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Books to avoid

217 replies

Redglitter · 23/07/2015 22:37

Plenty of threads for recommendations but what books would you advise people to avoid

For me it's 'Her' by Harriet Gray

A total non story with a dreadful ending. I actually thought my kindle had forgotten to download the last chapter. Don't know if the author was running late for her deadline or what but ugh avoid

OP posts:
marshmallowpies · 27/07/2015 13:11

Errol, has anyone ever actually read the Silmarillion? I tried to as a teenager and failed.

Then all my male friends got into LOTR belatedly when the films came out (we were in our mid-20s) and I got a lot of kudos from these geek/fantasy loving blokes for actually having tried to read the Silmarillion despite being female...

WixingMords · 27/07/2015 14:03

It makes it very evident Butterdish, the recommend a book threads are always full of people disagreeing with something up thread.

Books are so subjective, if I read a book and find it tediously slow I know my mum will enjoy it. Certain books she dislikes I will love (handy situation if the book was bought rather than borrowed)

nauticant · 27/07/2015 14:18

Child 44. It has three stages - this is excellent and claustrophobic, this is a bit silly and where did the menace go, and WTF.

I'm pleased to see some Donna Tartt non-love. I've not read any of her books but nearly ever book having that amount of hype has been a real let down for me.

marshmallowpies · 27/07/2015 14:59

Nauticant, The Goldfinch and The Little Friend are both much too long and flawed - though I liked both - but the Secret History really is as good as the hype. It is just fantastic, a real gripping page turner but heart breaking too. I'll always stand up for it!

suzanneyeswecan · 27/07/2015 15:14

has anyone ever actually read the Silmarillion? I tried to as a teenager and failed
same here!

suzanneyeswecan · 27/07/2015 15:22

Books are so subjective, if I read a book and find it tediously slow I know my mum will enjoy it
indeed
the thread title 'books that were not at all to my taste (but may be enjoyable to others)' may have been more rational!

ErrolTheDragon · 27/07/2015 15:30

I was also a teenager (would have been first year of uni) - having just read LOTR at the recommendation of a friend who had also read the silmarillion. Yes, he was male and yes, he was also into dungeons and dragons .... Grin. I did find it interesting that Tolkein could write about the same world in such different styles (inc Hobbit)

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 27/07/2015 15:59

I tried reading, 'Brooklyn' by Colm Toibin. Dullsville - I managed about 15 pages.

Also failed with, 'The Silmarillion' although I love LOTR.

suzanneyeswecan · 27/07/2015 16:21

alternatively, 'books I wish I'd avoided' ?

hackmum · 27/07/2015 17:02

Butterdish: "My problem with Ian McEwan is that while I think he's talented, I also think he's also unusually limited by his maleness and his middle-classness."

We had a recent webchat with Ian McEwan, and I actually put that point to him about middle-classness, though I tried to do it diplomatically. I don't think he was impressed!

I also agree about David Mitchell - what I love about him is that ability to write in a range of voices.

TheIncomparableDejahThoris · 27/07/2015 21:10

I had forgotten The Dice Man. Yeah, I think it (and the sequel, which, yes, I also read) deserves its place on the list.

SparkzFly · 29/07/2015 15:50

Ditto for Gone Girl. I am 120+ pages in and am trying to persevere. . . Was wondering if it was just some emperors new clothes job where everyone knows it's crap but refuses to acknowledge the fact!

MizK · 29/07/2015 21:05

Absolutely love some of the books mentioned here, but just read THE most wretched book. Natchez Burning by Greg Iles. Am going through a thriller phase (it's summer so I tend towards page turners) so chose this. Cheap, schlocky, predictable, dealt badly with potentially fascinating subject matter. AVOID!

star8369 · 29/07/2015 23:29

totally agree about lovely bones and cloud atlas

suchafuss · 30/07/2015 13:26

Brick Lane i read to the end and was eh? Just returned from holiday where the only book i could get my hands on was Wetlands, a story about a teenagers bumhole seriously wrong on sooooo many levels.

marshmallowpies · 30/07/2015 14:18

My friend's very uptight Christian mum had to read Wetlands with her book group and I think she was a bit Blush

Mind you my gran read 50 Shades with her book group...but she's a bit harder to shock. As my DM points out they were all secretly reading Lady Chatterley back in the day, before the ban was lifted.

nauticant · 30/07/2015 16:32

Ha ha ha at the reluctant readers of Wetlands.

I didn't get along with it myself because I simply do not enjoy reading tales of sexual violence/degradation, however consensual.

ladydepp · 30/07/2015 17:04

I loved so many of the books on here, and I agree with whoever said that it is often a style that people don't like. It also depends on the circumstances of where and when you're reading something. I have to be in the right mood for the right book, and I want something quite page turnerish in the summer holidays. Something a bit more cerebral in the dark days of winter.

One thing I have FINALLY learned is not to read books just because everyone is talking about them (Girl on the train, Gone girl, Us) but if quite a few broadsheet reviewers say a book is amazing then I generally find it amazing too (Wolf Hall, narrow road to the deep North, No Harm done). I also know to avoid anything recommended by a couple of my friends as they always like the "woman has a secret bad thing happen in her past" type books. I can't bear those!

(And am I the only one who actually liked Lovely Bones? It was a long time ago......Smile)

AnyFucker · 30/07/2015 17:17

interesting that many of these books appear on both hated and loved lists Smile

Muskey · 30/07/2015 17:29

I have decided after being on this thread to challenge myself to read the simarillion as my holiday reading (we are going to be staying in the middle of nowhere in France) should be intersting

mumslife · 30/07/2015 17:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hackmum · 30/07/2015 18:31

AnyFucker: "interesting that many of these books appear on both hated and loved lists"

That is so true! I think usually it's the sign of a writer with a very strong and distinctive voice - look at how e.g. Kazuo Ishiguro's The Buried Giant has divided people.

Mind you, I haven't come across anyone yet who thinks that 50 Shades of Grey is any good at all. I'm amazed it has sold so many copies given that no-one - apparently - will admit to liking it.

AnyFucker · 30/07/2015 19:21

Some of my friends acquaintances love 50SOG. I haven't read it.

I do rate The Lovely Bones, though. And tried 3 times to read Wolf Hall and gave up.

ErrolTheDragon · 30/07/2015 22:37

Muskey - I'm pretty sure that the Silmarillion won't be interesting! Probably in combination with French food and wine will ensure plenty of sleep though. Grin

CaptainHolt · 30/07/2015 22:44

I'd forgotten about Eat, Pray, Love. It was awful. In a similar vein I'd also forgotten about the Alchemist which was another pile of bollocks that was supposed to be life changingly spiritual.

Ditto to anything by Ian McEwan. I just can't get away with him at all.