Authors where you only like one book

[lugeforlife]

Inspired by another thread, thinking about authors where there is one book you love but feel let down by the others.

For me:

Donna Tartt - secret History one of my all time favourites. Can't stand the others.

Tana French - loved the whych elm, hated Dublin. Murder squad

Lionel Shriver - we need to talk about Kevin yes, that awful tennis one and others no

Sally Rooney - loved Normal People and found the other two virtually unreadable.

Loved holly Jackson’s A good girls guide to murder book one. Hated the second and didn’t finish the third.

C K McDonnell books. Loved The Stranger Times book. But didn’t like the second and couldn’t read the others. Stranger times book was so good.

Marks Edwards , Bentley little, Jessica Townsends and a few more. I read and listen to a lot of books during the course of a week. And I tend to binge authors when I find them.

but just want to say just because I didn’t like them doesn’t mean they are bad books. I’m not author bashing here. I tend to love books most people hate anyway.

Kazuo Ishiguro. Loved Never Let Me Go. I did also enjoy A Pale View Of Hills. However, others of his I’ve thought were just OK, except The Unconsoled which I thought was the biggest load of tosh ever, so bad I couldn’t finish it. I still read his still though in the hope of getting another NLMG!

RF Delderfield. I loved To Serve Them All My Days, so bought the A Horseman Riding By trilogy. Didn't even finish the first volume, as it was just the same story told again but this time very longwindedly.

Charlotte Bronte
John Wyndham

The only book I have read more times than Jane Eyre (7) is The Day of the Triffids (10). I haven't even ever managed to finish another of these authors' books.

@Willdoitlater i have the day of the triffids to read but not got any of the other books yet. I got it as I loved the audio plays and the tv shows. Will be interesting to see if the book is better or worse.

I loved two of his - Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day. I've never got on with any of his others.

Sebastian Faulks and Birdsong.
Have never got on with any others of his.

Yes, she had one good book in her. Conversations Among Friends is possibly one if the worst books I've ever read. Foul characters you hope end up really really unhappy.

Have you read The Dreaming Suburb and The Avenue Goes to War? In my top ten, both of them.

I came on to say Donna Tartt. Absolutely love The Secret History. Couldn’t finish the Goldfinch or her other one.
I am surprised about John Wyndham because I find most of his books very similar (I like them) and if I was going to pick one out for being different I’d say The Chrysalids. Kraken Wakes is basically Day of the Triffids with water monsters instead of plant monsters.

Oh yes, I used to be a big Delderfield fan. To Serve Them All My Days is definitely the best but closely followed IMO by A Horseman Riding By. I do also like the Suburb ones. Tried the Swann Saga - God is an English man etc. and was less impressed. Didn't like Diana at all.

BTW I bought the Dvd of the TV adaptation of To Serve Them All My Days. Early 80s I think. Despite having the lovely John Duttine as Davy Powlett Jones it is a travesty! They kill off Grace.

Really interesting question.

I revere George Orwell as an essayist, but find his fiction unreadable. A ‘Clergyman’s Daughter’ is one of the worst novels I have ever read (by a good writer).

I love Aldous Huxley, and have read all his fiction, but none of it, for my money, is as good as ‘Crome Yellow’ (his debut novel, and the first book of Huxley’s I read).

Robert Graves’ ‘Goodbye to all That’ is my favourite book of all time, but I don’t like his other stuff. Not a fan of his poetry either. I have a similar experience with Stephen Fry. I love his autobiography, but not his fiction.

I also love Wilde’s Dorian Gray, to the point where I know bits by heart, yet am constantly disappointed by his other writing. Too often, Wilde seems smug and arrogant. And at times his writing is sickly and purple. He also thinks he’s funnier than he really is (there is a difference between being witty and being funny- Wilde is witty, Wodehouse and Waugh are funny).

@JaneyGee Im glad you’ve said that about Aldous Huxley. I read Brave New World recently and was wondering which one of his to read next. I’ll give Crome Yellow a go.

Ian McEwan. I only have eyes for Atonement which made me cry for days. Everything else by him either too high-falutin or cringe. Saturday is honestly one of the worst lit fiction books I’ve ever read 🤷‍♀️