Disappointed by a book from a favourite author?

[laktor]

Just thought I'd ask if you've ever been disappointed with a book written by one of your favourite authors? I'll bet most of us have. Here's my list of disappointments from authors I normally love:

James Michener: Poland
Edward Rutherfurd: Russka
John Jakes: The Gods of Newport

I should also mention that while Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is one of my all time favourite reads and I've also enjoyed his other books with the same main characters, I just could not get even halfway through Sin Killers. That book is just a mess!

[Jack]

I know it isn't HF, but there's a book by John Grisham called THE STREET LAWYER that is so bad you'd think a monkey on Queludes wrote it. I honestly couldn't believe he wrote it. I found out later that he had given written permission for the causes he had championed to get the proceeds for the book. If he spent 5 hours writing it I'll be shocked.

[annis]

Guy Gavriel Kay's novel Ysabel. Though I usually love GGK's work, this one was in a different style to his usual slightly alternate historical fantasies. It's a time-slip set in Provence, and linked to the Roman massacre of Celts at the oppidum of Entremont, and I just didn't take to it at all. As it's proven to be one of GGK's best selling novels, I'm probably out on a limb with this one.

[Lucy Pick]

That's funny --- I was meh on Tigrana and couldnt finish Lions of ar-Rassan, but I loved Ysabel! It is a *very* different style though, as you say. Have you read his latest? I am pretty excited about it, but am waiting for paper.

[sweetpotatoboy]

Originally Posted by laktor

James Michener: Poland
Edward Rutherfurd: Russka

I find that surprising as these two are among my favourites of each of these authors, both faves of mine. But it would be boring if we all liked the same thing.

[laktor]

Originally Posted by sweetpotatoboy

I find that surprising as these two are among my favourites of each of these authors, both faves of mine. But it would be boring if we all liked the same thing.

For some reason, I had a difficult time following the characters (strange names) and the story in these novels. On the other hand, books such as The Source, Caribbean, (Michener) and London (Rutherfurd), I just couldn't put down!

[Michy]

I loved Rutherfurd's Sarum and London (I liked-but-not-loved Russka and The New Forest, and didn't read his books on Ireland). I was so looking forward to New York, since I would love to read a really good history of the city and who to do it better than Rutherfurd, right? I was soooo disappointed; the book was a total dud. Maybe the problem was that I listened to an audio version that was condensed (so all the good parts were cut out?). Has anyone read a printed version? Is it any good?

[Madeleine]

Originally Posted by Jack

I know it isn't HF, but there's a book by John Grisham called THE STREET LAWYER that is so bad you'd think a monkey on Queludes wrote it. I honestly couldn't believe he wrote it. I found out later that he had given written permission for the causes he had championed to get the proceeds for the book. If he spent 5 hours writing it I'll be shocked.

I used to read every Grisham like someone in need of a drugs fix, however I agree that The Street Lawyer was pretty tedious, but it was a page-turner compared to A Painted House - which was like watching paint dry! Endless descriptions of cotton picking, and the main character's grandfather seemed to spend more time with his beloved tractor than with the rest of his family, if I read one more time about Pappy and his John Deere, I was ready to scream. After that I more or less gave up on JG, although I think I have another one languishing somewhere.

I was mostly enthralled by Dorothy Dunnett's Niccolo sequence, but To Lie With Lions didn't just leave me cold, it left me wanting to set fire to Niccolo's shrew of a wife. I shouldn't think I ever hurled the book against the wall though, and that of course is the true test.

Also, and this is not historical fiction, I've always been a huge fan of Dick Francis, but the book where he brought Sid Halley back--it was his third outing--that read like flat champagne. It had once had sparkle but now, nothing.

[Kveto from Prague]

Originally Posted by laktor

Just thought I'd ask if you've ever been disappointed with a book written by one of your favourite authors? I'll bet most of us have. Here's my list of disappointments from authors I normally love:

James Michener: Poland
Edward Rutherfurd: Russka
John Jakes: The Gods of Newport

I should also mention that while Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is one of my all time favourite reads and I've also enjoyed his other books with the same main characters, I just could not get even halfway through Sin Killers. That book is just a mess!

Funny, I thought of James Mitchner. But I really loved "Poland". It was my favourite book by him, well, probably tied with "the covanent" on South Africa.

However, his book "hawaii" bored me to tears and was a long tough slog.


"noble House" by james clavell was a real disappointment after "Shogun" "tai-pan" and "king rat". a completely unnecessary novel that made an attempt to tie the three stories together. unsuccessfully in my opinion.