Books that were recommended to you but turned out to be absolute pointless drivel - the wasted hours you'll never get back - a warning list for others!

[MadreInglese]

These immediately spring to mind:

Kate Mosse - Labyrinth
(also her The Winter Ghosts - should have known after I read one of hers that another would be just as crud)

Paulo Coehlo - The Alchemist

Audrey Niffeneger - Her Fearful Symmetry
(first half was readable then she appears to have taken some strange pills before embarking on the rest of the book)

Stephanie Meyer - The Twilight Trauma Saga

Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Snow Falling on Cedars
The Shipping News
Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow

Anything by James Pattinson or Patricia Cornwell!

Dittany, I enjoyed the Steig Larsson books, seems you either love them or hate them

Oh and anything by Dan Brown

Stieg Larsson 1+2 zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz - have not bothered with number 3.

Dan Brown (Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons) made me laugh and laugh and laugh... So worth it if that's what you're after.

Actually, Da Vinci Code and Stieg Larsson 2 are very similar: Boring male hero who is inexplicably attractive to women. Monster albino who cannot feel pain hunts our hero couple. Easy easy clues.

I agree with Her Fearful Symmetry - such a con, I'd have given up halfway if I'd known it would get so daft and downright nasty by the end.

A couple of the later Anne Tylers have left me feeling flat at the end as well, despite being well-written and an enjoyable, insightful read.

Wolf Hall
The Slap
Man and Boy
The girl who kicked the hornets nest (didn't get past page 3) The other 2 were prob equally as bad but I listened to them on abridged audiobook which wasn't quite as painful.

oh god The Slap 1000x over

oh yes Snow Falling on Cedars - did that for A level, Ishmael and Hatsue

ROFL @ "boring male hero who is inexplicably attractive to women"

Agree re TTW. But I sort of knew it'd be rubbish but slogged on anyway. Why? Have heard anough about the Alchemist to know No

Cannot believe someone has put The Road Noooo!

Harry Potter - only read no. 1, sure it is great if you are 10.
The Alchemist, urgh.
Ecstasy by Irvine Welsh, rigor mortis more like.

100 years of Solitude is great if you are a teenager, otherwise I concur (sadly clings on to memories of being 18).

I've had Wolf Hall on the shelf for a year, hmm.

Anything by Lisa Jewell or Cecelia Aherne
Anna Karenina (I know, I know, great literature, blah blah blah but there's just far too much about peasant farming methods to keep me hooked. Have tried to read it 3 times and never finished it)
Atonement by Ian McEwan. Just massively frustrating and irritating.
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Labyrinth - definitely
The Forgotten Garden - utter tripe
The Lovely Bones - boring

I normally just avoid anything with a Richard & Judy book club sticker on the corner - I've never read ANYTHING that they've recommended that's been halfway decent. I'm sure there are some that are OK but I haven't found them yet...

Fury by Salman Rushdie - middle aged writer barely conceals his jealousy of ex-wife and mid-life crisis through the guise of the novel.

I agree with Life of Pi and Curious Incident.

One Day
Time Travellers Wife
William Walkers first year of marriage

I never continue reading a book I dont like

believe it said, The Road was dreary

Hi, I'm new to the fiction threads but couldn't resist when I saw the thread title - hope that's ok.

Home - Marilynne Robinson - it destroys all the sweetness of Gilead (the previous book) - how could she spend 10 years writing to do that!

Unconsoled - Kazuo Ishiguro - leaves you unconsoled & raging that it's soooooo loooong!

Birds Without Wings - Louis de Bernieres (sp??) - He wanted to write a book that couldn't be turned into a film. He certainly got a book that couldn't be read.

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

The Vicar of Wakefield

Did Gargantua & Pantagruel by Rabelais at uni - every copy should be pulped immediately.

Thoroughly enjoyed Wolf Hall - stayed up late at nights to finish it

Captain Corelli's Mandolin
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night
Any Jodi Picoult once you've read one they are all drearily similar and predictable

Oh god, yes, Labyrinth.
Still can't forgive the woman who wrote it for taking away all those hours of my life.

Catch 22!!!!!

For the love of god, what utter shite.

Time Traveler's Wife
& that one about the murdered girl who watches her family, & the murderer, who eventually dies in some unlikely way

niccibabe that's interesting you think that about Unconsoled - I've just read Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and quite liked it so was pondering reading some more of his...

the celestine prophecy
time travellers wife
cloud atlas

dh would like me to add the catcher in the rye which i love but he HATED and still moans about it!

Yes, anything by Cecelia Ahern (in fact most Irish chicklit except Maeve & Marion )

ponders - you mean 'lovely bones'

i also hated anything by alex garlan which was way over rated back in the late 90's