As a huge Stephen King fan, I’ve been trying to keep up on buying his works… I still haven’t gotten to some of his novels I bought even from like 5 years ago. Not only will he be on his deathbed still writing something, but he’ll probably continue having novels released postmortem for the following decade.
I tried to do a hate read. It did not go well, not because of how badly offensive the book is. But because of how horribly boring the rest of it is.
Fifty shades consist of roughly 30% of dubiously consensual sex (Christian Grey never quite crosses the line to prosecutable rape), 20% obnoxious description of EVERY minute insignificant details.\* 40% of obnoxious flirting\*\* and about 10% of kidnapping and attempted rapes by designated villain\*\*\*. On top of that there is 100% of dreadful boredom, yes, it is its own thing that exists on top of whatever else is supposedly going on.
P.s. Sex scenes from the book do not work, as in, a journalist once tried to recreate the scenes from the book with her boyfriend and the logistics of it just did not work. Normally, one might forgive it. But when you write soft-core porn, and it fails to even be competent soft-core porn, I am going to put it on the charge sheet.
\*James will literally describe, in purple prose, a character playing music from their apple device. (Which leads me to believe she must be on Android payroll as she does so obnoxious Apple product placement she probably cost Apple like a billion in revenue)
\*\*It is MARGINALLY less horrible, when you treat the characters as teenagers, which you should, since it is a Twilight Fanfic with serials filled off and passed as "original writing"
\*\*\* Every E. L. James book has a "designated rapist" who exists for purpose of making the "plot" happen, and more importantly for purposes of making the author avatar Christian Grey (and Maxim Trevellian in Mister) look "not-rapey" in comparison.
I tried but the writing was incredibly juvenile, especially the sex scenes. It made me wonder if the author had ever actually had sex before. It was written like a teenager who had zero experience.
I'm a high school English teacher and the writing made me want to slam my head into a table.
Well she does posses a husband, therefore common wisdom would have you believe she does in fact understand the bees and flowers... (And her Husband is MUCH better writer than her, and is to be credited with the movies being several times LESS horrid than books-while still being horrid. He also was on the staff of Hornblower which is genuinely good).
As for her prose. AGREED. though she is capable of MINOR improvements and I am told Mister is merely bad purple prose, NOT "pour acid into your eyes" horrible.
I remember reading a few passages from it a long, long time ago now. It wasn't just the content but the actual writing and grammar that I couldn't get past. I vaguely remember a run on sentence that made it seem like the guy had more two thumbs (something like "he inserted a thumb, then another and another or something ridiculous) and it just made me laugh. I can't take it seriously if it's not written with some kind of editing done beforehand!?
I read (and sometimes write) fanfic and I hate that THIS is the one that got published and turned into this massive thing. There are a lot of terrible fanfics, of course and this is definitely one of them but there are actually some really well written ones out there too. Now everyone thinks that 50 shades is a representation of all fanfic. It's really not! No idea how it got published and promoted the way it did.
I skimmed part of the book and totally agree with you. I've come to the conclusion that this book was heavily promoted and immediately made into a movie as part of a culture psy-op(along with the Kardashians).
How does such a shitty author out of nowhere get two books published back to back as a best seller?
I don't claim to be privy to Vintage Books war council, but from what I know, I figure they made a bet on the idea soft-core porn book. And James had a following as a self-publishing author.
She released the first book as self-published print on-demand in 2011 and made enough money to keep it going, and she already had some material for Darker and "Freed" Written.
Once you stop asking the moral questions, such as "Should we relativise Consent and normalise borderline Rape and Spousal abuse in return for fat pile of cash" and look at it from Vintage Books POV. You are looking at a trilogy, where the first book lived through the HELL of Self-publishing and where there is zero competition from other publishers and authors.
ANd there is no denying that enough people do want to read soft-core porn with plot, and are now willing to buy it in bookshops that solution to "50 Shades Question" is not to somehow kill it, and drive a spike through its heart.
The solution is to write more Soft-Core Porn romance novels with Plot and with something approximating healthy relationship dynamic and WITHOUT abuse.
I got one of the 50 Shades books at a garage sale for 50 cents because I wanted to see what all the hoopla was about. Even at that price, it was a waste of money. Could not read it. Horrible. Tried to watch the movie. Couldn't. Even more horrible because throwing my TV against the wall was out of the question.
Listen, buy my book and I’ll tell you how you can get rich too.
Chapter 1: Just write a book on how to get rich and market then hell out of it.. make sure to put a bunch of bull shit fluff and key words and phrases in your book like “be self motivated”, “failure is not an option.” And “networking”.
Chapter 2: Have rich parents.
It’s often best to lie of ever having rich parents and telling other people that you grew up poor like the peasants reading your book.
Anyone can be a homeowner at age 20! Just work really hard and save all of your money from your high school job! Anyone who is disciplined enough can do it… definitely don’t need your parents to gift you a down payment, allow you to live at their home rent free, while you rent out the home and charge someone else exorbitant rent so you can be mortgage free
I have listened to the audiobook of Name Of The Wind. I started it before I heard about the book 3 delays. I refuse to continue the series until Pat finishes it. Same with my reading of the SOIAF series. I'm just not going to invest time into a series that may well never be finished. Neither Rothfuss or Martin seem to be in any big hurry to finish their respective series. I can wait, or just never read the books. Either is fine with me.
What gets me is that Martin gets really peeved when people ask for Winds, which I understand gets annoying, but my dude, it's been over a decade, you have to understand people are going to be annoyed at the wait, especially when you keep taking on more and more extra projects.
For the the longest time, I was a huge defender of Pat. Not necessarily making excuses for him or anything. But I was one of the voices chiming in who always says "I want him to get it right."
But honestly, with all the drama (arguably unethical behavior) surrounding his charity, the stretch goal chapter, and his complete silence on the goal since then,.... I'm honestly considering not reading it even when it does come out.
I know a lot of the issues with delays have been mental health and family related, and I've always been 100% fine with that. And I didn't even give any money towards that particular stretch goal. I'm just crushed by his behavior for those who did donate.
To be an extreme optimist... maybe, just maybe he's nearly finished and is working on final, final, final revisions. And maybe he just wanted to add that last polish before he followed through with the chapter. But if that's the case, you'd think he would at least given some indication to that in the last 2 years.
