millions) of people. Such a load of tosh.

Also Birdsong. I remember thinking at the time that if i want to read about a French adultress i can read Madame Bovary. And if i want to read about WW1 i can read All Quiet On The Western Front.
Gah to both of them

I gave up on The Alchemist, started off okish, then totally ridiculous!

And don't get me started in Birdsong, awful book!

RainyReadingDay · 08/02/2023 06:52

echt · 08/02/2023 05:10

This is where you need to read the peerless "The Book of Ebenezer Le Page" by GB Edwards and in audio by Ray Dotrice, also a Guernsey man.

I can't recommend them too much. I envy anyone reading/hearing for the first time.

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Yes. Absolutely agree with this. I discovered The Book of Ebenezer le Page back in the 1980s. It's a wonderful book, written by a Guernsey man. It's packed with authentic detail. It follows the life of Ebenezer from a young boy to an old man, including what it was like during the Nazi occupation.

A truly wonderful novel. Far better than the (imo) dreadful Guernsey Literary Potato tripe.

PoseyFlump · 08/02/2023 06:38

I was thinking of reading A Little Life but after the dislike on here I won't bother.

Can anyone who didn't like that book recommend a decent alternative?

I've also got an audiobook credit to spend if anyone can recommend a good listen (with a nice narrator voice!)

Kanaloa · 08/02/2023 05:56

tobee · 07/02/2023 23:45

"To be fair I can sort of understand the conforming to 21st century values. Downton Abbey would have been ultra depressing if they had slung Thomas out on the street to be homeless because he was gay, and refused to ever speak his name again. Or if Call the Midwife had people being dismissive and nasty to women suffering domestic violence etc. It just wouldn’t appeal to the modern viewer."

I disagree. I can't stand anachronism. What's wrong with people that they can't cope with understanding people having different values in the past? It doesn't make any sense if, say, you educate people that obtaining gay rights in the last 50 years has been such an important thing, and then you read a work of historical fiction and people have 2023 views on things.

Nothing’s wrong with people. They can understand that there were different values in the past. But showrunners and producers are aware that people will not relate to, for example, the Grantham family if they see that family behave in a homophobic/sexist/racist fashion. People don’t want to watch that and root for those characters. It would alienate the audience. Of course they’ll still reference the fact that being homosexual was illegal/black people were treated poorly. But if they show their lead characters championing those views the audience will be turned off those characters.

echt · 08/02/2023 05:10

tobee · 07/02/2023 23:13

"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was such a disappointment. It’s hard to see how a novel seemingly inspired by the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands could end up such rom-com slush. Give me an accurate historical account any day."

Absolutely agree!

This is where you need to read the peerless "The Book of Ebenezer Le Page" by GB Edwards and in audio by Ray Dotrice, also a Guernsey man.

I can't recommend them too much. I envy anyone reading/hearing for the first time.

Walkinginthesand · 08/02/2023 04:45

pollyhemlock · 07/02/2023 11:45

One thing that really annoys me is when authors make characters speak in a way that they just wouldn’t have at the time. Near the beginning of Still Life someone says something like ‘ I know, right?’. Nobody would have used that expression in 1944. I didn’t like the book much anyway but that put me off right at the start. Couldn’t believe in the period or the setting.

Agree. Also, at the opposite end, I can’t stand it when characters “break their fast” in historical novels. OK we get it, but there must be another way of saying they had breakfast in a less clumsy way.

Love this thread!

TheMarzipanDildo · 08/02/2023 00:59

pollyhemlock · 07/02/2023 11:45

One thing that really annoys me is when authors make characters speak in a way that they just wouldn’t have at the time. Near the beginning of Still Life someone says something like ‘ I know, right?’. Nobody would have used that expression in 1944. I didn’t like the book much anyway but that put me off right at the start. Couldn’t believe in the period or the setting.

I found the fact that people say “Thanks” rather than “thank you” in Daniel Deronda really weird, even though that’s set at the time it’s written. I just can’t imagine people in the 1870s saying it.

tobee · 07/02/2023 23:45

"To be fair I can sort of understand the conforming to 21st century values. Downton Abbey would have been ultra depressing if they had slung Thomas out on the street to be homeless because he was gay, and refused to ever speak his name again. Or if Call the Midwife had people being dismissive and nasty to women suffering domestic violence etc. It just wouldn’t appeal to the modern viewer."

I disagree. I can't stand anachronism. What's wrong with people that they can't cope with understanding people having different values in the past? It doesn't make any sense if, say, you educate people that obtaining gay rights in the last 50 years has been such an important thing, and then you read a work of historical fiction and people have 2023 views on things.

tobee · 07/02/2023 23:13

"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was such a disappointment. It’s hard to see how a novel seemingly inspired by the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands could end up such rom-com slush. Give me an accurate historical account any day."

Absolutely agree!

PurpleParrotfish · 07/02/2023 21:54

@BigglyBee I think in Lord of the Rings the key thing to skip is the songs/poetry! I don’t mind the battles.

CocoaMojo · 07/02/2023 21:06

Last year I read On earth we're briefly gorgeous by Ocean Vuong which I thought was utterly pretentious and pointless.
And The invisible life of Addie LaRue which was so badly written and just went on and on and on...

CrossPurposes · 07/02/2023 21:02

A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle. Every sentence has a comma, just so. Nice cover which just shows me.

ReneBumsWombats · 07/02/2023 20:53

Cecelia Ahern has a target market and is very good at meeting the brief and hitting her mark.

Elmrosie · 07/02/2023 20:51

SnakeOiler · 06/02/2023 14:15

I can’t remember the name of it but many years ago I read a book about a
man who left his wife, set up a new life abroad with a new woman who was totally accepting of the fact he’d left his wife and children after the death of their baby son.

the twist was he’d killed the son by leaving him unattended in the bath and watched him drown from the doorway. And he’d done it because he believed the son wasn’t his, and was his best mate’s because he’d once caught him his best mate anally raping his wife but thought it was consensual sex.

it was all bloody mental.

I've read this one, but can't remember what it's called either. I wanted to scream at both of them.

BellePeppa · 07/02/2023 20:20

skippymcflippy · 07/02/2023 11:39

@Funkyblues101
If you are planning to hike the Appalachian trail you should read "Grandma Gatewood's Walk" for inspiration!

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And watch Deliverance 🥴

WillWorkForShoes · 07/02/2023 20:13

The Alchemist - far too many pages to illustrate that you should take opportunities in life, which we all already knew
Peculiar Ground - too many words used to describe too little story
The Time Travellers Wife - could have been so good but who cared about the unlikeable protagonists.

Manthide · 07/02/2023 20:10

Dd1 gave me the Richard Osman book last year as a present and I've nit even opened it yet! Doesn't sound like I'm missing much!

MissHavishamsMouldyOldCake · 07/02/2023 19:54

Farmageddon · 07/02/2023 19:26

She really only got published because of who her dad was.

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I've never read any of her books. Not my thing at all. But I find it hard to believe she got a publishing deal because her dad is a disgraced former Taoiseach. Her chick-lit target market wouldn't care about that. Apparently she's sold 25 million books to date, so she's clearly got the knack for the genre.

grayhairdontcare · 07/02/2023 19:30

Thursday murder club was just Gangster Grannies for adults