Ten Books I Had VERY Strong Emotions About

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

It's been a while since I had time to do a Top Ten Tuesday post! This week we're talking about books we had strong emotions about — any kind of emotion! My list includes books that induced a variety of strong emotions in me.

1. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
This book emotionally wrecked me. I'm glad it was so emphatically recommended by so many people because the first half was hard to get through, but the second half was brilliant and devastating.

2. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
In my memory I gave this book 2 stars, but apparently I actually gave it 3.5 stars. However, there was one plot point that made me incredibly angry, and I'm especially frustrated that I have yet to see anyone else mention it but continue to see people raving about this book. It's not OK! Why are we all acting like it's OK??

3. Every Day by David Levithan
I'm not sure if "emotions" is the right word, but this book completely took over my brain for days after I finished it. Maybe "disturbed" is the closest descriptor of how I felt afterwards? I think what was most unsettling was that it had the tone of a YA romance but the protagonist didn't actually get a happy ending, and in fact one was never really possible for them, which is why it messed me up so much.

4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
I remember being in complete shock at the end of this book. I couldn't believe what had happened, and I definitely went through the stages of grief in coming to terms with the events of this book before we got more context in the final volume.

5. The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
This memoir of ten Boom's experience living through the Holocaust took me on a rollercoaster of emotions, both laughing out loud and sobbing. The books that can do that are few and far between, and hers was probably the most intense that I've experienced.

6. Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli
I felt so incredibly seen by this book that I haven't been able to stop recommending it since reading it. I will talk at length about how well this book showcases the experience of "passionate 'ally' struggles with exploring her own identity." I am thrilled by the fact that so many people have now read this book on my recommendation and then come back to tell me how much they loved it.

7. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
This book has yet to be unseated as my favorite book of all time since I first read it in 2012. It's already a rare feat for a book to make me cry real tears; it's an even more incredible one when a book can do that again, even though I already know what happens. Even now, thinking of the line about moss and motherhood can make me tear up.

8. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
What pisses me off so much about this book is that 90% of it is a wonderful depiction of grief and the complicated aftermath of an untimely death, and then the author took the story completely off the rails for no good reason. There is so much about the last 10% of this book that is unnecessary, problematic, unrealistic, and incoherent that it's almost like a completely different book. I can and have ranted about the issues with this book at length and would gladly do so again!

9. None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio
This book had possibly the longest list of critiques that I've ever put in a Goodreads review. It was an absolute mess for a multitude of reasons, but first and foremost the fact that it's an offensive representation of the very experience it's intended to draw attention to. I probably wouldn't be so upset about what a dumpster fire this book is if it weren't one of the few books out there depicting an intersex experience and thus frequently recommended as a way to learn more about that. The fact that the author is a founding member of We Need Diverse Books really bothers me, given that she thought this transphobic and intersexphobic work was OK to put out into the world.

10. Snapdragon by Kat Leyh
Ending on a positive note, I adore this graphic novel with the fire of a thousand suns. This holds the record for the shortest span of time between me reading and then re-reading a book. My heart may as well have been beating outside my chest for the intensity of the emotional journey that this little book took me on.

Which books have you had strong emotions about?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: The 57 Bus, Diary of a Misfit, The Bad Guys in Mission Unpluckable, and McDonald's
Five years ago I was reading: The Trespasser and The Blue Castle
Ten years ago I was reading: The Remains of the Day and Predictably Irrational

Ten Books I'd Gladly Throw Into the Ocean

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

I originally thought this week's topic was simply going to be another list of my lowest-rated books, but I realized that there are plenty of books I gave 1 or 2 stars to that I have no interest in angrily chucking into the ocean (or some other, more eco-friendly imaginary scenario). For example, Postern of Fate is an absolutely incomprehensible mess of a book, but I hold no rage about the fact that Agatha Christie's mind was mostly gone at the end of her life and her publisher knew people would still buy the book if they printed it. These books, however, bring up a visceral reaction in me when I see them, and I would get great satisfaction from sinking them down to the bottom of the ocean.

1. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
The intention behind this book was "It's not your fault if someone you love takes their own life," but the way Niven goes about that basically sends the message, "If you're suicidal, literally nothing anyone does will help in the end, but maybe your death can help someone else!" OMG NO NO NO NO.

2. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
I know, I know, it's a "cult classic" and exemplifies the genre of "gonzo journalism" but from the perspective of the 21st century this just reads like two guys being super racist, sexist, and homophobic while doing a lot of drugs, causing immense property damage, running up bills they don't pay for, and terrorizing innocent people. In today's America, the fact that they got off with a warning after trying to outrun a cop with a car full of drugs isn't hilarious, it's just a screaming example of white privilege. No thank you.

3. A General Theory of Love by Dr. Thomas Lewis, Dr. Fari Amini, and Dr. Richard Lannon
This book was a collection of sweeping conclusions based on minimal evidence that in some cases could actually be harmful if their word is taken as gospel simply because they're three doctors. For example, they somehow extrapolate that because having zero interactions with a loving caregiver causes mammals to become dysfunctional or die, babies must need as much time as physically possible in direct contact with their biological mother. (Their father is apparently unimportant.) I do not think anyone should get advice about love from this book.

4. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne
If we leave aside for a second the ways that J.K. Rowling has turned out to be a trash human — she had the option to either stop after seven books and let the Harry Potter universe stand as it was or to write an actual eighth book with all of the nuance and thorough planning of the first seven. Instead, we got this "official" eighth Harry Potter book that is actually a play and written by someone else and reads mostly like fanfiction from someone who wanted to capitalize on Potter nostalgia but not take any risks outside of the existing universe. Can we steal a Time Turner and make this never happen?

5. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
It irritates me that this book is so beloved and frequently recommended. It basically centers on a guy who sexually assaults a bunch of people (including multiple teenage girls) and violently attacks a bunch of other people, and it's supposed to be stirring literature because there are historical events involved or something. I'm over it.

6. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
In this case, I would specifically like to throw the last 10% of this book in the ocean. The first 90% of the book is a beautifully written work about death and grief and relationships, albeit with some clichés. Then Sebold inexplicably throws in a completely bizarre and problematic chapter that changes the entire tone of the book, and the whole thing goes downhill from there. I might not even be so angry if the rest of the book wasn't so good, but it's like she decided to light the whole thing on fire for no reason!

7. The Millionaire Next Door by Dr. Thomas J. Stanley and Dr. Williams D. Danko
I picked up this book for the interesting statistics on how "real" millionaires spend their money vs. the people who spend all their money to appear rich to others. However, what I got was the message that you should live really frugally so that you can amass a huge fortune (with specific dollar amounts included), you shouldn't spend the money on your kids because they'll become dependent, and then you should donate your money before you die so the government doesn't get it. What kind of life is that? I much prefer I Will Teach You to Be Rich, where the philosophy is that you decide what gives your life value and then intentionally plan your saving and spending around that.

8. None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio
I was so happy to see that someone had written a book with an intersex protagonist, but then it turned out the actual book was a poorly written, predictable, transphobic, intersexphobic, slur-filled pile of garbage that is now, unfortunately, the go-to book for people to learn about intersex conditions. Grrrr.

9. Washed and Waiting by Wesley Hill
As a long-time member of Q Christian Fellowship, I have LGBTQ+ Christian friends who are in committed same-gender relationships as well as LGBTQ+ Christian friends who have chosen celibacy, and I have frequently heard this book mentioned as the book to explain the latter approach. Unfortunately, unlike my friends' very thoughtful and beautiful explanations of their calls to celibacy, Hill does not have a positive spin to share on celibacy. He instead makes a surface-level argument for why the Bible requires this of gay people, and then basically talks about how lonely and miserable he is but that he has to deal with it. It upset me that this is held up as the exemplar of gay celibacy when there are so many more nuanced and affirming perspectives out there (not to mention how this aligns perfectly with those who want to weaponize the Bible to force celibacy on all gay people).