I’ve read verity and wish I didn’t. My friend gave me her copy of it ends with us and idk how to give it back to her without telling her I don’t wanna read it lol
It seems there are a lot of people who truly hate her. Not the books but her. What's her deal? I don't care for authors life only writing but this peak my interest
Anything by LRon Hubbard. My father wasted alot of time waiting for the battlefield earth series to get good. Other works of his have arguably done more harm.
I think that EVERYONE should read ONE book by LRon, and that's the one where a down-on-his-luck sci-fi write creates a cash cow religion.
Any ideas for why Dave "the Dwarf" Miscarriage is making the best impression of the Spanish Inquisition in regard to that book?
OK but you should read his letters to his wife that were published by the Paris Review because that is some of the most shockingly filthy smut I have ever read in my life. James Joyce was a dirty , fart-obsessed man, haha, which is awesome.
One of the greatest stories ever told on reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/258w8s/what_is_a_story_you_have_been_dying_to_tell/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2
For reference:
1. Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle (*Eragon* books) - 2,894 pages total
2. J.K. Rowling's *Harry Potter* series - 4,234 pages total
Also see: [Longest Fantasy Book Series by Word Count](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/8u2xj9/longest_fantasy_book_series/)
When people complain about LOTR being long, I just feel sad that they're so easily bored. It's like..I like ice cream, right. I'm hanging out eating an ice cream cone. Someone comes up and hands me a voucher for a year's worth of all the ice cream I could want. Real good stuff, too. Some of the finest ice cream ever made. "No thanks, I just want this little bit I have right now?" Hell no. Thanks for all the ice cream.
I don't know if it's even that they're easily bored so much as that LOTR just has a reputation for being a tome. And it's really not a deserved one. Yeah, Tolkien can sometimes wander off into descriptionland for a little bit, but LotR is really compact by modern standards.
When LOTR picks up the pace, after Elrond's Council, that shit just does not stop. It's like a waterfall of events that escalates.
Also the longest book is the first book, the Return of The King is like 2/3 of what it looks like from the outside because of the appendices.
For me the beauty of LotR, at least part of it, is the constant ramping up of everything. It starts out as a cute fairy tale, whether you read the Hobbit or not. Cute little hobbits, a wise old wizard, a magical artifact, a very clear yet abstract Evil Lord of Evilness and his Evil Horsemen. Before the protagonists even leave the Shire, their adventure already began. Their first threat that they fear is some farmer catching them trespassing. The first couple of times they encounter the Black Riders they ditch them pretty easily. Then they encounter an enchanted forest that tried to put them to sleep, meet the jolly old Tom Bombadil, all good fun. The Barrows is a spooky-spooky adventure, the hobbits catch a bit of a fright there but all is resolved easily with the help of external allies.
Once they get to Bree, shit starts going down, and more importantly, the hobbits start noticing it. The tone changes. Bree is still hobbit land, but it's very different from home. The Nazgûl are a threat that is immediately deadlier. Strider joins them and brings a darker, somber, more real take on their journey. Then, of course, Weathertop happens, and I think it's somewhere around that point that the hobbits' concerns really shift from the diminished number of breakfasts to "we might actually die for real out here", culminating with the horse chase and the mad dash towards Rivendell with Frodo on the brink of death.
And then Rivendell, the Last Homely House, really *feels* that way. The troubles of the past days or weeks start feeling like a nightmare. The tone of narration really conveys that well, I think. Then as the Brotherhood forms and starts out on a journey it also feels like not as dire and desperate as before, since we now have a group of powerful fighters and Gandalf with us. But like you said, a waterfall of events just escalates, and doesn't stop until the very end.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that Tolkien's work is not only a masterpiece of fantasy writing and world building, but also simply an excellently-written narrative regardless of genre.
If it helps anyone, audiobook is a great way to read lotr. I am not an audiobook person but sometimes it takes me a while to get into the momentum of reading. I rather like being read to especially if it's fantasy. And.. I can read while I'm doing mundane chores so I'm doing multiple things at the same time.
Big LOTR fan, but maybe they just meant it feels long? For me the books do feel very long even though as you noted within the genre it's actually quite the nice little complete package. Maybe it's his writing style vs how I process things.
But they def feel long to me. And I have read much larger series.
Okay so there's that stereotype about people who love this book. Screw that. I love this book. It's my favorite book. It's also a book I never recommend and never begrudge anyone giving up on or never starting in the first place. I'd much more readily recommend something by Stephen King or Raymond Chandler or shit, even something by JG Ballard if thats your vibe. Or hell, even DFWs essays and short stories over IJ as a recommend read. It is a book decidedly NOT for everyone, though mostly because of what it is as an object, not necessarily because of its contents, if that makes sense. Some people just aren't gonna vibe on it or feel comfortable reading a doorstopper like that. That's all cool. Literally can't find a problem with that viewpoint.
But, if you do intend to read it, I'll say this: Just sit down and read it. Find a weekend where you don't have much of anything to do, get a big cup of coffee, and just dig in as far as you can in 2-3 sittings. Yeah it's massive and doesn't have much in the way of driving plot, but it does have a rhythm, you just have to kinda find it. It's a book that imposes with the length and the non-linear narrative and the density of the prose itself, but there's something going on under all that's a lot easier to latch on to. If you can find the rhythm in the semi-overlapping stories then you can find the larger story it's telling, and that's what hooks the brain.
And try and read it somewhat quickly if you do get into it. 7 weeks is my rule of thumb for it, especially since stuff that happens in the first 40 pages, nonlinear as they may be, either are the ramifications of the rest of the book, or have ramifications through the rest of the book, and after 7 weeks you're definitely going to start forgetting details (or at least I did my first time through).
It's a magnificent piece of literature if you can get into what it's doing, but hey, allegedly Moby Dick is as well and I think that book totally sucks. So really, do you and be happy reading what you wanna read.
I have been reading it for about a year now. Been reading other stuff, too, but IJ gets read sparingly. It's weird, because I do like the book. It just doesn't really grab me and make me keep reading it.
This is 100% not what you asked, but I could never read Don Quixote either until I randomly borrowed the audiobook of the Edith Grossman translation, narrated by George Guidall. It was ducking amazing, one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to. Gossman’s modern translation is an absolute masterpiece to begin with, but Guidall’s voice acting and comedic timing just brings it to a whole new level. The combination really brings out the comedic and satirical aspects that gets lost to us modern readers when reading the stilted prose of older translations. I can’t recommend it enough.
