Petra X > Status Update

where the crawdads sing. absolutely horrendous.

Infinite Jest. What the hell did I just spend a million hours reading?

For me, it's John Williams' novel, Stoner. An overwhelming number of my Goodreads friends have given it 5 star ratings and rave reviews. I didn't connect with it on any level.

Good to see you back posting good questions, Petra.

Wuthering Heights. I know people consider it their all time favorite. There really wasn't much I liked about this classic.

I will agree with Ulysses. Not sure why I spent so much time on it.

For me it is ‘Boy Swallows Universe’ by Trent Dalton. It has just been made into a series featured on Netflix. I just couldn’t get into it. Most readers seem to love it. Go figure.

The Twilight Series for sure. I completed it just for the sake of it.

jrendocrine wrote: "where the crawdads sing. absolutely horrendous."

Didn't try that one. What was so universally praised about it and what did you hate?

Raymond wrote: "Infinite Jest. What the hell did I just spend a million hours reading?"

It always daunted me too much. At what stage did you stop enjoying it?

Paul wrote: "For me, it's John Williams' novel, Stoner. An overwhelming number of my Goodreads friends have given it 5 star ratings and rave reviews. I didn't connect with it on any level..."

Did you start off enjoying the book and go off it? If not why not dnf it if you didn't like it from the beginning?

Jim wrote: "Wuthering Heights. I know people consider it their all time favorite. There really wasn't much I liked about this classic."

I liked it but I can see how it wouldn't be to everyone's taste. Do you know Kate Bush's song Wuthering Heights? Ater that (and rereading the book) I loved it.

Patty wrote: "I will agree with Ulysses. Not sure why I spent so much time on it."

Props for finishing it.

Debra wrote: "For me it is ‘Boy Swallows Universe’ by Trent Dalton. It has just been made into a series featured on Netflix. I just couldn’t get into it. Most readers seem to love it. Go figure."

I've never even heard of it. I will look it up. Still if we all liked the same books it would endless renditions of them, like the Twilight years. Diversity of opinion gives every author a chance.

Aishwarya wrote: "The Twilight Series for sure. I completed it just for the sake of it."

I sold loads of these books, almost everyone liked it. I never read it.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but I didn't get Ulysses either and I was a hitchhiker and I am an alcoholic and a heathen.

Yea, a Petra question! Perhaps Tigana by Kay.

I agree; I don't see the appeal of Ulysses; in several tries I never made it past a hundred pages or so. Although Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow is a close second. Highly recommended, totally unreadable (for me, at least).

I was thoroughly bored by the opening of Catch 22 and couldn't force myself to continue. It was slow, obvious, and unfunny. Will confess I enjoyed the series, and that's not ordinarily the way I operate.

Petra on hiatus but getting better.Happy New 2024! wrote: "Paul wrote: "For me, it's John Williams' novel, Stoner. An overwhelming number of my Goodreads friends have given it 5 star ratings and rave reviews. I didn't connect with it on any level..."

Did you start off enjoying the book and go off it? If not why not dnf it if you didn't like it from the beginning?

I did finish it. I thought it might be interesting when I began reading, but it became more obvious and depressing as I continued.

Petra on hiatus but getting better.Happy New 2024! wrote: "Jim wrote: "Wuthering Heights. I know people consider it their all time favorite. There really wasn't much I liked about this classic."

I liked it but I can see how it wouldn't be to everyone's ta..."

I do know that song. That is awesome that something outside added to your enjoyment of the book. I love when that happens.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold. It's a series of short, interconnected stories but I found the writing awkward and jilted. And everyone seems to just ignore the casual sexism present throughout. I think it's categorized as a sort of "cozy" read and have come to loathe that term when it pops up in various genres.

Nice to see you back in action!

The Girl on the Train was a desaster of a read that most people seem to like (3.96 at the moment).

Almost as bad is The Silent Patient which garners 4.18 stars right now and deserves one at most for all its faults.

The Great Gatsby. It was assigned reading in high school, and I disliked it on principle, because I don't like being told what to read. Read it again a few years ago, and still didn't like it.

Rick wrote: "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but I didn't get Ulysses either and I was a hitchhiker and I am an alcoholic and a heathen."

Heathens will inherit the earth! (Hopefully).

I really didn’t like The Hobbit! Found the characters flat and without any personality. The only thing I remember about a character of this book is Bilbo Bagins’ constant reluctance to go to the adventures.

Anything and everything by Dostoevsky. I think I am allergic ;)

Petra on hiatus but getting better.Happy New 2024! wrote: "jrendocrine wrote: "where the crawdads sing. absolutely horrendous."

