What do you think is the most overrated book of last 50 years
What do you think is the most overrated book of last 50 years
1,217 Answers
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Loading Please wait
What do you think is the most overrated book of last 50 years
Harry Potter
Agreed.
Agreed
Oh gosh I thought books would be thrown at me for that answer!
Eh, I have not read them except for 40 pages of one of them; I was reading it en route to giving it to someone.
Just not something I ever felt like giving myself, or my kids over to. They are no worse the wear and I’ve definitely moved on ?
I read the first one to get an idea of what my son was reading.
Awww. I really really enjoyed the Harry Potter books! Potay-to, Potah-to! haha.
@Kelli that’s the best part! Po-tay-to!
Shades of Gray series
Definitely not deserving of any of its attention.
Extremely poorly written….. I couldn’t make it through the first chapter.
Agreed
@Carole , this is exactly what happened when someone loaned me the series! Ugh.
Very, very overrated! But she made a fortune on it.
Twilight
Hated it.
The Bridges of Madison County.
Remember that adults weren’t the target audience for them.
The Time Traveler’s Wife.
I enjoyed it.
Hated it.
Twilight and Shades of Grey – no question.
I completely agree!!!!
I agree too
Gone Girl
I tried reading this book twice and couldn’t do it.
It was one of the hardest books I have ever read, but worth the struggle. The first half is so hard, after that I finished in a day.
Agree! Boring
@Sandra Really? I’ve only tried listening to the audiobook; maybe if I switched to the physical book, I’d have an easier time?
@Monty possibly. The hard part is there is not a single likable character so you don’t care what happens to them. The only way I got through the first half was a friend kept pushing me.
@Sandra Hm. Interesting. Maybe I’ll just stick with my gut feeling and not try it. Maybe when I have less on my to-read list (which will probably never happen) I’ll pick it up and try
This book wasn’t, and will never be, a classic, so it’s not worth the struggle. Too many other worthwhile books to read!
You are correct it is definitely not a classic.
Goldfinch
Agreed
100 Years of Solitude
For shame! Also, 100 Years of Solitude turned 50 last year.
Gravity’s Rainbow
Girl with tge dragon tattoo
Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
In my teen years i thought this book was the bomb. I found a copy last year and tried reading through it and couldn’t help laughing at myself. SO ’70’s!
Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey.
Amen sister!
50 Shades!
YES!!!!
Just about to say the same! 🙂
@Cathey definitely!!
Amen sista!
50 Shades of Grey
50 Shades
50 Shades of Grey…et al
Eat Pray Love.
Omg the most self indulgent book ever! Hated it!
So glad to hear someone else say that! I couldn’t finish it – that woman irritated me so much!
@Cathy me too! Lol
Pap
Eat, Pray, Love.
We posted this at same time. Haha. Terrible book.
Absolutely! Weak.
Pap
MHO, Potter series. SORRY but you asked.
The Girl on the Train
Couldn’t finish it.
50 shades of gray
Was shocked to see it on the list here. Another example of the dumbing down process everywhere?
@Cecily Me as well.
I’m With you on that!!!!!
All the Christian Gray books!!!
Twilight series
Shades of Grey series
Twilight
Gone Girl
Go Set a Watchman (To Kill a Mockingbird, #2) by Harper Lee.
First one that came to mind for me, too
Ugh! I’ve tried to block it out because it’s just not the way I ever want to think of Atticus.
I was so very disappointed with this book, I loved To Kill a Mockingbird so much that I’ve read it a few times again after originally reading it in English class in high school in 1969. I’m glad she didn’t publish Go Set A Watchman first.
Bridges of Madison County
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Yes!!! What a drag!
I thought this was good but was like….seriously? The Pulitzer? It was too long and dragged in so many places.
That sadly explains a lot of award winners…
@Robin – that was one of my many complaints about this one. And I didn’t really like most of the characters in the book. I was able to finish but it was a slog.
Couldn’t finish it, then I saw all the love on this site, thought well maybe I’d try again, but now I think you guys have made up my mind!
Glad I saw this! I just started it and decided to stop around page 100 because it bored me. More I don’t feel so bad!
50 shade of gag me
agreed
agree
I was going to say 50 Shades of Gross, but I like yours as well.
So dumb!
50 shades by far
Gone Girl. I have not read Harry Potter, but I have no desire to read it either.
Couldn’t finish it.
Harry potter are so good, Rowling is very creative.
I could not finish Gone Girl either. I picked it up and put it down several times for six months then gave up. I know the book is always better than the movie, but I went to see the first Harry Potter before I even knew that it was a book. I fell asleep in the theater.
Gone Girl was totally overrated. Awful book.
50 shades of gray.
I so agree with this!!
The Girl on the Train!
I. Hated. This. One.
Atlas Shrugged.
I hated it too, but it was originally published 61 years ago, in 1957.
Oh, see, it’s sucked for longer than I thought!!!
In that case, the Twilight series.
50 shades
50 Shades of Grey and Twilight series are what my Dad calls “serious trash” and I completely agree with that!
Catcher In The Rye..
Love it!
First published in 1951.
“The World According to Garp” & “A Confederacy of Dunces”.
To cite one I read: E L Doctorow’s Ragtime.
I loved that one, lol!
Loved the first half.
One of my favorites.
The Alchemist
Bridges of Madison County
For sure!
Agreed.
Yaaasssss
Loved it
Love Story
That book was popular when I was in college. All the girls in my dorm were reading it. I started reading it and wondered when it was going to get good. It never did.
@Karen yes
50 shades
The Shack
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
I liked it. Did get a little bogged down every once in a while. But overall I can recommend it.
I had to force myself to finish this one. Moved at a glacial pace.
I totally agree!
Gone Girl
disagree, with respect. i thought the story was well thought-out. I was tense while I read it, but enjoyed it.
Beyond cliche and unoriginal.
@Susan same here
I agree. I thought it was transparent. But many people loved it. To each their own?
That’s easy. The Goldfinch. Winner of the Pulitzer and winner of most hours of my life I’d like to have back because of a book.
Sorry. Loved it.
I thought it was excellent.
Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
Another real winner! Not!
That I’ve read? Confederacy of Dunces. Also Lolita.
YES finally someone says these books!!!! I thought it was me missing something.
Gone Girl , 50 Shades were my worst.
Haven’t read 50 Shades so I’m going to say Twilight.
To me there’s no comparison. Twilight was original. 50 Shades was drivel.
I was surprised that I liked Twilight given that I am a huge Anne Rice fan.
Twilight might be cheesy but it wasn’t poorly written. 50 Shades was bad.
Matter of opinion
50 Shades
Agreed!
Agree
Gone Girl…runner up…Bridges of Madison County
It’s very subjective. I liked both of those, lol
Indeed, it is! ?
The Corrections ?
Such an annoying book.
that’s what i said too!
50 shades and The Great Gatsby – surprised they are on the list because they are both so inferior to so many other books.
The Great Gatsby was published more than 50 years ago.
Actually The Great Gatsby was written in the 1920’s.
@Loretta Yes, that was my point. The question was most overrated book written in the last 50 years.
The Great Gatsby is a literary masterpiece published more than 50 years ago.
I love it, but different strokes for different folks.
Gatsby was a beautiful piece of prose. Fitzgerald’s use of the language was quite affecting. I just reread it and loved the writing and the message.
Fifty shades of grey
Fifty Shades
Fifty shades. I was surprised and disappointed it was on the list.
I think it is there because of a reader’s poll.
twilight
Respectfully disagree. I liked it.
50 Shades of Grey
50 Shades of Gross & its progeny.
100 Years of Solitude!
Turned 50 last year…
50 shades
Fifty Shades
Eat, Pray Love. V disappointed.
Definitely overrated.
@Meredith Thank you. I was afraid it was just me!
No way & the movie was even worse.
The Alchemist
YES! Thank you! Everyone raves about this book & I just found it annoying.
Thanks; I’m taking it off my
List!
I enjoyed Coelho’s The Witch of Portobello much more.
And Veronika Decides to Die.
50 Shades! Most definitely!
Goldfinch
Loved it, especially the first half.
One of my all time favorites!
Without a doubt Fifty Shades of Gray.
bridges of madison county. I actually threw it away when I was done, didnt want anyone to see it on my shelf.
I agree, i’ve been waiting to see if someone would say that. I hope that no young woman ever read it.
I hated it too!
I can’t knock any book that only takes and hour to read and 3 hours to get over
Eat pray love and 50 shades
Fifty Shades
Definitely. A true waste of paper.
Naked Came the Stranger.
50 shades of grey
Room
Really? One of my friends loved it & its been on my to read list. I saw the movie before I knew it was a book.
I absolutely hated it, but I’m typically in the minority with that opinion.
What was it about Room that you didn’t like?
I appreciated it, but won’t read it again.
I like it – a lot –
i thought it was very good.
I just didn’t care for the story or the writing.
I actually read it twice, the second time just before the movie came out. I enjoyed it both times.
I made the mistake of listening to it on audio. The voice of the little boy who was narrating it was soooo terrible.
50 Shades Of Grey
Kindred and Parable of the Sower (Octavia Butler), The Women of Brewster Place (Gloria Naylor), Waiting to Exhale (Terry McMillan)
The Girl on the Train
Liked the book, but there was no one to root for regarding all the loathesome characters. The baby, perhaps?
