This is the type of list Céline belongs on! I have been shocked to see how many people praised it this year. I think the “uncut” Stranger in a Strange Land worlds better than the version that eventually made it to publication back in the day. Hope you don’t see too many duds this year, Fraser! Cheers, Jack
I quite liked the Candy House. Several of the stories in there have stuck with me, despite the time that’s elapsed since reading it. I totally agree with you, however, on The Island of Missing Trees. Meh.
I’m glad it worked for you. I disliked it enough that I still feel slighted by it. It felt like the anthesis of what made the Goon Squad good, to me. Missing Trees seems to be more divisive than I expected!
Thanks for pointing out the phenomenon of people liking long books just because they finished the long book! I think I have been guilty of this with _Infinite Jest_. I still liked the book, but I see its many flaws better after a few decades remove. I haven't read The Savage Detectives, but I have thought about it. Now, not as interested. "Nihilism and all that kind of crap" YES!!
I want to read Infinite Jest this year! I loved The Pale King, so I’m optimistic. Yeah, I feel like books with nihilistic characters are often very boring, because they just do whatever they want and the author makes sure the consequences align with their perception of their belief. It ends up being so basic and makes such a static character anyway. I don’t get it.
I think you and I are the only two in the world who don't get on with the darlings that are Bolano and Matt Haig. Because you read so widely, I was really surprised (but secretly pleased) that so many of your worst reads were by big name, established authors. I do have the Celine on my TBR pile
Make that three ...I absolutely can't stand prescriptive stories . Just dnf'd The Island of Missing Trees ...for the same reason and because it was chock full of cliches and cut and paste environmentalism .
I wonder how you’ll like the Celine. It felt very adolescent and petulant and prescriptive to me, but I was pretty predisposed to disliking it. I’m glad others don’t like Haig. He really bugs me. Some other big Booker ones almost made it on the list… these are just the ones that still bugged me the most, when I looked at everything.
Ha, always here for some Murakami-bashing. 😅 I think it's truly amazing that he can even make sexism boring. And also really happy there is at least one other person who didnt like the Shafak.
It’s really so tiring. In this one he had a female character with pretty clear masculine qualities inserted because it’s the only way he knows how to give someone Agency, but then removes all of it and makes her the most static, inactive character I’ve probably ever encountered. I have no idea why people love the guy so much.
The first time I read 1q84 I loved it, it was the first time I could really appreaciate the writing style, and I liked the story. I read it again a couple of years ago, and it was a lot more flawed and problematic on a second read for me
Interesting! And what do you make of the ending? I thought it was very annoying how subjective he makes it after all that time. Like ooo maybe they never got out of the dream at all who knows, blah!
We need to quickly acknowledge that the Cormac McCarthy cover in your background looks exactly like Ducks Newburyport and I don't know how to feel about it. I am going to read 1Q84 one day, but I will hate it.
Haha kind of! It’s a house in a swampy looking place but the colour palette is really similar for sure! Don’t do that to yourself! I was optimistic about it after book 1, but then it’s clear he’s just unable to make it remotely interesting as it goes on.
Oh, interesting! I was actually playing with picking that up around Booker season and then shirked it because of so many books I didn’t like. Some of which were contenders for this list… like Nightcrawling.
I have seen Missing Trees on a few lists and even though I enjoyed it I can totally see why. Its great hearing about books people don’t like just as much as I do ones they do. The Exhibitionist is the book that stands out to me as the worst book I completed last year. I normally don’t complete books I don’t enjoy and I barely remember what I DNF 😂
what an entertainingly anti-establishment list! intriguing too since quite a few are on my mental TBR. i really liked hearing your thoughts on the Island of Missing Trees - i also find human-centric approaches to environmentalism disappointing and frustrating, and kinda self-defeating i suppose ~
The ones that have the most expectations going in are the lauded modern/ classics I suppose! I’m surprised at how many people mentioned they didn’t like Missing Trees either, I had mostly seen lots of gushing reviews of it.
I read 1Q84 in 2011 and I don’t remember a thing about it though I didn’t hate it. The same goes for The Savage Detectives. To Paradise and The Candy House are on the long list for the BookTube Prize. I selected the first because others have liked it, but rejected the second because it’s a sequel and I haven’t read the first.
At least you made it through The Savage Detectives! I just couldn’t stand it enough to get through it. I made it to the next part because people said it got better but, not for me~ I think you’d like The Candy House more if you didn’t read Good Squad, because Good Squad is excellent, and Candy House feels like the anthesis of it.
Heh, Stranger in a Strange Land is one of those books that I enjoy because of how much of a man-yells-at-cloud book it is rather than because I think it has any kind of true artistic quality. 🤣
I might dislike midnight library even more, just because it’s prescriptive in the same way as the humans, with the added bonus of generic self helpy platitudes regarding a character with suicidal ideation. It was on my worst of the year previous but I owned both, unfortunately
I've definitely seen plenty of books show up on both best and worsts this year, but this is particularly a lovely contrarian list. 😃 I love it.
Haha thanks! I could have put some more Booker contenders on there tbh but these were the ones that bugged me the most
This is the type of list Céline belongs on! I have been shocked to see how many people praised it this year. I think the “uncut” Stranger in a Strange Land worlds better than the version that eventually made it to publication back in the day. Hope you don’t see too many duds this year, Fraser!
Cheers, Jack
Oh I wonder which version I read… I just have the penguin galaxy edition, didn’t realize there was more than one! It’s pretty chunky as is!
I do love listening to you talk about books you hate! I DNF'd Missing Trees and To Paradise.
