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 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.
I *LISTENED* to Wicked…and finished it because I thought I was missing something. It got so many accolades, etc., and I STILL don’t know why people think it is so great. It’s heinous. It is 400 pages too long of a great concept, but terribly executed. This is a book that did not need to be written. UGH.
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.