The Corrections by Jonathan Frazen.
The Red Tent
OMG I loved that book 🙂
Me, too! One of my very favorites!
Gone Girl
Goldfinch
Twilight, I made myself finish it hoping it would get better.
Fifty Shades
50 shades of gray
The Girl on the train. Started reading it really anxious to like it–but coudn’t
50 Shades if Gray
50 Shades of Drivel
Fifty Shades of Grey.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
oh, i love that book.
Me too!
Me, too!
loved it!
Fifty Shades and Twilight!!
The Shack
I loved the Shack.
I haven’t heard of that one. I guess I’m not missing much.
Tried to read it, it’s a “dead kid” book though, and I cant.
I’d have to agree. That book just wore me out. It went on and on about really nothing at all. I was never so glad for a book to come to an end.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5….
Huck Finn.
Published in 1884.
I’m almost ashamed to admit it!
@Meredith Oops!
@Amy I’m probably the only one who even cares. Such a rule-follower with no life…this is what it leads to!
A Fine Balance then. One of the bleakest, least hopeful books I have ever read.
No, the question stipulated the last 50 years. I forget how old I am.
@Amy Me too
To Kill a Mockingbird
One of my favorites of all time!
I feel really bad not liking it. I didn’t actually dislike
it, I just don’t understand the hoopla about it.
Love in the Time of Cholera
WTH? Loved it!
I loved it too!
Agreed! I couldn’t stand this one! ?
Bridges of Madison County…
It was hot…He was hot…His truck, Harry, was hot…
Eat Pray Love!!!! I could not even sit through the movie with my FAVORITE actor Javi Bardem!!!!!!
I think mine have already been covered
Fifty Shades and Twilight
Ugh to both of them!
Gone Girl
The Underground Railroad
Started this book and could not finish it.
Same! I tried to stick with it but just couldn’t get into the story.
Loved this one!
The Corrections
50 Shades of Grey
Satanic Verses and 50 Shades of Grey.
Came here to comment the same 2 books!
Gone Girl
What? I thought it was well crafted.
Anything by Nicholas Sparks.
Hillbilly Elegy
50 Shades of Grey and Eat, Pray, Love
Couldn’t finish either!
The DaVinci Code. Sorry. I know I’m all alone on that.
You are not alone.
No, actually someone above you also named that one. It was the first comment I saw when I started looking at this thread.
You’re certainly not alone!
It was entertaining brain candy, but not great literature. I put it in the same category as Clive Cussler thrillers.
@Stephanie, that’s the reason I like it! Easy entertaining read.
One sentence chapters. So annoying. I figured they paid him by the page – many more than half blank!
Fifty Shades of Grey
All the 50 Shades. Hunger Games. The Rowan Girls. So many that the “critics” loved. Most of them were so trashy I didn’t get past the 1st chapter. When I
read trash, I don’t want it presented as Literature.
Hillbilly Elegy
Good one. That was so over-hyped.
Go set a Watchmen. It completely ruined To Kill a Mockingbird for me.
Another good one 🙂
I made a conscious decision not to read Go Set a Watchman for that very reason.
Same for me…wish I could go back in time and tell myself not to read it.
@Veronica good call
50 Shades of Grey
Anything by Jonathan Franzen. In my opinion the most overrated, over praised author of the last 20 or so years.
self indulgent crap, imho 🙂
Couldn’t agree more.
Fifty Shades of Grey
The Bridges of Madison County and Eat, Pray, Love
Confederacy of Dunces
I listened to it with Nick Offerman as the narrator. I think that made it for me.
I listened on audio, the reader was good. I just found the story tedious.
@Stephanie Fair enough. I was sad the author didn’t get a chance to publish more books. Sigh.
Everything I never told you. Although I’m glad I gave the little fires everywhere a chance because I loved that.
Liked Little Fires.
I liked Everything I Never Told You but my friend I loaned it to didn’t like it at all. There was a thread on this site a couple weeks ago discussing Little Fires Everywhere. Many people seem to have disliked it. It was pretty torn. Haven’t read it, but it’s on my shelf. I’m sort of wondering…
give it a chance…
Bridges of Madison County
The Alchemist.
This was my first pic from the list, and I had to start over 3 times. Hated it. Total waste of time. (Although the author says there is no such thing as time.)
@Debra Terrible book. Didn’t say anything I hadn’t heard a thousand times elsewhere and a totally boring book to boot. Only good thing I can say, it was short.
Life after Life
50 shades of grey. DaVinci Code.
50 Shades of Grey and The Shack.
Harry Potter series
At least it got kids reading
I will be a lifelong lover of magic/fantasy. I LOVE that series. Have read it multiple times and just recently rewatched the movies.
50 Shades and The Coffin Quilt
Alchemist
Fifty shades ughh
The Immortalists by Benjamin.
Fifty Shades of Grey
50 shades
50 Shades is pretty much a given, so I will add DaVinci Code.
The Shack
Fifty shades
Fifty Shades and the Twilight series.
Fifty shades
Poisonwood Bible
Love anything by Barbara Kingsolver!
Really??. Dang I just picked that up at a used bookstore….
@Joan I loved it read it twice\
@Joan I loved it! It made me a Kingsolver fan.
50 shades and twlight
Hunger games, twilight
The hunger games story is good but I can’t get past the annoying villains, they’re so over the top evil they’re cartoons. George Orwell would look at this book and tell them to turn it down a notch
Girl with the dragon tattoo and 50 shades
Interesting reading through all these comments. I think there is also a difference between overrated by critics and overrated by the general population. For example, 50 shades is perhaps the most mentioned here, and that was not a critical favorite! That was a book that gave a lot of people a thrill (I suppose, I never read it), and so it was widely talked about, but not because it was a great book.
I think a lot of it is when people tell you something is the best book ever….and then you read it and find it’s mediocre. Although my pick was The Corrections. It was a critical darling, but I felt it was a badly written book
I started 50 shades, couldn’t get through it, was so poorly written…
@Julie exactly!
50 shades and twilight series
Fifty Shades of Gray and its sequels
Define overrated? By the public or by litery circles.
By both I asked this question because I read most books online now over my phone. I have Kobo and Bookbub as well as Google Play store available to order books (kid in a candy store lol) But how many of us have recently read reviews or synopsis of a book we might be interested in and have them compared to either Gone Girl…didn’t read this or Girl on the Train…one of the most mediocre books I’ve ever read So I just would not want public opinion or literary criticism to define what we read Read what you like and what you enjoy.
Well said
The Da Vinci Code is one. The Hunger Games are too. And The Wheel of Time – vastly overrated.
For middle school students, Hunger Games is accessible and engaging.
The Da Vinci Code got me back into reading – loved the book!!
@Flo exactly: if one thinks a book is overrated consider its audience
@Kelly What exactly are you trying to say about me??
@Flo not you: this thread
@Flo that is how threads work ?
@Flo @Kelly. That’s why so many on here have said Twilight. Like Hunger Games adults weren’t the target audience.
@Liz totally: as a middle school teacher, I cringed when girls especially loved Twilight, but didn’t get in their way. Teachers especially can’t put down things children love.
@Kelly I was too at time. We even put Team Edward and Team Jacob signs above the room numbers. Made me want to read Wuthering Heights, which I disliked much more than the last 2 Twilight books.
Fifty shades of grey
50 shades of anything. Hated it
Fifty Shades
50 shades of trash
50 Shades of Grey for sure….. the worst piece of writing I have ever read.
Amen to that, sister!
Yes, Yes, and Yes!!!!
Yep.
The Handmaid’s Tale
Harlequin Romance Novels
Harry Potter….
*runs away quickly*
Ready Player One, it’s the worst book I’ve ever read. Nothing but crappy notaslgia BS
Gone Girl ?
The Goldfinch
I agree. I’ll never get those hours back!?
Atlas Shrugged
Oh and Twilight
The Poisonwood Bible
@Loisann that makes me sad.
Ok to be honest. I am not even sure if I would love it as much the second time, but I LOVED the doors it opened for me.
Not a fan either.
Goldfinch! Least favorite ever
That book made me so mad! I only stuck to it because everyone said it was so good. But the kid had a chance to change his life and he didn’t, and then he had a chance to change his life and he didn’t. On and on. I will never get back the time I wasted on that book. It was the same story told many times.
@Alison glad to know this….
50 shades….so awful so cliché, just read some damn porn if that’s what you want
Def the worst book I almost read : /
Agreed!
Gone girl. Fifty shades x3.
Gone Girl
The worst
50 Shades of Grey…. the whole series.
Anything by Dan Brown.
I totally agree.
Agreed!
Twilight. Heroine made me angry. Could have been one book instead of dragging it out for three.
Fifty shades
Fifty Shades
Bridges of Madison County
Fifty Shades
One Hundred Years of Solitude (like walking in quicksand) and the twilight series.
I loved this book!
I don’t think anyone actually believes that Fifty Shades and Twilight were “good”. Full Disclosure: read both.
Bridges of Madison County came to mind first
Hell yes!!!
Fifty Shades.
I agree
Horrible…..
Ditto
Eat Pray Love
Agree!
Hah! Made it through Eat, and only halfway thru Pray before I couldn’t stand her anymore.
I found this book so incredibly boring. UGH!
@Loretta The good parts were boring. The rest was insipid and self-aggrandizing. I think @Bev re-opened an old wound here. ?
