Play Book Tag discussion
Archives 2016-2017
>
List of the Most Hated Books
date
newest »
newest »
This seems like a really absurd list. While I love Twilight, I know there is a huge hate culture/backlash out there about it. But books like Grapes of Wrath and P&P being on the most hated list? I know there are definitely people who don't like them, as with any book, but to be placed on the most hated list has me raising an eyebrow. Marquez is not on this list because One Hundred Years of Solitude is AMAZING!!!! ;)
Nicole wrote: "This seems like a really absurd list. While I love Twilight, I know there is a huge hate culture/backlash out there about it. But books like Grapes of Wrath and P&P being on the most hated list? I ..."Ha ha on One Hundred Years of Solitude. We are going to be like 80 years old and still arguing about this book. xo
Also, I put this in the May Footnotes. This is how my life has been for the past three weeks. It needs to calm down. I'm still mentally in May.
Well, I would certainly disagree with some of these because they are on my very well liked list!I liked Twilight, DaVinci Code, Eat, Pray, Love, Pride and Prejudice (but not in the beginning of the book), Life of Pi, The Lovely Bones, and a few others. I really didn't like Gone Girl and some of the other more classics, I haven't even read because I'm fairly sure I wouldn't get great enjoyment, I'd have to be convinced to read Ulysses because I read some of James in college and didn't like his style at all.
I saw this and was HORRIFIED that The Corrections was on the list!
Susie wrote: "I saw this and was HORRIFIED that The Corrections was on the list!"Lol, agree . . .with both your observations!
I think several of these made it onto the list because they were required reading in school so many people have strong feelings about them - referring to the classics. some of the more commercial fiction ones on the list would coincide with my most hated too
This is quite the odd list, some I cannot believe are on the list: Pride & Prejudice; The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby
Those I agree with:
Lord of the Flies; Eat, Pray, Love; and The Alchemist
Some that would be on my list:
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
Almost any James Patterson book in recent years, I liked his earlier stuff but now he just farms it out to other authors.
Jen wrote: "I think several of these made it onto the list because they were required reading in school so many people have strong feelings about them - referring to the classics. some of the more commercial f..."I agree, Jen. Many of them seem like required reading for school and I know that I instantly like those books less! lol. I HATED The Great Gatsby the first time I read it, which was in high school, but loved it when I reread it of my own free will as an adult.
I can sort of see the sense in your list. Only shocker, hated Catcher in the Rye?
Amy wrote: "I can sort of see the sense in your list. Only shocker, hated Catcher in the Rye?"I hated it when read it in high school. I thought Holden was a whiny brat, and I was totally NOT impressed by his use of vulgar language.
For those that are required reading, I think that often high school students may not have had enough experience to appreciate some of the classics. (Although I personally didn't like Gasby or Catcher).For the ones that are commercial successes, I think it partly depends expectations as well. For the "it" books, there may be higher expectations because you hear how good they are. However, many "it" books are read by people that don't read as much as we do and therefore may not have the same bar for quality writing --- goes back to the discussions on how we rate and also "in-put-down-able" books. A compelling plot is all some need to rate highly.
I agree, lots of books I HATED when reading them in high school because of it was required reading- I've grown to enjoy when I wasn't forced to read and analyze in particular way. I have a list of "Read in high school and hated, but want to reread because I think I'll like them now" books. I bet a lot of the polled people were voting based on the fact that they just didn't like having to read it and couldn't enjoy it that way.
It is a curious list and so arbitrary. I looked back to see how book riot got the list. They asked people to submit 3 books they hated. So If you were asked to do that, what would you pick? You would search though your very unreliable memory and because classics were assigned in school, that might come to the front and then you would list it. I think it also gets to be a lot like comparing a green bean with a pineapple. There is no comparison. One is fruit and the other a vegetable. Then there is the question of who responded to this survey. Do they really represent "me" the reader? I looked through the full list and there are a lot of good books on that list.
I also wanted to add that there are very few books I have truly hated. Hate is a really strong emotion and one I (thankfully) rarely experience. I'm picky when it comes to books and dislike plenty but hate? Not so much. The few I do remember hating were usually those ones that stood out from school when I felt resentful about being required to read a book I disliked. Old Man and Sea and The Great Gatsby were two I "hated." I reread Gatsby as an adult and like it much more. I haven't been able to bring myself to read Old Man and the Sea.
From this list Twilight is probably as close to hating a book as I come based on books I read as an adult. I've never read 50 shades so I suspect it could have made my list had i read it. I've also hated a few from the 1001 list (Story of the Eye by Batailles).
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (102 votes) - read sheepishly loved Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (90) - read loved
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James (90) - NEVER haha
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (53) - Liked
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (41) - I think I read this, but it's one of my all time favorite movies (and songs, Kate Bush)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding (35) - Liked
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (33) - meh
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (30) - QUIT!
