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Books that you have read which did live up to the hype

24

Comments

  • #32
    Harry Angstrom
    Registered Users Posts: 19,351 ✭✭✭✭Harry Angstrom


    Anything by Paulo Coehlo, a writer who is vastly overrated.
    Coehlo can take his magic realism and shove it up his fundament.


  • #33
    czechlin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,341 ✭✭✭czechlin


    I really enjoyed The Great Gatsby, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Millennium series. Got stuck into Jo Nesbo's books and so far so good :)


  • #34
    Eeden
    Registered Users Posts: 17,912 ✭✭✭✭Eeden


    Harry Angstrom wrote: »
    Anything by Paulo Coehlo, a writer who is vastly overrated.
    Coehlo can take his magic realism and shove it up his fundament.

    While I agree with this, I'm pretty sure this is the exact opposite of the thread title?


  • #35
    Harry Angstrom
    Registered Users Posts: 19,351 ✭✭✭✭Harry Angstrom


    Eeden wrote: »
    While I agree with this, I'm pretty sure this is the exact opposite of the thread title?

    Apologies, I clicked on the wrong thread title :o:D


  • #36
    Washington Irving
    Registered Users Posts: 7,066 ✭✭✭Washington Irving


    For the sake of balance...

    The Catcher in the Rye.

    Maybe you just need a certain temperament/mentality to fully enjoy it. I can see where people are coming from with their 'self-important protagonist' comments but I don't agree. The way in which the story is told is always going to come across like that imo. Some very amusing moments, especially in the first half of the book. Holden always seemed like a pretty goddam swell guy to me.


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  • #37
    Kalimah
    Registered Users Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭Kalimah


    "We need to talk about Kevin "by Lionel Shriver blew me away. As did "The last testimony of Gideon Mack". I've forgotten who wrote that! The Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor deserves a mention too. Sometimes you finish a book and think " God I wish I had written that". Sometimes you read a book and there isn't a word out of place in it.


  • #38
    bearhugs
    Registered Users Posts: 269 ✭✭bearhugs


    American Gods. And The Ocean at the end of The Lane while I'm at it. I have to say Room as well, couldn't put it down, a brilliant read.


  • #39
    GerB40
    Registered Users Posts: 2,047 ✭✭✭GerB40


    Washington Irving wrote: »
    For the sake of balance...

    The Catcher in the Rye.

    Maybe you just need a certain temperament/mentality to fully enjoy it. I can see where people are coming from with their 'self-important protagonist' comments but I don't agree. The way in which the story is told is always going to come across like that imo. Some very amusing moments, especially in the first half of the book. Holden always seemed like a pretty goddam swell guy to me.

    He's a knòb..


  • #40
    brandom
    Registered Users Posts: 40 ✭brandom


    More biography than literature but excellent books none the less - Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.
    Also several that have already been mentioned - To Kill a Mockingbird, Emma, Room and We Need to talk about Kevin


  • #41
    vitani
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,824 ✭✭✭vitani


    Washington Irving wrote: »
    For the sake of balance...

    The Catcher in the Rye.

    Maybe you just need a certain temperament/mentality to fully enjoy it. I can see where people are coming from with their 'self-important protagonist' comments but I don't agree. The way in which the story is told is always going to come across like that imo. Some very amusing moments, especially in the first half of the book. Holden always seemed like a pretty goddam swell guy to me.

    I agree. I liked Holden - I didn't see him as self-indulgent, just as a kid who's still grieving and who's lost his way. I first read it as a teenager and I really identified with his whole disconnected from society thing. I still get it in a sense. I stumbled upon a One Direction hashtag on Twitter recently and I found this entire community with rules and rituals and a passion for something I couldn't even begin to understand. I imagine that's how Holden felt looking at society.


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  • #42
    Diane Selwyn
    Registered Users Posts: 257 ✭✭Diane Selwyn


    Books I recall having been foisted upon me that turned out to be great reads would include Slaughterhouse 5, A Prayer for Owen Meany and 100 Years of Solitude


  • #43
    seamonkey92
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 72 ✭✭seamonkey92


    Less Than Zero was a great read.


  • #44
    Diane Selwyn
    Registered Users Posts: 257 ✭✭Diane Selwyn


    seamonkey92 wrote: »
    Less Than Zero was a great read.

    I've only read American Phsyco but re-watched the film of Less Than Zero just recently and was surprised how harrowing it was - think I had in my memory lumped it in with 1980s good-but-ultimately-fluff films like Pretty In Pink and so forth. I wonder how different was the film from the book? Tame by comparison if American Physco is any example I guess. Must give it a go - there is some sequel with the Clay character as well I think?


  • #45
    seamonkey92
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 72 ✭✭seamonkey92


    Diane Selwyn wrote: »
    I've only read American Phsyco but re-watched the film of Less Than Zero just recently and was surprised how harrowing it was - think I had in my memory lumped it in with 1980s good-but-ultimately-fluff films like Pretty In Pink and so forth. I wonder how different was the film from the book? Tame by comparison if American Physco is any example I guess. Must give it a go - there is some sequel with the Clay character as well I think?

    Yeah, the sequel is Imperial Bedrooms. Haven't actually read it myself! Or American Physco..but love the film!


  • #46
    Lady Spangles
    Registered Users Posts: 434 ✭✭Lady Spangles


    The Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield just came across as an over privileged, whiny brat. Wanted to smack him, tbh. Urgh!


