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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Elena Ferrante novels. I know I should like them, but I found them (well I only attemptedthe first) just insufferable. Did nothing for me. Nada.

I read every one but at the end it was a slog. The talking talking working working actually wore me out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The little Friend - Donna Tartt
I couldn’t finish it. It became apparent at some point that she wasn’t going to give an answer.

okay. I really enjoyed that book, but that bugged the crap out of me.
You can't start a novel with a mystery and then just...never solve it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, yes! So tedious.

I also hated The Davinci Code too. Did everyone just not notice the terrible writing?

[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.

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.

All very good points, as with your upthread comments. I guess this is a case of such a split camp. The people who "love" it for being profound are strongly negated by the people who think no disturbing book should be considered "loved". I think many of the books discussed aren't universally loved (is there any book that qualifies for that?) but this one clearly strikes a cord.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hillbilly Elegy. I was bored but stuck with it because of the rave reviews.

Same here. Like Wild and Educated, seems like the author either exaggerated or made a lot of things up. It's a book that many people read simply to say they did to appear sympathetic to the plight of white working-class Appalachia, as though the people depicted are some sort of anthropological experiment JD Vance unearthed for his predominantly UMC audience.

+1 to all of this.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Crossing to Safety. I like other Wallace Stegner, and my book club thought I was nuts, but I hated the people in that book so much (which is fine if the author is trying to write people who are unlikeable, but Stegner clearly wanted the couples to be sympathetic). I suppose my strong reaction means the book isn’t bad, though—I certainly want indifferent to it.

Oh, I loved this book. Wallace Stegner is one of my favorite authors. the Angle of Repose is just about the perfect book.

So enjoying this thread— amazing to see so many different perspectives on books.

We’ll, I don’t hate his other books. Just Crossing to Safety.
But I agree that the disagreement here is fascinating, and there are all sorts of books being discussed that I now want to read!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone read Anxious People?

Yes. Liked it very much.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Anything on Oprah's list.

Oh. That makes me sad. I have been so surprised at how much I enjoy Oprah’s list

IDK, most were very depressing to read and hard to get through.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Anything on Oprah's list.

Oh. That makes me sad. I have been so surprised at how much I enjoy Oprah’s list

IDK, most were very depressing to read and hard to get through.

Some of my all time favorites were on Oprah’s list. Especially the early days!

[Anonymous]

I consider myself a reader but disliked many of the books named in this thread, haha. That’s a beauty of reading, though- many choices. I haven’t seen mentioned but also disliked Where the Crawdads Sing and Fates and Furies.

[Anonymous]

Sister Outsider by Audre Lord. That book was deceptive: short, but SUCH a slog to get through. Lord beat every point into her reader through copious repetition. There were several essays that I think were prior drafts of one another given how repetitive they were. I enjoyed her essay on the USSR and she made a lot of valid points, but all that was interspersed between repeats repeats repeats of prior points.

[Anonymous]

The Great Gatsby. And now I’m a special educator in a high school and all my kids are suffering though it.

[Anonymous]

The Midnight Library. It was terrible, with a one dimensional, grating protagonist who was extremely hard to like or care about.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Anything on Oprah's list.

Oh. That makes me sad. I have been so surprised at how much I enjoy Oprah’s list

IDK, most were very depressing to read and hard to get through.

Some of my all time favorites were on Oprah’s list. Especially the early days!

Yes! The Pilot's Wife when no one was doing that sort of book.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Anything on Oprah's list.

Oh. That makes me sad. I have been so surprised at how much I enjoy Oprah’s list

IDK, most were very depressing to read and hard to get through.

Some of my all time favorites were on Oprah’s list. Especially the early days!

Yes! The Pilot's Wife when no one was doing that sort of book.

I refuse to read anything titled “The XX’s Wife” or “The XX’s Daughter” just by those tedious titles I know it’s some Oprah Book Club junk.