My reading life is very haphazard. I don’t plan out my reading very far in advance, and I usually just go where the mood (or my available Libby holds) take me. But when I hear a lot about a particular book or when a new book by an author whose work I previously enjoyed comes out, I usually try to give it a go. This is partly because these are the kinds of books that come up in conversations. I saw multiple people reading one of the books on this list at the practice fields this fall. If I haven’t read it, I don’t have much to add. If I have read it, it gives us something to talk about.
The added bonus of having read a popular book is that I have at least a little bit of cred when I say I didn’t like it. These 15 books were all the rage when they came out, and some are still going strong. I didn’t necessarily dislike all of them—I just thought they were overrated. Feel free to disagree.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I listened to this book, which was a good way to experience it, and it was my first TJR book. I think the way it is written with different perspectives is one reason why it is so highly rated. I don’t think it was a bad book, but it just wasn’t this incredible book that I talked about to everyone for months to come. It felt pretty forgettable.
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
One problem some books have is not knowing what genre they belong in. This book reads like normal fiction and then inexplicably changes into magical realism. If it had stayed in the real world, I think it could have been a really good book. Instead, the magical realism serves as a deux ex machina that feels like it erases all of the conflict in the book up to that point.
I thought this book was going to change my life based on how other readers were talking about it. When it was over, I said to myself, “That’s it?” It was well-written and I did enjoy most of the experience of listening to it, but I can think of dozens of books I would recommend over this one when it comes to general fiction.
I haven’t read any Sally Rooney since this book, and I feel like maybe I should give her another try, but I haven’t because I disliked this book so much. I did not like the two main characters and felt like they never really owned up to all of their poor decisions.
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
The author leaves the mystery of what is happening outside of the house where the entire book takes place up to our imaginations, but the lack of specificity or even clues leave you waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the big reveal at the end. It never comes.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
This is actually a well-written book, but it did not knock me out of the park. It was fine. Fine! And yet when it came out everyone was talking about it like it was the next Anna Karenina. The ending was also SUPER predictable.
The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
As I have already said, I love a good end of the world story. However, like Leave the World Behind, this one doesn’t give any answers at the end. It also includes an extremely cruel scene that does not propel the story forward in any way.
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
I have loved so many of Moriarty’s books, so I was excited when this one came out. It fell so flat compared to her other books. I don’t even remember how it ended. It was a complete disappointment to me.
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Excuse me while I hide behind something while I say that I did not like this book. I read this years ago when everyone was talking about it, and Sarah J. Maas’ following has only grown exponentially since then. I have not read any of her other books, because I disliked this one so much. I am not a big fantasy fan and I don’t read romance, and that’s basically all this book is. The non-romance parts of the book seem to exist only to serve the romance.
The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
Reading this book felt like watching an interminable reel of vapid social media influencers, like the author was trying to infuse unnecessary drama into her book. You can tell a really good story without making your characters into caricatures, but maybe Lucy Foley is just trying to appeal to a certain kind of reader. I was not that reader.
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides\
Full disclosure: I do not enjoy Greek or Roman mythology. It holds no interest for me. So I am willing to concede that my dislike of mythology may have contributed to my opinion of this book. At the same time, I like to think I’m intelligent enough to set aside my dislike of something in order to critically analyze a book. I did want to find out what was going to happen, but the book was not well-written and was extremely predictable.
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Reading Gone Girl was a transformative experience for me. It was the first time I remember being taken surprise by an unreliable narrator, and I will never forget the exhilaration of it. The premise of this book was interesting, but the execution fell apart in a number of areas. You guys know I like books with disturbing things in them1, but this book doesn’t actually seem to realize its most disturbing elements are disturbing. It also ends up with what I felt was a truly predictable ending.
This one pains me to mention because I have loved so many of Hannah’s books. I did enjoy the setting and time period, as I knew very little about the Vietnam War, and especially the role of women overseas. But past that, it felt like Hannah included some of the same plot lines from her previous books and also made the main character supremely unlikable. I think in her attempt to show the horrors of war and the impact of PTSD on veterans, she forgot some important literary elements, such as causing me to care about the people in the story. And don’t even get me started on the ending.
I waited eagerly for this book and took the two endorsements by Anns of different last names as a sign that I would love this book, because I have loved their books.2 Sadly, this book made me angry. I wrote about it in the month that I read it, but my main problem with this book is the anachronistic performativeness the author felt was necessary. By that I mean that he introduces issues of sexuality, gender, and race that are not treated as they would have been in the time period in which the book is set. I’m not saying that an author may not write about gay people in the 1950s, but this book felt like the author was trying to say, “I’m going to include all the hot-button issues that get people riled up in 2026 and make a book set in 1950!” In my opinion, it did not work. If you’re going to write about it, make it believable. Additionally, some of the characters make truly terrible decisions and never seem to suffer any consequences for them. No thanks.
I saved this one for last in hopes that anyone who loved this book was offended by my thoughts on one of the first 14 books on this list and would abandon the post entirely so as not to be angry at me. I read this almost a year ago, before it was even more popular than it is now. There are many different reasons why I did not enjoy this book. To me, it read like a Hallmark movie, by which I mean it was not well-written. In addition to the frequently poor use of figurative language, he uses ellipses in places other than written dialogue. Many characters in the book are based on tropes or stereotypes. The main character is too perfect. He does not read like a real person.
I had to force myself to finish this book. It took me weeks. Now, the popularity of this book begs the question, Why do so many people love it? It’s a fair question. I think that most people like it because it portrays an idyllic town where kindness wins and many of the people show each other mercy and grace. People love this book because of the way it makes them feel. They see the beauty in some of the human interactions, and they rightly long for a world where everyone acts like this all of the time. If this book encourages people to be kinder to each other, great. But this book got ten thousand times more hype than it deserved. (Side note: I recently heard someone describe this book as a parable. If that is the framework I had going into it, I might have felt differently. But that is not how the book is being marketed and what I expected based on the hype was not at all what I got.)
Now that I’ve probably offended almost everyone reading this, I’d love to know where you agree or disagree, and if you’re going to keep reading despite me offending you?
See my recent post on 10 Spooky Books for October Reading!
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano and The Dutch House by Ann Patchett are two of my favorite books.
I enjoyed Where the Crawdads sing, especially as it is set in the Lowcountry where I live. I agree with you regarding The Women. I hated Theo of Golden. Read about 50 pages, and tried hard to like it, but it was a bore.
I couldn’t finish Daisy Jones and the six. Heard good things about Theo of Golden. Where the Crawdads is on my floor waiting to be read. I’ve recently decided to stop reading books if I’m not enjoying them. I appreciate your takes and you saving me some time. ☺️