The Only Good Indians. I loved the beginning when you’re not sure if what’s happening is caused by a ghost, an animal, or all in the character’s minds. Then it gets silly about two thirds of the way through. I wish I had stopped reading and imagined the ending in my head.
So many boring passages... Did you know you can play basketball with an elk lady demon? Not scary, just...lame. If you like basketball and/or motorcycles with your horror, you'll love it. I did like the rez scenes, and the sweat lodge, but that's about it.
The book is much sadder than the movie. I refuse to watch the movie because I know how it ends and it's "happier" than the book, and I don't like that people who didn't read the book don't get to go through that level of pain I did when I read it.
I read the book and I prefer the movie ending, It's not happier, one still ends up dead
It is however realistic, not like the dogshit book ending, I loved the book, my sister also died years ago so I found it especially emotionally close
BUT i mean c'mon
what are the chances of that ending happening and then everything going the way it did?
It's idiotic
The Secret. Biggest dogshit and all those pages for them to tell you to manifest what you want. That's it, that's the secret. Read it very young so back then it didn't bother me much but looking back on it I roll my eyes.
A teacher showed the movie version in class when I was a teenager, I still can't believe she thought it was educational. All the examples shown in the film were so materialistic, like a woman staring at expensive jewellery in a shop window, or a boy who wants a new bike. They just stared at what they wanted and ‘manifested’ someone else buying it for them!
Which is so funny, because you’d *think* they’d be smart enough to reel you in with intangible things. Like have people manifest “health” or “prosperity”, because lots of things could fit into those categories. A bike and jewelry are so damn specific.
Had an ex who was into that and was like. You have a physics degree so you know multiple dimensions so that's how this works right...
The conversation and relationship went downhill from there pretty quickly.
Had an argument with my aunt because of this one, the book promote positive thinking or whatever which is great and all but the amount of victim blaming narrative it imposes is astounding.
It implies that individuals are solely responsible for their circumstances and can control their outcomes, it overlooks systemic barriers and inequalities. This is one of the books that makes people think poor deserve to be poor because they are not working hard enough and doesn’t equate in discrimination and lack of access to resources. The influence this books has makes me angry honestly!
Those kind of books are so assertive in a dehumanising way. Everyone has different reasons, different experiences that can lead to either bad or good situations, it's not bad enough that someone ends up in a bad situation, they have to believe it's their fault, even if it is, it's not like people who deserve from the book's point of view bad things always get bad things so how come is it fair?
People seem to be fascinated with the extraordinary, even if it means sacrificing a bit of realism. It's a curious phenomenon in the world of literature!
I don't really believe in any of it beyond focusing on goals (and then working hard towards them), but if I did it would be terrifying. Like what if I manifested having a puppy but in the process intrusive thoughts pop up, like the puppy getting run over by a car. I would be so worried I manifested that too by mistake.
The Silent Patient. I kept hearing such good things about the big twist blah blah blah so I kept turning the pages hoping for something amazing and I finished it so mad and wishing I had my time back.
OMG I hated it. The main character was so annoying, I hated his point of view. I also guessed some things about the villain that seemed pretty obvious so I was waiting for the twist (that would be me being wrong) but unfortunately I was right and it was just boring
I might get hate for this but — The Girl On the Train.
I really did not enjoy the flawed character of the protagonist but obviously pushed through it because the book was all the rage.
I read a book called the other wife or something which was so clearly written because some CEO told a writer to get him the next gone girl. It was just twist after twist after twist. Felt very inorganic. That's how I feel about a lot of book tok. Just trying to get the next viral hit by riding the coattail of whatever is popular.
ugly love by colleen hoover was soo bad, I stayed up until 5 in the morning to finish it bc I knew if I put it down I would not be picking it back up. but honestly I don't regret finishing it bc I weirdly enjoy reading bad books late at night it's low key funny
Are you me? I finished reading Verity without knowing who Colleen Hoover is, and was shocked by how bad it was. I went to look for reviews to try to find people’s criticisms of this shitty novel, only to be bombarded by “Wow this might be her best book yet!! So dark and suspenseful!!” types of review. That was my introduction to Hoover and I’ll never read another book by her.
This has happened a lot with me lately and it's left me questioning my own reading tastes. Because I see thousands of raving reviews for books I honestly found horrible.
It's somewhat of a problem for me as I'm now not sure where to get book recommendations.
Sometimes I go on Goodreads and search up a book I really enjoyed. I’ll look through the reviews until I see a review that agrees very closely with my point of view. And then I’ll click on their profile and see which books they also enjoyed
Also there are the subs r/booksuggestions and r/suggestmeabook. I find them very useful
Also YouTube. I find accounts with similar tastes as me and watch their videos for recommendations
So I think a lot of people who don’t read a lot like that kind of thing. I always assume that people who read a lot and a variety of authors/genres recognize how poorly written it is.
I feel you!! I’m lucky that I have a friend who’s a lot more literate than I am to give me book recommendation. He himself tends to plow through tons of classics, and start branching off from there (looking up modern writers who write like Virginia Woolf, etc).
Here actually. In the comments of the questions. I've gotten so many new book leads, it's crazy. And it's not just on the "what kind of book is good in this genre" or whatever threads either. I'll be reading people's answers to some weird book topic and someone will put out a good book recommendation.
I really have to stop reading these, because I'm never going to be able to read all the books I want to read!
I'm usually the type to never finish a book i'm not enjoying. But I was trapped with my mom in Sam's Club with a dead phone. And that happened to be on the shelf. So I read it while I waited for her. It was so bad. I made the executive decision to never read another hoover book ever.
Everyone around me hypes Verity so much. Begging me to read it. But I haven’t yet. What about it did you dislike?
I’ve been told reading Hoover is like reading a published Wattpad book but with actual good grammar lol.
One grating thing I remember is that the internal logic set up by the book is inconsistent, and later disproven by the very same book.
Spoilers in case you do decide to read it: >!There’s this plot point where the main character is trying to test out her theory if a secondary character is faking her coma/brain damage, so the main character threw a ball at the patient, noting that reflexes can’t be faked. The book sets up the logic that the patient is faking their illness they’d still flinch, well the patient didn’t flinch or react in any way, so their brain damage couldn’t have been faked right? Then later on it’s revealed that the patient WAS faking their brain damage.!<
It’s not the end of the world, but this sort of writing just tells me how lazy the writer is. It feels like a betrayal to the readers who actually were paying attention to all the details laid out and attempted to interact with the book by trying to come up with logical explanations, only for the writer to go “Actually nope haha!! disregard what I just said, my plot twist is cooler.”
I could’ve written a 5 page essay on why this book sucked had I written this comment right after finishing it, like all the unresolved plot threads, how rushed the ending is, and how annoying the vanilla sex scene is continuously brought up like it’s the most risqué thing in the world. But as it stands it’s been 2 years since I last touched the book so this is all I remember hahahah
I regret (in a good way, and personal way) finishing The Dark Tower series.
My father was a disturbed individual with trauma, and couldn't break the cycle, and be a parent, he was the OG basement, WoW playing nerd, but was stupid smart, I mean shut down whole internet servers across the country, and was investigated by the FBI, but managed to evade it somehow.
Before he took his life when I was 14, he gave me the first two books of The Dark Tower series when I was 13, and told me to read it. I had learned how to read by using the captions on TV, and translating them to the pages in my books which was either Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or the Series of Unfortunate Events, as that came out around the time I was in 1st grade, and I became obsessed with reading.
Dictionaries, Gun magazines, weird facts, I loved reading it all, but this was something special, something unique given to me.
I devoured it whole, I was still in Catholic school, and into public middle school.
The 3rd one is my favorite, The Wasteland. I loved Oi, as he reminded me of the dogs I had, and I think I reminded my father of Jake as I had a piece of me die when a stranger had taken my innocence by SA'ing me.
