Top 5 books you would not recommend

[KAY]

Everyone has at least 1 book they couldn't believe they were sat there reading. You maybe felt you should finish it for what ever reason or had to pack it in it was so bad. What were yours? Should be easier than top 10 favourites. So In no particular order:

 

 

1) Mrs Dalloway( viginia Wolfe)

 

2) The ring masters daughter ( Jostein Gaarder)

 

3) Surfacing ( Margaret Atwood)

 

4) Notes of a small Island ( Bill Bryson)

 

5) If on a winters night a traveller (Italo Calvino)

[Liz]

4) Notes of a small Island ( Bill Bryson)

 

Ah, now I really enjoyed that one.

 

 

The one book I couldn't stand, however, was The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne. I found it to be a complete waste of reading time.

[Louiseog]

Ah, now I really enjoyed that one.

 

 

The one book I couldn't stand, however, was The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne. I found it to be a complete waste of reading time.

Now I enjoyed that !!

Captain Correlli's Mandolin did nothing for me

[Janet]

2) The ring masters daughter ( Jostein Gaarder)

Hmmm - we're reading 'The Christmas Mystery' by him for my next real-life Bookworms meet - I hope it's better than this one!

 

I loved Notes From A Small Island!

 

 

For me:

 

1. Catcher In The Rye (and I read it as an adult, not at school!) - J D Sallinger

 

2. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith - zzzzzzzzzz

 

3. Too Good To Be True - Sheila O'Flanagan (It was! )

 

I can't think of any more at the moment!

[princessponti]

In no particular order as I wouldn't recommend any of them!

 

- The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (most recent icky book)

- The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

- The Beach - Alex Garland

- Does My Bum Look Big in This? - Arabella Weir

- The Rats - James Herbert

 

...of which I think I only managed to actually finish Dorian Gray!

[KAY]

Ah, now I really enjoyed that one.

 

 

The one book I couldn't stand, however, was The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne. I found it to be a complete waste of reading time.

 

 

 

 

I really loved Bill Brysons "Neither here nor there" because i was given an insite into europe, and felt i learnt loads from it plus it was quite funny, so notes from a samll island was a great let down.Probably because i live in england so i felt he couldn't tell me much i didn't already know.

[KAY]

In no particular order as I wouldn't recommend any of them!

 

- The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (most recent icky book)

- The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

- The Beach - Alex Garland

- Does My Bum Look Big in This? - Arabella Weir

- The Rats - James Herbert

 

...of which I think I only managed to actually finish Dorian Gray!

 

 

This book Dorian Gray, many people on this site have talked about it saying how great it is. What is it about? What didn't you like about it. I thought i may try it because so many were enthusiastic about it

[Mia]

2. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith - zzzzzzzzzz

 

I enjoyed that one!

 

Mine would be:

 

1) Wuthering Heights - Bronte

2) Far From the Madding Crowd - Mr Depression himself (Thomas Hardy)

3) The Taking - Dean Koontz

4) Bag of Bones - Stephen King

5) Anne of Green Gables - Montgomery(?)

[Kell]

1. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

2. The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason

3. Falling Sideways by Tom Holt

4. High Society by Ben Elton

5. Things We Knew Were True by Nicci Gerard

 

None of them remotely lived up to even my most meagre of expectations - incredibly disappointing all round.

[Mia]

1. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

 

I've got that on my TBR pile, where it's been languishing for the last couple of years. I let myself be swayed by Richard & Judy for the first (and hopefully the last) time and bought it, though I would never normally read that kind of thing. It sounds very depressing, I have to say.

[KAY]

I enjoyed that one!

 

Mine would be:

 

1) Wuthering Heights - Bronte

2) Far From the Madding Crowd - Mr Depression himself (Thomas Hardy)

3) The Taking - Dean Koontz

4) Bag of Bones - Stephen King

5) Anne of Green Gables - Montgomery(?)

 

 

Wuthering heights would go into my top 20 favourites i'm afraid and as for Anne of green gables, never read the book but i love the film. in fact it is my favourite film ever.

 

Bag of bones i agree with though.

[Kell]

I've got that [The Lovely Bones] on my TBR pile, where it's been languishing for the last couple of years... It sounds very depressing, I have to say.

I just hated it - it put me in such a bad mood with the main character for whom I was supposed to feel sympathy. I had pretty reasonable expectations due to the fact that The Time Traveler's Wife had "This is the next The Lovely Bones" on the front of it & I had adored that one. This was nothing like it & from my point of view it had nothing to like.

[princessponti]

Wuthering heights would go into my top 20 favourites i'm afraid and as for Anne of green gables, never read the book but i love the film. in fact it is my favourite film ever.

 

 

... I was just about to post almost the same thing LOVED Wuthering Heights, and Anne (except I love the Gables books as much as the film!!). I'm really enjoying this thread, it's great to see how people can have such wildly different opinions

 

Kay, with Dorian Gray, I really enjoyed the first chapter (or two, can't remember), but it just took a real turn for the worst and never really made it back up again for me. I found it to be quite depressing and hopeless, with a main character that I could find no redeeming features in. I understand that this may well be the point, but (as revealed elsewhere) I am quite a tender soul and cannot really get on board with stories that are not at least optimistic. I found it quite grim in places and it offended my sensibilities!! I also didn't enjoy the long descriptives of the lavish frivolities and artifacts (although this is something that others I'm sure would love). All in all, it did not float my boat!

