Except for the fact that you’ll actually have to read the thing, Tammy, with all its predictability, its stereotyping, and worst of all the perpetual irrascability (sp?) of the man called Ove and his constant putting down of anyone who isn’t him or his late wife. I’d be keen, though, to know what side you come down on. ?
Wow, just goes to show how different reader tastes can be. Hillbilly Elegy was gritty and disgusting in parts but I couldn’t put it down, maybe because I was pulling for the author all the way to climb out of that trash heap he was born into.
@Mirah I wouldn’t say he described poverty and suffering as character flaws. He was saying that the cycle needed to be broken and hard work and determination were a major part of that. I was a fan of the book.
Bonnie, McMillen, I’d strongly urge you to read it yourself and draw your own conclusion. This was a guy who loved his family to the enth degree. There is no cruelty intended by the author of this book.
I’m the only born and raised Yankee in my family full of Southerners so this is on my TBR list. I read White Trash, too, and while it was a bit dry in some parts I enjoyed it
@Mirah Yes, I think you (and this article) are spot on. While I didn’t disagree with everything in the book, Vance’s main message seemed to be that love of family and hard work can get you into Yale. Pretty freakin’ simplistic … and, I would imagine, pretty insulting and disheartening to a lot of hillbillies.
I only read them because a friend let me borrow them, and she loved them. It was so bad that I started skipping all the sex scenes…I mean, that’s the whole point of those books right? They were just terrible but I got through them.
@Jen it’s not that I’m embarrassed – I loved the Sleeping Beauty trilogy by Anne Rice, which is way more risque than 50 Shades. Those books just aren’t very good.
IT by Stephen King. I thought it was great in parts but he kept pointing out over and over how fat one character was and then the bonding experience at the end sealed the deal for me.
This year I’ve read some exceptionally good books, but the one book I mostly disliked was Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood, and I was very, very disappointed with I, Eliza Hamilton by Susan Holloway-Scott.
@Sarah good to know. Actually my sister borrowed it and is going to read it first I just remembered. If she doesn’t like it either than I probably won’t waste my time.
Ditto. I can’t always tell from the first couple of chapters; but I usually download a sample from Amazon, and use that to decide whether or not the book’s worth reading. (Sometimes it only takes a couple of paragraphs.)
I read Ove but will not even go there with Grandmother, which I think came before it right? Thank you for further warning me away from a waste of my reading time, Brenda.
@Sarah I did too so I bought I & started it immediately. What a disappointment! I’m still trying to figure out why it got the reviews it did. Was 1 of only a few books that I didn’t finish.
@Nikki I think it got the reviews because the author is a famous African American feminist who had already made a name for herself and of course it takes some courage to write about being fat when you’re that well known. I’m just speculating here. But the book itself—meh. I put it down about half-way through.
It’s pretty awful. All of her books follow the same drawn-out formula and I’m almost always disappointed by the revealed secret. I enjoyed Big Little Lies, though.
I didn’t hate that one, but didn’t like it very much. My coworker loves her so I tried to read another one of hers and had to stop a few pages in it was so bad.
The editing was most of what was wrong with it. The characters were cliches and the plot twist was telegraphed waaaaay ahead of time. I only finished it because I thought there MIGHT be some redemption in the twist, if I was wrong. If I hadn’t known there was a twist, I wouldn’t have finished it.
I had to stop, pretty far in, because it was so depressing and horrible. And once I read that the author had not researched abuse victims, I could not keep on reading.
I finished it bc I had bought it and it started out funny but then just kept getting worse and worse. It was my bathroom book and I was determined to finish it. Haha. I would actually recommend the first 80 pages.
I had seen “Somewhere in Time” when I was young and it was one of my favorite movies…loved “their song” (Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini), when she screams “Richard!” when he disappears just kills me every time. I LOVE that movie. I was OVERJOYED to find the book by Richard Matheson at the second hand store. I had been looking for it for a long, long time. I hate the book, y’all. I really hate it. The main character, as written, just gets on my last nerve. I really dislike how it departs from the movie, which normally wouldn’t bother me all that much, but apparently I’m a bit rigid when it comes to this one. Probably because I committed the cardinal sin of watching the movie before reading the book. Or, maybe it’s because I’m older now and have less patience for histrionic romance? Alas, I am now afraid to re-watch the movie for fear that it will have lost something for me, and I want to keep it precious. Tell me that someone can relate to this, please. ?
All of his books are better as movies. What Dreams May Come is one of my favorite movies but the book is awful. I Am Legend and Stir of Echoes are also better movies than books.
It started out so well and then, unpredictably in my opinion, the bookseller abandons his life, leaves his mooring and goes off to find his lost love. I think that if the author had put a little more time into building up to his mid-life dash, I could have followed along willingly. I felt as if the author wanted to get to a different part of the book and didn’t bother to put the time in to bring the reader along. I lost interest in the characters and nothing in the rest of the book redeemed it. Not even the recipes. And I really like books with recipes!
Oh, I’m sorry the book didn’t work out for you. I liked the book and I didn’t notice that there isn’t much detail about his mid-life dash maybe because I also wanted to quickly get to the part where the bookseller is off on his barge. But I see your point and it’s valid, thanks for sharing!
There are plenty of books I don’t finish. Some don’t turn bad until later in the book. Some have unfulfilled promise or just interesting concepts and you *hope* they will get better.
