10 Books The Whole World Loves But Didn’t Do It For Me
You know that thing where you read a book and think “This is garbage” and then go to Goodreads or Amazon to look at other reviews and realize, “Oh, apparently I’m on my own here.”
Or the extremely awkward thing where someone recommends a book that is the best book ever and so you read it and you think it is really awful but. . . you have to pretend it was great (or possibly avoid that friend for the rest of your life).
Anyway, here are ten of those books for me, where everyone is constantly recommending them to me and I have to either smile and nod or admit that I couldn’t even make it through the whole book.
And they are probably your favorite books in the whole world, so you are welcome to tell me that I am a complete idiot.
books that are not for me
- 50 Shades of Gray. Okay, this one is a joke. I haven’t read any of this book (although I laughed my head off at Dave Barry’s take on the book – warning that there is some slightly sexual content in his essay, which is to be expected considering the subject matter). I promise the next ten books I’ve actually read or attempted to read.
- The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (the Flavia de Luce series). I know! Everyone loves these books so so much. And I didn’t hate it. I just had zero desire to read any after the first one. And it took me about 10 years to get through the first one (in all fairness, I was listening to it, and the problem could have been the narrator).
- Out of the Dust. My mom bought this for me right when it won the Newbery and I could barely make it through – the whole thing freaked me out so much. Five years later, someone did a piece from it at a speech and debate tournament, and I almost couldn’t even sit through it. It’s just too much, too graphic for me.
- Jacob Have I Loved. I absolutely love Bridge to Terabithia, so I was super excited about this one. And then it wandered on for ages. I liked the premise, just not the actual book. Too bad.
- Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children. I don’t even have really bad things to say about this book; I just couldn’t get into it and eventually gave it up.
- The Night Circus. This book is approximately ten thousand CDs long. Even Jim Dale narrating couldn’t save it for me. I got to the end and wasn’t entirely sure what had even happened or, frankly, if there had even been a plot.
- The Maze Runner. I always hear this one recommended as a great, fun read. But I felt like absolutely nothing happened in the entire book. I don’t get the appeal at ALL.
- Eat Pray Love. This one is probably in the top spot for bestselling books I could not stand. I wrote more about my distaste for this book here.
- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I get that it’s supposed to be heart-warming and beautiful. But by the end of the book I couldn’t stand any of the characters, and I was just relieved it was over.
- The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. I just went back and re-read the review I wrote of this back in 2009 and it enraged me all over again how STUPID this book is. I don’t feel only apathy toward this book, I feel actual rage over how bad it is. Even after five years.
- We Were Liars. I wanted to love this one. I love The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks more than is normal, and I was thrilled to see another book from her, but. . .this was not the book I was hoping for. I never got into it, and it was one step above a slog for me. (By the way, lots of people who didn’t like this book disliked it because they guessed the twist. I did not guess the twist, and I still thought it was lame).
I also hate Nutella (I know. It’s practically a crime, but I try it about once a year to see if I’ve changed my mind and every time it basically burns my mouth with its chemically taste), so feel free to think I have the worst taste in everything ever.
If you’d like a printable copy of this list of books that weren’t for me that you can take to your library or screenshot on your phone for easy access, just pop in your email address below and it’ll come right to your inbox!
And of course, feel free to tell me about the popular or beloved books you couldn’t handle – we can all enjoy our bad taste in books together.
The Hunger Games series. I hate Katniss with a fiery passion. Her narration is tedious and annoying. I liked the idea of the story and I have since enjoyed the movies since you can't hear Katniss' thoughts but man. I got through the first book and that's where I left it.
I know I've mentioned before that Out of the Dust is one of my favorite books ever. I don't remember thinking of it as graphic at all, but then, I didn't read it for the first time until I was an adult.
I'm actually going to reread The Wednesday Wars sometime this year because when I read it for the first time about five years ago, I didn't think it was all that awesome, but you (and several other people) always rave about it. I'm willing to give it a second chance to see if I'm missing something.
I really liked Wednesday’s War. I used to teach middle school and it was one of our book club books. The kids liked it too. The one book I did not like and cannot believe is so popular is The Life Of PI by Yan Martell. Ugh!!!!
The only ones I've read are the Fifty Shades trilogy and The Night Circus. I actually enjoyed The Night Circus, but I agree that nothing really happens. It reminded me of the last Twilight book, when everyone is on the field with the bad vampires. Nothing happens, it's basically in Bella's mind because she's protecting everyone with her brain force field thing. Juuust a tad boring.
I'm not sure if I can read the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. The photos make me feel so sad. Too many of the wrong feels.
I'm 67 % of the way through The Night Circus…so now I can expect nothing is really going to happen!!! This book makes me think of King Kong (the movie with Adrian Brody). It's beautiful to look at…but, I'm still waiting to figure out what the GAME is all about.
Maybe I liked Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children better because I listened to it on audiobook? I never knew there were pictures! I liked the story I listened to.
The Goldfinch. First of all, it's 7928 pages long. Second of all, it's not about anything. Or rather, it's about so many things it's hard to know what the point of the book is. A little boy losing his mom in 9/11? How kids slip through the cracks when shuttled from home to home? Homoexuality? Art? Drug abuse? Screwed up adult relationships? Forging furniture? I could go on and on (just like Donna Tartt did!) but I'll stop there. Suffice to say, I do not get the hype.
YES. YES. YES. A million times YES! I HATED this book.
I just finished reading “The Library Book” and did not like it at all. I found it tedious and dull and not well constructed. Also, never EVER listen to the audio book read by the author. Snooze fest! I literally listened at 2x speed.
Another popular book I just could not stand is “Goodnight Moon.” Yes, I know it is a children’s book, and yes I know I’ll probably end up with enemies just from that admission, but I just couldn’t stand it.
I HATE Goodnight Moon and will NOT buy it for our home library. Ever
I hate Goodnight Moon too. It was immediately donated it after I received it at my shower.
