These are books I very much did not enjoy reading and did not consider to be successfully executed. I would not recommend other readers pick these up.
Campbell, Joseph: Creative Mythology
Cline, Ernest: Ready Player One
Donoghue, Emma: The Wonder
Eggers, Dave: The Circle
Farley, Christina: Gilded
Goldman, William: Boys And Girls Together
Healey, Sarah: The Sisters Chase
Horn, Stacy: Unbelievable
Jacobson, Howard: Shylock Is My Name
Letham, Jonathan: Motherless Brooklyn
Lloyd, Heather: My Name Is Venus Black
McKenzie, Catherine: Hidden
Moor, Robert: On Trails
O'Bannon, Ed: Court Justice
Potzsch, Oliver: The Hangman's Daughter
Schwartz, John Burnham: Reservation Road
Semple, Maria: Where'd You Go, Bernadette?
Stone, Michel: Border Child
Updike, John: The Witches of Eastwick
Waller, Douglas: Wild Bill Donovan
Winters, Cat: Yesternight
Wolfe, Tom: The Bonfire of the Vanities
Yen, Anna: Sophia of Silicon Valley
These books are just okay. They're successful in some aspects, unsuccessful in others. These are the books I tend to forget the most, because I don't have strong feelings about them. I don't usually take a stance on recommendations for these books, because they're not good enough to affirmatively recommend and not bad enough that I think they're a waste of time.
Abbott, Megan: Die A Little; The Fever
Adcock, Siobhan: The Completionist
Adeyemi, Tomi: Children of Blood and Bone
Alderman, Naomi: The Power
Andersen, Christopher: Game of Crowns
Asimov, Eric: How To Love Wine
Augustine, Saint: The Confessions of Saint Augustine
Baxter, Charles: The Feast of Love
Beatty, Paul: The Sellout
Bennett, Claire-Louise: Pond
Bernstein, Carl and Bob Woodward: All the President's Men
Bissinger, H.G.: Friday Night Lights
Bohjalian, Chris: The Guest Room
Bolick, Kate: Spinster
Bray, Libba: A Great And Terrible Beauty
Brennan, Christine: Inside Edge
Brotherton, Rob: Suspicious Minds
Buck, Pearl: The Good Earth
Buckley, Christopher: The Relic Master
Buntin, Julie: Marlena
Cain, James: Mildred Pierce
Campbell, Joseph: Occidental Mythology, Oriental Mythology, Primitive Mythology
Camus, Albert: The Stranger
Cather, Willa: My Antonia
Chabon, Michael: Wonder Boys
Chance, Megan: Inamorata
Charnock, Anne: A Calculated Life
Chu, Wesley: The Lives of Tao
Cluchey, Dan: The Life Of The World To Come
Cocks, Heather and Jessica Morgan: Spoiled; Messy
Collins, Max Allan: Supreme Justice
Collins, Paul: Duel With The Devil
Conroy, Pat: The Prince of Tides
Cusk, Rachel: Outline
DeLillo, Don: Zero K
Drury, Bob and Tom Clavin: The Heart of Everything That Is
Eggers, Dave: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Eichenwald, Kurt: The Informant
Ellis, Bret Easton: The Rules of Attraction
Enright, Anne: The Gathering
Essbaum, Jill Alexander: Hausfrau
Fitch, Janet: Paint It Black
Flynn, Gillian: Dark Places
Forster, E.M.: A Passage To India
Gortner, C.W.: The Romanov Empress
Graysmith, Robert: Zodiac
Gregory, Philippa: The White Queen; The Lady of the Rivers
Grumet, Louis: The Curious Case of Kiryas Joel
Halter, Marek: Lilah
Harris, Charlaine: Dead Ever After
Heinlein, Robert: Stranger In A Strange Land
Hemmings, Kaui Hart: The Possibilities
Henderson, Smith: Fourth of July Creek
Henriquez, Cristina: The Book of Unknown Americans
Herman, Eleanor: Sex With Kings
Hill, Ben: Princess Masako
Hilton, James: Lost Horizon
Holmberg, Charlie: The Paper Magician
Ishiguro, Kazuo: The Buried Giant
Jacobs, A.J.: The Year of Living Biblically
Jones, Rod: The Mothers
Kearney, Paul: The Wolf In The Attic
Kelley, Kitty: The Royals
King, Lily: The Pleasing Hour
Kinney, Alison: Hood
Ko, Lisa: The Leavers
Koerner, Brendan: The Skies Belong To Us
Kotlowitz, Alex: The Other Side Of The River
Krauss, Nicole: Forest Dark
Kwan, Kevin: Crazy Rich Asians
Lashner, William: The Barkeep
Leduff, Charlie: Detroit
Levin, Ira: Rosemary's Baby
Levitt, Stephen: Freakonomics
Libaire, Jardine: White Fur
Lowenthal, Michael: Charity Girl
Lynch, Jim: The Highest Tide
Mailer, Norman: The Executioner's Song
Mayes, Frances: Under The Tuscan Sun
Mezrich, Ben: Bringing Down The House
