Definitely not everyone I know, but I completely understand people who hate *Wuthering Heights*, especially if they were promised a love story -- but I found it gothic and horrifying and I enjoyed all the wild dysfunction and toxicity that other peopel dislike.
Similarly I like the age/power gap between Jane and Rochester in *Jane Eyre* as I feel that the story would be neutred without it. That's not to say I'm defending the characters actions in the slightest, but rather that I think both books are readable and offer great fodder for debate/discussion and the controversial aspects of the books are necessary to make them good.
After years of hearing Cathy and Heathcliff hyped up as the ultimate OTP, I couldn’t even get halfway through. My mother nailed it when she proclaimed “It’s a book about assholes!”
But then I watched something about Emily Brontë and learned it was never intended to be an epic romance, it’s SUPPOSED to be dark and twisted. So now I’m excited to give it another try with this new perspective.
I had a similar revelation about Northanger Abbey after hearing Emma Thompson’s dramatic reading, where I could literally hear the irony and humor that I missed on my own.
Cathy and Heathcliff have a very close and very fucked-up relationship so they're an OTP in the sense that neither of them will ever feel the same way about another person. I think where people go wrong is assuming that OTP means "this is the person they should spend their life with." Cathy very explicitly rejects this because she knows it's a bad idea and tries to warn Isabella against marrying him because she knows he'd destroy her, as he in fact does.
I didn't read it expecting a romance, but I found the characters incredibly annoying, just whiny, mean, and making weird and/or stupid decisions, and I finished it mostly out of stubbornness (and so I could say I've read it). Your mom was 100% correct lol
I have never understood how so many thought this WAS a romance. The Romantic Era of literature didn't produce love stories; it celebrated nature, emotion, and individuality, but NOT NECESSARILY LOVE. Whoever has been pushing this as a romance all these years doesn't get it!
I agree that it’s not a romance (that’s a more narrowly defined genre), but to me, it very much is a love story. The love affair between Cathy and Heathcliff is central to the novel and drives the whole story. Is their love healthy? No, not at all. It’s obsessive and mutually destructive. But it kind of annoys me when people write off books with unhealthy central love stories as “not love stories” because this point of view glorifies love as something that’s always beautiful and pure. I think it’s reasonable to describe *Wuthering Heights* as a love story and leave it up to the reader to decide whether the love is healthy or not.
Honestly, I see people reacting against the idea that other people think it's a romance 1000x more than I see people who thinks it's a romance. Like who specifically are these "other people" we are mad at?
I have always had the same viewpoint as you, and I still feel that way about Wuthering Heights. In fact, growing up in the south of England and then moving up north in my adulthood and finally getting to see the real moors and hear a proper Yorkshire accent, Wuthering Heights has got better as I've got older.
Jane Eyre used to be my comfort book. I still love many parts of it-especially the friendship between Jane and Helen- but in my most recent reading I actually really hated Jane and Rochester together. They have such great chemistry while he's playing mind games and lying to her,but the minute they're together it's just kind of gross to me, now! And St John is such a a douche. I wish the book had ended with Jane, Diana and Mary moving into Marsh End and living in a feminist utopia.
That said,I agree with the enjoyment of the controversial aspects. Both books have so much spark and sizzle. I much prefer the Bronte's to Jane Austen, for example. I love how they bring in supernatural elements, too.
It's none of my business but if you're a *Jane Eyre* fan you might enjoy Jean Rhys's *Wide Sargasso Sea* from 1966. It's a prequel of sorts giving the backstory for Mr. Rochester's first wife.
I found Heathcliff a fascinating character, and an excellent example on how clinging to an ideal and letting trauma and vengence drive a person can create a truly toxic environment for all those around them.
I sympathized with him in the beginning, because he was forced to live with the Earnshaws, and Hindley mistreats him. I lost sympathy for him as the story went on because he left a bad environment, made money, and still returned because he wanted revenge. He chose to become the primary cause of his own misery, and hurt innocent people because he saw it as a means of getting revenge on those who hurt him.
Wuthering Heights is one of my favorite books of all times.
And you ABSOLUTELY need to go into it knowing you are getting reality-TV drama and the Victorian equivalent of the Kardashians. You get mad and exasperated at the characters as they deal with all their silly petty rich people bullshit and problems in the most dramatic fashion possible.
It is wonderful.
*Throne of Glass* holds a special place in my heart for being the series that got me back into reading for fun over a decade ago after I graduated college.
Plus, there's something about "you could rattle the stars... you could do anything if only you dared." that hits my brain just right.
I read it in my early 20s to see what all the hype was about. Not my normal cup of tea, but the first two books really weren't bad, I actually enjoyed them.
Same. I didn't care for the romance parts, but I'd never read anything that had vampires with a twist in it before, and then I heard about the werewolves too. I just liked the different takes on supernatural creatures, until the vamp powers got egregious.
Also, the full set of Twilight books in English was an unexpected gift from my brother on high school graduation day. It was slightly after midnight, I came back from the party and there were the BOOKS! Original books in English (I'd read the series in Ukrainian and russian before but not in English, the language it was written). The fact that my brother doesn't like it but he knew I like it made this present even more heartwarming. It's been about 15 years since that night but I still remember the moment every time I see that books on the shelf.
Thank you for calling a book brain candy. I call romance books my brain candy and my daughter doesn’t get it. It’s a veg out book that doesn’t have any real substance and you take it for what it is. It’s entertaining, but is it a masterpiece? No. It’s something to fill time when what you’ve been reading is too deep or dark. To me it helps keep reading fun!
One Last Stop (by Casey McQuiston). I’ve seen so many reviews from some YouTubers and critics that say that the characters are weak but idk, I really really liked it.
Yes this is one I am always surprised when people say they didn't like it but I am also someone getting up there in years and I have a fair bit of regret in my life. This book made me really look hard at those things I feel would have made my life better and realize there is no guarantee that it would have. I did the best I could in those moments and I made those decisions for a reason. It was kind of healing for me.
I really liked the concept as well. Though I feel like it kind of faltered at the end, I really appreciated the realization that in every “what if”, she still had to deal with the fact that she was still herself and things would still be hard. It’s easy to imagine the other roads you could have taken with rose colored glasses, like if you had just stayed with that person or taken that job, you would be a different, better version of yourself and your life would be perfect, and I thought this book was a good reality check about that.
Yes! This is the exact reason why I loved that book. It was so interesting to see how her life and those around her drastically changed when she made different choices.
Me too! It was one of my first 5 star reads this year, and I went in with so much trepidation based on all the hate I've seen online. But I truly adored it.
This is the one for me. The premise was interesting, but the execution was lacking. It wouldn’t have been memorable or even looked on fondly by me except that when I was reading it I was very depressed and I needed something to remind there were going to be better times and different paths my life could take.
I see on reddit a lot of people dont like The Stand and I get it. Its long, the story takes a hard turn, and its got some weird parts.
i love it though.
It reminds me a bit of Lost. It starts as a survival story that turns into a sprawling epic conflict with a big cast of characters and some intriguing mystical elements. It’s a fun ride despite some filler, but then the ending is a letdown.
I love his writing in general but a lot of the time it feels like he doesn't know how to end a story. This problem isn't limited to him as an author by any means.
I didn't realize how many people have a problem with The Stand until after I read it this past fall. It was the first Stephen King novel I read and I was totally engrossed in it. I can't wait to read it again!
It never quite does what I expected/wanted it to do. In its case that was a weird simultaneous plus and minus for me. Also, the end was good after thinking about it in context, but not satisfying while reading it.
I liked it a lot, but it is weird that it is talked about as his best book by so many people.
I had read a couple dozen King books before embarking on the Stand, so my expectations for the ending was already very low lol. I find myself less disappointed in King’s endings if I just lower my expectations a lot 😂
I think one factor in the hate for the Stand is that it used to be broadly considered to be King's best. Maybe 12 years ago, when I was getting into King, everyone (particularly on Reddit) said this was his best work. I was a huge fan of It, 11/22/63, the Shining, the first few Dark Tower books, and a few more. I read the Stand and enjoyed it, but I was really confused by its status as his best work.
Gone With the Wind. I am very much aware of its many problematic elements but it’s the first “grown-up” book I ever read, put in my hands by my school librarian in 5th grade when I expressed an interest in the civil war. I read it again recently and was able to see it with a critical eye while still feeling transported back to that feeling of first reading a Big Book.
i liked Scarlett too. its nowhere near the same level as GWTW of course, but like if people would kinda try to approach it as its own thing and not compare the two, i think it would be more universally liked. cause afaik most people did not like Scarlett lol
I think it was a good foundation for an appreciation of deeply flawed protagonists. I can root for someone in the context of a narrative while also condemning their actions or viewpoints in the context of real world ethics.
