Books you dislike, but everyone else likes

[freelantzer]

Originally Posted by HPitty23

However, I did have another reason why I didn't like this book. Krakauer completely depicted Chris as a hero and martyr of sorts. His narrative on the subject made my skin crawl because it wasn't objective. I wanted the straight up story, not the narrator's opinion of Chris.

Krakauer was definitely not unbiased. I still like the book, though.

[lvngbooks]

I add to the pile: Nightshade by Andrea Cremer.

I started reading it because the cover was pretty and the synopsis sounded great - plus everyone was excited about it and told me it was good.

Well, I couldn't even finish the darn thing. And I hate not finishing books because I can't stand the fact that I don't know the ending. But I just couldn't keep reading. The love triangle was too prominent and was bothering me so much that I wanted to throw the book out of the window.

[BlueScarecrow]

I love Stephen King books, but I didn't like Carrie much.

Don't know why really. But then again, I do prefer his longer books to his shorter ones.

[Schlubalybub]

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I read it for A level English and everyone in the class was raving about it, saying how well written it was, and how it was really exciting, you know, the whole travel to see Kurtz, but oh dear, I hated it. I found it so dull, and I remember on more than one occasion zoning out in the class. And trying to read it at home was a nightmare. I can usually concentrate on books when there are other things going on- TVs, other people, music etc, but that wasn't working, so I tried it in silence and I found that worse- I re-read it the week leading up to my exam and I threw it across the room in my frustration and burst into tears. I didn't know how I was going to get on with the exam, as it was a closed book exam, and even though in the year leading up to it, I read it at least three times, nothing went in. I even tried watching Apocalypse Now to see if that would help because it's the same basic story, but I fell asleep...

I didn't do very well in that exam, and it dragged my whole grade for the two years down...stupid book

[Quickquill]

Originally Posted by MmeBergerac

[b]


The Iliad. I acknowledged, at 17, that when I was very young when I first read and dropped it (13 years old! yes, I'm that nerd)

Moby Dick. I thought C'mon, you must have missed something! It's impossible it is really that boring.

5. Do you feel it is worthwhile to give disliked books a second chance?

Yes, especially if you were very one at the first reading. It worked for the Iliad... though not for Moby Dick; it was really that boring.

I'm not in the least surprised. Not everybody is appreciative of long poems, and your enjoyment of the Iliad may have been influenced by the quality of the translation you chose to read.

As for Moby Dick, yes it really is that boring. I wouldn't reccommend it to anyone under the age of 17, and preferably 20 or older. Ditto for Gulliver's Travels. The first time I tried to read the unabridged version I was in 4th grade and the librarian warned me that I shouldn't attempt it until 7th grade. Even in 7th grade it was sheer stubborness that got me through the book. There were long digressions where he wrote about his opinion of human society which I might enjoy now, but which were fairly boring then.

I also enjoyed an abridged version of Vanity Fair as a child, but couldn't get through the unabridged version as an adult. Maybe I just didn't devote enough time to it.

I hated Madame Bovary, and Ethan Frome when I had to read them in High School, and I doubt that I will ever give either of them a second chance.

Originally Posted by BlueScarecrow

I love Stephen King books, but I didn't like Carrie much.

Don't know why really. But then again, I do prefer his longer books to his shorter ones.

I'm not a fan of books that are likely to give me nightmares, so I admit not having read "Carrie" but my husband loved both the movie and the book.

[Goddess_Clio]

Originally Posted by HPitty23

The "Twilight" series. Honestly, at first, they weren't that bad. And then I realized there was literally no message behind the books. I can't even apply a true love theme to this, because of Bella's actions. I've read the entire series and I dislike every book in it. I don't think I will ever understand the fandom behind this.

Oh, no. There's a message: Girls, don't think for yourselves, just blindly fall "in love" with the most beautiful boy who'll have you and then submit to his every whim. (I'm being facetious here but honestly the message I found in the books was a very mormon one - the man is the head of the house, he is the gateway to all things good, you must submit to and obey him in order to gain access to eternal life)

Hated Twilight but I will go to my grave lamenting that there was a good idea there it was just written terribly with horrible characters, virtually no plot and just plain bad writing.

Add The Hunger Games trilogy to the list for me. The first book is interesting, I'll admit, but the second gets repetitive and the third is just strange. The writing leaves a lot to be desired, it is clunky and plot points are telegraphed pages ahead of time, the romance is completely fake and I'm surprised even the gullible people of the Capitol buy Katniss's terrible delivery, the character of Katniss is very uneven and unlikable for me, Peeta is way too clingy, Gale is better but still only verging on just okay as a character for me, Haymitch is kind of interesting but the person in the books I was most interested in is President Snow and his story.

