Anonymous
Post 05/16/2025 14:02     Subject: Name a popular book you didn't like
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Educated

I can't believe this book was so popular. I've read many better memoirs. I also hated her family and found them awful to read about.


+1 totally agree. Wasn’t written well and frankly unbelievable. Like relevant detail left out. Had such high hopes.


I think it was unbelievable because that’s her actual story. I don’t think anyone in her (very numerous) family has disputed it factually, not even the very abusive older brother.

They were still hateable.
Anonymous
Post 05/16/2025 14:00     Subject: Name a popular book you didn't like
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Heartburn by Nora Ephron. Insufferable characters, totally unreadable.


You know when she wrote that and about whom, right ? That explains a lot


DP! No, do tell!


you read Heartburn with none of the historical background?
Anonymous
Post 05/16/2025 13:59     Subject: Re:Name a popular book you didn't like
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Lessons in Chemistry


Agreed. The writing is so stilted and the premise is awful and exaggerated. I feel embarrassed for people when they rave about it.


+1
Anonymous
Post 05/16/2025 13:58     Subject: Name a popular book you didn't like
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Educated

I can't believe this book was so popular. I've read many better memoirs. I also hated her family and found them awful to read about.


+1 totally agree. Wasn’t written well and frankly unbelievable. Like relevant detail left out. Had such high hopes.


I think it was unbelievable because that’s her actual story. I don’t think anyone in her (very numerous) family has disputed it factually, not even the very abusive older brother.
Anonymous
Post 05/16/2025 13:55     Subject: Name a popular book you didn't like
Anonymous wrote:DNF's Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. I like some of her other books (esp her first one) but was so bored by Tom Lake.


Tom Lake was a DNF for me as well.
Anonymous
Post 05/16/2025 12:23     Subject: Name a popular book you didn't like
Anonymous wrote:The Women by Kristin Hannah. I won't read anything by her ever again.


What is the appeal of Kristin Hannah.

Is she a good writer?
Are historical facts accurate?
Anonymous
Post 05/16/2025 12:12     Subject: Name a popular book you didn't like
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The Crawdads one. Horrible.


I loved that book. I love nature, and she did a wonderful job with those descriptions. Loved the quiet, ethereal feeling in the story.
I also love Kristin Hannah’s books.
A popular book I hated is The Secret History by Donna Tart.



I also didn’t like the secret history!
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2025 01:16     Subject: Name a popular book you didn't like
Anonymous wrote:The Crawdads one. Horrible.


I loved that book. I love nature, and she did a wonderful job with those descriptions. Loved the quiet, ethereal feeling in the story.
I also love Kristin Hannah’s books.
A popular book I hated is The Secret History by Donna Tart.
Anonymous
Post 05/14/2025 22:37     Subject: Name a popular book you didn't like
The entire Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series.
Anonymous
Post 05/14/2025 22:32     Subject: Name a popular book you didn't like
DNF's Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. I like some of her other books (esp her first one) but was so bored by Tom Lake.
Anonymous
Post 05/14/2025 22:23     Subject: Name a popular book you didn't like
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Educated

I can't believe this book was so popular. I've read many better memoirs. I also hated her family and found them awful to read about.


+1 totally agree. Wasn’t written well and frankly unbelievable. Like relevant detail left out. Had such high hopes.
Anonymous
Post 05/14/2025 10:17     Subject: Name a popular book you didn't like
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I wish I could unread Olive Kitteridge. It really depressed me and made life seem small, sad and meaningless.


This is fascinating to me. I wrote a paper on it in grad school about how creating empathy is the highest function of fiction and Olive Kitteridge exemplifies that. I thought it was the ultimate story of hope.


Oh I felt no hope. It was all loneliness and quiet despair to me, with a bunch of characters going through ordinary struggles big and small. I didn't really feel the empathy at all, just the sadness of life's little upsets.
Anonymous
Post 05/14/2025 10:13     Subject: Re:Name a popular book you didn't like
Anonymous wrote:Let Them. Mel Robbins is insufferable!


I really hate all these grifters and their platitutes and it makes me sad it's such an industry.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2025 17:52     Subject: Name a popular book you didn't like
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I wish I could unread Olive Kitteridge. It really depressed me and made life seem small, sad and meaningless.


This is fascinating to me. I wrote a paper on it in grad school about how creating empathy is the highest function of fiction and Olive Kitteridge exemplifies that. I thought it was the ultimate story of hope.


DP. I just finished it last week, and found it incredibly touching. I felt for Olive.


Yep. That is the point of the book -- to make you feel for Olive. Even though she's a big PITA. It's brilliant.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2025 17:49     Subject: Re:Name a popular book you didn't like
Let Them. Mel Robbins is insufferable!