Books #42

[Cheddar Chalpupa]

I remember hating The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. But I read it when it came out in the mid-00s and now I can't quite remember what it was that pissed me off so much

I'll spoiler what annoyed me about it....

Spoiler

I solved the twist pretty early on because the cover art of the edition I had showed 3 girls. I think it was just legs and shoes but it was clearly 3 different children. I guess they thought they were being clever hiding it in plain sight. But it pissed me off!!

 

[Carapop]

I only have 3 one star books on Goodreads

However, looking at some of the two stars, I was probably being generous

I don’t have any one star, various two. If I’m really not enjoying a book then it’s a DNF and then I usually don’t rate it as I think it unfair when I’ve not finished it.

 

[mindlessness]

Okay. I think this is my list? maybe. I've probably forgotten books.

A Month in the Country - J.L. Carr
Appointment with Death - Agatha Christie
The Feast - Margaret Kennedy
Persuasion - Jane Austen
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Beach Read - Emily Henry*
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
The Marriage Plot - Jeffery Eugenides

*I am a basic girl, and couldn't not give my fav emhen a spot on the list.

 

[daisynoon]

Okay. I think this is my list? maybe. I've probably forgotten books.

A Month in the Country - J.L. Carr
Appointment with Death - Agatha Christie
The Feast - Margaret Kennedy
Persuasion - Jane Austen
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Beach Read - Emily Henry*
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
The Marriage Plot - Jeffery Eugenides

*I am a basic girl, and couldn't not give my fav emhen a spot on the list.

Let this be the summer I read The Feast! I know you've mentioned it before and I have read and enjoyed everything else on your list bar the Poirot (which is also on my TBR as a Poirot fan)

 

[AllieBee]

Okay. I think this is my list? maybe. I've probably forgotten books.

A Month in the Country - J.L. Carr
Appointment with Death - Agatha Christie
The Feast - Margaret Kennedy
Persuasion - Jane Austen
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Beach Read - Emily Henry*
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
The Marriage Plot - Jeffery Eugenides

*I am a basic girl, and couldn't not give my fav emhen a spot on the list.

I loved a Month in the Country. So much content for such a short book. It was beautiful

 

[chickhicks86]

• The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Boyne
• Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt
• American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld
• The Women - Kristin Hannah
• The List of Suspicious Things - Jennie Godfrey
• My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises - Fredrik Backman
• Prima Facie - Suzie Miller
• The Will of the Many - James Islington
• The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
• Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir

That was harder than I thought it would be! Nearly took out The Lovely Bones due to the controversy surrounding the author, The Women would have taken its place in that case. Edit to add - I left The Women, it would have been Norwegian Wood

 

[veronica71]

Dr Zhivago! I love the film watch it at least once a year but the book is a horror. Captain Corelli's Mandolin is another one where I love the film and detested the book.

Captain Corelli is on my maybe top ten list

Don’t come at me but I didn’t enjoy The Time Travelers Wife, it felt a bit like he was grooming her

Omg I thought I was the only person who didn’t get all the fuss


I love reading all these

My worst book was Everything I know about Love by Dolly Alderton - couldn’t read past about 3 chapters hated it so much

 

[Booklover]

My ten are:

The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett
The Most Fun We've Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
You Are Here by David Nicholls
My Brilliant friend by Elena Ferrante
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne

 

[tarahalls]

I don’t have any one star, various two. If I’m really not enjoying a book then it’s a DNF and then I usually don’t rate it as I think it unfair when I’ve not finished it.

I have quite a few 0.25 stars & they’re generally awarded to myself for persevering to the end I’m so annoyed I awarded The Safekeep 0.25 stars & when I went back to remove them I couldn’t! I really hated that book

 

[CommentBelow]

My top 10 is currently a top 19…
Sleeping on it!

