Friday, July 15, 2011

Friday's List: Just Not Your Cuppa?

OK, I'll admit the Huffington Post is an odd place to be looking for book-related articles. And it's not even a journal I normally read. But somehow I came across this list Huffpost recently ran, and it caught my eye because I've been doing some thinking about this very subject -- books that got rave reviews from just about everyone, even though they didn't appeal to me. Huffpost polled their readers and put together the following list of "Books They Hated That Everyone Else Loved":
  1. The Lovely Bones. Alice Sebold
  2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy. J.R.R. Tolkien
  3. The Twilight saga. Stephenie Meyer
  4. The Shack. William P. Young
  5. Water for Elephants. Sara Gruen
  6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Stieg Larsson
  7. Fight Club. Chuck Palahniuk
  8. The Reader. Bernhard Schlink
  9. The Corrections. Jonathan Franzen
  10. A Visit from the Goon Squad. Jennifer Egan
  11. The Road. Cormac McCarthy
  12. Moby-Dick. Herman Melville
  13. Angela's Ashes. Frank McCourt
  14. The Giving Tree. Shel Silverstein
  15. The Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini
  16. Eat Pray Love. Elizabeth Gilbert
  17. The Book Thief. Markus Zusak
  18. The Bridges of Madison County. Robert James Waller
  19. The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald
  20. Running with Scissors. Augusten Burroughs
  21. The Alchemist. Paulo Coehlo
I've only read a few of the books on the list (those in red), and parts of a few others (twice I've managed to get through about the first quarter of Moby-Dick before starting to tear my hair out). And there are quite a few on the list that I wouldn't even attempt -- no way I'm ever gonna read Eat Pray Love. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the Ring trilogy when I read it many years ago, and The Great Gatsby is one of my all-time faves (I've returned to it many times). So, go figure.

How about you? Got any "well-loved" books that you just can't stand?

11 comments:

  1. How can someone hate "The Giving Tree"?! :(

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  2. smellincoffee--
    Exactly what I said when I read the list!

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  3. I have read about 8-10 and like some...loved a few. like LoTR. to each there own...

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  4. caite--
    Very true. I guess everybody can't like everything.

    Marie--
    I couldn't get beyond the first twenty pages of Time Traveler's Wife. Even though it sounded like something I'd love.

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  5. Well as I was reading this list I had to wonder who these people were!! I read and loved 1,5,8,11,13,14,16,17, and 21.

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  6. Yow, how could someone hate The Book Thief? The Great Gatsby - great movie, boring book. Sorry, Joy! But, hey, I liked Moby Dick! So there truly is something for everyone.

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  7. Staci--
    I wondered about that, too. Just "readers," but they seem to have pretty quirky tastes.

    Kaye--
    Haven't read The Book Thief, but it definitely sounds like something I'd like. I'm glad to find somebody who liked Moby Dick! Just a little TOO much whaling for me.

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  8. I haven't read any of them except part of The Giving Tree -- I guess I just don't have booklist taste in books. Of course, I can't seem to get through Franny and Zooey so what do I know?

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  9. B-B--
    Yes, I might not be the "book list" type, myself. There are really only a few titles here that look appealing to me. I did love Franny and Zooey, though.

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  10. Interesting article & list! I've read several books on this list but there are also a few I won't be reading in my lifetime (except in bizzarre circumstances that I don't see ever happening! lol) such as The Twilight Saga, The Shack and Eat Pray Love (gmta!)!

    One immensely popular book that didn't work for me is Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth (I think that's the title!)

    I am utterly confused by The Giving Tree being on this list! Oh well, each to his own!

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