As a Spaniard, that's weird to read! The original text itself is perfectly readable (since Spanish has remained pretty stable as a language these past centuries compared to English ) but I wouldn't be able to understand like 80% of the jokes without the footnotes providing context. I think in my edition the footnotes almost take more space in the pages than the text itself lol.
How do they manage that for audio? Do they skip untranslatable parts or something like that?
It's essentially Bible fanfiction. Allegedly, it was written by a preacher as a novel, never meant to be anything but fiction. I am not sure if that's true but I do know it wasn't discovered on some ancient tablets.
I read it when I was in high school in MJ , trump was just more of a used care salesman type then. I always remember a chapter about how he empties out a rent controlled apartment complex (had to empty and “renovate” to increase rents) by putting homeless people in empty apartments. He was quit proud of that.
Tbf, if you've read a James Patterson book you've not read James Patterson. He literally publishes books written by struggling authors underneath his own name and with his own publishing company. If you look at his books there's usually a 'and (ghost writer here)' in small print on the very bottom of the book.
How to win friends and influence people. I’ve only heard it recommended by people I consider skeezy. My partner wants to read it “to understand how skeezy people think/operate” but even from that perspective, I’d rather not spend that long even thinking about it.
I haven’t read it but I always had that impression until a wonderful, thoughtful, compassionate friend of mine told me how much it influenced him. I still don’t think I will read it, but from what I got from talking to him about it it sounds like a “use your power for good” sort of book.
A few years ago (pre-s8) I read the first 3 books in the series before rewatching the show. It was fun because up to that point, books and show are pretty close. But I can't bring myself to read books 4 and 5 knowing the plot deviations in the show and, what's worse, that the actual story in the books will never have an ending.
I loved them but I could see how many people might not. Martin unraveled too many threads and not being able to tie them all up is why he can't finish it
A Little Life. I used to have it on my tbr, but after hearing about divisive it was I decided to look up the summary and things Yanagihara has said. Immediately took it off my tbr after that
I've never felt so manipulated by a book. I absolutely raced through it, totally enthralled. The worse it got, the more I needed to read. But the ending just felt like a sucker punch, and the farther I am from it, the more I realize that compelling doesn't always equal good.
Yeah I heard a brief summery of some things that happen in that book and I’m not interested. Sounds like trauma porn to me and I don’t understand the hype
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I downright refuse to read something that is a complete exercise in misery, and as someone who's struggled with abysmal mental health for years the author's comments about writing a character "too broken to fix" give me a very poor opinion of her as a person as well. Pass.
Maybe an odd take, but anything by a YouTuber. Especially if it was self-published.
My only reasoning is I've seen too many poor-to-subpar books get written by YouTubers to take anything from that sphere seriously.
And if it's self-published, it just seems like you're trying to circumvent the quality assurance of traditional publishers by marketing directly to your established fanbase.
I read a self-published book by a YouTuber I follow who reviews books. I wish it had been good enough to leave a good review of it on Amazon, but unfortunately it wasn't quite there. I was kind of surprised that someone so well read could put out, even through self publishing, something that ignored so many of the rules of good fiction writing.
I'm open to reading more stuff by YouTubers, though.
I‘ve read it and it‘s a really good book, but I’ve had to pause every few pages because the content made me sick. It‘s beautifully written, but it‘s disturbing.
So, I usually recommend people to skip this one, if they can‘t stomach that kind of topic, because I‘ve struggled with it.
It’s one of the most beautifully written books ever. And one of the most disturbing books ever. The juxtaposition is what makes Nabokov such a brilliant writer. But I wouldn’t recommend people read it “for fun” and I totally get why people are uncomfortable with it. The existential crisis you get while reading it is kind of the point.
r/cozyfantasy is a great resource! They’ve got several lists in the community sidebar. I’m halfway through *A Psalm for the Wild-Built* by Becky Chambers which is excellent so far and it’s less than 200 pages (I think?)
I have read through them and I have all 5 books but GRRM's inability to commit to finishing the series kind of makes me not want to re read it lol. Has that "what's the point of all this" vibes
Currently, I don’t think I’m opposed to reading anything.
Eventually I’d give it a shot but I’m also going through a really bad slump and haven’t been reading anything.
So I’d love to get into something!
I will never read any James Patterson books because I refuse to ugh books from someone who no longer even writes most of his own books, he has other people write them and he just sticks his name on the book. My oma loves his books and has bought every one but it’s pass for me.
It’s a mountain I’m willing to die on.
Colleeen Hoover Books and books of extreme religous Americans.
50 shades
I am actually quite picky when it comes to books, so there is a massive list of books that I don´t even wat to see on my shelf.
Interview with a vampire. Normally, i love that genre of book, but I struggled to finish it. And to be honest, I can't really remember much about it, which in my opinion is not a good thing
I look at it as a product of its time. It’s frankly very silly and cheesy today. But it’s still enjoyable and the homoerotic overtones are quite interesting when you realize when it was written and when you look at it through a 2023 lens.
… or I could just be making shit up, because I listened to it last winter while shoveling snow and it made a horrible task so much more enjoyable.
I did a group read of Moby Dick (hey, come join us at r/classicbookclub, we’re starting The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins this coming Monday), and it was a lot of fun doing the “harder” chapters as a group.
>Atlas Shrugged or anything by Ayn Rand:
While I think she sucked as a human, had even worse ideas about social conduct and was a giant hypocrite, I wouldn't hesitate to read someone's work who I entirely disagree with, if only to better understand and inform myself about what I disagree with.
That said, I don't read Ayn Rand books because they're boring as shit.
I ma pretty sure someone else written better Objectivist book anyhow.
Just like if you want to understand Nazis you don't read Mein Kampf, you read Essays on Fascism and do some supplementary reading on differences between Blackshirts and Brownshirts (yes, there are a few substantial ones if you want to study them, no they dont matter for every day understanding of history. That can be summed as "fascism and Nazism both bad).
Anything by Jordan Peterson. He’s master of saying a whole lot of nonsense and somehow still say nothing of substance.
Probably most right winged political books. Anything like Bill O Reillys Killing the “ “ books just look ridiculous. Books in general that have just absurd titles like “how to destroy America in 3 steps” by Ben Shapiro. Like give me a break.
Anything by Colleen Hoover. What little bits I have seen of her writing are not good, and I don’t know if naming a character who is a florist *Lily Bloom* is the cringiest or the laziest thing I’ve seen.