I also hate I’ll Love You Forever, it’s just creepy.
We had to read a picture book outloud for a children’s literature course that I took, and one of the students read “I’ll love you forever” . OMG, within three pages we knew she was a transfer from the drama department. She was literally rocking the book in her arms and tears were streaming down her face by the end. She probably got an A, but I wanted to vomit.
100% agree!!! Half of the book could have been removed, and MAYBE it would have been a good read. The only character narrative I enjoyed was Boris.
SInce my daughter and grandaughter both loved it, I love it too. First grandaughter had it memorized by 18 months.
Yes, thank you! Literally came to say the same thing. So boring and depressing. I kept waiting for it to be good, because so many people told me they loved it. When my library checkout expired I figured I’d finally let myself give up on it, but it inexplicably stayed on my Kindle despite the loan expiring, so I made myself finish it, and still hated it!
Oh, me too. A friend loved it otherwise I don’t think I would have ever read it. I’m a former museum curator so the painting thread drew me in. I felt like I needed to keep reading it in case it something positive happened. It didn’t! I can safely say it was the worst book I ever read and I read upwards of 50 books a year!
The summer of 2014, my husband and I were recently married, moving back to our hometown, starting new jobs, and spending many evenings and afternoons at my brother-in-law’s bedside as he started hospice care after fighting melanoma at age 30.
During this time, I read The Goldfinch, and was completely enveloped in Theo’s world. From his time in New York to Las Vegas, I felt I was by his side the entire time.
The Goldfinch provided me with a reading experience that I’ve never forgotten and have had difficulty replicating since. The Goldfinch found me at a critically formative time in my young adulthood, and I will always, always hold this book in a very special place in my heart.
I’m sorry you hated it.
Thank you! I was also SUPER not into the Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. And I love mystery series! I just couldn't get into it. (I did like the Night Circus though.)
My book that everyone loved, but I couldn't get into at all is The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Everyone for the longest time was writing about how it was their favorite. I found the first 75 pages a slog, and finally just gave up. If every book has it's reader, I'm not it's reader.
Couldn't get through that one either. It was too sad and there was too much swearing for me (I was listening to it)
I actually did try with 50 Shades of Gray, but after like 10 pages I was so frustrated with the bad writing that I didn't really care what happened in the rest of the book and put it down.
The Interestings had a lot of hype a while back, and I thought it was should have been named the Borings, because nothing interesting happened in the first 50 pages!
I actually finished it. I’m kind of embarrassed that I did, but I thought it was terrible in so many ways…the writing, what it says about relationships and women, etc.
I've never liked anything by Dave Eggers or David Sedaris or Augustin Burroughs. I also only enjoyed the Italy portion of Eat Pray Love, because of the food. And I couldn't stand to even try 50 Shades. Blech. Also, I'm a bit of a prude when it comes to books.
I love Flavia, but I couldn't agree more with you about Out of the Dust and Jacob Have I Loved. Also, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas makes me crazy; it is so ridiculously juvenile in all the wrong ways. I am in awe of how many people hold it up as a great WWII book for kids. Blech
If you don't like Nutella, don't ever, ever try off-brand hazelnut spread. It's pretty much the worst.
I love these lists! It's just as fun to hear about the books people dislike as it is to hear about their favorites. I think a lot of us are with you on Eat, Pray, Love. After reading (and hating) that book, I just cannot bring myself to read anything else by Elizabeth Gilbert.
10 thumbs up, Melanie. I tried Aldi's hazelnut spread and it…is not Nutella.
Um, you are so right about these books. The Night Circus. Long and annoying.
The Maze Runner. Another version of the Hunger Games but not done well.
Eat Pray Love. Talk about really boring middle.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Tragically depressing.
We Were Liars. I just finished this book yesterday and was annoyed. Supremely annoyed.
All the rest of the books you've included, I have not read. But considering we shared the same philosophy on HALF of them, I won't be wasting my time!
I loved a few of these (but I also tend to tell people I have questionable taste in books before recommending anything, so at least there's fair warning!) but definitely agree with you on We Were Liars. The narrator drove me crazy and made me feel so sad the entire time, but not in a good way…I stuck it out because I don't like to leave books unfinished, but my goodness I was tempted to stop so many times!
I've only read two on your list, but I hated them both:
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Like you, I was just glad when it was over.
Eat, Pray, Love made me legitimately angry. The fact that she put all of that effort into finding herself…instead of working on her marriage? It just seemed so selfish to me. Well, the whole thing seemed completely self-absorbed. Ugh.
I'll pile on to The Goldfinch again, as well. I listened to the last two thirds of it at double speed because I hated it SO MUCH. I normally listen at 1-1.5 speed because I'm trying to fill up a commute with audio books. I also felt the same way about the Divergent trilogy. I just…don't get it. Listened to the last book at double speed.
Divergent didn't do it for me either. I don't get the incredible love for it.
I wanted to love We Were Liars, too. I think I could have, but it never really went "there" wherever "there" was supposed to be. All hype, no substance.
Eat Pray Love two huge self absorbed thumbs down.
When I finished the Night Circus I told Seth that I really loved it… I think. Or maybe I didn't like it. Hold on, I need to think about it.
For me the Divergent Series was a let down. It's another Hunger Games but not as great. But then again the Hunger Games series last book for sure ruined the whole series for me. I thought the way that it ended made the entire series and Katniss' effort pointless. Plus her inner dialogue and who she is in the 3rd book. Blech.
And nutella? Really? Not even a little on crusty French bread? Not even when in Europe? (That's close to all I eat in Europe it seems- and come to think of it, I only eat it in Europe.) You are just not the person I thought you were.
Hi!
I completely agree with The Maze Runner, I read the entire saga because I was reading at the same time with my best friend and I was really disappointed. Nothing happen in the 3 books!
This is my most recent hated book, usually I am a reader easy to please.