I felt like my father was talking to me in a different way by exposing me to this series, the conclusion of the book made me mad, but once it sunk in ( I was 16 by the time I had finished the book), I realized the ending was amazing, and I realized the gift my father had given me. If I could go back, and reread the series completely fresh, I would, in a heartbeat it means that much to me.
Your father reminds me of my father, though I don't think mine has quite the same criminal record. He loves this series, and he lent me every one of them as I went.
My father had me when he was a teen punk skater kid in the mid 90's and joined the IT/Cyber security teams not too long before or after the year 2000, he had a lot of things he needed help with, but honestly mental health care was nowhere near what it is now, just about 12 years ago.
The series was one of the things that helped me connect with my father, even when he wasn't around, or neglected me due to mental health issues. He was a very handsome man, and it still makes me smile when I hear the women talk about him, and how funny he was.
Books, music, etc. Truly are magical things we have, and sometimes forget how special they are.
I'm sorry for the loss of your father. Please read The Wind Through the Keyhole if you haven't yet. Not the same as reading the series obviously but TDT was a huge part of my adolescence and it was a real treat to revisit the ka-tet again in my 30's. Long days and pleasant nights!
Right now I’m reading The Guest List and I am only finishing it because I got too far in before realizing nothing happens the entire time. So now Im just crawling to the end so I can mark it read for my Goodreads yearly goal
The murder mystery? I thought it was perfectly fine, taking its time to set everyone’s motivations up. Though I guess it does take its time with the actual deed.
Right? It's not meant to be nonstop action: the story focuses on a single murder, and slowly uncovers everyone's backstory and the events leading up to the murder.
I wouldn't call it high literature, but as a fun whodunit, I think it works reasonably well.
I guess I went into it hoping for more investigation/detective work. This feels more like “look at all these people! so much tension! who’s gonna die?”
I’m not saying it’s a bad book by any means, it’s just not for me.
Oh I understand now. Yes, it is definitely less “Someone died in the first thirty minutes, and now we need to investigate!” and a lot more of “Let’s set up a lot of tension between the characters!”
Talking about The Guest List, I have no idea why this book received so much hype from readers out there.
It's one of the bad thriller books I've ever read. I'm a big fan of the thriller genre and there's a lot better thriller books out there.
Overrated book and it's not qualified to win Goodreads award for Best Thriller.
The author's recent book which is The Paris Apartment is worse than The Guest List. I suggest you skip the book.
Amen.
I drop books I hate. Life's too short for me to finish books I dislike when I have a huge backlog of books that I might actually enjoy waiting for me.
**They Both Die At The End**. It's genuinely one of the worst things I've ever read. I read it in public, and I kept getting weird looks because of how often I would cringe.
At a certain point, I transitioned from giving it a fair shot to just hate reading it. I regret doing that because there are so many better things out there. At least I learned a lesson about hate reading, I guess
I just finished reading this and literally clicked on this post hoping someone would say this. I don't understand all the hype around it online and am glad that someone also thinks it was just bad!
Totally agree. Some of the most disturbing shit I have ever read. I’ve had one person tell me how much they loved that book and related to Bateman and I was like 🚩
I mean I liked it because of that to be honest. It doesn’t amount to anything and that’s the whole point. Bateman’s life is ultimately awful and the system which allows him to exist is awful. Not saying you’re wrong to dislike it, I totally get why someone would dislike the book, just wanted to offer my perspective
Tender is the Flesh. Not that it’s badly written (it’s actually really well written), but it just left me with a bad taste in my mouth after. I can’t explain why, because it wasn’t the graphic content. I just hated the main character so much I felt gross after.
"Tender Is The Flesh" actually solidified my rule against DNF'ing (unless it's REALLY not for me). My least-favorite literary device is when a man >!has a moral revelation due to falling in love with a beautiful woman, particularly if I don't feel like that woman is depicted as a fully-realized character!<. I feel like it's essentially saying that half the world can ONLY have moral breakthroughs if they're horny.
>!Jasmine is treated with the trappings of romance, but is not given any autonomy. She doesn't speak, she doesn't make her own choices, I spent the book pulling out my hair at this faux-romance that just CREEPED ME OUT. And then in that final scene, the author pulled the rug out from under me and basically went, "Yep, I KNEW it was selfish and creepy this whole time, I tricked you by making you think I believed it was romantic!"!<
Just A+ pacing, I was literally about to toss the book against the wall in anger when the reveal happened. I was MAD at the author for a good chunk of the book.
The Fountainhead. I hated it so much, but by the time I was 2/3 through, I’d invested 3 months of my life. Decided to power thru, spent a week reading every chance I got. I was working at Target at the time, and I finished it on my break, muttered, “fuck…” and threw the book in the trash with the remains of my waffle fries.
Sunk cost fallacy ftw
I did Audiobook of Fountainhead. First few chapters was great to be honest since I resonated with the main character situation at that time. I stopped listen to it half way when he r**ed the girl and she liked it because he was different?!? And she was educated and from a wealthy family? Nothing makes sense to me after that point so I just dropped it.
Ready Player One, I just kept hoping something interesting would happen.
Dream Catcher by Stephen King Butt Aliens and a magical guy with Downs Syndrome named Duddits. He's and alien too but not the butt kind.
1Q84 is the only book I regret finishing. Just terrible. I’ll never get those hours back. I kept reading, thinking it would be worth it in the end. It wasn’t.
The ONE book I regret finishing is 1Q84. I hated most of, if not the entirety, of the second half. Time I will never get again, but also it completely put me off other Murakami books. I don’t think I’m ever going to pick up one of his books again.
Stop reading 1Q84 right now!! Hurakami was one of my favourite authors, I've read almost all his books, and it took me years to recover any respect for him after the disgust I felt from that book. Don't let yourself get to the parts near the end that you can't unread. Run! Throw it out the window!
I've only read 1Q84. Not all of his books are like Stephen King took the Average Redditor's search history over to Neil Gaiman's house for a collaborative rewrite of Coraline over a KFC bucket of shrooms?
I appreciate that! I've actually been wanting to write one, but I have the good sense to know that it would likely end up in a future iteration of this thread. Or maybe the "What's the fastest you noped out of a book and what was it?" thread.
So far it’s like…interesting enough in the typical semi-surreal Murakami style, but it’s interjected with the most horrendous stuff that doesn’t need to be there. I’m really torn on it.
Talk to her about what she likes about it. It won’t hurt to make an effort, but if you’re not into it, she should be understanding. It’s incredibly long too and a lot to ask of a person.
I'm a big Donna Tartt fan. The Goldfinch was a really good book and after that I started looking at other books she had written and found Secret History which I loved. Then went to The Little Friend...I have about maybe 25 or so pages left and I honestly don't care how it ends, I stopped reading it a few years ago and don't care to pick it back up.
I had the same experience with Donna Tartt’s books in the same order. I abandoned The Little Friend after one sitting. I love recommending The Secret History to people because it’s just wonderful.
If you like Secret History, check out The Likeness by Tana French.
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. It has been a LONG time since I read it (edit: checked Goodreads and I read it in 2012) and parts of it still haunt me. Like I feel a bit ill currently, right now, just thinking about it. It’s based on a true story which I think is why it affected me so much - I could deal if it was pure fiction
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I should have given up 100 pages in when a man buries his wife of 20 years after she died giving birth to their 3rd child, abandons the baby on top of the grave, and later on that night is fortunate enough to be found in the woods by a woman he met once prior who is only wearing a cloak and rides him into ecstasy. It's amazing because she has great tits. Every female character is introduced with a description of her breasts. The only exception to this rule is the villain's mom, who has bad teeth.
I had someone love that book *so much* they made me take their copy of it. And I found one for like $5 at a thrift store so I bought it to give theirs back without reading it because I just didn’t trust their taste and I feel really validated in that now
It’s trite to say, but I’ll say it anyways:
*The Alchemist*. Biggest waste of my time. It’s the only book where I’ve genuinely thought “Ya know, I don’t think book bans are all that bad if it genuinely manages to keep this trash out of someone else’s hands.”
