@katerinareem From what I've seen and read, most scholars value books on aesthetic and writing structure. It's a good way to judge books, but that why you end up with stories like Moby Dick having grown men sleeping in the same bed. It's just what you did at the time when all the beds were taken up at inns.
I completely agree with you. i don't dnf because i feel like you can't judge a book when you don't read the whole thing. The endings are important even if the start or the middle of the book is bad.
as someone who DNF's fast - im jealous of the ability to keep reading and not immediately hitting a month long reading slump immediately after . if i see like a single typo i cannot keep going because it haunts me the entire time - im SO picky its actually crazy
tbf i totally see the reasons why people DNF - you spend more time on books you actually enjoy! i still also go into reading slumps after bad books and it's the worsstttt
i seriously admire your ability to power through with bad books, i wish i could persevere but i just can’t, i had to dnf the new me because it was actually just irritating me how blatantly it was ripping off ottessa moshfegh but with none of the wit, humour or charm
17:05 period. I think last year I was able to figure out the themes I enjoy and those I don't, so now I am more picky of the books I buy and read till the end. You never want to buy a book and end up not reading it to the end.
i agree with you, one of the perks of reading a lot more books recently is that i've found more genres that work for me and others that don't so in general i'm less likely to DNF books on a whole!
This was great fun! As a fan of Shirley Jackson: “ Hill House” is certainly a polarising read. I was extremely critical of it following my first read through - it’s certainly not a ghost story despite the marketing. When you read it as a portrait of a psychological breakdown, it becomes far more interesting: are our ghosts within us all along? Having said that, I take all your critiques as valid, honestly, I think Jackson is one of those authors who were better with short stories. Finally I find someone else who hates Sally Rooney! She’s utterly without merit. How does she get such praise? It makes you wonder about the industry. I avoid “DNFing” too- hatereading is underrated! In a weird way, it’s rewarding to wrestle with a bad book and finally defeat it, while being able to judge it based on the entire work, rather than just an underwhelming beginning. The sad truth is that, as a critic, you’d have no credibility if you didn’t suffer through the entire book. It’s part of the job! Your channel is a haven from all the terrible news in the world. Keep up the great work - we need you now more than ever!
thank you so much jack !! hmm maybe i need to give jackson's work another try, i hear good things about her so it's a shame if i didn't venture to her other works! and hahah it's validating to hear you're also not a fan of rooney's work, particularly as she's irish! which is a shame bc i like the way she describes irish cities/settings but just can't stand her characters and plots lol and thank you so much for the lovely words of kindness - i always love reading your comments!
I want to piggy back and peddle my love for We Have Always Lived in the Castle! I think maybe Jackson's brand of horror comes across better through the eyes of one weirdo character. You really get the domestic gothic horror tropes laid out well. One of my favs and a relatively quick read!
@@nicholasburge9594 Fully agreed! - Thank you! - I also recommend newcomers to Jackson to either start with “Castle” or a short story collection. It’s also worth pointing out that the biography by Ruth Franklin is very impressive. There’s also the recent film starting Elisabeth Moss.
I’m a ruthless dnf’er these days 😅😂. Life is too short and I dnf at the point where I know It’s not going to redeem itself for me. The damage is already done 😂 Too funny, your worst of 2024 was also my worst (I was furious reading it). I did watch the film and felt it was better than the novel. I just finished The Wedding People and it handled depression/suicide the same way as domestic violence was handled in This Ends With Us. Actually at least Hoover dealt with it in some manner, whereas suicidal thoughts are completely cured overnight in The Wedding People. I’m drowning in the shallow waters of that novel, not angry but dumbfounded that these topics are still being written in this manner but it’s a bestselling formula, just not for me 😢😮😅
hahaha i totally get you - i think if i didn't rate books online i would be a bit more ruthless when it comes to DNFing as i agree that it feels like a waste of time to force myself to read books i'm not enjoying! and HAHAH the it ends with us hate is real 🤣 good to know on wedding people though - i bought the book for 99p last year on my kindle but i think i'm going to steer clear!
