Bestsellers that don't live up to expectations

Greyduster

keepingquiet it was a bit too close to home for me I think.

I had a couple of goes at Margaret Attwood’s ‘The Blind Assassin” after her work was recommended to me by a tutor on a course I was doing and couldn’t get into it. Perhaps I am a bear of littler brain than she gave me credit for.

I loved that book, one of my all time favourites, but that's books for you, they're very subjective of course.. There have been a couple of hers, can't remember which ones now, that I haven't enjoyed.

I have rows of Miss Read books , but haven’t read them in ages. Thanks for reminding me ….I’ll start this evening.
I particularly like the school caretaker and her niece who call Dirk Bogarde Drik We all do at home now.

And yes, Musicgirl, the Miss Read books don’t seem to be well known. I got my cousin into them after we went to Witney to find Thrush Green (Wood Green in real life) so I could picture where everything was that she writes about!

Neither I nor my children could ever get into the Harry Potter books. I tried a few times but failed. I bought my eight year old granddaughter an illustrated version of the second book, as she had borrowed it from school so maybe she’ll be the one in the family who enjoys them! I like reading them to her so I could yet be a convert!

keepingquiet it was a bit too close to home for me I think.

I had a couple of goes at Margaret Attwood’s ‘The Blind Assassin” after her work was recommended to me by a tutor on a course I was doing and couldn’t get into it. Perhaps I am a bear of littler brain than she gave me credit for.

A few years ago there was an award-winning book called The Power. It was about women having special powers allowing them to become the dominant sex. Intrigued by the idea I decided to give it a go. Awful, just awful!

I sometimes think it’s what sort of mood readers are in ,similar to tv programs and films
Sometimes you want some light that you can just enjoy other times you want something that really moves you I remember reading the Kite Runner and Wild Swan a long time ago and they stayed with me for ages
I agree with the poster who said about authors who use ghost writers James Patterson does this all the time now and I don’t enjoy his books so much

Greyduster

Stephen Fry’s “Troy”. Trivialises a good story. Better writers are available.
“Shuggie Bain”. An excellent book but when you’ve finished it you feel as if you’ve been torn to shreds and never want to see it again.

Yes, I felt the same after reading Shuggie Bain!

But good writing shouldn't just be about sunshine and sponge cake...

Thanks Musicgirl I will have to give Miss Read’s books a try
Have always enjoyed Rosamunde Pilcher’s books and really miss Maeve Binchey’s books but have found Roisen Meaney ‘s books are very similar
Think it’s a case of finding what you enjoy although sometimes I have read something completely different to what I usually read and really enjoyed it so good to not discount anything.

Sorry, l meant to quote @Moth62 but your point is interesting too, @tinafl.

tinaf1

Just reading all the posts here and it’s funny how some love a book and others think it’s dire Thursday Murder Club especially seems to devide a lot of opinions
I just thought to myself is the actual book the problem or the expectations and opinion of the reader
What I am trying to say is it’s not that an actual book is either good or bad it’s what the reader wants to get out of the book
If that makes any sense
By the way I am one of those who enjoyed the Thursday Murder Club series

I, too, love Miss Read's books and have read and reread them. The beautifully written tales of country life are timeless and very observant, especially if one has lived in a village or small town, as l have for most of my life. We have all known the characters and her descriptions of various aspects of country life are spot on. The descriptions of meetings where everyone goes off at a tangent before being brought back to the topic in question are instantly recognisable, as are the observations about the inaccurate speculation of interesting nuggets of information when everyone has different ideas - all wrong. At my church, one couple was moving to the south coast to be near family. Everyone was placing them at all points along the south coast from Dover to Plymouth and with all points in between. On bumping into the husband one day, I asked outright and the answer was Chichester. Mystery solved. I taught music privately in the small town where I lived and was well-known. I always took Miss Read's mantra as the village headmistress of letting people know harmless pieces of information about my life in the hope that whatever l really wanted to keep to myself would stay that way. The other thing I like about her books is that there is no bad language and right is right and wrong is wrong. I think this is why the Miss Marple books are my favourite out of Agatha Christie's books.
I realise I have gone off at a tangent myself, just like one of Miss Read's meetings, but it is nice to see someone else who appreciates the same type of books. At the moment, I am reading The Carousel by Rosamunde Pilcher, which I bought in a charity shop. It is a long time since I have read any of her books and I had forgotten just how well-written they are. This book was published over forty years ago but the story, set on the beautiful Cornish coast, is as enjoyable as ever

I read “Thursday Murder Club” and finished it but thought it was all a waste of effort. I have actually been given the others in the series as gifts, but really don’t want to read them.