I’m the same way I have such a huge TBR at this point that I don’t have time for books that are terrible or don’t bring me joy. I give it maybe 25% of the book before I give up though.
I agree, Christy. If Ove had been a curmudgeon with some redemptive potential then maybe I could have warmed up to him. I thought he was just a boorish S.O.B.
Not hated but disliked. Departure by A. G. Riddle, The Fourth Descendant by Allison Maruska, Ben Hammott’s Solomon’s Treasure. And normally I love all the Agent Pendergast novels by Preston and Child but I don’t think I made it halfway through Crimson Shore before I gave up and just read the end to see how it came out.
Certainly hope you at least made it to the 2nd half. I would have given up too, but it was our book club’s choice one month. I understood from the beginning it wasn’t a true story. As I recall, that was made clear in the prologue. If you read the entire book as well and did a little research, you’d also know there were many actual characters in the book. Historical fiction has become one of my favorite genres. But I always enjoy reading the factual events along with the book.
Silent wife was compared to “gone girl “ but I never actually read gone girl I just saw it and the movies but silent wife was the worst book ever I couldn’t finish it
Also, The Bookshop on the Corner was pretty disappointing, and A House in the Country was dull, and I gave up on Lilac Girls because it didn’t capture my attention.
There was a cozy mystery I tried to read because it was Christmas-themed and I had to stop because the editing was so awful. I made it less than three pages before I couldn’t tolerate the abundance of excessive, misplaced commas.
Cockroaches by Jo Nesbo. I actually liked the book just fine up until the end, but I have a thing about amputations and there was a long, lingering scene about that that left me feeling like I was going to throw up. I think I have to stop reading Nesbo. Warning for the next person who is disturbed by amputations, I guess.
The Kings Mistress by Emma Campion and The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. I didn’t even finish the first one because it was so poorly written and the second just wasn’t my cup of tea. I know others will disagree with me on that one.
It wasn’t that appealing to me. When i read the description it got my attention but once I started reading it was mehh for me. The author has good books but just that one specific book wasn’t for me
I hated Lilac Girls too. I thought the writing was flat and the writer purposely chose gruesome moments to engage readers in a lagging plot. I stopped halfway through.
What a Carve Up ….. what a waste of my good reading time … that I will never get back …. and my tbr list is so tall … I wonder if I will live long enough to get through it … would not recommend it … and pleased it was a library copy …..
For me personally the author went up and down with “is this book fiction or true”, he would give these long stories and say “this could be true” or this is “true” for some vets. And then later he’d remind us the book is fiction. Also there is a paragraph or so of extreme (in my opinion) animal abuse. And I didn’t like this because there was no warning, he didn’t give us an inclination that it was going to happen. So what I read is forever ingrained in my mind. Anyhow.. I just felt for a fiction book, he made up one too many war stories and said they could be true. It wasn’t my cup of tea. TL;DR: Animal cruelty, and also I felt like he went from the things they carried, to random fake war stories.
Fates & Furies (Furies & Fates? The fact that I can’t remember the name is telling, isn’t it?). Shallow, despicable people. I was listening to the audiobook and stopped torturing myself after 9 1/2 of 11 discs.
@Sue the good news – it’s very short – and it’s very current. The review in 11/19/17 NYTimes sums up what I couldn’t – “the characters remain oddly vague.” I’m not sorry to have read it, but for me, it didn’t Live up to expectations. Sometimes, though, as you’ve probably already experienced – the worse the book, the better the discussion!
A Man Called Ove
Loved.
This book has some very mixed reactions. Now I’m intrigued. I might pick it up and see if I’m in the love or hate category, lol
Except for the fact that you’ll actually have to read the thing, Tammy, with all its predictability, its stereotyping, and worst of all the perpetual irrascability (sp?) of the man called Ove and his constant putting down of anyone who isn’t him or his late wife. I’d be keen, though, to know what side you come down on. ?
@Tammy, I gave it 5 stars on GoodReads.
@Tammy ? I am of thinking of doing the same!
I agree!
I looked for it today at the book store and they didn’t have a copy, so I’ll have to order it. It’s definitely now on my list!
Loved it!
Truly madly guilty
im reading right now. just 100 pages in, hope it gets better
Loved.
I didn’t hate but I sure was bored
It definitely d
Definitely her most boring book.
Mine was The tent, the bucket and me. I was told it was laugh out loud funny, it was not.
Hillbilly Elegy
I didn’t read that but I read White Trash which was very good.
Wow, just goes to show how different reader tastes can be. Hillbilly Elegy was gritty and disgusting in parts but I couldn’t put it down, maybe because I was pulling for the author all the way to climb out of that trash heap he was born into.
It was certainly engaging, but I disagreed so strongly with his core message
Didn’t read it, what was his core message?
@Bonnie that poverty and suffering are character flaws and the way out is grit or culture change rather than the social safety net.
Oh my, he was born into poverty, that’s not a character flaw, glad I didn’t read it.
I mean, this is my interpretation of his message. It’s certainly subject to debate.
@Mirah I wouldn’t say he described poverty and suffering as character flaws. He was saying that the cycle needed to be broken and hard work and determination were a major part of that. I was a fan of the book.
Bonnie, McMillen, I’d strongly urge you to read it yourself and draw your own conclusion. This was a guy who loved his family to the enth degree. There is no cruelty intended by the author of this book.