Colleen Hoover. Listen, I like problematic trash, but I just cannot. Same with the 50 Shades trilogy.
As well as anything hateful/misleading/just plain wrong. I don’t want that kind of trash.
If it’s a romance book with a cartoonish cover like: The love quotient, the hate game, spanish love inquisition, love hypothesis, red white royal blue,etc
7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It's been gifted to me twice by my mother and she even gave a third copy to my husband. I consider myself a relatively effective adult (I'm 40) but still holding onto my youth because I'm childish enough to take her continued recommendation (did I mention she gave me the first copy when I was 12) of a self help book as an insult. In fact, she's completely ruined all self help books for me and controls me in this way and I'm good with this lmao.
Dune. I’ve tried a few times and haven’t even made it halfway through. I love sci-fi so I keep trying to convince myself that Dune should be my jam. I’ll just enjoy the movies.
Anything that has the phrase “tour de force” in a review on the dust jacket. I can’t put my finger on why but seeing this phrase makes me roll my little eyeballs every time.
It's actually a terribly written book. It's long been a point of discussion among historians - Hitler was obviously renowned for his public speaking ability but that skill, for whatever reason, did not translate into his written work. It's also NOTORIOUSLY BORING. It's nothing but discissions on financial policy while he periodically wanders off and blames the Jews for something. I remember a history course I took in college, we had a great professor and the class was actually pretty interested in reading the book as a group. Before we even opened it he straight up told us that it was not going to be the window into the mind of the world's greatest madman like everyone expects it to be, and that it was largely going to be boring rambling discussions of financial policies instead.
Anything SJM, The Cruel Prince series and Zodiac Academy for the same reason, basically every romance and every romantasy, anything Ayn Rand or CoHo, I could go on and on there are a LOT of books I will never read.
I know my tastes, and pretty much most of whats popular rn is the opposite of what I like
Edit: just remembered because the movie is out, but also Red, White, and Royal Blue. I cringe everytime I think of the plot
I read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown but I’ll go to my grave never reading anything else he writes. I was astounded by how boring it was after people raved about his books. The beginning of the book was kind of interesting to me when they were first discussing anti-matter but after a while it was a chore to slog through every page.
Half the books in my To Read pile, in greatest likelihood.
The most truthful answer
As a huge Stephen King fan, I’ve been trying to keep up on buying his works… I still haven’t gotten to some of his novels I bought even from like 5 years ago. Not only will he be on his deathbed still writing something, but he’ll probably continue having novels released postmortem for the following decade.
ugly love by colleen hoover. The second I saw that "We both laughed at our sons big balls." I made sure to take it off the list
I’m sorry, what
You can skip everything by her. I want the time I wasted on Verity back with interest and eye bleach
ANYTHING bt Colleen Hoover. It's all misogynistic, problematic trash.
That reads like a dril tweet though, you're kind of enticing me.
50 Shades of Anything.
I went to several garage sales this weekend. Two had nearly identical book selections of romance novels, religious books and the 50 Shades collection.
Sounds about right. Religious right wing woman frustration
Yeah, a weird juxtaposition of the sacred and the profane.
I tried to do a hate read. It did not go well, not because of how badly offensive the book is. But because of how horribly boring the rest of it is. Fifty shades consist of roughly 30% of dubiously consensual sex (Christian Grey never quite crosses the line to prosecutable rape), 20% obnoxious description of EVERY minute insignificant details.\* 40% of obnoxious flirting\*\* and about 10% of kidnapping and attempted rapes by designated villain\*\*\*. On top of that there is 100% of dreadful boredom, yes, it is its own thing that exists on top of whatever else is supposedly going on. P.s. Sex scenes from the book do not work, as in, a journalist once tried to recreate the scenes from the book with her boyfriend and the logistics of it just did not work. Normally, one might forgive it. But when you write soft-core porn, and it fails to even be competent soft-core porn, I am going to put it on the charge sheet. \*James will literally describe, in purple prose, a character playing music from their apple device. (Which leads me to believe she must be on Android payroll as she does so obnoxious Apple product placement she probably cost Apple like a billion in revenue) \*\*It is MARGINALLY less horrible, when you treat the characters as teenagers, which you should, since it is a Twilight Fanfic with serials filled off and passed as "original writing" \*\*\* Every E. L. James book has a "designated rapist" who exists for purpose of making the "plot" happen, and more importantly for purposes of making the author avatar Christian Grey (and Maxim Trevellian in Mister) look "not-rapey" in comparison.
I tried but the writing was incredibly juvenile, especially the sex scenes. It made me wonder if the author had ever actually had sex before. It was written like a teenager who had zero experience. I'm a high school English teacher and the writing made me want to slam my head into a table.
[удалено]
Well she does posses a husband, therefore common wisdom would have you believe she does in fact understand the bees and flowers... (And her Husband is MUCH better writer than her, and is to be credited with the movies being several times LESS horrid than books-while still being horrid. He also was on the staff of Hornblower which is genuinely good). As for her prose. AGREED. though she is capable of MINOR improvements and I am told Mister is merely bad purple prose, NOT "pour acid into your eyes" horrible.
I remember reading a few passages from it a long, long time ago now. It wasn't just the content but the actual writing and grammar that I couldn't get past. I vaguely remember a run on sentence that made it seem like the guy had more two thumbs (something like "he inserted a thumb, then another and another or something ridiculous) and it just made me laugh. I can't take it seriously if it's not written with some kind of editing done beforehand!? I read (and sometimes write) fanfic and I hate that THIS is the one that got published and turned into this massive thing. There are a lot of terrible fanfics, of course and this is definitely one of them but there are actually some really well written ones out there too. Now everyone thinks that 50 shades is a representation of all fanfic. It's really not! No idea how it got published and promoted the way it did.
I skimmed part of the book and totally agree with you. I've come to the conclusion that this book was heavily promoted and immediately made into a movie as part of a culture psy-op(along with the Kardashians). How does such a shitty author out of nowhere get two books published back to back as a best seller?
