What books were you 'supposed' to enjoy but thought were a pile of crap? And why?

[MrsMerryHenry]

A Suitable Boy

Writing style far too poncey and utterly incapable of moving me.

The Ukranian tractors book - everyone kept telling me it was hilarious, well in that case they must have read a different book with the same title

The Forgotten Garden and House at Riverton
Labyrinth and the follow up book
All the ladies detective agency books
Mister Pip
The Welsh girl

I've not read the Kevin book, but did pick up another one by her...Post Birthday something...
I was going to give it a shot - really...until she referred to sex as "coitus".

Time to put it down.
Sigh.

I have never been able to read Wuthering Heights. I have tried and tried but i can't!

I think you have to be 15 and really really angst ridden to get the best out of WH. I loved it but then I made Morrissey look like Anne of Green Gables.

DH spent a long time trying to get me to like Irving Welsh. Noooooohhhh! He kept reading bits to me in a Glasgow accent (he's from Clacton) which put me off for life. Shame, and I loved Trainspotting, the film.

I thought it was just me who couldn't get into Captain Correlli and The English Patient - glad to see there are others out there! I tried both books before the films came out and gave up, there was then so much hype about the films I thought I'd better try again....I never made it to the end of either.

Thought The Island was ok (for a holiday read!) so bought her new book - The Return....a bad move, its crappily written.

Saw Lionel thing on a book programme. She seems to always wear white cotton gloves. Somehow linked with using the word 'coitus'?

LOL!!!
I can imagine there are some men who would find that a turn on...

I found White Teeth and also Da Vinci Code utterly tedious. Although i loved the Time Travellers Wife. So there!

I emnjoyed white teeth

ohand don't even get me started on "Tuesday's with Morrie" I actually through the book across the room and stamped on it...soooo cliched, patronising and smug.

I enjoyed White Teeth, too. Loved it. Hated her second book - not even vaguely interesting. Forced myself through the first few chapters, then decided life was too short.

I sometimes wonder, though, whether I'm shooting myself in the foot by ending a book early. At school we read Schindler's Ark. I recall the first 14 chapters being as tedious as watching brickwork, but then BANG! from ch 15 onwards it was a white-knuckle feast. Perhaps I should try the 'staying power' approach to reading dull books and see whether they improve over time.

Kevin's an odd one. I enjoyed the story itself, but found it quite predictable (I worked out the key events LOOONG in advance - kind of spoils the great denouement!). My worst criticism is that her writing style is so bloody pretentious. She would write utter cack - maybe she played spin the bottle with the dictionary and wrote whatever words the bottle selected. Sometimes I'd read her sentences out loud to DH (also a writer) and we'd roar with laughter at what utter tosh it was.

I liked it, sort of, but didn't think it was amazing.

Silas Marner - boring beyond belief

The Lovely Bones - horrid