Moran, Michelle: Nefertiti
Nagorski, Andrew: The Nazi Hunters
Ondaatje, Michael: In The Skin Of A Lion
Oyeyemi, Helen: What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
Pamuk, Orhan: Snow
Poehler, Amy: Yes Please
Pogue, James: Chosen Country
Pollan, Michael: In Defense Of Food
Proulx, Annie: The Shipping News
Redling, S.G.: Flowertown
Renault, Mary: The King Must Die
Ritter, William: Jackaby
Roberts, Gregory David: Shantaram
Robinson, Marilynne: Housekeeping
Romano-Lax, Andromeda: Behave
Rosenberg, Liz: The Moonlight Palace
Rowell, Rainbow: Landline
Ryan, Christopher and Calcida Jetha: Sex at Dawn
Sacks, Oliver: Migraine; The Island of the Colorblind; The Mind's Eye
Salie, Faith: Approval Junkie
Shepard, Jim: Lights Out In The Reptile House
Shipstead, Maggie: Seating Arrangements
Spark, Muriel: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
St. James, James: Party Monster
Standage, Tom: A History Of The World In 6 Glasses
Styron, William: Sophie's Choice
Sylvester, Natalia: Chasing The Sun
Thomas, Matthew: We Are Not Ourselves
Toobin, Jeffrey: American Heiress
Tyler, Anne: Vinegar Girl
Vonnegut, Kurt: Player Piano
Vyleta, Dan: Smoke
Wappler, Margaret: Neon Green
Warner, Benjamin: Thirst
Weir, Alison: Innocent Traitor, The Lady Elizabeth
Weir, Andy: The Martian
Wilder, Thornton: The Bridge Of San Luis Rey
Winchester, Simon: The Professor And The Madman
Wurger, Takis: The Club
Zambreno, Kate: Green Girl
These are books I liked, and even really liked. They're well-crafted and interesting, but don't have the something extra that makes them truly great in my eyes. I do recommend reading these books.
Adebayo, Ayobami: Stay With Me
Adiga, Aravind: The White Tiger
Allen, Jonathan and Amie Parnes: Shattered
Amend, Allison: Enchanted Islands
Aslan, Reza: Zealot
Atkinson, Kate: Life After Life
Atwood, Margaret: Oryx and Crake
Austen, Jane: Mansfield Park
Baldwin, James: If Beale Street Could Talk
Barnes, Julian: The Sense of an Ending
Batuman, Elif: The Idiot
Brown, Dee: Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
Buckley, Christopher: Thank You For Smoking
Bugliosi, Vincent: Helter Skelter
Byatt, A.S.: Possession
Carey, M.R.: The Girl With All The Gifts
Carreyrou, John: Bad Blood
Carson, Rachel: Silent Spring
Chabon, Michael: Moonglow
Cline, Emma: The Girls
Coetzee, J.M.: Disgrace
Coll, Steve: Ghost Wars
Conklin, Tara: The Last Romantics
Cooney, Kara: The Woman Who Would Be King
Corman, Avery: Kramer v. Kramer
Cudmore, Libby: The Big Rewind
Dawkins, Richard: The Selfish Gene
Diaz, Junot: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Didion, Joan: The Year of Magical Thinking
duMaurier, Daphne: Rebecca
Duyvis, Corinne: On The Edge Of Gone
Ebert, Roger: Life Itself
Eco, Umberto: The Name Of The Rose
Ellison, Ralph: Invisible Man
Erdrich, Louise: Love Medicine
Fagan, Jenni: The Panopticon
Frankl, Viktor: Man's Search For Meaning
Franzen, Jonathan: Freedom
French, Tana: In The Woods
Gaiman, Neil: American Gods, Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett)
Galbraith, Robert (J.K. Rowling): The Cuckoo's Calling; The Silkworm
Gay, Roxane: An Untamed State
Gessen, Masha: The Man Without A Face
Gibbs, Nancy: The President's Club
Gideon, Melanie: Valley of the Moon
Ginsburg, Ruth Bader: My Own Words
Gladwell, Malcolm: David And Goliath
Glendinning, Victoria: The Butcher's Daughter
Goldblatt, David: The Games
Gonzalez, Rigoberto: Butterfly Boy
Greer, Andrew Sean: Less
Gregory, Philippa: The Red Queen; The Kingmaker's Daughter
Hardy, Thomas: Far From The Madding Crowd
Heller, Zoe: Notes On A Scandal
Herman, Eleanor: Sex With The Queen
Hornby, Nick: Juliet, Naked
Hunt, Samantha: Mr. Splitfoot
Ile, Jowhor: And After Many Days
Johnson, Daisy: Everything Under
Jones, Tayari: An American Marriage
Kanon, Joseph: The Good German
Keefe, Patrick Radden: Say Nothing
Kerman, Piper: Orange Is The New Black
Kim, Suki: Without You, There Is No Us
Lahiri, Jhumpa: Interpreter of Maladies; The Lowland
Larson, Erik: The Devil In The White City
Levental, Vadim: Masha Regina
Mastromonaco, Alyssa: Who Thought This Was A Good Idea?
