Books I Loathed discussion

Steph Meyer?

Sweetie, I HIGHLY doubt you're the only one who loathes Stephanie Myer. She is the laughing stock of the literary world. You know you're a terrible author (and from all accounts a terrible human being) when such nice people like J.K Rowling and Stephen King make fun of you.

Crossed by Ally Condie?

The Handmaid's Tale
I tried to like it. I really did.

No, you're certainly not alone. I've read all her books; once when I was a silly teenager following the trend, and once as a slightly older teenager trying to find out what drew me to those God-awful books. They really are terrible. It's a shame because she understands the mechanics of writing -sentence structure, grammar, conventions, etc- and in that sense one COULD say that she is a "good writer." But as far as what makes a story good - plot, character, emotion, dialogue, etc - she is lacking, to say the least.

Also, those books set a really bad example, particularly to young girls (see link below). Edward is creepy; Jacob is a child; Bella is immature; Charlie is useless; the vampires are supposed to only have venom in their bodies, yet somehow Edward impregnates Bella; the Volturi are just ridiculous, I don't even know where to begin on them...

The thing that gets me the most heated about Stephenie Meyer, however are the following facts (from her website):
1) Meyer got the idea for the whole thing from a dream she had about a girl, in a meadow, with a boy who happened to be sparkling. So she decided, "I'll make him a vampire. A sparkly vampire."
2) She originally wrote ALL FOUR books as ONE book. WHYYY couldn't it have stayed one book???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8gpH...

Her Twilight books suck... But her book The Host actually is quite good, the movie for it is fantastic. So I'm mixed sadly.

Storm-arashi wrote: "Her Twilight books suck... But her book The Host actually is quite good, the movie for it is fantastic. So I'm mixed sadly."

K.A Applegate did what she did about 15 years before her with her "Animorphs" series....and that was intended for a younger audience and still handled its themes more maturely and with better elegance than that bint Myers could ever dream of.

Chris wrote: "Storm-arashi wrote: "Her Twilight books suck... But her book The Host actually is quite good, the movie for it is fantastic. So I'm mixed sadly."

K.A Applegate did what she did about 15 years befo..."

Whilst I appreciate the different opinion, I've just never been interested in Animorphs. The most I like of it is the theme song. I'm not totally ignorant of it, I know of it's premise and even tried to give it a chance, but there's always been this nagging feeling at the back of my head that I just wouldn't enjoy it. It's a thing with me, if something terrified me as a little girl like the Animorphs show did when I tried to give it a chance, there's still that slight nagging bit of fear. (I was checking for "Yeerks" for months even checking my headphones or soda before putting them on or drinking)

I didn't like the Twilight, Matched and The Selection series.

I never read the Matched or Selection series. I read Twilight--it was recommended by so many people--and found it terribly unoriginal. My guess is that it worked best for people who really hadn't read any of the truly great vampire novels--or even many at all. And I found the conceptualization of the main character rather embarrassing. I could see why teenage girls would like it, but not the number of adults of both sexes who told me it was so good. A heroine who is not at first obviously noteworthy in any way--not unusually smart, pretty, distinctive, etc., but special creatures like vampires can sense how deeply (if invisibly to everyone else) "special" she truly is. That's probably every shy teen's fantasy.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman was my last one. Everyone seems to be absolutely crazy about that book, but I couldn't finish it. Another case of "oh so strong female character", who felt more like an annoying little smartass, who just happens to be super strong and super special, but at the same time being really plain.
Also, the story is extremely slow. It's either some pointless scene of her doing something boring, or a scene with evil, evil, human beings being mean to dragons, while our perfect heroine is getting angry about everyone, except for dragons, being mean. It just felt like the author thinks readers are too dumb to understand her point for the first time. I found it slightly insulting.

The Russian Concubine. Everyone was all "it's a good book about understanding-ness with a strong female character, but they kept playing with the fiery redhead stereotypes and most of the lines said by the Chinese characters made me feel sick, especially since I am 3/4 Chinese.