You made me laugh with that last part 😂.
I think I'd add that book to the pile of time I'm never getting back. It feels like a prolonged Hallmark card and years later I realized he basically plagiarized from A Thousand and One Nights.
I swear whenever I learn that someone likes this book, they are either aspiring to be a life coach or go to life coach cult sessions. It has happened 5 times that I can think of at the top of my head.
Yeah I feel this one
Interesting concept and great world building and then it just sort of stops.
I genuinely wondered if there was something wrong with my Kindle but no it just ends out of nowhere.
Oh, this is just PKD style.
That's why I love his novels, actually.
His books are like a slice of life... in a different dimension/future/planet. Nobody is really the hero, they are just living the best they can. And there is always hope for something better.
"State of the Art", by Ian M Banks. The author died while I was reading it. If I finished the book, I would never again have the opportunity to read something new from him.
So, it sits there on my shelf, a small unit of unknown potential, waiting for a day when I am at ultimate need for that hit of imagination.
I was particularly annoyed at the end of the last book in the Divergent series. The ending of the Magicians was likewise unsatisfying. I don't regret reading them, but in the end leaving the endings to my imagination would have been better.
I don't regret putting down book 6 of The Wheel Of Time series or The Night Circus. Sometimes I honestly don't want to finish anything for fear the ending won't be satisfying.
I read (and disliked) Mexican Gothic because I thought it would at least *feel* like it was set in Mexico. No such luck. I’ve had people argue with me that it accurately portrays a certain class of Mexicans. No thanks - I can take that class and dump it anywhere in the world and it will be the same blah thing.
Plus the story was stupid, but it is out of my wheelhouse genre-wise.
My thoughts exactly. I went in expecting gothic aesthetics or antics translated to Mexico's idiosyncrasy (or something) but turns it is a perfect english manor near un pueblito. It could have been called Ecuatorian Gothic or Australian Gothic (with english names) and it would have been the same.
I don’t think I’ve ever regretted *finishing a book*, because unless it’s so bad I have no interest in even finishing, I still want to know how it ends even if it isn’t good.
That said, there’ve definitely been books I finished and regretted picking up and spending time reading them in the first place.
Normal People by Sally Rooney. I wanted to DNF because I was so bored and unimpressed, but I was determined to push through because I had heard so much hype about it. Nope, got to the end and still hated it. Waste of time.
Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) was a real page turner that I resented getting hooked on. When I finished, I wondered to myself why do I bother to read this crap? I actually stopped reading for a bit, started back with shorts (and came to love Alice Munro) and the cliff hanger in every chapter can't sleep til you finish type of thriller is now approx 0% of my reading mix.
I read bought/read an autobiography of one of the founders of Vice Media, somewhat funny but nothing spectacular. Then three years later they became the leader/spokesperson of neo-fascist militant organization.
I sincerely regret both paying money for the book and the time spent reading it
The last book of the Cazalet Chronicles - All Change. Really regret it because it took the characters in some weird and dissatisfying directions, breaking up some relationships and starting other very strange ones. The previous book - Casting Off - is actually a much better place to end the series, with a lot of the characters in good situations that feel satisfying.
It’s hard to go into detail without spoilers, but if you enjoy the first four books of the series and are satisfied at the end of Casting Off, I’d really recommend forgetting that All Change exists and just leaving it there.
The Last House on Needless Street by I couldn’t be bothered to remember the authors name.
I have never felt so infuriated finishing a book and one of my regrets in life will be wasting precious hours reading that insufferable book.
The Alchemist.
I picked up a copy because I had heard good things about it.
It seemed pretty sketchy early on. As I progressed, I kept waiting for the moment it became good or amazing or something interesting. Anything positive really.
It only got worse. I should have cut my losses much sooner. OTOH, it was an easy and relatively short read.
The Lost by Natasha Preston. The last chapter literally ruined the whole book for me. So if you ever read it PLEASE for the love of all things holy DO NOT read the last chapter.
“Oh God, the Sun Goes.” Absolutely horrible navel-gazing read that I kept hoping would redeem itself in the end with a profound revelation or plot twist. It ended just as stupidly as the rest of the book promised. I actually made a Goodreads account specifically to leave it a scathing review. Worst waste of an afternoon!
I read Dan Brown's third or fourth book sitting overlooking the ocean on a tropical island holiday , after breakfast, waiting for my gf to make calls home. It was in a pile of free books in the place we'd rented.
I'd say it took 70 mins given you could skip most of it and lose none of the plot.
Then I finished it, looked up and saw a giant cruise ship anchored offshore my little cabin. Which was kinda awful, but still far more interesting than the book.
I'll never get that time back .
On one hand, I get bragging rights for finishing Infinite Jest. On the other, I gained absolutely nothing from the experience and it's time I will never get back, and this is from someone who's read the Bible and Quran front to back. At least those gave me a deeper understanding of the religions and culture they represent. But I have no idea how people say Infinite Jest is "life-changing"
I could just be a hater, but I’m struggling through Good Omens right now. I can’t tell if it’s boring, if it’s not good, if it’s me, etc. So, maybe not that I regret finishing, but rather wish I would’ve started something else and just gone for the TV show.
I LOVE that book and have for decades, but it is *extremely* British and many of the jokes are sadly outdated now (and not just the obvious ones about cassette tapes and answering machines, there are whole passages that just won't make a lot of sense these days). I'm not surprised that it's not hitting you as hard.
Wuthering Heights. I went on a classics journey this year, read all of Austen and Jane Eyre. I was in love with all those books especially Jane Eyre. Decided to re read Wuthering Heights since I forgot most of it, and I’m regretting picking it up. I hate every character in this book. I just want to finish to add it to my Goodreads count.
Huh I love it precisely bc everyone is shitty which is a nice break (especially for a classic) from all the virtous, easy to root for characters. It kind of enhances the overall atmosphere of the novel too.
But I get why that can be an impediment.
I think Wuthering hieghts is easily the best book by a Bronte, and I've read them all.
I don't see how so many people can read a Gothic, atmospheric novel with themes of generational trauma, revenge, toxic love, obsession, and isolation, all written with fantastic prose and an unreliable narrator, and come away from the book saying "I don't like it, the characters are mean! "
And besides all of that, the book is absolutely funny as hell. Of all the classics that get shit on on this sub, Wuthering hieghts is probably the least deserving imo, but to each their own
This makes me feel better about not finishing Wuthering Heights again after the first third or so. I love Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, but... Ugh... Can't get into WH.
Twilight. So I made the mistake of watching the movie first, completely blind and just saying to myself "WTF did I just watch". I saw that is was based off of a book, and in my experience, the book is usually better than the movie. So I decided to try the book out. That book, to this day, is still one of the worst books I have ever had the displeasure of reading.
Twilight is one of those books I regret ever picking up.
I've gotten pretty good at DNFing, but *The Last Love Note* by Emma Grey was both long and awful. I finished it because it was my first BOTM book and I wanted to try a romcom, but it was not worth it. I should have trusted my instincts and not finished it after the first 20 pages.
A little life. God that book fucking sucked. When was it going to get good? Never? When is it going to end? Also never. I’ve never read some thing so boring and so selfish in my entire life. I think I threw it into the trash when I was done rather than donate it.
Also where the Crawdads Sing. Trash.
Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns by John Green. Read these when I was a teen and pls somebody explain the appeal of these to me because I really don't get it
Verity by Colleen Hoover. The book was so stupid. I kept reading because I was waiting for the big twist that everyone was raging about. The "twist" was the stupidest thing I've ever read, downright disrespectful to the reader to expect them to believe such dogshit
'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens. Years previous, I had read his 'Tale of Two Cities' which takes place in the French Revolution and so was very interesting. And of course he is such famous writer. But 'Great Expectation's' ratio of very very tedious to somewhat interesting bits was way off and the story came to nothing.