Great post!
I also hated Jacob Have I Loved (it actually reminds me a bit of My One & Only, which I disliked for a similar reason…) and The Maze Runner! Also, I agree with the commenter above: I just wasn't that into Divergent, especially the second book. I didn't even bother with the third.
Everyone seemed to love The Perks of Being a Wallflower…I just didn't like it. It was a pretty short book and a quick read, which is good because if it had been any longer I don't think I could have finished it. It just didn't have much of a plot for me and the end was both unpredictable and predictable and in some ways relevant and in other ways so random all at the same time. It confused me and I didn't like it.
I read The Giver at your recommendation and it made me second guess my trust in your books. I just did not get that one. Considering it is now a movie, I must be alone in that. Thankfully you earned my trust again with The Raven Boys series. 🙂
The book has been my favorite since I read it when I was 10. The movie has pretty much nothing to do with the book- it's total crap.
Apparently I’m alone in disliking Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine. Why was this book written? It’s about nothing. Nothing happens. And the big revelation at the end was the most predictable thing ever. I struggled BIG TIME to finish. Loathed it
It wasn’t my fave either!
Also couldn’t stand Eleanor Oliphant! I get irrationally upset when I see people recommending it lol.
I hated Gone Girl with a passion. People kept raving about it and I thought it sucked. I wanted to punch Amy in the face, and I saw the twist coming miles away.
I also could not get into Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin. Check out the reviews on goodreads for THAT one.
I hated Gone Girl too! The whole twist was just bizarre to me. Who honestly does what she did? And I thought Nick was annoying and weak. It was one of the books that I wish I could unread because I disliked it so much.
I also hated Gone Girl! I figured out the twist within the first 20 pages. Like, has no one read Agatha Christie? Not one of the characters was likable. It’s been a long time since I read it, and I’m still mad about it.
I lol'd at the Dave Barry article. Eat Pray Love was pretty mediocre. I actually liked the Night Circus, but more for the visualization of the circus itself than the plot or lack thereof.
I'm about halfway through Outlander and it's really bothering me. The reviews on Amazon are mostly glowing and I just don't get it. The story could be really interesting, I just can't get past the character flaws.
PUT IT DOWN AND WALK AWAY. Outlander is definitely not worth finishing in my opinion. Spoiler: the end has this huge long thing that involves male r4pe and then reliving the scene and after four years I still have not been able to scrub that out of my brain.
Yes! I LOVE the premise of Outlander, but after having read some of the rest of the series I feel like the author should have restructured the first two books to be more about Culloden and the rebellion. The second one is in the second half, but it takes way too long to get there and that is the main action story point. According to Diana Gabaldon, she only originally planned on writing the first one and didn’t originally plan it to be a time-travel story either, just historical fiction, so I think that’s where the story structure suffers. It’s a true pity because the story has so much good and so much potential, it just doesn’t quiiiiiite make it.
We all know you really read 50 Shades of Gray while eating Nutella 😉 Just kidding, but when I saw this post I was anxiously waiting to see Heaven is for Real on there due to my over excitement for it at book club last year… Glad to know my recommendation wasn't bad enough for the top 10 haha
I felt the same way about The Night Circus. I kept trying to give it a chance, and it sat on my night stand for monthssss before I finally gave it back to the library. Blah.
I don't remember what I thought of eat pray love but I definitely didn't get all the hype. I hated sweetness in the belly, our book club did it but I couldn't get into it. And I had a hard time getting into the book thief. I'm not sure if the last one was bc I had just had a baby and wasn't into reading or of it had been praised too much and I had too high expectations. I'll try it again but I didn't even finish it and that's pretty rare for me.
It’s an unusual book with Death being the narrator. I personally thought it should be added to required reading in high schools. Try it again sometime. There’s a lot of references to words/books, etc.
Eat Pray Love was the WORST!
Get ready for a long comment. Apparently, you are speaking my language.
You actually have several books on this list that I just feel "meh" about:
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie – Like you I had no desire to read on.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children – Told a friend not to bother with it.
The Maze Runner – Hated this book with a passion. I cringe when characters solve problems by remembering things they didn't know they had forgotten.
We Were Liars – It was fine, but I knew what the big twist was on like the second page. (OK, I exaggerate, but it was early on.)
The only one on your list that I loved that you didn't (the rest I just haven't read) is The Night Circus. I really loved it, but I don't think it's for everyone. It's a quiet, moody book, and I love a book with heaps of atmosphere. Also, I'm not sure this is the type of book that would work really well on audio?
I think the big book that everyone loves but I don't would be Divergent. I just couldn't be bothered to pick up the next in the series, and now Divergent is like DIVERGENT. Also, I have a real problem with wasteland wanderings (in other words, survival novels). I wrote a whole post about it. http://www.intellectualrecreation.com/search/label/Not%20My%20Thing
I must admit I feel like a total loner on this, but The Fault in our Stars is really not that great. Maybe I had high expectations since it was made into a movie and everyone I know was raving about it, but it didn't really get much emotion out of me, which is saying a lot since I'm 6 months pregnant and cry to just about everything! I also agree about The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Took me forever to read it and then when I stared at the other books I'm the series I was like, I'm good if I never read another one.
I didn’t like The Fault In about Stars either!! I’m get very invested and into whatever I’m reading or watching, so i am very emotional. This book evoked exactly zero emotion from me! And the conclusion I’ve come to is that it’s too contrived. It’s like the author was TRYING to make people cry and he was trying too hard. It totally missed the mark for me!
I totally agree!! I am very emotional with books (and movies) and cry at almost everything, happy, sad, you name it. I felt absolutely nothing with this book. As I was reading and feeling nothing, I was thinking, “What is wrong with me?!?!” I just felt like the author was trying too hard to make a sad novel and by doing that, it just felt way too fake.
A dagger just went through my heart. I wrote my senior thesis on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and my copy has withstood all our moves. Hah! But, I have to agree I was annoyed with some of the characters too. I love Oskar forever though.