  • #47
    mrsdewinter
    Registered Users Posts: 2,116 ✭✭✭mrsdewinter


    Well, I loved Catcher In The Rye - clearly it helps to be a whiny, self-absorbed teenage gobsh*te when you read it, but you can't dismiss it out of hand.
    My nomination for books that survived the hype is The Master by Colm Toibin. Beautifully written.


  • #48
    Lady Spangles
    Registered Users Posts: 434 ✭✭Lady Spangles


    Heavens, I posted that on the wrong thread. Apologies. I really should try Catcher in the Rye again, actually. I was at school when we read it and probably just went over my head.

    A book that did completely live up to the hype: Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies. Absolutely stunning pieces of writing that managed to completely change my view of Historic Fiction (which I'd written off as mostly naff bodice rippers).


  • #49
    Stone Deaf 4evr
    Registered Users Posts: 7,991 ✭✭✭Stone Deaf 4evr


    Coraline by Neil gaiman.it's very short, but surprisingly scary for childrens book. Well deserving of it's praise.


  • #50
    Censorsh!t
    Registered Users Posts: 1,121 ✭✭✭Censorsh!t


    I really liked The Catcher in the Rye when I read it...then again, I was about 15, so I'm not sure how I'd feel about it now!

    The Secret History by Donna Tartt exceeded my expectations, as did The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I hadn't read any Wilde at that stage, so wasn't sure what to expect.

    Also, so far, The Dark Tower series by Stephen King has lived up to the hype. I'm only on book 4, but I love them.


  • #51
    Lisha
    Registered Users Posts: 8,693 ✭✭✭Lisha


    I just finished Donal Ryan's first book 'the spinning heart'
    I loved it. He is particularly good at building multi layered characters. Initially the characters are unlike able then you read a but more background and you understand them and feel sorry for them.

    I would have preferred a but more closure in the ending but that's only being picky .


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  • #52
    Lisha
    Registered Users Posts: 8,693 ✭✭✭Lisha


    The slap by Christopher Tsiolakis is an excellent read too. The characters are very real, gritty and full of surprises.
    It was a hard read at times but I could not put it down.


  • #53
    Marcus Antonius
    Registered Users Posts: 1,639 ✭✭✭Marcus Antonius


    1984, was such a great read. That and I Am Legend, my god the book is a masterpiece especially in comparison to the woeful film!


  • #54
    MagicMarker
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 32,865 ✭✭✭✭MagicMarker


    Marcus Antonius wrote: »
    1984, was such a great read. That and My Name is Legend, my god the book is a masterpiece especially in comparison to the woeful film!

    haha. You mean I am Legend?

    It's is fantastic alright.


  • #55
    Marcus Antonius
    Registered Users Posts: 1,639 ✭✭✭Marcus Antonius


    MagicMarker wrote: »
    haha. You mean I am Legend?

    It's is fantastic alright.

    Lol, thanks, I did of course mean I am Legend, and will edit accordingly!


  • #56
    Tombo2001
    Registered Users Posts: 6,467 ✭✭✭Tombo2001


    Anything by Charles Dickens....

    One that I particularly loved and I was suprised at how good it was - Oliver.


  • #57
    Ectoplasm
    Registered Users Posts: 4,468 ✭✭✭Ectoplasm


    Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon...a good story but the language that is used to tell it absolutely blew me away. The cover was emblazoned with 'Best Scottish Novel of All Time' and I'd heard it being hyped. I struggled at first with the language but once I got used to it...wow. I was genuinely astonished by the power of the novel.

    I'm also a defender of Catcher in the Rye; I reread it recently and I think Holden captures the desperate insecurity, uncertainty and alienation that can be the teenage experience. I just feel so sorry for him. :-)


  • #58
    IrishAlice
    Registered Users Posts: 557 ✭✭✭IrishAlice


    The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Luis Zafron. I was given the book by a friend and really wasn't expecting to like it but I enjoyed it so much.

    I've since recommended it to other friends.

    Also, Breakfast at Tiffany's. It was completely different to what I had expected and found Holly Golightly to be a really intriguing character.


  • #59
    Harry Angstrom
    Registered Users Posts: 19,351 ✭✭✭✭Harry Angstrom


    IrishAlice wrote: »
    Also, Breakfast at Tiffany's. It was completely different to what I had expected and found Holly Golightly to be a really intriguing character.

    Capote was a very good writer. It's a pity he became a caricature of himself.


  • #60
    PartnerSeeds
    Registered Users Posts: 67 ✭✭PartnerSeeds


    Marcus Antonius wrote: »
    1984, was such a great read. That and I Am Legend, my god the book is a masterpiece especially in comparison to the woeful film!

    Really enjoyed 1984 and also Catch Me If You can. Book is much better than the movie.


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  • #61
    Mr Rhode Island Red
    Registered Users Posts: 746 ✭✭✭Mr Rhode Island Red


    Tombo2001 wrote: »
    Anything by Charles Dickens....

    One that I particularly loved and I was suprised at how good it was - Oliver.

    I second this. Read "A Christmas Carol" last Christmas and although you'd hear plenty of slating for reading "boring" classics, it was a book with something to it.

    Awful lot of hype about " The Fault in our Stars". Waste of time or worthwhile?


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