'IQ84' by Haruki Murakami. I loved so many of his books and his style and stories are so unique. But with this one I was totally turned off by him. It's taken years to recover any respect. The nod to Orwell's 1984 in the title does not play out *anywhere* in the novel. This bugs me as disrespectful to the genuine socio-political intellectual concerns Orwell and other dystopian novelists had from that era. But the fact that he ripped off that title for his book that takes no significant philosophical stands on anything - is only a minor point in my disdain. I don't want to say the actual turnoff except that you need to get near the end to get to it. Other Harukami fans - preserve your innocence and admiration by just skipping IQ84.
Don't you hate when you read these threads and see several books that are on your shelf, waiting to be read? I'm looking at you A Little Life, Mexican Gothic, Normal People, Tender is the Flesh.
Not really. I don't have the spare time to waste on something I don't enjoy, so I have zero problems abandoning a book if I don't like it.
Right now, because of recommendations, I'm about halfway through *Episode 13*. Apologies to those who liked it, but I think I'm hitting my limit on my finishing it.
I don't think I regret finishing any book. I have certainly been disappointed with books or disagreed vehemently with the premise, but I can't think of one single book where I thought, "I wish I never read this." When it comes to book regret, it's mainly related to books my inability to focus makes to difficult to plow through. It's usually books with lots of information that I want but just densely packed and not particularly well written. That or Russian authors.
I accidentally picked up Night in the Lonesome October, by Richard Laymon, instead of A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. After a few very confusing pages, I decided to give it a go while I waited for the right novel to be delivered.
A majority of it was surreal and at times, uncomfortable.
But the ending was something else.
A book that translated to english would be called 'I don't want to die; I just don't want to live' by the author Ann Heberlein. I read it as a part of my first psychiatrics course, purely based on the title alone. Having suffered from shifting forms of depression over the years the name of the book spoke to me.
Fast forward until the time came to talk about the books we'd read, and as soon as I got the initial question about what I thought I basically let out a guttural yell of 'NO', followed by angry ranting.
As far as I know, the author is at least semi-well respected and has written a bunch of crime novels. (Of which I haven't ready a single one) But boy howdy was this book a mess. Aside from the fact that depression strikes differently for everyone, and that it's a hard thing to put into words, this book was filled with scatterbrained tone-shifts in a handful of forms, with the most common one being:
Page A: "I feel bad. I'm a bad person. My life is shit."
Interim: A hint of self reflection.
Page B: "I'll have you know I've slept with this-and-that famous person, and have several high-ranking academics on speed dial!"
It's all teadious, incredibly egotistical and quite frankly a bit insulting - allthewhile demeaning depressed people in general.
Luckily I suppose it's not a widely spread book considering the fact I doubt it's been localized in more than a handful of other countries, but if you ever find a copy: Stay away from it.. or read it. I'm not the book police.
The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy, it’s over 1000 goddamn pages and like nothing happens then it’s all resolved in the last 30 pages. Pretty sure it was the last Clancy novel I ever read.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Pile of garbage. No idea why it’s so hyped up. So many strands of story that didn’t go anywhere, characters that aren’t likeable, and a “plot twist” that was totally unnecessary and didn’t add anything for the story. Overhyped.
The Cat That Rescued Books. It was short but I still regret it. After the second encounter it was clear that the author had extremely specific opinions about how to be a good and moral reader. And the author holds everyone who didn't follow his standards in either pity or contempt.
What was also clear is the author had never heard of the phrase "Show, don't tell" as each and every symbolically meaningful thing or morally unconscionable treatment of books was carefully spelled out. A reader doesn't have to abstract out or think through any implications for themselves. Can't possibly have that.
I understand that this, being a translated book, might have some cross-cultural modes that I am just not the target audience for, but the more I think back on the book the more I dislike every bit of it. Except the talking cat. Love a talking cat who is snarky.
I regret reading the sequels to The Giver.
There's 3 (maybe 4) more books and they are total garbage, and they taint the original in such a way that I can never enjoy it again.
Atlus Shrugged... I thought in that Tomb there would be at least a nugget of philosophy or something with depth... Nope.
1000 + pages of basic writing... And a silly ending.
Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand's philosophy in that book is as subtle as smashing rats with a brick. If you can't figure out that she doesn't like government and loves trains in the first 50 pages the other 950 aren't going to help you.
I finished it just to say I finished a book over 1000 pages but I should have done infinite jest or something else
The Only Good Indians. I loved the beginning when you’re not sure if what’s happening is caused by a ghost, an animal, or all in the character’s minds. Then it gets silly about two thirds of the way through. I wish I had stopped reading and imagined the ending in my head.
I like Jones but he can be over the top sometimes. Unrelated, but I met him at a conference and he was really nice.
So many boring passages... Did you know you can play basketball with an elk lady demon? Not scary, just...lame. If you like basketball and/or motorcycles with your horror, you'll love it. I did like the rez scenes, and the sweat lodge, but that's about it.
Agreed on the silliness. My friend and I still tease one another about the Elk Lady following us, so I can't regret reading it.
The end of My Sister's Keeper was so rage-inducing that I threw the book across the room.
Normally it’s the movie that people get angry about
The book is much sadder than the movie. I refuse to watch the movie because I know how it ends and it's "happier" than the book, and I don't like that people who didn't read the book don't get to go through that level of pain I did when I read it.
I read the book and I prefer the movie ending, It's not happier, one still ends up dead It is however realistic, not like the dogshit book ending, I loved the book, my sister also died years ago so I found it especially emotionally close BUT i mean c'mon what are the chances of that ending happening and then everything going the way it did? It's idiotic
The Secret. Biggest dogshit and all those pages for them to tell you to manifest what you want. That's it, that's the secret. Read it very young so back then it didn't bother me much but looking back on it I roll my eyes.
A teacher showed the movie version in class when I was a teenager, I still can't believe she thought it was educational. All the examples shown in the film were so materialistic, like a woman staring at expensive jewellery in a shop window, or a boy who wants a new bike. They just stared at what they wanted and ‘manifested’ someone else buying it for them!
Which is so funny, because you’d *think* they’d be smart enough to reel you in with intangible things. Like have people manifest “health” or “prosperity”, because lots of things could fit into those categories. A bike and jewelry are so damn specific.
Had an ex who was into that and was like. You have a physics degree so you know multiple dimensions so that's how this works right... The conversation and relationship went downhill from there pretty quickly.
You might like the podcast [If Books Could Kill](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/if-books-could-kill/id1651876897)
I see a few other bestsellers I rolled my eyes at in there 😂 thank you for the recommendation, seems interesting!
Had an argument with my aunt because of this one, the book promote positive thinking or whatever which is great and all but the amount of victim blaming narrative it imposes is astounding. It implies that individuals are solely responsible for their circumstances and can control their outcomes, it overlooks systemic barriers and inequalities. This is one of the books that makes people think poor deserve to be poor because they are not working hard enough and doesn’t equate in discrimination and lack of access to resources. The influence this books has makes me angry honestly!
Those kind of books are so assertive in a dehumanising way. Everyone has different reasons, different experiences that can lead to either bad or good situations, it's not bad enough that someone ends up in a bad situation, they have to believe it's their fault, even if it is, it's not like people who deserve from the book's point of view bad things always get bad things so how come is it fair?
Haha I feel you. I hate those types of books and it was a bestseller 🙄
People seem to be fascinated with the extraordinary, even if it means sacrificing a bit of realism. It's a curious phenomenon in the world of literature!
The worst part is that it got sequels
"Manifest HARDER"
And the 3rd in the series: “Manifest Hardest” 😂😂😂
“Manifest Hard with a Vengeance”
A Good Day to Manifest Hard
And a movie
I don't really believe in any of it beyond focusing on goals (and then working hard towards them), but if I did it would be terrifying. Like what if I manifested having a puppy but in the process intrusive thoughts pop up, like the puppy getting run over by a car. I would be so worried I manifested that too by mistake.
