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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A man called ove

Cloud cuckoo land

Midnight library

Loved one and three. Haven’t read two but I’m guessing I’ll like it!

Cannot finish Bringing Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel. And I can get through the densest Alison Weir or Thomas Costain history.

[Anonymous]

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

I always felt that way about her work, so you're not alone. There's no there, there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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!

NP. I'm so curious as to why? I loved it. Though I did have to suspend by disbelief re: the murder gene. And I can see how people wouldn't like the end. I was just so shocked!

[Anonymous]

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?

THE OUTRAGE!

[Anonymous]

Lincoln in the Bardo

I tried to listen to the audio book because it won awards and had great actors narrating it but I fell asleep a few times and just could not get into it.

[Anonymous]

Thought I would love Cloud Cuckoo Land since I loved All the Light We Cannot See… made it twenty pages and returned it to the library. No thank you.

[Anonymous]

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.)

A Little Life isn't for everyone by a long shot. It was profound for me, and I resisted reading it. I felt the writing reflected the mood of the book rather than beautiful writing that could have detracted from the harrowing story. But I totally get that some will hate it for a wide variety of reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. I tried to get through Owen Meany on at least 2 different occasions and quit. I then picked it up again about 2 years later and couldn't put it down. It became one of my favorites. Same thing happened with A Man Called Ove. When I finally tried it again, I really liked it.

I've had that happen to me many times - I can't get through a particular book at one point only to try it again later and I end up really enjoying it. Sometimes I'm just not in the right frame of mind for a given book, or I just don't connect to it at that point in time.

Having said that, I just don't love some of the classics.

A Man Called Ove was great as an audio book. I can see how it would be hard to read.

I couldn't get into the book (tedious and boring) but loved the movie.

[Anonymous]

I really hate everything that I've read by Ian McEwan, including Atonement, Amsterdam, The Comfort of Strangers, and others. It is unfathomable to me that he is a Man Booker winner. His work comes across as a 15 year old trying to be smart and subversive. However I happen to agree with many of his controversial political statements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

I always felt that way about her work, so you're not alone. There's no there, there.

Yes - fluffy and lightweight! I can’t believe she’s considered some groundbreaking academic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really hate everything that I've read by Ian McEwan, including Atonement, Amsterdam, The Comfort of Strangers, and others. It is unfathomable to me that he is a Man Booker winner. His work comes across as a 15 year old trying to be smart and subversive. However I happen to agree with many of his controversial political statements.

The first book of his I read was Sweet Tooth, which I adored. So I tried reading more of him, including a couple you mentioned above. Utter disappointments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really hate everything that I've read by Ian McEwan, including Atonement, Amsterdam, The Comfort of Strangers, and others. It is unfathomable to me that he is a Man Booker winner. His work comes across as a 15 year old trying to be smart and subversive. However I happen to agree with many of his controversial political statements.

Same here. Feel that way about Vonnegut, too.

[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.

Ok add Catcher in the Rye to my list too. Somehow I did not get assigned it in school and read it as an adult. My husband’s theory is that I was too old to relate to it at that time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lincoln in the Bardo

I tried to listen to the audio book because it won awards and had great actors narrating it but I fell asleep a few times and just could not get into it.

Oh wow. That’s my favorite of all books I’ve read in the last 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

I always felt that way about her work, so you're not alone. There's no there, there.

Yes - fluffy and lightweight! I can’t believe she’s considered some groundbreaking academic.

Thank you both for the validation!