Top 5 books you would not recommend

[sgeandhu]

1) anything by James Joyce..(he doesn't make sense..not worth the effort)

2)The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh (despite rave reviews by the press- couldn't give a monkey's for the main character)

3) Cold Granite by Stuart McBride (yep, I realise a few on here list it as one of best reads, but I found the thing cliched twaddle

4) The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger (let's just be grateful he isn't prolific :-) )

no 5)...... that's enough mince for now!

[KAY]

it's funny you should say "Emma". I bought it a couple of months ago cos i usually like periodic books (eg the Brontes) but ive been watching some of the Jane Austen series on tv and all her stories seem to be pretty much similar with different characters and very little happens in them. I much preferr jane Eyre and wuthering heights which have great story lines that have stayed with me for years.

[everydayxangels]

I can only think of 4 that I would be hell bent against recommending.

 

4. On Beauty by Zadie Smith

3. A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve

2. A Virgin Earth by Phillipa Gregory

1. The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards

[kitty_kitty]

There is probably alot more than this but i have just thought of:

 

1. Middlemarch by George Elliot - Did it for Alevel hated it - awful and dull

 

2. Holy Fools by Joanne Harris - i tried Gentlemen and Players too so i can safely not try anything or hers again as it not for me.

 

3. Anything by Patricia Scanlan - Very dull and predictable chick lit author

 

4. The virgin blue - Tracy Chevalier - very dissappointing

 

5. Labyrinth - Kate Mosse - A really good idea but poor story telling!!!

[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.

 

 

 

Finally thought of my fifth book, 'The Jane Austen Book Club' by Karen Joy Fowler. awful awful awful book x

[KW]

I'm amazed you all can remember books you didn't like. I usually toss them after the first chap or two and out goes the memory of the title!

 

KW

[Nici]

I'm amazed you all can remember books you didn't like. I usually toss them after the first chap or two and out goes the memory of the title! KW

 

That's exactly how i feel! I keep looking at this thread thinking i know there are books that i really didn't enjoy but i just can't remember what they are!

[Kell]

I'm amazed you all can remember books you didn't like. I usually toss them after the first chap or two and out goes the memory of the title!

Ah, but if I didn't remember the titles of the books I hated, I might end up accidentally buying them again and that would just be tragic!

[JudyB]

 

1. Middlemarch by George Elliot - Did it for Alevel hated it - awful and dull

 

Did this for my degree and it became my nemisis - however I went to work for an ex-vicar and in a conversation about literature in general he happened to explain it to me (he didn't know I'd studied it) and I felt quite guilty afterwards and think it might be good after all and maybe it was a case of wrong book at wrong time. another one I feel guilty about is Portrait of a Lady by Henry James - I think I gave up on it just before it got interesting.

[Fay]

Just finished Last Witness by Jilliane Hoffman. It was terrible. The only book that I did not enjoy...ever.

 

I feel awful about saying it but it was truly dull. I had no connection with the main character, it wasnt descriptive enough - I feel as though it was intended to be read by those who knew Florida and its highway system, and those who are familiar with the Florida law enforcement!

[Kylie]

Two that I would never recommend:

 

The Alchemist - Paul Coelho

Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

 

I know I lot of people love these books but I couldn't stand them!

[Kell]

What was it about them that you disliked, Kylie? Anything in particular? Style? Plot? Characters? (I ask because I quite liked them, but know that both have very strong love / hate camps).

[Janet]

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O' Farrell

What did you hate about this book? I read the 'blurb' in Tesco last week and thought it sounded really good!

[Fiona]

 

2. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith - zzzzzzzzzz

 

Noooooooooo but that was excellent how can you possibly find it boring, it's like one of my very favourite books! *becomes militent*

 

It's interesting how people can hate some books others love. Cos I can't actually understand how anyone could not like that book! Yet sometimes I get reccomended a book, I read it and I can't help raising an eyebrow how anyone could actually enjoy such a book (let alone how it could get published.)

 

Anyway, my five...

 

1. Labyrinth - Kate Mosse - I read the first three pages and I have NEVER had a more torturous ten minutes or so of my life. I don't normally read books with a critical eye, because I like to enjoy books as books usually. But really... this had so much wrong with it. I can remember thinking 'STOP USING STUPID SIMILIES' How can blood splatter like a firework or whatever she wrote? Hello there, shoddy writing how did it get past the editor? It was terrible. I don't care if she had the best idea in the world, she cannot write to save her forsaken life. Not that I'm any expert but isn't that the point? If someone with no degree in English, an amature writer - can notice such terrible writing skills then... gah. Why is it a best seller? I suppose Richard and Judy pushing it helped. (I try to avoid books reccomended by them...)

 

2. The Lovely Bones - Alice Seabold - Boring. Depressing and wooden. I couldn't actually care less by the end. Instant sympathy factor. Kid got raped and murdered. Didn't bother actually building on the character beyond that. The end was just stupid and weird and to fantastical for my liking.