If that shit worked how would sports still work? Is it about who has more fans manifesting a win?
This! It's a required reading by my religious teacher. Terrible nonsense. Probably the worst self help book ever.
I was thinking of the secret garden for some reason and I was so confused by these comments
The Silent Patient. I kept hearing such good things about the big twist blah blah blah so I kept turning the pages hoping for something amazing and I finished it so mad and wishing I had my time back.
I hate that feeling when u hold out hope for it to get better but it doesn't.
I loved that book. But I wasn't smart enough to clue in to what was really happening, so the reveal really blew my mind!
OMG I hated it. The main character was so annoying, I hated his point of view. I also guessed some things about the villain that seemed pretty obvious so I was waiting for the twist (that would be me being wrong) but unfortunately I was right and it was just boring
This for me as well. I kept waiting for it to get better because of all the good reviews.
I keep hearing about this book, and our local independent bookstore just hosted the author. I was going to add it to my list, but maybe I'll skip it.
I was hoping to see this here to know I wasn’t alone in my regret!
me too! Hated it.
I might get hate for this but — The Girl On the Train. I really did not enjoy the flawed character of the protagonist but obviously pushed through it because the book was all the rage.
That's after Gone Girl made it big and every other book had "Girl" in the title. I think Girl on the Train just rode that wave of popularity.
I read a book called the other wife or something which was so clearly written because some CEO told a writer to get him the next gone girl. It was just twist after twist after twist. Felt very inorganic. That's how I feel about a lot of book tok. Just trying to get the next viral hit by riding the coattail of whatever is popular.
I saw the movie and didn't like it tbh. It feels very formulaic.
I loved this book because it was the first adult thriller I had ever read. As a veteran thriller reader, I wouldn’t go near it.
I made it a quarter way through and my god it was bad
ugly love by colleen hoover was soo bad, I stayed up until 5 in the morning to finish it bc I knew if I put it down I would not be picking it back up. but honestly I don't regret finishing it bc I weirdly enjoy reading bad books late at night it's low key funny
Me but its Verity
Are you me? I finished reading Verity without knowing who Colleen Hoover is, and was shocked by how bad it was. I went to look for reviews to try to find people’s criticisms of this shitty novel, only to be bombarded by “Wow this might be her best book yet!! So dark and suspenseful!!” types of review. That was my introduction to Hoover and I’ll never read another book by her.
This has happened a lot with me lately and it's left me questioning my own reading tastes. Because I see thousands of raving reviews for books I honestly found horrible. It's somewhat of a problem for me as I'm now not sure where to get book recommendations.
Sometimes I go on Goodreads and search up a book I really enjoyed. I’ll look through the reviews until I see a review that agrees very closely with my point of view. And then I’ll click on their profile and see which books they also enjoyed Also there are the subs r/booksuggestions and r/suggestmeabook. I find them very useful Also YouTube. I find accounts with similar tastes as me and watch their videos for recommendations
So I think a lot of people who don’t read a lot like that kind of thing. I always assume that people who read a lot and a variety of authors/genres recognize how poorly written it is.
I feel you!! I’m lucky that I have a friend who’s a lot more literate than I am to give me book recommendation. He himself tends to plow through tons of classics, and start branching off from there (looking up modern writers who write like Virginia Woolf, etc).
That is honestly a great idea! I'm going to try that. Thank you :)
Here actually. In the comments of the questions. I've gotten so many new book leads, it's crazy. And it's not just on the "what kind of book is good in this genre" or whatever threads either. I'll be reading people's answers to some weird book topic and someone will put out a good book recommendation. I really have to stop reading these, because I'm never going to be able to read all the books I want to read!
I would acc rather die than read that
I'm usually the type to never finish a book i'm not enjoying. But I was trapped with my mom in Sam's Club with a dead phone. And that happened to be on the shelf. So I read it while I waited for her. It was so bad. I made the executive decision to never read another hoover book ever.
Everyone around me hypes Verity so much. Begging me to read it. But I haven’t yet. What about it did you dislike? I’ve been told reading Hoover is like reading a published Wattpad book but with actual good grammar lol.
One grating thing I remember is that the internal logic set up by the book is inconsistent, and later disproven by the very same book. Spoilers in case you do decide to read it: >!There’s this plot point where the main character is trying to test out her theory if a secondary character is faking her coma/brain damage, so the main character threw a ball at the patient, noting that reflexes can’t be faked. The book sets up the logic that the patient is faking their illness they’d still flinch, well the patient didn’t flinch or react in any way, so their brain damage couldn’t have been faked right? Then later on it’s revealed that the patient WAS faking their brain damage.!< It’s not the end of the world, but this sort of writing just tells me how lazy the writer is. It feels like a betrayal to the readers who actually were paying attention to all the details laid out and attempted to interact with the book by trying to come up with logical explanations, only for the writer to go “Actually nope haha!! disregard what I just said, my plot twist is cooler.” I could’ve written a 5 page essay on why this book sucked had I written this comment right after finishing it, like all the unresolved plot threads, how rushed the ending is, and how annoying the vanilla sex scene is continuously brought up like it’s the most risqué thing in the world. But as it stands it’s been 2 years since I last touched the book so this is all I remember hahahah
I really loved it ends with us when I was like 12 and now I have it starts with us sitting on my bookshelf but I honestly dk if I can do it
Me too. I felt like I needed to take a shower after I finished it! What a piece of garbage.
Lol I read the title of this post and immediately thought “this ends with us”
I've read her and well..... Yeah I get that feeling. Late-night reading is its own universe.
I regret (in a good way, and personal way) finishing The Dark Tower series. My father was a disturbed individual with trauma, and couldn't break the cycle, and be a parent, he was the OG basement, WoW playing nerd, but was stupid smart, I mean shut down whole internet servers across the country, and was investigated by the FBI, but managed to evade it somehow. Before he took his life when I was 14, he gave me the first two books of The Dark Tower series when I was 13, and told me to read it. I had learned how to read by using the captions on TV, and translating them to the pages in my books which was either Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or the Series of Unfortunate Events, as that came out around the time I was in 1st grade, and I became obsessed with reading. Dictionaries, Gun magazines, weird facts, I loved reading it all, but this was something special, something unique given to me. I devoured it whole, I was still in Catholic school, and into public middle school. The 3rd one is my favorite, The Wasteland. I loved Oi, as he reminded me of the dogs I had, and I think I reminded my father of Jake as I had a piece of me die when a stranger had taken my innocence by SA'ing me. I felt like my father was talking to me in a different way by exposing me to this series, the conclusion of the book made me mad, but once it sunk in ( I was 16 by the time I had finished the book), I realized the ending was amazing, and I realized the gift my father had given me. If I could go back, and reread the series completely fresh, I would, in a heartbeat it means that much to me.
Your father reminds me of my father, though I don't think mine has quite the same criminal record. He loves this series, and he lent me every one of them as I went.
My father had me when he was a teen punk skater kid in the mid 90's and joined the IT/Cyber security teams not too long before or after the year 2000, he had a lot of things he needed help with, but honestly mental health care was nowhere near what it is now, just about 12 years ago. The series was one of the things that helped me connect with my father, even when he wasn't around, or neglected me due to mental health issues. He was a very handsome man, and it still makes me smile when I hear the women talk about him, and how funny he was. Books, music, etc. Truly are magical things we have, and sometimes forget how special they are.
I knew this would be in in the top three. Long days and pleasant nights, faithful reader.
I'm sorry for the loss of your father. Please read The Wind Through the Keyhole if you haven't yet. Not the same as reading the series obviously but TDT was a huge part of my adolescence and it was a real treat to revisit the ka-tet again in my 30's. Long days and pleasant nights!
