The hiuse at riverton....this is a pile of crap isn't it...and are all richard and judy reads awful?

[zippitippitoes]

...bouhgt it in tesco as i wanted to read something and a few pages in it is not my kind of book at all, can't stand the faux way it is written and just seems a horrible big house illiterate cliche...does it get any better or should i just bin it?

and are all books with richard and judy recommends on rubbish?

yes i think I'll give it to a charity shop too..I did like atonement though set in thirties and sharing a similar kind of setting..jury is out on the ending though

fio I didn't even notice ..just assumed you were making a rather clever observation on the enid blytonness of this novel..perfectly accurately

zippi hunts vaguely for a foody passage

I don't think it would be any great revelation that R&J are hand-in-glove with certain publishers and booksellers, even if actual backhanders could not be proven.

If a book has a mahoosive advance it's going to have a commensurately mahoosive publicity budget to try and recoup as much of the advance as possible. So only the books with a big, big push behind them are ever going to get a chance of even being read by R&J - or rather, by their producer Amanda Ross, who is the real "eminence grise" behind the whole venture. An R&J slot is going to be an expectation for a book with a big, big budget.

The lie I fell for when first published was that it's divided up like a cake - small advance = more left over for publicity. Big UH-UHHHH (Family Fortunes Mr Babbage stylee X, whichm disappointingly, one cannot reproduce here as everythign is shunted over to the left-hand margin - bah!).

unquietdad are you a writer..and have i asked you this before?

oh just looked at your profile..you don't teach creative writing do you?

I totally agree - I read this on holiday as it had been left by the previous inhabitant of the villa. ds informed me (after a particularly educational week at granny's ) that this had been a R&J recommendation. Load of rubbish imo

(having said that, I also read Memory Keeper's daughter and quite enjoyed it )

oops that last post was me - forgot to change my name back.

Oh god- I have just finished the Memory Keeper's daughter and did enjoy it and was soooo looking forward to arrival of bf from London with lovely lovely books for me to read. ( books are very big and very expensive here in OZ) Anyway when she unpacked she said " I couldn't choose so I picked up 4 with the R&J recommendation "
How could she squander her choices thus.. am now stuck with reading crappy chick lit book with a Galaxy sticker on it. What does that mean?

Oh god- I have just finished the Memory Keeper's daughter and did enjoy it and was soooo looking forward to arrival of bf from London with lovely lovely books for me to read. ( books are very big and very expensive here in OZ) Anyway when she unpacked she said " I couldn't choose so I picked up 4 with the R&J recommendation "
How could she squander her choices thus.. am now stuck with reading crappy chick lit book with a Galaxy sticker on it. What does that mean?

zippi - yes I am, and yes I do.

ah any implied criticism of creative writing classes is withdrawn

I have actually been on a creative writing course at hebden bridge..well improvised play writing type thing with debbie does stuff with that bloke in the royle family islitt (isitt?) and it was good

Oh, there are many good creative writing classes and many poor ones! Not everyone who can write can teach.

I actually once applied to do a creative writing ma at sheffield, was interviewed but ahem rejected....that was poetry

hallam

Ugh. I foolishly bought the Richard and Judy recommended 'Relentless' as I was in the mood for some light crime tripe. It's quite possibly the worst book I've ever attempted to read, the author makes Dan Brown look like a literary genius. Avoid, avoid...

Yes, well, there is a first time and a last time for everything, and that was the first and last time I buy a R&J book club recommendation.

At the end, I was hoping Rob would fire at Emily and then the bullet would pass through her and kill Hannah, too .

I should think these books would put people off reading..god if riverton was my introduction I'd never try again

Have just read the Amazon reviews for "Relentless". It sounds a laugh, doesn't it?

pmsl I just looked at them

like the autor is fantasising about himself one..

and the don't know why this is one of richard and judy's summer reads it wouldn't last a whole holiday

It depends on your expectations of a book really. I read it on a blazing hot day on holiday by the swimming pool - and it sufficed perfectly well!

and on riverton they seem to like it!

but there is this one

My husband bought me The House At Riverton because it was cheap! I therefore felt I had to read it. In the end I speed read it. It was totally predictable and stereotypical. I felt the author had watched the boxed sets of Upstairs Downstairs DVD's. among the servants we had the lot from U D, Hudson, Mrs. Bridges, even drippy Ruby in the character of Kate. Who wants to read a book with the vision of Gordon Jackson in their head? Therefore I wasn't surprised to read that U D was one of her influential sources.

I wonder if 'This book was a bucket of wank' would be acceptable to them as a review?

Or 'Makes satisfying thud when hurled to the floor'? Or 'I use it to kill spiders'? 'Satisfying addition to your patio chiminea fire on a chilly evening.'