Least Favorite Books of the Fall 2012 Challenge

[Dlmrose, Moderator Emeritus]

What were your least favorite books of the Fall 2012 Challenge?

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

My least favorite book was for task 30.9. I don't really care for politics much less have to read about them. I dreaded that task and tried to get it out of the way as quickly as I could lol.

I also read the which I have seriously thought about and I don't know how to rate this book. I have mixed feelings in regards to this book...although I KNOW that it's fiction/sci-fi/fantasy but it still leaves me puzzled as to how this book is appealing when the plot is about kids killing kids for the sake of sport,entertainment,reality tv, & betting. Let alone the sponsorship which brings up the thought of who would support/sponsor a game of kids killing kids while constantly being reminded that one kid's survival solely depends on the death of all the other kids. Maybe it's just me but I can't rate this book nor can I say that I liked it but it did make me think.

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

The House Gun and The Red Mandarin Dress was bad. Gone Girl was horrible too.

[Aleksandra]

my 2*

[Dee]

Confessions of a Not It Girl - ugh

Funny Letters from Famous People - I didn't think the letters were all that funny...

Places I Never Meant To Be: Original Stories by Censored Writers - the stories were mediocre at best...good idea, poor execution

[Megan]

1-Star Reads:
Subject Seven Given the premise, I really should have liked it, but I just thought it was bland and needlessly violent (and I'm big into action movies).

Three Girls and a Baby Awful, awful, awful. I really wanted to smack all the main characters upside the head with a rock or something. It was one of the most vapid books I've ever read.

Waterfall From the description this one also seemed like a book I'd enjoy, which is why I picked it up. However, I just found it boring and the characters unbelievable.

[Lorna]

Least Favorite Books Fall 2012

The Returning by Christine Hinwood
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
Hourglass by Myra McEntire
The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

[Jen]

A handful of two-star ratings:

You Know Where to Find Me by Rachel Cohn
A Field of Darkness and The Crazy School by Cornelia Read
Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland (Read this in high school & thought it was soooo cool. I think I grew out of it.)
The Crucible by Arthur Miller

[JC]

2 stars:

[Angie]

My 2 Star Reads:

[Stefu]

Three least favorite this season:

Small World by Tabitha King

This Business of Music Marketing and Promotion by Tad Lathrop

The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories 2 by Richard Dalby

[Chelsi]

1 and 2 star reads:

[Peebee]

Very close competition between:

The Casual Vacancy (can't believe this won Goodreads' Book of the Year -- did the people who voted for it actually read it?)

The Stranger's Child

2 Stars:

Apron Anxiety: My Messy Affairs In and Out of the Kitchen

Austenland

D.C. Unmasked & Undressed

Girls Night Out

Valley of Ashes

[Butterflycager]

My least favorites of Fall 2012:

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal
Wicked Autumn by G.M. Malliet
The Snow Globe by Sheila Roberts
Dark Magic by James Swain

[Meghan]

One-Star Books of Fall 2012:
Liar
Hush, Hush
Looks

And my most SURPRISING one-star of the challenge... because I usually ADORE Libba Bray AND Printz-Award winning books:
Going Bovine

I know, I know... let the booing and hissing begin! :)

[Chaitra]

Peebee wrote: "Very close competition between:

The Casual Vacancy (can't believe this won Goodreads' Book of the Year -- did the people who voted for it actually read it?)"

Lol, yes, that's exactly what I thought too!

I was going to read The Stranger's Child for this challenge, but now I won't. Thank you!

[Chaitra]

There were so many books I hated this challenge, but the worst of the lot were:

The Light Between Oceans
Seating Arrangements
Portnoy’s Complaint
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Elantris
Beautiful Lies
The Flight of Gemma Hardy
The Age of Desire
and yes, The Casual Vacancy

[Marie-Anne]

My least favorite book (1 star) was The Company of Glass by Valery Leith. I just could not get the point.

[Peebee]

Chaitra wrote: "There were so many books I hated this challenge, but the worst of the lot were:

The Light Between Oceans
Seating Arrangements
Portnoy’s Complaint
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Elantris
Beautiful Li..."

You have so many books I was considering...Light Between Oceans, Seating Arrangements, and Gemma Hardy in particular...we'll have to see how that goes.

