Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
Let's Talk About: Your Books
>
Books that you wish you hadn't read
Haha, that is actually kind of funny. Oh the things people think of!
I really want to read that book now, Lisa. Must see if my library has it and, failing that, if I can find a cheap used copy. ^o^
@Sashana: I think you need to read this and this. I wrote these reviews a while back. But if you're a Twilight fan and is easily offended, don't, okay? :)
I read one Danielle Steel about 10 years ago. When I got to the passage that went something like this:"She thought he was reading too much into her words.
'You're reading too much into my words,' she said.
It was important to her that he see he was reading too much into what she had said."
I gave up. It was like a combination of 7th grade essay advice and bad fiction.
Jennifer wrote: "I read one Danielle Steel about 10 years ago. When I got to the passage that went something like this:"She thought he was reading too much into her words.
'You're reading too much into my words,..."
What, repetitive exposition isn't your thing? Shocking!
So disturbing and so poorly written. I couldn't decide if I should be creeped out weep for the English language.
"My Sweet Audrina" by VC Andrews. Too disturbing on an emotional level. I felt like I couldn't wash it off me. I tried reading it again years later to see if would have the same effect on me and it did.
and
were the two books I couldn't finish this year.
I way too young to read this when I got my hands on it. I was traumatized for years!
I deeply wish I hadn't started
- I stopped reading, but it was already too late to save any future camping trips. That book gave me a complex.
- All the characters were so horrible I kind of wanted the serial killer to get them.
Stefani wrote: "
- All the characters were so horrible I kind of wanted the serial killer to get them."You don't hear that everyday :)
I hated Beautiful Disaster though Sashana might kill me! Found the leads very disturbing.City of Bones is another book that I couldn't get into. I started and gave up too many times. I hate Clary and Jace (and I hate that I can remember their names!)
I also gave up on the BDB series by J. R. Ward. I wasn't a fan of the series to start with but I managed to make it book #4 before giving up on it.
I'm just sad you didn't like it, Vi :( I know the main characters are a little hard to swallow with their back and forth relationship. They're like the college version of the Fifty Shades characters.
In a way, I get their appeal. But I couldn't accept Travis's actions and Abby's acceptance of it. (And I especially hate the nickname Travis gave to Abby and the ending) And that is why I'm staying away from Fifty Shades.
I stayed up until 4:38am last night/this morning reading
. My only excuse for making it all the way through is that I had to see just how Twilight it could possibly get. Final verdict was the only things missing were fangs and a baddie. ~_~
willaful wrote: "
- I stopped reading, but it was already too late to save any future camping trips."Yikes!
Sashana wrote: "Stefani wrote: " - All the characters were so horrible I kind of wanted the serial killer to get them."You don't hear that everyday :)"
Nope. You sure don't. Guess I'll stay away.
Sans wrote: "Final verdict was the only things missing were fangs and a baddie. ~_~"Another yikes! Different inflection, but still a yikes.
Vi wrote: "I also gave up on the BDB series by J. R. Ward. I wasn't a fan of the series to start with but I managed to make it book #4 before giving up on it."I haven't made it to #3 yet. I know I need to be in the mood to handle Z's history. **sigh** I'm a wuss.
Fallen by Lauren Kate--Usually I like books with a bit of romance and paranormal activity. I found this book to be kind of a hodge-podge of all the YA books jumbled together. Very disappointed in it.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbury--This book was a narrative with the story interwoven by ann older woman and a younger girl. A novel idea. I had no problem with the older woman but the younger girl annoyed me greatly with her pettiness and childish, immature attitude.
Paul is Undead: the British Zombie Invasion by Alan Goldshear--It was an amusing premise, a funny book--but the novelty wore off in about three pages leaving around 400 unnecessarily unfunny, annoying pages to get through. Made me feel like I never wanted to read another book about Paul McCartney, the Beatles, or any book written by this author again! Way, way, way too long!
I was disappointed about Fallen too, Jan! Such a beautiful cover wasted, it's a shame. I did hear that the second book was an improvement though.
Sans wrote: "I stayed up until 4:38am last night/this morning reading 
. My only excuse for making it all the way through is that I had to see just how Twilight it could possibly get. Final ve..."I didn't mark this one as read because I skimmed so much. I couldn't even bring myself to read one whole page.
Sashana wrote: "I was disappointed about Fallen too, Jan! Such a beautiful cover wasted, it's a shame. I did hear that the second book was an improvement though."I didn't think so. And still I gave #3 a try. I'm done with the series. It's so ..... insipid
My mom recommended it to me. That should have been a tip-off, but she was just so excited about the book that I couldn't say no to her. I sat down with her last night and told her I felt it really was just Twific. She didn't agree until I read her my review of the book. It was like a light turned on. She went, "Oh! Yeah, I see that now. That must be why I loved it so much!" ~_~
I'm going to stick with the trainwreck I think. Apparently Marcus is the "hero" of the second book. And my mom had already gifted the second book to me on Kindle. Again: ~_~
This is kinda funny.... Sashana's message 180 has a book called Breathe which is a m/m adult love story and Sans' original post 172 has a YA romance.I clicked on the cover in Sashana's post and thought... oh this doesn't sound Twilight-ish...not unless there was something going on with Edward & Jacob.
