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I'm taking a bit of a break from my usual Friday Linkups to try something a little different. I'm in a list making kind of mood so I thought I'd start making random five lists. Sometimes they'll be bookish other weeks not so much. I have lots of favorite authors but even the best author can have a book that doesn't quite click. These are books by authors I love that just don't quite work for me.
1. Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie - It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Agatha Christie. It's also not a huge secret that the woman wrote an enormous number of books over 50 years. There are several that aren't quite my favorite but none I dislike quite as much as Postern of Fate. The plot is nonsensical with a timeline that is chaotic at best. I want to love it because it involves a mystery from the past AND Tommy and Tuppence which are some of my favorite characters. Unfortunately, this is one I just didn't enjoy.
2. Grey Mask by Patricia Wentworth - While I love Patricia Wentworth I haven't read all of her books so I can only list my least favorite of the ones I've read. I actually enjoyed this one pretty well - especially after a reread - but it has such a different feel to it than her other books and has a kind of odd secret society angle. This isn't bad just not as good as her other books.
3. Mistress Pat by L.M. Montgomery - Montgomery brought some of my absolute favorite characters to life - Anne, Verity, Jane, Marigold, Sara the Story Girl and the King family, and countless others (though I never really could get behind Emily). However, Pat may be one of my least favorite characters. The first Pat book is good - not a favorite but okay - but the second one is essentially 250 pages of Pat complaining about change. I was more than ready to see the last of her when I finished the book!
4. Greygallows by Barbara Michaels - I've read pretty much all of Michaels' books but I'm only looking at the ones I kept on my Keeper Shelf as the rest I haven't read in probably 20 years. This one has all the Gothic atmosphere you could ask for but the heroine is a little too damsel in distress for me to fully enjoy the book.
5. Secret Star by Nora Roberts - I think I can pretty much say that anything by Roberts pre-early 1990s is going to be a miss for me but of the ones I've read in the last several years this one was hands down my least favorite. The trilogy was very dated and had the kind of alpha male type that was oh so popular in the 80s/early 90s but it kind of worked in the first two books. My main issue with this book is that the hero really looked down on the heroine for being who she was but never took the time to learn about who she actually was. I really thought her actual HEA would have been to tell him where to go and stay single.
What are some of your least favorite books by your most favorite authors?
This is a great idea for a writing prompt. I think I need to ponder it a bit.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting topic! I supposed even our favorite authors are entitles to an "off" book.
ReplyDeleteI love this topic today. I used to love Nora Roberts in the early 80s, but I can't read any of those books anymore! At least she's changing with the times.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fun post! I sometimes wonder how many authors I gave up on too soon because I read their worst book and never came back for more. I do remember those 80s Alpha men.
ReplyDeleteI laughed at your comments about the heroine in Secret Star. So true and that ending would be so good.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic. I haven't read any of these.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting about the Nora Roberts books. 📚
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