Haha thanks! You’re good at DNFing! I have a ways to go with putting stuff down. I like for it to count as being read I think
I quite liked the Candy House. Several of the stories in there have stuck with me, despite the time that’s elapsed since reading it. I totally agree with you, however, on The Island of Missing Trees. Meh.
I’m glad it worked for you. I disliked it enough that I still feel slighted by it. It felt like the anthesis of what made the Goon Squad good, to me. Missing Trees seems to be more divisive than I expected!
What are the two good stories in The Candy House you mentioned?
The cuckoo girls story and the one with the unconventionally formatting cyber spy one.
Thanks for pointing out the phenomenon of people liking long books just because they finished the long book! I think I have been guilty of this with _Infinite Jest_. I still liked the book, but I see its many flaws better after a few decades remove.
I haven't read The Savage Detectives, but I have thought about it. Now, not as interested.
"Nihilism and all that kind of crap" YES!!
I want to read Infinite Jest this year! I loved The Pale King, so I’m optimistic. Yeah, I feel like books with nihilistic characters are often very boring, because they just do whatever they want and the author makes sure the consequences align with their perception of their belief. It ends up being so basic and makes such a static character anyway. I don’t get it.
I think you and I are the only two in the world who don't get on with the darlings that are Bolano and Matt Haig. Because you read so widely, I was really surprised (but secretly pleased) that so many of your worst reads were by big name, established authors. I do have the Celine on my TBR pile
Make that three ...I absolutely can't stand prescriptive stories . Just dnf'd The Island of Missing Trees ...for the same reason and because it was chock full of cliches and cut and paste environmentalism .
You are definitely not the only two. 😜
I am not a Matt Haig fangirl.
I wonder how you’ll like the Celine. It felt very adolescent and petulant and prescriptive to me, but I was pretty predisposed to disliking it. I’m glad others don’t like Haig. He really bugs me. Some other big Booker ones almost made it on the list… these are just the ones that still bugged me the most, when I looked at everything.
Ha, always here for some Murakami-bashing. 😅 I think it's truly amazing that he can even make sexism boring. And also really happy there is at least one other person who didnt like the Shafak.
It’s really so tiring. In this one he had a female character with pretty clear masculine qualities inserted because it’s the only way he knows how to give someone Agency, but then removes all of it and makes her the most static, inactive character I’ve probably ever encountered. I have no idea why people love the guy so much.
The first time I read 1q84 I loved it, it was the first time I could really appreaciate the writing style, and I liked the story. I read it again a couple of years ago, and it was a lot more flawed and problematic on a second read for me
Interesting! And what do you make of the ending? I thought it was very annoying how subjective he makes it after all that time. Like ooo maybe they never got out of the dream at all who knows, blah!
@@SpringboardThought yeah, it was very underwhelming
We need to quickly acknowledge that the Cormac McCarthy cover in your background looks exactly like Ducks Newburyport and I don't know how to feel about it.
I am going to read 1Q84 one day, but I will hate it.
Haha kind of! It’s a house in a swampy looking place but the colour palette is really similar for sure!
Don’t do that to yourself! I was optimistic about it after book 1, but then it’s clear he’s just unable to make it remotely interesting as it goes on.
I think if you read Sara Baume's "Seven Steeples" which I'm going to review in my next wrap up, it might realign your views on pastoralism.
Oh, interesting! I was actually playing with picking that up around Booker season and then shirked it because of so many books I didn’t like. Some of which were contenders for this list… like Nightcrawling.
This was so much fun! Although the Murakami fans probably will be coming for you now. 😉
Hah well I already have that specific video reviewing it calling it inept or whatever, so they’re after me already!
I have seen Missing Trees on a few lists and even though I enjoyed it I can totally see why.
Its great hearing about books people don’t like just as much as I do ones they do. The Exhibitionist is the book that stands out to me as the worst book I completed last year. I normally don’t complete books I don’t enjoy and I barely remember what I DNF 😂
I did dnf more books than usual, mostly because of the Booker project, but should still dnf more I think. Gotta get better at just ditching them
what an entertainingly anti-establishment list! intriguing too since quite a few are on my mental TBR. i really liked hearing your thoughts on the Island of Missing Trees - i also find human-centric approaches to environmentalism disappointing and frustrating, and kinda self-defeating i suppose ~
The ones that have the most expectations going in are the lauded modern/ classics I suppose! I’m surprised at how many people mentioned they didn’t like Missing Trees either, I had mostly seen lots of gushing reviews of it.
I read 1Q84 in 2011 and I don’t remember a thing about it though I didn’t hate it. The same goes for The Savage Detectives. To Paradise and The Candy House are on the long list for the BookTube Prize. I selected the first because others have liked it, but rejected the second because it’s a sequel and I haven’t read the first.
At least you made it through The Savage Detectives! I just couldn’t stand it enough to get through it. I made it to the next part because people said it got better but, not for me~ I think you’d like The Candy House more if you didn’t read Good Squad, because Good Squad is excellent, and Candy House feels like the anthesis of it.
I’m glad you read these books so I don’t have to! 😂
Haha putting in the work 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻
Heh, Stranger in a Strange Land is one of those books that I enjoy because of how much of a man-yells-at-cloud book it is rather than because I think it has any kind of true artistic quality. 🤣
Sooo much yelling at clouds. Basically allll he does via that stupid dad figure guy. So masturbatory.
The Humans by Matt Haig! One of the worst things I’ve ever read! Just laugh-out-lad terrible.
I might dislike midnight library even more, just because it’s prescriptive in the same way as the humans, with the added bonus of generic self helpy platitudes regarding a character with suicidal ideation. It was on my worst of the year previous but I owned both, unfortunately
Oh Fraser. With all you read, there has to be some duds. Yours happen to be particularly rotten.
Totes!