Really Rubbish Books

vampirequeen I love Dickens, but do find his books such a struggle because of the cast of thousands involved by the time you have read two chapters. I enjoy the way he draws his characters - for the same reason I like Monica Dicken's books. She must have inherited this talent from her great grandfather. As a light read I have enjoyed Bill Bryson's books. Hilarious and informative; my OH, who rarely laughs out loud, had to stop reading ' A Walk in the Woods' on the train.

I was an academic and used to dipping into books and articles as part of my job, for years never read a book to the end as they were all textbooks and I didn't have time for anything else. These days I'll read a chapter or two and happily abandon a book if I don't enjoy it, I get a lot via kindle, so you can check out a sample for free before buying. I don't mind putting a bit of effort in to reading something that outside my comfort zone etc but what's the point of reading something you get nothing positive from? Life's too short!

Happyhound
I didn’t like My Brilliant Friend, either, I didn’t take to any of the characters.

NotTooOld I love Diary of a Nobody too.
It's one of my favourite 'comfort reads'
It would be great to hear about other's comfort reads

This is a great thread. I read it with the 'Notes' app open on my phone so I can write down any recommended books that appeal to me. Handy for when I finish a book on my kindle and want to start another one.

Must add that I love 'On Chesil Beach' - someone above did not - and a couple of my all time favourites are Diary of a Nobody and Cold Comfort Farm. So funny.

I write books (for fun) as well as read them and, as others have mentioned, it is so annoying when a mediocre book, such as The Thursday Murder Club, is given rave reviews by other authors. I'm sure it's a reciprocity thing but unfair to the general reader.

Greyduster, I too loved the Far Pavilions, (41 years ago, when I was pregnant with DS), and have read all her novels as well as the three books of her autobiography. Also adore the John Masters books set in Asia.

I agree vampire queen I hate Dickens as well. We were given one term at school and then did "Hard Times ", for A level. I bought it for Christmas for DH he was turning into a Mr Bounderby.
We did Hardy at the same time and I loved him, I cannot even watch a Dickens film I never know if they are exaggerated to make you look closely at the characters. I gave up on the new film of David Copperfield the other week. Same irritations.

I said that I’m going to start reading A Thousand Splendid Suns later today. Now I’m wondering if I can take the sadness again.
I’ve read The Kite runner Runner twice.

I have to say I loved a thousand splendid suns sooo much.
Also surprised nobody has mentioned theBeekeeper of Aleppo, another wonderful book. But I always go back to Cutting for Stone a firm favourite.
I have put down too many that I couldn’t get on with.
Now what about Crosstitch that turned into the Outlander series. I read a few...

Jaxie I'm glad to hear your views regarding Lincoln in the Bardo, that's how I felt about it "unreadable"

Loved Carlos Louis Zafron's Shadow of the Wind fired up an interest about Spain in that austere and still repressive post Spanish Civil war period for me

I read at least 500 books a year, real and kindle

You read around 10 books every week? . How on earth do you ever get anything else done? Like cooking, shopping, housework - or even eating and visiting the loo? I would have to stay awake all night to get through 10 books a week.

All my friends were raving about My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante but I was massively disappointed. I eventually finished it but won’t be reading any more of hers. I can’t stand Thomas Hardy either, reading Tess of the d’Urbervilles for A level put me off for 30 years, then I read Jude the Obscure and it was even worse.

i was told The other Boleyn was really good, highly recommened, then I got the book and before i started i was a little put off, it is going to take me forever to get through it, thats a bit off putting for me, i also bought richard osmans book Thursday club, it came highly recommended , i have read it and am still not sure, for me it was a little complicated and a lot of characters although his wit did come through, has anyone else read it

I cannot bear anything written in the present tense, especially if it's set way back in time. I have, somewhere, a copy of Hilary Mantel's first Cromwell book but I can't bring myself to read it...
Me neither, MaizieD, I really struggled through a couple of chapters. A pity, because it was a very interesting period of history looked at from a different perspective.
I have deleted it from my Kindle

When I first had a Kindle - quite a few years ago now - I downloaded books because they were either free or very cheap. Mostly they were rubbish, badly written and boring. I know better now and will download a sample if I’m not sure about a book.
I hated the Da Vinci Code
Loathed the Hundred Year Old Man who climbed out of a window (or whatever it was he did.)
Despaired at The Girl on a Train and The Lovely Bones.

