Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

What books are you reading in this category? Where are you looking for reviews? Amazing? Goodreads?

I googled "books with bad reviews" and came up with a few options. I interpreted this category to mean good books that were given poor reviews at their time of publication, so with that in mind I am going to read Lolita.

I'm going to read The Malice Box, as it has the lowest Goodreads rating of my to-read list

I may take on Lena Dunham's "Not That Kind of Girl". It got a lot of bad press some months back because of some inflammatory statements made in the book along with descriptions of things people find very inappropriate. I don't know how I feel about those passages but I'd like to see what the fuss is all about. It has 3.43 stars which is less than what I would choose otherwise.

*Probable unneeded disclaimer*
I know it's a controversial book (if you don't know what I'm talking about just Google it - I'm sure there will be tons of articles) and in this group healthy debate is ok. Just please keep any conversation about controversial books civil! :)

I may take on Lena Dunham's "Not That Kind of Girl". It got a lot of bad press some months back because of some inflammatory statements made in the book along with descriptions of things people find very inappropriate. I don't know how I feel about those passages but I'd like to see what the fuss is all about. It has 3.43 stars which is less than what I would choose otherwise.

*Probable unneeded disclaimer*
I know it's a controversial book (if you don't know what I'm talking about just Google it - I'm sure there will be tons of articles) and in this group healthy debate is ok. Just please keep any conversation about controversial books civil! :)

Heidi wrote: "I'm going to read The Malice Box, as it has the lowest Goodreads rating of my to-read list"

Good idea Heidi, I am going to do the same and use the Lowest Goodreads rating on my to-read list.

Ann wrote: "I may take on Lena Dunham's "Not That Kind of Girl". It got a lot of bad press some months back because of some inflammatory statements made in the book along with descriptions of things people fin..."

Raw and honest, not so controversial. I adore her and her crazy views on the world and the confidence she has to express her most embarrassing moment.

I'm reading "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain given bad reviews when first released in 1884/85, and although the language is repetitive it does date and set the scene really well. Although I am getting annoyed with the phrase "by the by".

11 Beloved Books With Shockingly Bad Reviews:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisritter16...

Well Keats wasn't well received at his time so i'm reading of his letters and poems

Snuff

Emily wrote: "I googled "books with bad reviews" and came up with a few options. I interpreted this category to mean good books that were given poor reviews at their time of publication, so with that in mind I a..."
Ugh, I read that. Good choice!!

I'm not sure what I want to read for this prompt....I googled things and read lists. I'm thinking of reading "50 Shades of Gray" because the bad reviews on Amazon made me laugh. I enjoyed reading those....would that even count?

I was originally going to read Palo Alto, but after reading some reviews of a book I picked up at goodwill, I will be reading it instead. It's called More Than It Hurts You by Darin Strauss.

I read The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee. I'm considering this as a book with bad reviews because there was a lot of controversy after it was published about whether the author had Harper Lee's permission to publish the memoir. Many reviewers took Harper Lee's side against the author.

I have been totally in the dark about what to read for this one since the challenge started, and I've now decided to just go with the book with the lowest GR rating on my TBR - and that happens to be The Casual Vacancy. I was quite surprised, but happy to be able to fit this book into the challenge!

I ended up with a copy of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb so I'm pretty sure going with that one for this prompt.

Ended up not going for that did Girl, Undressed: On Stripping in New York City by Ruth Fowler instead and boy did it deserve those reviews.

Cate wrote: "I have been totally in the dark about what to read for this one since the challenge started, and I've now decided to just go with the book with the lowest GR rating on my TBR - and that happens to ..."

I thought she did a great job portraying class bigotry and prejudices. I also really loved the character development of the young folks. Definitely not fantasy.

I'm interpreting this category as a book that most people would agree is bad. A book with less that 3 stars on average. However people's interpretation of what's bad can be subjective. Of course , if this were easy it wouldn't be worth doing.

I chose to interpret this book as one with bad reviews from people I know- namely my book club. I read Big Girl Panties by Stephanie Evanovich. It had several good reviews here on Goodreads, but my book club did NOT like it. I have to agree- I felt it was a 2 1/2 star at best.

That's a good idea, Angie!

Ok, I need help. I really want to find a book with awful terrible reviews (like less than a 2 out of 5). Google has been great at showing me lists of "great books critics hated" and "beloved books with bad reviews" etc etc but I read so many classics anyway. I want to branch out and for me that means finding a book that everyone says is awful, is (probably) awful, and then giving it a chance. Anybody have any recommendations of generally hated books or places to find bad books?

Jackie wrote: "Ok, I need help. I really want to find a book with awful terrible reviews (like less than a 2 out of 5). Google has been great at showing me lists of "great books critics hated" and "beloved books ..."

I found this
https://litreactor.com/columns/the-bo...

I've decided for this prompt to read "Hannibal Rising". It got some really bad review by both critics and fans of Thomas Harris. I already saw the movie a few years back and found it to bad but somewhat entertaining. I'm hoping the book will be better. I'm also a fan of the Hannibal Lecter novels ("Red Dragon" in particular) so I might actually enjoy this propt.

I have The satanic verses on my TBR pile. I thought it'd do nicely for this prompt as it certainly made some people unhappy.

