Most overrated books

[Snowfalling]

I'll probably get flamed for some of these choices but here's my list:

1. Brick lane by Monica Ali. So badly written and researched, i was embarrassed for the author, as I'm from a similar background to her.

1. The God of small things. There was one sentence that was repeated over and over again to the point of toe curling cringe. Something about the twin's hair bobbing. Also generally didn't enjoy the writing or plot. Just absolute crap. I don't get the adulation for this at all.

1. Anything by Maggie o'Farrell or Kate Atkinson. I know people love them both, i just don't get it.

1. Sophie Hannah's more recent books are just dire. The earlier ones were great.

1. Catch 22. Just gibberish. You probably have to be drugged up to enjoy it.

I'm sure I'll think of more.

So which books do you think are overrated?

I did too @Deadringer - and Angels and Demons, the prequel. And I love The Time Traveler's Wife.

But I do read all sorts of self published shite on Kindle Unlimited too, so I'm not sure that I'm the most critical reader. I actually get crosser about a poorly thought out plot than I do bad writing.

Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber. Good stories/ plot buty the writing is too overloaded.

The OED, the plot is really hard to follow and the lead figures very hard to understand./ empathize with. Much nicer to settle down with a Thesaurus, always going to find something you didn't know.

I’ve liked or loved most of the books mentioned on here! Having read the whole thread, there’s one that hasn’t been mentioned that I really don’t get, to the extent that I couldn’t finish it and that’s James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake. Ulysses, by comparison, is like reading a Jackie Collins’ novel. I guess it was rated, as I was supposed to study it at degree level. That was a while ago, though. Perhaps I should give it another go?

I think if 3 “friends” gave me The Wasp Factory & suggested I’d enjoy it, I would be seriously concerned.

No one of earth should have to read Finnegan's Wake and I say that as MA Eng lit and English teacher. I studied I see top Joycean scholars in Dublin and they even said this . Saw someone read it on the tube once though.

No one should have to read Ulysses either.

Personally I loved Catch 22 its a very funny book. Never managed to get through any of Mr Heller's other books though.

My personal candidate for the most overrated book of all time has to be Lord of the Rings. Gods what a tedious, long-winded, class-ridden, arrogant bore of a book.

Anna Karenina- I have never managed to get through it. A discovery of witches and the 50 shades trilogy were bloody awful- and that is just the language and the grammar. I also didnt get on with the time travellers wife.
I did however love birdbox and totally got it.

Anna Karenina is my desert island book, I love it.

Life of Pi .. we need to talk about Kevin ..... anything by Jamie Oliver 😂

‘The Museum of Innocence’ by Orhun Pamuk which was chosen by my book group. We all agreed it was tedious and went nowhere - but for hundreds of pages. The author was Turkish but it was not a delight.

Actually loved most of the books mentioned in this thread.

Perfume by Patrick Suskind. I believe there was something very Emperor's new clothes about that book.

Nextphonewontbesamsung Perfume was one of the few books my Readers' Group 100% agreed was shite.

The woman who went to bed for a year-my mate loved it-I got the the end of chapter 2
Fifty shades of gray-what a pile of wank
Outnumbered/dadlife by Simon hooper I got it for my birthday-Jesus that man thinks he’s god

I love Dan Brown and Jodi Picoult so disagree on those two.
I actually enjoyed the four Fifty Shades books, although I skimmed through the tedious sex scenes and the last one wasn’t really worth reading. I thought the character of Christian was interesting, possibly because he was adopted and I’m an adopter. I don’t think I’ll want to read them again though, at least not for a very long time. Actually I’ve noticed charity shops are full of Fifty Shades books.
I gave up on Eat, Pray, Love very quickly, and I rarely give up on books, but just couldn’t get into it.
I struggled through Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and somehow finished it.
I’ve come to the conclusion life’s too short to carry on with something you’re not enjoying.

Anything by Martin Amis.

Also agree re: Catcher in the Rye.

Could not get on with Wuthering Heights or Lady Chatterley's Lover.

Came across this quote while reading today, from the Life of Lazarillo de Tormes:

"I believe that things worthy of attention shouldn't be left unheard and unseen, buried in the grave of oblivion. The reader might find them agreeable. Those ready to pay more than passing attention will be rewarded. In this sense, there is no book, as Pliny says, however bad it might be, that doesn’t contain something of value."

I read constantly. I've bookshelves full. Some it these I agree with. But others not so much. Reading is personal though and depends on your mood at the time.
I loved
Let's talk about kevin
Elinor oliphant
Jane Eyre
Gone girl
And thats just for starters.

Agree with PPs who said anything by Dan Brown and as for the Harry Potter books 🤯

If I start a book and think I could have written it better myself I stop reading immediately - life is way too short 😆

I hated 50 shades. It read to me like a bad fan fiction of twilight (which I also hated). Then I discovered it was!
I love Lolita. Very uncomfortable reading but very well written.
I like some classics. Jane Eyre. Pride and Prejudice. Most Shakespeare. Have just read Wuthering Heights for my degree and hated it. Also I hate Charles Dickens.
But I love some fluff. I love sophie kinsella.
I also loved Sophie's World which was mentioned before.
I love Harry Potter books also.
Think reading and tastes are subjective. Also depend on your life at the time of reading. There is no right or wrong.

The Girl on The Train- absolutely dreadful couldn't believe it when it became the book to read

The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling. Genuinely no more interesting than cutting my toenails.

I disagree with you about Catch 22, although I'll admit to having a slightly warped sense of humour!

Perfume is my desert island book. I first read it when I was 14 and I've lost count of how many times I've gone back to it since then. It's so evocative.

Haven’t RTFT but Eleanor Oliphant. Mediocre at best. A book for people who read one book a year and then never shut up about how amazing it is.