Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke & The Bookish. Each week they host a different top ten topic.
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This weeks topic should be about the top books I almost put down but didn't. I found that one really hard, the only one I could think of was Life of Pi. For the most part, if a book is so bad that it makes me want to DNF then I can't really class it as a top read. That's my opinion at least. So instead I am going for the ten books I wish I'd put down. This is a much easier list to compile because who doesn't finish an awful book that they hated and wish they could get that time back.
Well, the top book has to be Allegiant by Veronica Roth. If there is one book I wish I could go back in time and unread, it would be that. The end is what a lot of people had issues with, but for me that wasn't the case. I had a problem with the entire book, it was dull as hell and basically she just reused the storyline from book two. All she did was changed the name of the fighting groups. After spending £8 just for the ebook of it I was pretty angry when it was boring as hell and made me want to go to sleep. I was also less than impressed when she did Four's POV, and had it sound like whiny Tris the whole time. Not attractive. Please, anyone, invent a time machine so I can go back in time and unread it! You can read my spoiler-filled or spoiler-free review of Allegiant.
The second book has to be Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James. I read that book because I worked in a library and had about a million people come in and reserve it. After being told for the thousandth time that I had to read it, I finally did. Because we had over 500 reserves, I bought the boxset super cheap at The Works. This is just awful! It makes me so sad that the fastest selling paperback book in the world, taking over the wondrous, magical and excellently written Harry Potter, is Twilight fanfiction! Seriously, TWILIGHT FANFICTION! She just changed the names from Edward & Bella and got a book deal. It's not even well written fanfiction... it's terrible! I must refer you back to Alex Day on this one.
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff was a book that I had heard a lot of brilliant things about. So I was more than a little upset when I read it and realised that I absolutely hated the whole thing. Seriously, what was everyone raving about? That book infuriated me from beginning to end. The whole war scenario made NO sense and was NEVER explained. Daisy was the most detestable character. And no one batted an eyelid when this 15 year old girl starts sleeping with her 14 year old cousin. I recently watched the film, review will be up next week, and it was soooo good! Way better than the rubbish I forced myself to get through. If I could unread it, I would! You can read my review of it here.
Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, another book that was raved about but turned out to be absolutely awful. Yet another book that shows a weird, controlling, abusive relationship as something that we should find romantic and strive to find ourselves. No! Books really need to stop with the creepy controlling guys and the ditzy, stupid girls who find them desirable.
The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson. I loved Speak, so when I got the chance to review this book early I was really excited. But, I honestly just didn't really like this one at all. Hayley felt forced, she didn't feel like a teenager to me. It seemed like the author was trying to hard to make her sound young, and used these strange phrases that I have never heard a teen say before. The romance didn't work for me, the two of them rarely communicated and they just got on my nerves. But, my biggest issue was the rushed, melodramatic end. You can read my review here.
Every Day by David Levithan is another book that every other person in the world seemed to love, and then there was me! I just didn't get it. Issue 1: The blurb refers to Day as a HE, but he's not a he or a she. Day has no gender and that really bothered me that they couldn't even get that right on the cover. I'm a slim person but I really detested the way Levithan portrayed anyone overweight as disgusting, lazy people... In a book that's all about accepting people for who they are. So, his message is accept a person no matter their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or anything else... but if they're fat then JUDGE THEM HARSHLY! You can read my review here.
I hate starting a book and realising it's going to be a series when it really doesn't need to be. After the End by Amy Plum was one of those books and if I could go back and unread it then I would. It was just really stretched out and the storyline really dragged, yet it's going to be a series. The storyline doesn't really justify the need for it to be told over more than one book. So now I've read a book that had no real conclusion and that bugs me. But there is no way I am going to be picking up the sequel. You can read my full review of it here.
