Overhyped Books-Novels I Find Baffling

My post last week on my top ten books to read in one day got me thinking about other book categories. One that I kept going back to was popular books that I JUST DON’T GET. You know the ones I’m talking about. Everyone and their mother are raving about them. You run out and buy them to see what all the fuss is about. However, when you read the book, you’re left wondering what the hell the big deal was all about. Here are a few of books that came to mind while I thinking about the topic. Before I begin, a little disclaimer. This is only MY personal opinion. Many of you may find these books fantastic and wish to name your firstborn after the characters in them. I have eclectic tastes and I’m sure many books I love don’t exactly have huge fan bases.

1. Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James-To be honest this is the book that inspired today’s blog. You can’t turn on the TV or open a magazine without hearing about the book for scandalized housewives. I really had high hopes for this one. First of all, I heard it started off as fan fiction and I think that’s AWESOME. Secondly, I’m all about watercooler books. I’ll admit to running out and buying Twilight and the Hunger Games when everyone was talking about them. Loved them both and read the sequels. It’s not even the subject matter that bothered me about this book. It was everything else. The British slang when the book takes place in Seattle. The cringeworthy lines: “I want you to become well acquainted, on first name terms if you will, with my favorite and most cherished part of my body. I’m very attached to this.” The “holy crap!” inner goddess heroine Anastasia Steele. It’s heartening to see a fanfic writer do so well, but the book just isn’t for me.


2. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer-God, I was so excited for this to come out. Dragged my sister who was a teen at the time to the Barnes and Noble midnight release party and pretended it wasn’t really me who wanted the book, but her. This was the first of the Twilight series book that took me forever to read through. For me, it totally jumped the shark. Between the weird pregnancy, Renesme and Bella as the perfect vampire, it didn’t feel like a good conclusion to the series for me.


3. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher-This book sounded really interesting to me: a YA novel about teen suicide. I found it hard to sympathize with Hannah and understand why she was blaming these people for ending her life. The alternating POVs with Hannah and Clayton also didn’t work for me. The believability of the plot and the execution of the storyline just didn’t feel right.


4. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova-This book sounded incredible and wasn’t bad starting off. However, the more I read, the more it kept putting me to sleep. And the book is about VAMPIRES. Horror novels usually keep me up all hours. Not to mention, it’s a whopping 700 pages long. With that length, a book has to really grab my attention.


5. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne-Remember when this came out? Everyone was asking the universe to give them what they want. Guess what? The universe still hasn’t helped me hit on the slots in Atlantic City.


6. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr-After each disappointing book, I kept giving this series another shot. Although I loved the parallel worlds that Marr created, I just didn’t connect with many of the characters. I was hoping the final book would bring everything together, but it just left me rolling my eyes.


7. Atonement by Ian McEwan-I remember seeing the trailers for the movie and marveling at how well Keira Knightley can pull off costumes from period dramas. Inspired me to pick up the book and was completely into it until the ENDING. It was like a sucker punch. I understand that not all books are happily ever afters, but I don’t like twists that make you feel like you wasted your time on a novel.