Ben Elton

I've never read anything by Ben Elton though I've enjoyed some material he has written for TV. His books seem to sell well, but I see much disdain heaped upon him on various fora I've frequented over the years.

His LibraryThing User Rating is currently at 3.38 which isn't bad I guess. I'd be interested in opinions of his work from anyone here...

actually I suspect 3,38 is pretty low for an LT rating people do not tend to keep books rated below three in their library.

Of course they do, Simon! Some people grade on a curve - something has to be on the bottom centile in any such scheme; others (including me) use stars for purposes other than indicating a range from good to bad; some people are sentimentally attached to books they don't think are good; some people own books for purposes other than enjoyment. I wouldn't rate some of my textbooks higher than a 2 if I were rating them, but I will still keep them because they are useful.

I did not say people do not keep books rated below 3 in their Library I said there is a tendancy not to. couple that with a tendency to buy books that one predicts or knows one will like. and the curve is well off centre.

Lets see the people in this thread have an average of averages that is (2.82+3.16+4.02)/3=3.33 hmm Elton's above average for us:^)

but I suspect that a larger sample would move the figure to about 3.7.

Hey freelunch! If you want to judge Ben Elton's novels, judge him by his best - Blast From The Past, Dead Famous, High society or This Other Eden. He's a terrific mystery writer/social commentator and Dead Famous fully deserves a place in the "locked-room" genre of whodunits, if you ask me.

However, he can be wildly erratic - one of his more recent efforts, The First Casualty, I loathed for its compound cliches about WWI, British society, gays, sexy battlefield nurses vs. strait-laced upper-class wives. Yuck to all of it. But I have to admit, it does show that Elton isn't afraid to experiment and go beyond his limits. He has courage, if not unerring taste.

My suspicion is that part of the disdain for his work is down to dislike of the man himself.

I think that as `Ben Elton, angry young comedian`, he built up a following that genuinely believed he was `alternative` (whatever that means). I know little about him, but on the odd occasion when I`ve seen him on TV, he has come across as rather effete and affected.

I presume he is seen by his former followers as having `sold out` or some such notion.

Of course, the other view one could take is that it`s foolish to put your faith in `celebrity socialists` in the first place.

For what it`s worth, I leafed through my wife`s copy of one of his books and thought it looked all right - in fact it`s on my `to be read list` at the moment.

I thought dead famous was a fun response to what most people want to do to some of the people in those "reality TV" shows.

I use LT as a method of keeping track of what I've read, to remind me of some of the authors I disliked and to remember the books by certain authors I've read from the library or through bookcrossing. Some authors deserve more of my time, some authors will get a second chance and some authors are on a never touch again mental list, it helps that I can log on in bookstores or at the library and see if that's where I want to go.

I read way to much to be able to keep all the books, but all of the books on here are part of my mental landscape.

The problem with Elton's work is that by the time his books come out, every single teeny tiny fragment of whatever he's writing about has already been examined, analysed, and made fun of just about everywhere.

What didn't we understand or know about Big Brother that Ben Elton could enlighten us about? Same with Chart Throb -- a satirical whip at Idol? In 2007?Come on.

Still, Elton's work is breezy and funny. It's just not nearly as important (or timely) as he appears to think.

I've read quite a few Ben Elton books - they are a fun easy read. I actually think one of his best isInconceivable. (Please don't be put off by the film based on it called Maybe Baby - it was nowhere near as good as the book.)

I've read a few, and I certainly wouldn't say they were bad, though I thought some much better than others.

I'm currently reading High Society, which I am finding both very funny and very sad.

Yeah, it's def one of the better ones. I also really enjoyed Popcorn.

It wasn't that the young Ben Elton sold out, he just aged very quickly. No one other than a real Blue Meanie would begrudge him the commercial success his books have brought him, and his work still displays a basic moral/political commitment, but I doubt that his writing will ever make anyone gasp in admiration.

I've read Stark and Dead Famous. Stark was almost good but I though Dead Famous was atrocious.