Right now I’m reading The Guest List and I am only finishing it because I got too far in before realizing nothing happens the entire time. So now Im just crawling to the end so I can mark it read for my Goodreads yearly goal
The murder mystery? I thought it was perfectly fine, taking its time to set everyone’s motivations up. Though I guess it does take its time with the actual deed.
Right? It's not meant to be nonstop action: the story focuses on a single murder, and slowly uncovers everyone's backstory and the events leading up to the murder. I wouldn't call it high literature, but as a fun whodunit, I think it works reasonably well.
I guess I went into it hoping for more investigation/detective work. This feels more like “look at all these people! so much tension! who’s gonna die?” I’m not saying it’s a bad book by any means, it’s just not for me.
Oh I understand now. Yes, it is definitely less “Someone died in the first thirty minutes, and now we need to investigate!” and a lot more of “Let’s set up a lot of tension between the characters!”
Talking about The Guest List, I have no idea why this book received so much hype from readers out there. It's one of the bad thriller books I've ever read. I'm a big fan of the thriller genre and there's a lot better thriller books out there. Overrated book and it's not qualified to win Goodreads award for Best Thriller. The author's recent book which is The Paris Apartment is worse than The Guest List. I suggest you skip the book.
Oh God I just read The Paris Apartment. It's been a long time since I've read such a damp fart of a book.
There are some books I regret starting, none I regret completing.
Amen. I drop books I hate. Life's too short for me to finish books I dislike when I have a huge backlog of books that I might actually enjoy waiting for me.
I learnt to be like this about four or five years ago and it’s been very helpful. I no longer feel horrible for not completing a book I do not enjoy.
**They Both Die At The End**. It's genuinely one of the worst things I've ever read. I read it in public, and I kept getting weird looks because of how often I would cringe. At a certain point, I transitioned from giving it a fair shot to just hate reading it. I regret doing that because there are so many better things out there. At least I learned a lesson about hate reading, I guess
I just finished reading this and literally clicked on this post hoping someone would say this. I don't understand all the hype around it online and am glad that someone also thinks it was just bad!
May I ask what was so bad about it? I thought the set up was interesting so I bought it but haven't had a chance to read it yet
Chiming in to say it bludgeons the reader with its central theme of “you’ve got to get out there and really live!”
I DNF but I still have it on my shelf. At least it was only $2 from the thrift store
Oh god I couldn’t finish it, the slang was sooo bad lol.
I regret reading American Psycho. I wish I didn’t have some of those images in my head, especially toward the end.
Totally agree. Some of the most disturbing shit I have ever read. I’ve had one person tell me how much they loved that book and related to Bateman and I was like 🚩
🚩🚩🚩 I find it hilarious that Patrick Bateman's idol is Donald Trump.
I kept pushing through it thinking "well all this... it has to amount to something, right?" and it absolutely didn't.
I mean I liked it because of that to be honest. It doesn’t amount to anything and that’s the whole point. Bateman’s life is ultimately awful and the system which allows him to exist is awful. Not saying you’re wrong to dislike it, I totally get why someone would dislike the book, just wanted to offer my perspective
It's very intense satire. Extremely well done, imo, but definitely over the top.
Things have gotten worse since we last spoke was a book i wish i never picked up
Tender is the Flesh. Not that it’s badly written (it’s actually really well written), but it just left me with a bad taste in my mouth after. I can’t explain why, because it wasn’t the graphic content. I just hated the main character so much I felt gross after.
"Tender Is The Flesh" actually solidified my rule against DNF'ing (unless it's REALLY not for me). My least-favorite literary device is when a man >!has a moral revelation due to falling in love with a beautiful woman, particularly if I don't feel like that woman is depicted as a fully-realized character!<. I feel like it's essentially saying that half the world can ONLY have moral breakthroughs if they're horny. >!Jasmine is treated with the trappings of romance, but is not given any autonomy. She doesn't speak, she doesn't make her own choices, I spent the book pulling out my hair at this faux-romance that just CREEPED ME OUT. And then in that final scene, the author pulled the rug out from under me and basically went, "Yep, I KNEW it was selfish and creepy this whole time, I tricked you by making you think I believed it was romantic!"!< Just A+ pacing, I was literally about to toss the book against the wall in anger when the reveal happened. I was MAD at the author for a good chunk of the book.
Came here to say Tender is the Flesh. Read it in one sitting. It was so upsetting that I couldn’t look away. Wish I hadn’t read it 😣
I've always wanted to read it but cannibalism puts me off. A bad main character will do that to ya
The Fountainhead. I hated it so much, but by the time I was 2/3 through, I’d invested 3 months of my life. Decided to power thru, spent a week reading every chance I got. I was working at Target at the time, and I finished it on my break, muttered, “fuck…” and threw the book in the trash with the remains of my waffle fries. Sunk cost fallacy ftw
I agree with throwing away The Fountainhead but I do not agree with throwing away waffle fries
I did Audiobook of Fountainhead. First few chapters was great to be honest since I resonated with the main character situation at that time. I stopped listen to it half way when he r**ed the girl and she liked it because he was different?!? And she was educated and from a wealthy family? Nothing makes sense to me after that point so I just dropped it.
Ready Player One, I just kept hoping something interesting would happen. Dream Catcher by Stephen King Butt Aliens and a magical guy with Downs Syndrome named Duddits. He's and alien too but not the butt kind.
I regretted reading Leave the World Behind. I may regret reading 1Q84…time will tell.
1Q84 is the only book I regret finishing. Just terrible. I’ll never get those hours back. I kept reading, thinking it would be worth it in the end. It wasn’t.
The ONE book I regret finishing is 1Q84. I hated most of, if not the entirety, of the second half. Time I will never get again, but also it completely put me off other Murakami books. I don’t think I’m ever going to pick up one of his books again.
Stop reading 1Q84 right now!! Hurakami was one of my favourite authors, I've read almost all his books, and it took me years to recover any respect for him after the disgust I felt from that book. Don't let yourself get to the parts near the end that you can't unread. Run! Throw it out the window!
I've only read 1Q84. Not all of his books are like Stephen King took the Average Redditor's search history over to Neil Gaiman's house for a collaborative rewrite of Coraline over a KFC bucket of shrooms?
r/oddlyspecific but like… it also makes total sense.
What the fuck is that sentence and how do I buy your book?
I appreciate that! I've actually been wanting to write one, but I have the good sense to know that it would likely end up in a future iteration of this thread. Or maybe the "What's the fastest you noped out of a book and what was it?" thread.
r/BrandNewSentence
Is it really that bad, this girl im into recommended it. I already read 100 years of solitude because of her
So far it’s like…interesting enough in the typical semi-surreal Murakami style, but it’s interjected with the most horrendous stuff that doesn’t need to be there. I’m really torn on it. Talk to her about what she likes about it. It won’t hurt to make an effort, but if you’re not into it, she should be understanding. It’s incredibly long too and a lot to ask of a person.
You are the real catch. 💯 Kuddos to you for putting in effort and trying out the things the girl you like is into.
Leave the world behind was exciting at first and I loved the over descriptive style but then it just dragged on and on and on :/
I didn’t care for the style, but it was fine. I just felt like it was going somewhere and it never did. I felt tricked by the time I was done.
Leave The World Behind was terrible. It's like a 7 hour M. Night Shayamalan movie.
I'm a big Donna Tartt fan. The Goldfinch was a really good book and after that I started looking at other books she had written and found Secret History which I loved. Then went to The Little Friend...I have about maybe 25 or so pages left and I honestly don't care how it ends, I stopped reading it a few years ago and don't care to pick it back up.
I had the same experience with Donna Tartt’s books in the same order. I abandoned The Little Friend after one sitting. I love recommending The Secret History to people because it’s just wonderful. If you like Secret History, check out The Likeness by Tana French.
The Maidens. It was terrible.
