Don't. It's just a fanfic about Harry Potter's kid and Draco's kid going on a time travel fiasco to learn about the power of F R I E N D S H I P or some bullshit.
Fifty Shades Of Grey made me so angry at the poor writing that I legit threw my ipod at the wall. It was basically an uncontrollable emotional/physical reaction 😂
OMG. EVERYTHING you're saying about Discovery of Witches. I was like YES YES YES. It picked up later so I was questioning whether I should get into the rest of the series, but man, Harkness could really have used a more heavy-handed editor. So much of it seemed very unnecessary. I also hate when people are instantly in love so had a tough time avoiding the eye rolls.
Deborah also has a bad temper like if you say sth she doesnt like on twitter of facebook SHE INSTA TLY BLOCKS YOU so she doesnt accept other peoples opinions
God help me I tried and I pushed but at the 50% mark I gave up on A Discovery of Witches. Plus what was his issue with not wanting to have sexy time with her I was like o_O
Swap the genders and you lot are like “why should she HAVE to want to have sex with him?! She’s a fully autonomous being and can be useful for other things than sex and I’m sorry that you don’t like it that she is capable of making decisions that you don’t like!” Yikes.
I couldn't finish The Passage. The entire jump so far into the future leaving behind the characters that we cared about was too much for me. Although most of them were dead already, I guess.
I havent read Eragon since i was about 14 and i really loved it, now i really want to re-read it and see if it holds up or if its just nostalgia (also i never got to the last book) I liked discovery of witches series as well but it can be really long winded and a bit of a struggle at times, (I enjoyed the TV series, its a bit more fast paced, it skips the yoga part though which is a crime D: ) I haven't read cursed child and I have no intentions of doing so :D Are you going to do another video of UNpopular books that you like? (or have you already got one?)
Hmmm, that's an interesting video idea! I'm not sure if I have enough obscure or unpopular books I like to do it! I'll take a look though & see what I can do ;)
When it reopens, you have to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway. The actors really do a great job bringing the characters to life, the stage set and the dementors. It’s really my second favorite Broadway play!
I saw the cursed child as a play and enjoyed it as that, but don't really think of it as canon. I think the production and performances added a lot. Also, I wore a cape to the theatre to cosplay as Hermione! I enjoyed Ready Player One as a nostalgic adventure, not something I need to re-read though. A Discovery of Witches I DNFd. Yaaaaawn. It felt as though the people enjoying it had missed out on all the authors who handled the genre well! Also, aside from the story- no sexual tension despite a strong feeling that the author was desperately trying to create it. Hmmm, unpopular opinions... I have DNFd a fair few paranormal series for having boring leads of flat out abusive love interests. I also couldn't bring myself to read past a few chapters of game of thrones, I had already seen the first few seasons and couldn't bare the tragedy awaiting or the circuitous story lines.
Yeah, I've heard that the actual experience of the play is far superior to reading the stage play, so some day I hope I can see it & form my own judgment! And YAY HERMIONE!
Everyone seems to love it, but I don't. The Outlander series. Not a fan of the time traveling thing in general, but why does it take her 3 pages to describe a sunset?!? I just can't with her writing. Still don't dislike her as much as I do Herman Melville though. Least favorite author of all time. No child should be forced to read Moby Dick. I was traumatized as I had to read that and his equally boring and awful Old Man and the Sea. The only good thing I can say about it was it was shorter than Moby Dick.
The only book that we disagree on is "Relic". I found it to be scary and the backstory for the creature that is unleashed in the Chicago museum is incredible. Loved the the whole book! I'll grant you that the movie is firmly a B movie (but one I will still watch!)
Ready player one: I HATED and people just rave about it. Its insanely hyped! Why??? Not just on booktube people I know from work, my sister etc. Its like there was some giant prank and someone switched the book inside the cover and I read something different. The main character was so hollow. Bleughhhh
I e been binge watching you for a few weeks now and I'm loving your videos, so thank you! I did want to mention Kelley Armstrong. I haven't seen you mention her, but she is right up your alley. Paranormal, mystery and romance with a humourous twist. She has numerous series and I think I you'd love her. Thank you and enjoy!
@@bookslikewhoa Gaiman seems to be a love him or hate him kind of author. Personally I loved American Gods (I did do the audio book of it), but I also know folks who couldn't make it through it.
