Least Favorite Books of the Fall 2014 Challenge

[Dlmrose, Moderator Emeritus]

What were your least favorite books of the Fall 2014 Challenge? Which books didn't meet your expectations?

[Morgan]

I lucked out with only 3 that were CHORES to get through (aka 1 star books).

The Last Werewolf
A Breath of Eyre
Under the Tuscan Sun

The first two I definitely expected to like more than I did.

And one that I DNFed about 10 pages in. I just couldn't read another word.

The Silver Kiss

Not too shabby, I think, for my first challenge. :)

[Book Concierge]

It Had To Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips – 1*
A blonde bombshell inherits a professional football team she doesn’t want and has to learn to deal with the Coach. I knew it was a chick-lit romance going into it, but it was so stupid I lost 20 IQ points. I finished it only because it satisfied a couple of challenges.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Cait S]

I was pretty lucky and only had two that I absolutely could not stand.

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Luckily both were really short but even just over 100 pages of them was way too much for me. I deep cleaned by bathroom instead of reading...by choice. Cleaning, the ultimate sign of a book I am not enjoying at all.

[♞ Pat]

Roseanna
The Dogs...Barking
The Catcher in the Rye

The first two were pretty awful. The last was one of those, "I expected this book to be so much better than this! "

But in short, all three of these titles were a waste of my valuable reading minutes.

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

I disliked
The Sandcastle Girls
The Soldier's Wife

[LouLouReads]

I really couldn't stand Casino Royale. It was just SO SO awful--even though it was just over 100 pages, it took me several days to read & was a real slog.

The Chrysalids was a bit disappointing as well, but primarily because I love Wyndham's other books, and lots of people had told me that this was the best--but it was a massive letdown. Same goes for The Name of the Wind--had been recommended by people whose opinions I very much value, but I just didn't click with it.

[Pia]

I absolutely hated The Home and the World...

And I didn't much like Thanks for the Memories, Chick lit is not for me.

I also started reading How to Be a Woman and just ended up picking another book for that task. I really couldn't go on reading, and it's such a big best-seller!

I hope I learn my lesson for the Winter challenge: some tasks arebetter left until the end if you don't have a good book for them. I had many books for other tasks, so what was I doing reading these ones?

I agree with Pat about Roseanna. Even though I love Scandinavian mystery books, this one wasn't so good.

[Aleksandra]

my 2 *
Attachments
The Piano Teacher
True Confessions
Hotel Iris
Sixkill

[Annapoorni]

The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea
Dancing On The Notes Of life
The Second Life
Under the Tuscan Sun

[Book Concierge]

Annapoorni wrote: "The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea
Dancing On The Notes Of life
The Second Life
Under the Tuscan Sun"

Totally agree with your assessment on The Perfect Storm and Under the Tuscan Sun ...
Interestingly enough, I've seen both movies and they movies were definitely better than the books.

[Tawallah]

For me - Wuthering Heights was awful. Not the writing per se but the plot. I think Gothic writing is not my cup of tea. I'm actually contemplating not even reading another book by this author. That's how traumatised I feel. And not even that ending redeems the book for me.

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

I read Wuthering Heights. It is depressing for sure. I managed to get through it. It was okay, so parts of the book were good. "Jane Eyrie" was better.

[KSMary]

In Code: A Mathematical Journey
In a Sunburned Country
When Beauty Tamed the Beast
The Widow's Kiss

[Kaity]

No 1 stars for me this round! :D I did have three 2 star ones though.

When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It's Time to Go Home by Erma Bombeck
I really wanted to like this one but humor just isn't the same when you need everything explained to you... :P Each chapter was riddled with pop culture references (from around the 50s and onward) that weren't mainstream enough for me to get.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 by Alan Moore
I didn't care for this. I was so excited to see characters like Captain Nemo and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but it was just a bleg story for me.

Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor by Stephanie Barron
Unfortunately this book didn't get a fair chance so I will be trying out the second in the series. It's written in the same style/language that Jane Austen uses. I was really busy while reading it and just didn't have the patience for the extremely slow pacing and old timeyness.

[Chris]

My least favorite book for this challenge was Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which I've wanted to read for a long time. I usually love Kate Atkinson's books, but this one just bored me.

I read X Marks the Scot for my yearly ABC challenge, and it seriously made me wonder if I should waste my time reading bad books just because the title or author's name starts with an X.

[Catie]

I made the mistake of picking up The Devil Wears Prada and it was absolutely dire. I can't recommend the film enough, but the book... ugh. Lazy writing and incessant use of brandnames made me wish I could have given up on it.

[Dee]

Chris wrote: "My least favorite book for this challenge was Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which I've wanted to read for a long time. I usually love Kate Atkinson's books, but this one just bored ..."

i felt the same about X Marks the Scot...and the author came recommended from a friend

[Meg]

I had a couple of bad chick lit experiences... Dune Road and The Boy Who Fell To Earth... interestingly both were audio books. I think it is a reflection that I usually listen choose to books I think I won't like much, in case I fall asleep.

[Melissa]

Death in the Andes - I had two major problems. 1) It's very dispassionate in tone, which was weird given the very tense situation in Peru at the time Vargas Llosa was writing, not sure if that's actually his style or an artifact of translation and 2) the switches between contemporary story and flashback were not well-defined and confused me.

If I hadn't been reading it for the 50-point challenge (and been running out of time to meet the deadline) I probably would have DNF'd it.

[Nicola]

The Home and the World and Possessing the Secret of Joy, dislike both of them quite a lot.

[Mindy]

I abandoned a couple:

The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America's Food Business. I thought this was going to be a wide-ranging discussion about the various forces that make Americans believe it's a good idea to stuff ourselves with meat because otherwise we might die of protein deprivation. lol But it was a boring expose of the Tyson Food Company. I gave it a fair chance, at least 75 pages. With a lot of editing, it might have made an interesting long magazine piece.

Special Circumstances by Sheldon Siegel. I probably didn't give this one enough time. It was bogging down in legal business talk and I had another book by a Sheldon and it was better. lol

One star:

Following Atticus. Okay, I know everybody loves this one but I found that the author alternated between unbearably smug and ridiculously sappy. It felt like he described every single summit and they were all exactly the same. I got the impression he felt that observations like "Standing at the top of a mountain is like touching the face of God" were really original. The doggy is cute but his owner is a pain. I only finished it because it was the second book in a 30-point task and the challenge was nearly over. Longest 288 pages ever.

[Jasmiina]

Actually the only book I was really dissapointed with was Kuolema Las Palmasissa by José Luis Correa. It's actually one of the worst books I've read this year... The translation was quite terrible and the story wasn't that exciting either.

[Vicki Willis]

I read one book that I gave 1 star to. It took me weeks to get through it and I thought it was TERRIBLE...

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil byJohn Berendt

[Mindy]

Totally agree Vicki. I couldn't finish it but I read a lot before I gave it up and it was awful.

[Bea]

I had two 2 star books:

Sons and Lovers - the only way I got through this book was with a buddy and a reading plan.

Florida Roadkill - the humor fell flat for me.

[Dee]

i was the same way Vicki/Mindy - it was a group read a couple of seasons ago - I'm glad i chose the audiobook, because I wouldn't have finished the print version