I took the easy way out on this one and picked Where the Wild Things Are. However, that wasn't the original book I picked for this category. I listened to about half of another book, but it was so boring that I gave up on it.

My friends and I got drunk and read Serving My Selkie by Jessica Vane aloud to each other. It was a gay shape shifting erotic novel about a chef and his Selkie lover. Maybe it's because I'm not into that type of thing, but it was pretty bad. Perfect for drunkenly giggling with friends.

I read Sinner's Creed for this prompt & I enjoyed the book. He is not whiny or long winded as some reviews had suggested.

I ended up reading Kardashian Konfidential. I was going to go with either Paris Hilton's book or Snooki's, but *unfortunately* my library didn't have them. The Kardashians managed to write a book that was a perfect reflection of themselves: vapid, bland, shallow, and materialistic. For anyone who like myself has a slight masochistic streak, I highly recommend this book.

You are a brave person! This Kardashian book seems really really bad hahaha

I went with what several others did...I used my TBR list and just got the lowest rated one. ANDDDDDD I can see why!!!

It was Jeff, One Lonely Guy. I mostly skimmed it and then decided I couldnt finish it...too many drunken sex nights. Not my type of thing. HOW did this even get published???

The worst part was that it had such a good HOOK. Why did he choose to go that way?

I finally read The Catcher in the Rye. I wanted to like this book, but I didn't find any part if it very interesting or moving. Too bad. I guess it makes sense since it was my "book with bad reviews," but I was hoping to disagree with the critics who disliked it. Maybe I should have read it when I was younger, but I don't remember ever being a person with whom this story would resonate.

For this one I went on my goodreads to read list and picked the book with the least stars which was 3. Toys by James Patterson

I went with The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold for this one. I tried reading it a few years ago and gave up on it because I didn't like it. I decided to give it another go (plus it had some really controversial reviews) and it turned out a little better than I thought, but not great.

I am also reading The Almost Moon for this prompt and am only a few pages in. I am having trouble making myself read it, but I will power through. I am glad to know that it was not as bad as you thought it would be.

Had to google this one. Found a list of books that initially got bad reviews. Chose and read Margaret Atwood „The Handmaid’s Tale".

I didn't know the handmaids tale got bad reviews, I love her she's one of my idols and that's one of my favourite books

Elizabeth wrote: ""Death Comes to Pemberley" is the lowest rated of my to-read list, so I'll probably read that. Someone gave it to me earlier this year after I read Pride and Prejudice."

Really? It's low rated? I loved that book.

Tara wrote: "I didn't know the handmaids tale got bad reviews, I love her she's one of my idols and that's one of my favourite books"

Lots of classics have had bad reviews. I love Margaret Atwood too.

Alexis wrote: "I finally read The Catcher in the Rye. I wanted to like this book, but I didn't find any part if it very interesting or moving. Too bad. I guess it makes sense since it was my "book wit..."

I don't think it's that bad a book. But I never figured out why people love it so much. It's got such an iconic reputation and I can never figure that out.

Michelle wrote: "I went with what several others did...I used my TBR list and just got the lowest rated one. ANDDDDDD I can see why!!!

It was Jeff, One Lonely Guy. I mostly skimmed it and then deci..."

I really like that idea of picking the book with the lowest ratings. I'll have to try that.

I guess I took this one a bit differently, I don't think I could have used a book that has so many glowing reviews, I used one that had only 1 star on good reads lol I got it as a freebie download and actually didn't hate it but it had almost no positive reviews when I looked it up :)

Tara wrote: "I guess I took this one a bit differently, I don't think I could have used a book that has so many glowing reviews, I used one that had only 1 star on good reads lol I got it as a freebie download ..."

I think you also have to look at how many people rated it. I have one with 1 star but only 2 people have rated it. I thought I might try the one with the lowest star and over 100 ratings.

Michelle wrote: "11 Beloved Books With Shockingly Bad Reviews:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisritter16..."

Thank you for this. I'm not as brave as others here who can choke down a Kardashian/Dunham/Fifty Shades-type book just for the sake of the challenge-LOL

OMG. There is no way I'd read Fifty Shades. Even for a challenge.

Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "OMG. There is no way I'd read Fifty Shades. Even for a challenge."

I had to read Fifty Shades for my thesis, I don't blame you. It's maybe the worst thing I've ever read.

I don't consider myself particularly snobby or anything about reading. I have a wide variety of interests and will try just about anything but I just can't deal with poorly written crap that literally caters to the lowest common denominator. Hell, I recently read through the entire Goosebumps series again on a whim because I was feeling nostalgic! I'll read young adult novels as soon as I'll read Victorian lit (which I love). I read twilight and it was a good premise I thought, some great ideas in there for a start, but so poorly written that I just didn't enjoy it, so hearing that 50 shades was essentially fan fic that was fluffed out I just couldn't do it. Anyone who has Stephanie Meyer as her literary role model I just can't take seriously. It's one of very few hugely popular books that I haven't read, and probably the only one I actively avoid!

I tried listening to The Goldfinch by Donna Tart but it was WAY too slow moving. Also my parents both read it and neither was very complimentary in their commentary. So I Googled books with bad reviews and found a video of children's books authors reading bad reviews of their books posted online. One was The Library Lion which I happen to have in my attic (I am saving it for my niece when she's a little older) so I'm going to read that to fill the category of a book that got bad reviews.