Books that everyone likes except you?

I must be out of step with a lot of people on here, because I absolutely loved all of Tolkein's books. I read Lord of the Rings at a very young age and have loved it ever since. I've never NOT finished a book - even if I've picked up one I'm not particularly enjoyed, I have a compulsion to read it right to the bitter end. I wasn't a fan of Gone Girl or Girl on the Train though, or Time Traveller's Wife and yes, I gave into the hype and read 50 Shades, but couldn't get over how poorly written it was.

LilyoftheValley

I recall several years ago that everyone I chatted to was raving about a book by Alexander McCall Smith - hope my spelling is not wrong - and bought it was soon as i returned from holiday. What a disappointment!! To me, there was no real content to thee stories. As far as I remember, I didn't even finish the book. Never tried another by the same author.

I do agree about his books, I have read three of them, and they are very much the same.
The Joseph Conrad book too I agree on, such hard going!
I also do not like books by Joanne Trollope or all the popular books with titles such as ‘The little candy shop by the sea’ .
I did try the Harry Potter books, but they really are written for children, I do know adults who think them wonderful reading though.

Thought I was the only person who didn't like Hilary Mantell. Don't like Richard Osman's books either. But loved "Where the Crawdads Sing" and also "We need to talk about Kevin"

I recall several years ago that everyone I chatted to was raving about a book by Alexander McCall Smith - hope my spelling is not wrong - and bought it was soon as i returned from holiday. What a disappointment!! To me, there was no real content to thee stories. As far as I remember, I didn't even finish the book. Never tried another by the same author.

I’m an awkward so and so when it comes to books (and films). If everyone is reading something, I keep away from it.
I like to think I have discovered a book just for me and no one else knows about it. This means I read a lot of forgotten writers, as in the lovely Persephone editions.
When the fandom dies down, I sometimes read the extolled book or see the popular film and enjoy it, but that’s my quirk.

Yes hard going Heart of Darkness Witzend but I loved Bovary. Can’t stand magic realism, Philip Pullman, Angela Carter et al.
The classics are hard to beat on the whole.

I really didn’t like Heart of Darkness - only persevered with it because it was one of the 12 (IIRC) I had to read for an OU course on the 19thC novel. Thank goodness I never needed to write an essay on it though. At least it’s short.

Another was Madame Bovary, which I did quite like, but now, when driving through France on the way to BiL’s place through a lot of rural villages and small towns - so often with all the shutters closed and nobody to be seen - I imagine Madame Bovary behind one of those doors, , quietly going out of her mind with boredom and frustration!

Where the Crawdads Sing, The Time Traveller’s Wife, any of Richard Osman’s or Hilary Mantel’s books-it’s not that I haven’t tried them, just I either don’t like the style or I can’t get into them.
I often wonder how all these celebs have suddenly turned into authors. The only ones I remember I have ever stuck with are Alan Titchmarsh and Celia Imrie.

I cannot get through anything with animals. Wind in the Willows, Tarka the Otter, White Fang to name but a few. As for Gerald Durrell - so tedious. I remember having to drag a bright dyslexic student through one of his. He hated it too but he wrote a, from the heart, response to the question on the exam paper, arguing that he should not be forced to study a book that he loathed just because a teacher chose it from a list. He did give reasons for hating it and must have had a sympathetic marker because he did pass (just!). I admired him for his bravery. I would have just jumped through the required hoops and I did, so I barely remember the books I had to study during my education.

I didn't like The Godfather.

Crawdads , Midnight Library left me cold although passed on from a friend who loved them.
Read The Trumpet Major for what was then GCE, hated it then and now.
Prefer modern novels but can’t deny Pride and Prejudice will always find a place in my heart.

Having worked in the NHS for many years, I loved "This is Going to Hurt", laughed and cried. Then loathed the television version! My Dad was a great Dickens' fan, so I was brought up with the stories and enjoy reading them in my old age. I usually order my books from the library, using the weekend papers as a guide: I often can't understand how the chosen book was even published, but it's all a matter of taste. I loved Claire Keegan's Booker short-listed - was it "Small Things like These"? I, too, loathed "Crawdads", and Richard Osmond's second book, though I quite enjoyed the first one. Find Hardy (too much at school!) difficult to enjoy, but love the films, same thing happens with John Grisham novels. Found the "Wolf Hall" trilogy amazing, and really enjoyable. Really do like Kate Atkinson, and can read them over again after a suitable period of time, too. Ann Tyler is a consummate writer, not always good, but when she is, terrific. I seem to enjoy good writing for its own pleasure, the use of the language, punctuation, construction, etc. - I hadn't realised this before.