@Stacie LOL. I hated the movie. Not even Julia Roberts could make me like it.
@Loretta Same here!
On Chesil Beach.
Interesting question, but certainly underlines the “different strokes for different folks” concept. And thank goodness there is that super-high-impact book out there for each of us, even if we have to endure those super-highly-negative-impact books to find it!
The Bridges of Madison County
And Fifty Shades
Agree
I’ll agree with 50 Shades
Fifty Shades
The Help
i loved The Help and thought that book was important
Important, yes; overrated, yes.
And it has become some of our cultural clichés i.e. chocolate pie
I disliked it because blacks have been living The Help the majority of the 20th century and a book had to make whites realize the struggle black women went through…? Like, really? That says a lot about people who became “woke” after reading this book. My grandmother and the majority of her sisters were domestics.
Exactly.
I’m kind of shying away from books like “The Help,” and movies like “Mudbound,” There’s more than one way to tell our story.
@Jeri, exactly! I’m tired of hearing the same story, told the same way. My 16 year old son liked Mudbound but the story is new to him. I love the Hidden Figures story.
More “Hidden,” less “Mudbound.”
Not sure about the last 50 years, but recently, the biggest let down for me was The Wife Between Us. I was so excited to read it because of all the hype. I had a hard time getting into it, and when I finished it, it was just “ehh.”
The Nightingale…might be a good story, but I couldn’t get past the poor writing. I didn’t even think about Fifty Shades because I wouldn’t even take a fleeting glance at that book.
wow, I loved The Nightingale. Different strokes?
@Eileen Everyone loved it. Must be something with me.
I thought it was just me!
Fifty shades
Twilight twilight twilight
I wasn’t too impressed with The Goldfinch. Too long.
The list
Wicked
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Totally agree on the Water for Elephants! Not impressed.
What do you people think of Kristin Hannah? Specifically The Great Alone?
Thinking of purchasing…
I just got it from BOTM, but havent read it yet
I didn’t care for it. I finished it but found the characters very frustrating.
@Loretta Same.
don’t\ like Kristin Hannah as a writer, at all.
Ok thanks everyone ?
50 shades
Life of Pi!!!
Hated that!
The Night Circus
This is on my list… disappointed???
Unfortunately I was very disappointed. The descriptions of the circus and attention to details were outstanding, but I thought the story line fell flat. However, don’t let me dissuade you from reading it. I know that many who read it really enjoyed it.
50 Shades = worst book ever!
50 Shades.
The Goldfinch
Yep
Agreed
50 Shades of Grey and the others in the series.
50 Shades
50 shades!!!!!!!
Handmaids tale
The Shack
Totally agree! The Shack was totally over-rated and I did not like the entire thing. One of those books I kept reading thinking it would get better. Then when it was over…I thought…well that was a chunk of my life I will never get back!
@Linda I felt obligated as a good friend raved about it and insisted on loaning me her copy. I read it and gave her a noncommittal reply about how I liked it. I did not want to hurt her feelings.
I didn’t like it either.
The Underground Railroad. Haven’t read Fifty Shades, but can’t imagine it’s good literature
I wish this question had not been asked. All it did was open the flood gates for book bashing without any thought. As a former Special Education teacher and avid reader, I don’t think any book that gets people to read is over-rated! Besides, I see several books named on this thread that I enjoyed very much and now I feel judged. ☹️
I love the way you put this!
@Monty, thank you. I’m saddened to see how eager people are to add to this list.
@Charlotte I agree. I don’t think it matters what books are out there, they’re meant to be enjoyed. So what if people enjoy Harry Potter or Fifty Shades or whatever other books are listed?
Charlotte – I disagree with your statement of “book bashing without any thought”. Most of those commenting on a thread like this will have read the books with thought and that is how they thought about the book in the end. They are not judging you. If you feel judged…you are the one who feels it. Please feel free not to read this post and read something you do like!
Very subjective question. I agree that any book that gets people to read is not over-rated!
I think you make some really great points! But, one of the great things about books and reading is that the relationship between each book and each reader is unique. So, there is something for everyone. That also means that some readers aren’t going to like a certain book, even if it is a favorite of someone else. It can generate some really interesting conversation (as it did recently in my IRL bookclub). People who didn’t enjoy a book that was wildly popular or won an award can often feel inadequate or alone. I don’t think any of us should feel badly about what we like and/or don’t like. It can be interesting just to hear someone else’s toughts.
Everyone has different tastes so you shouldn’t feel judged.
@Linda, many of the posts above only list the book title. If someone dislikes a book, I want to know why. I love those discussions. I’d just rather see the posts be more positive in promoting discussion. My bias, I guess.
I agree and I think that is why 50 Shades and Twilight made the list, they got people reading! And people reading is always a good thing right?
People have tried to book shame me in the past for my reviews to even read certain books. I’m having none of it. I can’t be honest about my thoughts on a book if I haven’t read it. If I am not going to read it I usually just scroll on by. Questions like this are just generalizations. Don’t take it personally. We all view and process information in different ways.
We all have our opinions..the beauty of a book club is to share them and have a discussion around them. It’d be pretty boring if we all liked every book. We come to understand each other better thru disagreement.
@Linda, I’ll forever be grateful to the Twilight series for inspiring my reluctant reader to voraciously read a book! Listening to my daughter talking aloud to Bella because she was so engrossed in the story made me a happy mom!
@Charlotte Same and with Hunger Games too. Seeing my non reader daughter engrossed was a great feeling.
@Charlotte. Don’t feel judged. Think how dull the world would be if we all liked the same thing!
50 shades – worst ever
Fifty shades of grey
50 shades of grey
gone girl
50 Shades of Gray!
I totally agree
It seems a lot of ppl agree abt Fifty shades being the worst one…Yikes !!
Fifty Shades of Grey
n still it sold more than 150 million copies worldwide
Fifty shades of Gray
Agree
The Celestine Prophecy.
Ready Player One, it’s the worst book I’ve ever read. Nothing but crappy notaslgia BS
Fifty Shades of Gray
All books with 50
It’s a toss-up for me between Tim LeHaye and 50 shades.
Too many to begin listing……but I will start with 50 shades
Amen
Outlander
I agree with this to an extent. I love the story and the characters, but there is just SO much filler. I have no problem with lengthy books, but think I would enjoy this series so much more if Galbadon would pare it down some. There’s too much going on that does nothing to move the story forward.
A wrinkle in time
Originally published: January 1, 1962
The life of pi
Fifty Shades of Grey
I would like to mention that Maya Banks’ books are utter crap on the basis of just 1 book I’ve barely finished nd thinking of leaving it
Look how many people don’t like 50 Shades as their #1 Worst book, yet how many people liked it so much that it made the list to start with?
True that.
I checked it out from the Library when there was the big hoopla over it. I’m not immune to hype. Doesn’t make it a good book or one with a message I agreed with. Old Harlequin fall-in-love-with-your-captor romances were about as compelling.
It’s hard to imagine ALL those people could be wrong! There must be something…! I think I know what it was, in this case !
Well, this is a matter of opinion. It’s very difficult to be wrong about your own opinion.
Maybe it was just plain idea of enticing readers for marketing with poor literary work.
Whoops, sorry, that comment didn’t type out quite right. No judgement on anyone’s choice or enjoyment. To each their own, and I can’t pass on it because I haven’t read it! I’m very grateful that we get to have our own opinions!
And maybe they weren’t trying to be very “literary” at all, but simply to sell something that would make some money and some hoopla! They certainly are not alone in that, and it certainly worked!
The goldfinch
Fifty Shades of Grey
50 shades of heinous
I know some are overrated, but they got people to read that probably wouldn’t have. It’s a good thing. ?
Sigh. You are absolutely right even though I hate to admit it.
Twilight or Hunger Games.
The Time Traveler’s Wife–it’s more or less a creepy story of a man grooming a child.
Gone girl
Not within the Fifty years but while I have read it twice, I still find it shallow…don’t shoot me: The Great Gatsby.
50 Shades is not literature, It’s just porn that middle class white women have access to. It’s not even good porn
Which was converted into a movie with some of our most respected actresses. What a waste of talent!
Catcher in the Rye
Originally published: July 16, 1951
Dunno. But I have a.movie in mind which was in the hunt for more than one Oscar category. If I am not mistaken, was not based on a book.
50 Shades of Awful
James Patterson books though I do admire his dedication to getting children to read, I just think his books are repetative garbage.
Agreed
Me too
50 Shades.
I agree – either 50 Shades or Patterson – same reasons.
Harry Potter
Seriously ??
Noooooooooooo ?
I disagree. The imagination that J. K. Rowling shows in creating a parallel universe is amazing!
Unpopular opinion, but I completely agree with you!
I didnt really like them – didnt HATE them, but didnt like them either. I think i have 1 or 2 more of the series to read.
JK Rowling created a world that kids are drawn to, which helped make reading fun for thousands. That in itself makes Harry Potter worth it.
Da Vinci code
Not a very sophisticated book, but I thought a fun read. There is value in just entertainment, especially if it doesn’t take too long.
The DaVinci Code, for sure.
Fifty Shades. I could NOT read the whole thing. So Degrading to women. I actually threw them in the trash!!
Fifty shades of gray
Twilight series.
The handmaids tale
Gone with the Wind
check your dates
Fifty shades of grey
Gone Girl.