Didn't try that one. What was so universally praised about it and what did you hate?"

By April 2023, the book had sold over 18 million copies. Spent 150 weeks on the best seller list.

Kind of sold as a nature book but not anything nature in it. I had to read it for book club. There was not one single thing I liked about it - the plot, the characters, the rationale for what people did.

Almost as bad is The Silent Patient which garners 4.18 stars r..."

Both of his books were terrible! I honestly don't see what the appeal is.

Phil wrote: "Yea, a Petra question! Perhaps Tigana by Kay."

Thank you. I'm trying to break out of my non-communication (with everyone on and offline) bubble. I don't know Tigana, I read that it was beautifully-written.

Fred wrote: "I agree; I don't see the appeal of Ulysses; in several tries I never made it past a hundred pages or so. Although Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow is a close second. Highly recommended, totally u..."

Agree 100%. I think I am allergic to books the size of bricks that are 'literary masterpieces'. Non-fiction that size, no problem.

Petra on hiatus but getting better.Happy New 2024! wrote: "Raymond wrote: "Infinite Jest. What the hell did I just spend a million hours reading?"

It always daunted me too much. At what stage did you stop enjoying it?"

There's a chapter, I forgot where, which has one of the greatest explanations of addiction/relapse I have ever read. After that chapter, it goes downhill from there for me.

Good question! IMO it should be The Great Gatsby, a decently good book with great prose (very tight yet beautiful), however grossly overrated. On a side note Ulysses to me is one of the greatest books alongside Moby Dick and One Hundred Years of Solitude. In my first attempt, I failed miserably and restarted it, lo and behold, with a proper guide in hand, it was just unbelievable. Also, during my first attempt, I wasn't exposed to Stream of Consciousness narratives--thanks to Faulkner it made things easier for me when I got back to Ulysses.

The Road...Cormac McCarthy

Petra on hiatus but getting better.Happy New 2024! wrote: "Fred wrote: "I agree; I don't see the appeal of Ulysses; in several tries I never made it past a hundred pages or so. Although Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow is a close second. Highly recommend..."

Tolstoy, Dickens, and many other bricks are not a problem for me. I think too many modern/postmodern novelists forget they are supposed to be telling a story.

I failed on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and I feel ashamed. Also hated Tigana and glad I'm not alone anymore! Feel the same about Stoner and Ulysses. We should open a club.

This is a little like the game of Humiliation in David Lodge's satire Small World

Charles Bukowski's "Post Office," which seems to appeal to tens of thousands of people who mistakenly think it would be cool to live like that. But I don't hate the book for its fans, I hate it because it's excruciatingly dull. As I read it, I had to ditch my theory (based on hearing friends and co-workers talk about their lives) that self-aware addicts are all great storytellers.
Oh, and I see someone else here can't stand "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." I tried approaching the second half of it as a hate-read but still kept falling asleep.
I hope neither of these is on your favorites list...

Lessons in Chemistry : patronising, sexist guff, disguised as feminist and empowering. And not funny.

The Shining : dull.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas : I know it's a children's book, but it's utterly ludicrous and sanitising of the Holocaust, and when some reviewers said as much, Boyne likened them to Holocaust deniers!

Some Kids I Taught & What They Taught Me . Nasty.

cvtherin wrote: "Before the Coffee Gets Cold. It's a series of short, interconnected stories but I found the writing awkward and jilted. And everyone seems to just ignore the casual sexism present throughout..."

Agreed.

Just finished Heaven & Earth Grocery Store..

I've heard that about Ulysses. For me, it was A Death in the Family but I've reread books and thought much more of them the second time.

Imo, by far, Dune, and then, La Condition Humaine (Man's Fate).

Definitely A Little Life 🤭

Harry Potter (the entire series)

For me either Bleak House or Magic Mountain couldn’t finish either one.
Ulysses is a simple love story magically told: a husband and wife trying to deal with the vicissitudes of losing, years ago, their infant child. Stephen’s presence can be difficult at times. Makes for a great second read.

The Scarlet Letter. Not the best book to read while on Spring Break. 😂

“A Year of Rest and Relaxation”

Sunny wrote: "“A Year of Rest and Relaxation”"

Good call. Although trigger-warnings can be over-used, I think that book needs something in the blurb so people know it's not just clever or funny, as oft-claimed.

Hello Beautiful. and I love family sagas

Late to this discussion, but FWIW, Rebecca. Just didn’t see what all the fuss was about, the Second Mrs. DeWinter is such a lame dishrag of a character.

I'm not super keen on Game of thrones, but it's OK.