| Over-rated books 20:41 - Aug 20 with 10724 views | Logman |
OK, so we've done under-rated books, over and under-rated players, films and food. That just leaves over-rated books.
Not the most exciting of threads (not expecting more than one page) but if it saves me 3 months of tedium trying to unravel a storyline in 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez then it will make my daily commute a lot less painstaking.
Another nominee for the trash can, The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. The first few chapters promise a magical mystery tour but then it just seems to turn into the equivalent of a journey on the Central Line, with engineering works.
Any other literary works to be given the Satanic Verses Treatment ? |  | | |  |
| Over-rated books on 20:43 - Aug 20 with 5585 views | Boston |
I always thought William Hill gave rather poor odds. | |
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| Over-rated books on 20:56 - Aug 20 with 5484 views | stevec |
The Catcher in the Rye.
Read it twice, the second time slowly, in case I was missing something.
I wasn’t, utter bilge. |  | | |
| Over-rated books on 20:57 - Aug 20 with 5493 views | Red_Ranger |
Harry Potter - not for me. | | | |
| Over-rated books on 21:02 - Aug 20 with 5443 views | BrianMcCarthy |
Agree with every single one of those.
And I'll add anything by Dickens. Alan and Charles, both. |  |
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| Over-rated books on 21:12 - Aug 20 with 5369 views | Gus_iom |
Someone gave me the Da Vinci Code, I thought it was bloody awful. Thomas Hardy novels are miserable. | | | |
| Over-rated books on 21:20 - Aug 20 with 5334 views | dmm |
When I saw the title of this thread, 100 Years of Solitude came straight to mind. I didn't enjoy it much at the time, but I still think about it now and again. |  | | |
| Over-rated books on 21:29 - Aug 20 with 5295 views | hantssi |
Anything by John Grisham, it’s the same story every time! | | | |
| Over-rated books on 21:30 - Aug 20 with 5284 views | derbyhoop |
Foucault's Pendulum
The Sea, the sea by Iris Murdoch
13yo self couldn't finish Lord of the Flies. |  |
| "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth all one's lifetime." (Mark Twain)
Find me on twitter @derbyhoop and now on Bluesky |
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| Over-rated books on 21:31 - Aug 20 with 5277 views | CiderwithRsie |
Grateful to you for making me feel good about never finishing The Alchemist (brilliant description - I got about as far as Tottenham Court Road before bailing) which was recommended by a much-loved friend as her favourite book ever. | | | |
| Over-rated books on 22:16 - Aug 20 with 5136 views | R_from_afar |
| Over-rated books on 21:30 - Aug 20 by derbyhoop |
Foucault's Pendulum
The Sea, the sea by Iris Murdoch
13yo self couldn't finish Lord of the Flies. |
At uni, we studied The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. I struggled through 200 of the 700 pages and then we moved on to another work of literature.
I really didn't rate that book but perhaps the pages I failed to read were amazing. |  |
| "Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1." |
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| Over-rated books on 22:20 - Aug 20 with 5097 views | Lanhoop |
Everything and anything written by James Joyce. Sorry, I tried them all and they were all a battle to complete. | | | |
| Over-rated books on 22:32 - Aug 20 with 5063 views | BlackCrowe |
Any Tintin book without Haddock. |  |
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| Over-rated books on 22:45 - Aug 20 with 4992 views | silverbirch |
| Over-rated books on 21:30 - Aug 20 by derbyhoop |
Foucault's Pendulum
The Sea, the sea by Iris Murdoch
13yo self couldn't finish Lord of the Flies. |
I read Lord of the Flies at about 13 and didn’t like it at all. When my daughter studied it, I read it again and thought it was great.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was surprisingly boring. | | | |
| Over-rated books on 22:53 - Aug 20 with 4952 views | QPRSteve |
Moby Dick | | | |
| Over-rated books on 00:41 - Aug 21 with 4816 views | MrSheen |
Errrr, War and Peace. Tolstoy is a writer capable of great narrative flow, but his character are so boring and lifeless. The nobles are vapid ninnies and the common people are either faithful farm animals or shifty wild animals, with no distinctive feelings or intelligence. I gave it up on the penultimate page (of about 1,100) as a protest. Dostoyevsky is mych more interesting and surprising. |  | | |
| Over-rated books on 00:51 - Aug 21 with 4790 views | Boston |
Hitlers Pope - John Cornwell. In depth research to the point of utter boredom.