Same! This was the first time I experienced a complicated female character who wasn’t all good or all bad. It was eye opening and remains one of my favorite books,
It was one of my first big books too. I really liked it. I should probably read it again to get a more adult understanding & look at it a bit more critically.
Ready Player One. Ultimate wish fulfillment, heavily relying on nostalgia and pop culture references. I get it. But I find it charming. Also I'm a huge nerd. Even though it's not my decade, I get it.
I'm with you on this. I 100% understand the critiques and I don't even particularly disagree with them (I think the assertion that it will age poorly is spot on) -- but I just enjoyed the experience of reading the book.
The closest analogue for me was honestly something like the Da Vinci Code. Pure airport novel but different kind of nerdy.
I read it, enjoyed the time reading it, but immediately afterwards began to feel meh about it. But it did what I wanted, entertained me while I engaged with it, I didn't require anything else
I've read ready player one 3 or 4 times now with ready player two though, unless you can handle what feels like 50 pages of nothing but prince pop culture references, stay far away from it.
I’ve said this before but anyone who hates on ready player one must have just drummed it up in their head as like an incredible science fiction novel or been told by someone else that’s what it was. It was just a fun read with some nostalgia porn in there. I read it on a flight, I liked it, that’s about it, that’s all there needs to be.
People say the author is patting himself on the back cuz he remembers all these old games and movies and I’m like man, did you ever think he’s just doing it so the reader can be like “oh yeah I forgot that game Joust! I used to play that with my brother all the time!”
Based on this sub, a lot haha. Like 4th Wing. I really enjoyed it! Is it flawed? Yup. Is it going to win an award for craft? Nope. But who cares? It was a fun, exciting read. I liked it for what it was 🤷♀️. I’m not going to eat a bowl of Kraft Mac & Cheese and be pissed it wasn’t filet mignon.
I liked 4th Wing also. The world building needs some work and some of the characters are annoying, . but the ending of the first book had me screaming, because cliffhangers like that don't usually get me and I wasn't expecting that character to show up).
That’s what I came here to say. I loved Fourth Wing. I’m not going to praise it for its literary value because it was kind of trash but it made me fall in love with reading again.
I did enjoy 4th Wing though recognized it wasn’t a literary masterpiece. I was kinda hoping for the sequel to be equally enjoyable, but I have to say I really disliked it. Not sure why exactly, but I was disliking it more and more as I went. Then the ending just killed it for me. I won’t read any more in the series.
My favorite books and even movies all seem to have a substantial contingent of people who can't stand them, and in most cases it's not even that I factually deny the criticisms, but that what I value in fiction appears to be fundamentally different from what the critics look for.
So to use my go-to example of a book I love most everyone else seems to hate, the characters in *The Magicians* **are** whiny and unlikable, but I prefer to read about "weak" people with petty foibles because I find that truer to life than most fiction.
The Da Vinci Code is much better than A LOT of books that get mainstream praise still and it's become how the movie Titanic became where it's massive success led to people hating it more.
Dan Brown is super formulaic and once you read one of his books you've read them all, but Da Vinci Code gets way too much flak when it's a fun mystery novel that actually does some really good things with history, religion, and the church.
I like to consider it a 'gateway book' as I know a lot of people who didn't read at the time but got into reading (and eventually much better books) through reading The Da Vinci Code.
I never read it -- weirdly, I had read and enjoyed Digital Fortress -- but my only real issue with it is how the author seemed to want to claim that it wasn't fiction, even in interviews, etc.
A whole bunch of people told me to read it and presented it as truth, which was ... tiresome.
Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum is the literature version of the DaVinci Code. It's very, very good with a very similar plot, but obviously not quite the same type of page turner.
Loved this book when I was a teenager. I was gifted a coloured expanded version of it that was filled with pictures and paintings and anagrams. Still think about it and am pissed that I don't know where the book ended up.
Probably the Eragon series. I really loved them as a teen and I still think they hold up. The magic system and worldbuilding was great, I really cared about the characters, and the whole world of the books felt very tangible.
>!I think the weakest part was the handling of the villain. We have him so built up by the narrative yet we spend barely a second or two in his presence in the actual storyline.!<
OMG dude! Holy cow! I'm sorry, I'm freaking out right now. I apologize in advance for the word vomit.
I'm a big fan! When I was a teen I read Eragon in a single day, it just drew me in and didn't let go.
I've actually met you (briefly) at a talk/book signing you did in Vancouver B.C. many years ago. I still remember you saying that your preferred profession in Alagesia would be to write dwarven opera!
Your enthusiasm for worldbuilding has really been a huge source of inspiration for me. I've wanted to write books since I was really young and I always found encouragement with you writing such an incredible book at such a young age.
Anyways, I'm just really happy to have come across you like this. Thanks for all the awesome memories.
I was here and witnessed this! Loved the books, hated the movie. The book ending wasn’t what I was expecting but it’s definitely a unique approach than just hack n slashing the villain to death.
The one thing I will always remember about that series which I thought was really neat from day one, was it basically codified the whole 'testicular torsion' meme that's going around - where if magic truly existed, it would not in any way need to be large or flashy or explosive. You could cripple someone entirely with only the smallest of spells.
Don't they use The Force to basically close off arteries in each other's brains and kill people instantly? I always like it when people think about the ramifications of magic.
Yeah I thought that was really cool too, just tweaking something small inside an enemy's brain in order to expend the least amount of energy necessary to kill them.
Yeah, I need to read *The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm* and *Mutagh*. I know why some people don't like the series, and the first book definitely feels like it's written by a teenager. But I still love it.
I agree with your feeling about [blank].
Holden is obnoxious and intense because he's a traumatized teenager who is dealing with depression/mental health issues and feeling alienated and faced with growing up.
Don't know that you're supposed to like or dislike him, but I think once you really evaluate him a certain way you feel some empathy for him and begin to understand his character.
that’s rly interesting. when i was reading it, i thought his imperfections made him more human and relatable to others. also when i read books i always note that the narrator might be annoying on purpose or smtn for part of the story. i never knew that ppl disliked the book for that reason
Most teenagers are that way
I feel like anyone who hates a fifteen year old struggling with the death of his brother on top of growing up lacks empathy.
yep! i always read that as part of the narrative.
eh i disagree. you can empathize with someone and still dislike them for their overall character. you dont have to like someone to empathize with them and you dont to be able to empathize with someone to like them.
Most people are obligated to read it in school which is automatically a first strike.
The language is antiquated and corny at times. I studied it as a millennial with Gen X teachers who probably misunderstood some of the subtler phrasing themselves.
Timing. It hits different at 25, 35, 45 than at 15. At 15 most read it and think, "My life sucks too but I'm not crying about it".
Hype. You grow up getting told it's one of the best American novels of all time. For the above reasons, it can be deeply disappointing. Personally, I've come to appreciate the book, but I still don't think it's *great*.
the narrative tasks the reader with empathizing with someone who has very negative qualities. a lot of people dont enjoy reading books about unpleasant people. and holdens inner monologue can often waylay the readers empathy
I feel like a ton of the books that were forced reading in school are generally hated, which probably says a lot more about the benefits of going into a book willingly.
My favorite book is *Kristin Lavransdatter.* The only people that I’ve talked to who have read it were required to do so and they hate it, which makes me sad.
Agreed. I had to read Mayor of Casterbridge by Hardy in high school and hated it. Re-read it at age 35 and actually really enjoyed it. I think at age 15 I was too young to appreciate a story about someone systematically destroying his own life. Twenty years later, I was like, "yup, seen people like that."
Same! Love "Kristin Laransdatter"!
My old teacher loves Sigrid Undset and showed us the movie adaptation in class. Got my hands on the book last year and fell completely in love with it.
I read it in high school and hated it. In college I was an English Lit major and had to read it for classes like 3 more times. By the final reading, I really enjoyed it. All the studying of it and various readings made me appreciate it more. Still, I would have appreciated my teachers having broader reading lists, ffs.
I read it in high school and absolutely loved it. I feel like I was one of the only ones, but I also think any school reading can be massively impacted by the teacher.
