Worst Bestsellers Ever

[Scorpio]

Have you ever bought a paperback with enormous sales driving expectations sky high, only to find yourself bitterly disapointed ?
Here are a few that underwhelmed me, and swiftly made there way to the charity shop.
The Da Vinci code.
The Amityville horror.
Nobody claimed that either of these novels were great; but how did they achieve such enormous commercial success ?

[Graham]

I saw the BBC film of the book first, and thought it was great, but when I eventually read "Woman In Black" I found it very disappointing.

Graham

[SirJohnFalstaff]

I've read Da Vinci Code years ago. I liked the research, but I felt it was poorly written. And I question the choice of an albino as a "hitman".

Don't they usually have poor eyesight?

[Sally]

The Da Vinci Code was in any case pilfered wholesale from that stupendously ludicrous bestseller 'The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail'

Rubbish in, Rubbish out - whether it's recycled rubbish or not.

[Mayerling]

I've read Da Vinci Code years ago. I liked the research, but I felt it was poorly written. And I question the choice of an albino as a "hitman".

Don't they usually have poor eyesight?

Albinos get a bad rap in many films as villains. In the 1979 comedy thriller "Foul Play" with Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase, and Dudley Moore, the hitman supposed to kill the Pope on a visit to San Francisco is an albino. I believe there was also an albino villain in the Paul Newman film "Harper" back in the 1960s.

Jeff

[Howard Brown]

Jeff:
Dar Robinson, arguably the greatest stunt man of all time, was the albino villain in 'Stick'. He was called 'Bunny Eyes' in that Burt Reynolds's vehicle.

[Graham]

The Da Vinci Code was in any case pilfered wholesale from that stupendously ludicrous bestseller 'The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail'

Rubbish in, Rubbish out - whether it's recycled rubbish or not.

Ludicrous though 'The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail' was, it was still a good read for all that, and you'd be amazed at how many readers swallowed it hook, line and sinker. And still do.

The book I have never been able to finish is, I'm sorry to confess, 'Moby Dick'. So slow-paced and turgid. But a great story, or so folks say.

Graham

[Sally]

Ludicrous though 'The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail' was, it was still a good read for all that, and you'd be amazed at how many readers swallowed it hook, line and sinker. And still do.

The book I have never been able to finish is, I'm sorry to confess, 'Moby Dick'. So slow-paced and turgid. But a great story, or so folks say.

Graham

Oh yes, I know - I realise how popular all that secret-society-hidden-code-ancient-religious-order-conspiracy stuff is. My mum is a firm believer in the alleged coded messages in the Rosslyn Chapel which point to it's being the resting place of the Holy Grail - a prime example of what happens when a kernel of truth is processed by a marathon of the imagination. Personally, I've always suspected that Rosslyn appeals on a subconscious level because it sound a bit like Roswell - logically, this ought to lead to the conclusion that aliens brought the holy grail to Scotland?....

The book I struggled to read was Lord of the Rings.

I'll go now...

[The Good Michael]

Celestine Prophecy...worst thing ever. Worse than the Koran.

Mike

[barnflatwyngarde]

I tried very hard to love "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" by John le Carre, but it was dreary turgid stuff.

The story was terrific, but it was buried beneath writing so opaque and pompous that, to my mind anyway, it was close to unreadable.

Le Carre is such a highly regarded writer, that it was well nigh impossible to level any criticism at him, however a few years ago I read an article by a well known and highly regarded author (whose name escapes me) who criticised
le Carre's writing along the lines I've outlined above.

It was great to know that I was not alone!

It goes without saying that the 2 BBC productions of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and "Smiley's People" were wonderful, as was Tomas Alfredson's 2011 movie.

[Mayerling]

The book I struggled to read was Lord of the Rings.

I'll go now...

Don't worry. I had to push through Tolkien's "The Hobbit" when I was in Junior High School, and finished it - but did not like it. I have the three "Ring" novels - have had them since college - and never read nor intended to do so.

The worst book or true greatness that I ever read was George Elliot's "Middlemarch". Brilliant in concept and design, but her English is like chistling out marble with your eyes as tools. it was horrid. Oddly enough "Adam Bede" and "Silas Marner" were not too bad.

Jeff

[Ginger]

The book I struggled to read was Lord of the Rings.

Oh God yes! What people see in that book, I have never known.

[Steadmund Brand]

Oh God yes! What people see in that book, I have never known.

THANK YOU!!!!! I have been saying that for years.....The only thing I find more boring then the books is the movies!!!

Steadmund Brand

[kensei]

I have no interest in ever reading "50 Shades of Gray" (or seeing the movie), the current massive best seller of the moment, but even if I did I think it would have made me reconsider when I heard that the female lead character's name is "Anastasia Steele." That has got to be the most over the top eye-rollingly phony melodramatic name in the history of fiction.

[Robert]

I have just given in and Googled 50 Shades of Grey to find out what it actually is. It seems to be a novel, or trilogy of novels, about a romantic affair. My eyes glaze over as I type this. I shall not...be....readi.....zzzzzzzzzzz