Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday: books that were hard to read for various reasons

The Broke and the Bookish

It's time for the weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish! Today's meme is ten books that you found hard to read, and not simply because of truly difficult subject matter, but perhaps because of the writing or the characters, or you just weren't that interested. I don't have ten books, but here is a list.

1. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
     I hated this book so much because the writing was appalling, and that made the difficult subject matter that much harder to read about because it felt like the author didn't know how to write a good story about anything. I don't like hating on books, especially one with a serious subject like this one, but don't read it, okay? It's horrible. In every way.

2. Go Ask Alice
     Seems silly to put this on my list, but as someone who never had any exposure to the life that was described in this book (real or not), it was difficult.

3. The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling
     I haven't even finished this yet, so maybe it doesn't count but oh well; my bookmark remains solidly in the center of the book and I just kind of forgot about it because it's just not my type of book. I wanted to read it because obviously Rowling, but I was bored and kind of turned off by the language. I'm sure I'll give it another go at some point, but eh.

4. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
     Well-written, but so hard to read...suicide is never simple or beautiful, but somehow Jay Asher managed to write a beautiful story. It's not even very long but it was emotionally draining.

5. Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys
     I loved this book so much, but reading about Lina and what she and her family went through while captive in Siberia...that makes it personal in a way that a history textbook cannot.

6. A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin
     Here I go again, writing about how much I hate Martin's books and his need to throw in all the sex and all the violence and all the language. I read the first two in the series and then realized it was pointless because these are not epic fantasy like I thought they would be. So disillusioned. And I could continue the series, but what the heck for? Totally not wasting my time with that mislabeled drivel.

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You know what? I don't read much contemporary fiction, and from the other lists I've looked at, that's the kind of book they listed. Most of what I read isn't difficult for any of the normal reasons. And before someone tells me I need to expand my horizons or whatever, this list makes it clear that I have tried and there are a few books that I loved but apparently most I have hated because I couldn't even remember enough to make a full list of ten books. We all have our choices in books, and quite frankly I don't go out and purchase a book just because everybody's reading it...like Gone Girl, which I know is already a movie. It's not my type of book so I'm not necessarily going to pick it up. And there's nothing wrong with that. Go out of your comfort zone, yes, but not so much that you start hating what you read, you know?

4 comments:

  1. I'd really like to read Between Shades of Gray, but I'm sure it'll make me cry!

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  2. Glad I am not the only one who disliked The Lovely Bones! I was actually enjoying it somewhat up until the absolutely absurd plot twist and everything that followed, which made me want to throw the book across the room!

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  3. I really want to read Go Ask Alice. Building up to it!

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