I'm so confused how anyone could not love Nutella. Chemical taste? I don't get it. It's the most delicious!
Anyway, I'm usually a pretty major bandwagon-jumper and have no problem loving books that everyone else loves without spending much critical analysis of it. I totally loved Eat, Pray, Love by the way… but then I have zero ethical issues with divorce and really enjoyed her descriptive writing style. And that book came at a time that I'd just lost my job and my fiancé had just left me for another woman and kicked me out of our house, and I decided to go traveling solo without a return ticket home, so it was something of a lifeline for me at the time.
My books that I just couldn't get into that everyone else loved?
Gone Girl. I thought the story was set up really well until the big twist, and from that point on, I found the writing juvenile and totally unsatisfying.
And Jonathan Tropper's This Is Where I Leave You. It's not that I hate this book… I don't… I just thought it was utterly unremarkable and boring. What on earth is all the hype about?
YES! Eat Pray Love. I did not enjoy it even a little bit. I really wanted to like Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, but it went on a little long and boring for me.
I hate Nutella too! People always rave about how great it is, but YUCK!
I don't care for Nutella. And the Boy in the Striped Pajamas just made me sick. Blah. You're better than me in that you actually finish the book if you don't like it. I put the book in the return bag and don't even bother!
Or at least most of them. 🙂
I really enjoy the Flavia de Luce books, but I agree with you on many of your other selections. I think I started Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close at one point but quit. I finished The Maze Runner recently and really didn't like it. Like you, I felt as though nothing really happened, and I also felt as though it could have been about 50 pages shorter. I was interested at first, but then it fell to pieces for me, and I just had to trudge through it. I also HATED Night Circus. I have absolutely no idea what happened, and if I had to provide a summary, it would pretty much be, "Umm…a magic circus? Time travel?" I really hated The Great Gatsby which is supposedly an awesome classic, but I found no redeeming qualities in any of the characters. I'm not sure how to like a book filled with characters I loathe.
Yes to Eat Pray Love
Hated Gone Girl
Bored by Atonement
100% agree with you on Boy in the Striped Pajamas. I actually became angry reading it, wondering how in the world any editor would let it slip through. The film, on the other hand, was much better–did you see it?
Oh man. I love this post. Let me just get out all my angst over the books everyone loves that I pretty much hate.
1- Divergent. Read it. Hated it. And just couldn't get past the fact that the love interest's name is TOBIAS. Could we pick any uglier name?! Blech. The whole premise just seemed really shaky to me and all the tension just felt contrived.
2 – The Night Circus. Just couldn't ever finish it. I agree – just no plot.
3 – Anything by Neil Gaiman. Beautiful writing but I just can't get into any of the stories, no matter how hard I try.
4 – Flavia de Luce. It was – meh – fine. But I didn't love it and everyone else just raves over it.
5 – The Raven Boys books. I read the first one and it was almost something I liked but I just felt so confused by so much of it. And the characters didn't feel very organic to me – they felt so formulated. I don't know. I didn't love it.
6 – Starcrossed. Okay. I HATED this one. So so much. Hated everything about it. I kept reading just because it had such rave reviews by so many of my friends and I thought maybe it would change. But it didn't! The main girl was always stupid and the plot was always contrived and the prose was always boring. Okay rant over.
Wow. That feels good to finally get all of that out. 🙂
And I remember when I moved from Paris back to America and Nutella came to America a few years later, it tasted different than it had in France. So maybe schedule your once-yearly Nutella test for some of the time you're in Europe, just in case it's a little different there still. 🙂
The Fault in Our Stars- annoyed me to no end, and it didn't make me emotional at all. Just 'meh.'
I completely agree about The Boy in the Striped Pajamas!
The Night Circus- yes! I got to the end I said out loud: "I don't get it." I hate that!
I completely get the Nutella thing. Hazelnuts have always been my favorite until my last pregnancy in Europe. Now each time I even look at anything with hazelnuts I gag. It's so disappointing!
Possibly Jim Dale narrating the Night Circus is the reason you didn't like it. 🙂 I love him reading Harry Potter but cannot think of a worse narrator for the Night Circus.
I detest Elegance of a Hedgehog. Worst book ever. I never got into, yet every celebrity was telling the world how amazing it was. It wasn't amazing, there wasn't a plot, there wasn't a point. And the abrupt end to the plot made me happy because there was no chance for reviving the plot line for a sequel.
Eat, Pray, Love should be called, Me, Me, Me.
The Uglies series– just awful
I thought I enjoyed Flavia, but then when I think about getting the next, my heart tells me no every time.
People rave about Cinder…and it seems so incredibly stupid I refuse to try.
Also you should read my recent best books post and validate me…or smile and nod and avoid me forever.
Julieandbrandon.blogspot.com
After I wrote it I wanted to write 10 worst books blog..maybe I'll just link your blog instead.
Well I'm sure out of it…I've only read one of those books, Maze Runner. I actually liked it and read the entire series – as happens many times, the first was the best in my opinion. I give your Mom The Maze Runner, along with another book, for her birthday last year (so I guess I did like it!), she never said anything so my guess is that she shares your opinion! I don't like pumpkin pie, so what that says about my taste in things I hate to think. Really enjoying sharing your trip through FB posts!
Some of these I haven't read, some I agree with, and the only two that I disagree with you on are The Night Circus (not my favorite of all time but I liked it quite a bit) and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (definitely one of my faves).
I haven't read any of those, and now I'm in no hurry!
I didn't love Fablehaven. I have no desire to read any of the other books in the series. I feel bad. Oh well.
And this isn't necessarily a not like, but I can't get through 1984. I've tried two or three times. But I think I've only listened to the audio. Maybe I could skim the sex stuff if I read it? I just couldn't handle it! Obviously I'm a prude :).
