Aibu to ask what books you love, that others hate!

[Ilovewineandcrisps]

Inspired by another thread, are there any books that you have really enjoyed but that others hate?

I saw We need to talk about Kevin mentioned several times relating to people who can't stand it, whereas it's one of my favourite books of all time!

Loved the Slap, girl with dragon tattoo, Cloud Atlas, anything by Alan Garner or Phillip Pullman...bored by Us, the one about apes & kids with the yellow cover, girl on the train, captain Corelli, eat/love/pray

Oh and scoop by Evelyn Waugh

I also loved The Slap. The tv series not so much.

Absolutely hated Atonement and Fifty Shades. They are the only books I've given up on. Fifty Shades was thrown in the bin after 4 chapters, I would have been embarrassed to give that shite away

badders123 have ordered instance of the fingerpost from the library, thank you. I love the Falco series too by Lindsey Davis. Her new series with Flavia Alba- most recent The Garden of the Hesperides- is warming up well.
Wolf Hall was good, not sure why people found it awkward.
Have been trying to read The Buried Giant by Ishiguro (loved Remains of the Day) but am finding it rather slow going.

Loved 'Life after Life' - I think it's the closest thing I've read to Rosamond Lehmann. Didn't like 'A God in Ruins' nearly as much.
Absolutely love Shirley and Villette - much more than Jane Eyre, but not many people agree with this.
Can't get into Wolf Hall or Bring up the Bodies at all.

Ooh yes Instance of the Fingerpost was brilliant.

And nearly all of A.S.Byatt I absolutely love, but couldn't get on with The Biographer's tale. Loved the Frederica quartet and Possession though. And I love her non-fiction too. It gave me great happiness to blow all my Waterstones points on her latest book about Burne Jones and Fortuny. It's such a beautiful-looking book, as well.

One I loved that my fellow book club members all hated was H is For Hawk - I thought it was really moving and was totally engrossed by it.

I also really enjoyed the Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath -others hated it.

I loathed the Hundred year Old Man and Gone Girl.

got a bit bogged down in Instance of The Fingerpost and gave up, but I might give it another try.

In my teens I read and adored trainspotting. Read marabou stork nightmares by same novelist and still feel queasy if I see Irvine Welsh on TV. Sorry x

Badders123, I agree, Agassi's autobiography was great.

Though I have a small thing about 'sportsmen's descriptions of their wives' wedding dresses'. I know it's daft and they're not writers, and the ghostwriters probably have to prod them like mad to get anything out of them, but I think of all the hours and days and months, sometimes that these women may have spent choosing the dress or getting it made and you will get 'long white dress' 'long white dress' and one incredibly descriptive 'flowing white dress' - it makes me laugh.

I liked Kevin.
Loved The Night Circus.

Found Salman Rushdie's writing to be a load of crap and unnecessarily hard to read - pretentious at best.

Girl on a Train was okay - easy reading. Likewise 50 Shades of Grey.

Can't read Thomas Hardy or William Thackery - sent me to sleep!

Liked Jane Austen when I read her books in my 20s.

Oh melfish I hope you like it! :)
One of the chapters (or sections) is not as good as the others but it's so worth persevering with.
The Andre Agassi autobiography was one of my 3am kind,e purchases but I really rate it

I'm glad someone else said Jilly Cooper! Love a trashy read, lol.

There are too many books I'd love to read. Used to be a time I'd devour books in a single sitting, but with two young DC I just don't seem to have time anymore.

Oh, I did read the Century Trollgy by Ken Follett and thought that was very good!

Oh yes Badders to Woodhouse as well as The God of Small Things! Had a thing for Indian writers and read some amazing books - but ignored the advice not to read 'A fine Balance' - brilliant book but still have nightmares - so be warned! And of course loved George Elliot and Jane Austin!
I agree so many books - but have always meant to read A S Byatt and will do now - so thanks for the reminder!

I think the Twilight saga could've been much better in the hands of a more skilled author. Although I did feel very sorry for Stephenie Meyer when she was told that people returned her books to the shops for a refund - she just didn't think that people did that, and seemed quite hurt by it. I admit that I've never really considered returning books either!

I've never read 50 Shades and never intend to, but it irritates the fuck out of me when people deride a book for shoddy writing when they've never even tried to read it. Sure, it's well known for being shit, but surely people should form their own opinion by actually reading it? That wasn't aimed at anyone on here, by the way, it's just a general gripe.

Secret History. Adore it.

If any of you have enjoyed watching Versailles on tv I would recommend "the sun King" by Nancy Mitford

Sounds show-offy but I loved War & Peace. It is long but it is an easy read and I realised after ploughing through them the 1st time that you can skip all the boring descriptions of battles and lose nothing from the plot. Ditto Daniel Deronda - skip the interminable fanciful meanderings about Jewish mysticism and you have got a really good read.

Maybe I need my own thread: literary classics for the terminally lazy

Yes sabine the Secret History is a book i come back to over and over. I lend my copy out veeeery carefully!!

Jennie by Paul Gallico. Another little known trrasure.

I hated Sense of an Ending. I didn't understand it.
My friend raved about a Ken Follett book which I thought was terrible and gave up. Couldn't cope with Wolf Hall.
I loved H is for Hawk, the slap and the Elena Ferrante series. I'm half way through a Little Life. It is so sad!!!

Thousands of millions of people love and adore The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

The point of this thread is to discuss books that you liked that many others did not.

Its a bit pointless to rave about universally popular books here.

Oh yes Badders, Nancy Mitford was wonderful. The less wellknown books such as Christmas Pie and Wigs On The Green are really worth a read.

Jennie by Paul Gallico - little known ?

I once recommended Alexander McCall Smith's, Portuguese Irregular Verbs to a very good long-term friend. I think it's really funny and very entertaining. However, she has never looked at me in quite the same way since. I told her that she wasn't really giving it a chance and to read on as it really is very good. I was met with a speechless blank look!

On the same note, Time's Arrow by Martin Amis. I thought it was inexplicably underrated, I loved it, it's one of the few books I've read that put me into an altered reality. Haven't read it for 20 years though so maybe I would feel differently now.

I thought Martin Amis - and that book - was quite highly rated - did I miss something? I should go back and read the reviews.

I read his memoir Experience when I was on maternity leave years ago and loved it - also loved the excellence of his writing, quite apart from the story.

I agree with you that Time's Arrow was one of the few books that put me in a state of altered reality. Once I started reading it, when I stopped I would find time hard to deal with - really odd. DS did a high school essay on it a couple of years ago - recommended by me.

I thought everyone who read them loved Wodehouse and Jerome K. Jerome. Probably the most beloved books in the UK. For Wodehouse I only love the Jeeves and Emsworth books though - the others are just ok.