Hi everyone,
I understand that this might stretch the rules of this sub, but I don’t think there’s another sub that let’s me ask specifically for suggestions (even if they are “negative” ones).
I want to hear about the books that you passionately dislike or that just fall short of their hype!
(reason: my reading list is way way too long and this will help me prioritize!)
by MikasaMinerva
14 Comments
Post your reading list
I enjoyed lonesome dove but people on here act like it’s the best book ever and it’s really not. If you love westerns by all means give it a shot but if you want a richer experience read Cormac McCarthys border trilogy and blood meridian, all 4 of those books total is only slightly longer than lonesome dove and it is a much stronger product.
Project Hail Mary is fun enough for the right person, but is draaaastically over-hyped. It’s not *bad* to read it by any means. It’s just…it doesn’t actually need to be a priority if your list is long, is all.
It would be easier to give advice if you posted your reading list though.
Project Hail Mary, the Count of Monte cristo, the alchemist, true grit.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Starts out great and then turns in to a rambling mess.
“The turn of the screw” I swear to god each sentence is a whole paragraph.
Guards, Guards by Terry Pratchett. I love the Discworld novels and have never gotten the overwhelming love for this particular book out of all of them. It’s often cited as the book people who haven’t tried Pratchett should read, and I… don’t get it. Overrated. Not bad, just… there.
Blake Crouch is a terrible writer. Ditto Max Brooks.
As much as I want to love Chuck Palahniuk books, the only one worth reading is Haunted. Most aren’t terrible, but they’re not nearly as good as they should/could be.
House in the Cerulean Sea–abandoned early on–just wasn’t my kind of book.
Social Creature–important plot points were just weak, not believable.
“If We Were Villains” a Secret History wannabe but kinda clunky.
The Secret Life of Oscar Woo–just couldn’t get into it.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell–didn’t hold my attention.
Night Film–also didn’t hold my attention.
*House in the Cerulean Sea* and *The Midnight Library* are both popular, but they read to me like contrived after-school-specials. I felt like the ‘morals’ were hitting me over the head.
I have never really gotten into a Neil Gaiman book.
I fall into the camp that hated *Where the Crawdad Sings.*
100 years of Solitude is just 1000 pages of Aurelio. Boooorrrinng. Read Love in the time of Cholera instead.
Edit : also The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo- just so badly written
Wool – nice premise but I found it intensely boring
Hopeless by Colleen Hoover – biggest load of drivel I’ve ever read
Divergent – cringey teen nonsense
The Name of the Wind – don’t understand the hype at all, the main character is a smug git
„Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow“ by Gabrielle Zevin. I think the author took some main core ideas of other books and mixed it all together. It was kinda very predictable and where you thought like „riiiggggghhhhht“ when another „crazy“ thing happened. Didn’t like it as much.
Gravity’s Rainbow – just don’t do it.