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?

Sophie's World cann't remember who wrote it. Basically a vehicle for an introduction to philosophical ideas, tells the same story twice over many hundreds of pages. Actually set as an introductory text for yr1 of a Critical Theory English degree course becaues it was considered so bad by the tutor

Sophie's World was written by Jostein Gaarder. I struggled with it as well!

I laboured through all of Elena Ferrante and loathed every second. The female characters especially are so poorly written I was surprised to find out the author was actually a woman.

Sophie's World was written by Jostein Gaarder.

I wonder if a different translator would have made a difference.

Essex Serpent - what a bore. Also can’t stand Emma Bovary - she gives me the rage. Really love Iris Murdoch even though all her stories are the same.

Never Let Me Go.

I had to write an essay on it for uni and I hated it so much I felt like crying every time I looked at it. Hate the writing style, wanted to whack half of the characters (yes your life it shit. Stop fucking moping!) and the ending left me cold.

Catcher in the Rye was massively overrated I read it and thought is that it, is this what all the fuss is about?

Disagree with op on Brick Lane and Catch 22, the latter of which I loved!

Totally agree about James Joyce. I managed to get half way through Ulysses, but didn't get past the first sentence of Finnegan's Wake:

Riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.

Love the idea of Hardy Potter , Wizards of Wessex

Actually I suspect the Voldemort family saga would have sat very comfortably in a Hardy novel. It's a good plot, promising characters but scrappily executed.

Agree with Boredisboring about Finnegan's Wake. Complete literary gimmick. I forgot just how pissed off I was at having to read the stuff in my degree and put up with the Humpty Dumpty philosophy that was deconstruction.

Later books by Martina Cole.
All very samey.
Her first three books were great, especially The Lady Killer which I have read many times .

The rest is just dross.

Ahh yes, Martina Cole. Wonder how some of her books actually got published.

Also, Jonathan Stange and Mr Norrell was a disappointment. Only got a third of the way in. I so wanted to like that book.

could not get into The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings -Boring! but loved the films.

HATED:
Shakespeare. Perhaps if it hadn't been beaten into me as a student...
Harry Potter shiite. You need a glossary handy by page two.
James Joyce, Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf.
The Shiite Runner.
Bloody buggery 50 Shades. Every time Anastasia rolled her eyes or bit her lip, I knew I could skip ahead at least 10 pages to avoid repetitive, boring sex scenes.
French Lieutenant's Woman.
Prequel to To Kill a Mockingbird. Destroyed everything.
Kafka, Chekhov, Fitzgerald, much of Dickens.

Desert island books would include King's The Stand, Grisham's A Time to Kill/The Firm, John Jakes' Homeland, Buck's The Good Earth Trilogy, Alcott's Little Women/Little Men, much of Jeffrey Archer and Jackie Collins (very highbrow taste, as you've already surmised!), Life by Keith Richards, and Richard Price's The Wanderers.