I saw him on tv and was impressed but I had just read White Trash which I liked a lot but I think they are similar so moved on to other topics.
That reminds me, I’ve had White Trash reserved at my library for some time now–weeks in fact. Must be a popular book.
It is interesting the difference in people’s interests indeed…I loved Hillbilly Elegy.
This article describes in more detail what I didn’t like about the book. https://newrepublic.com/article/138717/jd-vance-false-prophet-blue-america
I’m the only born and raised Yankee in my family full of Southerners so this is on my TBR list.
I read White Trash, too, and while it was a bit dry in some parts I enjoyed it
@Mirah Yes, I think you (and this article) are spot on. While I didn’t disagree with everything in the book, Vance’s main message seemed to be that love of family and hard work can get you into Yale. Pretty freakin’ simplistic … and, I would imagine, pretty insulting and disheartening to a lot of hillbillies.
I really liked this book, largely because I could relate to it. Vance is an arrogant SOB, though.
The 50 shades trilogy.
I only read the first one to see what everyone was talking about, and yeah, that’s like 6 hours of my life I can never get back.
I only read them because a friend let me borrow them, and she loved them. It was so bad that I started skipping all the sex scenes…I mean, that’s the whole point of those books right? They were just terrible but I got through them.
I liked the 50 Shades book. I suspect many people did, but I seem to be the only one willing to admit it. ?
@Jen I enjoyed them!!! But I totally get why people hated them and I would never recommend them to anyone.
I’m not gonna lie, I WANTED to like them. I hoped they would get better.
@Jen it’s not that I’m embarrassed – I loved the Sleeping Beauty trilogy by Anne Rice, which is way more risque than 50 Shades. Those books just aren’t very good.
I tried to like them….I thought the actual writing was just awful….
Everytime she mentioned her inner goddess I gagged!
Or biting of her lower lip?. Oh heavens, the writing was just The Worst!
All the ugly and wonderful things
Arrowood
Walden
One of the Boys. Awful book with no plot.
I didn’t care for Lost City of the Monkey Gods. The prologue caught my interest but it just went too deep into economic, political and medical topics
Flowers for Algernon
OMG just the premise of that book still gives me nightmares
The Light Between the Oceans
I agree
I forgot about this one. Yeah I wasn’t really loving the plot.
Oh, wow, I really enjoyed that one!
It was an ok read, didn’t hate didn’t love.
I found the movie to be better than the book.
I cried so hard at the end but hated all but the last two chapters.
Lemmikkikaupan tytöt by Anja Snellman
When Breath Becomes Air
Not hated but disliked because of sadness…
One of my favorite books I’ve read in the past year.
I hit post too soon. The sadness was hard at the end. But I loved his ideas and his writing.
IT by Stephen King. I thought it was great in parts but he kept pointing out over and over how fat one character was and then the bonding experience at the end sealed the deal for me.
I’m on the last 200 pages….I’m forcing myself to finish it.
One of my all-time favorite books.
@Christina didn’t mean the like/angry. Fat finger issue. Lol
Haha I’ve done that before.
Swing Time. Tigers Wife
This year I’ve read some exceptionally good books, but the one book I mostly disliked was Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood, and I was very, very disappointed with I, Eliza Hamilton by Susan Holloway-Scott.
Submergence by J.M. Ledgard
The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney,
I liked that book, but it was overrated.
I don’t remember because I immediately put them in my library bag and took them back to the library as soon as I could 🙂
Lady Midnight
Either The Notebook or The Circle. I thought both were terrible and hugely overrated.
The Circle was terrible!
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy. I loved The God of Small things, but this one didn’t grab me.
Fates and Furies
Yes! It was just too rambling for me.
Yep.
The trouble with goats and sheep
The Martian.
I couldn’t even finish it. I was bored.
@Brooke I didn’t finish it. Didn’t like the character. At all. Then I saw the movie and still really didn’t like him.
I couldn’t finish it either. Didn’t bother with the movie. I know spaceflight takes a long time but really.
Oh i loved that book!
What? I LOVED The Martian! I made my mom, sister, husband, and both daughters read it. I’ve read it 3 times. I love, Love, Love it. 5 ⭐️!!!
I did not love “Juliet Naked” but any hate I felt was really disappointment that it’s not as good as Hornby’s earlier works.
The girls by Emma Cline
Forgot about that one. I didn’t like it either!
I’m right there with you.
Oh, yes, I tried so hard. Too hard.
Ah i loved this one!!
I thought The Girls was very interesting. Gave the reader on a perspective on why and how one can get sucked in to a cult.
I really liked it! But it generally seems pretty divisive.
Justice by Dominic Dunne. I like true crime books but hated this one. Couldn’t even finish it.
A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena. Terrible.
Oh no, really I have that book and is one of my next tbr, I hope I like it. I already bought it lol.
well it wasn’t for me, but I hope you like it!!
@Sarah good to know. Actually my sister borrowed it and is going to read it first I just remembered. If she doesn’t like it either than I probably won’t waste my time.
Hard to say because I don’t finish books that I hate….
Ditto. I can’t always tell from the first couple of chapters; but I usually download a sample from Amazon, and use that to decide whether or not the book’s worth reading. (Sometimes it only takes a couple of paragraphs.)
@Catherine me too! Exactly;)
The Woman in Cabin Ten. Ugh!