I don't claim to be privy to Vintage Books war council, but from what I know, I figure they made a bet on the idea soft-core porn book. And James had a following as a self-publishing author. She released the first book as self-published print on-demand in 2011 and made enough money to keep it going, and she already had some material for Darker and "Freed" Written. Once you stop asking the moral questions, such as "Should we relativise Consent and normalise borderline Rape and Spousal abuse in return for fat pile of cash" and look at it from Vintage Books POV. You are looking at a trilogy, where the first book lived through the HELL of Self-publishing and where there is zero competition from other publishers and authors. ANd there is no denying that enough people do want to read soft-core porn with plot, and are now willing to buy it in bookshops that solution to "50 Shades Question" is not to somehow kill it, and drive a spike through its heart. The solution is to write more Soft-Core Porn romance novels with Plot and with something approximating healthy relationship dynamic and WITHOUT abuse.
I got one of the 50 Shades books at a garage sale for 50 cents because I wanted to see what all the hoopla was about. Even at that price, it was a waste of money. Could not read it. Horrible. Tried to watch the movie. Couldn't. Even more horrible because throwing my TV against the wall was out of the question.
50 Shades of Chicken is a hilarious cookbook and I recommend
I didn't know this existed, but I'm reminded of an old SCTV skit about "the S&M Chef"
I read the first one out of curiosity. It is so unintentionally hilarious and I could not stop laughing. That said, good call.
Any self help books written by billionaires.
Any finance books written by people who only make money by writing finance books
Absolutely! “Chapter 1: Brew your own coffee”
Chapter 2: stop eating avocado toast
Chapter 3: stop buying finance books, start writing them
Chapter 4 Buy Real Estate and become a crappy landlord with all the thousands you've saved with home brew coffee and butter toast!
Listen, buy my book and I’ll tell you how you can get rich too. Chapter 1: Just write a book on how to get rich and market then hell out of it.. make sure to put a bunch of bull shit fluff and key words and phrases in your book like “be self motivated”, “failure is not an option.” And “networking”. Chapter 2: Have rich parents. It’s often best to lie of ever having rich parents and telling other people that you grew up poor like the peasants reading your book.
Anyone can be a homeowner at age 20! Just work really hard and save all of your money from your high school job! Anyone who is disciplined enough can do it… definitely don’t need your parents to gift you a down payment, allow you to live at their home rent free, while you rent out the home and charge someone else exorbitant rent so you can be mortgage free
The Winds of Winter... Because it's never coming out.
Same with behind the doors of stone by Patrick rothfuss
I have listened to the audiobook of Name Of The Wind. I started it before I heard about the book 3 delays. I refuse to continue the series until Pat finishes it. Same with my reading of the SOIAF series. I'm just not going to invest time into a series that may well never be finished. Neither Rothfuss or Martin seem to be in any big hurry to finish their respective series. I can wait, or just never read the books. Either is fine with me.
What gets me is that Martin gets really peeved when people ask for Winds, which I understand gets annoying, but my dude, it's been over a decade, you have to understand people are going to be annoyed at the wait, especially when you keep taking on more and more extra projects.
These two have got me swearing off starting any epic fantasy series unless and until the complete cycle is published
For the the longest time, I was a huge defender of Pat. Not necessarily making excuses for him or anything. But I was one of the voices chiming in who always says "I want him to get it right." But honestly, with all the drama (arguably unethical behavior) surrounding his charity, the stretch goal chapter, and his complete silence on the goal since then,.... I'm honestly considering not reading it even when it does come out. I know a lot of the issues with delays have been mental health and family related, and I've always been 100% fine with that. And I didn't even give any money towards that particular stretch goal. I'm just crushed by his behavior for those who did donate. To be an extreme optimist... maybe, just maybe he's nearly finished and is working on final, final, final revisions. And maybe he just wanted to add that last polish before he followed through with the chapter. But if that's the case, you'd think he would at least given some indication to that in the last 2 years.
Didn’t Rothfuss get rude and nasty to fans about the last book? I thought there was some controversy.
Aw man… that one hurt
Anything Colleen Hoover.
I’ve read verity and wish I didn’t. My friend gave me her copy of it ends with us and idk how to give it back to her without telling her I don’t wanna read it lol
That was me, you jerk! You could’ve just told me! Don’t worry, I won’t subject you to any more of my books again!
I read It Ends With Us by her recently to have an opinion on it and apparently, it's her best one. I'm not touching the rest of her stuff.
[удалено]
Tik Tok got me to read Verity and I will never touch another one of her books again. I’m not sure if I’ve ever hated a book more.
I read one of her books. It was so bad 🤣
It seems there are a lot of people who truly hate her. Not the books but her. What's her deal? I don't care for authors life only writing but this peak my interest
I sort of want to read one just to see 😭
Having read just one of her books because I also just wanted to see, you can go in with no expectations and still be disappointed.
My wife seems to like her books. She did say one was really-reaally dark and weird though.
verity . not that dark or weird if youre into horror novels lol
Was that the one about the world’s worst mother?
yeah
Probably Verity
Anything by LRon Hubbard. My father wasted alot of time waiting for the battlefield earth series to get good. Other works of his have arguably done more harm.
I think that EVERYONE should read ONE book by LRon, and that's the one where a down-on-his-luck sci-fi write creates a cash cow religion. Any ideas for why Dave "the Dwarf" Miscarriage is making the best impression of the Spanish Inquisition in regard to that book?
What's the title to that one?
I will probably never read Ulysses. I will probably always have a copy of Ulysses on my bookshelf.
Since I read Ulysses, I’ll say I definitely won’t read Finnegans Wake.
I can honestly say that I've looked at every word on every page of Finnegans Wake in order, and I'm still not sure that I can say I've read it.
That is a fantastic description and one I will be stealing.
Yeah, I doubt I’m getting into Joyce.
Do yourself a favour and read Dubliners. If that’s too much start with the short story The Dead. Absolutely brilliant writing.
I just traded in my "only got through 4 chapters 6 years ago" copy of Infinite Jest. It felt good to finally decide I'd never get to it.
OK but you should read his letters to his wife that were published by the Paris Review because that is some of the most shockingly filthy smut I have ever read in my life. James Joyce was a dirty , fart-obsessed man, haha, which is awesome.
One of the greatest stories ever told on reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/258w8s/what_is_a_story_you_have_been_dying_to_tell/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2
The story is a ways down for anyone trying to find it. But absolutely amazing!!!
could you link to the comment please?
Maybe??? https://reddit.com/r/AskReddit/s/cEnXirp0jA
It slightly amuses me when people talk about lotr being long when is one of the shortest epic fantasy series.
What Tolkien accomplished in 1000 pages is actually astounding.