A great book in the same vein is the much better in every way Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman a sequel/companion that you can read without reading american gods.
I know this is an older video, but I wanted to say that you made the right choice about Discovery of Witches. I slogged through the audiobooks because it had so much that I wanted to love. The finale was boring as hell. P.S. Love your channel. 🙂
I also hated The Cursed Child. People like to point out to me that it wasn't written by Rowling and that it's a play when I say that, but it doesn't matter to me. I still hated it. It negated so many rules in the Wizarding World set up in the original series, and there were barely any rules to start with.
Big agree on A Discovery of Witches! Made my worst of 2021 list 😅 DNF'd The Passage years ago and Eragon remains one of my favorite books ever - but I refuse to re-read it cause I just know it won't hold up 😅 I'll treasure my memories from reading it as a young teen haha
Red tent is what I blame for the trend I call - “The unwanted true story of ...” (insert some side character / story / women). Around the time there was a bunch of biblical retelling a which irked me. In my literary head canon I am convinced someone at Disney heard about the book and decided to redo all of their cartoons and give their villains movies.
Ha ha, it's always good to hear a dissenting view! And really, disclaimers are _not_ necessary. Of course we can have different opinions, we are all individual people. A Discovery of Witches, was good as a set up for the trilogy as books 2 and 3 were so exciting, breathtaking even, but yes book 1 was a struggle. It was far too long and didn't pick up for me until about 2/3 of the way in (then it flew by) but I'm glad I read it because of the follow ups. I actually *loved* the overall story _despite_ the romance which I thought was bland because of the MC's. I think you hit the nail on the head in that book 1 took itself too seriously. Season 1 of the TV series was done well, but again it really just set the stage for the rest of the story. The MC's I again found bland despite most viewers loving them, especially the male lead Matthew Goode who loads of (other) women are panting after! I read Eragon a few years ago (I was 30ish at the time!) now can't remember much other than I found the story exciting and rushed through books 1 and 2. But Tolkein is of no interest to me. With the 4 Shelly Laurenston books I've read, it was some of the sex, and the normal topes that made me cringe, but the humor was right up my street! I really did laugh out loud loads.
Yeah, I think with Laurenston if you like her humor, you like those books. Weirdly, the GA Aiken books actually work OK for me. Not sure why that is? But maybe she really mixes things up based on which pen name she's using, so who knows
The Passage by Justin Cronin was recommended to me by some friends when it first came out, and I thought it was okay. Even though it’s a trilogy, I didn’t feel a burning need to find out what happens in the next two books though... I did love the Stand though, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to a nice long read.
First: Absolutely love the eyeshadow today! You articulate your points well. Agree or disagree, your point of view is well-presented and informative. Lord, I hated My Antonia. Just...boring. Much preferred Death Comes for the Archbishop, which has more story movement and wonderfully sympathetic characters. I kind of liked The Red Tent, but it just hit a 3 rating for me, based on the writing. I liked The Thirteenth Tale even less and the whole time I was waiting for something special to happen, so just a big disappointment. The others I haven’t read, so I appreciate you taking a hit for the team. ETA: My most unpopular opinion would probably be on The Alchemist. People love it so, and I just found it trite, preachy, and in the end a bore.
Thank you so much! Glad you like the look, cuz I have like 3 more videos with it coming soon :D. Maybe I'll try Death Comes for the Archbishop... there are so few female American classic authors, so I want to read/love them all! And I'm TOTALLY with you on The Alchemist! I don't like it either
I refuse to read The Cursed Child and Go Set a Watchmen because I don't want anything messing with my beloved characters. Both publications imo, are based on greed and not quality story additions. I pretty much agree with your selections, I only made it through the first Discovery of Witches book and boy does it need comic relief! I loved Ready Player One, I'm a child of the 80s and found it to be a really fun book to read both for the nostalgia and adventure. There a lot of popular books that I just don't get the appeal, one of them being Little Fires Everywhere. I didn't like any of the characters or any of the decisions they made. Thank you for another honest video telling your opinion and not going with the bookgush crowd :)
I ended up liking Go Set a Watchman OK, but I think that was because I let the hoopla die down before I read it. It was definitely not a full book, though. I wanted to be interested in Little Fires Everywhere, but just never could be :)
Go Set a Watchman is good to read to get more context. I recommend reading it if you are under illusions about Lee's authorial intent for To Kill a Mockingbird. There's a reason it was buried until late in her life.
