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.

Glad so many others have mentioned The Life of Pi, like... WTF! My mother reccomended it saying it was funny! Like hilarious...not. I hated it.

Also a Confederance of Dunces or whatever it is called...a load of nonsense about some vile character in New Orleans having to bounce vigorously on a bed to open his 'valve', I am still not sure entirely what that meant! Did I miss something!?

ALSO...recently read a book called The Weight of Numbers, one of these 'entwined lives' type things but gone horribly wrong! There were so many opportunities in it to make it more than it was it was frustrating!

pointy - which parts? Really, because after seeing all those testimonials to its fabulous humour (all over the cover and several pages inside ) I felt a bit of a fraek not getting it.

Glad I'm not the only one who hated Life of Pi!

I thought it was just me!!

See, Confederacy of Dunces I did like, and it should have been pretty depressing too. [inconsistent]

Afraid I'm not a great reader, but if this were a music thread my answer would be 'Oasis'

Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds.

I tried, I tried, but had to conclude it was gibberish. Give me postmodern over the modernists any day.

oh small, my memory is awful. But there were a few wry digs at marketing, like the bit about creatives creating a creative etc and about twistuing words to sell any old thing to people. And I know it was all very dark, but I was also tcikled by the guy who returned as a clown. And I loved the phrase 'walking spanish' that meant being made redundant. Dark, often quite melancholy humour, but I did find quite a bit of humour in it.

Time travellers wife .

Tipping the velvet .

No time for goodbye :I thought this was like a bad episode of diagnosis murder .

Empire of the sun --- Gutted about this one .

The shack ---odd odd odd.

Twilight.

The Rachel Papers by that Amis twat. I was told it was witty and egdy and fresh. It was wank. Literally.

The Lovely Bones - like being subjected to some particularly tiresome motivational speaking.

Jux my MIL lent me The Island and I agree that it is utter gash...but I read it in the two weeks following DS's birth and the terrible writing/decent yarn combo was actually just perfect for those 'wtf is going on?' times

The God Of Small Things - didn't even make it past chapter one, her prose irritated me so much.

Labyrinth. Kate Mosse is on one of the book prize juries, so I thought a book by her would be well written. No it wasn't and it was at least 500 pages too long.

agree labyrinth was toss

Agree with lots of you about The Lovely Bones. Utter garbage. This might not go down well, but I have never got on with Jane Austen either. And I'm an English teacher too.

lol, I hate George Eliot's writing so much it makes me spit. Made the third year of my English degree so much fun.

Oh yes, and Henry James. The master of using 10 words where he could have used none at all

I didn't read 'Labyrinth' (gave up after thirty pages or so) but did read 'Sepulchre' in desperation on holiday. It was crap.

Whodathoughtit - as a fellow English teacher, I have to say that your dismissal of Miss Austen is extremely disappointing. Now - here's the pointy hat: go and sit in the corner!

Labyrinth is bloody awful. One of the few books I had to take to the charity shop because there is no chance I'll read it again.

A Suitable Boy - must defend it - got me through labour without any pain relief

LoL this thread is so consoling - I would 2nd (or 3rd) loads of the books mentioned, particularly Ian McEwan (too self conscious by half, We need to Talk about Kevin (found the mother totally and utterly unconvincing) and Ladies Detective Agency (infuriatingly twee).

My additions would be:
Oscar & Lucinda (and I've tried lots of times)
Behind the Scenes at the Museum

and TBH if something says 'Booker Prize' on it I can almost guarantee I won't like it.

Mind you I am not going to defend my reading choices as one of my friends described my collection as being made up of books that are 'either incredibly dense and boring or utter trash'

Couldn't see the point of Sophie's World, terribly written book supposedly about philosophy. Hated Sophie.

Yet for a while, ever other book on the tube was Sophie's b**y World - did they all hate it too (but only discovered it after reading 50 pages, or am I alone & misguided?)

Takver,
are you me? I was nodding all the way through your post

play - Noooo I hated Sophies world too. Stood in the bookshop trying to see what the fuss was about, and didnt buy it.

so cathartic

Life of Pi - shite
Amis, complete works of - ditto

I read one book by Vikram Seth, it was awful, hated the male hero.

Ladies Detective - patronising
All that vampire/fantasy rubbish, except JK Rowling, should be thrown in the landfill too.

Paolo Coehlo - never again will I make the mistake of buying a book without looking at it because people rave about the author.

Girl with a pearl earring. Couldn't actually finish it.

I have never like anything by Thomas Hardy. I know that makes me look like a twat.

oh and that Time Travellers Wife cobblers.

God save us from "imaginative" authors.

Glad other have said it - the lovely bones and time travellers wife - utter drivel.