I used to force myself to keep going on bad books. I thought since I paid I should go through it. I also figured there might be some tidbit I'd like and take with me. Well screw that. As I got older I decided not to waste my time. I do have a 100 page promise though I have broken that a few times.
Yesss I've been a Beach Read hater for so long and I see so many people talk about how poignant and moving and well written it is and I'm like??? It reads like a cringe wattpad fic and so do a lot of the books in the adult romance genre😌
I love your thoughts on books you dislike, because you always have fair and valid points, not just "I didn't like it". Your reviews are always interesting. As a p.s I also haven't been a fan of Sally Rooney.
thank you so much karen !! the inner academic girly in me feels the need to justify all my opinions with reasoning lol 🤣 and glad you feel the same about rooney!
I loooove DNFing. I DNF cause I don’t care about the way the story continues or ends. Wasting time on books that suck the joy out of me makes no sense to me, but I low-key admire people who do finish the books they hate. Their reviews often make me feel validated about DNFing, so they do important work 😂. Also, omg thank you for saying that about Sally Rooney. I feel like I’m missing something, but I just don’t like her work at all. I do love she seems to have values, which is rare in popular authors.
i totally feel you because i always fall into reading slumps after i finish a bad book which is a STRUGGLE lol and so glad you agree on sally rooney, i just don't get the hype !!
i haven't yet watched but i've heard from so many people that's it's a fantastic show and completely different from the book! hoping to watch it for halloween this year lol
Oh man I really disliked 'my year of rest and relaxation' so if 'the new me' is even worse I'm definitely not reading that haha 😅 also I really want to get on the Emily Henry train but I read Book Lovers and felt extremely meh about it, I also just didn't like the MC 😑
ah that's a shame as i quite liked my year of rest and relaxation, but i totally get why some people don't vibe with it! and loool i often hear book lovers is better than beach read, but i think i may steer clear if you also think it's meh 🤣
So your least fave is a widely popular book amongst certain demographics? That’s pretty indicative that the crowd who guides trends doesn’t always have good taste. Watched the movie with my sister. While it wasn’t great, I did like the actors who were in the flashbacks. I don’t think Lively is a superb actress. She has basically the same likability in most of her movies. Where she does have a lightheartedness on screen, even if her character is making poor choices and the actress may not be the best off screen. Still, that kind of presence doesn’t mean the acting is going to be nuanced. That might be more on the writing here. I found the concept for the flower shop pretty dumb, as it was way too try hard. Flower shops are a nice refuge filled with smells and colors that can brighten someone’s day. The main guy is pretty cringe right away, so I wonder what it would have looked like if they didn’t make him come off as so alpha (for lack of a better word). His sister was also very annoying as she straight away love bombs the main character. So yeah, I basically just liked the flashback characters.
totally feel you - sometimes i see popular books and i'm like eh? how are these selling so well? and then other actual masterpieces of books are incredibly slept on! also thanks for breaking down the film for me - i was genuinely intrigued how similar it was to the book / what they changed! glad the film seemed a little less painful lol
@ yeah, this book is quite prominent on booktok😂 I would personally not recommend you reading it, but then I again I recall you having mentioned that you don’t tend to like/read books from booktok much anyways!