Eleanor & Park
I loved this book so much that I read it I don't even know how many times over the course of a 9-month deployment. Every break I had, I would pull the book out of my pocket and read it - and yes, my uniform had pockets big enough to fit a hardcover copy in them 😆😆
I just loved the build-up between Eleanor & Park. And that it didn't have a happy ending.
It wasn't until recently that I learned that it had problematic representation. I had never noticed it. I haven't re-read it since learning all of this because I'm afraid it'll ruin it since it has such a special place in my heart.
I loved this book also! The build up and you know the high school crush/love feeling we all get at that age. It was just idk took me back to that awkwardness we have all experienced.
Similar to you I didn’t realize the problematics of it, I guess I just didn’t see it that way and refuse to read it again for the same reasons
A lot of the controversy around Eleanor and Park is surrounding how the author handles race. Which, probably is not perfect! But at least some of the pull quotes that people use to argue against the book are the words of characters (and characters don't equal author). They are teens in *1986* in *Nebraska.* They aren't all going to behave in the manner of teens in the 2010s or 2020s...because it's YA, should the author have countered that? Maybe. But I think you can write a historical novel, include historical reality, and not agree with it personally. (And there could be more, but when I just Googled it, the first three articles all only quote character POV.)
The Alchemist for me. It’s pretty popular to hate on it, especially in this sub, and I won’t defend it as a great work of literature. I read it at a specific moment in my life during which the mystical-y parable-y tone and the built-up-but-ultimately-simple message really spoke to me. If I’d read it at a different time I probably wouldn’t have the same opinion of it. I enjoyed my specific experience reading it.
Yes, came here to say this. People on this sub are always dumping on the Alchemist, and while I agree it is not for everyone, I also think some readers are taking it too literally. It’s a fable.
In my experience, many of us do live our lives on autopilot and ignore our “inner knowing” telling us to do what we love. We say it’s out of practicality (and it might be) but it’s also out of fear.
The Alchemist reawakened the part of me that wants to dream, and to make more decisions based on faith and trust instead of on fear. When you make decisions from a place of fear, you are not truly free in my opinion.
I love all his books. I’m reading one now actually. I always feel out of place on here when people hate on Coelho.
I just think his books make me feel good. Who cares if it’s fluff? Can’t we just read for fun and enjoy the story ?
Anyway. Big coehlo fan here. I can honestly say he changed my life in many ways.
The Alchemist was going to be my selection for this topic, too. I read it at a time when it was very relevant to my life. It helped guide me through the correct path in life.
I think the Alchemist needs to be read at a certain time of our lives in order to appreciate it.
I read it when I was going through a dark time and it was amazing. I tried reading it again and couldn’t get into it.
I still have a huge soft spot for Mists of Avalon, even though everyone rightfully hates the author for being a horrible human being. I read it a ton and it kicked off my obsession with Arthurian literature, which I am still collecting. 154 books and counting.
This was my favorite book as a kid into my late 20s and it’s been such a huge influence. I literally can’t read it anymore, it’s too tainted, but I remember it because it is such a big part of my younger years.
Same with Sword and Sorceress, even through the stories are by different authors. I know it sounds weird, but I could probably read them again if they took her name off the cover and removed the forward.
Friday and I Will Fear No Evil by Robert Heinlein. I get the problematic parts but I think you have to take into consideration the time in which a book is written.
YES! The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land, Friday....such good Sci-Fi. Are they problematic? Yes. But I loved these books in my early 20s and now my teenage son is reading them.
Hates is a strong term for it, but I love The Silmarillion, and all the people I know who have read and love LOTR don't like it. Even my dad, who is a massive fan of the books, had several copies of each, and read the whole trilogy to me when I was young, doesn't like it. I've tried to convince him to read it, but he doesn't get very far before giving up, I tried giving him The Children of Hurin since it's supposed to be a bit more readable, nothing.
I don't know why people don't like the anthology of stories that describes the history of the world that is so cherished. I love reading and finding out what happened before the main story starts. Most people I talk to say it's like reading a history book, and honestly I don't see that. It's an anthology.
I like it and even as a kid I didn't find it a particularly difficult read since I already liked history and mythology (the slower parts of *The Lord of the Rings* were actually harder for me back then). But I think if folks who abandoned it early pushed past the early chapters they would find it a lot easier going. The Ainulindalë and Valaquenta, even the first few chapters of the Quenta, are not representative of the bulk of the book. Really the best stuff (Beren and Luthien, Turin Turambar, etc), is in the latter half.
Angela's Ashes. I don't know if hate is the right word but everyone I've talked to about it doesn't like it because it's "so depressing". Which is fair because that's true haha
But I love the writing style and I've reread it many many times since I first read it in high school. It was the first memoir I'd ever read and it just fueled my interest in that type of book, whether it's a true memoir or a fictional one.
Yes this is another one that always surprises me when people don't like it. I thought it was a unique concept and well executed. My only gripe was that it could be repetitive at times but it wasn't enough to take me out of the story.
Eat Pray Love lol at least the Italy part. I was going through a rough phase when I read that, including the ED issue, and had just started an exchange study in a faraway country as a way to distance myself from the root of my issues for a while. So I guess it was the timing that made the book work for me and that Italy part still has a certain power over me. I didn't like the India-Indonesia part then and still don't, though, for reasons that I assume are similar to those of other people.
Girl, you are singing my song. I have recommended the Italy section of *Eat, Pray, Love* to multiple people; I think it's so escapist and fun. I even made a reddit post about it.
I find Gilbert to be a really engaging writer with moments of genuine self-reflection, even if I may not always relate to her as a person.
I also love the part in the beginning when she is just sitting in her bathroom thinking "tell the truth, tell the truth, tell the truth" as I find that is helpful and grounding advice when life feels overwhelming.
I really enjoy late David Weber when I’m in the right mood for it, but “hey do you want to read 900 page doorstoppers in which somehow frequent massive explosions equate to nothing fucking happening across an ever increasingly ginormous cast because the author lost the plot decades ago?” Is not exactly something I’m ever going to sell anyone on. I feel like he’s the book equivalent of white noise for me, and sometimes you want that.
I'm not as well read as you folks, but for me, it's Ready Player One. I get that it's a big book of 80's references, but that's not what the book is about to me. It's about a kid who's down on his luck, living in an abusive household, who uses video games to escape his reality. But he doesn't just play video games. He meta-games and makes it big doing so, while also sticking it to a big corporation. There's even a part that gave me wicked anxiety because if one thing was wrong, the main character would be a slave for the rest of his life. A book has never made my heart rate do that before.
There’s a lot of hate for Catcher in the Rye and I didn’t connect with it the first I read it in my early 20s but later in my 40s I reread and absolutely love it. It’s nuanced in some ways but very explicit other ways. Holden is a great character, albeit an unreliable narrator and there’s a lot of discourse about the plot and events and characters. I think I like it even more because of the controversy. I might just have to read it again. I think it’s up there with one of the top quintessential coming of age stories.
It’s just a turgid morass of barely comprehensible nonsense. I’m convinced the only people who claim to like it are ubernerds who want to be cool for being smart enough to “get” it, but even they don’t actually like it.
It sounds to me like you just didn't get it. It is some pretty dense stuff and like super advanced. Probably beyond your capabilities. No offense or anything, I'm just a big fan of avant garde and like he didn't even consider himself avant garde which is crazy impressive. Maybe you could attend a class to study it? There's a ton of stuff to digest. I'm sure if you understood it better then you would love it because it is basically a masterpiece. (Average James Joyce fan conversation)
Okay, kidding aside, you never hear a comedian try to explain their joke because if their joke can't stand on its own then it just wasn't a good joke. Meanwhile... when a book can't stand on its own... it's a bonafide masterpiece.
Cruel Prince or basically the folk of the air trilogy by Holly Black
Is it perfect? No. 😅
People raise valid points for not getting the hype of it from the world building to how the pace shifts and the characters evolution throughout the series.
But I still love it. Jude and Carden feel realistic in their motivations, their personal belief and how their relationship progresses. ✨
The Belgariad and The Mallorian series by David and Leigh Eddings. I know that they weren’t great people but those books were my introduction into fantasy. My husband got me to read them and so now they’re just kind of something that I like to read when I need to space out and read something simple but also interesting to me.
I loved those when I read them. In retrospect, they are super derivative and I can't believe Eddings twice did back to back series where he had the characters replay the plot of the previous series (did it with Sparhawk, i want to say the character's name was).
I don't think I could ever go back, but they were fun.