Stephen Fry’s “Troy”. Trivialises a good story. Better writers are available.
“Shuggie Bain”. An excellent book but when you’ve finished it you feel as if you’ve been torn to shreds and never want to see it again.

Just reading all the posts here and it’s funny how some love a book and others think it’s dire Thursday Murder Club especially seems to devide a lot of opinions
I just thought to myself is the actual book the problem or the expectations and opinion of the reader
What I am trying to say is it’s not that an actual book is either good or bad it’s what the reader wants to get out of the book
If that makes any sense
By the way I am one of those who enjoyed the Thursday Murder Club series

In the minority here. I loved The Thursday murder club. I found it funny and poignant in turns. Also liked the Rev. Coles books. Thought 50 Shades and da Vinci code were a load of overhyped rubbish. Loved Hamnet. The books I have returned to again and again over the years are the Miss Read books. I love her style, gentle but amusingly astringent in parts. Love Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers and the golden age of crime authors.

"The Godfather" because I compared it to the film too much. Maybe I should have done the book before the film.

Meant couldn’t stand the Time Travellers Wife( not sure how Love got in there).

I enjoyed theThursday Murder Club.Liked the second one but subsequent ones were only read as a consequence of enjoying the previous ones. Really felt the last one especially could do with a list of characters as I was beginning to lose exactly who was who and their relationships.
Really enjoyed the Goldfinch but agree it could have benefitted from a good editor as unnecessarily too long. Love Couldn’t stand The Time Travellers Wifeand Life After Life.Didnt enjoy Real People but enjoyed the Crawdads. Love Robert Harris especially the Cicero books and An
Officer and a Spy.

I struggled to get into Captain Corelli’s Mandolin in book form but listened to it on car journeys and really enjoyed it. I really didn’t enjoy The Twyford Code and have never progressed beyond the introduction of Lord of the Rings. I have accepted that little elves and their doings are not for me. As for Fifty Shades of Grey - I didn’t read it as l knew the plot, such as it was, was not my idea of any book I wanted to read. As an adjunct, I was in a charity shop when I bumped into someone l knew by the Mills and Boon gondola. I knew she had always enjoyed Mills and Boon and made a comment to this effect. She replied that she had stopped reading them as she had noticed that they were all the same. I replied that perhaps she needed something with a bit more depth. She went on to say that she had read Fifty Shades of Grey….

I absolutely loved Where the Crawdads Sing.

Rev Richard Coles' Murder Before Evensong - I took it on holiday and found it extremely tedious. I much preferred Thursday Murder Club.

The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard. I had heard so many good things about this book and the rest in the series. Queen Camilla's desert island book apparently. I tried to read it over the Summer but 90 pages in and nothing had happened so I gave up. If you like Downton Abbey, you might like it but I just found it boring.

Thank youTizLiz I do agree with you and I have every Phillipa Gregory. It is the struggling, mostly unknown authors that worry me. They , as I have said, have no hope against celebs and ghost writers.

Tizliz

Phillipa Gregory and C J Sansom are proper authors, read all their books

Yes, yes to Phillipa Gregory!
I feel as though I know her characters, they are so vibrant & alive! I have never been disappointed by any of her works.
Thrilling, sexy, intriguing, masterful, stuff. 💕

I didn’t like How to Kill Your Family and neither did my book club and 2 other book clubs that I know of. However we did have a very active discussion! Maybe it was written for a younger age group?

People who don't trade on their celebrity status to sell books, or get a ghost writer.