Page 20 | I just read a terrible book

Orangeis · 2023-02-06T11:29:15+00:00

Bring me back, B A Paris. What a load of absolute tosh. A man's partner dissapears, 6 years later he gets with her sister and lives with her. The big twist is.....the new girlfriend is actually the missing sister. He didn't realise this as she had a different hair do. That's hours of my life I'll never get back. I feel like taking the book in to the back garden and burning the bugger. What's your worst book and why?

Poppymil · 07/02/2023 11:07

OP I was also the same with that book. I read behind closed doors by B.A.Paris first and it was brill so was looking forward to others but yeah when I got to the end I did wonder what the hell I'd just read 😂

BigglyBee · 07/02/2023 11:23

I read Lord of the Rings as a teen - else I'd have never finished it - my capacity to push though any book has diminished with age.
I had a feeling there was a good story there entire way through but fighting to get read and yes it was hard going.
I did like the Lord of the ring films though but not the Hobbit films though that book was okay.

I re-read The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings fairly often, and I find the secret to enjoying them is to skip the battles. I do this with other books too- Colleen McCullough's Masters Of Rome series was brilliant, but had loads of battles, which I hate, so I just skipped past them.

I couldn't watch the LOTR films, because I can't get past the Hobbits not being fat!

skippymcflippy · 07/02/2023 11:39

Funkyblues101 · 06/02/2023 17:43

I've read it twice and am planning to hike the Appalachian Trail as a result - love it 😊

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@Funkyblues101
If you are planning to hike the Appalachian trail you should read "Grandma Gatewood's Walk" for inspiration!

pollyhemlock · 07/02/2023 11:45

One thing that really annoys me is when authors make characters speak in a way that they just wouldn’t have at the time. Near the beginning of Still Life someone says something like ‘ I know, right?’. Nobody would have used that expression in 1944. I didn’t like the book much anyway but that put me off right at the start. Couldn’t believe in the period or the setting.

hothands · 07/02/2023 12:03

pollyhemlock · 07/02/2023 11:45

One thing that really annoys me is when authors make characters speak in a way that they just wouldn’t have at the time. Near the beginning of Still Life someone says something like ‘ I know, right?’. Nobody would have used that expression in 1944. I didn’t like the book much anyway but that put me off right at the start. Couldn’t believe in the period or the setting.

In Phillippa Gregory's The White Queen, one of the characters call another 'a numpty'. It's set in the 1400's. I know what the characters would actually be speaking would sound like a foreign language today, but she wasn't even trying.

ReneBumsWombats · 07/02/2023 12:07

If you read Philippa Gregory, you deserve everything you get!

hothands · 07/02/2023 12:18

ReneBumsWombats · 07/02/2023 12:07

If you read Philippa Gregory, you deserve everything you get!

😂 I agree tbf. I enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl for what it was (i.e an historical reimagining of actual events, that was very loosely based on facts), but hated all her others. I only tried The White Queen because I'm interested in the War of the Roses but it made me furious and I never finished it. I should have realised my mistake after she turned Elizabeth I into a complete drip.

CaptainMyCaptain · 07/02/2023 12:22

ReneBumsWombats · 07/02/2023 12:07

If you read Philippa Gregory, you deserve everything you get!

I love her books but read them with my phone on hand to fact check.

ReneBumsWombats · 07/02/2023 12:41

hothands · 07/02/2023 12:18

😂 I agree tbf. I enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl for what it was (i.e an historical reimagining of actual events, that was very loosely based on facts), but hated all her others. I only tried The White Queen because I'm interested in the War of the Roses but it made me furious and I never finished it. I should have realised my mistake after she turned Elizabeth I into a complete drip.

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I couldn't stand The Other Boleyn Girl. I knew it was going to be a silly bodice ripper, but I hoped for a slightly more nuanced portrayal of Anne. Nope...same old claws-out scheming bitch strumpet stuff.

I don't think Anne Boleyn was a nice person as such, but I much prefer Hilary Mantel's depiction as a political player trying to survive just like all the others. Or Alison Weir's, as flawed and determined but no more self serving than anyone around her, and with recognition of her politics and an understanding as to why she might have been as she was.

WFHbore2023 · 07/02/2023 13:22

Poppymil · 07/02/2023 11:07

OP I was also the same with that book. I read behind closed doors by B.A.Paris first and it was brill so was looking forward to others but yeah when I got to the end I did wonder what the hell I'd just read 😂

Behind closed doors was wild!!

Rauha · 07/02/2023 14:12

I absolutely hated Our House by Louise Candlish. Poorly executed, convoluted nonsense.

Mrscooper13 · 07/02/2023 15:18

Thank god someone said this book
the ending was so bad I was so annoyed felt like I wasted my time

CaptainMyCaptain · 07/02/2023 15:33

Rauha · 07/02/2023 14:12

I absolutely hated Our House by Louise Candlish. Poorly executed, convoluted nonsense.

That was a book club book I didn't bother to buy. Someone lent it to me but I didn't read it and when I took it back nobody could remember if it was theirs so I donated it to the cafe bookshelf.

Whatislove82 · 07/02/2023 15:44

CaptainMyCaptain · 07/02/2023 12:22

I love her books but read them with my phone on hand to fact check.

