post your unpopular literature opinions?

[MrShannon385]

Curly was the best character in mice an men

I liked the down at heel characters in Enid Blyton such as the Carltons and naughty Suzy innSecret seven as the others were such saps

WitcheryDivine · Today 12:22

Ian McEwan has a weird preoccupation with child abuse/sexual assault.

Now you mention it…….
Do his books come with trigger warnings?

Martin Amis is basically unreadable

Agreed! Totally and utterly unreadable.

EDIT: Replying to KStockHERO (quoting didn't work)

Honestly, I did feel there was a weird self-insert thing going on there too that really put me off and made it hard to place my feelings about it. I'm also a bit sick of the "Am I a bad feminist because of my bedroom habits?" theme, which just seems to be all over the place in contemporary lit flick.

I loved The English Patient and didn’t find it dull.

Jane austen isn’t romantic, and to read her books as such is to fundamentally misunderstand them. She’s a cynic and a pragmatist.

Anything written by one of the ‘great american novelists’ is self indulgent tripe by mid century men with main character syndrome

dickens is great. so is jane eyre

no one should read shakespeare and expect to enjoy it, in the same way no one should read the script of a film and expect to enjoy it. It’s meant to be performed!

Shantaram was 500 pages of self-indulgent humble brag from a ex con turned white saviour.

This 100 per cent! I didn't like him at all!!

I couldn't bear "All the Light We Cannot See". All my friends were raving about it. I absolutely loathed it!

I don't like fictional stories set in wars anyway. There are so many memoirs from people who actually lived through it. I've read dozens of books by Norwegian resistance members for example. It's personal preference of course, but I'd much rather read a true account of those times than something a late 20th or 21st Century writer has come up with themselves.
That probably makes me sound like an obnoxious twat but this is meant to be "post your unpopular opinions".

I can't bear science fiction and fantasy. The entire genre. Sorry. Not sorry

Amy was the only decent character, I thought as a girl. Marmee is insufferable, and neglectful, and Jo an affected prig.

It was just one of those preachy, sanctimonious, lightweight 19th century novels. The sequels get progressively worse.

I didn't like it either!

Of Mice and Men is racist and sexist and should no longer be taught in schools.

Most American literature is derivative rubbish.

Have you come across Not So Quiet by Helen Zanna Smith? I've taught this as a pairing with All Quiet before.

Fantastic novel.

Yes. Though such lovely descriptions of marzipan that I started to buy it again.

Brideshead Revisited is an odious novel - smug, elitist, hypocritical, judgemental yet morally suspect and vile on every level. I don't often loathe a book so strongly but that one deserves a place on the "justly forgotten" shelf.

Also agree with others that the Robert Galbraith books are very poor. Rowling hasn't really grasped the conventions of the successful mystery novel.

In fact I've never yet read a modern crime novel that was as good as the best of the golden age crop.

Most American literature is derivative rubbish.

I’m interested to know how much you’ve read and in which genres to come to that conclusion?

Derivative in what way?

Brideshead Revisited is an odious novel - smug, elitist, hypocritical, judgemental yet morally suspect and vile on every level. I don't often loathe a book so strongly but that one deserves a place on the "justly forgotten" shelf.

And horribly self indulgent on top of all that.

Agreed. Where the crowd ads sing is another no-no for me. Completely unhinged from reality.

Shakespeare is meant to be seen rather than read, and most of it is outside the range of teenagers' experience imho

I don't think that's particularly controversial or unpopular. In many ways it's almost fact. What is Jane Eyre if not literature aimed at young women?

I also don’t like Catcher in the Rye. Holden is so irritating and whiny. I don’t identify with him at all.

I felt like Jane Austen couldn’t be arsed to finish writing S&S properly. All that drama with Marianne and Willoughby and then it was like ‘oh yeah she married Brandon and learned to love him’.

If you diss the Chalet School books you will be hunted down and ripped limb from limb. Just a warning. Never read them myself, too busy reading Black Beauty and crying.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is the best Bronte sisters book.
Shakespeare is dull (although I enjoy watching Midsummer night's dream!)
Dickens is just unreadable.

I don’t know if these are unpopular opinions but 2 literary genres which I feel are neglected and deserving of a revival:

1. Church/academic spinster heroine literature - specifically Barbara Pym and

2. The sensation novel - a la Wilkie Collins, Mrs Henry Wood, Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

The first maybe appeals to me based on relatability; and the second just because they were just rip-roaringly good yarns

I just watched a piece on the news where a charity shop worker was saying they keep getting donated too many copies of Richard Osman books! 😂

Lord of the Rings is crap