I read Flavia this past summer. I liked the beginning, then it went on and on and on about stamps and I lost interest. Didn't hate the book, but I won't read any more.
The first two books that came to mind (since I read them this past summer, too):
The Fault in Our Stars. Ugh. So pretentious. I got through 70 pages and called it quits. When I tell people I didn't like it, they look at me like I don't have a soul.
The other one was The Rosie Project. There are SO many good reviews of it and lots of recommendations, so I decided to check it out (though contemporary rom-com isn't really my genre of choice) and was totally 'meh' about it. I thought it was super-predictable and cliche (and I couldn't stand Rosie). I found myself skimming through the ending because I wanted to be done. Plus, I was surprised by the f-bombs in it. None of the reviews I read mentioned that.
I feel guilty berating authors (being an aspiring author myself, I know well the time, effort, and angst that goes into writing a novel). That said, there is something cathartic about venting about books everyone else seems to love. Great post. 🙂
Totally agree about The Night Circus, Miss Peregine's Home for Peculiar Children, and Maze Runner. I enjoyed We Were Liars more than you did, maybe because I didn't realize it was by the same author as The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and so I wasn't comparing the two.it wasn't excell but I enjoyed it and didn't guess the twist.
I love hearing that I'm not the only one!
Oh my goodness, I thought I was the only one that didn't get The Night Circus! It was just too long and not that interesting. I thought maybe I was missing something because everyone else loved it. Another book for me is City of Bones. I get the idea that a lot of people like it but I just didn't think it was a good book. I just think I didn't like Cassandra Clare's writing style that much and I didn't really care for any of the characters.
Nice to know I'm not alone with some of my thoughts. 🙂
P.S: I don't like nutella either!
I didn't even manage to finish The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, or Night Circus, or Miss Peregrine! It's good to know it isn't just me. As for others, once I read My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult and got to the end, I almost threw the book across the room. That stupid twist! I'll never read one of hers again.
i feel the same way about jacob have i loved and extremely loud and incredibly close–i couldn't even get through it! it really drove me crazy. i kind of liked miss peregrine's home for peculiar children, but mostly i just thought it was weird and probably wouldn't ever recommend it to anyone! glad you do these posts, it makes me feel better about my literary preferences 🙂
I hate nutella. Always.
And I actually liked eat pray love just because I enjoyed reading about the people and places and food, though I'm like thinking the whole time "um, self-absorbed much?"
And off subject but I just read I've got your number by Sophie kinsella b/c I remembered you talking about it once. I liked it! I was trying to look up your review but my.phone is being stupid boo.
I agree with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie – I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. I won't be reading any further in the series. Gone Girl is another one I didn't like. Kudos to the author for the story twist, but it was just simply an awful story about two awful human beings. And just yesterday I finished Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I feel like I just wasted a few hours of my life that I will never get back again and I got to the end and wasn't even entirely sure what I was supposed to have gotten out of the story. And the Nutella thing – I totally get it.
My Aunt Ju introduced me to The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (we love Flavia) and we got my Mom to try it. She tried the audiobook too and didn't care for it. Too bad because for me they are fun simple reads.
I really think it might be the narrator that wasn't that great. Too bad.
Seems pretty important for audiobooks. We LOVE listening to Jim Dale reading Harry Potter. I listened to the Book Thief and it was alright. Narrators can really make or break a book. But with busy lives, listening to a book is so tempting!
Atlas Shrugged. Hated it.
Yes, completely agree about this one!
Bridge to Terabithia is one of my favorite books and I absolutely HATE Jacob Have I Loved. Phew!! Thanks for letting me get that secret out of my mind and onto the internet forever!
Water for Elephants is another one that a bunch of people have recommended and I just don't care.
Yes! I wanted to like the Flavia series SO BAD, but it took me forever to make it through the first book. And I was way too disinterested to continue.
I despised All the Light We Cannot See, which is a real bummer because the book that inspired it(And There Was Light) is my all time favorite book. I don’t understand all the rave reviews.
Also, American Nutella is nasty, but European Nutella is COMPLETELY different and is so dreamy!
Well now I know what not to put on my to-read list since I haven’t read any of these yet! And even though I like Nutella, I trust your judgement and taste. I feel like the more a person has read, the better they are at discerning good writing and giving things a fair shake. That would be you, for sure. I can’t think of any others I finished that I didn’t like. I started The Book Thief once and couldn’t get into it, but I’m going to give it another chance.
The Selection series- most of the time I can just ignore the sacrificial-lamb female antagonist and just mindlessly enjoy the redundant story line (my bar is low) but this one ended in such a way that i literally threw the book. All that build up with what could have been an interesting ending and she spends it in a closet?!??? Ugh.
I am so with you on the Nutella! I have tried it multiple times and I just don’t think I can ever get on board!
Bleck!
YES to The Goldfinch, Gone Girl, and Out of the Dust. And can we talk about Glennon Doyle Melton for a sec? If you thought Eat, Pray, Love was bad, Love Warrior was a thousand times worse, I thought. I had zero empathy for her and really could not get behind her worldview and way that she approaches solving her marital and relationship problems, and she just seemed super whiny and self-absorbed the whole time.
Also, books I really wanted to like but had a hard time making myself finish them (or didn’t finish them): Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie also, and…dare I say it? Code Name Verity. I know you loved that one though, but I just couldn’t get into it, and I tried like three times. And usually I love historical fiction! No idea what the problem is with that one for me.
Ha! We can still be friends 😉
Ha ha, I had to go back and read your reviews for eat, pray, love and the boy in the stripped pajama. Haven’t read the latter(won’t bother now), can’t remember a thing from eat, pray, love. Other than the fact that Julia Roberts starred in the movie and I didn’t like her in it. Lol. My 2018 book that I hated was, the devil in the white city. Heard so many good things about it, but was a total drag.
