For me, the most recent book regret is Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. Predictable from the get-go, bland, boilerplate sci-fi ideas, too many of these way-too-convenient plot devices just to push the story forward. I frankly don’t get the hype, and I am a pretty big science fiction guy.

Another one is Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. I read this in college and this whole book should have been a one-page essay. It was too repetitive, and the whole premise of “trust in your snap judgments and gut reactions” is way too simplistic and honestly stupid. Like all Gladwell books, it was anecdotal, superficial, and a waste of time.

  • finniruse@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    The Shipping News - Annie Proulx

    Now, I’m only around 2/3 of the way through, but daaaaamn is it boring. My god. Don’t give a shit about any of the characters and I’m having to force my way through it. The grammar style I respect for doing something different, but it’s also a chore.

    It’s a Pulitzer Prize winner. I read this immediately after Lonesome Dove, another PP winner. One I couldn’t put down and the other I want to throw away.

    Did anyone else like this book and why?

    • aderrygirl@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      You should read “A Visit From the Goon Squad” next. It’s another Pulitzer Prize winner. Written by Jennifer Egan.

    • iamdragondrool@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I loved The Shipping News. I saw the movie first, and read the book later. Maybe I connected more with the book because I had that background to draw from, though.

    • Alarming_Abroad_4862@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Hated it as well. There’s just shock factor randomness and then it ends. I think it’s a PP because it’s about Newfies and that area is not written about a lot? Maybe I’m ignorant but that is my opinion. But yes I hated it too