Least Favorite Books of the Winter 2014 Challenge

[Dlmrose, Moderator Emeritus]

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

[Victoria (RedsCat)]

I didn't have any I didn't like. But that's because if I don't like a book, I don't finish it. I'm too old to not enjoy what I'm reading. :)

[Cait S]

I think I really only had one book that I didn't enjoy this last season and that was . I pushed myself to finish it because so many people I know rave about the series but... I don't think there was a single minute during the entire book where I cared or enjoyed it at all. Mostly just watching the clock until it was over.

[Morgan]

My 1 star books from Winter...

Swamplandia! This one was a huge disappointment. It sounds so good...and it even was good for awhile... Then near the end (view spoiler)[there's a sexual assault out of nowhere (hide spoiler)] and it's handled terribly from an internal monologue to externally.

Fifty Shades of Grey I knew this would end up here from me, but sometimes I just want something that I know will be laughably bad. The reviews for those are always fun. For me, at least. And this one was.

Home for a Spell Bland, boring, small (view spoiler)[transphobic/bashing (hide spoiler)], etc. All the things that used to be enjoyable and cozy mystery about the series are gone and the MC has gotten dumber than a box of rocks. Like Swamplandia this one took a STEEP drop in star rating near the end.

Could have been worse! I did have several that I dropped/replaced, but they aren't even worth a mention since they didn't waste much of my time.

[Morgan]

Victoria (RedsCat) wrote: "I didn't have any I didn't like. But that's because if I don't like a book, I don't finish it. I'm too old to not enjoy what I'm reading. :)"

Amen! I'm the same way. Too old/too much to read for these shenanigans. :P

[Victoria (RedsCat)]

*fist bump* I used to be a finisher. But I realized I have too much on my TBR to waste time :)

[Nikki]

Worst Books

More Fool Me Dull diary excerpts
Year of No Sugar half the book is her justifying her behaviour
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail Lacked substance and had weird bits

Waste of time but had to finish for task book: Sweet Addiction a complete puff book, but a quick read

[Lola]

I was looking forward to reading There Was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me but I found it disappointing.

[Donna]

I had a few. I can put books down and walk away from them, but I rarely do and it usually is a struggle within to talk me into it.

Candy Cane Murder

Robert B. Parker's Wonderland-- one dimensional world were the women are dames, doll, and broads and the guys are named Vinny, Gino and Rico.

The Red Lily Crown: A Novel of Medici Florence -- I actually could have walked away from this one, but it was group read.

Beatrice and Virgil --- grim and appalling

[KSMary]

[Kaity]

Only two one star books for me!

The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt by Kara Cooney - This book was a big let down for me. I LOVE Ancient Egypt. So much about the book should have been fascinating but, unfortunately, it didn't capture my interest at all.

A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia: And Other Stories by Victor Pelevin - I really shouldn't have ever read this :P My goal for the winter season was to finish that translation task though. Each story somehow got more and more bizarre.

[Trish]

I wasn't fond of Murder Is Our Mascot, although it does have an apple on the cover, which might be useful for the Apple task; or Breakfast at Tiffany's, because I just didn't like Holly Golightly. However, my least favourite of the challenge was The Lies of Locke Lamora.

[Elizabeth]

DNFed: I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban and Chase in Shadow

1 star: Crank
2 stars: 8 books, We Were Liars was one of those.

[Happy]

I only finished Last Man in Tower because I had an AWFUL time finding a book for Task 10.2, which required a specific page count. I spent most of the season looking for books that matched, but this was the only one I found. So I read it, and found it about 3x as long as it needed to be to tell the story, plus I hated the story after about halfway, plus I really really hated the ending. It was a case of every page was worse than the one before. Then it got worse. And worse.

I can read dark stuff. And horror. But this was just. Ugh. HATED it.

There were a couple of other books that got 1* from me this season, but they were not dreadful horrible books, just books that I didn't like. This was a book that I hated really with all the hate.

HAAAAAAAAAAATE!!!!!