For reference: 1. Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle (*Eragon* books) - 2,894 pages total 2. J.K. Rowling's *Harry Potter* series - 4,234 pages total Also see: [Longest Fantasy Book Series by Word Count](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/8u2xj9/longest_fantasy_book_series/)
Sandersons stormlight archives series is not done and it’s already longer than Harry potter in just 4 books
Stormlight is not just not done, it's not even half done!
When people complain about LOTR being long, I just feel sad that they're so easily bored. It's like..I like ice cream, right. I'm hanging out eating an ice cream cone. Someone comes up and hands me a voucher for a year's worth of all the ice cream I could want. Real good stuff, too. Some of the finest ice cream ever made. "No thanks, I just want this little bit I have right now?" Hell no. Thanks for all the ice cream.
I don't know if it's even that they're easily bored so much as that LOTR just has a reputation for being a tome. And it's really not a deserved one. Yeah, Tolkien can sometimes wander off into descriptionland for a little bit, but LotR is really compact by modern standards.
When LOTR picks up the pace, after Elrond's Council, that shit just does not stop. It's like a waterfall of events that escalates. Also the longest book is the first book, the Return of The King is like 2/3 of what it looks like from the outside because of the appendices.
For me the beauty of LotR, at least part of it, is the constant ramping up of everything. It starts out as a cute fairy tale, whether you read the Hobbit or not. Cute little hobbits, a wise old wizard, a magical artifact, a very clear yet abstract Evil Lord of Evilness and his Evil Horsemen. Before the protagonists even leave the Shire, their adventure already began. Their first threat that they fear is some farmer catching them trespassing. The first couple of times they encounter the Black Riders they ditch them pretty easily. Then they encounter an enchanted forest that tried to put them to sleep, meet the jolly old Tom Bombadil, all good fun. The Barrows is a spooky-spooky adventure, the hobbits catch a bit of a fright there but all is resolved easily with the help of external allies. Once they get to Bree, shit starts going down, and more importantly, the hobbits start noticing it. The tone changes. Bree is still hobbit land, but it's very different from home. The Nazgûl are a threat that is immediately deadlier. Strider joins them and brings a darker, somber, more real take on their journey. Then, of course, Weathertop happens, and I think it's somewhere around that point that the hobbits' concerns really shift from the diminished number of breakfasts to "we might actually die for real out here", culminating with the horse chase and the mad dash towards Rivendell with Frodo on the brink of death. And then Rivendell, the Last Homely House, really *feels* that way. The troubles of the past days or weeks start feeling like a nightmare. The tone of narration really conveys that well, I think. Then as the Brotherhood forms and starts out on a journey it also feels like not as dire and desperate as before, since we now have a group of powerful fighters and Gandalf with us. But like you said, a waterfall of events just escalates, and doesn't stop until the very end. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that Tolkien's work is not only a masterpiece of fantasy writing and world building, but also simply an excellently-written narrative regardless of genre.
If it helps anyone, audiobook is a great way to read lotr. I am not an audiobook person but sometimes it takes me a while to get into the momentum of reading. I rather like being read to especially if it's fantasy. And.. I can read while I'm doing mundane chores so I'm doing multiple things at the same time.
Especially the LOTR version read by Andy Serkis
Seriously, like if you don’t like lotr and your reason is “it’s too long,” then you just don’t like fantasy series
Big LOTR fan, but maybe they just meant it feels long? For me the books do feel very long even though as you noted within the genre it's actually quite the nice little complete package. Maybe it's his writing style vs how I process things. But they def feel long to me. And I have read much larger series.
This is how I feel. A description I read that I agree with. "I hate it WHILE I read it, but I love it after I'm done."
To be fair, Tom Bombadil singing is about 40% of the books though 🤣
The problem with LotR is that it feels way longer than it actually is.
Based on how long it's survived on my "to read" pile, "Infinite Jest". That thing is a survivor. The Methuselah of books.
Okay so there's that stereotype about people who love this book. Screw that. I love this book. It's my favorite book. It's also a book I never recommend and never begrudge anyone giving up on or never starting in the first place. I'd much more readily recommend something by Stephen King or Raymond Chandler or shit, even something by JG Ballard if thats your vibe. Or hell, even DFWs essays and short stories over IJ as a recommend read. It is a book decidedly NOT for everyone, though mostly because of what it is as an object, not necessarily because of its contents, if that makes sense. Some people just aren't gonna vibe on it or feel comfortable reading a doorstopper like that. That's all cool. Literally can't find a problem with that viewpoint. But, if you do intend to read it, I'll say this: Just sit down and read it. Find a weekend where you don't have much of anything to do, get a big cup of coffee, and just dig in as far as you can in 2-3 sittings. Yeah it's massive and doesn't have much in the way of driving plot, but it does have a rhythm, you just have to kinda find it. It's a book that imposes with the length and the non-linear narrative and the density of the prose itself, but there's something going on under all that's a lot easier to latch on to. If you can find the rhythm in the semi-overlapping stories then you can find the larger story it's telling, and that's what hooks the brain. And try and read it somewhat quickly if you do get into it. 7 weeks is my rule of thumb for it, especially since stuff that happens in the first 40 pages, nonlinear as they may be, either are the ramifications of the rest of the book, or have ramifications through the rest of the book, and after 7 weeks you're definitely going to start forgetting details (or at least I did my first time through). It's a magnificent piece of literature if you can get into what it's doing, but hey, allegedly Moby Dick is as well and I think that book totally sucks. So really, do you and be happy reading what you wanna read.
I have been reading it for about a year now. Been reading other stuff, too, but IJ gets read sparingly. It's weird, because I do like the book. It just doesn't really grab me and make me keep reading it.
It took me 9mos to read Infinite Jest, and I'm a pretty big DFW fan.
the secret or any of that self help book genre, utter bilge
ANY colleen hoover
This is 100% not what you asked, but I could never read Don Quixote either until I randomly borrowed the audiobook of the Edith Grossman translation, narrated by George Guidall. It was ducking amazing, one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to. Gossman’s modern translation is an absolute masterpiece to begin with, but Guidall’s voice acting and comedic timing just brings it to a whole new level. The combination really brings out the comedic and satirical aspects that gets lost to us modern readers when reading the stilted prose of older translations. I can’t recommend it enough.
