Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! A few weeks ago, we talked about books we didn’t like but were glad we’d read anyways. The actual topic for this week are books we decided to stop reading too quickly. I almost never DNF (do/did not finish) my books, but there are some that if I’m being honest with myself, I should have because the book did nothing for me.
Where’d You Go Bernadette: I knew almost as soon as I started reading this that the tone was a mismatch for me. That never changed.
Bonfire of the Vanities: I’d previously read and hated Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and I should have bailed when I started this and realized within like 50 pages I hated this too. Instead I read the whole thing and hated every second of it.
On Trails: I’ve actually got a pretty rocky history with the books my book club reads, but I love the group so much so I stick with it. This was last month’s read, and the scattered way the information was presented was something that annoyed me pretty quickly and then just never stopped annoying me. This is a minority opinion, though…my book club overwhelming liked it!
The Sisters Chase: This was another book club selection and holy smokes it was awful from the first page all the way to the last. This time everyone else in book club agreed.
Sophia of Silicon Valley: If you’re going to like this book, you have to really be rooting for the titular Sophia and given that I thought she was terrible from the jump…it did not work out well.
Vinegar Girl: The gender politics of The Taming of the Shrew are hard to update to the modern world, and the wit and snap that would make it work do not materialize. Skip this egregiously bad book and watch 10 Things I Hate About You.
The Witches of Eastwick: The movie version of this book is a cheesy 80s delight with some genius casting. The book, which I was surprised to find out was written by the legendary John Updike, was a dull, tortured plod and never got good.
The Circle: I was so excited for this book before I read it…a 1984 for the social media generation? Sign me up! But then it fell SO. FLAT. Lazy characterization, clunky dialogue, and the least interesting plot choices made. Though I’m always honest when asked for my opinions, it’s very rare I’ll actively discourage someone from reading a book. This is one of the few exceptions.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: Two Eggers in a row…my practice with any given author is that if one book doesn’t work for me, it’s just as likely to be a weaker offering or just the wrong book at the wrong time as it is to be that I’ll never like that author. Two, though, and I give up. Why I made myself suffer through this simultaneously anxious and boring book before I wrote off Eggers for myself I can’t quite understand.
Dune: This space opera hits like 100% insanity right away and I do better when there’s a little more world-building first.