The 50 Shades Series, followed closely by the Twilight Series.
These are very badly written. I didn’t even include them on my list because anyone who reads knows they are terrible. I just included books that serious readers and critics and prize givers thought were good.
I enjoyed the Twilight Series, but 50 Shades was sssoooo painful to read (and not in the good way).
Agree! Also, “Go Set a Watchman”.
agree
Couldn’t finish
“Go Set a Watchman” was never meant to be realeased as a novel. It is actually the first, rough draft of “Mockingbird.”
I’ve always been dubious About who wrote watchman. It might have bee an orginal draft byHarper Lee but she was quite frail at the end of her life. It seemed like a politically correct twist to destroy Atticus as a hero.
50 Shades
Agreed, sorry to see it on the GAR list.
I don’t want to watch the FS of G movie so I can only say not having read the book…reckless erotica, or so it seems to me. Reckless/implausible but then so is another extremely popular entertainment (artistic?) genre.
Erotica is a genre and there are many collectors for those illustrated copies from the 1920s and 1930s.
I appreciate said genre. I am admittedly not a collector. My top shelf erotica is, in so many words, what my senses perceive occurring in unstaged, naturally occurring everyday life.
What’s interesting about the erotica genre is how many famous artists illustrated these just to make a living. Lynn Ward and even Vincinte Minelli (Judy Garland’s husband). I had quite a collection at one time, but sold them.
Cool! I have been led to believe that sexual attraction/proclivities/perhaps to some extent even gender preference can be/are often influenced by nurture (things, occurrences, external stimuli) as well as nature. I guess I am trying to say that while I realise humans are complex beings, in this area I guess I am less so. When I watched FS of G (sequel) trying to see if I missed something in not watching the first movie, I was kind of uninterested as the female seemed weak and vulnerable. No appeal or attraction for me there. Not wanting to be judgmental but being judgmental.
I don’t see this as book bashing – just people expressing an opinion. I feel that 50 Shades is overrated, although I haven’t read it. I’m not a prude, but I chose not to read it because I heard a comment by a talk show host (also not a prude) that being hit in bed did not appeal to her. I’m concerned that so many women are degraded and disrespected sexually. Not that all readers will engage in this type behavior, but I can see this leading to more women allowing themselves to be degraded and disrespected. Not judging anyone – just my opinion. BTW – I’m not offended that someone feels one of my favorites, Gone with the Wind, is overrated. However, it was written in 1936, outside the 50 year time frame.
Not accusing anyone but just for the record 50 shades was wriiten by a woman herself called E.L James.
It was really bad fan fiction, and not even well written BDSM.
Gone Girl…hated it.
To MB Hubbard…I enjoyed your comment. Your writing gives an impression of a bright and open minded person.
Anything by Tony Morrison..
For me….The Bridges of Madison County
Gone Girl!
The Circle..couldn’t finish it…I just did’t care what happened to her..But, I’m loving The Goldfinch..third time’s a charm!
My husband just finished The Circle; I gave it to him for Fathers Day and don’t think he put it down until he was finished. He loved it but did say there’s a slow part.
Fifty Shades and Dust by Patricia Cornwell.
“Wild” followed by “The Nanny”
Way too many to name.
Great gadsby
That was more than fifty years ago; however, I am not a fan of Gatsby either.
Published in 1925- almost 100 years ago. The original post said the last 50 years.
What didn’t you like about it?
I loved it. I also love how pretty much every book has people who love it and people who hate it!
@Emily I have read almost all of F. Scott Fitzgerald and I simply don’t care for his writing. That probably puts me in the minority.
50 Shades!
50 Shades
Bible
That was compiled over fifty years ago. I am also not a fan.
@Patricia me either. Been twisted too many times & too many revisions. Not a judgement against anyone’s religious beliefs but that book has a LOT of hype to live up to.
Love my Bible
??
It’s changed my life
The Bible is GREAT! I love the wisdom & peace it brings when i read & reflect on it.
And how many can say they’ve actually read it. Me! Many times over and I disagree. Like any good book, there’s a theme that goes throughout.
I read it completely.
The DaVinci Code
Bridges of Madison County
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
I loved that book- one of my favorites!
Too many to name just one.
50 shades
Gone girl or the girl on the train
Can I superlike this comment??
@Tamara I thought both were easy to predict and not very exciting
@Katie I disliked the characters so much one would think they did something personally to me. Lol
50 Shades!!
I agree, DaVinci Code.
50 shades
Fifty Shades!
50 shades
Twilight
50 Shades of trash.
This post should be a poll with one choice: FSOG & Twilight. These books evoke passionate responses. ?
50 Shades & I wasted my time reading them. But made the author very rich! LOL
No question.
50 shades of grey
Yep
I loved the Fifty Shades trilogy…the books and the movies. I couldn’t get enough!
I liked the Bared to you Trilogy by Sylvia Day
@Stephanie me too!
I thought they were fun. Weren’t meant to be serious.
You should try real erotica. There is so much well written erotica and soft porn out there which is why Fifty Shades is considered to be bad writing.
@Lori , my favourite thing about Fifty Shades was the love story, not the erotica. I thought that part was a bit over done. The writing was very basic, but for me the story was addictive.
I will not bother reading 50 shades of Gray or the Twilight series. Neither interest me. But it’s ok if they interest you?
The Shack
Ugh. I just couldn’t even get past the first few chapters.
Freda Ray Rittenhouse
I couldn’t either the first time I tried to read it. The second time I pushed on n read over my feelings until I got about 1/3 of the way in. Then I couldn’t put it down. In many ways it touched my soul. Sense then I have read it a couple times (book clubs). Felt the same each time even liked the movie.
I agree: 50 Shades of Grey
50 shades. I thought it was terrible.
Fifty Shades and Who Moved My Cheese!
I’d managed to block out Who Moved My Cheese. Had to read it at work (we had to pass it around, sign it after we finished reading).
The goldfinch, the girl with the dragon tattoo, the thousand acres, and the woman in the window
I couldn’t read the girl with the Dragon tattoo. However I thought the movie was good
@Mary I also enjoyed the movie
Anything by Nicholas Sparks.
I agree!
Me, too!
I have to agree with the consensus: 50 Shades
Fifty Shades
Ditto!
50 Shades of mommy porn. LOL. Trash. I refuse to read them.
Fifty shades for sure!
Girl On A Train.
Looking for Alaska.
Seconded. That actually won a YA award, the Printz Award, and I read it because of that and thought, “I don’t write fiction and even I can write better than this.” Admittedly, I’m not the target audience for YA, but that’s why I was trying an award-winning and popular book, so that I could see what the best of its genre had to offer. That and other bad experiences with “The Book Thief”, “Fangirl”, and other YA books convinced me that I should probably stay away from it in future.
Agree
@Kevin I really liked The Book Thief, though.
@Kevin After reading Looking for Alaska, I find that most YA books of today are like it. All the main characters do is whine. But, I did enjoy the Book Thief and the Harry Potter books. Maybe cause I had them on audible books.
Eleanor Hall Well, I’m glad you liked it, but personally I couldn’t stand the prose style (especially the imagery), didn’t appreciate the fact that Zusak dropped German words in while simultaneously revealing his ignorance of their real meaning (e.g., there’s no way “Saumensch” and “Saukerl” would ever be used as terms of endearment — that’s start-a-fist-fight-in-a-Bavarian-beer-hall language), and disliked the way he copped-out on the ending. I prefer Holocaust fiction to seriously confront the reality of the Holocaust, such as “Sophie’s Choice” by William Styron, “Time’s Arrow” by Martin Amis, “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen” by Tadeusz Borowski, “The Kindly Ones” by Jonathan Littell, and the documentary play “The Investigation” by Peter Weiss (based on the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials of 1963-1965).
@Eleanor …. me too
50 shades of grey.
50 Shades of Gray. It’s junk.
What is interesting is that so many people keep putting 50 Shades of Grey. I don’t think that there is a single person that read it, or didn’t read it, that would call it “rated”. So, how can it be called over rated? It was not meant to be a great book. I would pick a book that is a “classic” that may not have stood the test of time. Does a best seller mean that it is highly rated, or just that a bunch of people like to read trash. I reread Catcher in the Rye last year after 50 something years I know it doesn’t fit the criteria of “last 50 years”, but this was the first example that came to mind. I loved it in the 60s.
What I find amusing is how many people calling it (Fifty Shades) trash, haven’t even read it. If you read and didn’t like it, fine. But so many calling it porn and trash, and then follow it with “I refuse to read that”.
@Susan I read the first 2 books of 50 Shades. I couldn’t get through the 3rd, but I have read a lot worse than that. Its not really bad porn, or is that an oxymoron?
But at least you read 2 of them. I don’t get people commenting on books that they haven’t read.
I got through 4 chapters. I couldn’t stand the woman character. My friends said I didn’t get to the good parts, the juicy parts. I don’t like books with too much romance, especially the gushy kind. The other “juicy” stuff I skip over if I accidentally read a book with it included.
So, I quit reading. Just not for me.
@Cheryl I did enjoy the romance and the storyline about the male character and his childhood. The sex got to be too much and too often so I did skip over some of it.
It’s trash….and you know it.
Really? I loved it.
It’s rated because it made the friggin GAR list. So apparently many thousands of people voted for that craps and made it a contender.
Susan Ross Guth Mock ….
