Books everyone thinks are great but you hated (and vice versa)

[frogwoman]

Recently I read a book that almost universally gets 5 star reviews but I thought it was possibly the worst book that I've read in my life, to the extent that it made me angry to read it. I am also surprised by the negative ratings some of my favourite books get - even though I can see some of the criticisms in some cases, I can overlook them, or even think that to me what the person was criticising was part of what makes the book great.

This made me think about what makes a book 'good' or 'bad'. Is it the writing? I can overlook bad writing if the story is that good, and I tend to dislike books where the style is overly 'literary' because the long words used end up distracting me from the story. However, there are definitely exceptions to this. I also tend to avoid rereading books and part of that is sometimes because I'm worried it won't be as good as I remembered the second time around. What does everyone else think?

 

[danny la rouge]

That bullfighting book is a heap of shite.

Spoiler

Death in the Afternoon. Hemingway. Just never liked his writing. And he’s wrong. The prick.

 

[frogwoman]

That bullfighting book is a heap of shite.

Spoiler

Death in the Afternoon. Hemingway. Just never liked his writing. And he’s wrong. The prick.

You gave me a fright there

I haven't actually read that one tbh but I do reference it in an ironic manner.

 

[danny la rouge]

You gave me a fright there

I haven't actually read that one tbh but I do reference it in an ironic manner.

I don’t rate him at all. I’ve read several of his books. Including For Whom the Bell Tolls. And keeps on and on and on tolling. Some I couldn’t finish. I don’t know why, because I like the theory of his style: keep it simple. But he just bores the bejaysus out of me. Classic or not.

 

[petee]

i put off Moby Dick for many years, becuase it came with such a reputation that i thought my soul would be shaken by reading it. then i read it - or much of it, i skipped a few hundred pages becuase i found it to be spissous tosh. when i got to the "dramatic" ending i just wanted it to be over.

when i voiced this opinion (elsewhere) i was met with enthusiatic agreement.

 

[souljacker]

I really like Richard Osman so was really keen to read the Thursday murder club, especially as a few people had said it was excellent.

But it wasn't. It was like a terrible version of the already terrible midsomer murders. I'm still angry about how bad it was.

 

[frogwoman]

I really like Richard Osman so was really keen to read the Thursday murder club, especially as a few people had said it was excellent.

But it wasn't. It was like a terrible version of the already terrible midsomer murders. I'm still angry about how bad it was.

I've been thinking about reading that one and now I kinda think I won't bother

 

[danny la rouge]

I've been thinking about reading that one and now I kinda think I won't bother

Yeah Mrs LR read it. We both like Sunday evening cozy detective stories, but she doesn’t recommend it.

 

[MickiQ]

The Bible

 

[souljacker]

I've been thinking about reading that one and now I kinda think I won't bother

Just because I hated it doesn't mean you will. But fuck me it was terrible!

 

[QueenOfGoths]

I really like Richard Osman so was really keen to read the Thursday murder club, especially as a few people had said it was excellent.

But it wasn't. It was like a terrible version of the already terrible midsomer murders. I'm still angry about how bad it was.

I hated that too. Intensely!

 

[frogwoman]

Just because I hated it doesn't mean you will. But fuck me it was terrible!

I'd be interested in hearing why. I like reading 1 star rants on goodreads.

 

[Pickman's model]

Pride and prejudice, not to mention sense and sensibility

 

[souljacker]

I'd be interested in hearing why. I like reading 1 star rants on goodreads.

It was just bad detective fiction with really stereotypical characters and a transparent plot. Everyone in it was totally forgettable. I expected a lot more from a man with Osman's intelligence.

 

[frogwoman]

It was just bad detective fiction with really stereotypical characters and a transparent plot. Everyone in it was totally forgettable. I expected a lot more from a man with Osman's intelligence.

I know the kind of thing you mean, and I read a lot of thrillers

 

[[62]]

Probably a bit niche, so we're talking everyone similarly interested rather 'everyone', but Monolithic Undertow: In Search of Sonic Oblivion by Harry Sword is, as the title suggests, the biggest load of pretentious, indulgent shite I've ever read. Actually made me angry, although by the end I was glad that some of my favourite exponents of drone music who I would have thought of as quite pivotal to its development were missed out completely. I'd hate to have them tarnished by this meandering drivel. Probably the biggest indictment was that in all of its 500 pages or however much it was I learned next to nothing new about the musicians covered. No real insight at all.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

It was just bad detective fiction with really stereotypical characters and a transparent plot. Everyone in it was totally forgettable. I expected a lot more from a man with Osman's intelligence.

Same here. I do sometimes like so called 'cosy' crime thrillers but this wasn't cosy just lazy.

 

[scifisam]

I really disliked The Goldfinch. The main character was just too unlikeable for me to manage to continue the story, and the side characters were one dimensional, and it just went on and on and on and on. "Oh, whose life is he going to casually fuck up next?"

 

[Steel Icarus]

The Great Gatsby. Tedious waffle written as if Fitzgerald was being paid by the comma.

 

[Saffy]

Same here. I do sometimes like so called 'cosy' crime thrillers but this wasn't cosy just lazy.

I love a 'cosy' crime thriller but I couldn't even read the first chapter. I really tried to get through it but it was just awful.

 

[nightowl]

i put off Moby Dick for many years, becuase it came with such a reputation that i thought my soul would be shaken by reading it. then i read it - or much of it, i skipped a few hundred pages becuase i found it to be spissous tosh. when i got to the "dramatic" ending i just wanted it to be over.

when i voiced this opinion (elsewhere) i was met with enthusiatic agreement.

Couldn't get into it at all. Found it very dull.

 

[frogwoman]

Same here. I do sometimes like so called 'cosy' crime thrillers but this wasn't cosy just lazy.

What defines a cosy crime? It's always a bit odd to me that books that involve murder are placed in this category tbh. Agatha Christie's books have been called cosy crime but some of them are really quite dark.

 

[frogwoman]

The Great Gatsby. Tedious waffle written as if Fitzgerald was being paid by the comma.

I've never read many 'classics' and heard this one was good and planned to read it.

 

[scifisam]

I quite liked Osman's first couple of books (haven't read them all). They're not high quality, but compared to a lot in that genre, they are pretty good. Some "cosy crime" books make me embarrassed to have had eyes to read them with.

 

[frogwoman]

I quite liked Osman's first couple of books (haven't read them all). They're not high quality, but compared to a lot in that genre, they are pretty good. Some "cosy crime" books make me embarrassed to have had eyes to read them with.

Yeah I don't understand what's cosy about a book that has a murder in it. If the book is funny etc and doesn't have much explicit violence, then that's fine, but I really don't get that as a description and think that as the name for the genre sounds a bit cringey

 

[Brainaddict]

Anything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez but in particular Love in the Time of Cholera, which is the worst, most contrived, most patriarchal rubbish ever passed off as good literature.

 

[Orang Utan]

The Great Gatsby. Tedious waffle written as if Fitzgerald was being paid by the comma.

Waffle? It’s a short book, with not a word wasted.

 

[marshall]

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow, Capt Correlli's Mandolin...just didn't get the fuss

 

[Mattym]

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow, Capt Correlli's Mandolin...just didn't get the fuss

I've read every de Bernieres other than that & love them but could never bring myself to read that.

 

[Cloo]

'Lessons in Chemistry' I didn't like - just trying too hard to be whimsical and a lot of language and attitudes that were far too modern to not feel jarring for the 50s

'Where the Crawdads Sing' was rubbish as well - again attitudes and occurences that just seemed daftly unrealistic and really pulled me out of the story.

I'm not sure I've liked any generally disliked book.