Reading Surrounds Us, Labels us, Defines Us

quote attributed to Rich Gold

I bought the newest Diana Gabaldon (An Echo in the Bone) right before my trip to New York. I was delighted to grab it, and even more delighted that I had saved a gift certificate and had a return credit and that, coupled with the discount my mother allows me with her membership - I was able to buy the book with no money out of pocket.If I hadn't had that, I'd have skipped paying just about any bill in order to buy the book - I love this series so, so much.I've passed it on to several people and, with only a few exceptions, everyone loves the series as much as I do.

It puzzles me, though, those people who don't like the series. I can't understand how people don't like it - it grabs me and hooks me like no other. But there have been books that I don't like that other people have loved. The Shack, for one. I read it, and reread it, each time feeling as if I was missing something. There was one segment where I "got it", understood what was being said - but the next segment was a deeply theological piece and I lost it again.

A Prayer for Owen Meany has been recommended to me again and again. I was never able to get into it. Never understood the hype.

What books have been recommended to you that you didn't get into? What books have you never understood the hype?

Comments

[owen's mommy]

i don't get shakespeare people. i can't get into his pieces because a. i know going into it that they were all lifted and b. most of his male characters are misogynists. i was once told by my senior year english teacher that i had an underdeveloped level of literary knowledge because i hated 'hamlet'. i'm sorry, he was a pig!

also, i overall LOVE the twilight saga (which was suggested to me by multiple friends around last christmas), but it seems to me that 'breaking dawn' was everyone's favorite. that book, to me, was like watching paint dry. stephenie meyers repeatedly went through and every detail and nuance with such painstakingly particular detail that i thought my head was going to explode.

[Kerry]

Outlander was the series that I just COULD NOT GET!!! I read and reread the first 50ish pages about 10 times because my girlfriend was insistent. Finally on the 11th reading I made it to page 51 where the whole BORING book turned around into a page turner. Then I read the next 3 books (I think) before I couldn't take anymore. I felt like it was the same story over and over again, which surprised me because I had liked it so much. I guess I really LOVE and HATE that series!

[Maggie]

I tried reading the 1st Outlander based on your multiple recommendations. I could not get into it. I'm not sure how many pages I struggled through, but I did give up. Based on the above comment, maybe I should try again and get past page 50. I also had to force myself to get through Eclipse. I thought it was so poorly written - almost like a ghostwriter cranked it out to reach a deadline.

[Katherine]

I might be the only one in the world, but I tried and tried to get through Chesapeake and finally had to put it down. I TRIED though!

[Beth]

The DaVinci Code was really really tough to get into at first. About half way through, I couldn't put it down. I'm TRYING to get through Angels and Demons, but it's just not clicking. I did buy his new book, but I'm determined to finish A&D first. I'm giving it 2 more chapters, then I'll rent the movie :)

[KG]

Tuesdays With Morrie

Nice book? Yes. But I had SUCH high expectations & just found the actual book to be such a letdown.

I REALLY enjoyed "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" SO much more, THAT book I LOVED!

[Jenny]

I LOVE the Outlander series. Like, with the passion of a thousand fires. I have read, and re-read that series to infinity. So when a co-worker and I were discussing books one day, and we seemed to be on the same wavelength of what we liked, I recommended the series. After the second book she told me that she needed to take a break from them. But . . . how??? Didn't she NEED to know what happened?! I don't understand.

[amie]

I love the Outlander series too. Maybe the lady mnetioned by Jenny needed to take a break bc like me she will read into all hours of the night or attempt to eat a meal while reading? Could there possibly be a good book hangover of sorts due to sleep deprivation & blurry vision?
I don't actually remember the names of books I do not love. That being said, I do remember Peace Like a River, My Antonia, & To Kill a Mockingbird :)

[Jackie]

I love the Outlander books. I have read and reread them and absolutely love it every time.
I tried the Twilight series because a few of my friends couldn't stop raving about it. I thought the first book was okay, but Eclipse just about killed me. I didn't even bother with the last too.

[mhb]

I have found that anything Oprah recommends completely BORES me to tears.
I do love the Sookie Stackhouse series, Janet Evanovich Numbers series, Twilight series, and Jodi Picoult books.

[Beth]

Jane Eyre! Shameful for a former English major!!

[mm]

I could not read "The DaVinci Code." I bought the gosh darn book for eleven bucks and made all kinds of effort but could not do it. But every time there was a reference to a historic event that I could not totally understand/remember I would have to stop and check that out. Reading it felt like doing an assignment in high school.

[Amy]

Harry Potter..........Just don't get it.

[Erin]

I second your lack of love for The Shack. I didn't even make it through the "introduction". It felt contrived and annoyed me to no end. I also had a hard time with A Wedding In December. I got 33 pages in and just wasn't feeling it. I don't know if it was one of those books that you need to persevere through and it will eventually get good, but I have precious little time to read and I'm not going to slog through something that doesn't grip me from the beginning.