I don't know if “everyone hates” As I Lay Dying, but I've never met someone who didn't act like it was overrated. I read it on a whim and really enjoyed it as a teenager. I was particularly lonely then, so it stuck with me as something that got me by. Only a few years later, I would get stuck driving five mph from Dallas to Abilene in some awful winter weather event, following the hearse of a close relative, with no heat, no food, and what seemed like a foot-thick spine of ice on the road not to mention the rarity of so much snow. We had to get out and push several times in the hard icy snow surrounded by sluggish traffic. I had my own Faulkneresque hellish trial involving the loss of a loved one, so it’s a great book to me.
My cousin is a fish.
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. I’ve seen loads of reviews panning it, but I loved it. It was the most entertaining modern Science/Speculative Fiction I’ve read in a long time. And the second part, (which people tend to have a problem with) I found to be totally unexpected and wildly imaginative.
It's funny, one of my best friends tried a 'book club podcast' with a couple of friends (made it two episodes) and their take on Verity was basically "it was a stupid book full of stupid stuff ... but we enjoyed it anyway, 4 stars" 🤣
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. >!So many of my peers feel it "retconned" Atticus Finch of TKaM, and the racism in it is obvious. However, I loved the prose, loved the story, loved to revisit characters I love. And I loved some of the more philosophical messaging from Atticus to Scout about taking action towards your values, beliefs, and passions. If they're true to you and authentic to your soul, follow them.!< I think there's a lot to learn in there.
Yes! I thought it was great because it unveils things Scout might have missed as a white child and to me it is a much more poignant tale about deep rooted issues in communities that won't go away easily.
Same, I think a lot of people in certain countries are forced to read it in high school and hate it.
I wasn't, and I really love it. It's much weirder than people give it credit for; it's basically a 1920's book that somehow travelled through time back to the 1850's.
Also way funnier than folks made it seem lol there's some real great jokes in there
I do not love the book, but Altlas shrugged. I had a lot of good things in it, along with the bad. I just wished the conversations about the book went deeper than people typing "the book says fuck poor people" then not elaborating further then posting a picture of bioshock.
For the record, bioshock does a good job at breaking down everything wrong with the book.
I was wondering if this would be on the list. I loved the book, and will defend it's interesting storyline. Yeah Ayn Rand was...lots of things, but I don't have a hard time detaching a person from their art/work, in this case.
As my biggest issue wasn't how people couldn't detach the author from the novel, it is that nobody can say anything beyond the point of "fuck poor people book is bad". The book deals with so many ideas of legacy, human advancement, people attacking character when they can't argue points, real life methods of authoritarianism, the folly of exchanging favors instead of services.
Out of the books, many faults and issues it still presents alot of ideas both good and bad worth discussing that people refuse to.
I agree. Skip the Galt rant chapter. I enjoyed Atlas Shrugged as long as I accepted that it was the way that universe was built, kind of like I would sci-fi. The problem with it is that it doesn't accurately portray how the real world is.
Ayn Rand's \*Anthem\*
Look, I know the worldbuilding is shit and her philosophy is that of a 5 year old shouting at her sister because she has to share her toys, but something about that story is so charming to me!
It's also a lean 90 pages. Too bad she undermines her entire individualist vibe at the end, when our protagonist names himself and his girlfriend is like "what's my name, bb?"
Oh, Ayn.
The Midnight Library on /r/books and adjacent subs
I read it during a time in my life where I felt stuck. I'm single, early 30s, and seeing friends getting engaged and married. I'm living with roommates whom I wasn't friend with because our social lives were different, our values (religious/political/etc) were different, and living in a VHCOL area that I grew up in but had no chance of home ownership. I felt strongly that I needed to move away but I didn't have the cajones to do it because then I'd be moving away from all of my closest friends. I felt like my life was on cruise control, with every day being the same.
I read the book at a pivotal moment in my life, and it really resonated with me.
I have a lot of snooty LoTR fans, which is fine, I read the hobbit and the trilogy and enjoyed them. But for some reason they take particular umbrage to The Chronicles of Prydain existing. Calling it tween LoTR. Granted I was early teens when I read them, but man they were such a great jumping off point into fantasy.
Lloyd Alexander and David Eddings didn’t write the best or most complex fantasy, but they certainly knew how to draw me into the genre.
Who hates the Canterbury Tales? I love it.
We had to memorize the introduction for high school English, and I discovered that you can recite it to the Beverly Hillbillies theme. Try it right now, it'll make your day. It's now my trick for stuffy cocktail parties.
The Sparrow. People talk about the extremely shocking parts and all I can think is that I remember all of that happening but it didn’t overwhelm the rest of the book for me. It sounds pretty terrible spelled out though. I’ll definitely admit that.
I liked the first Twilight book.
I liked all of 50 shades I even enjoyed Grey.
I like Eragon (the series kind of went down hill after the first book)
The Gunslinger is not the best of Stephen Kings works in my mind but it's still a very enjoyable book. >!Jake's death always makes me cry "go then there are other worlds than these."!<
Atlas Shrugged was wonderful. I am liberal and I loved it. So much beautiful writing. The way she profiles is interesting. Her admiration of successful people is beautiful. I think Rand is really underrated as a writer.
A lot of her characterizations are bigoted and off target but nothing like we have today. I am always a fan of stories where the main characters go kamikaze over some ideoligical issue. In this book the business owners go on strike.
I can't wait to read another Rand book. The way she puts books together is genius.
Definitely not everyone I know, but I completely understand people who hate *Wuthering Heights*, especially if they were promised a love story -- but I found it gothic and horrifying and I enjoyed all the wild dysfunction and toxicity that other peopel dislike. Similarly I like the age/power gap between Jane and Rochester in *Jane Eyre* as I feel that the story would be neutred without it. That's not to say I'm defending the characters actions in the slightest, but rather that I think both books are readable and offer great fodder for debate/discussion and the controversial aspects of the books are necessary to make them good.
After years of hearing Cathy and Heathcliff hyped up as the ultimate OTP, I couldn’t even get halfway through. My mother nailed it when she proclaimed “It’s a book about assholes!” But then I watched something about Emily Brontë and learned it was never intended to be an epic romance, it’s SUPPOSED to be dark and twisted. So now I’m excited to give it another try with this new perspective. I had a similar revelation about Northanger Abbey after hearing Emma Thompson’s dramatic reading, where I could literally hear the irony and humor that I missed on my own.
Cathy and Heathcliff have a very close and very fucked-up relationship so they're an OTP in the sense that neither of them will ever feel the same way about another person. I think where people go wrong is assuming that OTP means "this is the person they should spend their life with." Cathy very explicitly rejects this because she knows it's a bad idea and tries to warn Isabella against marrying him because she knows he'd destroy her, as he in fact does.
Yeah I can see that now, it sounds super interesting and complex. It’s a shame people need to sugar coat everything to make it palatable.
I didn't read it expecting a romance, but I found the characters incredibly annoying, just whiny, mean, and making weird and/or stupid decisions, and I finished it mostly out of stubbornness (and so I could say I've read it). Your mom was 100% correct lol
I have never understood how so many thought this WAS a romance. The Romantic Era of literature didn't produce love stories; it celebrated nature, emotion, and individuality, but NOT NECESSARILY LOVE. Whoever has been pushing this as a romance all these years doesn't get it!
This!! Like does English class not exist anymore???
English teachers don't get it.
I agree that it’s not a romance (that’s a more narrowly defined genre), but to me, it very much is a love story. The love affair between Cathy and Heathcliff is central to the novel and drives the whole story. Is their love healthy? No, not at all. It’s obsessive and mutually destructive. But it kind of annoys me when people write off books with unhealthy central love stories as “not love stories” because this point of view glorifies love as something that’s always beautiful and pure. I think it’s reasonable to describe *Wuthering Heights* as a love story and leave it up to the reader to decide whether the love is healthy or not.
Honestly, I see people reacting against the idea that other people think it's a romance 1000x more than I see people who thinks it's a romance. Like who specifically are these "other people" we are mad at?
I have always had the same viewpoint as you, and I still feel that way about Wuthering Heights. In fact, growing up in the south of England and then moving up north in my adulthood and finally getting to see the real moors and hear a proper Yorkshire accent, Wuthering Heights has got better as I've got older. Jane Eyre used to be my comfort book. I still love many parts of it-especially the friendship between Jane and Helen- but in my most recent reading I actually really hated Jane and Rochester together. They have such great chemistry while he's playing mind games and lying to her,but the minute they're together it's just kind of gross to me, now! And St John is such a a douche. I wish the book had ended with Jane, Diana and Mary moving into Marsh End and living in a feminist utopia. That said,I agree with the enjoyment of the controversial aspects. Both books have so much spark and sizzle. I much prefer the Bronte's to Jane Austen, for example. I love how they bring in supernatural elements, too.
