Bestsellers you love to hate!

[Claire]

Hi folks, discussing this in another thread (Harry Potter film) but think it deserves its own. Are there any bestselling books you loathe or think are badly written? Do you feel you are the only person who doesnt quite 'get' a certain literary phenomenon? If so, post here!

We've heard kunuma complaining about the Harry Potter books and I was ranting about how Patrick O'Brian was a terrible writer. I must say I also loathe ANY novel with a celebrity's name on it, as we all know they are written by ghostwriters and published in a shameless attempt to cash in on their popularity. What really annoys me about this, even more than the fact that they are usually rubbish and not even written by the celebs, but that the market is so clogged up with this tripe that new talented authors find it extremely hard to get their books published when they are up against such easy money.

Anyway would be interested to hear other people's opinions on the topic of bestsellers.

[Deleted]

I don't read many best sellers, if any.

I agree with you about Mills and Boon Claire. I can't stand them. I read quite a few of them at one time but it was like reading the same book over and over again. Yuk!

[Claire]

Why don't you read bestsellers rosie, is it just because you aren't interested in the genres? I must admit I read quite a few, mainly crime and historical, even some real potboilers like James Patterson when I don't want to engage my brain! But I do really like some bestelling authors like Nicci French and Phillipa Gregory. And the Twilight books which I have a weird addiction to despite all my better judgement - I see them as the literary equivalent of picking a scab or squeezing a spot ;D

Cannot be doing with chick lit tho!

[susanb]

Like Rosie, I don't read a lot of bestsellers....I generally find that to be a "bestseller" a book has to appeal to the lowest common denominator, which isn't really a good thing. I make an exception for children's books, as often the bestsellers are award winners....grin, parents buy their children better books than they buy for themselves!

Anyway, I did have one bestseller essentially forced on me a few years ago.....all my friends read it, everyone where I was working read it and finally someone stuck a copy in my hands and I gave up and read it. And it stunk. Really, really, really stunk. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. One of the worst written books I've EVER suffered through!

[Deleted]

Why don't you read bestsellers rosie, is it just because you aren't interested in the genres?

I don't know really.

I can't stand biographies..never read them. Harry Potter and Twilight just don't appeal to me, so never read them. At the moment I can't get enough of pony books after two years of constantly reading them ;D I've usually got bored by now and moved onto reading something else so that proves how good pony books are

I've just remembered I did like Ian Rankins books which are best sellers.

[sarah]

SusanB - I am glad I am not the only person who hated that book. I was lent it when I was teaching in Italy by one of the other teachers - who raved about it - I had to sneak it back on to her desk in the hope she wouldn't ask me what I thought. (My dad loathed it too).

I've tried to blank it from my mind - it felt like he was writing to a formula ( a bad one mind) where every chapter had to end on a cliff-hanger (if I remember correctly)

[Claire]

Re. the cliff hangers, apparently he does that in all his books. I think he must have had it drummed into him in some creative writing class!

[susanb]

I had more than one problem with the Da Vinci Code...the first was that it was supposedly a mystery, but I knew who was going to do what to whom (and why) at least 100 pages before the idiot protagonists all the way through the book. I've read Nancy Drews with better plots.

The second was the fact that Brown is apparently incapable of writing a descriptive passage without resorting to simile or metaphor, and he has problems there too. It's just possible that it's because he doesn't know the meaning of some of the words he is using. At the end of one chapter, he compares a policeman to a bull; at the beginning of the next chapter the same policeman is compared to an ox. My only thought was: Mon Dieu!!! There is an insane veterinarian running around the Louvre castrating French policemen!!!!

[foxglove]

I'm generally a literary snob and avoid bestsellers. I make an exception for crime fiction, which is my guilty pleasure. I enjoy the Rebus and Banks novels- detective stories are especially good on long journeys I find.

I wasn't expecting to like Harry Potter, but gave it a try while I was living in Poland- English language books were expensive and hard to come by, so you would suspend your usual prejudices for the sake of something to read.

Can't be bothered with the Twilight books, after seeing a bit of one of the po-faced and dull films. I'll watch Buffy if I fancy a bit of teen vampire action- at least that was humourous. Also not tempted by the Stig of the Dump Larsson trilogy; if loads of people are reading something on the Tube, it's usually safe to assume it's rubbish. I generally turn my nose up at 3 for 2, Richard & Judy Book Club offers. I find they're full of what my old flatmate used to call "Chilean beltmaker novels", ie family dramas set in random places like Kabul, Santiago or Sarajevo.