I am so glad it wasn’t just me
So predictable. I was expecting more.
I finished it, but nearly chucked it right in the beginning. Stupid protagonists don’t make for good reading 😀
I didn’t like The Woman in Cabin Ten either. One dimensional characters and convenient plot line. It was terrible!
Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner. It made me so furious when the “twist” was revealed
Didn’t read it, but saw it as a TV movie thing on Netflix. Yep, disappointing.
I remember putting a few books down or deleting them from my Kindle because I did not like them, but do not recall the names.
Stephen King’s IT
I didn’t hate it exactly but I couldn’t get into Dorothy Must Die. I’m going to give it another shot in the future
I read it. It was ok I guess and I finished it. But have no desire to read the rest of the series.
Grey
My Grandmother Told me To Tell you Sorry and a Man called Ove.
I read Ove but will not even go there with Grandmother, which I think came before it right? Thank you for further warning me away from a waste of my reading time, Brenda.
Our book club was divided on Ove … seems like you either hate it or love it.
I loved both
@Bonnie , me too.
The Goldfinch
Could not finish. Did that character have any redeeming qualities? None I could find in the first three hundred pages or so.
Behind Her Eyes
So funny, this is probably my favorite thriller I’ve read this year.
@Sarah That’s one thing I love about reading: different strokes for different folks! ???
Hunger by Roxane Gay
Fist bump on that, Cassi.
How interesting, I’ve only heard good reviews of this one!
I finished it but I really had to push to do it…and i as well had heard great things about it!
@Sarah I did too so I bought I & started it immediately. What a disappointment! I’m still trying to figure out why it got the reviews it did. Was 1 of only a few books that I didn’t finish.
Thanks for reminding me since I disliked it so much that I put it out of my mind. What was so great about it?
@Cassi I couldn’t even finish it & I try to finish most everything I start
@Nikki I think it got the reviews because the author is a famous African American feminist who had already made a name for herself and of course it takes some courage to write about being fat when you’re that well known. I’m just speculating here. But the book itself—meh. I put it down about half-way through.
I’m reading Hunger now. I can understand not liking it, because it seems a little repetitive and self-indulgent. But I’m enjoying it despite that.
@Nikki I’m the same way so I did finish it but honestly there times I was ready to throw it across the room…
The husbands secret, I can’t even get past the first few chapters
Oh it’s really good though. I really like Laine Morarty
Oh, I love Everything Liane Moriarty!!
i didn’t like that one neither.
It’s pretty awful. All of her books follow the same drawn-out formula and I’m almost always disappointed by the revealed secret. I enjoyed Big Little Lies, though.
Three men in a boat by Jerome k. Jerome..
Curious — why such a strong negative?
Just read it.. It’s so irritating!
It’s one of my favorite books.
Oh! Well everyone has different tastes I guess. Never mind ?
whatever
Skeletons on the Sahara and A Man Called Ove
I hate NONE… but if I’m not really feeling the LOVE of a book, I just STOP READING IT!! No need for HATE ever lol.
The Good Girl. So bad I was angry the whole time I was reading it.
? just curious why you didn’t like it??? It was one of my faves !!!
I didn’t hate that one, but didn’t like it very much. My coworker loves her so I tried to read another one of hers and had to stop a few pages in it was so bad.
The editing was most of what was wrong with it. The characters were cliches and the plot twist was telegraphed waaaaay ahead of time.
I only finished it because I thought there MIGHT be some redemption in the twist, if I was wrong. If I hadn’t known there was a twist, I wouldn’t have finished it.
I didn’t really like The Good Girl either. The characters were very annoying and not relatable!
I cannot say I hate some books. I would say I could not understand it.
Hunted which was a beauty and the beast retelling
The Other Story by Tatiana de Rosnay
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell and Under a Wide and Starry Sky. Abandoned half way through. Too dull for me.
I was done with Jonathan in about 20 pages…
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters. The. Worst.
I loved that book!
Definitely my least favorite of hers
I liked it, but it was tedious. Like come on already!
Exactly. Tedious.
A Little Life
Ugh!
@Lynn never finished it. Just couldn’t get through it.
Me neither
I had to stop, pretty far in, because it was so depressing and horrible. And once I read that the author had not researched abuse victims, I could not keep on reading.
My hardest read to get through this year was Empty Mansions.
My bathroom book. Finally finished it
I’m having so much fun comparing this to the other thread about books you loved the most this year. A lot of books are on both threads!
Yeah, isn’t that amazing?
I agree!
I’m too old to read books that I don’t like. So many books, so little time!
I finished it bc I had bought it and it started out funny but then just kept getting worse and worse. It was my bathroom book and I was determined to finish it. Haha. I would actually recommend the first 80 pages.
Five Quarters of the Orange
One of my favorite books!
Autumn by Ali Smith.
A handmaids tale
It’s on my tbr list. What didn’t you like about it?
I didn’t hate anything the most, however, I stopped even considering books with “girl” in the title or “for fans of Gone Girl…”
Me too.
The girl on the train. So draggy
Horrible book,
@Bonnie I’m so glad someone else didn’t think it was great.
It was awful.
Yes all over the place, it was goodish, just not organized right in my opinion. The ending was good! The movie was actually really good.
I hated the book so much I wouldn’t go to the movie
Hated the book, no desire to see the movie, but the movie couldn’t be worse.