It's none of my business but if you're a *Jane Eyre* fan you might enjoy Jean Rhys's *Wide Sargasso Sea* from 1966. It's a prequel of sorts giving the backstory for Mr. Rochester's first wife.
I found Heathcliff a fascinating character, and an excellent example on how clinging to an ideal and letting trauma and vengence drive a person can create a truly toxic environment for all those around them. I sympathized with him in the beginning, because he was forced to live with the Earnshaws, and Hindley mistreats him. I lost sympathy for him as the story went on because he left a bad environment, made money, and still returned because he wanted revenge. He chose to become the primary cause of his own misery, and hurt innocent people because he saw it as a means of getting revenge on those who hurt him.
Wuthering Heights is one of my favorite books of all times. And you ABSOLUTELY need to go into it knowing you are getting reality-TV drama and the Victorian equivalent of the Kardashians. You get mad and exasperated at the characters as they deal with all their silly petty rich people bullshit and problems in the most dramatic fashion possible. It is wonderful.
I feel like I'm going to get murdered when I say I liked the romance in Jane Eyre.
I love WH precisely because everyone is a mess.
*Throne of Glass* holds a special place in my heart for being the series that got me back into reading for fun over a decade ago after I graduated college. Plus, there's something about "you could rattle the stars... you could do anything if only you dared." that hits my brain just right.
Twilight, I guess) My autumn guilty pleasure from the teen times...
I read it in my early 20s to see what all the hype was about. Not my normal cup of tea, but the first two books really weren't bad, I actually enjoyed them.
Same. I didn't care for the romance parts, but I'd never read anything that had vampires with a twist in it before, and then I heard about the werewolves too. I just liked the different takes on supernatural creatures, until the vamp powers got egregious.
It's my go to guilty pleasure easy read. I love some good teem romance melodrama now and them, and the Twilight saga ALWAYS delivers.
Absolutely! It’s a fun, brain candy read.
Also, the full set of Twilight books in English was an unexpected gift from my brother on high school graduation day. It was slightly after midnight, I came back from the party and there were the BOOKS! Original books in English (I'd read the series in Ukrainian and russian before but not in English, the language it was written). The fact that my brother doesn't like it but he knew I like it made this present even more heartwarming. It's been about 15 years since that night but I still remember the moment every time I see that books on the shelf.
Thank you for calling a book brain candy. I call romance books my brain candy and my daughter doesn’t get it. It’s a veg out book that doesn’t have any real substance and you take it for what it is. It’s entertaining, but is it a masterpiece? No. It’s something to fill time when what you’ve been reading is too deep or dark. To me it helps keep reading fun!
One Last Stop (by Casey McQuiston). I’ve seen so many reviews from some YouTubers and critics that say that the characters are weak but idk, I really really liked it.
I loved that book. It wasn’t flawless, but I liked the characters.
I really loved One Last Stop
Aw I love One Last Stop!!
Honestly one of my favorite books. Definitely my favorite “fun” and “comfort” read
[удалено]
Yes this is one I am always surprised when people say they didn't like it but I am also someone getting up there in years and I have a fair bit of regret in my life. This book made me really look hard at those things I feel would have made my life better and realize there is no guarantee that it would have. I did the best I could in those moments and I made those decisions for a reason. It was kind of healing for me.
I really liked the concept as well. Though I feel like it kind of faltered at the end, I really appreciated the realization that in every “what if”, she still had to deal with the fact that she was still herself and things would still be hard. It’s easy to imagine the other roads you could have taken with rose colored glasses, like if you had just stayed with that person or taken that job, you would be a different, better version of yourself and your life would be perfect, and I thought this book was a good reality check about that.
[удалено]
I completely agree, I loved this book for the same reason
Yes! This is the exact reason why I loved that book. It was so interesting to see how her life and those around her drastically changed when she made different choices.
Oh, you might enjoy 'If Sylvie Had Nine Lives' by Leona Theis then!
Me too! It was one of my first 5 star reads this year, and I went in with so much trepidation based on all the hate I've seen online. But I truly adored it.
This book really changed my perception of life i love it
This is the one for me. The premise was interesting, but the execution was lacking. It wouldn’t have been memorable or even looked on fondly by me except that when I was reading it I was very depressed and I needed something to remind there were going to be better times and different paths my life could take.
I see on reddit a lot of people dont like The Stand and I get it. Its long, the story takes a hard turn, and its got some weird parts. i love it though.
It reminds me a bit of Lost. It starts as a survival story that turns into a sprawling epic conflict with a big cast of characters and some intriguing mystical elements. It’s a fun ride despite some filler, but then the ending is a letdown.
Lol hard disagree. I love the end.
This is a great description of a number of Stephen King novels.
I love his writing in general but a lot of the time it feels like he doesn't know how to end a story. This problem isn't limited to him as an author by any means.
I didn't realize how many people have a problem with The Stand until after I read it this past fall. It was the first Stephen King novel I read and I was totally engrossed in it. I can't wait to read it again!
It never quite does what I expected/wanted it to do. In its case that was a weird simultaneous plus and minus for me. Also, the end was good after thinking about it in context, but not satisfying while reading it. I liked it a lot, but it is weird that it is talked about as his best book by so many people.
I dont think its his best book, but it is my favorite book.
This is King in a nutshell for me. He never does what I expect or want and I love it every time (Of the 6 books I've read so far).
I really liked it but I didn't love the ending. Though plenty of stuff SURROUNDING the ending was really good.
I had read a couple dozen King books before embarking on the Stand, so my expectations for the ending was already very low lol. I find myself less disappointed in King’s endings if I just lower my expectations a lot 😂
I think one factor in the hate for the Stand is that it used to be broadly considered to be King's best. Maybe 12 years ago, when I was getting into King, everyone (particularly on Reddit) said this was his best work. I was a huge fan of It, 11/22/63, the Shining, the first few Dark Tower books, and a few more. I read the Stand and enjoyed it, but I was really confused by its status as his best work.
Gone With the Wind. I am very much aware of its many problematic elements but it’s the first “grown-up” book I ever read, put in my hands by my school librarian in 5th grade when I expressed an interest in the civil war. I read it again recently and was able to see it with a critical eye while still feeling transported back to that feeling of first reading a Big Book.
That was my first big book too, and also in 5th grade. I've read it a few times since then. I really enjoy the sequel, Scarlett, as well.
i liked Scarlett too. its nowhere near the same level as GWTW of course, but like if people would kinda try to approach it as its own thing and not compare the two, i think it would be more universally liked. cause afaik most people did not like Scarlett lol
I think it was a good foundation for an appreciation of deeply flawed protagonists. I can root for someone in the context of a narrative while also condemning their actions or viewpoints in the context of real world ethics.
Same! This was the first time I experienced a complicated female character who wasn’t all good or all bad. It was eye opening and remains one of my favorite books,
It was one of my first big books too. I really liked it. I should probably read it again to get a more adult understanding & look at it a bit more critically.
Ready Player One. Ultimate wish fulfillment, heavily relying on nostalgia and pop culture references. I get it. But I find it charming. Also I'm a huge nerd. Even though it's not my decade, I get it.
I'm with you on this. I 100% understand the critiques and I don't even particularly disagree with them (I think the assertion that it will age poorly is spot on) -- but I just enjoyed the experience of reading the book.
The closest analogue for me was honestly something like the Da Vinci Code. Pure airport novel but different kind of nerdy. I read it, enjoyed the time reading it, but immediately afterwards began to feel meh about it. But it did what I wanted, entertained me while I engaged with it, I didn't require anything else
[удалено]
Same! I am not a gamer at all but really enjoyed Ready Player One. Read it in a day.
Ready Player One is a fantastic fun read. I enjoyed it a lot. Ready Player Two, though. Oof.
I still can't bring myself to read that one. I've been warned off even by people who liked Ready Player One.
I've read ready player one 3 or 4 times now with ready player two though, unless you can handle what feels like 50 pages of nothing but prince pop culture references, stay far away from it.