10. The Younger Gods by David and Leigh Eddings
This was the last book of the Eddingses' last series, and it was awful. It takes everything that happens in the rest of the series and throws it all away with a plot that makes no sense at all. It would have been bad enough as a standalone, but after reading hundreds of pages about these characters and getting invested in their story, it was infuriating to have it all undone with this last mess of a book.

Which books would you throw in the ocean?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: The Sea of Tranquility, The Left Hand of Darkness, V for Vendetta, and Paradise Lost
Five years ago I was reading: Ragtime, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, and A People's History of the United States
Ten years ago I was reading: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Ten Books I Hated that Goodreads Loved

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

This week's topic is "unpopular book opinions." I decided to find the ten books where my rating on Goodreads differed the most from the average rating for that book. These all ended up being books I had given 1 star where the average rating was 3.8 or above. Here are my top ten!

1. Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne (Average Rating: 3.85)
This was mind-numbingly boring. They do a lot of walking. There are a lot of outdated scientific discussions. And then they don't even make it to the center of the earth. I'm sure in 1864 it was thrilling, but I can't understand why so many modern readers love it.

2. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (Average Rating: 3.98)
I did give David Sedaris another chance later on and enjoyed one of his other books, but I spent most of this one cringing. He awkwardly makes fun of himself, he unkindly makes fun of other people, and he describes certain things that are disgusting or disturbing. Not the kind of humor I enjoy.

3. I Am an Emotional Creature by Eve Ensler (Average Rating: 4.01)
I thought this book was frankly terrible. It read like a checklist of issues (eating disorders, abusive relationships, human trafficking, FGM, etc.), for each of which Ensler tried to put herself inside the head of, say, a child factory worker in China with minimal research. The writing wandered and the audience was unclear, unless it is "middle-aged women who think this book would be really great for teens," which seem to be the people rating it highly on Goodreads.

4. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (Average Rating: 4.01)
I do not understand the appeal of noir fiction or film, full stop. Philip Marlowe is devoid of emotion, and he and the other characters talk in so much slang, sarcasm, and hints I didn't know what they were talking about a good part of the time. Add that together with a lot of murders no one seems to care much about and a bunch of ridiculous female characters, and yeah, not my cup of tea.

5. The World According to Garp by John Irving (Average Rating: 4.08)
This book was so radically different from A Prayer for Owen Meany that I couldn't believe they were by the same author, though evidently plenty of people love both books equally. It's a mess of gratuitous sex and gore and offensive stereotypes mixed in with some attempted commentary on feminism and fame that was too convoluted to follow.

6. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson (Average Rating: 4.08)
Reading about two grown men taking lots of drugs and then causing immense property damage, running up bills they don't pay for, and terrorizing innocent people, told amid a massive amount of racism, sexism, ableism, and homophobia, is not my idea of a good read. Most of the positive reviews I read reference how groundbreaking his particularly style of writing was for the time, which is fine, but what exactly makes it such a must-read for today's readers?

7. A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon (Average Rating: 4.11)
I am genuinely baffled how this book has such high ratings. The writing was overly complex, the authors made constant unfounded generalizations, and the "theory" seemed to be that children need to be with their mothers 24/7 or they will be doomed for life. Maybe people are only reading this if it supports beliefs they already hold about parenting?

8. A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks (Average Rating: 4.16)
Perhaps I'm biased because I saw the movie first, but I thought it was infinitely better than the book. So many of the things I enjoyed about the movie were absent in the book, in which the writing felt flat and the characters unrealistic. But then I don't usually read these kinds of fluffy romantic books anyway, so maybe it's good for people who like the genre.

9. This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl (Average Rating: 4.17)
My negative review of this book has more "likes" than any other review I've written on Goodreads, so clearly I'm not alone in my opinion, though I'm outnumbered by all the people rating it highly. My only guess why the ratings are so high is that people primarily picked this up right after it came out if they were Nerdfighters and/or fans of John Green, and so they were predisposed to feel positively about it. I should have been, too, but I was disappointed by the fact that it was just a poorly edited document dump of what could have been the source material for a good book.