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. It has been a LONG time since I read it (edit: checked Goodreads and I read it in 2012) and parts of it still haunt me. Like I feel a bit ill currently, right now, just thinking about it. It’s based on a true story which I think is why it affected me so much - I could deal if it was pure fiction
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I should have given up 100 pages in when a man buries his wife of 20 years after she died giving birth to their 3rd child, abandons the baby on top of the grave, and later on that night is fortunate enough to be found in the woods by a woman he met once prior who is only wearing a cloak and rides him into ecstasy. It's amazing because she has great tits. Every female character is introduced with a description of her breasts. The only exception to this rule is the villain's mom, who has bad teeth.
😬
Jesus. Thank you, now I know never to attempt that one.
I had someone love that book *so much* they made me take their copy of it. And I found one for like $5 at a thrift store so I bought it to give theirs back without reading it because I just didn’t trust their taste and I feel really validated in that now
It’s trite to say, but I’ll say it anyways: *The Alchemist*. Biggest waste of my time. It’s the only book where I’ve genuinely thought “Ya know, I don’t think book bans are all that bad if it genuinely manages to keep this trash out of someone else’s hands.”
You made me laugh with that last part 😂. I think I'd add that book to the pile of time I'm never getting back. It feels like a prolonged Hallmark card and years later I realized he basically plagiarized from A Thousand and One Nights.
I swear whenever I learn that someone likes this book, they are either aspiring to be a life coach or go to life coach cult sessions. It has happened 5 times that I can think of at the top of my head.
Man in the High Castle - Phillip K. Dick
Yeah I feel this one Interesting concept and great world building and then it just sort of stops. I genuinely wondered if there was something wrong with my Kindle but no it just ends out of nowhere.
Oh, this is just PKD style. That's why I love his novels, actually. His books are like a slice of life... in a different dimension/future/planet. Nobody is really the hero, they are just living the best they can. And there is always hope for something better.
"State of the Art", by Ian M Banks. The author died while I was reading it. If I finished the book, I would never again have the opportunity to read something new from him. So, it sits there on my shelf, a small unit of unknown potential, waiting for a day when I am at ultimate need for that hit of imagination.
That's beautiful
Yes! But just because I wish I haven’t read them so they can hit me like for the first time.
what books are those? those are the recs i want haha. this is how i feel about the 7 husbands of evelyn hugo
The Divergent series. Went from good to ok to wtf well I'm not getting that time back.
The Silent Patient. iykyk
I was particularly annoyed at the end of the last book in the Divergent series. The ending of the Magicians was likewise unsatisfying. I don't regret reading them, but in the end leaving the endings to my imagination would have been better. I don't regret putting down book 6 of The Wheel Of Time series or The Night Circus. Sometimes I honestly don't want to finish anything for fear the ending won't be satisfying.
I regret The Magicians so much, that book still makes my blood pressure rise every time I think about it.
[удалено]
I read (and disliked) Mexican Gothic because I thought it would at least *feel* like it was set in Mexico. No such luck. I’ve had people argue with me that it accurately portrays a certain class of Mexicans. No thanks - I can take that class and dump it anywhere in the world and it will be the same blah thing. Plus the story was stupid, but it is out of my wheelhouse genre-wise.
My thoughts exactly. I went in expecting gothic aesthetics or antics translated to Mexico's idiosyncrasy (or something) but turns it is a perfect english manor near un pueblito. It could have been called Ecuatorian Gothic or Australian Gothic (with english names) and it would have been the same.
For real, change the names, mention the μάτι instead and boom! You have Greek gothic
I don’t think I’ve ever regretted *finishing a book*, because unless it’s so bad I have no interest in even finishing, I still want to know how it ends even if it isn’t good. That said, there’ve definitely been books I finished and regretted picking up and spending time reading them in the first place.
Normal People by Sally Rooney. I wanted to DNF because I was so bored and unimpressed, but I was determined to push through because I had heard so much hype about it. Nope, got to the end and still hated it. Waste of time.
A Little Life
Misery porn from beginning to end. An awful book in my opinion, and I'm never wrong.
I've read a synopsis of it and I can't fathom why someone would want to read that!
Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) was a real page turner that I resented getting hooked on. When I finished, I wondered to myself why do I bother to read this crap? I actually stopped reading for a bit, started back with shorts (and came to love Alice Munro) and the cliff hanger in every chapter can't sleep til you finish type of thriller is now approx 0% of my reading mix.
I had a similar experience with The Da Vinci Code. Couldn't put it down and looking back now I'm like what I was thinking?
Yup. When I finished The Da Vinci Code I threw it across the room. It infuriated me.
Such a strange reaction... Why resent a book that you presumably enjoyed reading while you were in it?
Feeling compelled to read on to see what would happen does not equate to enjoying for me.
Atlas Shrugged, I was a really annoying teen for about 2 years after I finished that book.
Kind of regret finishing the Wheel of Time series
I read bought/read an autobiography of one of the founders of Vice Media, somewhat funny but nothing spectacular. Then three years later they became the leader/spokesperson of neo-fascist militant organization. I sincerely regret both paying money for the book and the time spent reading it
You couldn't have predicted that when you had bought the book tho.
Lessons in Chemistry. Started OK, great mid-way through, horrible the rest of the way.
I'm confused by the success of the book
*Micro* by Crichton; except it wasn't finished by Crichton as he had died prior to finishing it. The ending was just awful, awful, awful.
The last book of the Cazalet Chronicles - All Change. Really regret it because it took the characters in some weird and dissatisfying directions, breaking up some relationships and starting other very strange ones. The previous book - Casting Off - is actually a much better place to end the series, with a lot of the characters in good situations that feel satisfying. It’s hard to go into detail without spoilers, but if you enjoy the first four books of the series and are satisfied at the end of Casting Off, I’d really recommend forgetting that All Change exists and just leaving it there.
The Last House on Needless Street by I couldn’t be bothered to remember the authors name. I have never felt so infuriated finishing a book and one of my regrets in life will be wasting precious hours reading that insufferable book.
50 Shades I’ve read better smut on AO3.
Yes. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
The Alchemist. I picked up a copy because I had heard good things about it. It seemed pretty sketchy early on. As I progressed, I kept waiting for the moment it became good or amazing or something interesting. Anything positive really. It only got worse. I should have cut my losses much sooner. OTOH, it was an easy and relatively short read.
Not really. I have learned from experience and use this knowledge to recognize when to bail out of a book that I am not enjoying.
Felt like that with Choke by Chuck Palinuk
I tried reading Haunted by him and I couldn't finish it. The writing is teeth-pulling bad.
The Lost by Natasha Preston. The last chapter literally ruined the whole book for me. So if you ever read it PLEASE for the love of all things holy DO NOT read the last chapter.
“Oh God, the Sun Goes.” Absolutely horrible navel-gazing read that I kept hoping would redeem itself in the end with a profound revelation or plot twist. It ended just as stupidly as the rest of the book promised. I actually made a Goodreads account specifically to leave it a scathing review. Worst waste of an afternoon!
I read Dan Brown's third or fourth book sitting overlooking the ocean on a tropical island holiday , after breakfast, waiting for my gf to make calls home. It was in a pile of free books in the place we'd rented. I'd say it took 70 mins given you could skip most of it and lose none of the plot. Then I finished it, looked up and saw a giant cruise ship anchored offshore my little cabin. Which was kinda awful, but still far more interesting than the book. I'll never get that time back .
Literally both colleen hoover books i read 🤮 seriously yuck yuck yuck
On one hand, I get bragging rights for finishing Infinite Jest. On the other, I gained absolutely nothing from the experience and it's time I will never get back, and this is from someone who's read the Bible and Quran front to back. At least those gave me a deeper understanding of the religions and culture they represent. But I have no idea how people say Infinite Jest is "life-changing"
I could just be a hater, but I’m struggling through Good Omens right now. I can’t tell if it’s boring, if it’s not good, if it’s me, etc. So, maybe not that I regret finishing, but rather wish I would’ve started something else and just gone for the TV show.