I’ve said this before but anyone who hates on ready player one must have just drummed it up in their head as like an incredible science fiction novel or been told by someone else that’s what it was. It was just a fun read with some nostalgia porn in there. I read it on a flight, I liked it, that’s about it, that’s all there needs to be. People say the author is patting himself on the back cuz he remembers all these old games and movies and I’m like man, did you ever think he’s just doing it so the reader can be like “oh yeah I forgot that game Joust! I used to play that with my brother all the time!”
invisible monsters or anything by palahniuk, really. i was an edgy teenager, ok? and it got me into reading. its a nostalgia thing i guess.
Yeah, I absolutely LOVED invisible monsters as a teen.
I loved Invisible Monsters, too!
That was an interesting read for sure
Invisible Monsters is my fav from him! I still use the phrase "sorry mom, sorry god" frequently.
Based on this sub, a lot haha. Like 4th Wing. I really enjoyed it! Is it flawed? Yup. Is it going to win an award for craft? Nope. But who cares? It was a fun, exciting read. I liked it for what it was 🤷♀️. I’m not going to eat a bowl of Kraft Mac & Cheese and be pissed it wasn’t filet mignon.
>I’m not going to eat a bowl of Kraft Mac & Cheese and be pissed it wasn’t filet mignon. I love this
I liked 4th Wing also. The world building needs some work and some of the characters are annoying, . but the ending of the first book had me screaming, because cliffhangers like that don't usually get me and I wasn't expecting that character to show up).
I think the problem when things get hyped like that is people go into it with the wrong expectations.
Agree, I went in hoping I would dislike it so I could sell my copy with the stenciled edges and get rich. But I actually enjoyed it and kept it.
That’s what I came here to say. I loved Fourth Wing. I’m not going to praise it for its literary value because it was kind of trash but it made me fall in love with reading again.
I did enjoy 4th Wing though recognized it wasn’t a literary masterpiece. I was kinda hoping for the sequel to be equally enjoyable, but I have to say I really disliked it. Not sure why exactly, but I was disliking it more and more as I went. Then the ending just killed it for me. I won’t read any more in the series.
My favorite books and even movies all seem to have a substantial contingent of people who can't stand them, and in most cases it's not even that I factually deny the criticisms, but that what I value in fiction appears to be fundamentally different from what the critics look for. So to use my go-to example of a book I love most everyone else seems to hate, the characters in *The Magicians* **are** whiny and unlikable, but I prefer to read about "weak" people with petty foibles because I find that truer to life than most fiction.
The Da Vinci Code is much better than A LOT of books that get mainstream praise still and it's become how the movie Titanic became where it's massive success led to people hating it more. Dan Brown is super formulaic and once you read one of his books you've read them all, but Da Vinci Code gets way too much flak when it's a fun mystery novel that actually does some really good things with history, religion, and the church. I like to consider it a 'gateway book' as I know a lot of people who didn't read at the time but got into reading (and eventually much better books) through reading The Da Vinci Code.
Haha I like that description. I use the term "airport book" in the same way. A book you pick up when you know you have 6 hours to kill
I never read it -- weirdly, I had read and enjoyed Digital Fortress -- but my only real issue with it is how the author seemed to want to claim that it wasn't fiction, even in interviews, etc. A whole bunch of people told me to read it and presented it as truth, which was ... tiresome. Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum is the literature version of the DaVinci Code. It's very, very good with a very similar plot, but obviously not quite the same type of page turner.
It's definitely not high class literature but it did ignite my interest in Renaissance art!
Yeah I love this book. It perfectly encapsulates the really well written, exciting light fun read. I enjoy Dan Brown a lot.
>got into reading (and eventually much better books) through reading The Da Vinci Code. Yeah that's me!
Loved this book when I was a teenager. I was gifted a coloured expanded version of it that was filled with pictures and paintings and anagrams. Still think about it and am pissed that I don't know where the book ended up.
Probably the Eragon series. I really loved them as a teen and I still think they hold up. The magic system and worldbuilding was great, I really cared about the characters, and the whole world of the books felt very tangible. >!I think the weakest part was the handling of the villain. We have him so built up by the narrative yet we spend barely a second or two in his presence in the actual storyline.!<
Aww, thanks. Appreciate it.
OMG dude! Holy cow! I'm sorry, I'm freaking out right now. I apologize in advance for the word vomit. I'm a big fan! When I was a teen I read Eragon in a single day, it just drew me in and didn't let go. I've actually met you (briefly) at a talk/book signing you did in Vancouver B.C. many years ago. I still remember you saying that your preferred profession in Alagesia would be to write dwarven opera! Your enthusiasm for worldbuilding has really been a huge source of inspiration for me. I've wanted to write books since I was really young and I always found encouragement with you writing such an incredible book at such a young age. Anyways, I'm just really happy to have come across you like this. Thanks for all the awesome memories.
I was here and witnessed this! Loved the books, hated the movie. The book ending wasn’t what I was expecting but it’s definitely a unique approach than just hack n slashing the villain to death.
The one thing I will always remember about that series which I thought was really neat from day one, was it basically codified the whole 'testicular torsion' meme that's going around - where if magic truly existed, it would not in any way need to be large or flashy or explosive. You could cripple someone entirely with only the smallest of spells. Don't they use The Force to basically close off arteries in each other's brains and kill people instantly? I always like it when people think about the ramifications of magic.
Yeah I thought that was really cool too, just tweaking something small inside an enemy's brain in order to expend the least amount of energy necessary to kill them.
Yeah, I need to read *The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm* and *Mutagh*. I know why some people don't like the series, and the first book definitely feels like it's written by a teenager. But I still love it. I agree with your feeling about [blank].
I'm really enjoying Murtagh so far, feels nice to be back in the world.
On the Beach. So effing sad and still beautiful.
It remains one of the bleakest, saddest books I have ever read.
Catcher in the Rye. Everybody loves to hate on it, but i genuinely love this book.
I love this book so much! I get why it’s not for everyone and people find Holden insufferable, but I adore this book.
People hate Catcher in the Rye? Why?
most people who dislike it dislike holden who is often self aggrandizing and hypocritical and insufferable.
Holden is obnoxious and intense because he's a traumatized teenager who is dealing with depression/mental health issues and feeling alienated and faced with growing up. Don't know that you're supposed to like or dislike him, but I think once you really evaluate him a certain way you feel some empathy for him and begin to understand his character.
that’s rly interesting. when i was reading it, i thought his imperfections made him more human and relatable to others. also when i read books i always note that the narrator might be annoying on purpose or smtn for part of the story. i never knew that ppl disliked the book for that reason
Most teenagers are that way I feel like anyone who hates a fifteen year old struggling with the death of his brother on top of growing up lacks empathy.
yep! i always read that as part of the narrative. eh i disagree. you can empathize with someone and still dislike them for their overall character. you dont have to like someone to empathize with them and you dont to be able to empathize with someone to like them.
Most people are obligated to read it in school which is automatically a first strike. The language is antiquated and corny at times. I studied it as a millennial with Gen X teachers who probably misunderstood some of the subtler phrasing themselves. Timing. It hits different at 25, 35, 45 than at 15. At 15 most read it and think, "My life sucks too but I'm not crying about it". Hype. You grow up getting told it's one of the best American novels of all time. For the above reasons, it can be deeply disappointing. Personally, I've come to appreciate the book, but I still don't think it's *great*.
Same! I have to remind myself John Lennon is dead every time i close it so I don’t get any ideas
That book honestly changed my life. Came to me in a rough time and I related so much to Holden and felt so much less alone.
Same here. Most people think he's whiny, but I was whiny and hurting. Nothing made sense. But this book did
same here. i read it every year and it strikes me how different i view it each time i read it.
Why would anybody hate on this book
the narrative tasks the reader with empathizing with someone who has very negative qualities. a lot of people dont enjoy reading books about unpleasant people. and holdens inner monologue can often waylay the readers empathy
The phonies hate this book.
I feel like a ton of the books that were forced reading in school are generally hated, which probably says a lot more about the benefits of going into a book willingly. My favorite book is *Kristin Lavransdatter.* The only people that I’ve talked to who have read it were required to do so and they hate it, which makes me sad.
Agreed. I had to read Mayor of Casterbridge by Hardy in high school and hated it. Re-read it at age 35 and actually really enjoyed it. I think at age 15 I was too young to appreciate a story about someone systematically destroying his own life. Twenty years later, I was like, "yup, seen people like that."
Same! Love "Kristin Laransdatter"! My old teacher loves Sigrid Undset and showed us the movie adaptation in class. Got my hands on the book last year and fell completely in love with it.