This one will probably shock a lot of the blogosphere, but I really wish I'd put down Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. That had such a huge hype surrounding it that I was convinced I would love it. No suck luck. I was bored almost the whole time I was reading it. Loads of people loved Cather but her character really irritated me, she was such a bitch to Levi. Why did that boy even like her? Plus, Levi was really boring. The fanfiction was pointless and Simon Snow is just a copy of Harry Potter and yet exists in a world where Harry Potter still exists; they even mention HP in the story. Nope, that's stupid! You can read my full, rant-filled review here.
Life By Committee, which I will have my review up for this week, is a book that is essentially like Mean Girls. It wasn't that brilliant a story and had so many similarities to Mean Girls that it was a little funny. The main character is really full of herself and that drove me crazy. I just feel like I could have spent the time I wasted on this book reading something a lot better, or watched Mean Girls.
The Treatment by Suzanne Young. I want to go back and put that one down because it kind of ruined The Program for me and I loved that book. It got five stars from me and then The Treatment came along and made me question why I even liked The Program so much. The Treatment was just nowhere near as good, didn't answer all my questions and had a ridiculously rushed ending. Also, Realm was a character that I just wanted to kill, what a knob! You can read my full review here.
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The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes: 2.5/5 Review
Films for Thoughts on Thursday: The Other Woman
My Weekly Book Haul: 10/05/2014
Boys Like You by Juliana Stone: Review
Leave a link to your own TTT so I can come check it out!
How I Live Now... um I'm having doubts about that book now. And Beautiful Disaster, I swear I've come across a ton of book blogs giving the same comments about that book. I have not read it yet but I don't think I won't be reading it anytime soon, I don't understand how a lot of people are over-looking the fact that Travis is abusive, or have they just been blinded at all to call him "swoon-worthy"
ReplyDeleteI think they are blinded by the fact he is supposedly the most gorgeous man ever, with abs that he doesn't work out to keep. I don't know, they're obviously dumb. I'd like to see how they would actually deal with a man like that as a boyfriend, it would not be pretty.
DeleteI haven't read Fangirl, but I watched part of a video on YouTube that was a scene from the book acted out, and I know it would be different if I actually knew anything about the characters rather than just watched the scene out of context, but I really wasn't impressed by the characters or how they were interacting with one another in the scene.
ReplyDeleteI saw that video as well, found it more exciting then the book itself. It's kind of like that the whole way through, the interactions between characters are very strange most of the time. I know it's because Cath's supposed to be socially awkward, but most of the time she acts like a bitch and I didn't like that.
DeleteHa -- this is a funny idea for a TTT post. Well, I can agree with you on Allegiant. I wish I'd stopped with the first book. And I guess the #1 book I wish I'd put down was American Psycho. That book traumatized me for years!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by! Jen @ YA Romantics
I have that book, but I haven't gotten to it yet, now I am rethinking reading it altogether. I've seen the movie, which I thought was hilarious, but I am sure the book is worse.
DeleteYours is the BEST idea actually....I can only think of 4 books that I came back to so I'm really going to struggle with this TTT. *sigh* Maybe I'll just skip this week. (Although I'm kind of ridiculously addicted to lists, soooo. We'll see. ;) I have a bunch of books I wish I'd stopped reading. Some of my sanity might have been spared. BLEH.
ReplyDeleteI was really tempted to skip too, I was going too but then I thought I could just switch it up a tiny bit and I'd have loads of books to choose from! Exactly, there are so many books now that I wish I could go back and unread, then I'd have more time to read something decent!
DeleteI think it would have been easier for me to write about books I wish I'd put down too. I'm glad I read Fangirl, but I really didn't like it as much as everyone else seems to have done!
ReplyDeleteWell I am actually happy to find more people who didn't love that book!
DeleteAT LAST! Someone else who didn't like FANGIRL! *hugs* *throws confetti* EVERYONE in the blogosphere seems to love this book, EXCEPT ME (and now you ;)).