I never really got what all the hype was about Catcher in the Rye. I read it a couple times trying to see why it held such meaning (especially to those who used it to drive them to want to kill).
It may have been a bit before it’s time n maybe that’s what is was but to me ….. way Overrated.
@Susan
I read the first one…. it wasn’t my cup of tea so I didn’t bother with the other two. I didn’t think it was that badly written nor was I offended by the content. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Atlas Shrugged
I’m reading that now. I’m about halfway through and it’s full of whiney nitwits.
The Alchemist Just read it. Did not like it at all. 0 Stars.
Debra Martsching Agree. Why so many people think it’s so deep and philosophical I will never understand.
@Judith Message is totally lost. The author couldn’t even define his own philosophy, let alone teach one.
Hah, I loved the Alchemist. Am presently reading Coehlo’s newest book, the Witch of Portobello.
Debra Martsching The book just rambled on and no, nothing ever happened. I kept reading thinking, surely the story will start soon, but it didn’t. Big zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Catcher in the Rye–sounds like a 10 year old who just started to learn to swear and doesn’t know how to do it yet.
I decided that it’s a book a grandma should not read because I wanted to put soap in his mouth and ground him. Again, I am not the target audience.
The Lovely Bones
I loved the Lovely Bones….
It was such a sad sad story.
N even the movie because
Mark Wahlberg was in it was worth watching.
Hillbilly Elegy
Author lost his way in the second half. Also, he didn’t realize his family is like many all over the country, not specific just to his.
I like HE, but I listened to it on Audible. That may have made a big difference.
Absolutely dreadful book. It was poorly researched and poorly referenced.
Harry potter
I love Harry Potter. Maybe a little obsessive. ?
Never Read any of the HP series n don’t feel like I missed a thing.
(Again just wasn’t the material I like to read)
@Cheryl me too
“The Lovely Bones.”
Loved it!
I just finished that book. Wish I had quit it.
Oh, I loved that one!
@Amelia I know I’m in the minority.
@Jeri, the good thing is that there are so many more to choose!! ?
@Jeri, the good thing is that there are so many more to choose!! ?
Still wish I could unread it.
The Art of the Deal
Catch 22 and Harry Po
I loved Catch22. A masterpiece of satire!
@Danielle, I think most people did. I really wanted to like it:)
@Lisa I hear ya. As an editor, I know not every book is for everyone.
Oops…Harry Potter
Such good books especially as you progress through the series. Did you read all 7?
@Jolie Oh I just adore Harry Potter. I reread them every year & watch the corresponding film when each book is complete.
50 shades or twilight
I already posted one but another comes to mind: The Help.
Loved The Help
I loved The Help!
I loved the Help. My momma was Southern. She was a young newly wed about this time. I heard her tell stories like this my whole life. She’s passed n now I am old. I love watching/reading it many times makes me feel close to her.
How did they ever end up on this list?!?
I distinguish between books that are merely popular and those that are critically acclaimed, so the worst critically acclaimed book I’ve ever read was Jacques Barzun’s “From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present”. I’m convinced that most of the critics who gave it rave reviews didn’t even bother to read it and just applauded it because it was long, intimidating, and Barzun had a reputation as a French intellectual. It was superficial even on the one subject Barzun knew well, literature, and when it got on to music, science, philosophy, etc. it was a dead loss. When Barzun was truly pushed for something to say, he didn’t hesitate to make things up. His idea of analysis was writing out about half a dozen keywords in ALL CAPS and constantly dropping them in, regardless of how reductionist this made his analysis. He also had the typical French resentment for Darwin, which is why he recommended an ignorant anti-Darwin polemic as “the book to read” on the subject of evolution. One might as well recommend “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” as “the book to read” on early Christianity. And, in lieu of tying ideas together himself, he just referred the reader to pages ahead and behind the current one, which gave the impression that this was less a cultural history of the West than a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book.
Thanks for this information…. I will surely want to stay away from this one….lol
50 Shades.
Gone Girl – terrible book
I think I lucked out quitting that book quickly ?
Yup! I agree with this one. I put it down only to pick it up again. I was still disappointed but felt like I had to keep reading.
@Amelia I do that too!
I’ve tried more than once with this book- reading friends with similar taste keep telling me it’s fabulous… It’s not!
FIFTY SHADES OF SHIT!!
50 Shades, the help.
Fifty Shades, was terrible. I quit after first chapter. I thought it was trashy
Agree
The Notebook.
I loved the notebook…. I loved the love story even better
Gone Girl
I really liked Gone Girl I loved the twist.
50 shades of grey
I agree.
Gone Girl
Just finished The Lost Family.it was an ok book
The Great Gatsby.
I hated that book. I thought my AP English professor back in the day was going to have me arrested for treason! Lol.
Twilight
Fifty Shades
50 shades of grey
Fifty Shades. Definitely.
The 50 Shades series.
50 Shades of Gray, Bridges of Madison County
Loved Bridges of Madison Co.
Definitely 50 Shades! I will attempt to read every book on this list except that one!!
50 Shades was the worse…..
50 Shades and The Shack.
So glad I never read them.
Gone Girl
Girl on a Train, The Shack, Handmaids Tale.
I liked all of those!
What kinds of books do you generally read and enjoy?
@Lindsay I read varied types of books and love a good story that hooks me. Those 3 didn’t do that “for me.”
???Seems like 50 Shades of Grey is winning. Good thing I wasn’t even tempted. I remember trying to read The Story of O when I was in high school. I realized very quickly S&M was not for me.
I have never read 50 Shades & do not plan to do so.
Gone girl sorry it was horrible
@Kelly I agree!
Fifty Shades
I agree!
Goldfinch
For sure!
The Bible?
Since its not categorized as fiction? ?
Fifty Shades
YES!!!!!!!
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis. I know 1920 is more than 50 years, but this book was awful. Every chapter was an episode of I Love Lucy!
Beginning of chapter: I’m going to be a great wife this time & put on a dinner party
Middle : Everything messes up, husband comes to her rescue
End of chapter: Wife cries, husband forgives, she says won’t happen again….rince, repeat.
EVERY CHAPTER! Halfway through I was sick of it.
Oh and Ethan Frome. Edith Wharten. Such an incredibly depressing book! Not sad, depressing. Awful, awful book.
I remember reading Main Street as a young woman in 1964. It made me feel angry and unsettled.
Mission accomplished
Fall asleep every time I try to read it.
Fifty shades – the dopiest, most annoying “heroine”, also the handmaid’s tale- scaremongering by ultra feminists
Gone Girl. I refuse to read Fifty Shades.
Twilight
and Fifty Shades
The Shack. Fifty Shades of Gray. The Twilight Series. Jonathan Livingston Seagull. We’ve been sucked into believing that a lot of simplistic, jingoistic trash is deep because it’s so shallow.
I have a copy of the shack…I agree to a certain extent… I rotate my reads. I like junk but I also like something really well written.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull. That was THE book in high school which we all passed around. It wasn’t cool to say you didn’t get it, so I just zipped my lip. Same with Siddharta. Shhh.
50 Shades
Gilead. Austerlitz.
The Shack and 50 Shades
Cather in the Rye (although it’s not within the last 50 years), All the Light We Cannot See & Eat, Pray, Love.
I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through All The Light We Cannot See, but I was reading it for bookclub, so I forced myself to keep going. Overall, I liked the story, but the book was bloated and the 2-page “chapters” made me feel like it was written for people with short attention spans.
@Jennifer I agree. I really wanted to like the book & felt the story could’ve been much stronger.
I loved A Catcher in the Rye… but that probably has more to do with the fact that I’m a huge crime buff and Mark David Chapman was holding a copy when he shot Lennon… It’s also been associated with Hinckley’s assassination attempt on Reagan… and Bardo’s murder of up and coming tv star Rebecca Schaeffer. It piques the true crime junkie in me.
Fifty Shade of Grey and Gone Girl
Charlotte’s Web. Please don’t kill me…. couldn’t get into the talking spider, even as a youngster.
I do love that spider and that pig!!
Charlotte’s Web is probably my favorite book of all time.
Fifty Shades of Grey!
Twilight. Could not stomach it.
Ditto
50 Shades of Gray
Re the 50 shades shaming, I did not read after the description of mommy porn, since I avoid porn. Saw 1 film a friend was watching and was aghast as his ex slave kneeled for him. As a feminist, this can’t be helpful for female self esteem. Lola was less appalling even with a minor.
Thank you! I felt the same way. I couldn’t finish after the first chapter.
Fifty Shades was the worst book I ever tried to read. Fifty pages was all I could handle.
Definitely 50 Shades
50 shades … my reaction: infinite *eye roll*
50 shades could not finish it
50 Shades & Twilight. Also, could not get thru Game of Thrones!
I’m in the minority probably, but TKAM is completely overrated.
Amazing how subjective books are. I loved that book but couldn’t get into others on the ‘must read’ list, like A Prayer for Owen Meaney. Go figure. 😉
TKAM is my favorite book and so is the movie.
What is TKAM?
Fifty Shades.
50 Shades.
Absolutely.
Fifty shades, totally ridiculous.
Fiddy Shades of Softcore Smut.
Listen, I can read erotica and enjoy it. I can read hardcore porn and deal with it.