"Greetings to you Tan Wah," He murmured softly.

"May the river snakes seize your miserable tongue," came the sharp reply. "You have stolen away my soft maidens, skin sweet as honey on my lips. Whoever you are, I curse you."

"Open your eyes, Tan Wah, leave your dreams. Join me in the world where the taste of honey is a rich man's pleasure and a maiden's smile a million li away from this dung heap."

"Chang An Lo, you son of a wolf. My friend, forgive the poison of my words. I ask the gods to life my curse and I invite you to enter my fine palace."

Me Before You? Even though I quite liked the author's writing style the characters and the storyline were so irritating by the time I had finished I want to send the all, author included, off to Dignitas.

Me & Earl & the Dying girl. I really feel like I'm the only one who really REALLY hates this book.

Kasia wrote: "Me & Earl & the Dying girl. I really feel like I'm the only one who really REALLY hates this book."

I didn't like it either. I'm still not sure what the point of it was. The movie version actually seems better.

Gone Girl Yeah yeah, I know that everyone seems to think Gone Girl is the book of a lifetime and Gillian Flynn is the be all & end all of authors but come on!

Amy Dunne is clearly a sociopath yet Nick ultimately stays with her even knowing what a dangerous psychopath she is!! And for the sake of his child?

Yeah that makes sense, make sure that your total sicko of a wife ( who has gone to the most well thought out & planned absurd lengths to get what she wants) is responsible for the upbringing of your offspring.

Until that ridiculous ending I was actually enjoying the book but the conclusion has completely turned me off of Flynn for ever.

Ready Player One and Armada? I really feel like I'm the only one who loathed them. Everyone else loves them for reasons that I'll never understand.

The Secret History. I thought it was crazy overrated. And too long.

Reader Extraordinaire wrote: "Ready Player One..."

Just say no to Ready Player One 😂 I got a few chapters in and was so bored with the info dump, I threw it out a window at the very top of the stack where I live my sad little life playing computer games. Ok, so maybe I'm not the intended audience. The only time I game is with my 10 year old nephew and he slays me everytime...

Reader Extraordinaire wrote: "Ready Player One and Armada? I really feel like I'm the only one who loathed them. Everyone else loves them for reasons that I'll never understand."

As for Ready Player One, for me it's a bit of a nostalgia trip. I grew up in the 80s, so it's fun to see references to pop culture I actually get. LOL

Clare wrote: "Reader Extraordinaire wrote: "Ready Player One..."

Just say no to Ready Player One 😂 I got a few chapters in and was so bored with the info dump, I threw it out a win..."

The first time I read RPO, I loved it, giving it another go sometime late last year, I now hate it. While, I do enjoy the concept of Oasis and strangely enough, the movie, the book did squat for me. I never felt like the references were "references" they felt like name-dropping more than anything else. What I mean is that; the references were over explained. Not only that, Wade gets everything handed to him on a silver platter. He doesn't grow as a character or change. What's the fun in that? ...I think I explain myself better as to why I hate Ready Player One and Armada in both of my reviews of them.

RPO: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Armada:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Lori S. wrote: "Reader Extraordinaire wrote: "Ready Player One and Armada? I really feel like I'm the only one who loathed them. Everyone else loves them for reasons that I'll never ..."

While I wasn't an 80's kid, I grew up on a lot of 80 stuff (mostly films). With RPO, the references feel hollow to me, since the book practically hinges on the fact that you like what Ready Player One is mentioning so that will probably translate to:I like this book just because it mentions the things that I like! That's what I'm getting anyway.

I hate Orson Scott Card's Lost Boys. It's billed as a supernatural horror, 95% of it is a self-insert rant about how the idiots at his church/job/local school don't recognize how perfect and always right he and his family are. Miserably boring and self-serving, that's a few hours I wish I could get back!

Americanah. Ifemelu is a crap “person” through and through.