[Bea]

Happy, I felt almost the same way with Mr. Adiga's The White Tiger when I read it (previous season).

[LouLouReads]

The Devil Wears Prada. Oh my, that's a bad book. It's just really, objectively bad. One of those very rare instances when the film is far better than the book--thanks largely to Meryl Streep.

I also didn't enjoy Americanah AT ALL, but at least it was very well-written.

[Happy]

Bea, thanks for the warning! I was unlikely to sample Aravind Adiga again, but knowing that another book of his evoked the same feeling in another reader really emphasizes that.

LouLouReads, Americanahwas one of my 5*s - isn't it funny how taste differs?

[LouLouReads]

I totally see how it could be a 5*. I gave it 3*, because the prose is absolutely gorgeous. It's definitely a personal taste thing--I struggled with the narrator--I have a sort of mental block when it comes to particular forms of narration, especially if the POV character is quite judgemental, the way Ifemelu is. I loved Obinze's chapters, and if I'd heard more from him, I think I would have liked the book a lot more. As it was, it was definitely interesting & I'm glad I read it--but not an enjoyable experience!

[Nikki]

Happy wrote: "

I only finished Last Man in Tower because I had an AWFUL time finding a book for Task 10.2, which required a specific page count. I spent mos..."

I was the same with that task. I ended up just trolling the completed task list and eventually found someone who read some poncy Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez book so just went and read that.

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

There were two I really didn't like.
-I had this book for awhile and I never read steampunk before. Genre aside, the book was just stale.

-This was a group read for my other group and everyone seemed to like it but I didn't because I really couldn't get into the stories and I didn't have any real connection with the characters. This is the first time reading this author for me. I was disappointed.

[Kaity]

Happy wrote: "I only finished Last Man in Tower because I had an AWFUL time finding a book for Task 10.2, which required a specific page count. I spent most of the season looking for books that matched, but this was the only one I found...."

That was the hardest task for me to find a book that worked too! Usually finding books is one of my favorite parts of the challenge but that task... I ended up reading the first book (after AGES of searching) I found that worked because I was so annoyed. (On Immunity: An Inoculation)

[Sandy, Moderator Emeritus]

Morgan wrote: "Victoria (RedsCat) wrote: "I didn't have any I didn't like. But that's because if I don't like a book, I don't finish it. I'm too old to not enjoy what I'm reading. :)"

Amen! I'm the same way. T..."

I tell myself that. But I think I'm too much of an optimist - if I'm reading a book that got a lot of great reviews, won awards, etc., I keep thinking that it's bound to get better and I'll start liking it, LOL!

[Victoria (RedsCat)]

I have done that before, Sandy. :)

[Paula]

The worst was The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson. A weird book. Although some parts were not so bad, that's why i gave it two stars, instead of one.

[Teri-K]

I usually don't finish books I don't like, but I did read 2 for this challenge. Twelve Drummers Drumming was one of those books where everyone lies and cheats and behaves badly and I hated it. And Then You Dye is the last I'll read in this series. I just found it boring.

But 2 out of over 80 books isn't bad. :)

[Camilla]

I had three one-star reads, two of the by Finnish authors, so not bothering to list them here. But the third was The Drought - utterly, totally boooring... How anybody is able to make apocalypse boring is beyond my understanding, but he managed. On the other hand, the book is written in 1964, so I'm thinking the overall style of writing about disasters etc. was different then. I think I also had one or two that I didn't finish, but can't remember what they were, as I don't shelve those, just delete them. Oh, one was On the Road, partly because the text sounded quite weird and mostly because of the narrator (I tried to listen to the audiobook), I just couldn't understand what he was saying.

[Meghan]

My biggest disappointment was ... ugh.

[Julia]

My least favorite was The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss. It was so slowwww.

I gave one star to Murder in Volume which was not memorable. (I had to go look at my review to remember why I didn't like it.)

And very disappointed with The Monogram Murders which my library has catalogued as if it were written by Agatha Christie but is actually by a different author using Christie's detective Hercule Poirot.