I haven't read the Twilight series. I am just not interested. And if I'm missing out on something phenomenal? Oh well.

[LizP]

The Oprah Book Club recommendations
The Lord of the Rings
Not interested in the Twilight books
Never heard of the Outlander series
Don't know who Diana Gabaldon is

I'm trying to think of a book that I've read since I had kids (over 4 years ago) and I can't think of one. Seriously I don't think I've read a book (other than a text book) in over 4 years. That is sad, so very sad ...

[kyooty]

I love hte outlander Series. I started reading a book my sister recommended "Lady of Hay" and it took me a while to get through the first 2chapters but now I can't wait to read the rest and will stay up late to read it "alone", but it takes some brain power to read it with people around.

[Starr]

Kyooty, 'Lady of Hay' is one of my all time favourite novels! Barbara Erskine's written a couple others that I absolutely love, too--'Kingdom of Shadows' and 'Child of the Phoenix.' Most of the rest of her books I didn't care for too much, though.

I'm a semi-Outlander fan. I loved the first book, liked the second, and couldn't get into the third, so I quit reading them. Like someone above said, it seems to be the same story again and again.

I've had Twilight recommended to me ad nauseum. Tried the first one, couldn't get past the first chapter. It. Was. Awful. On the other hand, it took my sister in law two years to get me to read the first Harry Potter novel, but once I did, I was hooked and have been ever since.

[Luckyduck]

Loved the books my kiddo reads...Harry Potter, Eragon series, even the Twilight books,although I thought the first book was a bit ponderous. My favorite recent reads...Stephen King's "Duma Key", Ken Follet's "Pillars of the Earth" and a random choice called "Chosen by a Horse" (don't remember the author's name, but get a hanky!). For easy reads, I still pick up James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Harlen Coben, and Sandra Brown. I'm also looking forward to getting a book I heard discussed on the radio called, "In the President's Secret Service", which is supposed to dish a lot of dirt on former presidents.

On the other hand, books I struggled with include...Oprah's choices "The Lovely Bones" and my worst purchase ever, "The Hobbit". Didn't even try the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy after buying that one!

[Dianna]

The Da Vinci Code. I just cannot get into it. But it's sequel, Angels and Deamons I loved. Also, all the Harry Potter books. Not sure what everyone sees in those.

[maggie]

I don't understand the Twilight thing.

[Catherine]

Love: Jane Austen. Don't get: anything written after 1960.

[Dawn]

I couldn't get into "Twilight" for about 200 pages, but I had a couple of friends goading me, so I stuck with it. It was just Ok. The rest of the series was painfully self-conscious to me, like the author wrote every single sentence after discussing it's elements at length with a 15yr old girl.

I loved the first few Phillipa Gregory, Janet Evanovich, Nicholas Sparks, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Anita Shreve, and Elizabeth Berg books I read, now when I read them they all seem formulaic- like the authors just recycle their same themes, pacing, characters, and phrases.

I LOVED "Water for Elephants", "Ahab's Wife", "Peace Like a River," "The Time Traveler's Wife', "Cane River", Wicked", all the Harry Potter books, "The Way the Crow Flies", "We were the Mulvaneys", and pretty much anything by John Irving.

[amie]

Hate: Jane Austin. Sorry way too flowery, girly (for lack of better word)for me. I feel very gulit about it though.

[crockpot lady]

I read all the Outlander books in college, and skipped class to read them. I recommended them to everyone I could think of----in fact to you, I'm pretty sure, at one point! ;-)

but for some reason now, I read the romance scenes as icky. I've turned incredibly prude, I guess, since getting married and having kids.

When I'm finally not gestating or lactating, I'll give it a go again. It's probably just a weird hormone thing.

xoxo steph

[Kait]

Ugh, The Shack was a total waste of brain cells. I read it because I felt like I needed to since everyone was talking it up but *shrug* it wasn't the life altering thing of beauty it was made out to be.

I'm avoiding Twilight on principle, mainly because I'm not a lovestruck 15 year old.

I can read 1 Jodi Picoult book a year before I start getting all moody and irritable about her writing. Yeah, we all get it Jodi. There's a big issue, it will get resolved, someone dies (literally or figuratively) anyway.

I love Maggie O'Farrell's books because they are gothic and dark but totally readable and Katherine Center's books because they are real and lovely and also totally readable. I'm a mom/wife/college student. If I'm reading for pleasure it better be pleasurable!

Markus Zusak, even though they are aimed at young adults, has written some brilliant books. I started The Book Thief right before bed one night and stayed up the entire night to finish it. I couldn't bear to walk away from the characters!

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and Water for Elephants are two of my all time favorites, The Time Traveler's Wife and Those Who Save Us are two that are so beautifully done and heartbreaking that I don't think I'll ever be able to read them again. Just thinking about the stories in them rips my heart to pieces and makes me want to cry.