However, the only book I have given up on was Doctor Zhivago. I once happened to mention to a snooty work colleague that I loved the film. She lent me the book and I just couldn’t read it and gave up early on. When my colleague asked me what I had thought of it I lied and said it was wonderful! I think she probably guessed that I had never read more than a few pages. I lived in fear for weeks thinking that she would start quizzing me for I was young and stupid then and she was “old” and scary!

I'm a completely unadventurous reader because I hate reading badly written books. So I don't branch out in case a book is badly written. Many years ago I belonged to, I think, World Books and bought a number of Booker prize winners, thinking to improve my literary scope. I was bored rigid by most of them, though I suspect that I might like them better if I tried them again.

I really like late 18th and most 19thC literature; I think it's an acquired taste as you have to get used to the verbosity (Jane Austen actually scores by not being verbose) but I cannot stand Wuthering Heights. I think it's the product of a seriously warped mind.

I read The Da Vinci Code. It was OK, but I really couldn't see what all the fuss was about.

I couldn't get through Catch 22; the 'catch' got really boring after a while.

Dislike Henry James, everything apart from the Aspern Papers. A whole chapter to describe 5 minutes of time? No thanks..

I cannot bear anything written in the present tense, especially if it's set way back in time. I have, somewhere, a copy of Hilary Mantel's first Cromwell book but I can't bring myself to read it...

I tend to read non-fiction most of the time. Particularly 18th/19th C history. I bought a book by everyone's favourite TV historian, Lucy Worsley and it was terrible. Ungrammatical, confusing and repetitive.

Oh, and I have A Thousand Splendid Suns. Everyone should read it. It is so good and utterly harrowing. I can't bring myself to reread it (though I'd like to) because it's so harrowing.

I thought I couldn’t get on with Elena Ferrante until I had to read “My Brilliant Friend” in order to participate in a Zoom book group. Half way through I was totally converted and have read all her other novels. The same for “ Shadow of the Wind” by Zafron, which I’d dismissed on a previous reading as a piece of whimsy. As an ex- teacher of English, I used to dread having to teach some books that came on the syllabus, but ended up loving them, so perhaps sometimes it’s a matter of perseverance, but I certainly agree with some posts: “Lincoln in the Bardo” I found unreadable, also Tolkien, I bought Hilary Mantel’s books about Thomas Cromwell but couldn’t get past the first few pages. Maybe I should try again. I’m dreading presenting her “Fludd” to my book group as I expect they’ll hate it.

Ha ha, yes, all completely implausible Sara. But never a dull minute....

Delila
I know what you mean, I enjoyed the books, but I often wondered when they had time to grab a sandwich or go to the loo! And they seemed to be able to go days without any sleep.

Jilly
I enjoyed Little Dorrit, and D H Lawrence is one of my favourite writers, especially Women in Love.

The Da Vinci Code. A real page-turner & I admit to enjoying it, but really.... absolute rubbish.

Kazuo Ishiguro: The Unconsoled. That is hours of my life I will never get back...

Kate Atkinson, wonderful

Usually I read a book to the end, but I couldn't finish The Lamplighters.

There was little dialogue and I lost all interest.

Couldn't agree more, Treetops05. Re spelling, I mean. It's a losing battle. I'm a school governor, and have given up on pointing out spelling and grammar mistakes in school documents, Think I'm viewed as an irritating pedant - which might be true, but really feel very strongly that any educational document should NOT have mistakes!