[KAY]

... I was just about to post almost the same thing LOVED Wuthering Heights, and Anne (except I love the Gables books as much as the film!!). I'm really enjoying this thread, it's great to see how people can have such wildly different opinions

 

Kay, with Dorian Gray, I really enjoyed the first chapter (or two, can't remember), but it just took a real turn for the worst and never really made it back up again for me. I found it to be quite depressing and hopeless, with a main character that I could find no redeeming features in. I understand that this may well be the point, but (as revealed elsewhere) I am quite a tender soul and cannot really get on board with stories that are not at least optimistic. I found it quite grim in places and it offended my sensibilities!! I also didn't enjoy the long descriptives of the lavish frivolities and artifacts (although this is something that others I'm sure would love). All in all, it did not float my boat!

 

 

Thanx a lot for your opinion on Dorian Gray. Ive just read alittle on amazon and i can't tell from a page very well but i think i would feel the same from what i read. I didn't get a good feel for it.

[Liz]

Now, I really enjoyed Dorian Gray. I thought the idea of the story was a great idea. I ended up enjoying the book more and more the further I got into it.

[Liz]

I wouldn't recommend The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Found that to be a very dull story. So much more could have been done with the idea.

[Michelle]

And I really enjoyed Bag of Bones.

[Acesare*]

Bag of Bones was just OK, in my opinion - certainly one of my least favourite King books. It just seemed a bit slow and meandering for my tastes.

 

I really enjoyed High Society by Ben Elton - changed my opinion on the legalisation of class A drugs.

 

I really diodn't like:

 

The Hobbit

Moby Dick

 

I'm sure there are others.

[Freewheeling Andy]

Snow by Orhan Pamuk: Dull, boring, nothing happening, dreary, over emotional pointless hard to read tosh, set in Turkey, with a poet as the main character

 

The Book Of Memories by Peter Nadas : Dull, boring, effete, almost impossible to read, nothing happening dreariness set in Hungary, with a playwrite as the main character

 

everything I've tried by James Joyce

 

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann : Dull, boring, effete, nothing happening dreariness

 

The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien : The worst of the dreadful middle earth nonense

[Kell]

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann : Dull, boring, effete, nothing happening dreariness

I was forced to watch the film for my media studies class & it was truly dire. I couldn't believe I'd wasted all that time on something so dull!

[~Andrea~]

- The Beach - Alex Garland

 

Whaaaat!!! One of my all time faves!!

[Snowflake]

For me...

1. Last of the Mohicans - I gave up on this it was so dull

2. The Divide by Nichloas Evans - just rubbish and cheesy

3. Faithless by Joyce Carol Oates - short stories that were either really depressing, miserable, disturbing or boring

4. A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve - miserable stuff

5. The Way I Found Her by Rose Tremain - weird and disturbing

[Icecream]

This is difficult. I am finding it hard to think of books I definitely would not recommend. Here is my attempt...

 

1. 'The Emperor's New Mind' by Roger Penrose ~ It is about algorithms and other mathematical theorems, cosmology, quantam... Very interesting but very deep.

 

2. 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens ~ I have only put this because I am struggling. It is the first book I thought of. I found it incredibly boring, however, it has so much to say for itself under analysis.

 

3. 'Emma' by Jane Austen ~ I found no story in this and could not get into it.

 

4. There was a book i read in school. I remember it was yellow with a dog on the front. That is all I remember about it. 'Enough said..'

 

5. I can't think of one..

[Ronny]

Everyone has at least 1 book they couldn't believe they were sat there reading. You maybe felt you should finish it for what ever reason or had to pack it in it was so bad. What were yours? Should be easier than top 10 favourites. So In no particular order:

 

 

1) Mrs Dalloway( viginia Wolfe)

 

2) The ring masters daughter ( Jostein Gaarder)

 

3) Surfacing ( Margaret Atwood)

 

4) Notes of a small Island ( Bill Bryson)

 

5) If on a winters night a traveller (Italo Calvino)

 

I just finished Surfacing and I agree with you, it was not my cuppa at all and I usually like Atwood. It actually made me really irritated by the end.

[Weave]

Here goes.....

 

1. Sunshine Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon:

 

This was part of a Scots Quair, and 'Sunshine Song' was the only part we read at school and I absolutely hated it with a passion, three pages on how dirt feels,no thank you. I bought 'a Scots Quair' years later in the vain hope that I just did not get it when I was a teenager, but no, at the age of 25, I still did not appreciate dirt.

 

2. The Dark by James Herbert:

 

I have enjoyed every James Book I have read accept for this one, the book was all wrong, there is horror and then there is horror which was this book. Do not read this book if you have a sensitive stomach.

 

3. Isobel's Wedding by Sheila O'Flanagan:

 

I apologise profusely to Ms O'Flanagan but this book in a nutshell was awful!, I did not care about the characters, Isobel kind of annoyed me and the whole 'I have changed therefore I am a better person' part did nothing for me.

 

4. The Baby Trail by Sinead Moriarty:

 

This story was great in theory when you read the back of the book and then you read the book. Maybe it was too close to home, etc but I found this book patronising and unrealistic. I actually threw this book across my bedroom.

 

5. I will get back to you.