@@chocolateoreo6489 hahahaha love that you remembered my take on that 🤣 i have liked some "booktok books", but on a whole, the fanbase recommends books that aren't usually my cup of tea lol
Respect! You are so strong! I have to DNF a book, or I risk going into a reading slump. This has happened to me repeatedly, so I must DNF a book nowadays. I don't think of it as "quitting on the book." It's more like "I'm choosing myself over the book", lol. 🫶
The one I ended up not finishing was « Something wicked this way comes » by Ray Bradbury. Not saying it is not good but I did not like the writing style. I had tried Fahrenheit 451 about the same author years ago and also didn’t like it. Lots of people do however 😊 To each his own!
interesting! i read fahrenheit 451 yearrrsss ago and i remember thinking it was okay but didn't absolutely love it (maybe i'd feel differently if i read it now that i'm older) but i totally get you
People need to criticize classic books more often. The lies people give for some of those books are audacious.
i think most classics are impressive to stand the test of time, but others i'm baffled at how they were ever popular lol
@katerinareem From what I've seen and read, most scholars value books on aesthetic and writing structure. It's a good way to judge books, but that why you end up with stories like Moby Dick having grown men sleeping in the same bed. It's just what you did at the time when all the beds were taken up at inns.
I completely agree with you. i don't dnf because i feel like you can't judge a book when you don't read the whole thing. The endings are important even if the start or the middle of the book is bad.
if i get at least half way i count it as a read
100% agree - it says a lot about a book in the way the author chooses to end it!
haha totally understand this!
That's ok if the story is bad but I dnf if I can't get on with the writing style
as someone who DNF's fast - im jealous of the ability to keep reading and not immediately hitting a month long reading slump immediately after . if i see like a single typo i cannot keep going because it haunts me the entire time - im SO picky its actually crazy
tbf i totally see the reasons why people DNF - you spend more time on books you actually enjoy! i still also go into reading slumps after bad books and it's the worsstttt
I don't directly choose to not finish a book; instead I just kind of drift away from it until something else grabs my attention.
i seriously admire your ability to power through with bad books, i wish i could persevere but i just can’t, i had to dnf the new me because it was actually just irritating me how blatantly it was ripping off ottessa moshfegh but with none of the wit, humour or charm
so glad you also agree that the new me felt like a blatant copy !!
12:19 I agree with you so much about the review about Beach Read, January was just annoying somehow after sometime. Yeah about the chemistry too.
it was a SLOG
17:05 period. I think last year I was able to figure out the themes I enjoy and those I don't, so now I am more picky of the books I buy and read till the end. You never want to buy a book and end up not reading it to the end.
i agree with you, one of the perks of reading a lot more books recently is that i've found more genres that work for me and others that don't so in general i'm less likely to DNF books on a whole!
This was great fun!
As a fan of Shirley Jackson: “ Hill House” is certainly a polarising read. I was extremely critical of it following my first read through - it’s certainly not a ghost story despite the marketing. When you read it as a portrait of a psychological breakdown, it becomes far more interesting: are our ghosts within us all along? Having said that, I take all your critiques as valid, honestly, I think Jackson is one of those authors who were better with short stories.
Finally I find someone else who hates Sally Rooney! She’s utterly without merit. How does she get such praise? It makes you wonder about the industry.
I avoid “DNFing” too- hatereading is underrated! In a weird way, it’s rewarding to wrestle with a bad book and finally defeat it, while being able to judge it based on the entire work, rather than just an underwhelming beginning. The sad truth is that, as a critic, you’d have no credibility if you didn’t suffer through the entire book. It’s part of the job!
Your channel is a haven from all the terrible news in the world. Keep up the great work - we need you now more than ever!
thank you so much jack !! hmm maybe i need to give jackson's work another try, i hear good things about her so it's a shame if i didn't venture to her other works! and hahah it's validating to hear you're also not a fan of rooney's work, particularly as she's irish! which is a shame bc i like the way she describes irish cities/settings but just can't stand her characters and plots lol and thank you so much for the lovely words of kindness - i always love reading your comments!
I want to piggy back and peddle my love for We Have Always Lived in the Castle! I think maybe Jackson's brand of horror comes across better through the eyes of one weirdo character. You really get the domestic gothic horror tropes laid out well. One of my favs and a relatively quick read!
@@nicholasburge9594 Fully agreed! - Thank you! - I also recommend newcomers to Jackson to either start with “Castle” or a short story collection. It’s also worth pointing out that the biography by Ruth Franklin is very impressive. There’s also the recent film starting Elisabeth Moss.
