Hello bookworms!
Do you have this book that you read, fall in love with, want to scream about to the whole world but you just KNOW most people won’t feel the same way? Maybe it’s a book you feel is deeply underhyped or underrated, or maybe it’s a book that means something so personal to you that you know other people won’t relate to it as much as you… whatever the reason, you don’t go around recommending it.
Here are mine!
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
This book was an emotional punch, and although being 700 pages long, I didn’t really feel like it was that long at all – it’s just so immersive and gripping. BUT… it’s so, so depressive. And the drama in it is quite overboard – it goes and goes and goes and doesn’t stop. So as much as I admire the engaging writing and the complex characters, neither will I read this book again nor will I recommend this book easily to people I know.
The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
Okay, so this one maybe I have recommended once or so. This series is very entertaining, heavy on the romance side and generally a good YA fantasy. But it’s not a book I will go recommending because… literally for each thing I liked about this book, I can recommend a better one. Romantic fantasy? Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones, A Court of Thorns and Roses. YA fantasy with a great female MC? To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo, Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder. Awesome female friendship in fantasy? The Alchemists of Loom by Elise Kova. While it was a fun book, I won’t pretend it was a great book.
Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty
From Liane Moriarty’s books, this one is the most subtle, I think. Its story is gripping and the characters are complex and full of their own secrets – and a tragedy occurs. But it’s not a book with the “shocking” effect of My Husband’s Secret or Big Little Lies. I really liked this book, but I think for people thinking of Big Little Lies, this is just not the book for them, which makes it difficult to recommend.
Divergent by Veronica Roth
I had lots of fun with the Divergent series, and I was glued to the pages since book one. I really enjoyed it and I loved the badass female MC (back then I hadn’t read lots of YA dystopia yet), but since then I’ve read lots of other books I loved so much more. So, much like The Kiss of Deception, when I think about the things I liked about this book, I always have books where I liked that aspect more, which I end up recommending instead.
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
This beautiful book is a mixture of philosophical thoughts, analysis of the relationships between the characters and gorgeous narration. There is virtually no plot, really, which makes it so, so difficult to recommend it to people. “What is this book about?” is the first question people ask, and it’s unfair to describe the premise of the book and expect people to be interested in it. It’s a book that only few people would read for fun, I suppose. But it’s gorgeous, so gorgeous.
Interesting post! I’m not so much this way, I’m always and forever recommending my favorite books to SOMEONE! I am just thoughtful about who.
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That is so great! I have such difficulty doing that, though… most people I know who are also readers have such different tastes from mine.
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Ditto. My dad ONLY reads pulp SciFi, my brother ONLY reads Pulitzer Prize Winners, and who even knows what my mom likes. Not her!
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Hahahahahaha what a challenge!!
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This was such an interesting post! I recently found a free copy of A Little Life but i know from my friend reading it earlier in the year that it’s basically a one time read!
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Thank you, Avery!! Yes, I don’t think I’ll re-read it, either. I hope you have enough tissues!!
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One of my favorite books is Dancing on the Edge by Han Nolan. I don’t recommend it often because I don’t think others connect quite the same way as I but I utterly love it
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Ohh what’s it about?
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In a nutshell, it’s about a young girl named Miracle who is raised by her dad and grandmother. Her dad disappears and her grandmother, a self proclaimed mystic, tells Miracle that he melted. Tragedy ensues and Miracle has to come to terms with her dysfunctional family and the half-truths they’ve told her. I consumed this in an afternoon
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That sounds actually quite interesting. I’ll check it out!
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Hm, yes, I don’t think it would be very easy for me to recommend To the Lighthouse. I suppose the type of people who would want to read it already have heard of it or have read it!
My real problem with recommendations is that most people I know like to read thrillers and mysteries. I don’t. So when they ask for recommendations I’m there going, “Um, I can suggest a quirky MG book about a magical bakery? No?”
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Me too!! Who will I possibly recommend To The Lighthouse to? No one I know, at least… I was a bit nervous writing this post, but it’s great to see that other people related to it a bit!
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This is such a fun topic! A Little Life is on my TBR, but from what I’ve heard, I totally understand not recommending it
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Thank you, Ally!! Do you have any books you also don’t recommend although you liked it??
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Oh for sure! I think American Gods is maybe the biggest one. I really enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t recommend it to people who don’t read a lot or who don’t like long books
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I haven’t read it, but it sounds like a really cool bookA
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It’s really good! I’d recommend to people who like reading and fantasy, I just know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea!
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😀
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I love this post! The only book I’d put on a list like this is A Little Life. I think I’ve told more people not to read this book than to read it, despite how much I loved it.
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Me too!
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I love Virginia Woolf for exactly the reasons that you just laid out, but you’re totally right that it’s hard to describe a plot when there just…isn’t one. Her writing stuns me every single time.
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Yes!! I loved Mrs Dalloway a bit more than To the Lighthouse, though! Have you read Orlando?
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Yes! I just read it a few months ago. It’s one of my favourites from this year.
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This was such an interesting post to do! It makes sense about a little life and truly madly guilty. And yeah I agree with you about divergent- I had fun with it, but there’s lots of books like it that I’d rather recommend. Really fantastic post!
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Thank you!! 😊
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what an interesting post idea, and yes… I think most of my fave classics I won’t be screaming about to people haha
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Hahaha happens xD
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