Really Rubbish Books

Callistemon

^“I am pilgrim”. Gave up halfway. Too grim for words^
My sister-in-law recommended that one saying it was one of the best books she had read for a long time, so I downloaded it but couldn't get on with it.

Oh I absolutely loved that book, couldn't put it down! Yes, grim, and so absurdly far fetched, but by golly when you find out what the story is actually about, it becomes a breathless page-turner!

MerylStreep

Up until a few weeks ago I’d never read a book recommended by someone I didn’t know, but a poster recommended
Where The Crawdads Sing. I absolutely loved it: one of those books I never wanted to end.

I have a friend who up until a few years ago read the most awful rubbish ( I make no apologies for that statement)
One day I gave her The Far Pavillions: she absolutely loved it. It changed her reading choices.

I read Where The Crawdads Sing too. An excellent read and what an ending! It is one of those books that stays with you after you have finished it.

I bought Oscar and Lucinda, by Peter Carey, back in the late 80s. It started off tediously and then just got more and more tedious. But, come on! It's won the Booker Prize! It must be good! So on and on and on.... and on (yawn) I ploughed. Right through to the bitter end.

I think it was that book which taught me that actually I really do not have to finish a book that is boring the life out of me. I've ditched several since. Life is too short and there are so many really good books to discover.

I didn’t like the Da Vinci Code, thought it was rubbish and I don’t like Harry Potter, either. I like the movies but not the books. Anything to do with Barbara Cartland is just an embarrassment as is that thing I started but couldn’t read about shades of grey ( can even remember the proper title)

Re books you read years ago and enjoyed, then don’t if you re-read them years later.

I used to devour Jilly Cooper novels, wouldn’t want to read one now. And I struggled to get through a Miss Read at the start of the first lockdown. What used to seem comfortable and nostalgic just seemed old fashioned and trite.

I suppose we grow out of certain books as we get older.

Gulligranny

I loved Miniaturist, I bought it, then my daughter said it was awful, so I left it. At least a year later I decided to give it a go, and really enjoyed it.

The Thursday Murder Club. Neither did I. The former was ridiculous and boring and the second, although it started well, became tedious in the second half and by the end I didn't care who had dunnit.

That really made me laugh NeverTooOld I felt the same! I only persevered with it (much against my better judgement) because one of my daughter’s bought it me for Christmas.
?

I notice someone above said she did not enjoy Midnight Library or The Thursday Murder Club. Neither did I. The former was ridiculous and boring and the second, although it started well, became tedious in the second half and by the end I didn't care who had dunnit.

I always used to finish any book I started but as I have become older I won't waste my time with a book I don't like.

I used to love Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine and was so sorry when I discovered I had read them all.

I have just read Dear Child by Romy Hausmann. I did finish it but only because it was to be discussed at our book club. By the end I had lost the will to live.

I am surprised so many did not like Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch (or was it a greenfinch - can't remember) because I loved that. Catch 22? Big groan. Only managed a very few chapters.

I'm currently reading While Paris Slept by Ruth Druart which is excellent. (About a young Jewish mother who gives her baby to a male stranger just as she is about to be herded on to a train taking her to Auschwitz.) Don't be put off by the title, it is excellent.

Couldn't get on with The Goldfinch or The Miniaturist, couldn't finish either of them. I've also tried to like Curtis Sittenfeld but again her books do nothing for me.

Louise Penny is consistently brilliant though - her Inspector Gamache novels set in and around Montreal are excellent.

Greyduster

I’m another one who adored M.M. Kaye’s “The Far Pavilions”. I followed it up with her “Shadow of the Moon” and didn’t enjoy it half as much. But this has reminded me of how much I loved John Masters’ novels of India. Read them all. Must read then again.

Makes me remember the Thorn Birds, loved it but another bit of wrong casting with Richard Chamberlain as Ralph de Bricassart.

Sorry a digression...
Maybe we should have a thread “really long books I have read”....

I’m another one who adored M.M. Kaye’s “The Far Pavilions”. I followed it up with her “Shadow of the Moon” and didn’t enjoy it half as much. But this has reminded me of how much I loved John Masters’ novels of India. Read them all. Must read then again.

Bellman & Black, Diane Setterfield. I'm still not sure what it was actually supposed to be about. It was like Are You being Served vs the COOP Funeral Service. Blimmin awful book.

Deedaa

Her fearful Symmetry, I didn’t like it either.

I can't remember the name of the book but it was by the author of The Time Traveller's Wife. About a pair of twins? I just know that I hated the people. hated the story and hated the atmosphere of the whole thing.

I remember a tutor at art school recommending ‘Finnegan’s Wake ‘. By James Joyce . I struggled for ages and then gave up.

Nexus
I loved the first few Tess Gerritson, but went off them.

I also really enjoyed the first couple of Karen Rose thrillers, but they have become so predictable, damaged woman, after a rocky start, falls for big, rugged, handsome hero. They have lots of incredibly badly written sex, and solve the crime.

Image, not imagine

i have about 200 books on my kindle, everything from supernatural, paranormal, romance, thrillers and mysteries, i read 3/4 books a week, if i can't get into a book by chapter 3 then i give up, i don't follow any authors but loved john francombe, dick francis and tess gerritsen (rizzoli and isles).

TerriBull
I agree with you about Joanna Trollope, I did enjoy her early books, but something seemed to go wrong, I agree that Friday Nights was a load of old rubbish.
Perhaps she was trying to pull away from her ‘Aga Saga’ imagine, perhaps she should have stuck to what she knew.

I reread Barbara Vine's Asta's Book last year, I remember I loved it when it first came out some time in the '90s I'd forgotten all the integral parts of the plot, it was just as good second time around. I'm glad I kept it, I usually do though if I've loved a book.

I agree with you Lucca, I found Big Sky disappointing too, not up to the standard of the other Jackson Brodies for me at any rate.

Yes,Sara1954 I know exactly what you mean. I used to like Miss Read but when I read one again after a gap of some years I no longer liked it.
Regarding Joanna Trollope, agree Other People's Children was one of the best, also The Spanish Lover. I thought the Mum in Mum and Dad was written as if she was about twenty years older. Ditto The Friday night one was dire. Such a disappointment when that happens.

Sara1954

I’m always reluctant to reread a book I’ve loved, in case it’s just not the same.

I never reread books for that exact reason. DH rereads Jane Austen every now and again

MerylStreep

When The Clan of the cave bear came out I devoured every book until the last one. Some years ago I thought I would read them again.
I just couldn’t get into them, strange isn’t it with some books.

I loved those but gave up on the last one - I'm sure it was ghost-written. It was tedious.

The first couple were so different to anything I'd read before (or since).

I’m always reluctant to reread a book I’ve loved, in case it’s just not the same.

Jane43
Very glad it’s not just me, regarding Catch 22, it was just awful.