I just read a terrible book

[Orangeis]

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?

The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. Not worth the effort of disentangling the overly convoluted plot.

The Foundling by Stacey Halls. Thin on characterisation, hurried-through plot and a limp ending.

Haha, agreed re Tattooist of Auschwiz and The Midnight Library -- both complete rubbish, I just don't understand the hype.

My most recent toe-curling read was Every Day is Mothers Day by Hilary Mantel.... when her death was announced I figured I better read one of her books and - oh my, it was just so unbearably unsettling, actually made me nauseous reading it. But I couldn't find anything to commend it - not even well written and the characterisation is shit.

I loved Pirinesi. I remember reading Lady Chatterley's Lover as a teenager (hopeing for some racy bits) and being very disappointed in it. My friend's more magazine was far more explicit!

I recently read The Old Man and the Sea for a book club. I can see why the writing style is famous but the plot is surprisingly tedious for a very short book. You only really need the first and last 10 pages and you've got all of the important points. Is it about the futility of the fight or the fight against futility? Who cares, just throw the effing fish back in.

Oh I love Kind Hearts and Coronets, so there's another reason for me not to read it. I had initially been put off it by the fact that she's a literary nepo-baby.

because the readers who love books like the, shudder, Thursday Murder Club, enjoy the books that are all on Richard and Judy’s summer reading list.

Not for me. I quite liked TMC but hearing the other books they plug leaves me cold.

Filth!

Yeah, if it's about women they must be straight unless otherwise specified!

I can’t remember the name of it but many years ago I read a book about a
man who left his wife, set up a new life abroad with a new woman who was totally accepting of the fact he’d left his wife and children after the death of their baby son.

the twist was he’d killed the son by leaving him unattended in the bath and watched him drown from the doorway. And he’d done it because he believed the son wasn’t his, and was his best mate’s because he’d once caught him his best mate anally raping his wife but thought it was consensual sex.

it was all bloody mental.

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton is as thick as a telephone directory and rambles on and on with so many plots that never come together.

The worst thing is it won the Man Booker prize and if you don't like it some intellect wannabe is always there to point out they love it because Eleanor's rambling makes one question what we want from a story.

Well I want a good plot and if you're writing a book which is over 800 pages long you owe it to the reader.

I will never read a man booker prize winner novel again!

I disliked it so much I started a thread about it 🤣.
www.mumsnet.com/talk/what_were_reading/4409708-How-to-kill-your-family-by-Bella-Mackie-CONTAINS-PLOT-SPOILERS?reply=113007426

The Lady of Hay by Barbara?
Got it for Christmas and honestly it makes me want to scream. No one talks in it, everyone is angry and shouts. It's utter tripe.

I get the impression all those Man Booker winning books are rambling, tedious affairs.

Piranesi is an unbelievable pile of crap. I can't understand why it was even published, I think people were conned.

I read the Thursday Murder Club but was frustrated by a massive plot hole that was never explained, so haven't read any more in the series.

I like Piranesi a lot but can see why it's not for everyone. The 'explanation' was a bit crap but I enjoyed it.

I studied English decades ago at university and recall a friend going to her tutorial on DH Lawrence. She and the tutor settled themselves down and then without any preamble the tutor said 'Of course, you realise Lawrence was a fascist and a pervert?' - which put a bit of a dampener on things, apparently. Tutor did have form for oddness - she claimed to be a medium in touch with William Blake. Couldn't help thinking it would have been more useful if it was the author of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight so she could ask (presumably) him WTF THAT was all about.

Lady Chatterley - bloody hell, Mellors is a misery, however good the sex.

@IcakethereforeIam God, yes the Hundred Year Old Man. If only he'd fallen and broken his neck while clamouring out he could have saved us all the drivel.

@SirChenjins if you've read two Judi Picots you've read all of them. Twice

I absolutely hated Girl Woman Other too. Certainly NOT because it's about lesbians but because the writing style is just soooooooo pretentious. It all just feels stilted and self-conscious.

I've often wondered about the wisdom of Booker Prize judges. The Milkman and The Promise come to mind. Both were, at best, plain boring.
In the chick lit department, Queen Bee by Jane Fallon was utter drivel. She has loads published though. I wonder if it's a case of quantity over quality.

I read that and found it really disappointing. I think the premise was very interesting and could have made for a very good read but the actual book was pretty shallow and silly and very unsatisfying.

Can he? News to me. The Hippopotamus managed to be both trite and sleazy.

Seconded AND The Alchemist. Charity shop fodder both of them

I've just read your thread. Wow, she really did regurgitate Kind Hearts wholesale for her novel! And I distinctly remember reading that her novel had such an original premise with a clever twist.

Puh-lease,

Chocolat three chapters in the book was In the charity bag

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. A load of pretentious claptrap and an excuse for the author to share his perversions and sick violence and call it ‘culture’ I remember everyone raving about it at the time but I suspect it was a case of the Emperor’s New Clothes. No one actually wanted to admit it was rubbish and the plot impossible to understand.