[Claire]

Lol you're a funny lot. Still giggling at the the 'Chilean Beltmaker novels' and the castrated policeman.... ;D

Having read 100s of 'literary' books at uni, some of which were dreadful (Virginia Woolf anyone?) I am not a real literary snob any longer, in fact I think I despise the so called 'modern literary novel' as much as the celebrity crap. You know the sort of thing, where any attempt to be entertaining or readable is sacrificed in order to get across the 'theme' or 'message' of the book. But I do still have a sneaking suspicion that if everyone likes a book it must as Susan says appeal to the lowest common denominator and must be rubbish. I picked up the Harry Potter books in that vein and was surprised I liked them.

[susanb]

in fact I think I despise the so called 'modern literary novel' as much as the celebrity crap. You know the sort of thing, where any attempt to be entertaining or readable is sacrificed in order to get across the 'theme' or 'message' of the book.

Couldn't agree more!! I've said often over the last few years that the recent Pulitzer Prize winners for Fiction are like an elongated New Yorker Magazine story....no plot and loaded with characters so vile that if they existed in real life, you'd cross the street to avoid them.

[fizz]

I am surprised you think Patrick O Brian is a terirble writer I loved his books!

[Claire]

I really wanted to like them fizz as I love historical novels and like boats and the sea but the couple I tried almost sent me to sleep. My dad who is another voracious reader like me (and is boat-mad) couldnt get into them either. The couple I tried had huge long sentences full of colons and semi-colons and long paragraphs too, and I prefer short snappy sentences and more simplistic writing. But perhaps its just personal taste!

[Buster]

Twilight, eugh.
Absolutly terrible... but bad enough that I want to read them, to see if they really were as bad as I remember.

[foxglove]

I only have two friends whose book recommendations I listen to. Much as I love my other friends dearly, they are always trying to urge Sighing Teenage Vampire, Shopaholic Has Nervous Breakdown, The Swanherder of Constantinople etc on me. I went right off contemporary fiction for ages and only read 19th century novels for a year, this was mainly due to A Million Little Pieces- what a waste of my life reading that was! I'm still quite suspicious of modern fiction. An exception for me would be Sarah Waters, whose bestselling historical thrillers are gripping and well paced. I just finished The Little Stranger, which was so scary in places I was afraid to go to the loo in the night on my own....

It's interesting what you say about your literary tastes Claire, as I too did Eng Lit at university. I re-read many of the books I'd had to do essays on a few years after I graduated, and was surprised by how much more I enjoyed them when reading for pleasure rather than as a clinical exercise. And that includes Virginia Woolf! Orlando is an amazing read.

Never been a fan of Dickens, but of course he was a bestseller in his day. And the serialisation of Wilkie Collins' detective stories caused a sensation comparable to the Harry Potter hype. So some bestsellers do get literary seals of approval!

There was an interesting programme on recently for World Book Night. They challenged comedian/TV presenter Sue Perkins, who did Eng Lit at Cambridge, to read some of the best sellers of the past 50 years- the likes of Len Deighton, Jilly Cooper, Jackie Collins, Dick Francis etc. She tried to analyse what made something popular and it was quite thought provoking.

[Claire]

That programme sounds interesting foxglove. I don't want to give the impression I hate all pre-20th century literature. In fact I love loads and like you foxglove do read them for pleasure. Interesting you were talking about Wilkie Collins as I really like his books, and consider them more readable and fast paced than Dickens. I have read them all! What is notable is that he was really ahead of his time in some of his subject matter, and most of his main characters were women. And they weren't the swooning type either but extremely strong characters.

[allyk]

Lots of supposed modern 'classics' I simply loathe.

For instance, Catcher in the Rye, what a miserable, wretched book.

Give me an actual story and likable characters.

[foxglove]

Jul 13, 2013 18:24:46 GMT 1 allyk said:

Lots of supposed modern 'classics' I simply loathe.

For instance, Catcher in the Rye, what a miserable, wretched book.

Give me an actual story and likable characters.

Ally, when I was 18 Catcher in the Rye was one of my favourites! Re-read it in my late twenties and it was like a different book; whiny, tedious and wretched as you say. I've never had such a different reaction on re-reading; it must be a book uniquely related to age and sensitivity.

[allyk]

Jul 18, 2013 13:21:10 GMT 1 foxglove said:

I've never had such a different reaction on re-reading; it must be a book uniquely related to age and sensitivity.

Could be.

Admittedly I first read it when I was older, but I just can't imagine having ever liked it as it wasn't the type of book I read.

I remember those sorts of lit exercises along the lines of 'What character do you most relate to and why?' and thought about who I would choose. It was tough as most of the characters were rather annoying. Then it hit me. His dad. The thought of trying to do the best for your kids and having them turn out like . . . that . . . truly terrifying.

[garej]

I dont buy best sellers because they dont appeal to me! I tried Brick Lane by Monica Ali and that bored me to death. The only adult books that I read are non fiction.

In fact the only fictional books are ones aimed at children, usually pony books!