At Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders. It’s positioned as a master class on Russian short stories from a writer at a prestigious university writing program. But at best was like a high school AP class in a middle class suburb. I learned nothing new and wasn’t given any insight into the stories that I couldn’t have discovered myself. I loved Lincoln in the Bardo and thought it a brilliant masterpiece, but I kind of lost respect for him and doubt I will ever read his short stories acclaimed as they may be.
honey-smile on
House of Sky and Breath.
It’s the second in a series. I read the first one in a day. It’s this awesome fantasy story with a beautifully built out world, great character development, lots of twists – just great.
The second book was mind-numbingly boring and it felt like the entire focus was just on if the main characters were going to have sex or not.
Euphoric_Eye_3599 on
Paulo Coelho – Alchemist. – waste of o
Time.
SaintofSnark on
The Girl on the Train. It got major hyped around when Gone Girl was big. Thought it would be fun and twisty. It’s just dumb and the MC is annoying.
marsisfullofcats on
The year of magical thinking- entitled author, just did not vibe with me
The Housemaid- bad plot
Go as a River- boring descriptions of nature and a very bad plot
The unbearable lightness of being- ugh
And the worst: Girl wash your face by Rachel Hollis- I don’t have words to describe how much I hated it
MegC18 on
Jane Eyre. School made us read this pile of ordure.
Dazzling-Ad4701 on
the corrections by Jonathan Franzen. Ugh. shallow, meretricious crap.
BuffaloEqual500 on
Southern Nights by Barry Gifford
Incoherent, dull, moddish nastiness without any real character development, that thought it was clever but was not.
Justine by the Marquis de Sade. Increasingly nasty masturbatory fantasies linked by passages of equally nasty philosophy.
Attempt_Livid on
I have plenty, but these are the ones that stand out the most:
– These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
The first subplot was far more interesting than the political subplot. I felt so dragged by the plot and the constant lore dumping. And I didn’t connect to the characters because, honestly, they were pretty boring. The story lacks “show-dont-tell” quite often by explaining every single side characters’ backstory. Honestly, I wasn’t connected enough to care.
– If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin
I regretted buying it from the moment I read, “In 3rd grade, I was a feminist.”. Now, I am a feminist but that statement put me off. Yet, I was disappointed that I didn’t cry but rather laughed. The main character was too awful for me to even sympathize with (before people mention that shes a teenager, I was her age not too long ago and even with that, I wouldn’t do half of the things she would do.) >! And the story barely centered around the “he” character in question. It was really forced to me. I swear, if you removed the ending, no one would cry. I didn’t even cry when he died. Sure, I liked him more than bratty MC, but I’m not sure if that’s an achievement. !<
– A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St.Claire
I was so hyped to read this book, only to end up EXTREMELY unsatisfied. I only read it because it had Hades x Persephone in the front cover. Persephone and Hades is my favorite myth. Yet this ended up being one of the worst books I read this year, and I’m glad I didn’t continue it for my mental health. The lore makes no sense. The plot makes no sense. The writing style is kinda boring. Show-and-tell is practically nonexistent. Hades is creepier than his Disney villain counterpart (no offense to that Hades. He’s more charming than this Hades). Persephone was the worst main character I have ever read. She’s surprisingly more unlikeable than Autumn from If He Had Been With Me. Not only that, but I lost a lot of brain cells and patience every time she acts either dumb or like a Karen. I even liked MINTHE more. Her hatred for Persephone is actually justified. Because, hey, if my boss/lover had to deal with an insufferable brat, I would be angry too. I honestly don’t have a single good word to say about this book other than Minthe and the book cover.
Overall, these 3 books are the most notable for me in my regret. I regret actually paying money for these books. I could’ve gotten better books with that money. I could’ve done something more productive, but nooo, I was dumb enough not to look at the red flags. Yeah, if you want my recommendation if you want to read these books, I’ll answer you no. Y’all need to waste your money better.
(I’m sorry to all who like these books for whatever reason but hey, it’s still my opinion, so please be a bit kinder)
thewholeproblem on
American Psycho messed me up for a year I read nothing. Just the empty hollow feeling that book left me with I thought I would never read again. I got it from a like list of 100 books to read before you die and I liked the movie do thought I was prepared but nope. Wish I could scrub it from my brain 🙂
Kwasinomics on
Suicide Club by Rachael Heng is the worst book I’ve read recently. The messages and social commentary are more on-the-nose than your favourite sunglasses. The characters are somewhere between unlikeable and forgettable, I vaguely remember thinking them annoying when I read it circa 4 months ago. The story goes nowhere, nothing really happens, and the ending feels like a real cop-out. I nearly gave up so many times but thought I’d push on, and what a waste of time it was
AuntieDawnsKitchen on
The last 50 pages of Brin’s “Earth.” I should have just stopped.
Livid-Number-725 on
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. Literally wanted to stop being a reader altogether.
chili0ilpalace on
The Mercies. I almost stopped about 1/3 through the book but I kept going and I wish I hadn’t. It’s not that it was bad quality, it’s that I didn’t expect it to be so bleak and enraging. It wasn’t for me.