ReplyDeleteAwwww... I'm sorry you didn't like THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY. I gave it 4.5/5 ;)
I think Laurie Halse Anderson is one of those authors that write books you either LOVE or HATE. I didn't really enjoy SPEAK but each to their own ;) Though I have to admit, there was A LOT of text talk in TIKOM which I didn't like, but oh well :D
Great post! It was my first time doing Top Ten Tuesday and I found this week a tricky topic :)
Here's my TTT: http://onceuponabookishtime.blogspot.co.nz/2014/05/top-ten-tuseday-ten-books-i-almost-put.html
*HIGH FIVE* YAY!!! It's actually extremely exciting to find another human being on the blogosphere who isn't head over heels in love with that book! I was starting to feel like the only one.
DeleteThe text talk in TIKOM got on my nerves so badly, I felt it wasn't even accurate to how young teens text to each other. She took it to the extreme and I also felt like the characters didn't feel real either.
I felt like the ONLY one who did not like Fangirl, so it's awesome to read I am not alone. I was also a little bored and I did not like Cath at all. I also wish I'd never bothered with Beautiful Disaster, it's crap and it promotes violence in relationships
ReplyDeleteMands @ The Bookish Manicurist
YAY! I am happy that this week I have found more than one person who didn't like that book. I felt so alone on that one. And I've been so pleased to find more people who don't agree with the relationship that Beautiful Disaster tries to show as romantic.
DeleteLove how you put your own spin on this week's TTT! 50 Shades is a book I'm glad I never picked up. So true about Allegiant, such a let down!
ReplyDeleteEmily @ Follow the Yellow Book Road
You should be glad you didn't pick it up, not worth it AT ALL! Allegiant is one of the most disappointing books I have ever read.
DeleteAwe, you do have two of my favourite books on here. :( Lol!
ReplyDeleteI thank God haven't ever had the urge to read 50 Shades. There is a way I'm wasting my time of that crap. Sorry you got suckered into it. :/
I've still yet to read The Program. I hope that if I like it and continue onto The Treatment I enjoy it. That sucks when the sequel can ruin the story for you.
Happy reading!
Brittany @ This is the Story of My(Reading) Life
Ooooh intrigued what are your two favourite books lol - probably Fangirl and something else. I know, I had a bad opinion of 50 Shades but kept getting determined to read it in case I was wrong. I wasn't, but now I can judge it completely without feeling bad because I have actually read it.
DeleteI loved the film version of How I Live Now! Such a shame you didn't like After The End, I am desperate to read it! I hate when books don't live up to the hype! Great list :)
ReplyDeleteI loved the film version too! Sooo much better than the book for me :)
DeleteI think I love you. I haven't read all the books on your list, but the ones I have I totally agree with!! How I Live Now was AWFUL! And Daisy was the worst. Truly. And I agree completely about Allegiant. It wasn't so much the ending...it was everything leading up to it. It ruined the series for me. Thank you for stopping by!! I'm going to be a new follower now. :)
ReplyDeleteShannon @ Rex Robot Reviews
I followed back! :) YAY! Happy to find a book twin. Daisy was just so awful, I hated that girl completely. I really ended up enjoying the book which shocked me, but they changed a lot. Allegiant was terrible, happy to find someone who wasn't just bothered by the ending but realised how awful the book was as a whole.
DeleteI ended up putting down How I Live Now. I got about 50 pages in (which is a lot for such a little book), and couldn't do it. I do want to see the film though. I kind of agree with a lot of your choices, and I am surprised I didn't add them to my list. I absolutely hated Beautiful Disaster! Oh, that book made me SO mad, the same with Fifty Shades of Grey... why is does that book exist! Terrible! I also was party of the minority who didn't enjoy Everyday... what an annoying novel. I just couldn't connect.
ReplyDeleteGreat list!
I really wish I had put down How I Live Now, that whole book was just awful. I was so surprised to end up loving this book. I am so happy to find someone else who didn't like Every Day, I felt like the only one. I just couldn't connect to the story or any of the characters. 50 Shades and Beautiful Disaster are just another kind of awful. Not a fan.
DeleteI 100% wish that I put 50 Shades of Crap down. That book was HORRIBLE and I still am so made that I paid actual money for it. I mean real paper money. I will never forgive myself for that one. Also I wasn't a fan of Life by Committee. I just didn't see the magic others saw.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my TTT.