Ha! I loved reading your list! Isn’t it funny how different people can read the same thing and have such different reactions? You had a few on here that I 100% agree with and a few that are really on my favorites list. To each his own. 🙂
JANE EYRE. He’s seriously creepy and disturbing. And all the long tirades where he calls her all the weird names and blah blah blah. I don’t get it at all.
I really don’t like the Twilight series. Such bland writing and the use of the same adjectives used over and over. The children’s picture books that I loathe are: Where the Wild Things Are, and The Grouchy Ladybug.
I hated the Twilight series! I only read it because all of the young people around me were reading it, and I wanted to be able to discuss it with them. I thought it was boring, and portrayed women as weak and obsessed with men. Yuck!
Nutella bums me out because chocolate and hazelnut together are magic and it does them such a disservice. Have you tried Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut butter? Expensive but worth it! As for books, it’s a kids book that is on so many lists and I just can’t stand it: Giraffe’s Can’t Dance. Uuuuugh.
The Giver. I’m not a fan of dystopian settings. And the euthanasia of one twin really bothers me, especially as an infertility warrior.
The Hunger Games series. It was just kind of…meh. Same with Divergent and Matched.
Frankenstein. I’ve started it about a dozen times and never been able to finish this tiny book. But! My husband bought me a really cool edition that I can make notes or write definitions of words I don’t know/can’t figure out from context. It also includes the original manuscript.
Wuthering Heights is one I don’t care for (but I love Jane Eyre). Another one people raved about was Ender’s Game, and I just couldn’t get into it. Maze Runner and Miss Peregrine were okay, but I had no desire to read the rest of those series. And I’m a fellow non-lover of Nutella. I’ll take the chocolate but not the hazelnut.
It’s “Grey” ftr. 😉😆
I couldn’t stand some of these as well. A few made for good movies but the books weren’t enjoyable for me.
I just have two hates. Educated. Hated it. Hated all the characters and the situations described in the book. I also hated The a life of Pi. I listened and the cds got out of order, and I didn’t even miss any important things.
So glad to see someone else hated Educated. It was impossible to put down but awful. There was a lot I didn’t like about it, but based on the book, her mom, dad and brother belong in jail.
I couldn’t bring myself to read “Eat, Pray, Love” after seeing Elizabeth Gilbert on Oprah. Dimly-lit center stage, alone, on a stool. As though she were holding court or about to preach to the masses. The latter, I guess. And then my book group selected another of her books “The Remembrance of All Things”. So I read it, reluctantly. And loved it! Who would have guessed? I thought the writing was magnificent and my opinion of Gilbert did a complete turn-around. There have been lots of love/hate selections in my book group and it’s always fun. The most divisive was probably “Confederacy of Dunces”, one of my all-time favorites. We read all 3 of Tartt’s novels and enjoyed them all, finding much to discuss. We’ve also enjoyed several Rushdie.
I totally agree with you on Eat Pray Love and The Maze Runner (although the movie for the latter was pretty good). I thought The Night Circus was beautifully written, but super long and boring. And then having to reread it for another book club after we moved was rough. Some that I haven’t enjoyed are Little Fires Everywhere (hated all the characters) and anything by Kate Morton (super depressing).
I’ve read so many books that I’ve loved, and plenty of books that were meh. I have very few books that I actively disliked.
But let me just tell you. I HATED “The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake”. I cannot emphasize enough how much I hated it. It was bizarre and pointless.
I didn’t hate it but I definitely didn’t like it! It was so weird!! I think I’m just not into magical realism. Also–turning into a chair?!! WTF!
I hate Nutella too 🤮
The two big ones I hated were The Book Thief (stupid plot devices and horrible writing), and A Discovery of Witches (NOTHING HAPPENS!!!!!). Also My Beautiful Friend was terrible!!
Yes yes yes!! The Book Thief is absolutely horrendous, and yet everyone raves about it. It just made me want to read All the Light We Cannot See again!
I never finished The Night Circus or Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Both of them I picked up on audio because I had heard great things about them as audiobooks, but I found my mind wandering. I also 100% agree about not knowing what the plot of the Night Circus, hence the reason for stopping it about 1/3 of the way through.
Girl, Wash Your Face.
Did nothing for me. Can’t believe how many people find it inspirational. Felt like I’ve already discovered all the advice she had to offer for one, and I was really hung up by the way her terrible boyfriend-turned-husband treated her. People change, but that did not sit well with me at all. Have no desire to read the sequel.
Totally agree with you on 9 of the 10 books. I remember liking Jacob I Have Loved when I was a teenager but I haven’t reread it since then so I might agree with you on that book too.
Yessss I HATED The Night Circus! And had real problems with Eat Pray Love. So glad I’m not alone with The Night Circus!
I enjoyed The Night Circus but I have never read any of the other books you listed because none of them even sounded good to me, even Eat Pray Love. I think I liked the Night Circus because it was like modern magic realism, but I can totally see why people don’t like it.
I hate the Diary of Anne Frank and I never finished it. I know it’s real so I shouldn’t hate it, and of course I think she is incredible and her story is tragic and we should know about it. But the diary became unbearable for me and since I knew how it ended, I jetted. I remember taking the bookmark out in order to put the book in a garage sale when I moved out of my parents’ house.
I couldn’t agree more about The Night Circus. I SO wanted to love it, but all I could think about throughout the entire book was how much I did not care about the characters, the circus, or the competition. It was as if everything was supposed to be so mysterious that the reader never gets to know enough to care. I am, however, very familiar with Nutella, and can’t get enough of it! Thanks for your list.
Of all the books that you listed that I’ve read, I TOTALLY agree. The Night Circus; Eat, Pray, Love; Fifty Shades (I did read it and loathed all 3 books…kept waiting to like the main character since everyone in America loved him); The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie…Woof! I thought most just dragged on forever with no point! SO glad to know I’m not alone!
