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Most over rated authors

Discussion in 'Books' started by Deleted 1, Jun 4, 2013.

  1. Deleted 1

    Deleted 1 Well-Known Member
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    You all know what it's like. You're on a tube, bus, train, in a cafe or something and you see someone reading a book and think "how the hell does that book sell so many copies when the author has all the literary instincts of a retarded buffalo?".

    Leaving aside chick lit and all the nonsensical biogs of people who have barely left their teens which authors do you really dislike? JK Rowling's the all too obvious one for me but i'd also include Andy Mcnab and Dan Brown. Formulaic rubbish which always reads the same and yet people lap it up in tehir millions. It actually offends me that these people are so rich from so little talent.
     
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  2. Otto Flayshow

    Otto Flayshow Well-Known Member

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    Clive Cussler's books fall into the category of formulaic rubbish. I'm sure he has a computer program that generates them where he just enters a new setting and character names each time. Apart from having the same basic plot and structure, his books are invariably full of jingoistic American ****, and he's appallingly bad at dialogue.
     
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  3. The Raging Oxter

    The Raging Oxter Well-Known Member

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    William Shakespeare.

    Load of lovey, lovey **** for pretentious twats.
     
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  4. luvgonzo

    luvgonzo Pisshead

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    Jack Kerouac - I just can't stand On The Road despite its cult status.
     
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  5. Mick

    Mick Probably won't answer PMs
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    Anything written by Richard Branson. He basically spends several hundred pages congratulating himself on his success, as well as telling us untruths - such as 'everyone loved Virgin Cola'.
     
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  6. ManDingo 20"/20"

    ManDingo 20"/20" MDMA Guru

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    Virgin Cola was **** hot you ****ing pikey.
     
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  7. Resurgam

    Resurgam Top Analyst
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    Throw Martina Cole into that lot as well for regurgitation old crap.
     
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  8. Resurgam

    Resurgam Top Analyst
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    Especially as, from what I can remember, he included himself in some of his books.
     
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  9. Otto Flayshow

    Otto Flayshow Well-Known Member

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    Indeed. He started making Hitchcockian cameo appearances in some of the later books. I think they were the final straw that caused me to stop reading them.
     
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  10. RAVENBLACK

    RAVENBLACK Well-Known Member

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    Jackie Collins is well over rated. So too is Barbara Taylor Bradford.
     
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  11. Garlic Klopp

    Garlic Klopp Well-Known Member

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    I have read one Martine Cole book, and that was one to many. It was so bad I thought the ending was going to be "and then he woke up and it was all a dream", the ending all English teachers tell their class of 11 yr olds not to use.
     
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  12. Albert's Chip Shop

    Albert's Chip Shop Top Grafter
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    Chaucer.
    Apart from pokers up the arse (Merchant's tale?)I remember nothing.
     
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  13. chelsea - over 100 years of history

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    Dan Brown's books can be formulaic but Di Vinci code is a bloody fantastic read (especially if like me it was the first of his books you'd read) - stop being a snob!!!
     
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  14. Moses

    Moses Well-Known Member

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    Irvine Welsh, Shakespeare, Stephen King, Enid Blyton, Nick Hornby, The Brigitte Jones bint, Robert Louis Stevenson, Tennessee WIlliams, Anne Rice, whoever invented Twishite, Stieg Larsson and Umberto Eco.
     
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  15. rogueleader

    rogueleader suave gringo

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    Harper Lee ( to kill a mockingbird ) - anyone that's supposed to be an author but has only got one book must be over-rated...even though it was really written by Truman Capote
     
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  16. Vilsmeier-Haack Reaction

    Vilsmeier-Haack Reaction Well-Known Member

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    Deary me, JK Rowling still to get a mention ... allow me

    - J. K. Rowling
     
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  17. Otto Flayshow

    Otto Flayshow Well-Known Member

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    God.

    Had a go at that Bible thing he wrote, but the plot was all over the place, the writing style was turgid and he contradicted himself a lot. Could have been a great story with a better editor.
     
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  18. Deleted 1

    Deleted 1 Well-Known Member
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    Didn't read the first post then Jackie? <whistle>
     
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  19. Vilsmeier-Haack Reaction

    Vilsmeier-Haack Reaction Well-Known Member

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    Jakie fail <doh> :(
     
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  20. Mick

    Mick Probably won't answer PMs
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    I figured out whodunnit really early on then felt insulted when he slowly revealed what I already knew. I did exactly the same thing with Digital Fortress, only I was even more convinced I knew whodunnit that time since various parts of the plot were similar to The Divinci Code. I gave up on Dan Brown after that, awful author.
     
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