Which authors' success is a complete mystery to you?

[emkana]

Tony Parsons

Jodi Picoult

Sophie Kinsella - how she got an agent to publish those god-awful Shopaholic books is a mystery to me. My 9 year old writes better stories than her.

No! I must protest regarding the Bronte sisters!
rantinghousewife, are you quite mad?
Wuthering Heights is one of my favourite books in the whole world

bookwormmum - nepotism in the book industry? You're not suggesting? As Sawyer in "Lost" said, "What next, cop eatin' a donut?"

i hate hemingway.

was forced to read him because he's American and pupils in high schools in the US are force-fed his piss-poor prose and misogyny and boring alcoholism as part of compulsory American 'literature' courses.

i hate to say it, but i'm glad he shortened his own literary career rather than turn out more rubbish that others would be forced to read.

he makes me sick.

I disagree with Hilary Mantel- I rate her

Sophie Kinsella used to be Madeleine Wickham

I found Baddiel's novels surprisingly good.

feel very very very sorry for whoever said george eliot - adam bede is one of my all time favourite men ever and I would like to marry him

Message withdrawn

yep tony Parsons-horrible
reading one of his books made me feel quite vomitous

'And now they've made a ruddy film of her book!! '

Oh, yes, with Hilary Swank no less.

Nearly as bad as a film featuring BOTH Tom Hanks and three-dick gob (thanks for that description, Greeny ) Julia Roberts, but at least the former film is probably under 3 hours long.

i was at george eliot too vacua...silas marner is one of my favourite books ever

Rowling's getting a kicking on this thread isn't she?!

Not keen on Christopher Brookmyre 'A big boy did it and ran away' etc - the male equivalent of chick-lit.

I second Celia Ahern

Dreadful, truly awful

I bought David Baddiel's first novel from a bargain basement, sell them by the weight shop. And it was signed .

oh god yes, Martin Amis - awful!

Virginia Woolf
James Joyce
Dan Brown
Ben Elton