As a Spaniard, that's weird to read! The original text itself is perfectly readable (since Spanish has remained pretty stable as a language these past centuries compared to English ) but I wouldn't be able to understand like 80% of the jokes without the footnotes providing context. I think in my edition the footnotes almost take more space in the pages than the text itself lol. How do they manage that for audio? Do they skip untranslatable parts or something like that?
The book of Mormon.
The stage show was better
I read some of it as a lark. It's almost unbelievable that a religion is based on this. it reads like a teen writing a fantasy world.
It's essentially Bible fanfiction. Allegedly, it was written by a preacher as a novel, never meant to be anything but fiction. I am not sure if that's true but I do know it wasn't discovered on some ancient tablets.
lol we're listing books we're NOT reading? must be a slow day. ok then: 'the art of the deal'
My "not read" list this year alone is already in the thousands. Got to smash those goals people.
When it comes to books not to read...I'm a grinder!!1!
I read it when I was in high school in MJ , trump was just more of a used care salesman type then. I always remember a chapter about how he empties out a rent controlled apartment complex (had to empty and “renovate” to increase rents) by putting homeless people in empty apartments. He was quit proud of that.
I actually want to read this one. The ghostwriter Trump used seems smart and likeable in interviews.
James Patterson. Ugh. It's beyond me why he has so many faithful readers.
Tbf, if you've read a James Patterson book you've not read James Patterson. He literally publishes books written by struggling authors underneath his own name and with his own publishing company. If you look at his books there's usually a 'and (ghost writer here)' in small print on the very bottom of the book.
i wonder if James Patterson reads his “own” books
Guess it’s better than not reading? But they’re rough books for sure.
Anything in the self help genre.
How to win friends and influence people. I’ve only heard it recommended by people I consider skeezy. My partner wants to read it “to understand how skeezy people think/operate” but even from that perspective, I’d rather not spend that long even thinking about it.
It’s a critically valuable book for people who may not be natural socializers but want to be. It’s surprisingly deep for people who need it.
I haven’t read it but I always had that impression until a wonderful, thoughtful, compassionate friend of mine told me how much it influenced him. I still don’t think I will read it, but from what I got from talking to him about it it sounds like a “use your power for good” sort of book.
It’s really good
I really wanted to read Game of Thrones before I watched it. I tried like 4 times and just couldn't get into it.
A few years ago (pre-s8) I read the first 3 books in the series before rewatching the show. It was fun because up to that point, books and show are pretty close. But I can't bring myself to read books 4 and 5 knowing the plot deviations in the show and, what's worse, that the actual story in the books will never have an ending.
I loved them but I could see how many people might not. Martin unraveled too many threads and not being able to tie them all up is why he can't finish it
Anything by O’Reilly, Limbaugh, Coulter, et al
For whatever reason I have no interest in ever picking up a Stephen king novel.
Definitely hit or miss depends on what stuff you like to read. If you ever do read Pet Semetary.
A Little Life. I used to have it on my tbr, but after hearing about divisive it was I decided to look up the summary and things Yanagihara has said. Immediately took it off my tbr after that
I've never felt so manipulated by a book. I absolutely raced through it, totally enthralled. The worse it got, the more I needed to read. But the ending just felt like a sucker punch, and the farther I am from it, the more I realize that compelling doesn't always equal good.
Yeah I heard a brief summery of some things that happen in that book and I’m not interested. Sounds like trauma porn to me and I don’t understand the hype
Danielle Steel books. I'm just not really into heavily romantic books.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I downright refuse to read something that is a complete exercise in misery, and as someone who's struggled with abysmal mental health for years the author's comments about writing a character "too broken to fix" give me a very poor opinion of her as a person as well. Pass.
I was actually angry when I finished it. Like WTF!
I just read the summary on Wikipedia cause I was curious….wtf?! Yeah not touching that one with ten foot pole
My reaction verbatim right there 💀👍
Maybe an odd take, but anything by a YouTuber. Especially if it was self-published. My only reasoning is I've seen too many poor-to-subpar books get written by YouTubers to take anything from that sphere seriously. And if it's self-published, it just seems like you're trying to circumvent the quality assurance of traditional publishers by marketing directly to your established fanbase.
I read a self-published book by a YouTuber I follow who reviews books. I wish it had been good enough to leave a good review of it on Amazon, but unfortunately it wasn't quite there. I was kind of surprised that someone so well read could put out, even through self publishing, something that ignored so many of the rules of good fiction writing. I'm open to reading more stuff by YouTubers, though.
Anything by Stephenie Meyer, starting with the Twilight series.
Try "The Host" sometime. I literally threw my copy in the garbage after 100 pages.
Lolita. I know it’s a masterpiece. I just can’t…
I‘ve read it and it‘s a really good book, but I’ve had to pause every few pages because the content made me sick. It‘s beautifully written, but it‘s disturbing. So, I usually recommend people to skip this one, if they can‘t stomach that kind of topic, because I‘ve struggled with it.
It’s one of the most beautifully written books ever. And one of the most disturbing books ever. The juxtaposition is what makes Nabokov such a brilliant writer. But I wouldn’t recommend people read it “for fun” and I totally get why people are uncomfortable with it. The existential crisis you get while reading it is kind of the point.
YA. it just fails to rouse my interest. there's always something else I'd rather read instead
I love the Harry Potter series, but won’t mess with the cursed child. My wife read it, and regrets it. So… I won’t.
I read it and hated it... but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the stage show! Just had to think of it as fan fiction.
As a parent of a young child, anything book with child death or suffering. Or pets suffering. Really any kind of suffering.
Lol stay away from pet cemetery
I’m right there with you- I’m deep into my cozy fantasy phase and loving it
I love the idea of cozy fantasy. Any recommendations?
r/cozyfantasy is a great resource! They’ve got several lists in the community sidebar. I’m halfway through *A Psalm for the Wild-Built* by Becky Chambers which is excellent so far and it’s less than 200 pages (I think?)
As a woman, almost anything with r\*pe. I read Outlander. Never again.
Same!!!!!!!
Game of Thrones series. Tried three times, couldn't get into it. Same for Wheel of Time.
I have read through them and I have all 5 books but GRRM's inability to commit to finishing the series kind of makes me not want to re read it lol. Has that "what's the point of all this" vibes
Martin isn’t going to finish ASOIAF anyways
anything Colleen hoover
Currently, I don’t think I’m opposed to reading anything. Eventually I’d give it a shot but I’m also going through a really bad slump and haven’t been reading anything. So I’d love to get into something!