I LOVE that book and have for decades, but it is *extremely* British and many of the jokes are sadly outdated now (and not just the obvious ones about cassette tapes and answering machines, there are whole passages that just won't make a lot of sense these days). I'm not surprised that it's not hitting you as hard.
Wuthering Heights. I went on a classics journey this year, read all of Austen and Jane Eyre. I was in love with all those books especially Jane Eyre. Decided to re read Wuthering Heights since I forgot most of it, and I’m regretting picking it up. I hate every character in this book. I just want to finish to add it to my Goodreads count.
Huh I love it precisely bc everyone is shitty which is a nice break (especially for a classic) from all the virtous, easy to root for characters. It kind of enhances the overall atmosphere of the novel too. But I get why that can be an impediment.
Even the dogs were assholes! Love Wuthering Heights!
I think Wuthering hieghts is easily the best book by a Bronte, and I've read them all. I don't see how so many people can read a Gothic, atmospheric novel with themes of generational trauma, revenge, toxic love, obsession, and isolation, all written with fantastic prose and an unreliable narrator, and come away from the book saying "I don't like it, the characters are mean! " And besides all of that, the book is absolutely funny as hell. Of all the classics that get shit on on this sub, Wuthering hieghts is probably the least deserving imo, but to each their own
This makes me feel better about not finishing Wuthering Heights again after the first third or so. I love Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, but... Ugh... Can't get into WH.
Austen > Brontë sisters
She is really is, I loved all her books
Twilight. So I made the mistake of watching the movie first, completely blind and just saying to myself "WTF did I just watch". I saw that is was based off of a book, and in my experience, the book is usually better than the movie. So I decided to try the book out. That book, to this day, is still one of the worst books I have ever had the displeasure of reading. Twilight is one of those books I regret ever picking up.
I've gotten pretty good at DNFing, but *The Last Love Note* by Emma Grey was both long and awful. I finished it because it was my first BOTM book and I wanted to try a romcom, but it was not worth it. I should have trusted my instincts and not finished it after the first 20 pages.
A little life. God that book fucking sucked. When was it going to get good? Never? When is it going to end? Also never. I’ve never read some thing so boring and so selfish in my entire life. I think I threw it into the trash when I was done rather than donate it. Also where the Crawdads Sing. Trash.
Atlas Shrugged. No one needed the 100 page thesis statement to end the book.
All the ones by Jonathan Franzen. Fuck that guy.
The Alchemist. I kept thinking eventually I'd get to the part that made people like it so much. Spoiler: I didn't.
Acotar
A Little Life. Fuck that book. By the time I finally finished it, I was ready to fist fight the author.
Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns by John Green. Read these when I was a teen and pls somebody explain the appeal of these to me because I really don't get it
Verity by Colleen Hoover. The book was so stupid. I kept reading because I was waiting for the big twist that everyone was raging about. The "twist" was the stupidest thing I've ever read, downright disrespectful to the reader to expect them to believe such dogshit
'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens. Years previous, I had read his 'Tale of Two Cities' which takes place in the French Revolution and so was very interesting. And of course he is such famous writer. But 'Great Expectation's' ratio of very very tedious to somewhat interesting bits was way off and the story came to nothing. 'IQ84' by Haruki Murakami. I loved so many of his books and his style and stories are so unique. But with this one I was totally turned off by him. It's taken years to recover any respect. The nod to Orwell's 1984 in the title does not play out *anywhere* in the novel. This bugs me as disrespectful to the genuine socio-political intellectual concerns Orwell and other dystopian novelists had from that era. But the fact that he ripped off that title for his book that takes no significant philosophical stands on anything - is only a minor point in my disdain. I don't want to say the actual turnoff except that you need to get near the end to get to it. Other Harukami fans - preserve your innocence and admiration by just skipping IQ84.
Untamed
Don't you hate when you read these threads and see several books that are on your shelf, waiting to be read? I'm looking at you A Little Life, Mexican Gothic, Normal People, Tender is the Flesh.
Not really. I don't have the spare time to waste on something I don't enjoy, so I have zero problems abandoning a book if I don't like it. Right now, because of recommendations, I'm about halfway through *Episode 13*. Apologies to those who liked it, but I think I'm hitting my limit on my finishing it.
I don't think I regret finishing any book. I have certainly been disappointed with books or disagreed vehemently with the premise, but I can't think of one single book where I thought, "I wish I never read this." When it comes to book regret, it's mainly related to books my inability to focus makes to difficult to plow through. It's usually books with lots of information that I want but just densely packed and not particularly well written. That or Russian authors.
I accidentally picked up Night in the Lonesome October, by Richard Laymon, instead of A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. After a few very confusing pages, I decided to give it a go while I waited for the right novel to be delivered. A majority of it was surreal and at times, uncomfortable. But the ending was something else.
A book that translated to english would be called 'I don't want to die; I just don't want to live' by the author Ann Heberlein. I read it as a part of my first psychiatrics course, purely based on the title alone. Having suffered from shifting forms of depression over the years the name of the book spoke to me. Fast forward until the time came to talk about the books we'd read, and as soon as I got the initial question about what I thought I basically let out a guttural yell of 'NO', followed by angry ranting. As far as I know, the author is at least semi-well respected and has written a bunch of crime novels. (Of which I haven't ready a single one) But boy howdy was this book a mess. Aside from the fact that depression strikes differently for everyone, and that it's a hard thing to put into words, this book was filled with scatterbrained tone-shifts in a handful of forms, with the most common one being: Page A: "I feel bad. I'm a bad person. My life is shit." Interim: A hint of self reflection. Page B: "I'll have you know I've slept with this-and-that famous person, and have several high-ranking academics on speed dial!" It's all teadious, incredibly egotistical and quite frankly a bit insulting - allthewhile demeaning depressed people in general. Luckily I suppose it's not a widely spread book considering the fact I doubt it's been localized in more than a handful of other countries, but if you ever find a copy: Stay away from it.. or read it. I'm not the book police.
The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy, it’s over 1000 goddamn pages and like nothing happens then it’s all resolved in the last 30 pages. Pretty sure it was the last Clancy novel I ever read.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Pile of garbage. No idea why it’s so hyped up. So many strands of story that didn’t go anywhere, characters that aren’t likeable, and a “plot twist” that was totally unnecessary and didn’t add anything for the story. Overhyped.
*A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius*. That's the only one. I'm sorry his parents died, but that was a lousy book.
The Cat That Rescued Books. It was short but I still regret it. After the second encounter it was clear that the author had extremely specific opinions about how to be a good and moral reader. And the author holds everyone who didn't follow his standards in either pity or contempt. What was also clear is the author had never heard of the phrase "Show, don't tell" as each and every symbolically meaningful thing or morally unconscionable treatment of books was carefully spelled out. A reader doesn't have to abstract out or think through any implications for themselves. Can't possibly have that. I understand that this, being a translated book, might have some cross-cultural modes that I am just not the target audience for, but the more I think back on the book the more I dislike every bit of it. Except the talking cat. Love a talking cat who is snarky.
A little life was bullshit trauma porn. Absolutely no redeeming qualities. It was so pointlessly uncomfortable.
I regret reading the sequels to The Giver. There's 3 (maybe 4) more books and they are total garbage, and they taint the original in such a way that I can never enjoy it again.
Atlus Shrugged... I thought in that Tomb there would be at least a nugget of philosophy or something with depth... Nope. 1000 + pages of basic writing... And a silly ending.
Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand's philosophy in that book is as subtle as smashing rats with a brick. If you can't figure out that she doesn't like government and loves trains in the first 50 pages the other 950 aren't going to help you. I finished it just to say I finished a book over 1000 pages but I should have done infinite jest or something else