I had to think for a sec to tell you why I love My Antonia. I was just so immersed in the story I felt like I was in Nebraska, living their life and I enjoyed that very much!
I do live in Nebraska and love thinking about how it use to be here-the people, the landscape, the incredible hardiness required to survive the extremes here. I loved the story too, and have read it twice. Another Nebraskan author from that era is Bess Streeter Aldrich, whom I like as much as Willa Cather, if not more.
Girl! All the things! I feel you on Ready Player One. It's a terrible book. The theme collapses in on itself. The characters are eh and so are their relationships. Cline basically wanted to gush about nerdy 80s culture and then said, Oh wait, I need a plot! and so added some elements of a novel. Nothing about it is good. It had potential but it was not realized.
Haha, exactly!!! And if the nerdy gushing is enough for you, I can see how people were entertained. It just all felt kind of like a nostalgic blah to me by the end
I truly hate that you all get pushed into having to give disclaimers. it seems that it should be common sense. I know you have to and would probably get hateful comments on here if you didn't but I feel like in a perfect world you wouldn't have to. that said, I have been afraid to read Cursed Child because i don't want it to ruin my experience with HP.
Yeah, sadly it's kind of part of the deal. I get it- people feel like when you say "I hate XYZ thing you love" you're saying "I hate you." But... nope. Not what I'm saying :) And I think if you go in knowing The Cursed Child isn't very good, it actually makes you appreciate the original even more. Like, wow. This could have gone so wrong :D
bookslikewhoa I totally agree. I don’t care if you don’t like my fav books. I like to listen to both sides of the coin to get the other perspective. But maybe thats just me. I may have to try cursed child. I cringe when I think about it. 😖
I tried reading Eragon when I was a teen and I came across some line that I was convinced had been lifted straight from LOTR, which I had loved, and I was SO outraged and offended by what I perceived as weak-ass plagiarism, hahah 🤣 I DNFd it immediately. But that was so long ago that every time someone recommends the series, I wonder if I overreacted. Glad to hear that I was onto something, lol.
I agree with most of these but I LOVE Ready Player One, esp on audio. It's on many "rant" and "least fave" vids of women Booktubers. It was a fun story, and when I watch the vids of ladies criticizing it, I always have the same reaction: you don't get it. It's a bit like young bro-type men reading bodice-ripper romances and criticizing those as campy & meaningless. They just wouldn't get it, i.e., it's not for them. But for those of us who played certain games during a certain time period, Ready Player One is almost universally loved.
My Antonia is certainly the best of the books of Willa Cather. Fundamentally, it's a about a Nebraska family that has no very good reason to experience much in the way of happiness -- but they manage it, and one is left with the firm conviction that they insisted on their right to happiness in spite of their rather daunting circumstances. That's what makes it the great novel it is.
Great video! I enjoyed A Discovery of Witches, but completely understand why people wouldn't. I even discouraged a friend from reading it because I knew it wasn't something she'd enjoy. I've tried Laurenston and felt the same way. The writing gave me second hand embarrassment. 🤷 Books I read in 2018 and didn't like but everyone seems to love... Bird Box, The Alchemist, Baby Teeth, An Enchantment of Ravens, and Hunting Prince Dracula.
The Secret History. Dear lord, that thing needed an editor badly. If one more person had "disordered" hair I might have wept openly (repeated far too often). It also could easily have lost 1/3 of the book. It wasn't the worst book I ever read, but it was not nearly as good as all the hype suggested it would be.
Sure but losing a third of the book would have meant it was no longer written in the Romantic tradition which the author was going for. I think as far as that specific genre goes it was certainly true to form and hit all those tropes well
Yeah, I have mixed feelings on this. I really liked the tone & authorial voice, as well as the premise & tropes. The characters were a little tricky for me, and I wonder if it had been shorter if I wouldn't have minded them as much. It's one I kind of want to reread as an older reader
I know this is a very late reply to this video but Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series never appealed to me and I hear a lot of people raving about it! I gave the first book in the series I try and it was just OK.... I have the second book in the series on hold in the library hoping that it will get better and more exciting.
