Popular book that you didn’t enjoy

[Wanttocry]

Not really a TAAT but inspired by the Crawdads thread.

What’s a book that has been raved about, but that you didn’t really enjoy? For me it would have to be The Goldfinch, I just didn’t really get it.

I definitely thought Girl, Woman, Other was overrated. Mr Loverman by Evaristo OTOH I loved and was just so so much better.

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba you can’t slag off books like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings if you’ve never read them, you may be surprised if you give them a go. I love the HP books, they have brought a lot of happiness to me and my family. Also huge fan of the LOTR films, preferred them to the books, though the books are OK.
Book 4 of the George RR Martin Song of Ice and Fire books is grim, apart from the sections about Tyrion and Cersei. Think it’s called a Storm of Swords and it rambles on incessantly about trivial events. lots of uninteresting drivel. The book series didn’t deserve the great makeover that became Game of Thrones. I reckon George will never finish the book series as the HBO version of the ending was also his planned ending - the clues were there all throughout the series - and he’d have to admit that the unpopular ending was his idea. I personally liked the GOT telly ending.

Apologies readers, the 4th book of A Song of Ice and Fire is A Feast for Crows, need to check my facts before I post.

@AmadeustheAlpaca

cool off.
I didn't slag them off so no need to be aggressive.
I said I'm not interested in them because it's not my genre. so despite all the hype I couldn't give a fuck.

I didn't enjoy the film at all.

and the same with GoT, Walking Dead etc.
really don't care at all so will never give these ago, it'd be a waste of time

[quote AmadeustheAlpaca]@CeaselessWatcher. I guess everyone”s different. My other intense dislike is The Amber Spyglass, it rambles on and on turgidly and I’m not too keen on the fact that a former English teacher writes about two twelve year olds having sex as if it”s a beautiful cosmic experience. Didn’t mind Northern Lights, Subtle Knife, a bit meh.[/quote]
I can agree with you there - I don't hate Amber Spyglass intensely, there are scenes I like, but it does seem incoherent, and it doesn't hang together with the first book at all. It definitely feels like Pullman changed his mind about his characters' motivations, what Dust was, what daemons were, what Lyra's betrayal was, and other things while he was writing the trilogy. I don't like books where a mystery or a plot hole is glossed over with "But I was lying when I said that!"

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba The thread title is popular books that you didn’t enjoy so if you are going to criticise a book and post on a thread about books, try reading them first. Or were you just trying to sound cool by criticising something popular. At least the other posters on here who don’t like HP and LOTR have tried reading them and come to their own conclusion. I wasn’t aggressive in the slightest, you sound like an aggressive angry person especially with your unnecessary use of the word fuck. Keyboard warrior

🙄
if you knew me you'd know that trying to sound cool is a ridiculous accusation.

you do realise you don't have to read a book or see a film to know what genre they are, don't you?
ever heard of trailers? and spoilers, refrences, people just talking about things?
all of the above were enough for me to know I wouldn't be interested.
not sure what your issue is.

and I didn't criticise any books.
I only said I wasn't interested.
not sure why you can not comprehend the difference 🤷‍♀️

The Goldfinch was not my thing but my all time over rated book is Jane Eyre. It would have been a much better book if she had caught whatever the other girl died of in an early chapter and died too. What a tedious little bore she is.

@CeaselessWatcher Totally agree with your thoughts on Amber Spyglass. I didn’t like the things on wheels either.

I really didn't enjoy crawdads. It just went on and on, depressing me more and more. The ending was nice though.

Time traveller’s wife
We are all completely beside ourselves
Normal people
Fifty shades

Lovely Bones. Totally loathed it. Worst book ever. And Middlemarch. Most boring tedious long winded drivel ever.

That bloody Elinor Oliphant book. Absolute tosh

@Viviennemary

Just out of curiosity was wrong with the lovely bones? It’s on my list but if it’s really boring I wouldn’t bother.

It isn't boring exactly. But horribly creepy and quite disturbing. I just wish I hadn't read it.

The Thursday Murder club. Soooooo boring!

Ive still got The Thursday Murder Club on the shelf from Christmas. I read the first half page. But I will get round to eventually.

I can't finish anything by Maggie O Farrell (except her memoir one). I recognise that she is a good writer but I just lose the will to live reading any of her novels.

I think Kashou Ishiguro (sp?) is completely overrated.

Don't think much of Donna Taart either but we did a tour of the college which is pretty much where The Secret History is set (she and Bret Easton Ellis were there at the same time) and it was so so ... can't even describe it but my dd suggested we play a drinking game on the tour - every time someone used the word "curate" we would take a drink. we'd have been smashed. The food at lunch was excellent though. dd thought that was because everyone had the permanent munchies.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Tried three times and DNF three times. So boring...

@Smartypoppet

Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Tried three times and DNF three times. So boring...

I might have said this earlier on here. A friend couldn't get going with Captain Correlli but she lent it to me and I just loved it. The last scene is so lovely. A popular book/s which I didn't enjoy was the Lord Of The Rings. I was so frightened by The Black Riders (?) that I had to stop reading it. I think I was in Vol 2 at the time. Was there a character called Strider?

@lazylinguist

I must admit I have a slight soft spot for the preposterous Tom Bombadill . And I'm not a big fan of invented extra sexy female characters (and their bloody love triangles with elves and dwarves... I'm looking at you, Tauriel!). Major kudos for slogging through the Silmarillion at 11 .

I'm a life long Tolkien addict and I actually like the Tom Bombadil chapters, I find them very peaceful. Tom's house is probably what Heaven is (in my mind). Apparently, Peter Jackson was desperate to have Robin Williams play TB in the first film, but RW wasn't interested. I think Robin Williams would have been amazing as Tom Bombadil.

@peaceanddove that’s interesting about Tom Bombadil, hadn’t realised that Peter Jackson had wanted Robin Williams to play him in the films, he’d have been perfect. I know what you mean about Heaven, always wondered who Tom was meant to be in the books, was he a nature spirit, the Creator of Middle Earth or a demigod? I reread LOTR earlier this year during strict lockdown, last read it when I was 21 a long time ago. I liked it but I have to say that I enjoyed the films more and PJ got them spot on.

[quote AmadeustheAlpaca]@peaceanddove that’s interesting about Tom Bombadil, hadn’t realised that Peter Jackson had wanted Robin Williams to play him in the films, he’d have been perfect. I know what you mean about Heaven, always wondered who Tom was meant to be in the books, was he a nature spirit, the Creator of Middle Earth or a demigod? I reread LOTR earlier this year during strict lockdown, last read it when I was 21 a long time ago. I liked it but I have to say that I enjoyed the films more and PJ got them spot on.[/quote]
The Complete Guide to Middle Earth explains that Tom Bombadil and Goldberry were both Maia, so had roughly the same skills and abilities as Gandalf, though Tom's strengths lay with controlling nature and he had little interest in the doings of men. But on his own land, he was as powerful as Gandalf or Saruman.

Visually, I think the films were perfect because Alan Lee (the artist responsible for most of the famous Tolkien illustrations) was the Conceptual Advisor on all three films. But, as a Tolkien purist I hated how Peter Jackson buggered about with the narrative (the whole bonkers Aragorn & Arwen debacle especially).