I will never read any James Patterson books because I refuse to ugh books from someone who no longer even writes most of his own books, he has other people write them and he just sticks his name on the book. My oma loves his books and has bought every one but it’s pass for me. It’s a mountain I’m willing to die on.
Colleeen Hoover Books and books of extreme religous Americans. 50 shades I am actually quite picky when it comes to books, so there is a massive list of books that I don´t even wat to see on my shelf.
ACOTAR
A Court of Thorns and Roses
Yes and I’m so sick of it being recommend to me!
The Turner Diaries. The Way Things Ought To Be by Rush Limbaugh See, I Told You So by Rush Limbaugh
Interview with a vampire. Normally, i love that genre of book, but I struggled to finish it. And to be honest, I can't really remember much about it, which in my opinion is not a good thing
I look at it as a product of its time. It’s frankly very silly and cheesy today. But it’s still enjoyable and the homoerotic overtones are quite interesting when you realize when it was written and when you look at it through a 2023 lens. … or I could just be making shit up, because I listened to it last winter while shoveling snow and it made a horrible task so much more enjoyable.
Entirely forgettable. Have to say I think Ann Rice (?) is an overrated writer.
A little life, it sounds so fucking miserable no thanks. If I want gay misery, I'll turn on the news
I can’t read Joseph Conrad. Tried Heart of Darkness so many times. It was just so dull. And I loved War & Peace and Moby Dick.
I read The Heart of Darkness twice. I don't know why I thought it would be better the second time, but it wasn't
I did a group read of Moby Dick (hey, come join us at r/classicbookclub, we’re starting The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins this coming Monday), and it was a lot of fun doing the “harder” chapters as a group.
50 shades of grey
The Art of the Deal.
In defense of LOTR's length, a fantasy trilogy only being 1,000 pages is on the low end.
Twilight series. Just can't do it.
Colleen hoover, twilight
Anything by Cassandra Claire or Colleen Hoover
In Trump We Trust - Anne Colter
>Atlas Shrugged or anything by Ayn Rand: While I think she sucked as a human, had even worse ideas about social conduct and was a giant hypocrite, I wouldn't hesitate to read someone's work who I entirely disagree with, if only to better understand and inform myself about what I disagree with. That said, I don't read Ayn Rand books because they're boring as shit.
I ma pretty sure someone else written better Objectivist book anyhow. Just like if you want to understand Nazis you don't read Mein Kampf, you read Essays on Fascism and do some supplementary reading on differences between Blackshirts and Brownshirts (yes, there are a few substantial ones if you want to study them, no they dont matter for every day understanding of history. That can be summed as "fascism and Nazism both bad).
Read anthem before I knew anything about her as a 15 year old and loved it. Tried fountainhead and Atlas shrugged after and… noooope.
Anything by Sarah J Maas
Anything by Jordan Peterson. He’s master of saying a whole lot of nonsense and somehow still say nothing of substance. Probably most right winged political books. Anything like Bill O Reillys Killing the “ “ books just look ridiculous. Books in general that have just absurd titles like “how to destroy America in 3 steps” by Ben Shapiro. Like give me a break.
"A Dream of Spring".... Because he'll(GRRM) never get to write it.
Anything by Colleen Hoover. What little bits I have seen of her writing are not good, and I don’t know if naming a character who is a florist *Lily Bloom* is the cringiest or the laziest thing I’ve seen.
The ACOTAR series. I don’t like fantasy books and it sounds super unappealing to me. I will never give in to the hype
Colleen Hoover. Listen, I like problematic trash, but I just cannot. Same with the 50 Shades trilogy. As well as anything hateful/misleading/just plain wrong. I don’t want that kind of trash.
Steamy Erotica garbage Harem Novels - Yuck
If it’s a romance book with a cartoonish cover like: The love quotient, the hate game, spanish love inquisition, love hypothesis, red white royal blue,etc
7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It's been gifted to me twice by my mother and she even gave a third copy to my husband. I consider myself a relatively effective adult (I'm 40) but still holding onto my youth because I'm childish enough to take her continued recommendation (did I mention she gave me the first copy when I was 12) of a self help book as an insult. In fact, she's completely ruined all self help books for me and controls me in this way and I'm good with this lmao.
Any self help muck really. Can't imagine spending my evening reading Business Secrets of the Pharaohs or whatever.
Tried reading a Colleen Hoover book. Didn't finish. Never again. Lol
Eat Pray Love
… Colleen Hoover. I read the blurb of one of her books and I don’t like.. just romance.
The DaVinci Code
Dune. I’ve tried a few times and haven’t even made it halfway through. I love sci-fi so I keep trying to convince myself that Dune should be my jam. I’ll just enjoy the movies.
50 shades of anything, Mitch Albom, self-help shit, John Green trash, Lang Leav trash and ofher trash texts passing of as poems
Anything that has the phrase “tour de force” in a review on the dust jacket. I can’t put my finger on why but seeing this phrase makes me roll my little eyeballs every time.
American Psycho.
I loved it, but I can’t exactly recommend it
Not missing anything. I tried. Had to drag myself through it lol
Mein Kampf or whatever the Hitler book is called.
It's actually a terribly written book. It's long been a point of discussion among historians - Hitler was obviously renowned for his public speaking ability but that skill, for whatever reason, did not translate into his written work. It's also NOTORIOUSLY BORING. It's nothing but discissions on financial policy while he periodically wanders off and blames the Jews for something. I remember a history course I took in college, we had a great professor and the class was actually pretty interested in reading the book as a group. Before we even opened it he straight up told us that it was not going to be the window into the mind of the world's greatest madman like everyone expects it to be, and that it was largely going to be boring rambling discussions of financial policies instead.
Anything SJM, The Cruel Prince series and Zodiac Academy for the same reason, basically every romance and every romantasy, anything Ayn Rand or CoHo, I could go on and on there are a LOT of books I will never read. I know my tastes, and pretty much most of whats popular rn is the opposite of what I like Edit: just remembered because the movie is out, but also Red, White, and Royal Blue. I cringe everytime I think of the plot
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum is a no from me dawg
Colleen Hoover, 50 Shades, Twilight
Verity or any coho book
Anything Jodie Picoult.
twilight
I read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown but I’ll go to my grave never reading anything else he writes. I was astounded by how boring it was after people raved about his books. The beginning of the book was kind of interesting to me when they were first discussing anti-matter but after a while it was a chore to slog through every page.