Many of the works mentioned above are also pretentious bollox.
I enjoyed L of the F though...circa 1971. [Post edited 21 Aug 0:53]
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| Over-rated books on 06:09 - Aug 21 with 4637 views | dsw2509 |
I couldn’t finish The Hobbit. Got about 300 pages in and realised I couldn’t care less about any of the characters. Don’t start me on Lord of the Rings either (I quite liked the films though).
I disagree with the earlier poster who dissed War and Peace. One of my all time favourites. When I first read it I sat up to 3 am every night for a week. I’d then wake up the following morning with the book lying on the floor next to the bed and would have to go back 50 pages to where I remembered getting to. | | | |
| Over-rated books on 07:21 - Aug 21 with 4569 views | Suffolk |
| Over-rated books on 21:02 - Aug 20 by BrianMcCarthy |
Agree with every single one of those.
And I'll add anything by Dickens. Alan and Charles, both. |
😱 |  | | |
| Over-rated books on 07:39 - Aug 21 with 4513 views | Gus_iom |
| Over-rated books on 06:09 - Aug 21 by dsw2509 |
I couldn’t finish The Hobbit. Got about 300 pages in and realised I couldn’t care less about any of the characters. Don’t start me on Lord of the Rings either (I quite liked the films though).
I disagree with the earlier poster who dissed War and Peace. One of my all time favourites. When I first read it I sat up to 3 am every night for a week. I’d then wake up the following morning with the book lying on the floor next to the bed and would have to go back 50 pages to where I remembered getting to. |
Yeah, the interminable elvish songs lost me. | | | |
| Over-rated books on 07:45 - Aug 21 with 4509 views | Esox_Lucius |
The Compleat Angler by Isaak Walton. As a keen fisherman I thought this would a pleasant if unexciting read, how wrong I was. It now holds the distinction of being the only book. of over 15000 I have read that I have failed to complete; for reference, I have read the complete works of Shakespeare and the KJV of the Bible. |  |
| The grass is always greener. |
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| Over-rated books on 07:45 - Aug 21 with 4509 views | WokingR |
Catch 22
Just found it depressingly hard going |  | | |
| Over-rated books on 07:54 - Aug 21 with 4476 views | Esox_Lucius |
| Over-rated books on 07:45 - Aug 21 by WokingR |
Catch 22
Just found it depressingly hard going |
I've read it a couple of times, not a favourite but poignant IMO. You probably wouldn't enjoy the English translation of If On A Winter's Night A Traveler, a 1979 novel by the Italian writer Italo Calvino. It not only jumps about, but appears to be two books incorrectly assembled at the printers. | |
| The grass is always greener. |
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| Over-rated books on 07:58 - Aug 21 with 4454 views | dmm |
| Over-rated books on 07:45 - Aug 21 by WokingR |
Catch 22
Just found it depressingly hard going |
Isn't it funny - one man's meat and all that. I absolutely loved Catch 22. | | | |
| Over-rated books on 08:23 - Aug 21 with 4405 views | CroydonCaptJack |
| Over-rated books on 20:56 - Aug 20 by stevec |
The Catcher in the Rye.
Read it twice, the second time slowly, in case I was missing something.
I wasn’t, utter bilge. |
Agree with this.
A bloke I know told me it was his favourite book. After reading it, it confirmed my thoughts that he was a pretentious tw@t. |  | | |
| Over-rated books on 08:27 - Aug 21 with 4380 views | qprxtc |
The Holy Bible
Not that I’ve read the whole of the bastard but the bits I have read are fairly dark.
Loads of notes too. |  | | |
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