Books you "should" love, but just don't

[Anonymous]

Thank you to the Ove haters! I feel like the only one. You're grumpy, we get it!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:A Little Life. I put it down before page 50. I'm detention to read it some time in the future. I just hope my impression of the writing style is wrong (seemed really basic, and I'm no literati.)

Is that a book that we “should love”, though???? That book is beyond gruesome and disturbing.

That could be said about any book that you don't personally want to read or find not to your taste. There are plenty of difficult books that people love.

I have been 1/4 of the way through the book for a couple of years now. I love the writing, but can’t go on because each time I start to get into it I start crying and end up awake for hours feeling sad about this guys life.

I absolutely agree this book isn't for everyone. But that doesn't negate that it can be a deeply meaningful read for some people, who in that context "love" it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You know those books that everyone raves about .... "must reads". And try as you might, and as intellectually stimulating as they are, you just cannot read one more page.

For me it's A Prayer for Owen Meaney (John Irving). I just found it so tiresome.

What's yours?

Funny you mention this. So many people recommended A Prayer for Owen Meany to me. I finally read it a couple months ago and I hated it.

A Gentleman in Moscow is the book everyone loves but I hated. I read it as part of a book club otherwise I probably wouldn't have read more than 100 pages. It was much too wordy and descriptive for my taste. I did not need long descriptions of furniture in a hotel room.

I hated A Gentleman in Moscow and I've gotten so much sh--from everyone else in my life who loved it.

Clearly they enjoy furniture porn and books with no plot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A Little Life. I put it down before page 50. I'm detention to read it some time in the future. I just hope my impression of the writing style is wrong (seemed really basic, and I'm no literati.)

Is that a book that we “should love”, though???? That book is beyond gruesome and disturbing.

That could be said about any book that you don't personally want to read or find not to your taste. There are plenty of difficult books that people love.

I guess I just kind of equate it to someone being like, "well I know we are all supposed to just LOVE American Psycho, but personally I couldn't get through it". American Psycho (and, IMO, A Little Life) are books that are truly shocking in their graphic and disturbing content. I don't think of them as "books that we should love" the way some people are like "eh, I know everyone loves The Great Gatsby but I could never get over how unlikeable they all were". That's different!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A Little Life. I put it down before page 50. I'm detention to read it some time in the future. I just hope my impression of the writing style is wrong (seemed really basic, and I'm no literati.)

Is that a book that we “should love”, though???? That book is beyond gruesome and disturbing.

That could be said about any book that you don't personally want to read or find not to your taste. There are plenty of difficult books that people love.

I have been 1/4 of the way through the book for a couple of years now. I love the writing, but can’t go on because each time I start to get into it I start crying and end up awake for hours feeling sad about this guys life.

I absolutely agree this book isn't for everyone. But that doesn't negate that it can be a deeply meaningful read for some people, who in that context "love" it.

But I wouldn't consider it universally loved by any means. Which is how I took this thread- books that everyone seems to love but that you personally don't. I don't hear book clubs raving over what an amazing novel A Little Life is and how everyone just has to read it. Because- as you say- it's not for everyone, and it doesn't pretend to be, and it's incredibly disturbing. Meaningful- absolutely, for some readers- but the vast majority of people, if they tried to read this book, would be horrified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh Jonathan Franzen ugh.

I can read Irving, 100 years of Solitude, but this guy is just awful. I think he has some weird hangups that I'm just not interested in entertaining as a captive audience.

I read The Corrections and I have to say there are still parts of that book that stick with me, but I also completely agree with you.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:- Into Thin Air
- The Shack
- In the Woods (though I did feel seen by a recent thread about this book)
- We Need to Talk About Kevin
- The Dinner
- Defending Jacob
- Wild by Cheryl Strayed
- The Silent Patient (OMG so boring for 95% of the book)

See now I liked Silent Patient. Interesting.

NP. I liked Silent Patient, but I liked it because I was interested in the psychology of it. If I hadn't liked that I am certain I would have put it down without finishing. And then the end was a great, not because of a twist--though there was one--but that as you were reading you thought you were reading something different than you were. Basically it wasn't an unreliable narrator as much as an unreliable author who tricked the reader. I loved that aspect of it.

I liked the Silent Patient as an easy thriller but hated The Maidens from him.

I liked The Silent Patient also and agree that The Maidens was awful; could not finish.
I also could not finish We Need To Talk About Kevin - ugh, talk about a book where every single character is unlikable and awful.
I also posted on the Feb book thread that The Invisible Life of Addie Larue was not good.

I found We Need to Talk About Kevin something I started and had to finish, but even so the writing was compelling.

[Anonymous]

The Overstory

Everyone I know raves about how great it is but I found it really tedious.

[Anonymous]

Anyone read Anxious People?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've tried multiple times to get through The Satanic Verses but can't get past the first couple chapters, despite liking other Rushdie novels.

I like Salinger, Austen, Vonnegut. Agree with others on Tartt, I kind of liked The Secret History but agree with the critiques and really thought the Goldfinch was a slog.

All the Light we Cannot See was pretty good overall but I found the ending to be unsatisfying.

I agree with most everything you said here. I tried many times to get through Rushdie's Midnight's Children, but he writes as if he gets paid per word.

[Anonymous]

The Goldfinch
Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Davinci Code (ugh)
Colleen Hoover books - maybe not "loved" but people rave and rave... I've read two and have been seriously underwhelmed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Grapes of Wrath

YES. It was awful.

[Anonymous]

The Lord of the Rings. I just can't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh Jonathan Franzen ugh.

I can read Irving, 100 years of Solitude, but this guy is just awful. I think he has some weird hangups that I'm just not interested in entertaining as a captive audience.

I honestly don’t know anyone who likes Franzen. Lots of readers have bought his books, but most seem to agree they’re whiny garbage.

OMG - totally agree. Never picked up anything after the Corrections.

Oh good. Validation that Jonathan franzen is TRASH

[Anonymous]

Tuesdays With Morrie.

It is so preachy. A book load of empty calories.