Celebrity novels

I like graham nortons novels too!

Also agree that dawn French's books are awful...pains me to say it as she's a comedy icon and I love her. But they're all dreadful.

I've enjoyed all of graham norton's fiction and his latest one was his best yet. Really good.

Part of whats annoying is not knowing which authors actually wrote their books and which are ghost written. Or heavily supported by editors.

Find it hard to believe that Anton du Beke, Alisha Dixon, Alan Titchmarsh and many others didn't have help .

I hated the first Richard Osman book. Couldn’t go further than a chapter or so. I have quite enjoyed Anton Du Beke & I read one of Carol Kirkwood. Hers is very lightweight read on the beach type but ok. Anton’s was a bit better I thought

Dawn French as a novelist is absolute shite. One of the worst books I have ever read. Had she not been Dawn French there is no way it would have been published.

The most worrying trend is for celebrity childrens authors.....David baddiel, ade apitan, Aylisha Dixon , dermot o'dreary, rochelle humes, chris hoy, clare balding ..frank lampard, miranda hart....the list is endless all shite and probably ghost written

Julian clary wrote a few grown up books before he started writing kids books, they were great and I live in hope he’ll write more. They were very Julian tho, innuendo etc but really well written.

his kids books, the bolds series, are also great if you have 7-11 year olds

This thread has reminded me how much I enjoyed one of Dawn French's novels, I should look for her others. Can't remember what it was called, I grabbed it off the display shelf at the library assuming it was a memoir as I'd no idea she wrote fiction. Not literature, to be sure, but utterly entertaining.

I received Michael Caine's novel Deadly Game for Christmas so will report back.

@JaneyGee or go to your local library and try out one of the many many new authors that have books out and who are not celebrities but might be able to write!!!

They really annoy me. Writing a novel is an incredibly arrogant thing to do. There are so many great books out there you’d need several lifetimes to read them all. The world doesn’t need yet another crappy novel by a B-list celebrity clogging up the bookshelves. Instead of reading Richard Osman or Dawn French, read Virginia Woolf or George Eliot or the Brontes for crying out loud.

A celebrity memoir is different. They can be quite entertaining, especially if you like the person concerned. I really enjoyed Brian Blessed’s autobiography, for example.

Ben Elton has written some brilliant books. I particularly loved Two Brothers and Time and Time again.
Ruth Jones' books were an enjoyable easy read.
My biggest surprise was Fern Britton. I read one of hers recently and was pleasantly surprised how good it was.

Dawn French is good, and Jenny Éclair is amazing. Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed Graham Norton's books - I usually listen to them in Audible and he narrates them very well.

Don't tend to read them however, I am reading 'The woman in me' - Britney Spears and loving it so far 😊🫶

Ruth Jones's books get good reviews, although I haven't read any yet.

I liked one of Ben Elton's - based on Big Brother, can't remember the title now

Has anyone read Martin Kemp’s first novel? Although I’ve always had a soft spot for him since spandau ballet, I can’t quite bring myself to read it

I really enjoyed ‘Contacts’ by Mark Watson, and I’m looking forward to reading more of his books.

Not all celebrities are equal. Someone said above about Edwina Curry, there have been several politicians who have been successful writers, e.g. Disraeli or Churchill. A celebrity whose job involves writing (like a comedian) has a better chance of being a decent writer than e.g. a reality star. That doesn't mean they will definitely be a great writer and obviously celebrities have a massive advantage when it comes to publicising their book which is why they get publishing deals.

With children's books I agree with everything people say about David Walliams but I also know that DD1 adored his books when at the right age and she had no idea about his celebrity so he's obviously doing something right.

I've also read his 1st and Forever Home.
Forever Home was pretty good I thought.

I like the fact that they're not sentimental and the plot of Forever Home held together well .

Read the 1st Richard Osman book. Thought it was readable but I'm not tempted to read any more of his.
My mum absolutely loves them though. I think they'll be bothering the bestsellers list for some time.

His brother Mat Osman has also got a book out!

I've read Robert Peston's 1st book - weird book, in the 'so bad it's good' way.

I may read the 2nd in the series but I don't want to buy it , would rather get it from the library.

I enjoyed all Edwina Currie's novels.

I was really looking forward to Richard Coles' book buf every sentence seemed to last half a page and I had to refer to the dictionary quite a few times although I'm well educated.
My daughter read Osman's first offering but won't be reading any more!