In another ripoff from the podcast Books Unbound, I'm going to ask and answer some questions from their 128th episode.
1) I love this genre, but I didn't love this book.
So many romance novels here. Which one do I pick? I'm going to go with Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey. It's like I traveled back in time fifty years reading this book.
2) I rarely read this genre, but I really love this book.
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty - I don't usually read westerns, but this was great.
3) I love this trope, but I didn't like this book.
Trope: Dragons
Book(s): The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffery - I *should* love this series, but the sexual violence and gender relations are too hard to look past when reading it today.
4) I hate this trope, but I love this book.
Trope: Marriage in Peril
Book: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones - Such wonderful observational writing.
5) I love this author, but I didn't love this book.
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante - I adore the Neapolitan quartet and The Lost Daughter, but this novel did not have the same magical spark.
6) Who is an author you previously disliked, but you read another book by the author and enjoyed it?
Abby Jimenez - Remember how bitter I was about The Friend Zone? That book is deeply upsetting. But I did enjoy Yours Truly. Serious whiplash while reading Jimenez.
7) I love this cover, but I didn't like this book.
The Interestings by Meg Wollitzer - What is the book about anyway? Fun cover, though.
8) I don't love this cover, but I love this book.
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante - The Europa edition has a particularly terrible cover.
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Do you have any hot takes on these questions? Favorite books from genres you don't usually read?
I can't actually think of any specifics at the moment, but I love mysteries and there are plenty of books in that genre that I didn't like. I would have said I don't like fantasy but loved Harry Potter, and don't like sci-fi but loved the Ender books but now I'm thinking I actually DO like fantasy/sci-fi after all. Romances and westerns- two genres I don't really like, and I can't think of any exceptions for those! I actually can't remember the last time I read a book from either of those genres.
ReplyDeleteI think you're a stealth SFF fan, Jenny. You say you don't like them, but if you are recommended a GOOD one, you go for it. I was so surprised by Lonesome Dove - I would have not have said I was a big western fan, either, but that one is brilliant.
DeleteOh, you really summed up my current thoughts re. Anne McCaffrey... I used to love Pern, but just can't now.
ReplyDeleteIt's really dark. I never read it back in the day and when I tried to read it a couple of years ago, I was shook to my core.
DeleteFor #5, I am going to say Elizabeth Strout - love her, but dislike The Burgess Boys. As a sort of answer to #2, I very much dislike fantasy books but I love The Mists of Avalon (I have a personal problem with the author, but since I first read it when I was 15 and only found out what kind of horrible person she is thirty years later, I allow myself to still really love that book). I can't think of any other specifics right now, but believe you me, I will be thinking about them!
ReplyDeleteBurgess Boys! I read it in October of 2013 and wrote a scathing review and then read it in 2020 and mostly agreed with my scathing review, but also didn't hate it quite so much. LOL. Funny that my 2020 self was more forgiving than my 2020 self.
DeleteI had the exact same Abby Jimenez experience... I think I could say All the Light We Cannot See for #2; war books (especially WWII) make me so, so sad and I don't read them often - but after Cloud Cuckoo Land, I read ALWCS and truly enjoyed it, even if it made me feel feelings!
ReplyDeleteYes!! I like that Doerr book, too, even though I think the WWII book market is a bit oversaturated. That's a good call!
DeleteI am WITH YOU on Fix Her Up. What in the world was that book?!!? I hated it, too.
ReplyDeleteFix Her Up is a throwback to 1950 is what it is. I do not understand the Tessa Bailey love at all.
Delete#2 - I don't usually read thrillers/crime fiction, but I thought S.A. Cosby's Razorblade Tears absolutely gripping and fantastic.
ReplyDeletere: #7 and 8 - I find that now that I read so much via Libby, I don't look at book covers as much anymore. Which is too bad because I do love a really good book cover.
These questions do get me thinking about what would make me read a book with a trope that I don't care for, or an author who was a miss for me. I find that if I don't care for something I'm unlikely to feel motivated to try again. But maybe I should be more open minded than that.
Questions about book covers are super hard because most of the time I order books from the library without a clue what the cover will look like!
DeleteIt is hard to give an author a second chance, but I like to give authors a second chance because there are books by my favorite authors that I sometimes don't love as much and I always like to give the benefit of the doubt that maybe the first book I read was just a bit of an aberration. That being said, I rarely give authors a THIRD chance.
Hmm I can't think of any answers right now but yeah- what is UP with those little girls on that My Brilliant Friend cover?!?! HAHAHAH.
ReplyDeleteThe whole Neapolitan quartet has TERRIBLE covers. WHY?!
DeleteI loved An American Marriage, so well done. I found The Interestings to be entirely Meh. I did enjoy Yours Truly quite a bit, that's the only book I've read by that author.
ReplyDeleteI just finished book 4 of the Neapolitan quartet and loved the whole thing. I have you to thank for that, so THANK YOU. I was toying with reading The Lying Life of Adults, thanks for the warning.
I have a thought about the author's writing style, and having not read any of her other work, I don't know if it's valid or not. Lenu talks about how Lila is a much better writer than she is, how she can use imaginative writing to make connections and so on, whereas Lenu's writing is not as inventive, she tells what she wants to tell, and is straightforward about it. Since we don't read any of Lenu's books or articles, we don't know if they match the tone of the books. But I know some of the CBBC members were turned off by the writing style of MBF. Do you think that was Lenu's writing style, or Ferrantes?
Oh, it's so hard to know without knowing who the author is? I assume that a lot of this book is autobiographical, but it's just a guess. I assume that at some point someone told the author that their style wasn't as good as some other classmate's and it really stuck with them, but it's all very mysterious.
DeleteGosh I am having a hard time coming up with answers to any of these questions. I really need to think on it. But I am glad to hear you enjoyed Lonesome Dove! I am reading it now with a patreon community over the course of 10 months. I read it before and didn't love it but this time around I am really enjoying it and I think it's because I am taking my time and reading it so gradually. Do you remember when the miniseries was released? My parents recorded it on VHS tapes. And I can so remember those VHS tapes in our cabinet! Now I want to figure out how to watch it once I finish the book in the fall.
ReplyDeleteI was so surprised by Lonesome Dove! I don't remember when it was released as a miniseries, but now I sort of want to watch it! It looks like the DVDs of the miniseries are available through my library system, so if you have access to a DVD player, maybe your library would have it, too?
DeleteMhm I can't come up with anything right now but I've jotted down the questions and maybe some day in the future I'll answer those questions.
ReplyDeleteFor now I can say I do not read horror but I loved Carrion by Bets Really I was not aware it is in the horror genre.
I love going into books without knowing anything about them and being surprised. It's the best!
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