Maugham, W. Somerset: Of Human Bondage
Maynard, Joyce: To Die For
McBride, James: The Color of Water
McCafferty, Megan: Sloppy Firsts
McCarthy, Mary: The Group
McCullers, Carson: The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
Miller, Madeline: The Song Of Achilles
Moriarty, Liane: Big Little Lies
Murdoch, Iris: Henry and Cato
Nafisi, Azar: Reading Lolita In Tehran
Naslund, Sena Jeter: Ahab's Wife
Norton, Elizabeth: Margaret Beaufort
Orlean, Susan: The Library Book
Oyeyemi, Helen: Boy, Snow, Bird
Ozeki, Ruth: A Tale For The Time Being
Patchett, Ann: Bel Canto
Petersen, Anne Helen: Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud
Pullman, Philip: La Belle Sauvage
Rio, M.L.: If We Were Villains
Roach, Mary: Spook, Stiff
Sacks, Oliver: A Leg To Stand On; Uncle Tungsten
Samatar, Sofia: The Winged Histories
Saunders, Geroge: Lincoln In The Bardo
Schiller, Lawrence: Perfect Murder Perfect Town
Sebald, W.G.: The Emigrants
Sedaris, David: Me Talk Pretty One Day
Shipstead, Maggie: Astonish Me
Sittenfeld, Curtis: Prep
Sjoberg, Fredrik: The Fly Trap
Skloot, Rebecca: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Smith, Chandler Klang: The Sky Is Yours
Smith, Phyllis: I Am Livia
Sorrentino, Christopher: The Fugitives
Steiner, Susie: Missing, Presumed
Strout, Elizabeth: Olive Kitteridge
Susann, Jacqueline: Valley Of The Dolls
Tartt, Donna: The Goldfinch
Thomas, Angie: The Hate U Give
Thomas, Evan: First
Toobin, Jeffrey: A Vast Conspiracy
Tulathimutte, Tony: Private Citizens
Wang, Weike: Chemistry
Ward, Jesmyn: Sing, Unburied, Sing
Watkins, Claire Vaye: Battleborn
Wayne, Teddy: The Love Song of Jonny Valentine
Weir, Alison: The Wars Of The Roses, Eleanor of Aquitaine, The Children of Henry VIII
Wharton, Edith: The House of Mirth
Whitehead, Colson: The Underground Railroad
Woolf, Virginia: Mrs. Dalloway
Wright, Lawrence: The Looming Tower; Going Clear
Zusak, Markus: The Book Thief
These are books I found to be truly wonderful, and loved the experience of reading. I highly recommend reading these books.
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi: Americanah (my favorite book of my third year of blogging!)
Arden, Katherine: The Bear and the Nightingale; The Girl in the Tower; The Winter of the Witch
Atwood, Margaret: The Blind Assassin
Beer, Edith Hahn: The Nazi Officer's Wife
Benioff, David: City of Thieves
Bordo, Susan: The Creation Of Anne Boleyn
Catton, Eleanor: The Luminaries
Chabon, Michael: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (my favorite book of my fourth year of blogging!)
Chee, Alexander: The Queen Of The Night
Coates, Ta-Nehisi: Between The World And Me
Conroy, Pat: The Lords of Discipline
Deutscher, Guy: Through The Language Glass
Domet, Sarah: The Guineveres
Hamid, Mohsin: Exit West (my favorite book of my fifth year of blogging!)
Lahiri, Jhumpa: The Namesake
Larson, Erik: Dead Wake
Longworth, Karina: Seduction
Mandel, Emily St. John: Station Eleven
McMurtry, Larry: The Last Picture Show
Morrison, Toni: Beloved
O'Brien, Tim: The Things They Carried
Oliva, Alexandra: The Last One
Reid, Taylor Jenkins: Daisy Jones and the Six
Setterfield, Diane: Once Upon A River
Shriver, Lionel: We Need To Talk About Kevin (my favorite book of my second year of blogging!)
Smith, Betty: A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
Warren, Robert Penn: All The King's Men (my favorite book of my first year of blogging!)
Williams, John: Stoner
Zentner, Jeff: The Serpent King
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Good list. This is a 10 star blog.
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you! That's very kind of you to say
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