The movie was better
A Spool of Blue Thread.
13 Reasons. I simply hated this book and no I don’t think there was an important message from it regarding suicide. The Book actually made me angry.
Me too.
I bought it and plan to read it, bc I did like the series.
Only watched the show and found it frustrating and annoying
The Dark Tower by Stephen King
The first one can be hard to get through, but it’s so worth it. The series is amazing!
My Brilliant Friend. I just kept looking for the narrator to do something, anything.
I gave up. I read about half and just couldn’t take anymore!
@Jen , I seriously considered quitting, but I just had to know if she would finally take some action. She didn’t. ?
Ugh. I did not like that book. So glad to know I’m not alone!
Eyes on you by Kate White.i stop waisting time with it after 30 pages.i am sorry that i bought it, is garbage!
The Romanovs
Copy Cat by Alex Lake
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. It was the longest short book I ever read. Mind numbing. ?
Commonwealth…way to confusing and not that interesting.
Oh, I really like that one!
Bear Town ?
I know! I wanted to like it, tried hard to read it but gave up. So disappointing
I felt the same way about A Man Called Ove, I have given up on that author altogether.
Lincoln in the bardo
The Salt Letters
The Worst Thing I’ve Done, Ursula Hegi
She was my freshman English fiction writing prof!
She’s Come Undone ☹️
If you’re willing to give Wally Lamb another shot, I’d recommend I Know This Much is True. I thought it was beautifully written.
Oh no! I just started this last night. ?
I didn’t like She’s Come Undone either. I know lots of people who love it.
But I Know This Much is True is one of my all-time favorite books!!
I agree, I was a thumbs down on She’s Come Undone – however I have to put I know this much is true and one of my top 5 books of all time.
I had seen “Somewhere in Time” when I was young and it was one of my favorite movies…loved “their song” (Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini), when she screams “Richard!” when he disappears just kills me every time. I LOVE that movie. I was OVERJOYED to find the book by Richard Matheson at the second hand store. I had been looking for it for a long, long time. I hate the book, y’all. I really hate it. The main character, as written, just gets on my last nerve. I really dislike how it departs from the movie, which normally wouldn’t bother me all that much, but apparently I’m a bit rigid when it comes to this one. Probably because I committed the cardinal sin of watching the movie before reading the book. Or, maybe it’s because I’m older now and have less patience for histrionic romance? Alas, I am now afraid to re-watch the movie for fear that it will have lost something for me, and I want to keep it precious. Tell me that someone can relate to this, please. ?
I loved the movie too! It’s my favorite I will now never read the book
I spent my honeymoon at the hotel where the movie was filmed.
It’s too risky to chance @Francesca. Too risky by half. Haha!
You are not alone. Same thing happened to me. The book was a major disappointment.
I love, love, love that movie!
All of his books are better as movies. What Dreams May Come is one of my favorite movies but the book is awful. I Am Legend and Stir of Echoes are also better movies than books.
Name of the wind / Rothfuss
I don’t love the book but Rothfuss has enough moments of brilliant writing that I read just for the beauty.
Woman No. 17
The Velvet Hours by Alyson Richman. I felt like I was reading a Harlequin romance novel from the 1960s.
Paper town
Yeah it was just ok.
Little Paris Bookshop
Aw why did you hate it?
It started out so well and then, unpredictably in my opinion, the bookseller abandons his life, leaves his mooring and goes off to find his lost love. I think that if the author had put a little more time into building up to his mid-life dash, I could have followed along willingly. I felt as if the author wanted to get to a different part of the book and didn’t bother to put the time in to bring the reader along. I lost interest in the characters and nothing in the rest of the book redeemed it. Not even the recipes. And I really like books with recipes!
Oh, I’m sorry the book didn’t work out for you. I liked the book and I didn’t notice that there isn’t much detail about his mid-life dash maybe because I also wanted to quickly get to the part where the bookseller is off on his barge. But I see your point and it’s valid, thanks for sharing!
Everything I never told you
Wow one of my favorite books ever.
I agree, “Everything I never told you” was so dark and depressing.
Exactly! I found myself waiting for some kind of redeeming ending to make it worth it… nothing.
I too hated it, well written but for most part everyone so sad and depressed I felt like drowning.
The Dark Net
I don’t finish a book if I hate it.
you are my new hero!!!!
There are plenty of books I don’t finish. Some don’t turn bad until later in the book. Some have unfulfilled promise or just interesting concepts and you *hope* they will get better.
I’m the same way I have such a huge TBR at this point that I don’t have time for books that are terrible or don’t bring me joy. I give it maybe 25% of the book before I give up though.
@Marie I have a very hard time not finishing a book, or a movie, even when I don’t like it. It’s a curse.
@Karen I know. I have only recently allowed myself to “abandon” a book. Too many books to read.
A Man Called Ove
Oh, I loved this one.
Really?! I loved it! I grew such heart for that broken-hearted man. <3
I gave up on this one at about chapter 3, same as with Bear Town…
I struggled Through it. But nothing ever happened, it was just boring.
I agree, Christy. If Ove had been a curmudgeon with some redemptive potential then maybe I could have warmed up to him. I thought he was just a boorish S.O.B.
A ton happened.
Idaho … just couldn’t get past 60 pages
Sleeping Beauties
White @Fur
Into the Water
A man called Ove- I just couldn’t do it!