I didn't like hill house because it triggered me way too much. How bleak it was!
@@Horrorbabe4 Yes! I know exactly what you mean, it can be an extremely uncomfortable book.
Loved the video, I also hated The Satsuma Complex looool it was too dead
so relieved you feel the same - i had people message me on instagram saying they disagreed with me LOL
@ I had friends in a book club that mostly hated it lol. I can’t see what people found good about that book, your DMs must be wild 😭
@ i think me and my friends have very different reading tastes hahahaha
I’m a ruthless dnf’er these days 😅😂. Life is too short and I dnf at the point where I know It’s not going to redeem itself for me. The damage is already done 😂
Too funny, your worst of 2024 was also my worst (I was furious reading it). I did watch the film and felt it was better than the novel. I just finished The Wedding People and it handled depression/suicide the same way as domestic violence was handled in This Ends With Us. Actually at least Hoover dealt with it in some manner, whereas suicidal thoughts are completely cured overnight in The Wedding People. I’m drowning in the shallow waters of that novel, not angry but dumbfounded that these topics are still being written in this manner but it’s a bestselling formula, just not for me 😢😮😅
hahaha i totally get you - i think if i didn't rate books online i would be a bit more ruthless when it comes to DNFing as i agree that it feels like a waste of time to force myself to read books i'm not enjoying! and HAHAH the it ends with us hate is real 🤣 good to know on wedding people though - i bought the book for 99p last year on my kindle but i think i'm going to steer clear!
I admire you for your ability to not DNF! If I get a whiff of something that annoys me in a book I put it down. Ain’t got time for bad books!
hahaha that's totally fair - no point wasting time on bad books!
I used to force myself to keep going on bad books. I thought since I paid I should go through it. I also figured there might be some tidbit I'd like and take with me.
Well screw that. As I got older I decided not to waste my time. I do have a 100 page promise though I have broken that a few times.
that is totally fair - no point wasting time on books you don't enjoy!
@@katerinareem I can't be the only one who reads your replies in your voice. 🤣
Louder for people in the back: the haunting of hill house is DULLLLLLLLLL😮💨😤
lmfaoooo agree
''A Little Life'', I DNF 1 in 100 books, and this was the one. So badly written, I stopped reading on a half.
totally agree with this, i also wasn't a fan of a little life!
Yesss I've been a Beach Read hater for so long and I see so many people talk about how poignant and moving and well written it is and I'm like??? It reads like a cringe wattpad fic and so do a lot of the books in the adult romance genre😌
"poignant and moving" HAHAHA what the hell
I love your thoughts on books you dislike, because you always have fair and valid points, not just "I didn't like it". Your reviews are always interesting. As a p.s I also haven't been a fan of Sally Rooney.
thank you so much karen !! the inner academic girly in me feels the need to justify all my opinions with reasoning lol 🤣 and glad you feel the same about rooney!
I loooove DNFing. I DNF cause I don’t care about the way the story continues or ends. Wasting time on books that suck the joy out of me makes no sense to me, but I low-key admire people who do finish the books they hate. Their reviews often make me feel validated about DNFing, so they do important work 😂. Also, omg thank you for saying that about Sally Rooney. I feel like I’m missing something, but I just don’t like her work at all. I do love she seems to have values, which is rare in popular authors.
i totally feel you because i always fall into reading slumps after i finish a bad book which is a STRUGGLE lol and so glad you agree on sally rooney, i just don't get the hype !!
Nifty work! The worst book I finished in 2024 was The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe.
thank you ! ooo i've never heard of that book, but that may be a good thing given it was your worst 🤣
Yay Katerina is such an icon (: sometimes being a hater is necessary!
i haven't yet watched but i've heard from so many people that's it's a fantastic show and completely different from the book! hoping to watch it for halloween this year lol
Did you watch the haunting of hill house series? It is great. Not like the book at all.