But this Fiddy Shades of mess is something altogether different. Have housewives errywhere thinking they’re tiptoeing on the wild side and it’s just watered down S&M. They’d run screaming at the real thing. Fiddy Shades ain’t even well written. Yes, I said “ain’t.” It doesn’t deserve proper grammar.
Agreed. This doesnt even deserve the term erotica, which can be interesting when well written. This book just totally ridiculous. Are you kidding me is all I can say to anyone who tbought this was actually good!
I agree and I’m also impressed by your intentionally bizarre regionalisms. “Errywhere,” huh?
@Arpie AAVE. It slips out now and then.
50 shades and twilight- both are poorly written fanfiction
“Ready Player One” in my opinion.
Bridges of Madison County – ugh. I used to work for Waldenbooks when that one came out. We could barely keep them in stock and I could never figure out WHY???
Fifty Shades of Grey
The writing was terrible…
Exactly what came to my mind first!
I agree
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I just could not get into that
I loved it and the following 2 books! Very disappointed when I learned the author had been killed!
I didn’t like it much either. Can’t really say why. Lack of feeling maybe?
I liked them! She was super woman. I would have died after the first chapters! ?
50 Shades
I don’t get the hype over Gone Girl. I got very bored with the drama. I have a friend who absolutely loved it. It’s funny how tastes can be so different.
Didn’t care for Beloved.
50 Shades. Stupid, ridiculous, very boring book.
I actually tried to read this during Hurricane Sandy whem our electric was out. So was trying to read by flashlight, thinking this book was going to be sooo captivating. NOT. Stupid, ridiculous trash , could not get into it at all. So bad
Harry Potter.
Blasphemy! 🙂
OMG!! I wrote 50 Shades before I read the comments….
It deserves a Razzberry or something for being the worst of all time.
Join us…. join us…
The Goldfinch. Just awful.
Loved it!
Harry Potter
Agreed “50 shades”
The Bonfire of the Vanities
Oh no! One of my all time favorite books. Lol funny!
Gone Girl
I agree. Every character in Gone Girl was certifiably crazy.
“50 Shades of Grey”
I hated the book bc I hated the characters. (I am ok with flawed, but there was nothing redeemable about any of them!). But I will concede it was clever so I understand why some people liked it. I’m just not one of them!
LOL – loved it. But I get it. 🙂
Girl on A Train
50 shades!
50 Shades of Gray
Where Do I Begin? 50 Shades was obvious drek (Yiddish Reference), but my 11th grade Honors English Teacher wanted Love Story by Erich Segal fired from his teaching position at Yale (sp?) (and he was Jewish like I am – so embarrassed, unless he knew he wrote drek, and just needed to make money – then he was using his Yiddisha cup). Where do I begin is a reference to song used in movie and opening lines of novel – book and movie deserved each other. Yet, everyone at the bus stop was reading it when I was in high school, so I read it – both my sister and I thought it was funny because it was so bad (and it really wasn’t funny, because Oliver’s young wife dies very young of cancer, and there is something about Oliver’s relationship with his Dad). Excuse typos.
Wasn’t that abt Al & Tipper Gore? ?
Don’t forget the inane and untrue “Love means you never have to say you’re sorry.”
@Emily Good one, Preppie! ?
@Emily isn’t that the truth?! Thank goodness I didn’t “buy” that line years ago and certainly not now!!
I’ve never understood that line.
Bridges of Madison County
Thank you!
Edgar sawtell,,it was an oprah book,hated it,liked most other books oprah suggested..
Loved Edgar Sawrtell
Eat, Pray, Love and Educated – both written by self absorbed women without a clue!!?
I said this above but feel it bears repeating. I got thru Eat and part of Pray and had to quit bc I couldn’t stand her and her insipid self-importance. ?
I totally agree.
Oh so interesting. Lots of people have been suggesting Educated. Good to see another perspective.
I couldn’t make it through Eat Pray Love… hated it!
50 Shades of Gray
50 Shades of Grey
50 Shades
If I have to choose just one…”The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” series.
50 Shades
50 shades
I’ve never read 50 Shades but that would be my guess. Seems like a lot of people who have read it or seen the movie are no longer fans.
Bridges of Madison County, 50 Shades, The Shack, Gone Girl, Anything by Nicholas Sparks.
Yes! Nicholas Sparks! So formulaic…so patronizing! Thank you!
Nicholas Sparks=gag
Agree with all of these especially 50 Shades.
Yah- I never got the Nicholas Sparks fascination… not a fan of anything he’s written. I’ll grant that the writing style is good- I just am not big on any of his “plots”…
50 Shades of Grey
Infinite Jest
Da Vinci Code
Hmmm…..I remember loving that book. I wonder if I’d still love it if I read it for the first time at my age….
Agreed
50 shades of grey
Agree!
I would have said that, but I made such a fuss in the beginning about it’s inclusion on the list that I’m over it. I guess you’d say it’s a book for non readers.
The Shack
Twilight
Anna Karenina
??
Too loooong…. like Crime and Punishment. But those books were written a long time ago.
50 Shades
Gone with The Wind
Definitely published more than 50 years ago.
@Emily Yep.
Yeah, GWTW was published in 1936 making it over 80 yrs old.
I would definitely say, The Shack. Probably because i hated it but read it on a recommendation
I agree with you. Kept thinking it would end well. Awful book. I took it to Goodwill as soon as I was finished with it.
I enjoy visualizing trinity
It was not to my liking at all, but many have said that it helped them open their minds to other ways of seeing things. So, I figure it is serving a purpose for some folks.
@Marty I think I threw it away so no one else would have to read it
@Diane That would have been a better idea.
Yes! I’m a religious person, but this book was so horribly written, I couldn’t finish it.
Girl on the Train.
I agree.
I so agree!
Oh no! That might be on my reading list.
@Cathy didn’t read the book saw the movie I liked it – it was different
The Bridges of Madison County
Yep. Another crappy book.
Thanks for the tip. I LOVED the movie.
I agree, definitely a crappy book
50 shades of gray
I thought that was the worst writing I ever read
Wow, I see some strong themes here.
Lol!
Already the writing is better…
Shades of Grey.
Twilight
The Corrections
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Agreed!!!!
yes.
just read and still on high about this book but i can see how others may not think it great
50 shades of grey…but the author is laughing all the way to the bank
any harry potter novel
So many saying Harry Potter series…I loved them! I’m definitely the odd one so.
I loved them too
Yeah, I think those that have listed Harry Potter are the odd ones out.
I agree with you all!
I thought they were fabulous. I read or watch them every year. And they have single handed made readers out of 2 generations of kids. That is nothing to sneeze at.
I must disagree
I loved the Harry Potter books because i read them with my kids and if they read the book, when the movie came out we would go to the midnight showing. It was the beginning of being rewarded for reading and discussing the differences between the book and the movie
@Dawn I agree, any book that inspires people to read is a good one.
Plus, one of my favorite things about Harry Potter was that the first time through the books (didn’t read them to I was an adult), there was always at least one thing that surprised me. I’m very good at figuring books out before they get to the end but Rowling always got me in at least one small way!
50 Shades and Twilight. Those saying Harry Potter are just sick in the head 😛
Fifty Shades of Gray, read the first 2 chapters, could not take it anymore. Never got to the juicy parts.
Right??? Horrible writing
Written for the lowest denominator
DaVinci Code and Fifty Shades
Anything by Norman Mailer
Fifty shades of gray
50shades of gray
Fifty shades of grey
Agree! That author did not invent that type of book for sure but many seem to think so…did they never find Anais Nin?
I read a lot of Anais Nin’s books. She was an excellent writer.
The Goldfinch
I loved everything about it.
50shades of gray
Agreed!
I despised the confederacy of the dunces! The first half of the book was was great, the last half was dreadful!!
Not for me either!
I liked the book. But I live in Louisiana and make frequent trips to NOLA.
Oh no! I just bought Confederacy of Dunces. Haven’t started it yet.
You might have a different experience, but yeah I was extremely disappointed ?
Bridges of Madison County
Agree!
Loved that book! But I have to say Marquez doesn’t appeal to lots of people.
Love Marquez but I am a fan of magic realism and I agree many are not
Twilight crap AND Fifty Shades crap
Totally agree!
Zero interest in reading those.
WILD and Eat, Pray, @Love
Fifty Shades of Grey
I agree in regards to Fifty Shades.
50 Shades series
Fifty shades of grey! Didn’t read it but my friends who aren’t readers said it was poorly written.
YUP! 50 Shades.
Shades of Grey.
50 Shades of Gray
50 shades
Fifty Shades, but it made a lot of people a lot of money. Here’s to marketing…
I’m a hair stylist and one of my older customers (88) loves to read . So I ask her if she wanted to read 50 shades? My coworkers said no she doesn’t need to read that , I laughed and she laughed. A couple of weeks later she brings the book back , I say what did you think ? She Said I thought It was boring! ??
Totally agree with your customer!
That’s great!
@Linda Old age and good taste aren’t mutually exclusive.
Anything Grey!
Fire and Fury
Oh, yes, I had blocked that one out if my mind.
The Girl on The Train
Gone girl
The Girl Who…
The Help
This is the first one that surprised me… I loved The Help!
50 Shades way overrated including the film/s.
The Art of the Deal.
50 Shades
I needed to grade it, not read it
Twilight
Agree, again poorly written.