ME TOO! But, thankfully, a guy at work bought mine off me for his girlfriend. YAY! :) LBC just wasn't a good book, not what I was expecting at all.
DeleteOh my gosh I just spewed diet soda all over my keyboard, laughing so hard from that video clip LOL. I actually liked 50 Shades of Grey well enough, but that clip was hilarious-I need to look up more stuff by that guy :D
ReplyDeleteYou do, Alex Day is AWESOME! His videos make me laugh a lot. I love his Alex Reads Twilight videos, I laughed so much.
DeleteHey! I really am not writing this comment because I want to 'start' anything but from your link I just rewatched the Alex Reads Twilight videos, forgetting how funny they were. So naturally I looked him up to see what he was doing now, and remembered that he was one of the Youtubers I read about who was accused of sexual abuse and manipulation...
DeleteI won't go into details about it here but I thought I should let you know as in this post you talked about how controlling, abusive relationships were not okay.
Like I said, I'm not writing this because I want to cause any trouble! Just thought you'd appreciate the heads up.
x
You know, it's funny but I literally just found that out too. I hadn't watched his Youtube clips in FOREVER but when I was doing the post I remembered how much I had loved his Alex Reads Twilight videos. But then I saw a link to a video in the comments section of one of his vids and saw all the stuff that's out there. It's pretty upsetting but I am still not 100% sure of everything that's gone on there. Will have to look into it more.
DeleteI completely agree with you on Fifty Shades of Grey. I didn't get the hype over that book. My inner goddess cringed while reading this book. Glad to know there are people that agree with me.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure there are a ton of people agree. Why does that have such a high Goodreads rating!?!
DeleteAgreed about Allegiant. I had issues with the entire book--stylistically it was such a departure from the first two it just made me very upset. And to hear that The Treatment disappointed you makes me very sad, because that is one that I have been looking forward to reading!
ReplyDeleteTHanks for stoppin' by! Have a great week!
Well I really hope you enjoy The Treatment more than I did, that was just disappointing for me. I really disliked Allegiant, one of the most disappointing final books I've read for a long time.
DeleteOooh but I loved Fangirl and The Program! I'm gonna fight you on those lol.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree about Allegiant . . . a waste of time. How about the last book in the Delirium trilogy too? WHAT WAS THAT?
*Sigh* so many disappointments
I LOVED The Program, I just didn't like The Treatment. I thought it was disappointing, especially when The Program got 5/5 from me. I haven't read it yet, and now I am scared to start the series because of all the bad things I hear about the last book.
DeleteWhat an interesting post. I haven't read those books but the things you described sounds like valid reasons for disliking it. I did watch the video - I absolutely couldn't stop laughing.
ReplyDeleteI love Alex Day, he makes me laugh so much.
DeleteI haven't read any of these, but I've got a copy of Fangirl waiting to be read, and I hope I enjoy it more than you did!
ReplyDeleteRe 50 Shades and Beautiful Disaster, I completely agree with your comment about creepy, controlling guys (cough, Edward Cullen, cough.) Let's have more books with healthy relationships, please!
I really hope you enjoy it more too, I think the hype just ruined that one for me. YAY!!! I am so happy to find others who are ready to see more healthy relationships being shown in fiction.
DeleteDidn't like Beautiful Disaster. At all! Finally someone who agrees, lol. Thanks for stopping by :D
ReplyDeleteYAY!!! With a average rating as high as that one, it's always nice to find someone else who hates that book ;)
DeleteI forced myself to read Fifty Shades of Grey as well, just because it was everywhere. Sorry to hear that After the End was so slow, the blurb had caught my interest but I'm rethinking it.