Thursday Murder Club was so hyped and pushed on all of the media platforms that I couldn't wait to read it.
I felt it was predictable, a bit silly and probably wouldn't have made it passed the publisher's in tray if had been written by an unknown.
I vowed not to bother with books by 'celebs' again as they're generally published for just that reason.
I think you only need to look at the children's top book lists to confirm that.

Good thread! I agree with so much that has been said. Midnight Library was awful as was Thursday Murder Club - so much hype for what is a very poor book. I shan't read any more of his. I am so relieved that others did not enjoy Crawdads, as I certainly did not. I read (skimmed!) the first few chapters of Catch 22 and then gave up. However, I loved Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and also Bring Up the Bodies. There are so many classics that I have not read, including Dickens (must get round to it). I love humorous books - Diary of a Nobody is a favourite, Sue Townsend, Nina Stibbe, Cold Comfort Farm, Jenny Eclair. Who wants to read a book that makes you feel miserable?

Thomas Hardy, any. Have read two and they were a real struggle.

So many reminders of books I have hated and loved!
Hate anything by Philip Pullman, Hilary Mantel (RIP), Kate Atkinson
Love (most of) Dickens, Austen, Trollope, Tolkien
A favourite from years ago Full Tilt by Dervla Murphy - I’d forgotten it till Barmey mentioned DM.
I’ve really enjoyed this thread!

The Time Travellers Wife and Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life.

Wolf Hall
I am Pilgrim
Love in the Time of Cholera

I disliked The Barchester Chronicles at school but perhaps I should try them again.

I left the book club because I really didn’t enjoy any of the books, , Bridgett Jones was one, the one with Harold Fry in the title, Hilary Mantels books and I also hate Jane Austin. My all time favourite is a book called Where The Indus is Young by Dervla Murphy yet my book club did like it. Oh well it would be boring if we were all the same.

There are a few books that are generally well-liked but that I did not personally enjoy. One example is "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. This novel is often taught in schools and lauded for its complex characters and its exploration of difficult themes such as racism and injustice. However, I found the book to be slow-paced and lessons to be didactic. Another book that is often praised but that I did not care for is "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger. This coming-of-age story follows the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, as he is kicked out of boarding school and becomes increasingly isolated and disillusioned with the world around him. While I could appreciate the book's dark humor, I found Holden to be an unlikeable and unsympathetic character. Lastly, I was disappointed by "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I had high hopes for this classic novel about love, wealth, and betrayal set against the backdrop of the Roaring Twenties but found it to be shallow and formulaic. While these books are all highly regarded, they simply didn't resonate with me on a personal level.

Any of the Harry Potter books - just too juvenile. Also The Time Traveller's Wife.

But We Need to Talk About Kevin is my all-time favourite. An absolute masterpiece.

The Time Travellers Wife.
Life After Life.

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.

Oh I thought " Kevin " was a wonderful insight into the mind of the Mother of the mass killer ...

I read a lot, but tend to stick to similar genres, so I decided last year that I was going to work my way through the "100 best classics" list!! Since then There have been a few books that I loathed so much, I just couldn't bear to continue, so reluctantly gave up. Now, I feel that life's too short, and there are so many books, why torture myself!!! Some of the books I hated:
Life Of Pi
Harry Potter (read the first few pages of the first book and thought it smacked of Roald Dahl copycat!!)
The Grapes of Wrath
Wuthering Heights
On The Road
Catch 22
Catcher In The Rye
Huckleberry Finn .......

It seems I can't stand books that either spend pages describing everything in miniscule detail, or books that seem to meander on with no real story !!

One book I read last year (only a quarter of it) that I couldn't finish was A Parent Apart - as a parent, I found it incredibly distressing and terrifying! It was about a father with his child and his friend's child in the sea on a day out, and when they got into trouble, he was only able to rescue one child, and he naturally chose his own, and everything got out of control from there - it was just so depressing.

Oh yes, 1984. My husband enjoyed it, so I read it - another incredibly depressing book, so cruel, I felt like an observer at a hanging or something, like it was inhuman to be a part of it just by reading it, and I actually threw it in the bin (whereas all books go to the charity shop normally).

I can understand why so many don’t like fantasy. My OH tends to only read fantasy - I think it takes him away from his work which is intense. But there is so little good new fantasy, everyone thinks you can throw a few witches/elves/magic on to the page and you have written a fantasy. Luckily he likes re-reading stories and has worn out two copies of Lord of the Rings.

If I don’t like a book I stop reading it. I use Kindle unlimited so don’t have to think about the cost of downloading a book - no charity or book shops in my village and I don’t think the library has reopened yet.

Will the cost of living make you more cautious of which books you buy? Will charity shops start selling more books again?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I hate it.