I know I always say I’m going the prioritise X Y Z that’s been recommended here and is languishing on my physical TBR (ahem or a bookshop ready to adopt) but every time I read someone’s top 10 I think OMG THAT ONE… so I really am going to try and prioritise whatever is in the thread top 10.. no pressure.

I’m struggling with my current read (The Everlasting) too so think that’s making me feel extra ‘I want to get on to reading one of these other books I’ve been meaning to read’.

 

[daisynoon]

My top 10 is currently a top 19…
Sleeping on it!

I know I always say I’m going the prioritise X Y Z that’s been recommended here and is languishing on my physical TBR (ahem or a bookshop ready to adopt) but every time I read someone’s top 10 I think OMG THAT ONE… so I really am going to try and prioritise whatever is in the thread top 10.. no pressure.

I’m struggling with my current read (The Everlasting) too so think that’s making me feel extra ‘I want to get on to reading one of these other books I’ve been meaning to read’.

I abandoned The Everlasting after around 10%, so this makes me feel vindicated! I don't seem to gel with her books

 

[Also_smoke_and_mirrors]

I'm not sure i can pick 10 favourites. I know they generally won't be as high brow as others'.

I am however enjoying reading everyone else's.

 

[Katykatykaty]

Don’t come at me but I didn’t enjoy The Time Travelers Wife, it felt a bit like he was grooming her

I didn’t like it either! It was so overhyped in my opinion. And the film was awful too!

 

[ordinaryjelly]

Houston. We have a problem.

My top ten list is currently 33 books long. Every time I go to take one out I feel like I am removing a family member.

Come back tomorrow for tomorrow's trauma.

We are now down to 26 books and I am feeling very disloyal to those who I have removed today. My plan for tomorrow is to just go in and just do it. Get it done, get it posted.

I haven't felt this stressed since I handed in my dissertation.

 

[CommentBelow]

I abandoned The Everlasting after around 10%, so this makes me feel vindicated! I don't seem to gel with her books

Ok this definitely makes me feel better - the majority of Goodreads ratings are 5 star but I’m not buying the romance in this at all, amongst other issues. Only 130 pages to go.

 

[Shepherd___spy]

My top 10 in no particular order

1. Thousand splendid suns
2. Rebecca
3. Midori by moonlight
4. Alone in berlin
5. The book thief
6. Eleanor oliphant is completely fine
7. Remarkably brught creatures
8. Wild swans
9. Memoirs of a geisha
10. The lovely bones

 

[Carapop]

 

[pinkmug]

Piranesi every time. And what’s most annoying is that I understand why people loved it, I was so prepared to love it, there was something so stirringly beautiful about it, but I hated every page of it. All style, no substance, utter nonsense.

I really loved reading Piranesi but the ending and the unraveling of the mystery of it all left me unsatisfied for some reason, it wasn't a "Oooohh!" moment, it was a "Oh.." moment.

 

[Pinkii]

Piranesi every time. And what’s most annoying is that I understand why people loved it, I was so prepared to love it, there was something so stirringly beautiful about it, but I hated every page of it. All style, no substance, utter nonsense.

omg the HATE i feel for Piranesi is another level!

At least you understand why people love it, cause I truly don’t! I hate flowery writing so even the writing wasn’t a winning point for me.

Vestibules and albatross is all there was in that book!

 

[emmer_moans]

omg the HATE i feel for Piranesi is another level!

At least you understand why people love it, cause I truly don’t! I hate flowery writing so even the writing wasn’t a winning point for me.

Vestibules and albatross is all there was in that book!

I bought it on audible but ended up hate-listening to it at 1.6x speed after about halfway through because same, so incredibly boring that I was just not sold to it in any way, and I didn't care about anyone, but I had bought the book and it was supposedly short. I feel better knowing it is a bit 'Marmite' in terms of reception.

I bought it because so many said it was amazing so I felt like I was being stupid or something but it was just so repetitive and dull, to me anyway. The ending fell flat for me because I was bored 🥱

I will give her Mr Norrell a read though because the plot of that sounds good.