to think this is the most over-rated book ever

[SlightlyJaded]

'If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things'

I love books. From big dramatic plotlines and epic storylines to subtle and beautfifully written prose with well drawn characters. I like quirky books, classic books, modern literature, poetry - anything well written or engaging.

I almost never have to 'force' myself to finish a book but always do finish a book if I've started (why do we do that? ) but thought 'If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things' was the dullest most over-rated dross I've ever read.

Or did I miss something?

And yes, this should be in books, but I prefer AIBU

Yes, bin all stream of consciousness writing and most magic realism (I have a soft spot for Milan Kundera due to studenty nostalgia)

OMG!!! She wrote another one? That is dreadful news. Stay at home luv, let your husband do the writing.

Has anyone said Lord of the Rings yet?

grumpyvamps i loved Sister too

Anyone read David Sedaris, American humorist? Very funny and readable, and not in a Steven Fry way

Jybay, havenopatienceforstreamofsconsciousnessshiteibutdohaveasoftspotforAngelaCarterespeciallyTheBloodyChamberandNightsAtTheCircus

Haven't even read the rest of the thead but YES, YES, YES!!!! The Fecking Alchemist.

Dire, dire, should have had bloody pictures in it and it made me CRINGE

still trying to work it out - know a bloke is locked up, but suspect sister has CF too? Am I on the right lines?

100 years of solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Total garbage. Hands off Wuthering Heights.As a teenager I had the biggest crush on Heathcliff.

no. It will all be clear in the last chapter, very surprising though!

And I went through the whole book convinced it was the Polish friend

hmmm - must avoid flicking accidentally to the last few pages then. It's quite slow, forcing myself to not skip bits.

Dinahrod, am totally with you - Angela Carter is great. She will be preserved from the Magic Realism bin.

The Island is utter shit.

Don't flick, it will ruin the surprise! I bet you sneak open all your Christmas presents and then rewrap them

Diana Athill 'Somewhere towards the end'

I was wishing it was all the way through, tedious. I know she is 90 but that's no excuse for being boring.

English Passengers has defeated me on a couple of occasions. However, Victorian literature is not my favourite (I know that's a bit sweeping and there are certainly exceptions) so pseudo-Victorian doesn't really do it for me either.

Time Travellers Wife and Life of Pi were so dreadful I abandoned both. Together with White Teeth (dreary as hell) they make up a holy trilogy of crapness.

But I loved Kevin, The Slap, and Wuthering Heights.

it is interesting how the same titles crop up again and again and again on this thread and other similar past threads...
I wonder if the authors care, or whether they just count their royalty pennies and lick their advances with glee.

I give up on about half the books I start because there are so many that annoy me. And I don't get on with a lot of books that I know are 'good' but just aren't for me, like The God of Small Things.

I agree that The Slap is objectively awful (gave up after about ten pages). I think Cloud Atlas is very overrated but not actually bad- just not as good as is claimed.

My nomination is The Line of Beauty. Hated it.

Oh have just come back from school run and feel all liberated. thank you all so much! I can now run along my bookshelf flicking the ones I will never read again (despite being nominated for Booker/Orange/Smug Literary Prize, from their positions of pride and get them to the charity shop.

These will include:

Disgrace
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things
The Bluest Eyes (anyone?)
Onyx and Crake (love love love Margaret Atwood but had to force myself to finish this)
A Suitable Boy
Birdso zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
On Chesil Beach (again, do like Ian McKewan but this read like an over long essay written by a rather precocious English Lit student)
Jane Eyre
Captain Coreli's Mandolin
The Call of the Wild (and anything else that dares to carry the name Jack London)
His Dark Materials
Less than Zero

Going. The lot of them.

I don't know if it counts as literature but I am surprised no-one's mentioned Twilight yet...

Wow, if you people think Alchemist is bad (it is, obviously) you should try his latest. Can't remember what it was called, something to do with film stars and russian oligarchs. (Actually he's probably churned out another 4 since then.)

My husband bought it, for reasons unknown, and it was possibly the biggest pile of tosh I've ever read. Astonishing he has such a following. Shallow, not very bright people who think they are oh-so deep and spiritual I suppose. Urgh.

I can't believe this thread has got to 8 pages without a mention of:

Remains of the Day - uptight Englishman never snogs uptight Englishwoman. The end.

Possession - ASbloodyByatt. Don't think I made it to the end of chapter 1. It was the cod-Victorian twee poetry that did for me. So bad it made my gums recede.
(But the book does make a v. useful doorstop).

Anita Brookner. Hotel du Lac. You're on holiday, love. Couldn't you even pretend to be cheerful?

And anything by Ian McEwan. So glad Atonement is on here. And Enduring Love... the pseudo-psychology bit at the end made me want to seek him out for all the wrong reasons. It was the 'look at me' behaviour of a precocious toddler.

And for that reason, fellow dragons, I'm out...

Unrulysun - I first read Ms Smilla's Feeling for Snow as an 18 year old and was baffled by that bit. I wondered if it was something everyone did, but didn't talk about. I loved the book though, but could not get into his others.

I also loved 'If no one speaks...'

I hated White Teeth. I felt like I was being chuntered at someone very dull throughout.

I've tried reading Catch 22 but just couldn't get into it. I just found it uninvolving.

Tried reading WH, but kept having the Kate Bush song in my head the whole time and that got annoying.

I love Possession!!!
I've read it about 10 times. As a student of Victorian art I even enjoyed the bad poetry. It reminded me of Rossetti.