Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Should Have Abandoned

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! I'm doing a twist on this week's topic, which was supposed to be the last ten books we abandoned. While I judge no one else for not wasting their reading time on something they're not enjoying, I am a never-DNF type. Even I, though, will admit that sometimes I probably would have been better off throwing in the towel. Here are ten books that I found so bad I should have just put them down forever.



The Perfect Son: I did not know it was possible to have so many cliches in one book.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek: Turns out I just really don't like reading about people having feelings about nature/the outdoors.

Whores of the Devil: This survey of accused witches and heretics throughout history seemed like the kind of thing that I would enjoy but the author wrote in such a lurid fashion based on sketchy details and it was incredibly off-putting.

Catch-22: I often don't care for satires, and this was no exception. It has one joke (war is ridiculous!) and doesn't go anywhere for hundreds and hundreds of pages.

Soon the Light Will be Perfect: This book is pretty short but tries to balance way too many plots and feels like a draft that needed real work.

Empire Falls: I had high hopes for this Pultizer-winning family drama but it was just awful. Misogyny and lots of feelings about "real America" and a sensationalized school shooting subplot...just a mess.

The Man in the High Castle: I wanted a story and got mostly a thought experiment. It wasn't completely without interest, but I did not care about any of the characters or what happened to them.

Good Riddance: This was supposed to be a light-hearted comedy but was just offensivelydumb.

Ready Player One: This book had such hype, and was so mediocre and boring.

Shantaram: I hated this book almost immediately, and unfortunately it's pretty lengthy. I eventually got into a kind of hate-reading groove that let me finish it, but I wish I had just stopped reading it.

10 comments:

  1. Totally get the vibe about Ready Player One... I was actually a fan when it originally came out, mainly due to the pop culture references, but after the mess of the movie, I don't think it would read the same. And I have picked up and put down Pilgrim at Tinker Creek twice!!! I'm a big fan of Annie Dillard's memoir, American Childhood, so I guess I felt obligated to continue. But maybe, after reading your take, I should just give it up! :)

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    1. I've never tried other Dillard, but I am just not a nature/wilderness memoir person so it was just never going to be for me. I did enjoy the pop culture references in RP1, but it felt like that's all it was, just references pasted on to an extremely basic story

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  2. I didn't like Catch-22 either.

    My TTT .

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    1. I generally like classics, but this one really didn't work for me

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  3. I probably would have given up on RP1 if I hadn't listened to it. I ended up really enjoying it that way.

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    1. I could totally see how it would work better as a story being told over audio!

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  4. I like your twist on the topic. Couldn't agree more on Catch-22. And honestly, as someone who has bought multiple yearbooks full of writing at estate sales while being baffled as to why their family does not consider these to be priceless heirlooms, I couldn't get past the premise of Good Riddance long enough to start it. And then I read a bunch of reviews that convinced me I absolutely would not have a good time with it. (Including but not limited to the fact that there is no shortage of TV shows that shoot in NY, or the author could have made one up -- why would you not choose one of those for the actor neighbor to be on?? Does this author know what an extra IS?)

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    1. Good Riddance was truly awful! I could see ditching a yearbook in a fit of uncluttering, but literally everything else about it was either implausible or fell completely flat. I read it when I was really looking for something light and funny and just got mad about how bad it was instead!

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  5. I thought Ready Player One was a lot of fun and I liked Empire Falls (though I can't remember it) but I HATED Catch-22 SO MUCH. I finished it because it was for a book group but ugh.

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    1. I'm glad I'm getting so much agreement on my disdain for Catch-22. Sometimes I feel like I just don't "get" satire but it sounds like this one just really did not work for SO MANY people!

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