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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:50 Shades. All my friends loved it. I flipped through and what I read made me sick to my stomach. That kind of garbage is why so many women end up in abusive relationships.

Agree. Terrible. Even worse that my mother in law gave me the books and raved about them. I can’t even watch the movies.

For me, anything by Jane Austen or the Brontë sisters. I don’t get how people can read those books over and over.

This is the most fascinating post I have read in years. Your MIL gave you not just one but all the 50 Shades books? Your MIL??? Can you tell us what, do you think, she was intending? Why would she give you these? Was it encouragement? Was her thinking, My son tells me he needs to spice things up a little in the bedroom, or what? This post just made my day! I do hope you’ll follow up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree on The Nightingale and add anything by K. Hannah.

Classic category: Catcher in the Rye
Such a spoiled, callow protagonist

You are not alone. My friends and I all hated that book, especially Holden. What a whiner. His sister, Phoebe, was OK, though.

I came here to say this too! Couldn’t stand the book or Holden.

Also agree with the PP who posted about 100 years of Solitude - couldn’t get past 50 pages. I loved Love in the Time of Cholera though.

Another book/ author I couldn’t ever stand was Atlas Shrugged/ Ayn Rand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree on The Nightingale and add anything by K. Hannah.

Classic category: Catcher in the Rye
Such a spoiled, callow protagonist

You are not alone. My friends and I all hated that book, especially Holden. What a whiner. His sister, Phoebe, was OK, though.

I came here to say this too! Couldn’t stand the book or Holden.

Also agree with the PP who posted about 100 years of Solitude - couldn’t get past 50 pages. I loved Love in the Time of Cholera though.

Another book/ author I couldn’t ever stand was Atlas Shrugged/ Ayn Rand.

Did you hate Holden Caulfield and the book when you were in highschool (or whenever you first read it)?

I loved the book because it was an easier read than some of the other required reading. Pretty quick pace. And while it was outdated, I could relate to the narrator in a way (or at least put myself in his shoes).

I've read it again a few times over the years and can understand why anyone who's read it in the past 15 years might find it obnoxious.

I still love books written in that style of colloquial prose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Thank you for making me feel better about A Gentleman in Moscow. I got bogged down about 1/3 of the way through and don’t feel like I can face finishing. But then I felt like the ending must be great of everyone else loves it so much. But then there’s the possibility that I just don’t like it. But then that makes me feel like a mean hater…. Way too much thought over a stupid novel, but my mom is one of the people who adored it, so I don’t feel right just dropping it.

I loved A Gentleman in Moscow, but not until about 75 pages in. The start was a bit slow. Nice it hit its stride it was grand!

[Anonymous]

A man called ove

Cloud cuckoo land

Midnight library

[Anonymous]

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)

I hated Defending Jacob!

[Anonymous]

Between the World and Me

The LOTR/ the hobbit

[Anonymous]

Anything by Taylor Jenkins Reid

[Anonymous]

I love all Michael Chabon books, but I cannot, absolutely cannot, get through Wonder Boys. I’ve tried so many times. So then great, they turn it into a movie, figured I’ll cheat and finally find out what the darn story entailed. Tried twice to watch the movie and couldn’t get through it either. I’ll never ever know what that story was!!!! And I no longer care!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eat, Pray, Love. Couldn't get even get through the Pray section. Author was extremely unlikable to me.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:50 Shades. All my friends loved it. I flipped through and what I read made me sick to my stomach. That kind of garbage is why so many women end up in abusive relationships.

You need new friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree on The Nightingale and add anything by K. Hannah.

Classic category: Catcher in the Rye
Such a spoiled, callow protagonist

You are not alone. My friends and I all hated that book, especially Holden. What a whiner. His sister, Phoebe, was OK, though.

I came here to say this too! Couldn’t stand the book or Holden.

Also agree with the PP who posted about 100 years of Solitude - couldn’t get past 50 pages. I loved Love in the Time of Cholera though.

Another book/ author I couldn’t ever stand was Atlas Shrugged/ Ayn Rand.

Did you hate Holden Caulfield and the book when you were in highschool (or whenever you first read it)?

I loved the book because it was an easier read than some of the other required reading. Pretty quick pace. And while it was outdated, I could relate to the narrator in a way (or at least put myself in his shoes).

I've read it again a few times over the years and can understand why anyone who's read it in the past 15 years might find it obnoxious.

I still love books written in that style of colloquial prose.

Yes! I’m one of the PPs (I liked his sister ok). I loved so many books I read in 10th grade (I really liked The Scarlet Letter, if you can believe it), but I despised Catcher in the Rye, and especially Holden.

[Anonymous]

I could never admit this in real life, but Brene Brown's books are all so ... obvious.

[Anonymous]

Wheee the crAwdads sing. Completely improbable, and I had no idea it was a romance novel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love all Michael Chabon books, but I cannot, absolutely cannot, get through Wonder Boys. I’ve tried so many times. So then great, they turn it into a movie, figured I’ll cheat and finally find out what the darn story entailed. Tried twice to watch the movie and couldn’t get through it either. I’ll never ever know what that story was!!!! And I no longer care!!

I remember really enjoying that movie! Never read the book tho