I saw the movie first and loved it, then read the book, and then saw the movie again. Maybe the movie helped?
You have to finish it to fully understand the character. All of his quirks make sense at the end.
@Erin it was torturous so I gave up pretty early. Way to many other books in my TBR list to slog through it.
Leave me by gayle Forman
You Are A Badass… here’s my review…
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1983035684
I am so tired of everything being “badass.”
Hate is too strong a word, but I really didn’t like Before We Were Yours. Did not finish it, but paged thru to see how it turned out.
Luckiest Girl Alive. What a vapid main character.
Not hated but disliked.
Departure by A. G. Riddle, The Fourth Descendant by Allison Maruska, Ben Hammott’s Solomon’s Treasure.
And normally I love all the Agent Pendergast novels by Preston and Child but I don’t think I made it halfway through Crimson Shore before I gave up and just read the end to see how it came out.
The Mountain Between Us. Worse piece of tripe I’ve read. Badly written and so predictable.
Big Little Lies … didn’t “hate” it just didn’t really stir me.
The End of Alice by A.M Homes. Badly written, trying far too hard to be shocking and really just pointless.
Looking Back by Belva Plain.
It was eloquently written, but I just didn’t like it. It’s not to say it’s a bad book, just not MY kind of book.
Caleb Carr ..Surrender. New York
A Gentleman in Moscow…am I the only one on earth? Boring!
I liked it when I first started it – thought I was gonna love it, actually – but then it quickly became boring to me. I thought it was just me!
I loved Towles first novel, the Rules of Civility. I put down Gentleman after first 100 pages.
OMG! I thought it was me. I couldn’t get into that book, finally gave up!
Not just you…I also gave up.
Loved every page, every word. ?
Possibly my favorite fiction for 2017. Wonderful how different we are!
I loved it, too.
The Dinner. First book I’ve read that I didn’t like any of the characters!
Mine too, no redeeming character to be had!
I absolutely hated this book!! I have to bite my tongue whenever someone checks it our from my library! ?
I thought it was great fun that the whole family was psychopathic.
One of my favorites! Love that author!
Priestdaddy. It wasn’t funny and I didn’t really like the characters.
Life of Pi
I thought I was the only one!! Wasted time…
I liked the movie. But I hated the book. Well. I kind of hated the movie too.
It is about the only book I can say I hated … kept reading it because I was sure I must be missing something … sadly, I wasn’t.
Sleeping Beauties
Black Man in a White Coat by Damon Tweedy. Read for book club.
Thr secrets she keeps
Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough. Ugh — the most ridiculous ending ever!!
yes!! i was so disappointed with that ending!
The Fireman by Joe Hill! Nobody gets to put in King Easter eggs but the man himself, IMO.
Joe Hill is one of King’s sons.
The Hundred year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared. Tried hard to read however couldn’t go any further after pg 60.
Me too!!!!
One Thousand White Women…couldn’t finish it!
What bothers me most about it, is that too many people seem to think it’s based on a real story.
I thought it was the stupidest premise for a story ever!
Certainly hope you at least made it to the 2nd half. I would have given up too, but it was our book club’s choice one month. I understood from the beginning it wasn’t a true story. As I recall, that was made clear in the prologue. If you read the entire book as well and did a little research, you’d also know there were many actual characters in the book. Historical fiction has become one of my favorite genres. But I always enjoy reading the factual events along with the book.
The Goldfinch. It went on for about 150 pages too long. Usually I’d give up, but I kept hoping it would get better…it did not.
Yep, hated that one.
Silent wife
Couldn’t even finish it 🙁
I can’t seem to finish any of his books.
@Elizabeth me either.
@Diane I’m glad that I’m not the only one. His books get so much praise and I’ve yet to see why.
Right there with you.
Same
Lord of the flies
I️ quit reading anything I️ don’t like. Life’s too short!!
The Spy by Paulo Coehlo
The Alchemist – Just trash …
Thank you, John. People seem to think the theme is original but I kept wanting to click my ruby slippers and say ‘there’s no place like home.’
Agree. So much hype but no substance
@Becky ?
“The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion.
Hot Milk
Eat Pray Love
I read it years ago. A gift from a friend. Didn’t like it either
Agree
I love that book but hate the movie.
Lincoln in the Bardo
Yes
Outlander
I think maybe I got through the first chapter.
Don’t let the rabid fans know that. They’ll come after you with pitchforks and torches.
Haha. They encouraged me to continue it. After 5 years I finished the first book and hated every minute of it. Just not for me.
I’ll confess that I’ve read the whole series. I liked them but a couple were a slog to get through.
Britt-Marie Was Here…after loving the Ove book and My Grandmother books
Loved this one. Didn’t think I would, but now I think it’s my favorite of his.
It’s actually the character. The author has great plots I just couldn’t deal with Britt-Marie’s attitude.
She was a quirky one, but she grew on me. His characters seem to fall in the love/hate category.
Oh. Yes, they do! I kept seeing everyone say they didn’t like Ove and I ADORED him.
I’m Judging You??
I am about halfway through and will probably never finish.
@Sarah the first few chapters were good and then it just went to ?
@Sarah Absolutely! I finished it but it was a struggle. Are you on Litsy?
I’m not! Should I be?
@Sarah Yes you should
https://litsy.com/
Gone Girl. Ugh. I hated every single character.
