The Worst Books I Read in 2022
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024
- With the good comes the bad - let's talk about my least favorite reads of 2022
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Books Mentioned (all links are affiliated):
THE PALLBEARER'S CLUB by Paul Tremblay - amzn.to/3CZxrNp
TO PARADISE by Hanya Yanagihara - amzn.to/3tOasAf
DEATH AND THE DANCING FOOTMAN by Ngaio Marsh - amzn.to/37Javo3
MIRACLE CREEK by Angie Kim - amzn.to/34n7fx8
THE MAIDENS by Alex Michaelides - amzn.to/3J6gArC
THE ATLAS SIX by Olivie Blake - amzn.to/3rrSgur
THE CARTOGRAPHERS by Peng Shepherd - amzn.to/3K6U7M8
A LESSON IN VENGEANCE by Victoria Lee - amzn.to/3kCW21n
Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St Aubyn - amzn.to/33YJknm
THUNDERHEAD by Neal Shusterman - amzn.to/3z5xoLS
DAISY DARKER by Alice Feeney - amzn.to/3PM3Pqj
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Love what you said about Litfic feeling same-y and very bleak. It honestly feels like a competition of who can put their characters through the most traumatic situations. And for what?? 🤔 Great video!
I think it can be done in a way that feels worthwhile but... it seems to be few and far between these days :/
I've read a lot of litfic that seems to think sad/angry = intellectual and it honestly made me weary of books tagged as that. That and the fact that so many bad ideas are in a lot of "highbrow" work, if they manage to communicate a message at all
Hey Mara, I would love if you would do a full video on your experience with literary fiction! I am in my early-mid twenties and read mostly literary fiction so I would love to know what your reading experience was like and how it evolved into where it is now! (And what books you read that made you love literary fiction and then eventually go meh)
Another part Ive noticed is how the readers life is going. NEVER ever read LF anymore because I dont need anymore pain stress East Coast over educated spoiled peeps making bad relationship decisions blahblah etc. Also the Trauma Porn component in constant reach to be meaningfull or relevent. Pain doesnt mean anything if its based on too many bad personal choices. So great question to her Maras thoughts too.
That's an interesting idea! I'll put it on the list :)
@@bookslikewhoa PS this broad with Eidetic memory spent all morning stuck in mtgs with BigBads who kept trying to cross me with weak info. It didnt go well for them. Now my fan club has grown even bigger (shakes head NO!) so appreciate your response. PPS new Innkeeper dropped today! Saving for Christmas or New Years treat. Maybe. Hehehe
I also think this topic -- which I've been calling the sad end of my love affair with LF -- is an excellent idea. Can one age out of LF? Have half the writers of LF gone nuts? Is it something in the water? A sizeable portion of LF now seems to be either "trauma porn" or word diarrhea. The low point for me hit this year when I read The Swimmers. The writing seemed sumptuous, almost poetic, but then I realized that half the book could be more aptly entitled Ode to a Swimming Pool Crack.
I feel you with The Cartographer. The idea was so damn cool, but the ending was yes, SO STUPID. I gave it the benefit of the doubt it could be brought back in the end, but nope 😩
I love the ending of Daisy darker and that type of ending in general 😂😂💀 so if I see more rants from you for that reason I will absolutely be taking it as a recommendation!
lol good! I'm always happy to be someone's "opposite taste" person for books :)
Yesss!!!
I also really didn't like The maidens when i read it last year. It also bothered me that the mc was such a bad therapist. Everyone in that book was terrible at their job, but she was a whole other level. Also, the book is called The maidens, but the maidens were barely in it.
I didn't even get into that, but 10000% the worst therapist ever with 0 self insight
Yes! This is my issue with literary fiction - so much of it feels like "trauma porn" and emotionally intense topics. (That's also why I'm not into "high brow"/Oscar-worthy cinema either.) There have been exceptions that I have enjoyed such as Ann Patchett's fiction and "Less" by Andrew Sean Greer.
100100100 all the way
UGH I’m glad I’m not the only one. I’m so tired of reading trauma porn:(
No book has ever made me as crazy angry as My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, I threw it against the wall
The ending of Daisy Darker was so obvious! Like in 1/3 of the book. I think the only plot twist that I was surprised was the grandma. All the other plot twists were build in a way that you could have guessed. It reminded me of soap opera. Everything so dramatic.