Disagree. Twilight has been pretty thoroughly maligned by now, by readers and critics. My interpretation of “Overrated” would be something that has a huge reputation of being a great book, is taught in school, but is just hyped
I have no interest in reading it.
100 years of solitude
50 shades
Twilight
50 Shades
50 shades
I agree. Poorly written
But is it overrated?
@Elizabeth yes!
@Evelyn the overwhelming answer on this thread is 50 Shades Of Grey. It’s badly written smut and everyone KNOWS its badly written smut. The question is, is it overrated? Because it doesn’t seem to have much critical esteem and no one is lauding it as the great novel of the last 50 years. A more interesting answer would be something that’s “supposed” to be Important, like Catcher In The Rye.
That’s what I took the question to mean, what has esteem that it might not deserve and why?
There was so much publicity on the book and the author was even on the “Oprah” show. So it was overrated because of the sex but was a horribly written book. And wasn’t it also on the best seller list for a while?
50 Shades of Grey…Twilight…Harry Potter
In total agreement on these!
Gone Girl
50 Shades
50 shades
50 shades!
The stand
What?
Sorry but I was more eloquent in 8th grade than stephen king when he writes. I love the post apocalyptic idea but ultimate good v evil? And 2 random cities? Just why?
The Stand….Not even close to one of SKings best….
Ok let’s be real……For me it was
Way down on his list of even good reads…
Now The Shinning…. That was a master piece!
Oh, as a Stephen King fan, we gotta agree to disagree on this one!
The Stand was one of the first books I read by Stephen King. I haven’t read many yet. Anyway, I loved it. Every enjoyed or disliked is a matter of taste. It’s been great reading everyone’s overrated book choices!
50 Shades and Twighlight were equally awful.
Could not finish either one-garbage!
Gone Girl
I liked Gone Girl, the book, but I didn’t like the movie.
50 Shades of Grey
The Twighlight series and the Grey series come to mind…
World according to garp
Agree!
Loved this book & movie! Book is better, naturally. Fun to see what people feel about different books!
Bridges of Madison County
Anything by Ernest Hemingway
I so agree but I think it’s over 50 since he’s written
@Sunny we were forced to read it in school in jr. High back in the 60’s. Our teacher thought he was a genius, but when i read it i kept thinking it looked like it was written by a five year old!! I complained to my parents & they said “yeah! No one knows how that idiot got published!”
50 Shades
Catcher in the Rye
Fave book. Written in the 40s tho
My bad. I forget it’s 2018 sometimes
There is really no over rated book—the love of a book is unique to the person and their need at the time—I will never judge a book and the impression it made on a person!
True, but some are over-rated for me personally at any time. This is true of almost any popular romance novel. I’ve read enough of them to know to steer clear. So many other books I really want to read. So little time. Lol
Gotta give it to the marketing/publicity team that made Fifty Shades’ popularity happen…
100 years of solitude
Glad to see someone else thinks so too. I tried to like it-my daughter loves it and gave it to me to read. I couldn’t get through it all—I tried ?
I loved the book!
@Judith ?. You and me daughter—just not for me though.
@Nancy, Ok, a 100 years of Solitude, like Doña Barbara, Don Quijote and The Alquemist are books that are 100% much better when they are read in the language that they were written. And I read the first two books for a Spanish class. And you need a person that really knows the book to help you when you get lost in the narrative. For a 100 years, we had to do a family tree and a timeline of the drama.
Love Story, Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, The Great Gatsby, and Moby Dick…not to forget “Ulysis”, though that may be slightly older.
Moby Dick was published in 1851. Great Gatsby in 1925.
@Amy, stand corrected.???
Gone girl
Ulysses by James Joyce or Homer’s Epic The Odyssey about Ulysses. Read some of Odyssey in Ancient Greek, and, as an English Major at Barnard College, read Ulysses more than once, with companion Bloomsday Book. June 16 was Bloomsday this year. Never attempted Finnegan’s Wake, but it is on my list. Need to go back and read Melville – wasn’t my cup of tea in High School, but local library has it.
White Teeth
The alchemist
I agree.
Wild.
Just curious of your reasoning. I enjoyed it myself. ☺
I really didn’t enjoy Catcher in the Rye either
Very un PC but I never really enjoyed the Hobbit.
i agree, i started that book 3 times and could not get even 50 pages into it.
Too difficult of a read
Oh, could barely drag my way through it. I have The Lord Of The Rings series on my to-read list, but who knows if I’ll ever manage to get through them.
Funny how that is. I could barely get through the Hobbit myself but many friends have read all those books!
I loved it! The last book of The Fellowship was almost impossible for me. They must be more than 50 yrs old
My son hardly read a book he didn’t need to in school, but read all of the Hobbit & Ring books. Also the Samarillian (sp?). And memorized the songs, too. They really spoke to him as a teenager.
I agreed… and Narnia. I have a little secret. I enjoyed all the Narnia books, when I bought the versions sold by Scholastic. That is how basic I had to go.???
The Bible.
That wasn’t written in the last fifty years. ? Though there have been some crazy translations of it in the last fifty years…
Oh it wasn’t written in the last 50 years? My mistake! ??
Which bible you read? I’m pretty sure it’s more than 50 years old
The one with the bush and some salt and stuff.
Anything written by Ayn Rand, and I apologize if it was more than 50 years ago when she wrote Atlas Shrugged and the others she’s notorious for writing.
Many of the books listed weren’t in the last 50 years.
I don’t know that the newer translations are “crazy” since we’ve learned so much more about language since it was originally translated.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
You take that back! ?
Nooo. I love that book. The sequels, yeah. Stopped reading halfway thru the third and never went back
@Claudia I loved them all! My husband introduced me to them through the old BBC audio theater version. Then I continued the books. And I always travel with a towel! ?
Fifty shades, what else.
Here’s the thing: 50 Shades of Grey was a bad book that was incredibly popular for a short time, but would you call it “The Most Overrated Book of the Past 50 Years”?? Really? I want to know people’s reasons for this. It seems like an uninspired rote answer that the mind just goes to impulsively.
Because it’s nothing but fanfic smut aka porn, that has been treated as a mainstream novel, movie & all.
It was a stupid book-how many times could she bite her lip…by the 3rd chapter it should have been chewed off! Lol
I have no interest in reading it.
I wouldn’t call it overrated as much as overhyped. Nobody said it was a great book.
It was very popular and millions liked it enough to go see all three movies. I don’t think it was over rated or overhyped.
It may not be a well written book, but it tells a story and it got many people reading again who hadn’t read in years.
None of that means people can’t think it was overrated.
All my friends read at least two of the series. I couldn’t see why. To ME, I couldn’t stand the characters. That woman was just too subservient to that dude Grey way before the awful unnecessary, too frequent sex scenes which are boring & I skip over anyway.
Most books tell a story.
You may not think it was overrated or over hyped, but many of us & many readers do.
My beloved Harry Potter is listed here more than once. All 7 books were highly acclaimed, the books got kids & adults all over the world reading. There were midnight parties for book releases & movie openings. It was & is extremely popular. However, it’s not to everyone’s taste & some feel all that hoopla for an overrated series of books is just over hype. It doesn’t take away from my enjoyment. Not everyone likes or rates things the same & popularity does not equal a great rating with OUR group.
Was there a trilogy – I remember book reviewers groaning because they were being forced to read it.
Catcher in the Rye
I love catcher in the rye!
Sorry… I thought it was a decent read, as books go but I just didn’t get its ability to cause obsession.
Couldn’t even get through the first 25 pages. He was just snarky and rude.
@Brooke I loved it, too. Perhaps some people do not care about what HC cares about, and it reads completely differently to them. To me, the swaggering prep school bullies are far ruder than he is, and phonies to boot. He’s a compassionate kid; the snark is disappointed cynicism, not cynical exploitation.
An esteemed author who also loved it was Flannery O’Connor. I remember reading her recommendation of it to a friend.
Room, Gone Girl, and The Girl on the Train. Trash.
I agree
Gone Girl for sure.
Seriously this is one of my favorite series, it got me interested in historical fiction
Wild Swan by Celeste DeBlasis
Go Set a Watchman!!
Should have stayed in the file cabinet!!
No kidding!
Yes
I liked it. I went to a study group series about it.
13 reasons why.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. It was on The NY Times list of the top 10 books of the year for 2000. I will never read another of his books.
50 shades of Grey
The Fountainhead.
Flannery O’Connor, in a letter to a friend:
I hope you don’t have friends who recommend Ayn Rand to you. The fiction of Ayn Rand is as low as you can get re fiction. I hope you picked it up off the floor of the subway and threw it in the nearest garbage pail. She makes Mickey Spillane look like Dostoevsky.
http://www.openculture.com/2014/06/flannery-oconnor-friends-dont-let-friends-read-ayn-rand-1960.html
Twlight series
Joy luck club. ?
It’s so bad I ask what people think of it before I take their book recommendations.
I so agree with you
I enjoyed that book, but not any other book that she wrote.
Any vampire series ever written
Gone Girl
50 shades of Gray!!
? agree!!!! ^^^
I did not enjoy “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” nor “The Handmaid’s Tale”!
Agreed!
I keep trying to read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo because so many of my reading friends with similar taste to mine say it’s a amazing… I just cannot get into it!
I never read 50 Shades of Grey in it’s entirety, but picked it up at my nieces house and thought it was just about the worst writing ever. For me, maybe not quite so bad was The Davinci Code…not horrible, but I thought overrated.
