Pretty much any fiction book I have tried to read which turned out to have been on one of those intellectual 'book of the year' lists (such as the Whitbread prize or whatever its latest sponsors name is). I am not anti intellectual, its just most of those with intellectual aspirations who write fiction.... can't write fiction. The judges seem to view such manuscripts as Art, rather than asking if they are even halfway successful story telling. I now avoid prizewinning fiction on principle.
I also approach with caution books on lists such as the New York Times bestsellers list (and similar in other papers/publications) since I have seen alleged, it is easy for publishers to 'aquire' a place on the list by various means, the list inclusion by artifice pushing up sales by implying to potential purchasers the book is already very popular and of reasonable writing quality.
I take good physical care of books and often view them as 'for life'. I rememberr the last book I started to read that was awful, was so bad I stopped reading it and chucked in the rubbish bin to make sure no one else wasted any of thier life on it. I can't remember the title, but its the only book I have ever chosen to destroy.