[Dee]

its always interesting to see books that I loved on this list and books that I hated on the best of list...just goes to show that one person's trash is another person's treasure ;0

[Chaitra]

Peebee wrote: "You have so many books I was considering...Light Between Oceans, Seating Arrangements, and Gemma Hardy in particular...we'll have to see how that goes."

Sorry! I was looking forward so much to reading them... Maybe you'll like them better than I did!

@Dee, exactly! Some of my favorites are here too. :D

[Peebee]

Dee wrote: "its always interesting to see books that I loved on this list and books that I hated on the best of list...just goes to show that one person's trash is another person's treasure ;0"

That's so true...although I'm still reeling from the selection of The Casual Vacancy as the best book of the year on Goodreads. Of 300+ books read in 2012, it was easily in the bottom 5 if not the very worst. And it's not showing up on any of the critical "best book of the year" lists. I understand that some people might like it more than I did...but I don't understand how it could be voted the best book of all the selections, when there were so many other really good choices!

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

Meghanly wrote: "One-Star Books of Fall 2012:
Liar
Hush, Hush
Looks

And my most SURPRISING one-star of the challenge... because I usually ADORE Libba Bray AND Printz-Award winning books:
Going Bovine

I know, I k..."

Going Bovine was awful

[Bea]

I had no single star books, and only one two star book - Waiting for Godot. This play seemed inane to me, which really disappointed me. I wanted to like it. I didn't.

[Megan]

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Meghanly wrote: "One-Star Books of Fall 2012:
Liar
Hush, Hush
Looks

And my most SURPRISING one-star of the challenge... because I usually ADORE Libba Bray AND Printz-Award winning books:
Going Bo..."

What's wrong with Going Bovine? I couldn't stop laughing when I read it.

[Chaitra]

Peebee wrote: "but I don't understand how it could be voted the best book of all the selections, when there were so many other really good choices! "

Going by its reviews, even the people that liked it don't seem to have liked it to the exception of all else. So, two explanations I can think of for it winning: a) most people didn't read the other books nominated along with this, and/or b) they didn't read Casual Vacancy either, but recognized Rowling's name and voted anyway.

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

Ms Anderson wrote: "Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Meghanly wrote: "One-Star Books of Fall 2012:
Liar
Hush, Hush
Looks

And my most SURPRISING one-star of the challenge... because I usually ADORE Libba Bray AND Prin..."

I just thought it was really weird and made no sense to me.

[Megan]

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Ms Anderson wrote: "Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Meghanly wrote: "One-Star Books of Fall 2012:
Liar
Hush, Hush
Looks

And my most SURPRISING one-star of the challenge... because I usually ADORE..."

Ah...I'm weird, so I think that's why I enjoyed the insanity of it lol But I have a tendency to like things a lot of people dislike and vice versa (boo Harry Potter! BOOOOOO), and I'm constantly surprised when I like things that other people really like (ex. The Fault in Our Stars).

And I think my question came out ruder than I intended; if so, I'm sorry.

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

No, it was fine. I just thought that Libba Bray must be on drugs when she wrote it or the main character was on drugs. It seemed very psychodelic and unbelieveable.

[Megan]

The character wasn't on drugs; he had the human form of mad cow disease (I think it's Creutzfeldt-Jakob or something, but it's been a long time since I read it), so his healthy braincells were being replaced by unhealthy ones, causing massive holes in his cognitive abilities and reasoning and such. The entire idea was whether he was actually doing any of his adventures or if it was all just massive hallucinations brought on by the disease rotting his brain.

I can't speak for what the author was or wasn't using as she wrote it, though ^_^;

[Peebee]

Chaitra wrote: "So, two explanations I can think of for it winning: a) most people didn't read the other books nominated along with this, and/or b) they didn't read Casual Vacancy either, but recognized Rowling's name and voted anyway."

I think you're right, Chaitra...I didn't vote in categories where I hadn't read at least 5 of the books or for any books that I hadn't read, but maybe other people just voted whether they had read any of the books or not, just based upon the author's reputation or having heard of the book. I just couldn't believe it won by several thousand votes, where it wasn't even close, though!

[Ritika]

Though I gave it a 2-star, this still remains my least favourite book this season due to the high expectations I had of it. The Eyre Affair

[Wanda]

Peebee wrote: "Very close competition between:

The Casual Vacancy (can't believe this won Goodreads' Book of the Year -- did the people who voted for it actually read it?)

The Stranger's Child

2 Stars:

Apro..."

Yes, I did read it and voted for it--I loved the complexity of the characters.