Really Rubbish Books

vampirequeen

I hate Dickens. There I've said it and now I'm going to hide behind the sofa . It's not the stories but the way they're written. The only book of his that I finished was Hard Times. I had to read it as part of my degree. I called it Hard Going and forced myself to read a chapter each day until it was over.

I was given Oliver Twist to read when I was 9. I enjoyed it weirdly. It saying I would read Dickens now though.

Maybe the title should be “books I have hated”?

“I am pilgrim”. Gave up halfway. Too grim for words
“The girl with all the gifts”. Sci fi. Yuck
“Rivers of London”. Fantasy thing. Some people love it. I didn’t.
“Believe me”. Eddie Izzard autobiography. Strange for someone I respect hugely for his intellect among other things, his book was just plain dull!

@Witzend. You can get free samples of Kindle books. Look to the right on the Amazon page on your computer for Free Sample ot Try a Sample on the Kindle itself.

vampirequeen

I hate Dickens. There I've said it and now I'm going to hide behind the sofa . It's not the stories but the way they're written. The only book of his that I finished was Hard Times. I had to read it as part of my degree. I called it Hard Going and forced myself to read a chapter each day until it was over.

I had to read that for 'A' level and loathed it.
Then I saw it televised and it came to life - if only they'd done that years before.

FannyC I'm rather like your Grandmother - 'I've started so I will finish'. However, I have abandoned a couple over the last two years:
I've just doggedly carried on until the end of one about New Zealand in the early days; the first book was good but the second was not and the ending ridiculous.

A Santa Montefiore book called The Affair; hers are OK but this was dire. A Lesley Pearce book which was free on the Kindle - usually hers can be quite good but not this one. Abandoned after a couple of chapters.

They are often freebies on the Kindle, they take up space but I try not to delete them just in case I forget and download them again!

Urmstongran

Reading is meant to be an enjoyable experience. It’s not like doing homework! If you’re 50+ pages into a book and you’re not loving it - ditch it. There are so many other books out there to choose from. Why waste your time finishing a nonsense one?

It took me years to accept that this was perfectly fine - like leaving food on my plate, or leaving a play/film before the end.

Alima

Raven Black by Anne Cleeves. I plodded on and finished it, never again. So many people on GN rate A C, I will never again be able to read any by her.

well that's strange, because I loved the Shetland series, have really liked many of her books but really couldn't get started on Raven Black. I gave it a couple of attempts, convinced it must be me, but finally admitted defeat after just a couple of chapters. Life is too short to read awful books.

If a book hasn’t grabbed me after say 20 pages, I ditch it. Life’s too short.
That’s why I’m reluctant to buy Kindle versions of unfamiliar authors. In a library, shop or charity shop, you can not only read the blurb, but look at the first couple of pages, to see whether you like the author’s style. I’ve often returned one to the shelf because something’s put me off.

I won’t name any ‘rubbish’ books here, though, since it’s so subjective - one person’s waste of time is another person’s cracking read - one person’s tedious bore another person’s hours of enjoyment.

I am like your gran, FannyCornforth; I hate giving up on a book, but I have nearly done it with a few lately, mostly ham fisted detective novels, and a ready to do it with my latest read “The Three Body Problem”. What on Earth made me (a bear of very little brain) think I would get through a book that has the words “quantum physics” littered through it? My SiL tells me that Netflix are going to serialise it. I think I’ll wait for that! I wonder who’ll get a starring role??

The Thursday Murder Club . Dull dull dull . I gave up on the audible version after 2 hours .

It's so subjective, isn't it? Life seems too short to persevere with an unenjoyable book but I do try with prizewinners to see what all the fuss is about. Some Booker prizewinners have been a real disappointment. Howard Jacobsen's The Finkler Question was deeply unpleasant. I tried three times but couldn't get into Bernadine Everisto's much praised Girl, Woman, Other but loved co-winner Margaret Atwood's The Testaments and last years' winner, Douglas Stuart's Shuggie McBain.

The writer I cannot get along with is JoJo Moyes. I know she is hugely popular but found Me Before You and After You inplausible and irritating. Trying to marry serious issues with wanting to be a comedian. I had to read them for a book group and was pleased to find I wasn't the only dissenter in the discussion. Takes cover ...

I hate Dickens. There I've said it and now I'm going to hide behind the sofa . It's not the stories but the way they're written. The only book of his that I finished was Hard Times. I had to read it as part of my degree. I called it Hard Going and forced myself to read a chapter each day until it was over.

Reading is meant to be an enjoyable experience. It’s not like doing homework! If you’re 50+ pages into a book and you’re not loving it - ditch it. There are so many other books out there to choose from. Why waste your time finishing a nonsense one?

Raven Black by Anne Cleeves. I plodded on and finished it, never again. So many people on GN rate A C, I will never again be able to read any by her.

Hello Fanny , like your grandmother l have to see a bad book through to the end. So many bad books have come my way over the years but “l have started so l’ll finish”.
I am the kind of person that will read anything even leaflets that come with any medicine.
One thing a rarely read are instructions on how to operate household electrical’s.

I had a bit of a chick lit phase, they were mainly a bit rubbish, the best of the bunch, in my opinion were the "Confessions of a Shopaholic " series.