Kellyflower wrote: "I clicked on the cover in Sashana's post and thought... oh this doesn't sound Twilight-ish...not unless there was something going on with Edward & Jacob. "I suspect you could find dozens, if not hundreds, of such stories, if you looked for them.... :-)
Damn. The book that showed up in Sash's reply sounds good. And now that you mention it, I'd like to read some Jacob/Edward slash. Just to see what it's like. ^o^
Kellyflower wrote: "This is kinda funny.... Sashana's message 180 has a book called Breathe which is a m/m adult love story and Sans' original post 172 has a YA romance..."I wonder why it switched books...weird. But Twilight fan-fiction seems to be the next big thing. Who knew?
Kellyflower wrote: "... oh this doesn't sound Twilight-ish...not unless there was something going on with Edward & Jacob."LMAO! Oh, I've done that too, Kellyflower, (however, not with quite those same results) and said, "Huh?"
The same thing happened in Message 168 and 169. It totally changed what book they were talking about. I've read all of the House of Night books and know there is not a serial killer. I don't know what is going on. GR has been so buggy and glitchy this past month or two.
Kellyflower wrote: "I clicked on the cover in Sashana's post and thought... oh this doesn't sound Twilight-ish...not unless there was something going on with Edward & Jacob. "ROFL!
**snortsnort**At least this bug makes me laugh... the formatting one is just driving me slowly nuts.
Sashana wrote: "I was disappointed about Fallen too, Jan! Such a beautiful cover wasted, it's a shame. I did hear that the second book was an improvement though."Count me in as one who just hated Fallen. I seriously thought that it was going to make my eyes bleed it was so insipid and childish. And I am learning something from YA....
If the guy you want isn't interested in you, you're just not trying hard enough! Eventually he'll turn around and become a stalker which is SO romantic, and then he'll switch back off just as fast.
Has anyone listened to the audiobook of Fallen? I haven't read any of the series and still plan to read/listen to the first one (if only to see how awful it really is lol). I wonder if the audiobook format would make it better since I'll be listening and driving so I won't be paying as close attention to it as I would when reading a paper copy of the book...
I tried listening to it, Kirsten, and it was a dnf for me. **sigh** Maybe it was my mood. My library has it and I just never got around to giving it another shot.
Lisa Kay wrote: "I haven't made it to #3 yet. I know I need to be in the mood to handle Z's history. **sigh** I'm a wuss."LK, Did you like the BDB series so far? If yes, then I suspect you'll very much enjoy the book.
I liked the first two books well enough, Vi. The first one, on my first attempt, I could NOT get into. I think it was all the lingo, b/c I sure liked the H/h; alas, I put it down. Then Sans talked me into giving it another shot as a "buddy read" - which made it a lot more fun - and several others joined in, so we did the second book. They have all, I believe, gone on without me. I like Alpha Males, but I'm not big on Über-Alpha Males.
Good that you liked it on the second try, LK! I don't like the lingo and the physical contrast between the H and the h. The books didn't live up to the hype for me. You should start the third book, LK. Maybe Sans will read with you again.
She just re-read it, Vi, and I wasn't in the right frame of mind then. She'll have another re-read, b/c she loves the series so; I'll have another go at it at a future date.
Fifty Shades of Grey AND 1984This first because it was such a ripoff. It makes you ashamed that you ever plunked that money down for it. It is so badly written and juvenile you could kick yourself for having listened to your sister-in-law (I had always respected her tastes in books and movies before this but to be fair, someone had told her how good it was and she hadn't gotten around to reading it yet. I'll have to remember to ask her at Thanksgiving what she thought of it.) It makes you realize the power of the media. There are as many people who hate this book as love it. But they all bought it. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could take the books that are all hoopla and no substance back for a refund.
1984... what can I say? It's totally depressing and there is no saving grace to be had. Animal Farm was much better.
Liz, Maybe you should try
Fifty Shames of Earl Grey
I heard this parody was funny. (Especially if you disliked the original books)
Taking Chances by Molly McAdams. When I read the blurb I thought I might get a Beautiful Disaster type story (a guilty pleasure for me - I know I shouldn't like it because Travis & Abby were so co-dependant and unhealthy but I did anyway) but this book made me sick. Everyone inexplicably loves the selfish, immature heroine. There is so much more wrong with this book but I can't say without spoiling it for those who may want to read it. I definitely don't recommend it but if there is one thing this thread has driven home it is "Each to their own". Personally I love the Mortal Instruments and Vampire Academy books.
Nothing But Reading Challenges
Books mentioned in this topic
The Long Way Home (other topics)House of Sand and Fog (other topics)
Silas Marner (other topics)
Grey (other topics)
Moby-Dick or, The Whale (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Justin Cronin (other topics)Stephen King (other topics)
George Orwell (other topics)
Yann Martel (other topics)
Jeffrey Eugenides (other topics)
Is this the male version of Eat, Pray, Love? I am both repelled and drawn to this one, but I think I'll pass.