Yesterday, I wrote a post about trusting yourself and your judgement about books. I said that it was okay to have different reactions to books than other people, and that it's okay to dislike books that everyone else loved.
In the comments section of the post, I got asked if any specific books had prompted this feel-good affirmation. In response, I listed a few titles.
Now the floodgates have opened. I've gotten several interesting comments from people relieved to admit their dislike of popular books.
Do you have a few titles that don't really do it for you that you'd like to get off your chest? Feel free to share.
This isn't the first time I've admitted things on this blog. Here's my confession about having never read a well-known book, and here's another one about the fact that I've stopped reading adult books.
I really really really dislike Octavian Nothing. But I haven't tried to hide that fact.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time though it's that I just have a complete disinterest--a heh response--to books getting all the praise and glory.
I completely forgot how much I disliked Tamar. :)
ReplyDeleteJust off the top of my head, I was not off my head with love over Angela's Ashes. I read it, it was compelling, but I failed to spot the humor that everyone else raved about. More recently, I simply have not been able to get past the first page of Eragon. "Vermillion eyes?" Ugh!
ReplyDeleteThese days, I feel like such a literary curmudgeon. I'll read glowing reviews by bloggers I respect (because I read what the bloggers tell me to read!), only to get the books and feel nothing more profound than indifference to the stories.
Heh - I listened to Eragon on tape and had to bring it back to the library before it was done. I wasn't sad.
ReplyDeleteI was also amused that it was in theater's for about a minute and a half and then went to video....
My mother forced me to read The Poisonwood Bible and swore that I would love it. Hated it! I gave up in the middle of the book.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many books that got rave reviews (by bloggers, anyway) that I felt lukewarm about I don't even want to start listing them, because I'll sound like a pompous, picky jerk. So I'll limit it to one: Moxy Maxwell Does Not Like Stuart Little. Everything about it to me screamed, "This author is trying to be hilarious!" I couldn't get the hilarious everyone else got without feeling the "trying" out of my mind. And I realize this is tied into my personal sense of humor. But. There it is. Celerysoda Does Not Like Moxy Maxwell Does Not Like Stuart Little.
ReplyDeleteThat was supposed to say, "I couldn't get the hilariousness everyone else got without hearing that 'trying' in my mind."
ReplyDeleteI will try to make this my last confession. Though my book readers soul feels so good don't know if I can stop.
ReplyDeletellama llama Red Pajama, and its sequel. I just don't get it
Skulduggery Pleasant- I loved the first few chapters. The back n forth between Skulduggery and Stephanie was funny, different and interesting. It lost me somewhere in the middle. All characters voices started sounding similar to me. Everyone had cynical deanpan responses and oneliners. I tired of the characters quickly and could no longer enjoy the story line.
Doret
Evil Genius. Eggs. Eragon (and subsequent books). Cold Mountain. Angela's Ashes. Kite Runner. (There are more, but this is what I can think of off the top of my head.) Sometimes I feel guilty about not liking books everyone else likes, but mostly I don't.
ReplyDelete