 

 

I mean, she possessed someone for pities sake... it was just completely out of sync and weird. What rubbish.

 

 

3. Dracula - Bram Stoker - Had to read this for English A-Level I think I skimmed half of it to tell the truth. Good writing ability I think, but bad plotting. It felt so all over the place. It's a shame as I think it could have been a lot better.

 

4. For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemmingway (yes I know, I am reading it at the moment) maybe he is a good author. I don't think he's magnificent though. I'm afraid even if this is the best book, it is ultimately the wrong choice for me because I don't really give two hoots about the spanish civil war. Anyway, the characters are wooden, the speech stunted. And it just feels so shallow. The m/c thinks himself in love with this girl after the first second of meeting her. I'm sorry, I don't buy love at first sight. He just fancies the pants off her and it's boring. It's boring to read how they keep having sex randomly and moaning about the war and the bridge they're supposed to be blowing and moaning about each other. Their conversations are stupid and contrived. And I don't like the main character. He's one dimensional and pointless. Hope he dies in the end, only reason why I'm still reading it.

 

5. The Turn of the Screw - Don't know and don't care - Read this in year 11 in school. Hated it. Absolutely hated it. Hated the book, the BBC filmy thing of it and every bloody lesson about it. I was hoping they'd all die at the end and I could get some satisfaction. Can't actually remember much about it apart from thinking 'hate it' at the time. I'm pretty sure it was one of the most pointless classics ever to be written.

[Janet]

2. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith - zzzzzzzzzz

Noooooooooo but that was excellent how can you possibly find it boring, it's like one of my very favourite books! *becomes militent*

 

It's interesting how people can hate some books others love. Cos I can't actually understand how anyone could not like that book! Yet sometimes I get reccomended a book, I read it and I can't help raising an eyebrow how anyone could actually enjoy such a book (let alone how it could get published.)

As you say, different strokes for different folks. It's just that nothing exciting happened (for me, anyway) and I would definitely have given up if it wasn't a 'Bookworms' read.

 

I only had 3 last time round, so I can now add:

 

4. The Sea by John Banville.

 

I know it won some kind of literary award, but it just irritated me beyond belief. I've tried twice now, and given up both times.

 

Such a shame, because the cover is really pretty!

[Fiona]

Yeah, annoying that isn't it? Pretty covers should only be reserved for really good books!

[Sofia]

The Boy On The Bus-Deborah Schupack

 

just terrible!!

[pontalba]

I only had 3 last time round, so I can now add:

 

4. The Sea by John Banville.

 

I know it won some kind of literary award, but it just irritated me beyond belief. I've tried twice now, and given up both times.

 

Such a shame, because the cover is really pretty!

 

'Tis a shame, it is one of my favorites.

 

But otoh, I know some love books by Saramago...Blindness, Seeing, and I can't bear them. Couldn't get past the first 30 something pages.

Ok, that's two....lets see.....

Don Quixote

 

If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino

 

Can't think of a 5th at the moment. I'll save it.

[Kylie]

What was it about them that you disliked, Kylie? Anything in particular? Style? Plot? Characters? (I ask because I quite liked them, but know that both have very strong love / hate camps).

 

Well, I didn't realise The Alchemist was going to a fable, and even though I know a fable is supposed to be a simple story, I was still disappointed. It just seemed that I'd read this before.

 

The ending was way too cliched for my liking.

Did the treasure really have to be as obvious as a chest full of coins??

When you take the character and his journey into consideration, the ending just didn't seem appropriate - I thought it would be a little more imaginative than that.

 

 

With Black Beauty, although I did learn some things about horses, I found it be too preachy and repetitive. I hate being preached at about anything, and the whole 'horse meets bad person, horse meets good person etc' was pretty annoying.

[kitty_kitty]

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

 

 

The Beach

 

This is number 6 on my books i would not recommend i did not hate it - it was too dull to hate

[Sofia]

Heart Shaped Box-Joe Hill

[Tiger]

I didn't like The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper much. I had to read it for homework in Year Six last year. I thought that the beginning was OK, but then as I got deeper in, I was looking forward to reading it, but I was let down by the story.

[Sedge]

I've never read a bad book, but the only one that I struggled to get into was The Last Of The Mohicans.

[Esiotrot]

My recent non-recommends are

 

Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardam - Really disliked this book, the main character was pointless, couldnt finish it.

 

Panic by Jeff Abbott - Too many twists and turns to be taken seriously

 

Sheer Abandon by Penny Vicenza - Recommended by a client who raved and said it was the best book she had ever read, I have tried twice to read it but its not my cup of tea at all.

 

Little Face by Sophie Hannah - had it sussed early on and the characters lacked substance.

 

KxXx

[Echo]

I don't know about 5 books, since I've pretty much liked everything I've read, but one author I have not enjoyed in the least is Rick Moody. I reviewed his book of short stories Demonology for a fiction writing class I took last year, and I actually found myself irritated and angry at his writing style. I wouldn't recommend him to my worst enemy (if I had one!). I'm sorry to have offended anyone who likes him.