10. Love Does by Bob Goff (Average Rating: 4.29)
This is my second-most "liked" review on Goodreads. Many of the things Goff "does" in the book are not so much evidence of his love as evidence of his lawyerly wealth and he seems oblivious to how much of what he "gets away with" is evidence of his privilege, not just a cute metaphor for being a Jesus freak. There were good lines throughout, but the book just encapsulated everything I hate about American Christian Culture as a commercial entity.

Which beloved books did you dislike?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: The Alienist, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and Feeling Good
Five years ago I was reading: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, A Fine Balance, and A Suitable Boy
Ten years ago I was reading: Metaphors We Live By

Ten Books I Disliked but Am Glad I Read

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

This week's topic is pretty self-explanatory. I did not enjoy reading these books and would not recommend them, but I'm still glad to have read them for one reason or another.

1. The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
Most of this book is either impractical or assumes you have no morals, and it's written in a condescending, smug tone. But as one of the books I read in my first year of work out of college, I appreciated how it encouraged me to challenge the societal assumptions about work. I think it may have introduced me to the concept of a results-oriented work environment, which has been a goal of mine for a long time and is now the lens through which I'm looking for my next job.

2. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
There were long stretches of this that were just painful to get through, but this was one of the few books I had left on a list of classics I had been working on since middle school, and it was satisfying to finish that list. And now I know what everyone's talking about when they reference this book!

3. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Even though I hate the last 10% of this book with the fire of a thousand suns, this book was so unbelievably popular that I think I'd feel a gaping hole in my reading history if I hadn't read this one. I actually read it twice (thanks, book club) and now feel even more confident in my opinion of what a terrible book it is, which I feel the need to defend against all the people who like it.

4. The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko
The fact that I was able to construct a detailed, point-by-point criticism of this book's content was a satisfying reflection of the fact that I've spent the last decade putting considerable thought into our goals and lifestyle and how to achieve them financially, without having some arbitrary number in mind of how much we'd have to save to "feel rich." (Read I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi instead.)

5. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
This one is definitely just for the bragging rights. Way, way, way too much about the history and (very outdated) science of whaling for me to actually enjoy the story.

6. Rabbit, Run by John Updike
I feel like this book is so perfectly representative of a certain genre of fiction; as I said in my review, "Hey, it's a sexist, racist mess focused on one selfish straight white man, but that was just the time it was written, and there are THEMES! And SYMBOLS!" It's not just white men, though; the plot of A Personal Matter by Kenzaburō Ōe is extremely similar and just as bad. But hey, I would not have been able to make such an apt comparison if I hadn't read this "classic" first!

7. This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl
My 1-star Goodreads review of this book has received far more likes than any other review I've written. I couldn't call myself a Nerdfighter if I hadn't read this one, but wow — what a perfect example of what happens when someone takes the source material for a book and, instead of turning it into a compelling, well-edited story, just outright publishes the whole stack and lets it ride the coattails of a famous author.

8. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
This is another one where I'm glad to understand the cultural references (another book I read right after this one called someone a "Dobbin" and I was like, "I know what that means!") but what a slog — all the characters are awful people, and it wants to be a satire but is too cruel and dark to be funny.

9. Washed and Waiting by Wesley Hill
I had heard about this book for years because in gay Christian circles it's held up as the "Side B" book (i.e., gay people are called to celibacy). I consider Torn by Justin Lee the ultimate "Side A" book (i.e., God blesses loving relationships between people of any gender), and I'm glad I've now read what's held up as the best of the other side because it's a depressing and terrifying mess. I know people who identify as Side B who do a much better job of explaining what it means to them, so I can actively steer people away from this book who are looking for a good example of Side B.

10. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
I hate this book and love the musical on which it's based, and having it read it I can now appreciate even better Stephen Schwartz's genius, knowing that much of what I love about the musical was not in the original source material.

What disliked books are you glad to have read?