I have two books that I can’t even talk about that I really dislike. Emma is one. I wanted to like it. I just absolutely can’t stand her character. Emma is such a narcissist. The second is Educated. Tara copied so much of the style of The Glass Castle. And so much of it seemed exaggerated. Then I met her brother Luke and was validated about how I felt.
This is me with Where the Crawdads Sing and Elinor Oliphant is Completely fine 😬
Where the Crawdads sing is one of the most overrated books of all time. If you need a laugh, I recommend looking at the one star reviews of it on Goodreads–hilarious.
H.A.T.E.D. where the Crawdads Sing. And may have ranted a little too much to my book club about its awfulness.
This is a great thread! I hated Less. It’s on all the best books lists for last year and it was totally a 1-star review for me. I also agree with Where the Crawdads Sing – I didn’t hate it, but it was just meh. Didn’t live up to the hype at all! I listened to it, which might have been part of the issue, but two friends just read it and felt the same. So interesting!
I’m with you all on most of the books you hate, although Jacob Have I Loved and Sweetnes at the Bottom of the Pie were both OK. And The Goldfinch had its moments, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I hated (DNF) Lonesome Dove and A Prayer for Owen Meany and Ragtime—all supposedly modern classics? Ick. However, the popular book I hated most was Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. That one is in a class by itself—poor writing, pure propaganda, and a horrible ending.
I actually liked most of the books on your list, but agree with Night Circus. Another that I did not enjoy was The Kite Runner. It’s the first book I actually closed and thought about not finishing. Also, I didn’t like Gone Girl. Sadly, I have to say to that I was disappointed with To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, though I LOVED the movies!
I hated Catcher and the Rye or in the Rye. I forget. I also hate the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series (I read them all because FOMO) and The Man in the High Castle.
Your list makes so much sense to my brain, and I agree. I never picked up the second Flavia book. Out of the Dust was excruciating when I first read it in fifth grade, and it didn’t improve at all when I read it as an adult. Boy in the Striped Pajamas is infuriating. And the other books have all been removed from my to read list one by one after I looked in depth at reviews and came to the same conclusions you mentioned. And I’m severely allergic to hazelnuts, so hidden nutella in desserts is my worst nightmare.
“The Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead. I really liked this book until I learned just how much of it was false! The premise of an actual “train” underground is easy enough to embrace as fiction. Maybe I hold historical fiction to a higher standard, however, I believe you have an opportunity to teach your readers something about such a profound topic. When you mismatch actual facts and just willy-nilly create a story, you do a huge disservice to a history that deserves to be told. It was strange to go from really liking a book with a difficult subject and feeling like I learned something along the way, to feeling like I’d been lied to through the entire book.
The Alchemist! Horrible! Couldn’t even get through a chapter. Why does everyone love it?
I’m totally immersed in kids books right now trying to survive the summer with my 3 kids! So the 2 books I can’t get on board with are the Dogman series and Hello, Neighbor. I just don’t get into body humor, and that’s all Dogman is, so that one’s out. But I really couldn’t believe all the glowing reviews about Hello, Neighbor on Amazon—and for kids!! Full disclosure, I never actually read the book from start to finish, but I read enough to know it’s not for us. I kept hoping it wasn’t really about what it seems to be about, but as far as I could tell, it’s exactly what it sounds like. It just seems much to adult to be marketed to kids, and even as an adult I don’t get into dark plot lines like that. But I did just read the Goose Girl per your recommendation and it is a new favorite! I’ve downloaded the last book but haven’t started it yet because I know I won’t be able to put it down and I don’t have time for that right now!! Looking forward to winding down by reading it after a crazy couple of weeks!
I also could not for the life of me get into Miss Peregrine’s home for peculiar children. I got halfway through and gave up. It’s actually the book that caused me to not want to read for a while, it was that uninteresting!
I’ve only read two in this list (Eat Pray Love and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie) and I am totally with you! I feel I can safely avoid the rest of the books on this list now! Thank you!
I’m with you on Eat, Pray, Love – so self centered!
I could not finish Twilight. I’d put it down and be in a bad mood. My husband finally called me out on it. “Why are you so cranky when you stop reading that book?” It’s so poorly written!
Have you ever thought of looking at Sparknotes or one of the other literary reviews before reading a book? It helps a lot with the plot – though there may be spoilers. I have started The Night Circus and also found it pedantic… and litcharts.com goes through it and breaks it down. It’s also about a bunch of selfish people who manipulate others to their own ends… which does not appeal to me in any way. But then I didn’t like The Hobbit either. Can’t do books with children being abused, so most of those books are off the table. Really appreciate the advice, I also have Sweetness at the bottom of the pie on CD, I’ll donate it!!
I HATED We Were Liars. I thought the writing was trying too hard to be poetic, I couldn’t connect to or care about any of the characters, and even though I NEVER guess twists, I guessed this one (which I think says more about my desire to finish the book).
I like the concept of Night Circus. I read it for the second time this year and apparently forgot a lot of it. It was just ok the second time around.
I hated Gone Girl. So much hype, and the ending disappointed me immensely. I don’t know what I expected, but I was not happy when I made it to the end.
Also – Jacob Have I Loved popped into my head this morning for who knows what reason. I haven’t read it since I was a kid. I’m curious to read it again to see how I like it as an adult.
A Wrinkle in time. I read it because I know in America It’s a classic, but actually I didn’t like it. It was just boring and nonsense. Maybe it was the translation (I’m Italian) or maybe I had too much expectations, but it was a huge delusion.
I felt the exact same way about The Night Circus! And boy did I want to love it. I also hated Where the Crawdads Sing… I just don’t love listening to or reading that particular dialect and I felt itchy just reading a book set in an area that’s probably full of mosquitos LOL!
I didn’t like The Time Travelers Wife, after looking forward to it from reviews. I thought the guy was too creepy to go back and forth and date/sleep with his wife at her young ages. Also The Goldfinch was terrible-the characters weren’t like able and I still agonized over their bad choices.
