Books that everyone likes except you?

I know I'm in a small minority, and I can't put my finger on why I didn't love Where the Crawdads Sing. I might try reading it again and see if I change my mind.

Elizabeth27

The books by Richard Osman, a lot of people raved about them but i read 2 and found them slow going and rather silly.

I agree except that I only managed to read the first one - decided not to waste my time with the second one as there are so many other books out there waiting to be read.

Jane43

I also found Heart Of Darkness hard going, I only finished it because it was the subject if an essay.

Oh yes. Really hard going. I did it for A level when my teacher was Frank Skinner.
He loved it. But we were an entirely female class, and we all hated it.

Granmarderby10

The Catcher In The Rhye Irritating adolescent twerp

? ?

... that really gave me a chuckle!

Grandma70s, I am with you all the way on the Booker prize winners as they are mostly elitist, pretentious twaddle. I tried Lord of the Rings but did not get past the first chapter. My brother read it three times as a teenager and many enthusiasts for it seem to be bookish teenage boys. At A level we had to study Henry James, in particular Portrait of a Lady. The single most boring and irritating book l have ever read in my life. It still enrages me nearly forty years later. Henry James has one thing in common with the equally dreadful Mr. Men books my autistic son loved as a child - he never uses one word where fifty will do.

One for Black Country folk:
The Catcher in The Lye

Cheesey

Anything by James Patterson. I am attracted by the idea of the stories but think they are so badly written. I know his books are very popular so maybe just not my cup of tea.
Similarly the Da Vinci code. Laborious.

The original James Patterson books are OK but since he started "collaborating" with other writers the books are not worth buying! The same has happened with Lee Child who is now collaborating with his brother

Nanny27

Ian McEwan. Atonement bored me to tears.
As a teacher of A level English literature for many years I never quite found the courage to admit that I can't abide Jane Austin.

Same here! I've always been OK with admitting I disliked Austen. My HoD was aghast when I said I hated Dickens tho.

sodapop

Anything by Donna Tart, Richard Osman's over hyped books.

I agree about James Patterson Cheesey however in our small voluntary library he is one of the most borrowed authors.

It's odd. I loved Tartt's first two books and hated her third.

Atonement made me cross. I was reminded of the shower scene in Dallas.

Callistemon21

NanKate

‘Where the Crawdads Sing’. I started it twice but still couldn’t get into it.

I downloaded that on to my Kindle, not started it yet.

I read two chapters on my kindle and deleted it after a glowing recommendation by DD.

I'm another who really found the Harry Potter books poor. I groan even thinking about them as I had to read some of them to my youngest. I suppose it all feels derivative and unfortunately I don't rate her language skills. Give me, say, Alan Garner or Philip Pullman any day.

Also, Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières. I've started this several times. I think it's probably the only book I've started and not (eventually) finished. Just couldn't get "into" this at all.

I thought it was only me with Captain Corelli Reubenblue

Witzend

I’m another who could never get into Wuthering Heights. Love Jane Eyre and a lot of other Victorian fiction though.

I couldn’t bear We Need To Talk About Kevin - couldn’t even finish it.

I agree about Lionel Shriver. I also didn't think much of Chocolate as mentioned in the OP. I was given "Little Fires Everywhere"(Celeste Ng) for Christmas. Didn't find it had much depth to it, although it was lauded enthusiastically by people who seem to know better than I.

Gone Girl and Girl on a Train - meh. Couldn't understand why they did what they did. It all seemed very contrived.

I dislike most fantasy fiction, so that rules out Tolkien and Rowling/Potter. Can't seem to get on with Donna Tart. I tried The Goldfinch but found it slow and pretentious; similarly The Great Gatsby.

I did like Where the Crawdads Sing, glad I persevered with it and am looking forward to seeing it on screen.

Everyone seems to dislike Where the Crawdads sing. I read it on recommendation from someone here on GN, and found her life fascinating. Then the twist at the end.. All in all I wasn't completely gripped but I did stick with it to the end

I only came to Dickens late in life and love it - even the Pickwick Papers I found amusing.

Any book by Thomas Hardy. I have tried and tried, particularly since living in Dorset, but find them really hard-going.
Enjoy some of his poetry, though.

Witzend it’s probably for the best that you didn’t finish Kevin.
It’s incredibly shocking!
Unlike you I absolutely loved the book

I can’t even remember the name of the book I didn’t like at all although everyone seemed to rave about it. Just got one though The Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime? Something like that? I’ll have to ponder in the other one. It was another completely stupid one (to me) with no story I could understand.

I hated Gone Girl and Girl on the Train, found them boring and the main characters weren`t likeable at all.
I started War and Peace when I was 14, but gave up after the first few chapters. Bought a copy in my early 70s, managed to read it all, but still not enamoured by it.

I did like ‘Crawdads’, I felt immersed in the book. Likewise I enjoyed ‘Little Fires’ though that was because my son lived in that community at the time so it was fun to try and work out who the characters were based on.

I didn’t like Girl on the Train and never finished Gone Girl because I read it on Kindle and I didn’t realise something had gone wrong with the download and it was all jumbled up. I wondered why it made no sense, haha!

I don’t often give up on a book but I’m wondering what others do when they decide to stop. Do you look at the last pages, to get an idea of what the denouement was?

FannyCornforth

One for Black Country folk:
The Catcher in The Lye

Very good. I used to live in Stourbridge and caught the bus to work in Halesowen, two colleagues lived in ‘The Lye’ and used to catch the same bus. Apparently its claim to fame is that Sir. Cedric Hardwick was born there.

One book that have been trying to finish since before Christmas is The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides my DiL loved it. I am about 6 chapters in and not enjoying it, so have put it on my bookshelf to be read another time.

Jane I was born in Netherton; went to school in Quarry Bank; grew up Amblecote / Stourbridge (drank in The Mitre).
And I went to Halesowen College.
I probably caught exactly the same bus!
My dad worked at the MEB Office there too.

I remember a friend of mine cheekily saying, ‘people in The Lye aspire to live in Quarry Bank’

Retired English teacher here and also was a school librarian in previous years. There are very few books that I haven't persevered with, even if I originally wasn't keen. I have never read Fifty Shades and the following books although I tried. Funnily enough I couldn't get into Where the Crawdad sings either. I'm going to go back to it in a bit.