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Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: American Street and Hercule Poirot's Christmas
Five years ago I was reading: The Homecoming of Samuel Lake, The Hidden Brain, and Does Jesus Really Love Me?
Ten years ago I was reading: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Books I Can't Believe I Read

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

It seems you could interpret this week's topic two ways: Either "Wow, I can't believe I succeeded in reading that difficult/long book!" (War and Peace, Infinite Jest...) or the way I interpreted it, which was "Wow, I can't believe I wasted precious reading time on this stupid book. I probably should have abandoned it."

1. Adoption: Choosing It, Living It, Loving It by Ray Guarendi
I've read quite a lot of adoption books by now, and this is probably the worst one that I didn't outright abandon. It was like a compilation of bad jokes (mostly of the "stupid husband" variety) that also glossed over the potential issues related to adopting a child who's older, has special needs, is of another race, etc. with a glib "All kids are the same" attitude. It was a waste of time.

2. Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L. Bernstein
I read this as part of a "book swap" at book club and felt obligated to finish it on behalf of the guy who recommended it. This was billed as a history of risk but was actually a history of probability and forecasting with references to risk awkwardly shoehorned it. It also could have benefited from a stronger editor, as there were glaring inconsistencies in some places (e.g., names, ages). I don't think I got anything out of it.

3. Beauty of the Broken by Tawni Waters
This was a book club read. My review began, "There are so many problems with this book that I don't even know where to start." In a book that attempts to combat homophobia, it manages to be offensive to Native Americans, other people of color, mentally disabled people, Christians, and survivors of sexual assault, on top of just being poorly plotted.

4. Blackout by Sam Mills
Another choice for online book club before we started locking down who was allowed to nominate books. It tries to be an updated 1984, but the writing is just terrible. It was certainly action-packed, but the plot was too convoluted and the characters were so "complex" as to have no consistency in their actions. Our club would have been better off just reading 1984.

5. Bo's Café by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John S. Lynch
I read this book because it was repeatedly recommended by one of the hosts of the ONE Extraordinary Marriage podcast as a powerful book on dealing with an anger problem. I should have realized that it was going to be a heavy-handed piece of Christian media. The book is pretty anti-counseling (apparently all you need to combat an anger problem is a Christian mentor) and seems to be an attempt to write a "guy book" about sports and cars and boats that will lead people to Jesus. I consider myself a Christian but I could barely stomach this book.

6. Confessions of a Counterfeit Farmer Girl by Susan McCorkindale
This was recommended to me years ago when I was looking for something funny to read, and I wish I'd had Goodreads then because the ratings are bad. Apparently I'm not the only one who got tired of the rinse-and-repeat "I live on a farm but I like high heels and Starbucks and might break a nail if I did any work, haha" jokes that made up the entire book. If only I'd been in the habit of giving myself permission to abandon books back then.

7. The Fisherman by John Langan
I don't read a lot of horror because it freaks me out, but this (another book club selection) was just boring. Rather than using the medium to its fullest, Langan tried to write a book that would be scary as a horror movie, but it's hard to translate jump scares and creepy visuals to the page. I got to the point where I was like, "Lemme guess, it's another dead white person who's naked and has eyes like a fish." I don't understand how this book has such good ratings.

8. A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon
I finished this book only because a coworker lent it to me, and then after I forced myself through it it turned out she hadn't even read it yet. The writing was overly complex, they made constant unfounded generalizations, and the "theory" seemed to be that children need to be with their mothers 24/7 or they will be doomed for life. Again, I do not understand how this book has such high ratings, and I would recommend it to no one.

9. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
I loved Angels and Demons, thought The Da Vinci Code was OK, and should have stopped there. The ending to this one was dumb. I can't believe I wasted time listening to this one.

10. Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
I only read this book because Wicked was so disappointing that I was hoping this one would have some answers to all the loose threads, but I should have just recognized that it wasn't going to get any better. I can forgive myself for reading the first book because of the hype and my love for the musical, but I definitely should have stopped there.

Which books do you wish you hadn't wasted reading time on?

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