Meow

I hesitated to suggest this as a category as books are intrinsically good, but there are a few that we could easily afford to get rid of.

Anything written by Jeffrey Archer (one day those skeletons in his closet will be let loose...)
Ghost writtern nonsense by 'celebrities' - Katie Price is a prime example
All religious tomes
Eat, Pray, Love
Mein Kampf

Dumbo

I have to disagree on your selection of religious tomes and also Mein Kampf. People are idiots and very forgetful, these books should exist if only to remind us how stupid we can be.

My suggestion FWIW would be self help books.

Kix

The Tin Drum by Günter Grass, got to be the most depressing book ever. But I had to finish it.

scrubbedexpat141

"Who moved my cheese"

Meow

Agree regarding 99% of self-help books. Fair point regarding religious tomes, but I am going to reclassify them all as fiction.

The Dean

Most things by the ludicrously overrated Charles Dickens........

"One day, Mr Chesapeake Binglebump left his home and headed for the Stock Exchange, where he was employed as a wages clerk. Thirty-seven pages later, he arrived....."

lullabelle

the truly dreadful The Da Vinci Code.

Anything you find by a till in a book shop which has something to do with cats or starts "the little book of..."

Dumbo

I think that is more than fair

Meow

Lovely summary!

Very much of their time I think. I find the books overly long, but they can form the basis of some great adaptations.

Bahtatboy

Assuming that the "...For Dummies" series qualify as self-help, one of these gets binned but surely not the other

Ethos83

The original books were written and published in a serial format so the readers would have read a short chapter per week. That allowed for a heavily convoluted plot lines and excessive overwriting.

I still enjoy Dickens. A keen insight into the complexities of British society of the early and mid Victorian period. One of my favourite lines is: 'Mr and Mrs Veenering were bran' new people who lived in a bran' new house in a bran' new part of London'. That single sentence tells you everything you needed to know about the couple.

We simply don't have a modern day social satirist version of Dickens. Though I'm tempted to write a book about the pretensions of Dubai expats. Starting, of course, with Mr and Mrs Millhouse were bran' new people with a maid and two 4x4s in their bran' new villa on Arabian Ranches.

scrubbedexpat141

Are you jealous that you don't live here anymore?

No modern social satirist? Are you kidding me? There are just such varied styles now.

Meow

One is a self-help book, the other a technical guide about something real.

Ok?

Ethos83

The closest I can think of is Terry Pratchett but it's not quite the same.

I do sort of miss Dubai. Life is unquestionably easier down there. But I'm well compensated to put up with the charms of London and I have something I never had in Dubai - a girl (ok, young woman) who's seriously contemplating marriage with me (no haven't popped the q and won't for a bit but she's still with me and has been making references to a future life - together). Not sure whether to be flattered or run for the hills.

scrubbedexpat141

Fair play - a lot of folk complain that this place is not the one to meet your future partner. I brought mine with me, but am too young for the q.

Why not just ask?

Terry P is a good shout, I was thinking more along the lines of folk outside the novel writing world so on reflection, less relevant.