ReplyDeleteThe blurb sounds so good, I was really excited for that one, but it just dragged a lot for me! :)
DeleteYou weren't the only one who hated FANGIRL. It made it onto my list as well. ;)
ReplyDeleteMy TTT:
http://thereadinghedgehog.blogspot.com/2014/05/top-ten-tuesday-44-teaser-tuesday-5.html
YAY!!!! I'm not alone! :)
Deletewow, okay, so I am currently reading Every Day and have not come across the fat people part... so i like the book so far. I just met the author of The Impossible Knife of Memory and of course i bought the book, and my friend keeps raving about FanGirl so wow... your post was very interesting. I am still excited to read these books, but I am a little worried about Fangirl.... i really want to like it.
ReplyDeleteI hate that bit, really annoyed me because makes Day and the author seem like a total hypocrite. I hope you like it, most of the reviews I have seen gave it 5/5 so I am sure I am pretty alone on that one.
DeleteI love your list! I actually like that you pointed out some issues with very over-hyped books. I loved Fangirl myself, but I will admit the fanfiction part irritated me and I ended up skimming a lot of it, as I didn't like how it was integrated into the book (I liked that it was a satire of HP, but it was so weird that they acknowledged HP in the universe!) I loved Divergent but I have stayed far away from Allegiant because I hear it's such a huge disappointment.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog earlier today! I've just followed you on Bloglovin, I can't wait to read what your future posts!
See, a lot of people said they skipped the fanfiction and it confused me. They loved the book and yet skipped most of it lol. You did well, I wish I had just avoided Allegiant myself.
DeleteGreat list! I haven't read Allegiant, and I don't think I'm going to. Insurgent was such a disappointment, I think it'd be best if I quit at this stage. Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier!
ReplyDeleteQuitting is probably the best option ;)
DeleteI haven't read any of these books, but Fangirl has been on my tbr for a while.. it's the worst thing when books don't live up to the hype!
ReplyDeleteMy TTT
I know, hype can ruin so many books!
DeleteOh, you have books here that I actually love! (See: Every Day, Life by Committee, and okay probably Fangirl too.)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, The Program is on my TBR list! I will reconsider its position on the list now I know that there's The Treatment after it.
I feel like I need to comment on A being a 'he' on the blurb: "A has learned the hard way that the pain of the separation when he wakes up somewhere else the next day is never worth it." A was already Justin in this moment, so I think that's why A had a male gender. OKAY SO I JUST REALLY LOVE THE BOOK SO MUCH, but I totally understand how some people don't like it because honestly, I have questions that were unanswered, too. BUT MY FEELINGS FOR THE BOOK TAKES OVER ANY RATIONAL THOUGHTS, so whatever, right. Haha. (And oops, sorry for the little rant!)
That's not the blurb I have lol and it's not while he is in any particular body. It just really annoyed me, I felt like the publishers felt the need to distinguish a gender but it's pointless when the character doesn't have one.
DeleteAw, I'm sorry to hear you didn't like Fangirl and Every Day - I actually really loved those books. Still, that's what's fun about these Top Ten Tuesday lists - it's always fascinating to see what other people think of the books you've read, no?
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my site today. :-)
Yup, I love going to see what others thought of the books I have read and loved or hated. It's fun to find someone who completely disagrees and be able to see why that was.
DeleteOh, I am right there with you on Fifty Shades! I basically like, forced myself to read it so I could be snarky about it. I felt like a hypocrite saying bad things about books I hadn't read, so I read them. What a horrible, awful waste of time. And most of these are on my TBR (so you know, nervous!) but I did read Allegiant (and of course, completely agree with you!), and After the End, which I did like.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mind After the End but I didn't really see the need for it to be series. Haha, it feels better to completely hate on a book once you've read it.
DeleteI've read Divergent and Insurgent, but I am SO scared to read Allegiant because I don't want to ever be disappointed and waste my cash on a book that didn't please me (I've wasted so much money buying books that ended up bad *cry*). I'm actually reading Fangirl right now, but I'm still in the second chapter. I hope it's something I would end up liking though!