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You would have spent more time on your phone than doing any reading

Farmageddon · 07/02/2023 15:45

Everyonehasavoice · 06/02/2023 17:40

I’m going to brave it even though I know MNs love JK Rowling
But
Very disappointed with The very long and drawn out ‘The Deathly Hallows’
If you only watched it on tv and thought it was dragging, reading it was worse

Think she must have felt forced to turn one book into two

The first time I read The Deathly Hallows (many years ago) it was least favourite of the series definitely, couldn't get into it at all - had to force myself to finish it.

I think because the format was so different to the other books, he doesn't go back to school etc. and it was frustrating to read. I suppose it's hard to bring everything to a conclusion and tie up lots of loose ends as a writer, especially after such a build up.

However, having read the series a few more times since then, I really enjoy it - he's very much on a journey, metaphorically and physically. And there's some very emotional stuff in there, I think it's the most grown up of all seven books, it definitely has a vibe of it's own compared to the others.

beguilingeyes · 07/02/2023 15:51

hothands · 07/02/2023 12:18

😂 I agree tbf. I enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl for what it was (i.e an historical reimagining of actual events, that was very loosely based on facts), but hated all her others. I only tried The White Queen because I'm interested in the War of the Roses but it made me furious and I never finished it. I should have realised my mistake after she turned Elizabeth I into a complete drip.

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Sharon Penman's The Summer In Splendour is what you need for The Wars Of The Roses.

Whatislove82 · 07/02/2023 15:55

pollyhemlock · 06/02/2023 23:40

Don’t quite get the loathing for Thursday Murder Club and sequels. I regard them as a bit of lighthearted fun. Obviously if you want gritty realism Richard is not your guy, but I like his intrepid pensioners. A Little Life on the other hand is a terrible book. Sentimental and prurient with cardboard characters.

Those “intrepid pensioners” were the most annoying and, oh I can’t even be bothered to think about them again. So one dimensional, so…. Shudder. Such a shit book!

Farmageddon · 07/02/2023 16:00

HadEnough798 · 06/02/2023 16:30

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper. Set in a brothel in Pompei. It was just relentless disgusting abuse of women, forced upon them, time after time for the entire story. Every other page was about them giving blow jobs to gross men.

The reviews were reasonable so I was really disappointed. Honestly thought a man must have written it - it was so grim, it turned my stomach, but that wasn't the point of the book - it was supposed to be uplifting and about the sisterhood... the details and relentlessness didn't add anything either. A few accounts would have been enough. It was almost written in a porny way... ugh.

I just don't get how a woman can write that.

I felt the same about a book called Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter. I had read a few of her crime fiction novels before, but this one was just over the top graphic with extreme sexual violence and made me feel a bit sick really.

I hate when authors do that, and it always seems to be women being exploited in really visceral detail.

hothands · 07/02/2023 16:21

Sharon Penman's The Summer In Splendour is what you need for The Wars Of The Roses

I've read that many times. It's one of favourite books. I don't know why I even bothered with Gregory's take on it as it was never going to live up to Penman's.

Weightlossanne · 07/02/2023 16:33

We called The Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter goes Camping. It seems never ending.

SBAM · 07/02/2023 16:45

Creamcrackersandricecakes · 06/02/2023 12:35

Oh my god, I picked this 'book' up in a charity shop recently for 50p, having never read anything of hers previously. Good lord, it is dire. I struggled through and finished it, god knows why. The main character, who we're clearly supposed to love and sympathise with, was just eurgh. Whiny, clingy, possessive and self pitying.
I really like chick-lit, but it has to be good chick-lit, (Marian Keyes etc). This never would have been published without a 'celeb' name attached to it, not in a million years.
I passed it on to my 14 year old, who managed less than one chapter before lobbing it in a corner and saying, "Wtf, did she even pass GCSE English? This is shit."

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If you live in Essex that might be because I donated a bunch of her books to the charity shop recently - sorry! I only read billy and me and one of the other ones. They were both so same-y and badly written that I couldn’t bear to read the other 2 (3?) that were in the box set.

samsmum2 · 07/02/2023 16:56

I've recently discovered Karen Swan, and in spite of the slightly dodgy sweet & sickly chick-lit type covers, I'm really enjoying her books. Anyone else?

tobee · 07/02/2023 17:29

Brefugee · 06/02/2023 12:08

What's your worst book and why?

putting my hard hat on: The Alchemist. I have read a lot of awful awful books. But never one that is so hyped up by so many (millions) of people. Such a load of tosh.

Also Birdsong. I remember thinking at the time that if i want to read about a French adultress i can read Madame Bovary. And if i want to read about WW1 i can read All Quiet On The Western Front.
Gah to both of them

Couldn't stand Birdsong! Made me feel hugely emotionally manipulated

FallonofDynasty · 07/02/2023 17:56

Rauha · 07/02/2023 14:12

I absolutely hated Our House by Louise Candlish. Poorly executed, convoluted nonsense.

I actually enjoyed Our House, so read Those People by the ame author.

Started off ok and I was expecting lots of twists and turns like Our House, but they never came. It read as though she'd given up on it half way through, just seemed to have a really crap ending.

Fiddlesticksand · 07/02/2023 18:39

Anything by Cecelia Ahern. All total mind numbing rot.