What book have you read that wasn’t subjectively “bad” but you regrets reading all the same?

For me, Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter. The book was engaging and it kept me on my toes, but I just with I hadn’t “poisoned my head” with all the graphic gore that was in there. I years later i still think about this and how I really wish I had never read it.

Question inspired by a comment /u/PrincessOfWales made in another thread :)

    • kevnmartin@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I tried watching the movie a few years after I read the book. Nope. It’s just so bloody grim.

      • Kuiken81@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        The book was horrifying. I don’t regret reading it but damn, not going to reread it either.

        • Soggy_Cup1314@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          When you know what’s coming the second time around the book is infinitely better and you get the philosophical aspect more. The first time you focus on just the violence, the second time more the story and characters. Give it time, years even but I think you should definitely reread it. But yeah it’s real deal, not for the faint of heart.

        • Murrig88@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          I hear the book was published during a time when the “wild west cowboys and Indians” genre was very popular in the U.S., and directly contradicted all the white washed romanticism portrayed in books and movies.

        • Soggy_Cup1314@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          Violence. That would be the best way to describe it without a spoiler but it’s about a boy who runs away from home and doesn’t just join a band of bad guys he joins a band of pure villains. Some of the most vile and evil characters I’ve seen in a book and some of the most violent set pieces I’ve read. You’ll have a few moments that will leave you feeling sick and grimy and when it’s all done you’ll walk away from it still thinking about it. Another person on here did make the point that if you have children The Road is more disturbing but if you’re looking for a good read either of them are incredible books.

      • ParabenTree@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        Damnnnn! Just looked it up on Libby. 6-week wait for first available copy on Kindle, lol

        • Sareee14@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          It’s a good one as an audiobook. I have heard the actual book lacks a lot of punctuation

      • badpengu1n@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        The thing about The Road was the sense of dread that colors the whole book. The violence was unpleasant, but the dread is what really got me.

      • thejestercrown@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        Everyone always talks about how violent it is.

        Haunted is gruesome/violent in a way you can’t forget. I literally had to put the book down before I could finish it. I can’t forget Blood Meridian either, but it’s not the same. What got me was everything else.

        Regardless The Road is better. I literally felt guilty for having food while reading it.

      • KeimeiWins@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        Both were so captivating, I remember them so vividly. They make excellent audiobooks as well.

        • Soggy_Cup1314@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          Richard Poe did Blood Meridian and Suttree and Tom Stechschulte did No Country For Old Men and The Road. Both are incredible narrators who I often look for, I currently have East of Eden in my wishlist just because Richard Poe narrated it. (and it’s also a classic)

    • fourfrenchfries@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Read it in grad school. I’d just had a baby – I was maybe 4 months postpartum. I had to get up and leave when the discussion got to that part.