Silent wife was compared to “gone girl “ but I never actually read gone girl I just saw it and the movies but silent wife was the worst book ever I couldn’t finish it
The blurb turned me off so never read it, even though my blookclub reviewed it.
The movie was excellent but I didn’t read the book.
@Lia I like the movie too
I hated all the characters too….yet I enjoyed the book immensely!! Go figure…?
I just loved it
Me too. I hated all of the characters and refuse to read anything else the author has written.
Caraval
I didn’t hate any but I put aside The Girl that Came Home for something more interesting and have not returned to it.
Also, The Bookshop on the Corner was pretty disappointing, and A House in the Country was dull, and I gave up on Lilac Girls because it didn’t capture my attention.
Where”d You Go Bernadette
Oh, I thought that was cute!
hate is a strong word, but i did not enjoy it 😉 I was annoyed lol
I read it for a book club and found it bizarre.
Little Fires Everywhere. It wasn’t the worst I’ve read this year, just the most disappointing.
Really. Bummer. I have that on hold!
@Jen A lot of people really liked it … keep the faith!
It was so all over the place and kind of predictable
@Jenn. Exactly!
The Chaperone
Bitter almonds, boring as all hell
Private by James Patterson. So cliche.
let the great world spin. section 1 was great, but he should have stopped writing there.
So agree
Oh, I loved that book! And some of his others too, like Transatlantic
@Eileen After reading Let the Great World Spin, I might try another book. But if the same thing happened, I could not read the author again.
My Struggle. Going on 3 years, can’t get beyond page 27.
But: I LOVED I’m judging you!! Lia, what up??
The Nix
The Historian. I was expecting this epic read and halfway through it felt like I was reading a textbook.
Only book I have ever stopped reading.
Loved that book. It has its own shelf.
Liked it too
Odd how I don’t even remember their names (those books I dislike). I just erase them from my mind.
A Little Life
I am officially changing my answer. The worst book was Iced by Karen Marie Moning. It was so bad.
The girl on the train. ?
That was pretty bad
Awful, awful book. I hated it.
I know. It was super dragging. Did not finish it
@Alexa you didn’t miss anything.
I think I made it 15 pages.
Haha. Im so glad to know that you guys didn’t like it too.
It’s nice when you just don’t *get* a trend and other people don’t either.
Agree
Glad to know I am not alone
That’s so funny. What does it say about me that I enjoy reading a book about people with hidden secrets and sad histories. Nothing good, I suppose.
Brit Marie Was Here
i LOVED that book! ?
I loved it, too! I remember it so well. Some books I read, I’m just a blank about them after one day.
I loved ‘Ove’ but this one, notsomuch. Looking forward to ‘My Grandma….’
Cutting for Stone
I loved Cutting for Stone!
@Louise most did. I read it twice. For me, it took too long to get the story going.
Strange weather. And I’m sorry, i would love to love it… started it twice and i just don’t want to read more than the third i already did 🙁
Gone Girl
There was a cozy mystery I tried to read because it was Christmas-themed and I had to stop because the editing was so awful. I made it less than three pages before I couldn’t tolerate the abundance of excessive, misplaced commas.
So many of your answers are breaking my heart! LOL. Mine is the Sellout by Paul Beatty. Interesting ideas that get lost in a jumble of word salad.
Agree. I didn’t hate it, just didn’t get into it. I disliked “The book that matters most.”
The Fireman
I just set aside The Husband’s Secret. Put it in my trade-in pile.
You know, there are a lot of “good” books, i.e., critical darlings, that I just can’t get interested in reading.
Absolutely! There’s a few very popular books on here that kept getting recommended that I looked up and thought, nope, not gonna do it for me.
The Taming Of The Queen by Philippa Gregory.
The Circle
Oh look, family dropped by. 😉
I started that book, put it down and forgot about it. It just didn’t grab me!
Cockroaches by Jo Nesbo. I actually liked the book just fine up until the end, but I have a thing about amputations and there was a long, lingering scene about that that left me feeling like I was going to throw up. I think I have to stop reading Nesbo. Warning for the next person who is disturbed by amputations, I guess.
We Were Liars. It’s a great book, but the characters will haunt you long after you read it.
The girls
OMG! I just finished this book and it was utter trash! Here’s my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2186399117
The Kings Mistress by Emma Campion and The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. I didn’t even finish the first one because it was so poorly written and the second just wasn’t my cup of tea. I know others will disagree with me on that one.
Looking for Alaska
What did you dislike about it?
It wasn’t that appealing to me. When i read the description it got my attention but once I started reading it was mehh for me. The author has good books but just that one specific book wasn’t for me
The Girl On the Train
Agree.
Ministry of utmost happiness, could really not get into it no matter how hard i tried…
The Girl Before…so disappointing 🙁
Little Bee by Chris Cleave.
I loved this one lol.
What’s there to love? I couldn’t even finish it.
It’s hard to defend a book that personally resonates. That’s why I love reading and liken it to viewing art- you feel it or you don’t.
I was disappointed in this one too. I couldn’t stand Sarah.
Could not read this one.
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry.
Aww, I was hoping that would be a good one!
I loved this ? book
I loved all of Backman’s books except Beartown. Beartown is good but vastly different from his other books
I was planning to get a copy of Beartown for my nephew for Christmas. He plays club hockey in college. Good or bad idea?
