Books #43

[StephenTJackson]

I lost you guys for a bit!

Late to the May recap but here is mine. Some great ones and a truly couple terrible ones including the worst romance I've ever read.

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Your 1.25 rating for Beth O'Leary will put me off buying that one. I just read Swept Away by Beth O'Leary and I just feel her books are getting worse and worse now.

I really enjoyed The Switch, The No-Show, The Roadtrip and The Flatshare.

But The Wake Up Call wasn't her best, Swept Away I found too ridiculous, and I think I've reached the end of the road with reading her books.

 

[CommentBelow]

A quarter of a star?!? Tell us alllll!

I didn’t even notice that one - I got distracted/disappointed by the 1 star for American Fantasy and assumed that was the worst!

 

[pinkmug]

I support the quarter stars, if I had my way Goodreads would have a slider rating system rather than stars Sometimes you just hate a book a little bit.

 

[LaBlonde]

I support the quarter stars, if I had my way Goodreads would have a slider rating system rather than stars Sometimes you just hate a book a little bit.

i completely agree! i want to be able to give quarter and half stars this especially bugs me when a book is a solid 3.5 stars and doesn’t deserve 4 or 3.

 

[anniemouse]

i completely agree! i want to be able to give quarter and half stars this especially bugs me when a book is a solid 3.5 stars and doesn’t deserve 4 or 3.

I try to adjust my rating to see if it then increases or decreases the overall to a more realistic one.

 

[LaBlonde]

I try to adjust my rating to see if it then increases or decreases the overall to a more realistic one.

i love this idea but i’m so petty that i know i would change my rating a billion times if i really disliked the book and would then probably be banned from goodreads forever

 

[tarahalls]

I’m notoriously stingy with my stars & often award 0.25 to books I hated & that’s a pat on the back to me for persevering or because I liked the cover design or colours

 

[LaBlonde]

I’m notoriously stingy with my stars & often award 0.25 to books I hated & that’s a pat on the back to me for persevering or because I liked the cover design or colours

i LOVE the idea of giving yourself stars for managing to get through it there are multiple times where i personally deserved a hundred stars for this reason!

(one of these times is right now as i am reading hemlock lane and i don’t think it’s possible for a more boring book to exist)

 

[ToxicPony]

Your 1.25 rating for Beth O'Leary will put me off buying that one. I just read Swept Away by Beth O'Leary and I just feel her books are getting worse and worse now.

I really enjoyed The Switch, The No-Show, The Roadtrip and The Flatshare.

But The Wake Up Call wasn't her best, Swept Away I found too ridiculous, and I think I've reached the end of the road with reading her books.

This is also how I feel. I tend to keep reading every book by an author because I really liked one or two, even when the rest are rubbish. I do it with Ruth Ware as well . I liked The Flatshare, LOVED The No-Show, thought The Switch was OK. Then I utterly hated The Roadtrip, The Wake-Up Call and Swept Away.

 

[pinkmug]

Now I'm curious about the books you've all hated Mine are a bit controversial, they usually appear on a lot of favourite lists.

 

[veronica71]

This is also how I feel. I tend to keep reading every book by an author because I really liked one or two, even when the rest are rubbish. I do it with Ruth Ware as well . I liked The Flatshare, LOVED The No-Show, thought The Switch was OK. Then I utterly hated The Roadtrip, The Wake-Up Call and Swept Away.

I'm always a bit dubious about authors who seem to churn out books so quickly after their first one was a huge success.

 

[LaBlonde]

Now I'm curious about the books you've all hated Mine are a bit controversial, they usually appear on a lot of favourite lists.

i hide mine really well, no one in this thread would be able to guess

i could absolutely do a bottom ten of books i’ve absolutely LOATHED for various reasons. i sometimes find writing about books i hate more entertaining than writing about the ones i love

 

[Harlot O'Scara]

i hide mine really well, no one in this thread would be able to guess

i could absolutely do a bottom ten of books i’ve absolutely LOATHED for various reasons. i sometimes find writing about books i hate more entertaining than writing about the ones i love

Almost all of my posted reviews on Goodreads are about books I didn't like

 

[LaBlonde]

Almost all of my posted reviews on Goodreads are about books I didn't like

same

i’ll just write “i loved this” for a five star masterpiece but then an actual essay like that meme with the quill and the fire coming off the page for a one star i hated. my review of the happy ever after playlist is some of my finest work.

 

[emmer_moans]

I only do stars, for some reason I can't bring myself to compose a written review. Maybe I've been scarred from school days when you had to write essays on a book
The most I will do is a line or two here as part of discussion.

 

[Carapop]

This is CoNtRoVeRsIaL!

 

[Harlot O'Scara]

This is CoNtRoVeRsIaL!

"Cancelling" Roald Dahl for antisemitism while promoting a book with "Intifada" in the title.

All right, then.

 

[Carapop]

"Cancelling" Roald Dahl for antisemitism while promoting a book with "Intifada" in the title.

All right, then.

Yeah I think she’s a bit rage baity. And I disagree with not allowing people reasonable leeway when they’re of a certain time.

 

[Harlot O'Scara]

Yeah I think she’s a bit rage baity. And I disagree with not allowing people reasonable leeway when they’re of a certain time.

It's erasure of the past.

People are very ill informed about Lovecraft anyway, the man was raised in an abusive, oppressive household by a mother was almost certainly mentally ill, who brought him up to fear absolutely everything even slightly different, not just people of a different race or nationality.

The man was frightened of air conditioning!

He also didn't name the infamous cat.

In 50-100 years time, there will be people calling the books of today regressive or bigoted or whatever.

 

[emmer_moans]

I'm tired of these infantile cutesy canva infographics that tell me what I can or cannot do/read. I will read something based on the blurb, the plot summary etc. I won't read anything to be seen as cool or virtuous by anyone. Especially as reading time is a finite resource, read what intrigues you or makes your soul happy, not what someone says you should. Just my opinion.

Edit to add: it would be better if they simply post a list of their recommendations of books because they love those, without pitting them against other books in a way that preaches to the audience. You can uplift things you want to without telling everyone they are heathens for reading a book by an author who was before your time or who has opinions that differ from yours. If they preach/patronise then I am very much LESS inclined to give their preferred books a try.