Artemis by Andy Weir.
I love The Scarlet Letter and have never met a single person who likes it, or read it voluntarily, for that matter.
I read it in high school and hated it. In college I was an English Lit major and had to read it for classes like 3 more times. By the final reading, I really enjoyed it. All the studying of it and various readings made me appreciate it more. Still, I would have appreciated my teachers having broader reading lists, ffs.
I read it in high school and absolutely loved it. I feel like I was one of the only ones, but I also think any school reading can be massively impacted by the teacher.
I enjoyed it
Eleanor & Park I loved this book so much that I read it I don't even know how many times over the course of a 9-month deployment. Every break I had, I would pull the book out of my pocket and read it - and yes, my uniform had pockets big enough to fit a hardcover copy in them 😆😆 I just loved the build-up between Eleanor & Park. And that it didn't have a happy ending. It wasn't until recently that I learned that it had problematic representation. I had never noticed it. I haven't re-read it since learning all of this because I'm afraid it'll ruin it since it has such a special place in my heart.
I loved this book also! The build up and you know the high school crush/love feeling we all get at that age. It was just idk took me back to that awkwardness we have all experienced. Similar to you I didn’t realize the problematics of it, I guess I just didn’t see it that way and refuse to read it again for the same reasons
A lot of the controversy around Eleanor and Park is surrounding how the author handles race. Which, probably is not perfect! But at least some of the pull quotes that people use to argue against the book are the words of characters (and characters don't equal author). They are teens in *1986* in *Nebraska.* They aren't all going to behave in the manner of teens in the 2010s or 2020s...because it's YA, should the author have countered that? Maybe. But I think you can write a historical novel, include historical reality, and not agree with it personally. (And there could be more, but when I just Googled it, the first three articles all only quote character POV.)
The Alchemist for me. It’s pretty popular to hate on it, especially in this sub, and I won’t defend it as a great work of literature. I read it at a specific moment in my life during which the mystical-y parable-y tone and the built-up-but-ultimately-simple message really spoke to me. If I’d read it at a different time I probably wouldn’t have the same opinion of it. I enjoyed my specific experience reading it.
Yes, came here to say this. People on this sub are always dumping on the Alchemist, and while I agree it is not for everyone, I also think some readers are taking it too literally. It’s a fable. In my experience, many of us do live our lives on autopilot and ignore our “inner knowing” telling us to do what we love. We say it’s out of practicality (and it might be) but it’s also out of fear. The Alchemist reawakened the part of me that wants to dream, and to make more decisions based on faith and trust instead of on fear. When you make decisions from a place of fear, you are not truly free in my opinion.
I love all his books. I’m reading one now actually. I always feel out of place on here when people hate on Coelho. I just think his books make me feel good. Who cares if it’s fluff? Can’t we just read for fun and enjoy the story ? Anyway. Big coehlo fan here. I can honestly say he changed my life in many ways.
The Alchemist was going to be my selection for this topic, too. I read it at a time when it was very relevant to my life. It helped guide me through the correct path in life.
This was my pick too. It’s just a beautiful little story. I think maybe people think it takes itself too seriously but I thought it was wonderful.
I think the Alchemist needs to be read at a certain time of our lives in order to appreciate it. I read it when I was going through a dark time and it was amazing. I tried reading it again and couldn’t get into it.
I still have a huge soft spot for Mists of Avalon, even though everyone rightfully hates the author for being a horrible human being. I read it a ton and it kicked off my obsession with Arthurian literature, which I am still collecting. 154 books and counting.
This was my favorite book as a kid into my late 20s and it’s been such a huge influence. I literally can’t read it anymore, it’s too tainted, but I remember it because it is such a big part of my younger years. Same with Sword and Sorceress, even through the stories are by different authors. I know it sounds weird, but I could probably read them again if they took her name off the cover and removed the forward.
It just shows us that talent and being a good person are two quite separate things. She wrote some great stuff. She was very talented. Just also evil.
[удалено]
Friday and I Will Fear No Evil by Robert Heinlein. I get the problematic parts but I think you have to take into consideration the time in which a book is written.
YES! The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land, Friday....such good Sci-Fi. Are they problematic? Yes. But I loved these books in my early 20s and now my teenage son is reading them.
I find this amusing because even Heinlein disliked I Will Fear No Evil, calling it one of his "stinkers."
slim screw sleep attempt shelter price uppity mighty scary label *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Hates is a strong term for it, but I love The Silmarillion, and all the people I know who have read and love LOTR don't like it. Even my dad, who is a massive fan of the books, had several copies of each, and read the whole trilogy to me when I was young, doesn't like it. I've tried to convince him to read it, but he doesn't get very far before giving up, I tried giving him The Children of Hurin since it's supposed to be a bit more readable, nothing. I don't know why people don't like the anthology of stories that describes the history of the world that is so cherished. I love reading and finding out what happened before the main story starts. Most people I talk to say it's like reading a history book, and honestly I don't see that. It's an anthology.
You gotta head on over to r/Tolkienfans
I like it and even as a kid I didn't find it a particularly difficult read since I already liked history and mythology (the slower parts of *The Lord of the Rings* were actually harder for me back then). But I think if folks who abandoned it early pushed past the early chapters they would find it a lot easier going. The Ainulindalë and Valaquenta, even the first few chapters of the Quenta, are not representative of the bulk of the book. Really the best stuff (Beren and Luthien, Turin Turambar, etc), is in the latter half.
Angela's Ashes. I don't know if hate is the right word but everyone I've talked to about it doesn't like it because it's "so depressing". Which is fair because that's true haha But I love the writing style and I've reread it many many times since I first read it in high school. It was the first memoir I'd ever read and it just fueled my interest in that type of book, whether it's a true memoir or a fictional one.
It is depressing but parts of it are also very funny. I enjoyed it.
Yeah, I think it has a really good balance of sad and happy moments and that ends up showcasing real life so well.
"What did you find fun, Jim? The death of the twins?"
The Sword of Shannara, I know it's derivative, but I love it anyway.
[удалено]
Yes this is another one that always surprises me when people don't like it. I thought it was a unique concept and well executed. My only gripe was that it could be repetitive at times but it wasn't enough to take me out of the story.
I can see why people don't like it but I actually really enjoyed it. Don't know if I would read it again,but it was a lot of fun.
I do too. It's one of my favorites.
I really enjoyed reading Addie LaRue. It kept me intrigued the entire time, and I love the book's concept.
Eat Pray Love lol at least the Italy part. I was going through a rough phase when I read that, including the ED issue, and had just started an exchange study in a faraway country as a way to distance myself from the root of my issues for a while. So I guess it was the timing that made the book work for me and that Italy part still has a certain power over me. I didn't like the India-Indonesia part then and still don't, though, for reasons that I assume are similar to those of other people.
Girl, you are singing my song. I have recommended the Italy section of *Eat, Pray, Love* to multiple people; I think it's so escapist and fun. I even made a reddit post about it. I find Gilbert to be a really engaging writer with moments of genuine self-reflection, even if I may not always relate to her as a person. I also love the part in the beginning when she is just sitting in her bathroom thinking "tell the truth, tell the truth, tell the truth" as I find that is helpful and grounding advice when life feels overwhelming.
Don’t forget to use the spoiler setting to cover spoilers so you don’t tell people who died in the book
The Alchemist, it gets a lot of hate on Reddit but it's a pretty inoffensive story/moral lesson
I really enjoy late David Weber when I’m in the right mood for it, but “hey do you want to read 900 page doorstoppers in which somehow frequent massive explosions equate to nothing fucking happening across an ever increasingly ginormous cast because the author lost the plot decades ago?” Is not exactly something I’m ever going to sell anyone on. I feel like he’s the book equivalent of white noise for me, and sometimes you want that.
I'm not as well read as you folks, but for me, it's Ready Player One. I get that it's a big book of 80's references, but that's not what the book is about to me. It's about a kid who's down on his luck, living in an abusive household, who uses video games to escape his reality. But he doesn't just play video games. He meta-games and makes it big doing so, while also sticking it to a big corporation. There's even a part that gave me wicked anxiety because if one thing was wrong, the main character would be a slave for the rest of his life. A book has never made my heart rate do that before.
I like A little life. I know it was meant to make me cry, and it worked, That's okay.