I will also throw my lot in with the LOTR haters. I adore the movies because they took all the best parts from the books and put them on screen while leaving all the boring description and lengthy pages of walking and walking and walking behind. I have read the books several times (and struggle through them) but I still have never gotten past the end chapter where the hobbits return to the shire and find it infested with orcs. Boring and anti-climactic, so much so that I consistently put the book down at this point so the actual end of the movie where Frodo go to the Grey Havens with the elves was a huge surprise to me. I do love ther part of the books where Frodo is paralyzed by Shelob and Sam takes the ring in order to carry on the mission only to discover that Frodo isn't dead. I agree with a previous poster, though, that even the audiobooks are hard to get through.

Oh, and Wuthering Heights. I just don't get what people like about this book.

The ones that sadden me about not liking are Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility by Austen. I love the film adaptions of these but I stuggle through the books. It took be about 6 months to read Sense and Sensibility (and I read it every day) because I would pick it up, read a page and fall asleep. Pick it up, read a page and fall asleep. Love Pride and Prejudice, though.

[HPitty23]

Originally Posted by Goddess_Clio

Oh, no. There's a message: Girls, don't think for yourselves, just blindly fall "in love" with the most beautiful boy who'll have you and then submit to his every whim. (I'm being facetious here but honestly the message I found in the books was a very mormon one - the man is the head of the house, he is the gateway to all things good, you must submit to and obey him in order to gain access to eternal life)

Hated Twilight but I will go to my grave lamenting that there was a good idea there it was just written terribly with horrible characters, virtually no plot and just plain bad writing.

Ah, there we go. I knew there had to be some sort of a message there. But yes, I agree with you that it started off as a good idea, but it just terribly fell to pieces.


I've come across another book that I dislike, but everyone else I know liked. Life As We Knew It by Susan Pfeffer. I just was not a fan of this book at all. The writing style was too simplistic, maybe, or perhaps I just thought it was boring and not very thrilling for a end of the world type book. It's just something I couldn't get into.

[Goddess_Clio]

Originally Posted by HPitty23

Ah, there we go. I knew there had to be some sort of a message there. But yes, I agree with you that it started off as a good idea, but it just terribly fell to pieces.

And this is aside from the fact that Edward is actually just a mormonized, Emo version of Louis from Interview with the Vampire - he doesn't want to lose his humanity, he refuses to drink the blood of humans for moral reasons (something Louis eventually gives up), he's tied to his vampire family whether he loves them or not, etc. The Volturi (I don't know how to spell it, I had the book in audio format so I never actually read it ) are just a different version of the Theatres des Vampires which is the old-world strong hold of the civilized old world vampires...

Save yourself a lot of trouble and just read Interview with the Vampire and imagine Louis falling in love with a human.

[asdfasdf17]

1. What books do you dislike, but everyone else likes?
Divergent by Veronica Roth (to be fair though, I haven't read Insurgent, the sequel to Divergent, so I can't judge the whole series).

2. Why do you not like the book that everyone likes? What was your opinion on the book?
I really like dystopian ficiton YA books but I guess I've read so many that I've become a lot more critical on them. Although the idea that Divergent is based on is interesting (i.e the different factions in society), I personally felt the book wasn't fleshed out that great. The characters and their relationships with each other were not well-developed IMO.

Spoiler: show

When the death scenes happened (Al and Will) I didn't even feel sad or upset over their deaths because as a reader, I never felt connected to them.

The romance between the protagonist and the love interest didn't feel real to me either. The other con was the plot. There were really interesting plot points but I felt like there was too much action and not enough 'break' time.
But I have heard that Insurgent is less action-based and more character-development based so I might actually like the second book more, if I give it a chance.

3. Can a hyped-up book/series actually nurture that rare breed that you are in not liking it?

I think every good book/series will have fans and critics.

4. Have you ever given a previously (or still) disliked book a second chance, lest you missed something or just read too fast to appreciate? Why/why not?

I'm not really into rereading books/series unless I absolutely love them (like the HP series!). So no, I guess I don't really give it a second chance because its hard to appreciate something once you've convinced yourself you don't like it. But like I said, Insurgent might be something I like so I might give it a chance.

5. Do you feel it is worthwhile to give disliked books a second chance?

If you have an open-mind and your willing to, than yes it is because you might find a reason to like the book. Unfortunately, I'm not that open-minded!

6. Are there any books you have disliked on the first read that you feel you might give a second chance to? Why/why not?

The Little Prince! When I first read it I didn't really like/understand the story but I ended up reading it again at a later time and now its my favorite book.