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (28) - lame to be on the list
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (26) - Won't touch it, hated the movie
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (24) - 4 or 5 stars from me
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (21) - Scotch Bonnet Pepper Hot Hate
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (17) - QUIT
On the Road by Jack Kerouac (14) - I liked it, but I can see why it is hated
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (14) - Loved it, would hate it now, and I don't say that much
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (14) - Loved
The Pearl by John Steinbeck (14) - liked - what is wrong with these people, don't you be hatin' on Steinbeck
Ulysses by James Joyce (14) - No. Never.
While I love Twilight, I know hoards of people don't. So, I'm not surprised to see it at the top of the list.I whole-heartedly agree with The Catcher in the Rye. I despised it. I felt like it had no point. If it did, it went completely over my head.
I'm quite surprised that Pride and Prejudice is on there. That just doesn't compute.
I haven't read any of the others, so I can't give much of an opinion there.
My MOST hated books:Life of Pi
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
The Girl with No Shadow
Honorable Mention:
The Zahir (Coehlo)
Neither Here, Nor There (Bryson)
(though, Robber Bride was a good nomination Linda)
Without having read the other replies, I'm "happy" to see my most hated book there: Wuthering Heights! :-) I'm surprised by Gone Girl, though. I know there are plenty who didn't like it, but hated it? Really?
Now that I've read the comments, I'll just add that I read Wuthering Heights of my own free will when I was university-aged. However, at the time, I had read very few classics beyond what I'd read in high school. Since classics are still hit or miss for me, I'm going to stand by my hate of it at the time. :-)
I liked the Twilight books. I couldn't stand The Grapes of Wrath. It was so hard for me to keep reading for school. I LOVED The Scarlet Letter though. I am surprised that The Old Man and the Sea and The Great Gatsby are on the list. I didn't care for the books, but I wouldn't say I hated them. We only read part of The Old Man and The Sea though, because my teacher couldn't get enough copies for the class.
I have five books on that list I've been wanting to read.
Anita wrote: "http://bookriot.com/2013/06/19/the-25..."Some of my most loved books wind up on others most hated list and vice versa.
The ones from the list that I loved:
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (90)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (41)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding (35))
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (31)
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (26)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (24)
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (23)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (21)
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (18)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (14)
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (14)
The ones from the list that I hated:
None and believe me there are some books I despise
The ones from the list that I will never read:
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (102 votes)
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James (90)
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (28)
There are several on the list that I read and are good but not loved or are ok and not hated.
This seems more like a list of "Books people LOVE to hate". Not really the books they actually hate the most, but books they love hating and expressing their hatred about.
Well, this list contains some of my most hated books and my favourite novel if the criteria for favourite novel is the number of times it's been read (I have others I like equally as much or more, but they aren't ones to be reread over and over again.) It also has other books I really, really like a great deal.This list just shows how varied tastes are.
Books I have never read and never will, not even secretly on kindle, are Fifty Shades of Greay and Twilight. That said, I'd probably have read Twilight if it had come out when I was in high school and still watched vampire movies on TV. But I don't read erotica, so why would I read that one of all the choices out there?
Now a book on this list that I loathed while in high school that my recently graduated daughter liked a LOT, is The Lord of the Flies. I won't name all the ones I hate or strongly dislike from the list or all the ones I like.
Of the thirteen on the list that I've read several I've loved, most liked, and only one hated. That would be The Alchemist, ugh. There are four other titles that I'm pretty sure that I'd hate and so never intend to read, in fact it would take a lot to convince me to try anything by Rand, Brown or Meyer. I'm going to have to read The Pearl seeing as how I love everything else by Steinbeck that I've ever read.
I do think that for many people, the only time they were exposed to some of these books was when they were forced to read them for school . . .and frankly, I think that oftentimes being forced to read something is a turn off and also people's life experiences in high school aren't enough for them to appreciate the book. I think Grapes of Wrath fits into this category.
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (102 votes)
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (90)
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James (90)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (53)
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (41)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (41)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding (35)
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (33)
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (31)
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (30)
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (28)
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (26)
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (26)
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (25)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (24)
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (23)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (21)
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (18)
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (17)
On the Road by Jack Kerouac (14)
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (14)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (14)
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (14)
The Pearl by John Steinbeck (14)
Ulysses by James Joyce (14)
Agree? Disagree? What would you add?
I know we have a lot of Twilight haters here and also a chunk of people who despise Life of Pi. Not sure about the rest. I'm disgusted to see Grapes of Wrath on this list - - that's just crazy talk.
I've actually read 19 of these . . .not a fan of Twilight or Lovely Bones, but the rest were at least okay. Some I loved. Where are the Gabriel Garcia Marquez books? Or Poisonwood Bible (oh wait, lots of people liked that one).