Books that you thought you'd love but didn't.

[CaramelJones]

I thought that I was going to love We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House but I didn't, in spite of how many boxes they ticked for me.

Which books were you disappointed by?

I agree with a few of the books already mentioned, Eleanor Oliphant, Da Vinci Code, Thursday Murder Club to name but three. But some of my favourite books have also been mentioned, Wolf Hall and Song of Ice and Fire series (GoT). Love anything by Kate Atkinson.
Since I retired, I’ve been very slowly going through my thousands of books, honestly didn’t realise just how many I had, lots of them in boxes in a big cupboard, bookcases in virtually every room, etc. I’m re-reading a lot of them as I go, and have found my tastes have changed, I used to love e.g. Kingsley Amis and John Irving, but couldn’t get into any of either of theirs that I had.

Catcher in the Rye, I couldn't stand it but I might have been too old when I read it in my 30s. I did read something later about introverts not liking first person books because they are uncomfortable being inside someone else's head, which made sense to me, I was very uncomfortable with it. Similarly for Vernon God Little which lots of people loved at the time that it was published, although nobody ever mentions it now.

I enjoyed The Poisonwood Bible but not read anything else on @LauraChant 's list.

I seem to have swerved most of the books named on this thread.

I did read Dolly Althingy's book. It was not my thing but I finished it.

Shades of Grey was dreadful. I only stuck at it to see if there was a plot.

The Slap was ok

Didn't finish Catch 22.

Read Catcher In the Rye at the 2nd attempt. Didn't enjoy it but I'm glad I read it

Read The Bell Jar but it felt like a chore

The Essex Serpent, such an inconclusive nothing book. In fact there is a huge amount of wishy washy stuff around at the moment. Also a whole lots of recent Booker prize nominated stuff, pure pretentious crap.

Now I'm older I cannot stand Martin Amis but quite liked him earlier in my teens twenties and Kingsley Amis didn't do it for me either but I love Elizabeth Jane Howard.

I read it all, hoping the characters I most disliked would get their comeuppance.

Spoiler: They didn’t. But by the end, almost all of the characters had turned out to be ghastly, so I suppose it didn’t really matter what happened.

I agree with a few of these, most notably 'The Slap'. Feels like so many writers think "I've got a great premise: can I turn it into a 300 page novel?" And the answer is: no. No, you can't.

Reservoir 13.
I find 'If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things,' by the same author, a book that can make me realise I have been holding my breath in admiration for several pages, thanks to only a few carefully woven words.
Reservoir 13 seems to be taking more than a smudgy blueprint from 'Picnic at hanging Rock' but without its mystery or style.

Crawdads. Unbelievably boring and I didn't finish it

FoggySpecs it was Martin Amis I meant, not Kingsley. I haven’t found any of his yet in my clearing out, so it may well be I dislike him as well now.
Another book that I really thought I’d love was Hamnet, but no it did nothing for me, I finished it, but it’s in the “get rid of” pile, I’d never want to re-read it.

Another no vote for The Slap here and Normal people. It was so hyped , just awful tedius reading. I skim read the last half. We all like different things though. I loved Crawdads.
I get the rage , (respectfully of course) when people saw anything negative at all about Stephen King , the man is a genius story teller!

Beginning of the Miniaturist - here is a photo of Petronella Oortman's 17th C. doll's house, which is on display at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Ending to the Miniaturist - it’s 1687 and a distraught character smashes up the dollhouse. WTF?

A suitable boy. I can normally get through most things but not that. 🙁

Sorrow And Bliss. Nine pages of quotes about how great it was - I should have realised. Totally over hyped pile of utter crap. So so disappointing. (Ditto anything by Sally Rooney). Glad I read Betty afterwards as I'd nearly lost the faith!

I've started Shuggie Bain 3 times now, and just cannot seem to make progress through it.

So - Piranesi (spoiler alert coming up) - bloke has breakdown and imagines all kinds of weird shit. Is that all it was or did it go over my head completely?

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths. I love novels set in wild, deserted places, love a will-they-won't-they dynamic, love a good cold case, and love folklore. God, this was not good though. The main character looks in the mirror so she can describe herself to us, the romantic relationship comes from nowhere, and the denouement was laughable.

I really enjoy and have a lot of tolerance for character driven literature where not an awful lot happens, and also appreciate an historical setting.

Cazalets, totally underwhelmed and won’t bother with the rest of them. I flummoxed at all the love they get on MN (though appreciate we all like different things).

Elena Ferante - these really should be right up my street, but I couldn’t get into it, though I really think it just wasn’t the right time and place so will try again. It took me 3 attempts to read Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and now I have read everything LdB has ever written, I feel like this is where these books sit for me.

I didn’t like Crawdads and many others on here, but they aren’t what I would normally pick anyway.

Agree with a lot that have been mentioned!

A little life, dragged myself through 300 odd pages then decided I didn’t care. Most of the characters seemed interchangeable, they all seemed to hate each other, no sense of place, loads of unnecessary waffle about extravagant holidays that added nothing to the storyline except make them all seem ungrateful.

Crawdads, dreadful poetry, stupid ending that went against every characteristic of the place & the character.

You before me, complete ableist nonsense, made me actually angry.

Wolf Hall, absolutely gutted I didn’t enjoy this but couldn’t follow who was doing what & too many people were called Thomas 😂

I never like the ones listed for a prize. I think that the hype raises my expectations, and I wonder if the judges read the whole book

I gave up on CCM three times

This Is Going To Hurt - the man is repugnant. Women deserve better than that man.

The Bell Jar - expected great things, literary enlightenment. It was just...a bit...meh.

The Goldfinch- loved her other books so much - didn’t manage to finish it.

Jason Bourne series, yes they may be good, but I thought it was going to be more like the film version.

Withering Heights…worst book ever!

I meant of course Wuthering…Freudian slip?