Omg THANK you for the sally roomey hate !! I don‘t like her work either
Same, EXCEPT for Intermezzo - loved it
@ no intermezzo was whack too, no depth and boring story i always thought „when is this really starting“ lol
this is so funny hahahah
@@katerinareem i‘m sorry i‘m just brutally honest😭i love your videos!
@ don't apologise i love your honesty !! i just got intermezzo for £1 and now i'm wondering if i even bother reading it LOL and thanks so much queen
oh i know we have the same taste because i hated beach read 😭😭😭 emily henry hype baffles me
so glad you agree bestie 🤝
She kills the thumbnail again
yay thank you so much !!
Oh man I really disliked 'my year of rest and relaxation' so if 'the new me' is even worse I'm definitely not reading that haha 😅 also I really want to get on the Emily Henry train but I read Book Lovers and felt extremely meh about it, I also just didn't like the MC 😑
ah that's a shame as i quite liked my year of rest and relaxation, but i totally get why some people don't vibe with it! and loool i often hear book lovers is better than beach read, but i think i may steer clear if you also think it's meh 🤣
So your least fave is a widely popular book amongst certain demographics? That’s pretty indicative that the crowd who guides trends doesn’t always have good taste. Watched the movie with my sister. While it wasn’t great, I did like the actors who were in the flashbacks. I don’t think Lively is a superb actress. She has basically the same likability in most of her movies. Where she does have a lightheartedness on screen, even if her character is making poor choices and the actress may not be the best off screen. Still, that kind of presence doesn’t mean the acting is going to be nuanced. That might be more on the writing here. I found the concept for the flower shop pretty dumb, as it was way too try hard. Flower shops are a nice refuge filled with smells and colors that can brighten someone’s day. The main guy is pretty cringe right away, so I wonder what it would have looked like if they didn’t make him come off as so alpha (for lack of a better word). His sister was also very annoying as she straight away love bombs the main character. So yeah, I basically just liked the flashback characters.
totally feel you - sometimes i see popular books and i'm like eh? how are these selling so well? and then other actual masterpieces of books are incredibly slept on! also thanks for breaking down the film for me - i was genuinely intrigued how similar it was to the book / what they changed! glad the film seemed a little less painful lol
My most disliked book of 2024 had to have been “Twisted Love” by Ana Huang! 😬
hahaha i always see this on booktok too 🤣
@ yeah, this book is quite prominent on booktok😂 I would personally not recommend you reading it, but then I again I recall you having mentioned that you don’t tend to like/read books from booktok much anyways!
@@chocolateoreo6489 hahahaha love that you remembered my take on that 🤣 i have liked some "booktok books", but on a whole, the fanbase recommends books that aren't usually my cup of tea lol
I can see why you didn't like Beach Read. Book Lovers is my favourite Emily Henry book.
i hear this often! i wonder if it's worth giving book lovers another read - is the writing and characters better?
@@katerinareem I think so but don't force yourself to read a book you are unsure about.
15:32 That is why I didnt even try reading this book😂
yea don't waste your time on this trash 🤣
Respect! You are so strong! I have to DNF a book, or I risk going into a reading slump. This has happened to me repeatedly, so I must DNF a book nowadays. I don't think of it as "quitting on the book." It's more like "I'm choosing myself over the book", lol. 🫶
that's honestly such a good perspective to have 🤣 trust me i still also fall into reading slumps after reading bad books, it's the worst lol
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i love that youre a hater
pahahahah this is so funny
The one I ended up not finishing was « Something wicked this way comes » by Ray Bradbury. Not saying it is not good but I did not like the writing style. I had tried Fahrenheit 451 about the same author years ago and also didn’t like it. Lots of people do however 😊 To each his own!
interesting! i read fahrenheit 451 yearrrsss ago and i remember thinking it was okay but didn't absolutely love it (maybe i'd feel differently if i read it now that i'm older) but i totally get you