RiskItForTheBriskit on
The Ring. Genuinely a disgusting, sexist, problematic book. It’s not just about the things the characters do, though they do and say awful and messed up things; it’s the plot, the things taken for granted, the general happenings, how the world works. Vile. I hated it. Very vile.
1984– for the same exact reasons. Hated every minute of it. Every page set me off until the third part where I just wanted to give up on life when the author invalidated the entire message of the book prior. I read it this year, and every time I think about the book I just think to myself “I wish I could erase it from my memory”. I don’t think I’ve ever hated a book this much, truly despise it, except for maybe The Ring. I have nothing positive to say about this book. Even when it’s right it’s wrong.
Like genuinely disgusting books. Are there worse books? Probably. Would that have enticed me to read them? No.
If I want to add a comic book, Batgirl of Burnside for all the same reasons+being boring+lead writer is a sex pest which becomes pretty obvious as you read the story, which is how I found out, because I thought “A normal human didn’t write this” and decided to look it up. I keep the Batgirl of Burnside omnibus on my bookshelf so that I never feel self conscious about my writing again.
Edit: I want to add that people use this defense of Orwell that if he was a sexist, his strong and powerful wife wouldn’t put up with it because she was too badass. What a deranged worldview. Some of the women who are the foundation of modern feminism were in outright abusive relationships. To this day strong women end up in abusive relationships. I’m sure his wife probably wouldn’t have divorced him for being an ass since it’s SO NORMAL AMONG THESE GUYS.
NotNathyPeluso on
Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Put me off the classics for a while. So boring yet tragic at the same time.
Fluffyknickers on
The God of Small Things by Arudhati Roy
Don’t get me wrong – this is an excellent book. Beautiful prose, cleverly plotted, unique timeline, strong dialogue, multi-faceted characters. But it’s deeply depressing, and as I was on the verge of falling into depression myself at the time, it actually just tipped me right on over, and it took months to climb back out. Probably I would have ended up there anyway, but that book is forever ruined for me because of where I was at that time in my life.
DurhamBulls24 on
The Martian and Project Hail Mary. Wanted to like them both but found them arduous; and the dialogue was often trite (the ideas were fascinating though).
evroniano on
Any book by Blake Crouch, who, funnily enough, is often recommended in this sub
A_Gerl5 on
Where the Crawdads Sing. Will forever be the most overhyped for me.
keizmi on
We Were Liars, I found the writing annoying and just didn’t like it
Victorian_Cowgirl on
Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry.
I really hated most of it. Parts of it could have made a good, completely separate book. The series should have ended with Lonesome Dove.
orangedpm on
Man vs child by Doug Moe. It’s just a terrible book.
24 Comments
Verity. The ending was horrible.
At Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders. It’s positioned as a master class on Russian short stories from a writer at a prestigious university writing program. But at best was like a high school AP class in a middle class suburb. I learned nothing new and wasn’t given any insight into the stories that I couldn’t have discovered myself. I loved Lincoln in the Bardo and thought it a brilliant masterpiece, but I kind of lost respect for him and doubt I will ever read his short stories acclaimed as they may be.
House of Sky and Breath.
It’s the second in a series. I read the first one in a day. It’s this awesome fantasy story with a beautifully built out world, great character development, lots of twists – just great.
The second book was mind-numbingly boring and it felt like the entire focus was just on if the main characters were going to have sex or not.
Paulo Coelho – Alchemist. – waste of o
Time.
The Girl on the Train. It got major hyped around when Gone Girl was big. Thought it would be fun and twisty. It’s just dumb and the MC is annoying.
The year of magical thinking- entitled author, just did not vibe with me
The Housemaid- bad plot
Go as a River- boring descriptions of nature and a very bad plot
The unbearable lightness of being- ugh
And the worst: Girl wash your face by Rachel Hollis- I don’t have words to describe how much I hated it
Jane Eyre. School made us read this pile of ordure.
the corrections by Jonathan Franzen. Ugh. shallow, meretricious crap.
Southern Nights by Barry Gifford
Incoherent, dull, moddish nastiness without any real character development, that thought it was clever but was not.
Justine by the Marquis de Sade. Increasingly nasty masturbatory fantasies linked by passages of equally nasty philosophy.
I have plenty, but these are the ones that stand out the most:
– These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
The first subplot was far more interesting than the political subplot. I felt so dragged by the plot and the constant lore dumping. And I didn’t connect to the characters because, honestly, they were pretty boring. The story lacks “show-dont-tell” quite often by explaining every single side characters’ backstory. Honestly, I wasn’t connected enough to care.