ReplyDeleteJillian @ Jillian's Books
I hope you like it too! I say leave Allegiant well alone, you don't need that in your life ;)
DeleteI've seen Allegiant in a good amount of TTT this week and it's really disappointing since I literally just both the book today @_@ I've browsed it and I did saw the Four's POV was added but now that I've read people get disappointed over it, I'm pretty sure I'm reading it with disappointment written all over my face right at the beginning.. ohwell~
ReplyDeleteczai @ the Blacksheep Project
Hopefully it ends up working out for you, some people have love that book. But, part of me highly doubts that ;) Four's POV is so disappointing, my least favourite part of the whole book and that is truly saying something.
DeleteOMG I'm so happy to find another person who wasn't in love with Every Day. It was awkward and so dang judgy!
ReplyDeleteYAY! A fellow Every Day hater, so rare to find! :)
DeleteI read Divergent and didn't continue with the series. I haven't read any of these, but you're right that some of them had a lot of hype :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by!
Hype can be super annoying ;)
DeleteI completely agree with you about Allegiant, sometimes I wish I hadn't read that book. I feel that way about Requiem too. Oh no…The Treatment, Life by Committee, and After the End? I'm planning on reading all of those! Oh well, my expectations have now been lowered so hopefully that will help. ~Pam
ReplyDeleteLower expectations is always good when you go into a book, it's less likely to disappoint then. I really wish I had never bothered with Allegiant.
DeleteWow, your list kinda hurts haha. Different opinions and all that though :) I loved Allegiant, for me yes it had its blips but I think last quarter of the book really is good. I also really loved Every Day.
ReplyDeleteI just bought How I Live Now and After the End so hoping that I enjoy those.
The one thing I agree with on your list is 50 Shades of Grey. Never read it, have never wanted to read it. I hate books that are only popular because they are popular, stupid book hypes!
Book hypes are the worst! Different opinions are always good, I know I have a lot of popular books on my list.
DeleteI like the take you gave on the topic this week. It was very interesting to read your reasonings. I am among those that really liked How I Live Now, despite everything you said. (I was perturbed about the sleeping with the cousin thing though.) I'm reading Allegiant now, and if it weren't my innate nature to finish everything I pick up, I would probably stop reading it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my TTT
Alex @ The Book Banner
I had to finish it too, wasn't worth my time but I had to keep going.
DeleteSomeone ruined Allegiant for me by telling me the big thing that happens. I mean, I had my suspicions, but having it confirmed... well, makes reading it seem pretty pointless. So I bought it but never got past the first chapter. As for 50 Shades.... I can't even. I HATED this book. Not only was it poorly written, but the characters were one-dimensional, and that one dimension was BORING. Even the erotic elements were pretty flat. I found it particularly offensive because I've read a lot of excellent erotica that is relatively unheard-of. If anyone really wants to read erotica, Cleis Press publishes great anthologies and stand-alones all the time that won't make you wince at the poor vocabulary or want to smack the characters (in a non-erotic way). Anyway, that's my rant. Basically, I agree.
ReplyDeleteYou may as well skip it, you're honestly not missing very much. HAHA!!! I love your 50 Shades rant because it is exactly how I feel. That book was just awful, the writing was terrible and I really did want to slap all of the characters. I don't understand why that became so popular.
DeleteI would choose under the never sky...
ReplyDeleteAlso, I am going to stay well away from Fifty Shades of Grey xD
The only one I have read on the list is Allegiant. I will agree, I didn't like the whole book. The plot was kind of a let down when it came to the other stories, and nothing much exciting happened. It was just a lot of talking and walking around and nothing... interesting. I did like the ending part which people have problems with, partly because Tris wasn't my favourite character and no one can be that lucky when it comes to close to death moments. I also felt proud that Veronica had the guts to kill off the main character. I didn't like the ending with Tobias though >>
http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/2014/05/a-thousand-splendid-suns-book-review.html
I definitely agree to staying away from 50 Shades, not worth it at all. Under the Never Sky is amazing, I definitely recommend that one.
DeleteIn my opinion I didn't really care about the ending and what she did to Tris. I felt it was more for shock value then bravery and didn't make complete sense. I think Caleb should have been allowed to sacrifice himself and redeem is character.