You wanted to read the book, you were excited to crack it open, you came into it with good faith and anticipation… but you ended up dnf-ing it. Which book and why?
Mine was The Maid by Nita Prose. It was for my book club and looked like a fun murder mystery. Instead I got instant manic-pixie-dream-neurodivergent-girl vibes, and I noped out before the crime scene was even found.
Before I knew anything about Scientology, I tried reading Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard. Got about 20 pages in and threw the book across my room. What a pile of pretentious garbage
LoL. And foolish young me bought his decology Mission Earth, although I got it from a Book Club where you could get like 12 books for a penny so long as you bought 5 more over the next three years. The first wasn’t bad, the second quickly re-inforced my understanding of what the word ‘formulaic’ meant in regards to literature.
By the 10th book I was furious at myself for not having the ability to stop reading it, it was so awful, but I kept going under the illusion he might wrap it up in a reasonably worthwhile bow.
He did not.
I actually like the movie
Without knowing anything about L Ron Hubbard and Scientology, I saw the movie in the theater. Even without knowing shit about Scientology at the time, this was (and still is) the worst movie I had (and have) ever seen.
TIL that movie was based on a book and given the author, makes total sense why it was ridiculously bad and starred John Travolta. My family was so confused after watching it, my parents love Travolta and sci fi, and didn’t expect that at all.
I bought a copy of Dianetics at a used bookstore for $1.50 because I was curious what the fuss was about with Scientology. I threw it in the trash after two pages.
When I was about 14, my mom (a non-reader at the time), bought me an L Ron Hubbard book. I think Dianetics lol.
I had the sense even then to not read it. But my mom and I were discussing this recently and I asked her point blank, “what were you thinking??” And she replied that she had no idea what it was. That she had seen a lot of people rave about it and say that it helped them so she hoped I would like it.
Her heart was in the right place 🤣