The Da Vinci Code - WTF??? It's a very average book so why did everyone rave about it? At least in his subsequent books Dan Brown managed to lift his writing from average to terrible.
Millenium Trilogy - Good books but not at all great. I've no idea why everyone thought they were so good.
Dano, the Bible is actually a number of books. Is there a particular one you think is over-rated?
Emma. She has to be the most irritating character in literary history. Total bimbo. I actually find myself getting angry at the thought of her....clearly I have issues!
Also I agree on Wuthering Heights - I just don't get it. I know the point is that all the characters are to a degree unlikeable but I just can't bring myself to be remotely interested in any of them.
Da Vinci Code is utter drivel and generally appalling in every way.
I agree, M.ister W - another one that left me cold.
I've been put off the "the Girl Who....." books, by all the hype. Having read the blurb on one, I just didn't fancy it. Should I be more open-minded and give it a try?
Ooh-ooh I just remembered, I read about 5/6ths of a book called Labyrinth by Kate Mosse when I was in a guesthouse in India.
The story was really gripping but unfortunately the style of writing was rubbish. I stayed hooked because I wanted to find out what happened to all the characters but unfortunately the guesthouse wouldn't let me swap my books for it and I had to leave it behind.
Later in the Guardian I read that Kate Mosse was judging a prestigious book prize and thought WTF. Her writing skills are hardly up to scratch, although if the story was hers, her imagination obviously is.
I've been put off the "the Girl Who....." books, by all the hype. Having read the blurb on one, I just didn't fancy it. Should I be more open-minded and give it a try?
I started reading the first one but got fed up with all the family tree stuff. TP suggested I should've persisted, but I was on holiday and couldn't take the book home with me. (As above!)
When I first heard people talking about the Da Vinci Code I thought it was some academic work of ground breaking research into the foundations of Christian belief. So then someone bought me it as a Christmas present and it turned out to be a trashy, badly written novel with ridiculous characters. I still read the sequels that came with it though!
At risk of becoming the subject of a burning effigy I'd like to add the Quran to the list of overrated (in the strongest sense possible) books along with the Bible.
It won't be the best book you've ever read Wilkie but once I got over the first dull bit I did find it good for the type of book it is. Second one, I liked as well. Third one I'm about 3/4 way through but it's left somewhere else and I can't reposess it for a week!
Labyrinth, I couldn't get into.
There's an article on R2 at the moment about war poetry ... now I never ever get bored reading poetry. If I have to pick one book to take anywhere it's usally an book of poems.
Wilks - P's persuaded me that I should give the "Girl Who.." trilogy a go......and I will when I finish Cormack McCarthy's "The Road"
for me to read anything but Sci-Fi is a major step forward - and there's only one sf book I have never finished as it was dull - "A Canticle for Leibowitz". supposed to be a classic but it bored me daft
I read the first 100 pages of The Da Vinci Code while I was waiting for someone and found it similar to Labyrinth in that it was gripping but the writing was terrible.
I wrote some essays on Scottish War Poetry for an evening class. I shed many tears poring over some of the beautiful but deeply sad writing.
Comments
The bible.
End of thread.
and anything by Dan Brown
Where the Wild Things Are
Harry Potter - not that I've actually read any. Just can't believe the hype.
Emma and Wuthering Heights. Overhyped to the maximum by my English Lit teacher.
Would have to agree about Birdsong; liked the war bits, but otherwise it was dull and self-indulgent.
Was completely un-moved by The Kite Runner too...
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
The first of that series of books by the Swedish bloke - Girl with the somethingorother
Well not so much overrated, just unreadable.
Anything by Jane Austen .... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
Persevere with the Milleneum trilogy Parky, first 100 pages of the first is confusing and dull, the rest is excellent!
Ohh! I love Jane Austen.
Overrated: anything by Dickens. Especially the stupid comedy names he gives people.
Stangely enough, Dickens was my second choice MF.
Both make a good basis for a telly series though.
The Da Vinci Code - WTF??? It's a very average book so why did everyone rave about it? At least in his subsequent books Dan Brown managed to lift his writing from average to terrible.
Millenium Trilogy - Good books but not at all great. I've no idea why everyone thought they were so good.
Dano, the Bible is actually a number of books. Is there a particular one you think is over-rated?
I recently read Breda by Paulo Coelho.
I'd not read any hype about it (I think it's been around a while), but it was, apparently, an international bestseller.
It was, in fact, really rather dull.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Had to read that recently for my book club. I didn't finish it though (only one of the group did). Extreme tedium.
I loved Kiterunner.
I love HP!!! I was determined to dislike it because I didn't believe the hype, but now I'm hooked
Dan Brown - urgh. What a bad, bad writer. Terrible writing style, ridiculous plots and absurd characters.
Twilight. I just don't get the appeal. I've tried to read it, but the hyperbole of it all was just nauseating
Also I agree on Wuthering Heights - I just don't get it. I know the point is that all the characters are to a degree unlikeable but I just can't bring myself to be remotely interested in any of them.
Da Vinci Code is utter drivel and generally appalling in every way.
Harry Potter is wonderful.
The Blind Assassin - apparently it won a bunch of awards but it's rubbish.
I agree, M.ister W - another one that left me cold.
I've been put off the "the Girl Who....." books, by all the hype. Having read the blurb on one, I just didn't fancy it. Should I be more open-minded and give it a try?
+ 1
You beat me too it
Ooh-ooh I just remembered, I read about 5/6ths of a book called Labyrinth by Kate Mosse when I was in a guesthouse in India.
The story was really gripping but unfortunately the style of writing was rubbish. I stayed hooked because I wanted to find out what happened to all the characters but unfortunately the guesthouse wouldn't let me swap my books for it and I had to leave it behind.
Later in the Guardian I read that Kate Mosse was judging a prestigious book prize and thought WTF. Her writing skills are hardly up to scratch, although if the story was hers, her imagination obviously is.
Completely off topic, but I find the names of Mills and Boon books hilarious:
My favourite - Forbidden, or For Bedding?
When I first heard people talking about the Da Vinci Code I thought it was some academic work of ground breaking research into the foundations of Christian belief. So then someone bought me it as a Christmas present and it turned out to be a trashy, badly written novel with ridiculous characters. I still read the sequels that came with it though!
At risk of becoming the subject of a burning effigy I'd like to add the Quran to the list of overrated (in the strongest sense possible) books along with the Bible.
It won't be the best book you've ever read Wilkie but once I got over the first dull bit I did find it good for the type of book it is. Second one, I liked as well. Third one I'm about 3/4 way through but it's left somewhere else and I can't reposess it for a week!
Labyrinth, I couldn't get into.
There's an article on R2 at the moment about war poetry ... now I never ever get bored reading poetry. If I have to pick one book to take anywhere it's usally an book of poems.
for me to read anything but Sci-Fi is a major step forward - and there's only one sf book I have never finished as it was dull - "A Canticle for Leibowitz". supposed to be a classic but it bored me daft
I hope you aren't as dissapointed with the ending of The Road as both me, and my missus were!.
I am about 75% of the way through Swan song, love SF.
I read the first 100 pages of The Da Vinci Code while I was waiting for someone and found it similar to Labyrinth in that it was gripping but the writing was terrible.
I wrote some essays on Scottish War Poetry for an evening class. I shed many tears poring over some of the beautiful but deeply sad writing.
Emma is absolutely dreadful.
Hotel du Lac I quite enjoyed.
Thomas Hardy should have been banned from ever putting pen to paper.