Book or books that you thought would be good but was disappointed with after reading it?

[boogiewoogie]

For me it would have to be "On Chesil beach" I really enjoyed "Atonement" and had high expectaions for this but the end was an anticlimax. Pun intended.

No, I haven't bothered to read her other books. I lose respect for someone who uses someone else's character to make a point. I find it weak.

Ditto historical fiction. Pants.

Okay, here's the deal Expat. You read another of her novels, any other, you pick, and if you don't like it, I'll buy you a novel you do like (no cheating no first editions). She is fabbo.

There are many serious points to WSS to do with the way men treat women, disempower them, ultimately drive them mad. We only ever see Bertha through Mr Rochester's eyes in Jane Eyre. Jean Rhys wasn't pinching the character from Jane Eyre - she was showing us a whole different and much more human character. The book's a blardy masterpiece.

No, thanks.

I really did not like that book even though I stuck it out till the end for a bookclub.

If she wanted to make the points she set out to, she could have used her imagination to do so without the obvious reference to Bronte's book.

That puts me off in an author. It really does.

Especially because there are so many writers out there who don't need to take twist in originality.

the Ukraine tractors thingy - distinctly unimpressed.
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse - seriously crap twists and rubbishy plot manipulation
Catcher in the Rye - why do people love this?
Another vote for Vernon thingy
I didn't like the Kite Runner
Wasn't mad keen on The Lovely Bones
Catch 22 - I made myself finish this, only by having it in the loo and read it over a period of several weeks (normally takes me about 5 hours to a day to read a book) - it was ok but I can't see myself reading it again
Moby Dick - could NOT get into it at all.
Penhallow by Georgette Heyer - not a sympathetic character in the book; you didn't care who killed the murder victim because they were all so ghastly. And I LOVE GH normally.

Was forced to read Moby Dick in English class.

Oh, how could I forget?

Foucault's Pendulum! Load of steaming, poney, pretentious horse manure.

Ditto 'The Rule of Four', which had the added bonus of being dumb.

Cloud Atlas. No - Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake explores similar themes, infinitely better.
We've Heard Too Much About Kevin
Birdsong

The Book Thief - dreadful and irritating and badly written.

Loads at the minute-
The Book Thief
Time Traveller's Wife
A quiet belief in angels (anyone didn't see the ending come a mile off?)
Anything by Mitch Albom
Cloud Atlas
A short history of tractors in Ukrainian (my masters in eng lit friend raved about it but I thought it was crap)

I know it's a classic but To Kill A Mockingbird. Love modern classics but this didn't impress me at all.

I thought A Short History of Tractors was a mildly amusing piece of not particularly well-written fluff - and the later one about Two Thingies - but I fail to see what all the fuss was about.

I have just finished Atonement and feel disappointed. It started well but didn't deliver.

I was very disappointed by a short history of tractors. (To Kill a Mockingbird is an all time favourite of mine).

I know AbbeyA. I was really looking forward to reading To Kill a Mockingbird as it's one of the classics I'd never got round to. I think the problem was I'd built it up in head to be a very dramatic story, dealing with the subject matter that it does, whereas it was much subtler than expected.

BeachBunni-Try reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd-we read it the same month with my book group as a comparison. (I had read Mockingbird as a teenager but still liked it).

Oh thanks for the recommendation. Sounds good. Have just marked it up on my wish list on amazon

I didn't like the secret life of bees! Found it very middle of the road, didn't set me alight at al!

Shadow of the Wind - dull, dull, dull!

captain corelli's mandolin too for me- a great story badly told IMHO.

also another one for the catcher in the rye- i didn't find holden caulfield a sympathetic character at all!

LOL j r hartley!

Catch 22. HATED IT. After the third time trying to get through it I ended up chucking out the the window. (I was angry because it had beaten me )

MadBadandDangeroustoKnow Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake is so good and so dark stayed with me for a very long time (though I will have to wait until I am in a very positive mood before reading it again).

Ooo, I hated This Book will Save Your Life. Most over-hyped thing this year.

Oh god yes, I'd forgotten about Moby Dick - I couldn't get beyond 20 pages.

The Tenderness Of Wolves - yawn

Everything Is Illuminated - double yawn

The Accidental by Ali Smith - couldn't see the point of this at all, although I'd enjoyed Hotel World.

Middlemarch - risk offending lots of you with this one!

Forgot about The Tenderness of Wolves, just didn't go anywhere.

Also anything by Val McDermid!

So sad that there are votes against This Book Will Save Your Life I thought it was luvverly.

Jonathan Coe - The Rain Before It Falls. I was soooo looking forward to this - saved it up for over 6 months as a "special treat" and I was really disappointed. Worse, I have bought it for someone as a birthday present without having read it as I had him down as a completely failsafe bet.

Toni Morrison - Love. Nowhere near as good as anything else she has ever written.

I would add my vote to On Chesil Beach as well, but to be strictly accurate, having read all the reviews I was expecting to hate it, much as I didn't want to (ordinarily I love McEwan). So although I was disappointed, I wasn't expecting it to be any good.

Moby Dickwas the weirdest book I ever read. Was he having gay sex with the slave bloke or was that my imagination?