Books that you found overrated

[Anonymous]

50 Shades was completely unreadable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL The Happiness Project was such BS! Gretchen Rubin had tons of free time and money to devote to what made her happy, OF COURSE she was able to up her happiness. Such a joke.

I seriously loathed Hillbilly Elegy and will never understand how it got so much play. It actually has a great premise except JD Vance is a hack who couldn't manage a meaningful deep dive into his thesis statement, and it kind of fell apart when he admitted he personally had been raised in middle class Ohio with a nurse mom who made 80k in the early 90s. A more capable writer could have made it something worthwhile but Vance isn't that writer.

I really dislike most ~plot twist~ chick lit. Liane Moriarty, Paula Hawkins, etc.

Celeste Ng is incredibly overrated as well.

I agree with your opinion on HP but I was absolutely moved by Ng’s “Everything I Never Told You.” Couldn’t wait for “Little Fires” - not as good but still glad I read.

[Anonymous]

Outlander. I was expecting a juicy beach read and just about died of boredom.

[Anonymous]

The Secret Life of Bees

Like Water for Elephants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Zadie Smith's White Teeth
Nora Ephron's books (all of them)
Paula Hawkins Girl on a Train (a page turner, but flat characters)

I could go on. I think I have a longer list of over rated books than genius ones, sadly.

agree completely with white teeth and GOAT. Don’t know Nora ephrom but will now stay away since we apparently think alike.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL The Happiness Project was such BS! Gretchen Rubin had tons of free time and money to devote to what made her happy, OF COURSE she was able to up her happiness. Such a joke.

I seriously loathed Hillbilly Elegy and will never understand how it got so much play. It actually has a great premise except JD Vance is a hack who couldn't manage a meaningful deep dive into his thesis statement, and it kind of fell apart when he admitted he personally had been raised in middle class Ohio with a nurse mom who made 80k in the early 90s. A more capable writer could have made it something worthwhile but Vance isn't that writer.

I really dislike most ~plot twist~ chick lit. Liane Moriarty, Paula Hawkins, etc.

Celeste Ng is incredibly overrated as well.

I agree with your opinion on HP but I was absolutely moved by Ng’s “Everything I Never Told You.” Couldn’t wait for “Little Fires” - not as good but still glad I read.

Same...I was with you until Celeste Ng. I loved both of those books, but agreed that 'Everything' was a little better. But it's like I needed her to dial it back a notch after that one, anyway. What I will say about both of her books is they receive the critical acclaim that chick lit does not, but I would still categorize them as such.

[Anonymous]

After reading the subject line of this thread I came to write "Fates and Furies." So glad I'm not the only one!

[Anonymous]

Anything by Jodi Picoult

[Anonymous]

These threads are always so funny to me. I loved Fate and Furies, White Oleander, Lincoln in the Bardo, The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, and the Liane Moriarty books.

Liane Moriarty writes chick lit, you can't crack one of her novels and expect great literature from her but they're cute and funny.

I agree that Celeste Ng is a bit overrated. I read both of her books and gave them 4/5 on Goodreads.

[Anonymous]

The Glass Castle

Love in the Time of Cholera

[Anonymous]

I just read “Final Girls” and was underwhelmed.

[Anonymous]

SweetBitter. The worst

[Anonymous]

Ready player one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just Kids, and I love Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith

Have you read M Train? I also didn't care for Just Kids but I loved M Train.

[Anonymous]

Anything by Cormac McCarthy