– If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin
I regretted buying it from the moment I read, “In 3rd grade, I was a feminist.”. Now, I am a feminist but that statement put me off. Yet, I was disappointed that I didn’t cry but rather laughed. The main character was too awful for me to even sympathize with (before people mention that shes a teenager, I was her age not too long ago and even with that, I wouldn’t do half of the things she would do.) >! And the story barely centered around the “he” character in question. It was really forced to me. I swear, if you removed the ending, no one would cry. I didn’t even cry when he died. Sure, I liked him more than bratty MC, but I’m not sure if that’s an achievement. !<
– A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St.Claire
I was so hyped to read this book, only to end up EXTREMELY unsatisfied. I only read it because it had Hades x Persephone in the front cover. Persephone and Hades is my favorite myth. Yet this ended up being one of the worst books I read this year, and I’m glad I didn’t continue it for my mental health. The lore makes no sense. The plot makes no sense. The writing style is kinda boring. Show-and-tell is practically nonexistent. Hades is creepier than his Disney villain counterpart (no offense to that Hades. He’s more charming than this Hades). Persephone was the worst main character I have ever read. She’s surprisingly more unlikeable than Autumn from If He Had Been With Me. Not only that, but I lost a lot of brain cells and patience every time she acts either dumb or like a Karen. I even liked MINTHE more. Her hatred for Persephone is actually justified. Because, hey, if my boss/lover had to deal with an insufferable brat, I would be angry too. I honestly don’t have a single good word to say about this book other than Minthe and the book cover.
Overall, these 3 books are the most notable for me in my regret. I regret actually paying money for these books. I could’ve gotten better books with that money. I could’ve done something more productive, but nooo, I was dumb enough not to look at the red flags. Yeah, if you want my recommendation if you want to read these books, I’ll answer you no. Y’all need to waste your money better.
(I’m sorry to all who like these books for whatever reason but hey, it’s still my opinion, so please be a bit kinder)
American Psycho messed me up for a year I read nothing. Just the empty hollow feeling that book left me with I thought I would never read again. I got it from a like list of 100 books to read before you die and I liked the movie do thought I was prepared but nope. Wish I could scrub it from my brain 🙂
Suicide Club by Rachael Heng is the worst book I’ve read recently. The messages and social commentary are more on-the-nose than your favourite sunglasses. The characters are somewhere between unlikeable and forgettable, I vaguely remember thinking them annoying when I read it circa 4 months ago. The story goes nowhere, nothing really happens, and the ending feels like a real cop-out. I nearly gave up so many times but thought I’d push on, and what a waste of time it was
The last 50 pages of Brin’s “Earth.” I should have just stopped.
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. Literally wanted to stop being a reader altogether.
The Mercies. I almost stopped about 1/3 through the book but I kept going and I wish I hadn’t. It’s not that it was bad quality, it’s that I didn’t expect it to be so bleak and enraging. It wasn’t for me.
The Ring. Genuinely a disgusting, sexist, problematic book. It’s not just about the things the characters do, though they do and say awful and messed up things; it’s the plot, the things taken for granted, the general happenings, how the world works. Vile. I hated it. Very vile.
1984– for the same exact reasons. Hated every minute of it. Every page set me off until the third part where I just wanted to give up on life when the author invalidated the entire message of the book prior. I read it this year, and every time I think about the book I just think to myself “I wish I could erase it from my memory”. I don’t think I’ve ever hated a book this much, truly despise it, except for maybe The Ring. I have nothing positive to say about this book. Even when it’s right it’s wrong.
Like genuinely disgusting books. Are there worse books? Probably. Would that have enticed me to read them? No.
If I want to add a comic book, Batgirl of Burnside for all the same reasons+being boring+lead writer is a sex pest which becomes pretty obvious as you read the story, which is how I found out, because I thought “A normal human didn’t write this” and decided to look it up. I keep the Batgirl of Burnside omnibus on my bookshelf so that I never feel self conscious about my writing again.
Edit: I want to add that people use this defense of Orwell that if he was a sexist, his strong and powerful wife wouldn’t put up with it because she was too badass. What a deranged worldview. Some of the women who are the foundation of modern feminism were in outright abusive relationships. To this day strong women end up in abusive relationships. I’m sure his wife probably wouldn’t have divorced him for being an ass since it’s SO NORMAL AMONG THESE GUYS.
Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Put me off the classics for a while. So boring yet tragic at the same time.
The God of Small Things by Arudhati Roy
Don’t get me wrong – this is an excellent book. Beautiful prose, cleverly plotted, unique timeline, strong dialogue, multi-faceted characters. But it’s deeply depressing, and as I was on the verge of falling into depression myself at the time, it actually just tipped me right on over, and it took months to climb back out. Probably I would have ended up there anyway, but that book is forever ruined for me because of where I was at that time in my life.
The Martian and Project Hail Mary. Wanted to like them both but found them arduous; and the dialogue was often trite (the ideas were fascinating though).
Any book by Blake Crouch, who, funnily enough, is often recommended in this sub
Where the Crawdads Sing. Will forever be the most overhyped for me.
We Were Liars, I found the writing annoying and just didn’t like it
Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry.
I really hated most of it. Parts of it could have made a good, completely separate book. The series should have ended with Lonesome Dove.
Man vs child by Doug Moe. It’s just a terrible book.