It is about hockey but it also involves a rape and alcohol. It is an adult book
Hmmm. I was reading reviews on Amazon.
Great idea, @Leigh. I think every coach and athlete should read it.
I have loved all of Backman’s books except Britt-Marie Was Here since I thought it was too much like Ove.
I just finished Britt-Marie was here and gave it 5 Stars. It is a wonderful story
Lincoln in the Bardo
This book is a challenge to be sure. It took me two times before I could understand and love it
Ditto Karen. Thought I was the only one!
Even if I hate a book, I have to finish it. Unless I feel weird. Lol.
I gotta ask, what do you mean by feeling weird? LOL.
Me too!
Time and Again, by Jack Finney. What a waste of time. Flaccid characters, especially the women. Blech!
“Fighting against gravity” by Rutherford Rankin. Just, DO, NOT, READ.
Lilac Girls, Underground Railroad, Lab Girl
Tough subjects or just bad books? I only ask because 2 are on my tbr and I want to prepare myself for either responses lol
I loved Lab Girl and Lilac Girls. I backed away from UnderGround. I guess this is what make it art, that everyone doesn’t like the same thing!
Sorry u didn’t like Lilac Girls….everyone in our book club loved it.
I hated Lilac Girls too. I thought the writing was flat and the writer purposely chose gruesome moments to engage readers in a lagging plot. I stopped halfway through.
I️ really liked Underground Railroad, the imagining of an actual Railroad was unique.
It’s a tie between The God of Small Things (which I’m forcing myself to finish) and Me, Earl and the Dying Girl.
Ditto on The God of Small Things! I find that I am consistently disappointed by The Booker winners.
See and I absolutely loved The God of Small Things, would put in my top 10 favorites of all time. ?
@Linda Me too!
The God of Small Things is one of the best!
Yes, I loved it too
Life’s too short to finish a book you hate!
@Kimberly — agreed. I wish that Goodreads had a shelf for “couldn’t finish.”
You can make your own shelf Debra. I put all my Did Not Finish books on it. I also have a shelf for books people loved and I hated!
it took me about 3 months to finish it.
Oh dear….I really really really disliked Lincoln in the Bardo. I know it has just won the Man Booker Prize but I just couldn’t get along with it.
I have read more, “did not like” for that book than likes. I think I will avoid it.
Man Booker prize books are unreadable ….i have tried so meny …. and flu d this to be the case ….
thanks for the tip. Off of my to-read list.
The only Booker winner that I loved was Possession by AS Byatt…..the rest, meh.
Hi Linda…. Possession is on my tbr list ….pleased to find you loved it … ta … xxx
Actually just thinking about it wants to make me read it again…..back on the tbr list!
Ditto for Lincoln in the Bardo…..it’s not just me then!!
Lincoln in the Bardo
@Linda nope, not just you…I thought the concept behind it was interesting but trying to read it ? and it was horrible trying to listen…SO confusing!
What a Carve Up ….. what a waste of my good reading time … that I will never get back …. and my tbr list is so tall … I wonder if I will live long enough to get through it … would not recommend it … and pleased it was a library copy …..
Mine was too!
I️ was strangely intrigued by it, but a must read it was not…read it for a book club…
You have a good reason for reading it …. the sad thing is I did not …. xxx
I read “The Things They Carried” this year. It was absolutely awful. Ugh!
Thats on my too read list.what was the matter?
For me personally the author went up and down with “is this book fiction or true”, he would give these long stories and say “this could be true” or this is “true” for some vets. And then later he’d remind us the book is fiction. Also there is a paragraph or so of extreme (in my opinion) animal abuse. And I didn’t like this because there was no warning, he didn’t give us an inclination that it was going to happen. So what I read is forever ingrained in my mind. Anyhow.. I just felt for a fiction book, he made up one too many war stories and said they could be true. It wasn’t my cup of tea. TL;DR: Animal cruelty, and also I felt like he went from the things they carried, to random fake war stories.
Murder on the Orient Express.
Fates & Furies (Furies & Fates? The fact that I can’t remember the name is telling, isn’t it?). Shallow, despicable people. I was listening to the audiobook and stopped torturing myself after 9 1/2 of 11 discs.
Underground Railroad – utterly depressing
I️ loved that one!
@Liz well written, just sad
Found it frustrating that it was so historically inaccurate
In a Dark, Dark Wood. The author’s main characters agonize continuously. Just shut up.
Omg I felt exactly the same! Ugh it was awful
The Breakdown by B.A. Paris
Oh, and I hated her first one. Stopped halfway through it. Don’t even remember the name.
3 to Get Deadly Janet Evanovich
Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis. Awful
I tried it. I didn’t get very far before I realized I did not care.
Heather the Totality by Matthew Weiner
Oh, dear! That’s our next book club selection. Another loser?!!
@Sue the good news – it’s very short – and it’s very current. The review in 11/19/17 NYTimes sums up what I couldn’t – “the characters remain oddly vague.” I’m not sorry to have read it, but for me, it didn’t Live up to expectations. Sometimes, though, as you’ve probably already experienced – the worse the book, the better the discussion!
The Nix.
Me too! It is so liberating!
Lives of the Monster Dogs. couldn’t even finish it. horrible….
The Girl Before…ugh. I’m done with thrillers that have Girl or Woman in the title.
A man called Ove. To predictable.