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.
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!