Definitely overrated. Passable, but nothing particularly good.
Good choice.
50 Shades of Grey had awful prose. I was startled that anyone would want to read the sequel.
50 Shades of Gray.
50 Shades of Grey.
I actually got bored with it
The Art of the Deal. ?????
Shades of Gray anything…
Anything by Hemingway. He had the ability to make any story boring. His perfunctory style has been reviewed and related to various life experiences or to a somewhat hazily defined philosophy which Hemingway may have developed, but I think he was simply a bad writer.
Not necessarily bad, but his was certainly a unique style. The Old Man and the Sea was the only one I read to the end. I enjoy long books, but not his.
Girl on a train
Twilight
Glad I’m not the only one who couldn’t get into Girl On A Train…
The movie was better.
Just asked my coworker this question. He said the Game of Thrones series. I say Twilight series. It ended up in a really good discussion! Thanks for this question, it helped speed our night up a bit!
Catcher in the Rye is the most overrated book ever written. Does that count?
I loved A Catcher in the Rye… but that probably has more to do with the fact that I’m a huge crime buff and Mark David Chapman was holding a copy when he shot Lennon… It’s also been associated with Hinckley’s assassination attempt on Reagan… and Bardo’s murder of up and coming tv star Rebecca Schaeffer. It piques the true crime junkie in me.
@Meredith It has _nothing_ to do with any motivation to kill anyone. If you actually read the book, he “hates phonies,” but does not try to kill any. I think he mentions a daydream of doing something to someone, but you do not get the idea that he’d ever act on it. He is too compassionate, and he is not looking for violence, but something else. When you’re young, you believe that you could just go up and get what it is you’re looking for, if you could find it or define it, so there’s an intensity about his search. But that business about the Lennon fiasco is slander to the book, to Salinger, and to all who have loved it over the decades, as well as all who hate phoniness. It’s the last thing that someone like that would ever want to read. They would not get it, and they would be bored, since the last thing in the world that it is, is a book about violence or murder. But saying so has a chilling effect on people openly disliking phonies or phoniness, since you don’t want that guilt by association.
50 Shades of Grey. Catcher in the Rye and A Separate Peace.
A Separate Peace! Hardly classic tale of “coming of age” !?!?!
50 Shades of Grey.
50 Shades of Grey
The Shack
I totally agree….great book
Hmmm .. Paula … I was saying this is OVERrated … i.e. not at all good.
I think there’s a difference between literature and popular fiction, although there are surely others that would be better at judging than I am. That being said I’m not a fan of the 50 Shades or Twilight series.
Eat, Pray, Love
I tried to get through this book. Even though I attempted to read it a couple of times I just couldn’t do. It did go to the movie version with friend and barely got through that. It made me glad that I gave up on the book.
So glad I’m not the only one- I keep trying because so many people recommend it but… I just cannot get through it!
Just ok.
I tried the book too and couldn’t get through it. I didn’t like the movie either.
@Meredith Sadly, I have concluded most of what is extremely popular in the moment is too frequently either something I don’t care for or absolute tripe. I won’t continue reading those books no matter how much others like them. Just look at the circulation numbers of The National Enquirer — alarming! Know oneself and freely disagree.
Go set a watchman. Strange plot and felt like story was all background and no central focus. Such a disappointment
Agreed!! I was disappointed
This was actually her first draft that she submitted and the publisher told her to go back and rewrite and that book was to kill a mockingbird.
Who wrote it? Sounds familiar.
I don’t know that I’d call it the most overrated, but The Fault in Our Stars. I liked it and it was good, but it was also soooo predictable. That being said, my friends did nickname me Hazel Grace when I had to be on supplemental oxygen for a couple years. ?
I wouldn’t say no, but, for personal reasons have a hard time dealing with books about people dying young – as I lost a brother, and my Dad lost a sister.
I was surprised that the boy was also sick. Didn’t see it coming.
@Judith. Sorry for your loss. And the death of a young person have touch us one way or another. My daughter lost a dear friend to leukemia. And some friends, two daughters to cystic fibrosis. It humbles me.
Freedom
Go Set a Watchman
I agree……Gone Girl.
Me too, Lynne. I tried to read it – twice.
I agree with you! I did not like Gone Girl!
I hated Gone Girl and the movie was worse. I am so glad that I am not alone in my opinion!
I had read Sharper Things and was very excited to read Gone Girl. I was also very disappointed.
Catcher In the Rye
I have to go back and read that (own a copy). J.D. Salinger was required reading when I went to Sweet Home in Williamsville, NY.
Doesn’t meet the criteria of last 50 years though
Girl on the Train.
Fifty Shades, Twilight series
Harry Potter series – I know I’ll get some boos from this one. Great creativity but the writing just left me flat.
Andi Allinger Yes, VERY true, it inspired a whole generation of readers so I cannot throw it out entirely. But I read the books after SO many of my adult friends had recommended them to me. I could not believe the low level of writing. I’ve read a lot of kids books through the years & love so many, I just couldn’t get the hype of the HP series but am thankful that they did seem to speak to many who might not have picked up a book!!
I only read the first one. I thought the story was good, but the wring was poor.
I didn’t like the last book. I would have deleted like 200 pgs.
It’s it funny how different we all are? I thought her writing was genius. How she intertwined characters, events, places, etc. through all of her books amazed me. The smallest detail from book 1, shows up in book 6….how do you remember that?? I think 1, 2, 3 are simpler, but starting with book 4…ah…what a story!
Thank you!
50 Shades of Gray
My Sister’s Keeper
This book made me hate the characters
50 Shades!!
50 Shades Of Gray, hands down!
Can’t even believe it made the list.
I read the 1st book in the 50 Shades of Grey and hated it. I could not understand its popularity.
50 Shades — Couldn’t even finish the first chapter.
Go Set A Watchman
The Shack
50 shades series. Poorly written, all 3. Seriously, we read it cuz it was trash
Definitely 50 Shades series.
Definitely 50 Shades. I refused to read after the first couple of chapters, since it was so poorly written. I don’t care about the content, but the writing was just abhorrent.
Wild – terrible!
The Outlander series
The @Goldfinch
What’s it about?
Girl on the Train
Gone Girl
Just finished that yesterday. Yes. So much yes. Very over rated.
Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey. Utterly appalled that both of these are even on the list when important works like “Night” by Eli Wiesel and “I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings” by Maya Angelou were left off. Also, where are the Native American authors? No
“Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee” or any of Sherman Alexie’s works?
I was shocked by the lack of Maya Angelou as well.
Gone Girl
50 shades, don’t understand the popularity!
50 shades
The twilight series.
50 Shades of Gray
Go Set A Watchman and
Eat Pray Love
Eat, Pray, Love ?
I agree with “50 Shades of Gray.”
50 Shades of Gray
50 Shades and Pillars of the Earth
I feel like this should be turned into a poll
We already know the answer, just look
GIRL WASH YOUR FACE
Go set a watchman. So disappointing.
agree
Agree. This was such a let down for me. I regretted buying it.
But it did get bad reviews so it wasn’t really overrated just highly anticipated
Bridges of Madison County, Life of Pi, Gone Girl, Room. And, of course, Fifty Shades.
I liked all of them except 50 Shades
American Sniper
The Life of Pi (in my humble opinion)
I hated that book!
Gone Girl I found a bore, and I didn’t finish reading it.
I rarely do not finish a book, but Life of Pi was one of them. It died along with; Traffic:Why We Drive the Way We Do, What’s a Dog For?, Killing Lincoln and Gulp. These are literally the only books I have given up on in my lifetime.
Cosmos
The Corrections.
Fifty Shades!
Agree
Love it too!
The Alchemist
I liked it but maybe because i heard so much it was anticlimactic. I think i need to re read
I didn’t read 50 Shades. Of what I’ve read I’ll say Gone Girl followed by the Twilight series. If the fans of the Twilight series want real sexual tension with a vampire involved they should check out the original Dark Shadows TV series from the late sixties. I was twelve years old and completely smitten by Barnabas. It was my sexual awakening and I didn’t know it. All of my friends rushed home from school to see Barnabas.
I wrote my first love letter to Jonathan Frid!
Fifty Shades of Gray
Hated Gone Girl! The female character completely got on my last nerve and her husband wasn’t far behind.
Not a decent character in the book. I threw it when I finished it because the end sucked too.
Twilight series
Anything with a vampire who sparkles and goes to high school. Seriously. I know that will make me unpopular, but I just couldn’t.
??
Yassss. The Twilight series
Fifty Shades of Grey without a doubt!
Little Fires Everywhere
How did 5O Shades even get on the list?
Fifty Shades!
Catcher in the Rye, and Gone With the Wind. Did not like the main character of either one, I just wanted to slap them both.
50 shades
Go Set a Watchman – soooo GLAD it didn’t make the list.
That was my vote, too.
Ditto!!?? Should have never been published.
New York by Edward Rutherford.
Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. . . Or A Visit From the Goon Squad. . . Or The Lovely Bones.
Fifty Shades of Grey. Started reading it but just couldn’t finish because the writing seemed like it was done by a fifth grader.
50 shades!!
50 Shades (followed closely by the LaHaye novels, but they were only overhyped in certain subcultures, 50 Shades was EVERYWHERE)
Girl on the Train. I just cannot fathom the hype