OMG, I hated The Cursed Child so much! It’s one of the worst books I’ve read in my life!! I also didn’t see why Brideshead Revisited was so popular. It was so boring to me.
Here's mine: The Secret Garden I thought the writing was excruciating. Tedious, repetitive, uninteresting. When I hear people whose literary opinions I usually respect name it as one of their favorite classics . . . I am without words. What's wrong with me?
The Cursed Child is very bad 😅 I do wanna see the play though :) I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about The Thirteenth Tale! and also Eragon, but I'd still like to give it a try
Oh my god I had the same thoughts exactly about the Cursed Child AFTER having watched Crimes of Grindelwald! I thought at first that JK Rowling had no link with TCC whatsoever, other than having her name on the cover so that it would sell and be "official", but now that I've watched COG................ Dude, the writing is the same. And she's so bad at writing screenplays...
It seriously is -- I thought for sure she had nothing to do with it, but now... yeah. Pretty sure I'm not going to be seeing/reading any new Harry Potter stuff for the foreseeable future, unless I hear something is actually good
I read go set the watchman this month and it was disappointing I love tkam so I was really disappointed with the portrayal of certain characters. That being said , I understand and can appreciate how go set a watchman evolved and eventually became tkam. From what I understand as well. Go set a watchman was actually published after Harper Lee’s death and I heard there was controversy about it because a lot of people said she didn’t want it published. Anyways. I agree with you on the disappointment!
I agree about “The Passage”. I intensely dislike reading pages and pages of blatantly manipulative background on characters who are going to be killed off in the next chapter.
The only one of these I've read is Ready Player One. It must be the only book I've ever read that I still enjoyed even while seeing what total rubbish it is. The writing is horrible, but I'm just the right age and nerdy enough to be close to the target demographic (except I'm female). Horrible but what can I say, the nostalgia made me smile.
This is an older video, so I don’t know if you will even read it, but here goes… First I LOVE your channel, and am currently buying my own collection of classics (Jane Eyre is also my favorite). Second, read The Stand, it’s epic! And finally, I love your eye makeup. It’s particularly beautiful in this video. That’s all, and carry on 😊
Ready player one is on my tbr. I really enjoyed the movie so hoping I have fun on the book journey though I heard a few places that the movie was better than the book. So, we will see. I recently had a disconnect with the book the biography of christmas. It was just sooooo boring.
I hope you enjoy the book! I think it's a YMMV situation, so if you were entertained by the movie, I think you'll probably have pretty good luck with the book
I feel like I’m the only person who enjoyed The Cursed Child, but I had already been warned that it isn’t really what it’s advertised to be. If I had read it expecting “the 8th Harry Potter story,” I would have been pretty annoyed like everyone else. 😒
I hate discovery of witches but I feel like I'm in a minority in my reasoning. I hate it because it's entire plot, the whole premise falls apart based on basic understanding of biology. The whole conflict and desperate search for the truth is completely contrived because it requires all of the very well educated characters (amongst whom we have a doctor and a geneticist) to have less than highschool level of understanding regarding genetics. I can accept authors making minor mistakes in writing about fields they aren't experts in (although I find it bizarre how few seem to make even basic attempts to have an expert provide input), but discovery of witches takes the cake for being so fundamentally lazy that a simple Google search tears huge holes in the premise.
My disliked books are controversial: Wuther Heights (definetly compelling, but I was Very Unimpressed), Call Me By Your Name (reads to me as a fanfiction but more boring) and, lately, Kitchen by Yoshimoto Banana-- I absolutely HATED it and it gept dragging on despite being so short and it was just a waste of time.
I do like Wuthering Heights, but I wonder if I would like it as much as I do if I had not read it as a teen... Still haven't seen Call Me By Your Name... :/ But maybe I should just keep not seeing it?
The cursed child is canon in the sense that it has JKs seal of approval. It isn't her writing, but it's part of all of the stuff she has added to the wizarding world post-series. ie. Pottermore and her twitter mostly.
