Most disappointing books you've read this year?

Yes it’s very interesting to see the crossover, and Lessons in Chemistry does seem fit into the Halle Berry ‘Monster’s Ball’ category - she got both a Razzie and an Oscar for her performance!

Fight Club by Chuck Palianyuk (sp). Very basic. Gave me new respect for the film and Brad Pitt's acting ability.

Interestingly, Lessons in Chemistry seems to feature equally on the Best book of the year thread and now here, as the worst.

Seconded

I think Messrs Osman and Coles should apologise to every tree they pass for sacrificing their arboreal relatives to produce such tosh.

Someone lent me Zadie Smith. Wasn’t impressed. She is SO overrated and over-promoted. I don’t mean she’s bad. She just isn’t good. Other than that I’ve stuck to the classics, and have been so much happier for it. Although, tbh, My Antonia disappointed me a little. I read it at university and loved it. But re-reading it, 20 years later, it wasn’t quite the masterpiece I thought it was. Still very good though.

Did Not Finish

Apologies: what is a DNF?

My sister the serial killer was a huge disappointment. Also Babel which was a huge read and in parts good but I just felt I did not get it.

Milkman by Anna Burns - just awful. Gimmicky: dense/no paragraphs/no names given. Extremely dull.
Agree. It was awful, a DNF. I hope the Booker judges squirm with embarrassment every time they remember they gave it the prize.

I also hated The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller. It actually made me cross I hated it so much. But it was back in January and I can’t remember why I disliked it so much!
Nooooo! It's one of my favourite books. It's everything that Lessons in Chemistry wishes it was, but done a million times better - a pissed-off, angry female using her wits to get back at the patriarchy on her own terms. The story and the character have such a strong narrative arc.

I loved Hamnet…. As I think did my book club. I didn’t mind Lessons in Chemistry although I didn’t think it was anything special. Sometimes it’s not about the book it’s about your mood and whether that book is striking the right tone for where you are in that moment.
My most loathed books this year were The Khan by Saima Mir which was so ridiculous and badly edited I couldn’t get through it. ( guy in Waterstones raved about it) and Babel by RF Kaung which barely has a bad review anywhere. I can’t believe that readers are able to accept characters in 1830’s Oxford coming out with lines like “ pull the trigger kid”.

Oh no! I've just downloaded Lessons in Chemistry at the recommendation of a pal. Come to think of it, the same pal who bought me a copy of A Little Life which is hands down the worst book I've read for years

I guess there’ll be a lot of Lessons in Chemistry copies in charity shops this Christmas!

I’ve got Hamnet hardback I keep meaning to start.

I read the latest Kate Mosse books this year and was a bit disappointed. Found the characters a bit unbelievable really, good v evil stuff. Haven’t read the 3rd in the series, not sure I want to.

Read Hamnet for the first time and was distinctly unimpressed. Read it this year for the second time and loved it. I have a rule now to ignore all the reviews, esp the ones printed on book covers, and esp if they're by Stephen Fry or Graham Norton. 😀

How to Kill Your Family.
It was my poolside holiday read but I found it such hard work, and the main character irritated the hell out of me.

The Birdcage, Eve Chase- I felt swindled at the end. Great writing. AWFUL story.

Ah forgot the Monica Heisey one- very good description from @Cabbagey - what a whine fest… expected better from a Schitts creek writer.

Also hated Magpie but that wasn’t this year.

I wanted to finish “Grown Ups” by Marian Keyes because I love her but no, it just rambled on, going nowhere with irritating characters. There was a whole section about some of the characters going to a Spice Girls concert that was not connected to anything, just thrown in. No thanks.

Verity is the only Colleen Hoover novel I have read and yes, it was hilarious for all the wrong reasons. But, I do know two young women who previously, have never read for pleasure but are now tearing through all of Hoover’s books as they love them so much, so she’s all right by me.

I have a lot of books I didn't finish this year!

Leonard and Hungry Paul-WTF was that? The most boring book ever!

Tomorrow etc. Again really boring. I listened to it on Audible and the accents were really grating so perhaps I may have enjoyed it more if I read the book itself.

Rivers of London. I didn't realise this would be a fantasy novel so had to give up when I started reading about the rivers being magical beings.

I've got another one - Sorrow and Bliss.

(Spoilers below)

Main character: horrible, but I can get on board with that. Main relationship: very unhealthy yet I think we're supposed to be glad they don't break up? It seemed to be saying all or at least most childfree women secretly want children (they don't) and most annoyingly of all the "mental health condition" the whole book is based around... doesn't really exist. I know it's fiction but come on. Probably my most hated book of the year, though I didn't go into it with the same expectations that I did with the Elizabeth Day one.

Do keep on at it - I’ve just finished it. At the beginning I was sneery - it was almost like First World War Heartstopper fanfic but it gets much better.

Loved The Marriage Portrait! Shrines of Gaiety and Lessons in Chemistry were just OK for me.
Murder at Evensong I didn’t get at all. It wasn’t cosy crime, the main character wasn’t at all interested in the crime. He was just living his life whilst some crimes were happening and he’d occasionally hear about them. It was essentially an account of a vicar going for walks and making his mum tea.

The Satsuma Complex was horrible. Caused the biggest discussion at our book group, we all hated it and have no idea how it got near a publisher.

Also How Much of The Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang. Was looking forward to this, I love a Western. A couple of pages in (SPOILER) the 10 year old “boy” character turned out to be a little girl with a carrot in her knickers. This kids “identity” turns out to be a big part of the book. Not what I was in the mood for, now or ever.

I'm another person who didn't finish 'Lessons in Chemistry'. The main character was like a scientist that would be written for a very dull cartoon.

'Really Good, Actually' I was on a loooong waitlist to get this from the library following a friends' recommendation. Like listening to acquaintance moan about her breakup for hours, with a couple of scenes that made me cringe myself inside out.

The Thursday Murder Club.

There was such hype about it and I thought it was bloody awful. It jarred me at every page and I just couldn't get into it at ALL.

It's one of the very, very few books in my life that disengaged me so much I didn't even finish it...gave up about a third of the way through.

Oh no I can't imagine reading a fever dream.
I'd go mad!

How unpleasant

Act of Oblivion - Robert Harris: billed as a historical chase-based thriller, more a slow plod through the American wilderness with fanatical arseholes you couldn’t give two shits about.

I liked The Marriage Portrait though. Don’t get on with Kate Atkinson in general so didn’t bother with Shrines of Gaiety.