Inspired by all the blogs who do joint discussions, The Reviewers' Roundtable is our version of a weekly feature where we discuss a book related/blogging topic.
Meet the
Reviewers:
Me (Michelle) from here at Pink Polka Dot Book Blog
(Thursdays)
Emily from Read Your Bookcase
(Fridays)
I am so excited to have the new Emily joining us!! She's gonna do her first post Monday so look out for that :) We're always up for more people to join, so if you want to talk bookish stuff with us email or tweet me and let me know. (pinkpolkadotmichelle@yahoo.com or @Pinkplkadotblog)
So You Didn't Like That One Book...
So there's that book that everyone is just obsessing and dying over and you give in to the hype and you read it and.... you absolutely hate it (or at least don't love it at all). And maybe (as in my case a lot of the time) you never even read it! Will people stone you for not liking that really popular book?? Ok probably not, but it still feels awkward telling my little slice of the Internet world that I didn't like that one book that everyone loves.
Books that made me feel awkward for NOT loving:
By: Stephen Chbosky
Ok I really wanted to love this... especially because Stephen Chbosky is from Pittsburgh and I LOVE PITTSBURGH. Overwhelmingly most people who have read this book love it. I just didn't. I didn't get Charlie at all. By the end, of course, it was revealed the reason for why he was the way he was, but I just didn't get him. He was so out there for me.
By: J.D. Salinger
So this is a book that is beloved by many many people. And somehow a great number of people will tell you that this is their very favorite book ever. Holden Caufield is one of the most well-known anti-heroes in modern literature. I just didn't get him.... at all. All he did was talk about doing stuff and NEVER doing any of it. I didn't get what the meaning was behind it besides a little smart-ass kid who thought he knew everything and nothing all at the same time. And lots of wandering around aimlessly. This is a book that tons of people will claim has changed their lives?!?! Someone fill me in please because I'm stumped.
By: Melina Marchetta
This SHOULD have been a book I loved. The writing is fab, the topic is right up my alley. So I got it and started reading it and for the first 1/3 of the book I was completely confused. There are so many main characters.... SO MANY. I still can't keep them all straight. Once I got past that initial confusion I was just not feeling it. I was so ehhh about it that it almost became a DNF for me, but I forced myself to finish just because I kept thinking I would have a moment where everything clicked.... it didn't.
By: Kody Keplinger
I love when YA books have a little edge in them and just by reading the title of this I could tell there would be edge. So many people talked about how awesome this book was and I was just super excited to finally read it. But then... I was literally offended by this book numerous times. I HATED how the book made it seem like a"friends with benefits" will fall in love with you. THAT. NEVER. HAPPENS. And I hated that the main character seemed to have no self-respect. The swearing in this book was also off the chain. I don't mind swearing in books, but if the characters are going to swear can it at least have purpose? Like to fucking emphasize something. These characters just swore constantly as part of their everyday lingo... it annoyed me.
Last but not least:
By: Suzanne Collins
Ok don't freak out, I didn't hate it.... I haven't even read it!! ....I know. The thing is I just don't want to. I almost feel a little guilty and people question my credibility as a YA blogger because I haven't read the most popular, well-known YA book. But I just don't like dystopian that much. I don't like to read a bunch of world building. I just watched the movie this past weekend and I did like it... but I can tell from the movie that I probably won't be into the book. There's a lot of political stuff going on, and that's just not really for me. Sorry guys :(
Now you guys tell me: What books were not your favs but seemed like everyone else loved?? Did it make you feel as awkward as I feel sometimes?
Great post.
ReplyDeleteI don't really feel awkward about not liking a book because different strokes and all that, but I do feel awkward when I haven't read a book that everybody and their dog seems to love. Actually, from your list I've only read The Catcher in the Rye and I didn't love it.
ReplyDeleteI read The Hunger Games and I didn't like and everybody freaks out when I tell them that. I did like the movie though.
ReplyDelete