I buy more books than I borrow from the library. Mostly from secondhand book shops, or charity shops. I pick books that I am reasonably confident that I will enjoy, so I don't end up with that many 'rejects', and if I've only paid a £ or so for a book and I don't like it, it can go back to the charity shop. Sometimes I'll start a book that my wife has read and abandon it if it doesn't appeal to me. But overall I read most of what I buy/borrow - if I don't know what I like at my age, I never will!
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Worst or most disappointing book?
- Thread starter Ell
- Start date
I buy more books than I borrow from the library. Mostly from secondhand book shops, or charity shops. I pick books that I am reasonably confident that I will enjoy, so I don't end up with that many 'rejects', and if I've only paid a £ or so for a book and I don't like it, it can go back to the charity shop. Sometimes I'll start a book that my wife has read and abandon it if it doesn't appeal to me. But overall I read most of what I buy/borrow - if I don't know what I like at my age, I never will!
jaynebosco
New Member
Was really disappointed in iWoz; thought it would have been much better than it ended up being. Glad that I didn't purchase the book.
Nooooooooooooooooo....one of my favourite novels! If 'favourite' is the right word - it's scary and unsettling, no doubt about it, but then it's supposed to be. I must have read it half a dozen times and it never fails to impress.
I liked 1984 also. My most recent disappointing book was The Ruins by Scott Smith. I kept waiting for a twist that never came.
Fieldy
New Member
I read the trilogy of 'shock' writer William Christopher baer - distinctly average if that, Penny Dreadful was the best
however on his website fans were saying how the last in the trilogy was the best - hells half acre.
The plot was shoddy and the writing, poor
To add cheek, members of the forum kept stating he was better than most writers because he did not write as if he was in hollywood.
'Jude jumped on the motorbike and sped off into the sunset'
[something happened] and someones head fell off
To be fair, it was dreadful
however on his website fans were saying how the last in the trilogy was the best - hells half acre.
The plot was shoddy and the writing, poor
To add cheek, members of the forum kept stating he was better than most writers because he did not write as if he was in hollywood.
'Jude jumped on the motorbike and sped off into the sunset'
[something happened] and someones head fell off
To be fair, it was dreadful
Heteronym
New Member
Last disappointing novel I read was Günter Grass' The Tin Drum. To begin with he is not a favourite of mine: up to The Tin Drum I hadn't read anything that had made me see Grass as a literary genius; he writes efficient, but hardly breath-taking sentences; his characters' personalities are bigger than life because they're built on historical events that you're supposed to think are important (Grass is very good at making his novels sound solemn). Good books, usually, if somewhat dull at times. I expected The Tin Drum, his opera prima, would change that: it's one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, after all. And it's also dull as hell!
Oskar Matzerath is an impossibly unlikeable character who successfully brings misery to everyone around him in most unexpected ways, sometimes by accident, usually deliberately. That's probably why I preferred the first hundred pages of the novel, in which he has not been born yet. The novel starts wonderfully with an episode in magical realism to rival anything Gabriel García Márquez has ever written. But it quickly loses steam.
I don't know, maybe Grass is too subtle for me: I read somewhere this novel was a scathing satire of Nazi Germany, but I didn't see any satire and hardly any Nazis at all, except the petty officers Oskar's dad plays cards with. OK, I exaggerate things to fit my own perception: there were in fact some Nazi references every 50 pages (in a 500+ page novel that's a good average, I think). Like the satire, the quality of the novel must be too subtle for me. All I got from it was a narrative of bawdy episodes and a lot of dissertations on music.
Grass still has a couple of books I want to read, but my confidence in this author is badly shaken.
Oskar Matzerath is an impossibly unlikeable character who successfully brings misery to everyone around him in most unexpected ways, sometimes by accident, usually deliberately. That's probably why I preferred the first hundred pages of the novel, in which he has not been born yet. The novel starts wonderfully with an episode in magical realism to rival anything Gabriel García Márquez has ever written. But it quickly loses steam.
I don't know, maybe Grass is too subtle for me: I read somewhere this novel was a scathing satire of Nazi Germany, but I didn't see any satire and hardly any Nazis at all, except the petty officers Oskar's dad plays cards with. OK, I exaggerate things to fit my own perception: there were in fact some Nazi references every 50 pages (in a 500+ page novel that's a good average, I think). Like the satire, the quality of the novel must be too subtle for me. All I got from it was a narrative of bawdy episodes and a lot of dissertations on music.
Grass still has a couple of books I want to read, but my confidence in this author is badly shaken.
HermioneWeasley
Member
Whoever said they didn't like 1984: whyever not?
steffee
Active Member
I've tried to read many Pratchett's, but I just don't get them, or something. They are pointless, with little story, awful humour, and I'll never, as long as I live, understand what the fuss is all about with him.
I actually read The Science of Discworld (Pratchett, Stewart & Cohen) all the way through, but after one of the 'fantasy' chapters, I ended up skipping them, and just reading the science stuff. I thought that was bearable, but even with that, I've read better - Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, for example. And I've tried a few more.
The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom was a disappointment. I thought it was overly simple, and the style just didn't appeal to me. Atwood's The Penelopiad was a disappointment too. I love Atwood, and am interested in mythic gods and all that stuff, so I don't know why... perhaps, that too, was overly simple.
But I actually thought Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist was okay. It was simple too, but I wasn't expecting much, and it didn't take long to read.
I have been disappointed in everything I've read by McEwen. I've read Saturday, Amsterdam, Atonement and On Chesil Beach, and have found them all to be tedious. I can't quite put my finger on why, but they have all made me switch off, and have taken considerable effort to get through. Practically everyone I know has enjoyed them, though, and many with almost identical tastes in books to me, so I have continued to give them a go. I might give it up now.
David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas I thought was too much. He could have used any one of those methods and I might have been happy, but together it was just crazy.
I actually read The Science of Discworld (Pratchett, Stewart & Cohen) all the way through, but after one of the 'fantasy' chapters, I ended up skipping them, and just reading the science stuff. I thought that was bearable, but even with that, I've read better - Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, for example. And I've tried a few more.
The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom was a disappointment. I thought it was overly simple, and the style just didn't appeal to me. Atwood's The Penelopiad was a disappointment too. I love Atwood, and am interested in mythic gods and all that stuff, so I don't know why... perhaps, that too, was overly simple.
But I actually thought Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist was okay. It was simple too, but I wasn't expecting much, and it didn't take long to read.
I have been disappointed in everything I've read by McEwen. I've read Saturday, Amsterdam, Atonement and On Chesil Beach, and have found them all to be tedious. I can't quite put my finger on why, but they have all made me switch off, and have taken considerable effort to get through. Practically everyone I know has enjoyed them, though, and many with almost identical tastes in books to me, so I have continued to give them a go. I might give it up now.
David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas I thought was too much. He could have used any one of those methods and I might have been happy, but together it was just crazy.
harrypotterrox
New Member
Kite Flyer and Our Only May Amelia - I read this a looong time ago but it took me forever to read cause it was soooooooooooooo boring!!!
!!!
Libra
Active Member
You are not the only one, after I saw the movie , I am glad I did'nt buy the book.
The Princes of Ireland....still haven't finished it. Got into it but then they lost me.
Ronny
Well-Known Member
I ordered the book before seeing the movie and I still haven't got around to reading it but after seeing the movie a couple of weeks ago I don't know now if I will bother with the book either.