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 was sure that I would love the Three Body Problem, but I really didn't. I made it all the way through the first book and found the historical back story interesting but not interesting enough to get me to read the next book.

I agree with Eleanor Oliphant. Dull, frustrating, depressing and the ‘twist’ was painfully obvious. I returned it to Amazon for a refund, it was so bad (bought on Kindle).

Don't EVER read the sequel to Call Me By Your Name.

You go in thinking it will be a reprise of the Elio story, but the first half is about his sleazy old dad seducing a young lass on a train.

For me
The Secret History - Donna Tartt and also The Little Sister by Donna Tartt. Finished both but couldn't understand the fuss
The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde. Gave up a third of the way in - too pretentiously clever for its own good
Never Let Me Go - Left me cold
Jonathon Strange etc. Did not manage more than a few chapters. Dull Dull dull
And surprisingly - Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood. I usually love anything by Atwood but not this. Just found it dull and a rehash of old ideas

The salt path for me. Just didn't believe it, my dd had just started uni like the couples daughter and I got frequent requests for cash, visits at weekends and tearful phone calls. No way could I have buggered off to walk the South West coast path living on £11 a week and out of contact for weeks at a time. Especially with a partner that might die at any time! Just made me furious.

The salt path is true though isn’t it?

The salt path is a true story 😁

Normal People made me roll my eyes. Dull, dull people.

Wolf Hall. My ego really liked the idea of reading this but my patience and attention had other plans. I did really like the TV adaptation though.

Sorrow and Bliss made me want to throw my Kindle against a wall.

SPOILER ALERT

You don’t think that a kid who’s been sexually assaulted by his teacher after losing his brother to cancer could be a bit whiny?

On the Road.

Such waffle. And very misogynistic. The way he writes about women is awful.

Give up now! It only gets worse 😬

I’m gutted. I love Blake Crouch. So was excited to get his new book that came out the other day.
it is awful. He obviously had to do a lot of research into genes and how they work. But after I have had to listen to a long list of genes and their medical names and what they do. I have up. It’s not just once either. It’s all the way through the books.

I'm enjoying reading everyone's responses.

Grief is the Thing with Feathers is another book that I thought I'd love but didn't. I really disliked it though I think that was mostly down to the writing style. I don't know the technical term for it but I can't bear nonsense verse in books.

H is for Hawk is another one for me. It's so much the sort of thing I normally like that two people bought it for me as a gift. I really disliked it, the author was self-indulgent and the process of training the hawk was cruel.

I didn't get very far with H is for Hawk

I hated The Secret History: I thought it needed serious editing down. Also, I studied Classics at uni so I am not keen on the idea that Classicists are all incredibly posh and completely unhinged.

Wouldn't describe myself as an introvert but l really am not enjoying this so going to bin it off

Someone explained Catch 22 to me as it makes you feel like the men do in the book! Made more sense to me after that.

The Girl with th Dragon Tattoo - most depressing book I’ve ever read

Everyone told me to read The Tent, The Bucket and Me. Said my kidneys would burst and my eyeballs would explode with laughing.

Didnt laugh once. Just read it thinking what idiots her parents sound. Can’t believe that it was so successful.

Also, Elenor Oliphant. Load of rubbish where nothing happens. Boring, like wading through tar. How is it so popular?

Oh and yea to This Is Going to Hurt - misogynistic bile. I fell down a rabbit hole of researching the author who, as it turns out, hates disabled people as well as women and has written some vile songs as part of his ‘comedy act’ making fun of people with Down syndrome and cerebral palsy. A doctor. Thanks Christ he quit the profession

This Is Going To Hurt. He’s utterly vile and the book is completely over egged imo.

The Thursday Murder Club. It was like plodding through treacle but did wonders for my insomnia.

Elinor Oliphant. I was desperately waiting for the good bit but got to the end instead.

The Midnight Library. I read that on holiday. It always drove me to throw my Kindle into the swimming pool.

Bridget Jones diary. Loved the film. But the constant weighings and cigarette counts just got boring…
I kept thinking “ stop being so self absorbed and shallow!”

Not my beloved Bridget Jones It is satire after all. I also adore her book Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination.

I hated Scoop by Evelyn Waugh after expecting to love it. I'd got the idea it was going to have the feeling of PG Wodehouse meets Cold Comfort Farm. I couldn't get past the racism and not very much happened.

Also expected to like I Capture the Castle and even more so The Pursuit of Love, but found both annoyingly whimsical and insubstantial. Probably moreso because I'd built them up in my mind in advance.

Me too! I really thought that I would like it, the blurb was exactly my kind of thing...but no, it irritated me and it was a struggle to finish.