Breathe To Read

Breathe To Read

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Top Ten Tuesday - Unpopular Bookish Opinions

These Top Ten Tuesday post come from the blogger - The Artsy Reader.  Check out her blog and participate each Tuesday in this fun game.

Today's Topic: Unpopular Bookish Opinions

Now, I might be misunderstanding what this means, so I am going with - books that might be popular that I didn't particularly like.  She might be thinking of something else, but she didn't say.  So.....there you are.

These are 10 books that people tend to rate highly that I didn't love.  I didn't necessarily HATE them, but they won't be making my favorite's list.  I am sure some of you will have something to say about this list, but to each their own, right?  There are so many books that I love that people don't like. 

1. 1984
        - starting out strong right out of the gate.  1984 - I just could not get into it.  I read it a few years ago, and it just was.....okay.  Although, I am thinking with the current state of the United States, I should pull it back out and try it again.  Or maybe it would hit too close to home. 
        - if you want to read my review you can find that HERE



2. Beartown/Us Against You
          - I love Backman's books.  Love them.  All......except these two.  Beartown I liked better than Us Against You, but not by much.  Why did I read the follow up book you ask?  I was kind of hoping that maybe the continuation of the story would bring it around for me.  It did not. 
        - looking back at my blog, I gave Beartown a higher rating than I should have considering.  You can find that review HERE
        - Us Against You - went downhill.  The book just wasn't good (to me).  Very disappointing.  You can read my review HERE




3. Crazy Rich Asians
       - this one is widely popular, and I gave in and decided to read it.  I could not have rolled my eyes more as I read this book.  Over the top, unrealistic, and just silly are my takes on this novel.  I did watch the movie, and I found that slightly better.  I won't be reading any more books in this series.
       - if you want to read my review - go HERE



4. Educated
      - This one I almost didn't put on the list.  But I did struggle with it and let me tell you why.  I felt like she wrote it too soon.  Meaning - if she would have waited a few more years - distanced herself from her childhood a little more - she could have written the book a bit better.  Had a better long range perspective.  I found the book poorly written, even though the story itself was intriguing.  She didn't have all of her thoughts collected, in my opinion, to write the novel and have it flow well.
      - if you want to read my review - it is HERE



5. The Girl on the Train
       - I am feeling pretty confident that I am not alone with this choice.  I have a feeling that there are a few people out there that disliked this book as much as I did.  This book was a train wreck.  (see what I did there?)  I hated the main character.  I hated most of the characters. The writing wasn't great.  Just overall a book I wish I would have skipped.
       - if you want to read my review - it is HERE



6. Where the Crawdad's Sing
         - Please don't stop reading my blog because I didn't like this book.  I tried to like it.  Honest.  I didn't HATE it.  I don't hate many books.  (because if you took the time to write something and get it published, I think you deserve some credit).  But this one was low on my list and below my expectations considering how popular it is.  The writing was....fine.  The characters fell flat.  The storline was all over the place.  The love story didn't draw me in.  It felt a little unrealistic.  Those are my big problems with it.
          - if you want to read my review - it is HERE



7. Outlander
             - if I didn't lose you with the last book, I probably will lose some people with this announcement.  Didn't like Outlander.  I only read the first book and even that was a struggle.  It wasn't the size.  It was the book itself.  It has been more than 5 years ago that I read this book, so I don't have it as a review on my blog.  But I have had no desire to go back and try it again.  My husband loves the TV show, but I haven't even been able to get into that.  It just isn't for me.



8. The Shack
        - This one I read because everyone else was reading it.  Gave in to the pressure of wanting to see what the fuss was all about.  I should have left it alone.  It was cheesy and it shouldn't have been.  The story was hard to read.  I felt the book was rambly and I could not get invested.
       - if you want to read my review - it is HERE



9. The Great Gatsby
        - I can tell you that my sister in law is going to stop talking to me after mentioning 1984 and The Great Gatsby in this list. (She is an English Teacher) I am not making friends today.  At all.
       - It wasn't terrible.  Gatsby was so shallow I couldn't really develop any feelings for him.  I did watch the movie and it helped a little, but not much.  But I read this classic.  And it is done.
        - if you want to read my review - it is HERE




10. Crime and Punishment
             - Last one!  This book was BORING.  It was long and complicated and I didn't like any of the characters.  I felt like I needed to take a shower after each time I put this book down because the main character was so dirty and sickly the entire book.  Now - in the books defense, I did read it while I was trying to move to Switzerland, so it COULD have been the timing.  My mind was in about a million different places. Maybe some day I will read it again.  Maybe not.
           - if you want to read my review - it is HERE









4 comments:

  1. Aww bummer on 1984, I love that book! I agree with you on Outlander though, the books aren't for me. I do like the tv series though, but that is probably because I love anything that Ron D. Moore works on and Bear McCreary's score.

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    1. I think I need to give 1984 another try!

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  2. The ones I have read from your list I did enjoy but some of the others I haven't read because I'm a little afraid I won't like them and they seem to be so well loved! I do have to say I prefer Fahrenheit 451 to 1984 but I still really enjoyed it!

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    1. ha ha - I know what you mean. I went through such a slump with popular books, it actually lead me to the Read The World challenge becuase I was starting to think it was me! I liked Fahrenheit 451 betting too.

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