I also hated The Night Circus. I read the entire thing and finished and could not understand how anyone thought it was a beautiful love story. It was tragic and horrific and the treatment of so many characters was beyond reprehensible!
I also hated Wicked. There, I’ve said it! I hate read half of it and got so tired of it that I literally drove to a used book store to sell it back just to have it out of my house.
Loved the Night Circus. Loved Flavia de Luce. Ah well.
I like the Hunger Games.
Didn’t like Nine Perfect Strangers.
I could not finish The Book Thief and did not like All the Light We Cannot See
We must have similar tastes because 4 of those books I just couldn’t read. My brother loves Miss Peregrine and I tried to like it. Nope. Night Circus, (bleh) Jacob I have Loved, and Maze Runner couldn’t get past the description even though everyone loved it. I did read all of the 50 shades – boring. Here’s a bit of sacrilidge- I couldn’t read Harry Potter or the Hunger Games. Maybe I was rebelling against the popularity. My all time worst read The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I love all things vampire and this one – I’ve tried twice – I can’t get past page 50.
I didn’t like We were Liars either. One I really didn’t like that everyone else loved was, a man called Ove. I just really didn’t like it at all! Also I hated Little First Everywhere. Every single character in that book was unlikable.
I LOVED The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie series. Ok, so the first book actually wisn’t the best. I read it and then never read anymore–for like a year, then after the 3rd one I was HOOKED. I loved them. I also loved the Night Circus. I’m with you on some of the others though! Some I didn’t like that everyone else seemed to love were:
The Dutch House (I was so bored)
The Nightingale (or anything by that author) It felt like modern women just went back in time. I like my historicals to feel authentic (another reason I like Flavia)
Me Before You (it was the tone on that one, I thought it was too flippant for the subject matter)
If you did read – and liked – “The Shack”…well, we can’t be friends anymore. Why, why, WHY was this book so popular?
A few years ago, I decided to go back and read some of the “classics” I wasn’t ever assigned to read in school. I started with one that every list of classics said was an incredible coming of age book that should be required reading for every teenager: Catcher in the Rye. What a complete waste of paper. There’s no plot, no point, no likable characters, no lessons learned, no growth; just a boy with no direction or morals roaming around the city making questionable choices. No thanks.
After several readings I realized I do not enjoy Dr Seuss’ books. I especially do not enjoy The Grinch or Green Eggs and Ham. Those VERY promptly got removed from the collection and put into the nearest little free library.
Had to go find the Dave Barry article after reading this post. LOVED IT! Couldn’t make it through 50 Shades either.
Have you tried actually reading in hard copy the night circus? I loved it! I don’t know that I would follow if I listened to it, though.
No – I disliked it so much that I’m not inclined to spend more of my reading time revisiting it.
I’ve read three of the books on this list and loved all three. So I guess I’ll use this as a list of things to read that I’ll probably like! Except for 50 shades. I did attempt that one and threw the book across the wall in the first 10 minutes. Nothing against porn, heck I’d love to read some really good porn. But the journalist sending her roommate to interview someone when she doesn’t know what the f she’s doing?? As a journalist I became so angry I couldn’t go on.
My nasty negative review of Crying at H Mart is still getting likes on goodreads. I have a personal vendetta against all things Suess and I once threw a copy of Jane Hamilton’s The Book of Ruth out the window of a moving car in the rain so no one else would ever read it. I like your list!
Omg…Definitely agree with The Night Circus. I read the hard copy and I thought it dragged on and on and on. I was enjoying enjoying the story initially tho.
I laughed when I saw at the top was 50 Shades of Gray. I mean, it was a good series BUT definitely not worth all the hype it was given. Lol
I found Nights in Rodanthe to be lame, lame, lame. The one book over ebbed read where the movie is MASSIVELY better than the book!
“The one book I’VE EVER read…” Stupid autocorrect.
I hated every page of Lessons in Chemistry and kept reading to see if somehow it all came together. Nope! Too many anachronisms ( e.g., there were no DNA tests in 1962, if a tv host had said she didn’t believe in god hike hosting a cooking sho, she would have been fired IMMEDIATELY ad never called back.) , unbelievable characters ( wildly improbably kindergartner asking to read The Second Sex at age 4 or 5 – whatever.). Oh, and a talking dog. And making coffee in a beaker using chemicals. And the extremely unlikely HR person making a 180 turn in personality …. Ugh. HATED IT.
Catcher in the Rye. I hated it and thought it was pointless. It’s always on top classic books lists and I don’t get it!
The Midnight Library.
Repetitive, predictable, trite. I started to speed read around the middle and knew exactly the direction it was headed. Not sure what made me stick it out to the end! It is a poor portrayal of how to handle depression. Simply appreciating where you are with what you have is not going to lift suicidal thoughts.
I honestly think the only book I’ve ever attempted to read and enjoy because someone said it was good was the twilight series. Granted I’m a middle aged guy (46 right now) and when it came out in 2005 I was 27 but still it had vampires and werewolves so it should have been good. To my surprise, nope, not good. I still own all of the books, I even have a couple of them signed by Stephanie Meyer. I’m just not a fan.
The Virgin River series. Couldn’t even get through the first book. Just trashy romance.
The Alchemist – big nope
The Tatooist of Auschwitz – five star story with one star writing.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo 👎🏻👎🏻
This post is EVERYTHING! Nobody ever talks about books they hate, and I am here for it! And honestly, you’re not alone in your rage about Boy in the Striped Pajamas… avoid at all costs! https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/27/the-boy-in-the-striped-pyjamas-fuels-dangerous-holocaust-fallacies
In kids’ books, I hate The Giving Tree. Oh, give up everything for this selfish and greedy boy-man-child? No thank you. In adult books, I really disliked Go As a River, which tons of people loved. I also hated One’s Company. A book I loved but lots of people hate is The Goldfinch, although I agree it was unnecessarily long.