'I don't like the author except for....'

I may get lambasted for this, but I really, really dislike what I've read of Dickens except for A Tale of Two Cities. I love that book. But his others just feel like slop to me.

Couldn't stand Faulkner, then I read Was from Go Down, Moses. Wow. Then I read Absalom, Absalom! Wow-wow.

This has happened in reverse, too, by the way. Started Nabokov with Lolita, and with one small exception it was all downhill from there.

Not a big fan of Terry Pratchet, I did LOVE Feet of Clay though.

Tried reading about 4 or 5 more of his and just couldn't get through them, just found to be a little boring.

I was not at all impressed with Stephen King but I enjoyed The Stand (it was just too long. Cut out the middle third and you've got a great book there).

I want to like Douglas Coupland. I like the idea of Douglas Coupland more than I like any of his books. I get to the end and don't feel fulfilled for having read it. I keep giving him a chance, and one day I hope to edit this post to say I've found a GREAT Coupland book.

If I read something by an author and I'm unhappy with it for whatever reason, I usually don't go and try to read any of their other books. I just chalk them up as not an author I like.

So in answer to the OP, no, there is no author that surprised me. I never gave them a chance.

Jules Verne.

I just did not like them. I tried and tried, didn't work. The only one that worked for me, and that I loved, was Around The World In Eighty Days.

Dean Koontz. He's very hit or miss for me. I enjoyed One Door Away from Heaven and Tic Toc, but couldn't even get through Twilight Eyes and wanted to throw two others I read by him across the room they annoyed me so much.