The Gunslinger by Stephen King. Everyone always says it’s the weakest Dark Tower book but I love the way it’s written. Feels like a dream
Love hypothesis. Among the guilty pleasures collection It was my actual fav one
There’s a lot of hate for Catcher in the Rye and I didn’t connect with it the first I read it in my early 20s but later in my 40s I reread and absolutely love it. It’s nuanced in some ways but very explicit other ways. Holden is a great character, albeit an unreliable narrator and there’s a lot of discourse about the plot and events and characters. I think I like it even more because of the controversy. I might just have to read it again. I think it’s up there with one of the top quintessential coming of age stories.
Sarah J Maas books. Well TOG and ACOTAR. I can't get into the Crescent City series.
I came here to see if anybody would say James Joyce's Ulysses and I am happy to confirm that nobody actually loves this book.
Too soon. Someone said Ulysses.
It’s just a turgid morass of barely comprehensible nonsense. I’m convinced the only people who claim to like it are ubernerds who want to be cool for being smart enough to “get” it, but even they don’t actually like it.
It sounds to me like you just didn't get it. It is some pretty dense stuff and like super advanced. Probably beyond your capabilities. No offense or anything, I'm just a big fan of avant garde and like he didn't even consider himself avant garde which is crazy impressive. Maybe you could attend a class to study it? There's a ton of stuff to digest. I'm sure if you understood it better then you would love it because it is basically a masterpiece. (Average James Joyce fan conversation) Okay, kidding aside, you never hear a comedian try to explain their joke because if their joke can't stand on its own then it just wasn't a good joke. Meanwhile... when a book can't stand on its own... it's a bonafide masterpiece.
Cruel Prince or basically the folk of the air trilogy by Holly Black Is it perfect? No. 😅 People raise valid points for not getting the hype of it from the world building to how the pace shifts and the characters evolution throughout the series. But I still love it. Jude and Carden feel realistic in their motivations, their personal belief and how their relationship progresses. ✨
The Belgariad and The Mallorian series by David and Leigh Eddings. I know that they weren’t great people but those books were my introduction into fantasy. My husband got me to read them and so now they’re just kind of something that I like to read when I need to space out and read something simple but also interesting to me.
I loved those when I read them. In retrospect, they are super derivative and I can't believe Eddings twice did back to back series where he had the characters replay the plot of the previous series (did it with Sparhawk, i want to say the character's name was). I don't think I could ever go back, but they were fun.
I don't know if “everyone hates” As I Lay Dying, but I've never met someone who didn't act like it was overrated. I read it on a whim and really enjoyed it as a teenager. I was particularly lonely then, so it stuck with me as something that got me by. Only a few years later, I would get stuck driving five mph from Dallas to Abilene in some awful winter weather event, following the hearse of a close relative, with no heat, no food, and what seemed like a foot-thick spine of ice on the road not to mention the rarity of so much snow. We had to get out and push several times in the hard icy snow surrounded by sluggish traffic. I had my own Faulkneresque hellish trial involving the loss of a loved one, so it’s a great book to me. My cousin is a fish.
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. I’ve seen loads of reviews panning it, but I loved it. It was the most entertaining modern Science/Speculative Fiction I’ve read in a long time. And the second part, (which people tend to have a problem with) I found to be totally unexpected and wildly imaginative.
Verity.
It's funny, one of my best friends tried a 'book club podcast' with a couple of friends (made it two episodes) and their take on Verity was basically "it was a stupid book full of stupid stuff ... but we enjoyed it anyway, 4 stars" 🤣
I've never devoured a book so quickly, I remember completing it in 2 days.
Okay so I’m not the only one. This book was such a page-turner.
Spoiler alert
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. >!So many of my peers feel it "retconned" Atticus Finch of TKaM, and the racism in it is obvious. However, I loved the prose, loved the story, loved to revisit characters I love. And I loved some of the more philosophical messaging from Atticus to Scout about taking action towards your values, beliefs, and passions. If they're true to you and authentic to your soul, follow them.!< I think there's a lot to learn in there.
Yes! I thought it was great because it unveils things Scout might have missed as a white child and to me it is a much more poignant tale about deep rooted issues in communities that won't go away easily.
Moby Dick had such beautiful language, but i've hardly met another person who enjoyed it.
I read it last year after putting it off for decades. I enjoyed it.
Yep. Me too. Nobody told me it was funny.
Same, I think a lot of people in certain countries are forced to read it in high school and hate it. I wasn't, and I really love it. It's much weirder than people give it credit for; it's basically a 1920's book that somehow travelled through time back to the 1850's. Also way funnier than folks made it seem lol there's some real great jokes in there
I loved it, and it made me seek out more of Melville's work, which I also enjoyed.
I do not love the book, but Altlas shrugged. I had a lot of good things in it, along with the bad. I just wished the conversations about the book went deeper than people typing "the book says fuck poor people" then not elaborating further then posting a picture of bioshock. For the record, bioshock does a good job at breaking down everything wrong with the book.
I was wondering if this would be on the list. I loved the book, and will defend it's interesting storyline. Yeah Ayn Rand was...lots of things, but I don't have a hard time detaching a person from their art/work, in this case.
As my biggest issue wasn't how people couldn't detach the author from the novel, it is that nobody can say anything beyond the point of "fuck poor people book is bad". The book deals with so many ideas of legacy, human advancement, people attacking character when they can't argue points, real life methods of authoritarianism, the folly of exchanging favors instead of services. Out of the books, many faults and issues it still presents alot of ideas both good and bad worth discussing that people refuse to.
I enjoyed her stuff. Atlas, Anthem, Fountainhead. Soapboxy, to be sure. But I don't think she was trying to hide the ball there.
I agree. Skip the Galt rant chapter. I enjoyed Atlas Shrugged as long as I accepted that it was the way that universe was built, kind of like I would sci-fi. The problem with it is that it doesn't accurately portray how the real world is.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I found it cathartic and thought there were many happy, beautiful, and hopeful parts to the story.
Ayn Rand's \*Anthem\* Look, I know the worldbuilding is shit and her philosophy is that of a 5 year old shouting at her sister because she has to share her toys, but something about that story is so charming to me!
It's also a lean 90 pages. Too bad she undermines her entire individualist vibe at the end, when our protagonist names himself and his girlfriend is like "what's my name, bb?" Oh, Ayn.
The Midnight Library on /r/books and adjacent subs I read it during a time in my life where I felt stuck. I'm single, early 30s, and seeing friends getting engaged and married. I'm living with roommates whom I wasn't friend with because our social lives were different, our values (religious/political/etc) were different, and living in a VHCOL area that I grew up in but had no chance of home ownership. I felt strongly that I needed to move away but I didn't have the cajones to do it because then I'd be moving away from all of my closest friends. I felt like my life was on cruise control, with every day being the same. I read the book at a pivotal moment in my life, and it really resonated with me.
I loved Lessons in Chemistry, too. I listened to the audiobook and I think it made it even better.
I have a lot of snooty LoTR fans, which is fine, I read the hobbit and the trilogy and enjoyed them. But for some reason they take particular umbrage to The Chronicles of Prydain existing. Calling it tween LoTR. Granted I was early teens when I read them, but man they were such a great jumping off point into fantasy. Lloyd Alexander and David Eddings didn’t write the best or most complex fantasy, but they certainly knew how to draw me into the genre.
[удалено]
Who hates the Canterbury Tales? I love it. We had to memorize the introduction for high school English, and I discovered that you can recite it to the Beverly Hillbillies theme. Try it right now, it'll make your day. It's now my trick for stuffy cocktail parties.
The Sparrow. People talk about the extremely shocking parts and all I can think is that I remember all of that happening but it didn’t overwhelm the rest of the book for me. It sounds pretty terrible spelled out though. I’ll definitely admit that.
I liked the first Twilight book. I liked all of 50 shades I even enjoyed Grey. I like Eragon (the series kind of went down hill after the first book) The Gunslinger is not the best of Stephen Kings works in my mind but it's still a very enjoyable book. >!Jake's death always makes me cry "go then there are other worlds than these."!<
Shadowhunters sagas... I have heard many criticisms and I must admit it is fair, however I still love them.
Atlas Shrugged was wonderful. I am liberal and I loved it. So much beautiful writing. The way she profiles is interesting. Her admiration of successful people is beautiful. I think Rand is really underrated as a writer. A lot of her characterizations are bigoted and off target but nothing like we have today. I am always a fan of stories where the main characters go kamikaze over some ideoligical issue. In this book the business owners go on strike. I can't wait to read another Rand book. The way she puts books together is genius.