I always find this a very interessting topic! As for me: I have not read The cursed child and i dont think i ever will. Just not my story (a friend told me everything that happens) so i just pretend it doesn´t exist :D I liked the first aragon book, even if i can confirm the writing is just okay. But the second one was just so boring that i couldn´t finish it. I LOVE ready player one! But i do wonder what makes it a bad book. Because the writing is info dumpy (not a word i think^^), but i otherwise liked it. and i dind´t find it pretictable or boring AT ALL. I am just curious: how is it problematic? I finished A discovery of witches, but it wasnt for me. I found the whole science aspect of it really boring and unessesary. Plus the main character got extremx annoying by the end. Will not continue the series. I personally dindt like A court of thorns and roses by sarah J maa. The first one was entertaining, but the other two had horrible character decicions and a plot that just used the same solutions again and again. As for classics: I really dindt like Around the world in 80 Days by Jules verne - really boring! DNF for me. And the hunchback of notredame also isn´t my favorite, although i grew to like it more over time and especially in comparison to the disney movie.
I think because the prose is probably a bit higher order than a run of the mill horror or post-apocalyptic book (and the author's other work), it gets lumped in as literary fiction. But.... yeah. Not so much for me :/
I enjoyed The Passage overall and I think it has a lot of interesting ideas, but I am VERY confused about why it's being classed as "literary fiction". The writing isn't anything special, the structure of the book overall is quite weird and disjointed, and I was SO disappointed when I realised Wolgast wasn't going to be the main protagonist. Almost all of the interesting characters were just gone after the first part of the book, and I never warmed to any of the other characters.
I agree with some of books you mentioned. One of the books on my "not a favorite" list is The Historian. I saw it on someone's reading list for 2020 and it brought back the drudgery of trying to finish it. My Book Club chose it as a read a few years ago and found it long and slow.
Not sure why you have JK Rowling listed as the author of The Cursed Child in the description. She only provided the barebones story. Jack Thorne wrote the play.
@@bookslikewhoa I don't think one should not read books other people don't like. BUT it's Harry Potter and the negative reviews are overwhelming. I am just not ok with spoiling that. :)
I'm glad to find another person who didn't like The Thirteenth Tale. I DNF'd it after 30 pages because of all the purple prose. I think Setterfield had more control of her voice in Once Upon a River, but her style is just not for me. And yeah, I think Ready Player One is just objectively bad. Like sure, some people might have fun with it (because 80s, I guess?), but it's still just bad, haha.
Just found your channel and I adore you! Totally agree with Ready Player One. The plot isn't original and the writing isn't great. You can tell he was banking on his pop-culture references to make this book popular. I actually DNF'd it about 50 pages in because I couldn't handle all the gratuitous 80's references. I got them all, I just wasn't impressed. I'm fully convinced that he was banking his success on making 30 something and 40 something men nostalgically orgasm.
I also hated Ready Player One, it was like listening to someone blab about pop culture for hours. I'm not sure why anyone enjoyed it, but each to their own. I DNF after page 30.
Stiff is one of my favorite books ever, but it definitely is because of the frankness with which she discusses the corpse area of science. I wouldn't say it's a fave because i find it funny or narrative. It's just dry enough to not make me uncomfortable. I actually think I'd have been offended if it was funny. I totally see why it's not for everyone, and yeah, you probably wont like the other mary roach books lol 😉📚
People saying you need to see The Cursed Child live to appreciate it frustrate me lol. Like no shit you liked it live, I'm pretty sure the visual effects are incredible and the acting is good, they have budget! But if you strip all of this superficial stuff away, you're left with a very bad story.
I agree about Discovery of Witches - it's something I really want to like but just don't. I do love the Crimes of Grindelwald though- even more than Harry Potter - and I loved Harry Potter. Dumbledore has always been gay in my head - Its the only scenario that made sense to me.
i couldn't plow through harry potter, though-got stuck at the second book-right when they didn't make it to the train. saw the movies and called it a day.
Worse books for me.... Wicked is trash! Bram stoker's Dracula was so boring!! Loved the 90s movie ♥️ I loved discovery of witches ♥️🤭🤣 time travel and romance.
God, do I hate Ready Player One. 80s references are great, but not enough to save this. Thank you for mentioning the gender dynamics, because that's what I can't get beyond, and I'm so confused when women praise this mess. A virtual world in the future where everyone lives, and a gamer girl is still treated like a rare butterfly there be to a nor-like-other-girls love interest, whether she wants if for herself or else.