I agree - I kept assuming it was a red herring since it was so obvious and then it wasn't :(:(
The Cartographers! Oh The Cartographers 😭 99% of the time I steer far away from popular books because I have such a niche tastes that I overwhelmingly dislike popular books but this one caught my attention and I was so excited. And then I started seeing so so many negative reviews from tons of different booktubers, not just ones that I watch regularly, which killed all excitement. Even good reviews mentioned the exact same things that bad reviews do as caveats and if everybody is saying the exact same thing, I just can't do it. I think the problem is that everybody feels the need to add to hype so books get so overhyped that they become misrepresented
Not a fan of Alice Feeney either. I tend to put her in the Riley Sager thriller category, just like BA Paris for "domestic thrillers" that aren't very thrilling and Lucy Foley who writes mysteries that aren't particularly mysterious. My biggest DNF's though were Babel which everyone else seems to love for some reason?! I also DNF'D The Poppy War though too. Her writing style just doesn't connect with me. The other was the Ali Hazelwood in the pink cover. (It was so memorable I'm not even sure of the title🤣). Not that it matters really as it's essentially the same book as her 1st fan fiction foray. It's a writing style thing for me as well with her. If I want fan fiction I can get more than I ever wanted for free-many are better quality than what she's peddling. But good for her for making that coin.
Yep on Poppy War too. AH is a struggle. Betta RomCom kinda stuff is Lessons in Chemestry
+1 for Lucy Foley))
I feel the same way about “A Lesson in Vengeance” it felt like what Gossip Girl would be with boarding school’s sans the gossip columns lol. It just wasn’t my fav.
yesss, very that!
Love the Daisy Darker rant, I liked it mostly because I was laughing at the audacity of the plot twist. I also had to DNF both Lesson in Vengeance and the Atlas Six, both were too earnestly self-serious and self-conscious about being Dark Academia(TM). I need my melodramatic campus novels to have some satire.
I was so excited for Daisy Darker I saved it for Halloweekend and was disappointed I ended up just feeling pretty “meh” about it, but I absolutely love hearing your vehement hatred for it 😂😂
lol I'm rarely this annoyed by a book but it happens!!
Love this vlog! You did better than I did. I had four DNF's just in November. The book I hated that I actually finished this year was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values. Absolute garbage.
Such a pretty sweater and LOVE those earrings! Had a great time with Daisy Darker (spooky season read) and Rock Paper Scissors (last winter), loved the atmosphere and writing style. I love to hear your opinion on books whether I agree with it or not ;)
Yay, I'm so glad you enjoyed them more than I did! It's a bummer because the premises are so up my alley :/
I think I had more good surprises in reading this year, but I'll probably hit 150 books and at least 1/3 of those are Kindle Unlimited romances which can be all over the place 😂 But in terms of actual disappointing reads, I would include Never Been Kissed by Timothy Janovsky (the tone and missed plot opportunities drove me nuts) and Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly (a nonfiction about pirates that opened with a teasing bit of cultural analysis only to bombard me with poorly organized history that I already knew). And the only truly bad book I read was Her Husband's Harlot by Grace Callaway (a waste of an historical romance with an inconsistent couple and a mind numbing mystery).
I also haaaated Daisy Darker lol The other worst read for me was The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie, but I mostly read that one to finish the series/see how it wrapped up since I already knew grimdark fantasy wasn't really for me. And biggest disappointment was Leech by Hiron Ennes because I wanted to love it, but the writing style bothered me so much.
Called it! I KNEW you would hate "Daisy Darker". I read it because I love the "Then There Were None" trope. I gave it a five, but I can completely understand why people were WTF with that ending. "Cartographers" was ugh. Opportunity wasted.
lol I wish I had liked it more!!
I LOOOVE your rants!!!! Please, give us more rants, Mara!!
I hated the Maidens so much last year that it singlehandedly made me cancel my BOTM subscription 😅 This year the worst book I read was definitely Near The Bone by Christina Henry, which is a bummer because it was my first Christina Henry and I really wanted to like her! I was also particularly disappointed by Year of the Witching 😬
Yep. Why I dont do BOTM club stuff. We done BEE on the different wavelength.
i would love for you to actually just spoil daisy darker lmao ! portrait of a thief by grace d li was one of my most disappointing reads. it had such a beautiful, cool, oceans 11 type premise and i was hoping to recommend it to my dad since it's exactly his type of thing (aND he grew up in Hong Kong) and the first third was pretty good and then it just got worse and worse and it was such a letdown!
I've got Daisy Darker spoilers at the end of this video if you want to hear them: th-cam.com/video/zJP6bV7nqCI/w-d-xo.html
@@bookslikewhoa me skipping to the disappointments adfsg
Oh yeah. 100100100 was very annoyed. Wanted expected same as you and even spent top$$$ for hardcover to keep.
I literally just made a vid on how appalling Miracle Creek was to me, though I read it a couple years back. So glad you covered it too
Trying Daisy Darker just because you hated it and everyone else I know loved it so now I need to know where I will fall with it lol.
So many people hated Daisy Darker and I just loved it. I also LOVED the ending because I was so mad that I didn’t see it coming.
Your reaction to Daisy Darker sounds like mine to Verity which I read in January and am still raging over.I had conflicting thoughts on Daisy Darker.I didn't mind the end but the reason for it was edging on ableist if not completely so.
Maidens left me angry! Because murderer's plan was insane and sooo contrived, dark academia has nothing to do with it, characters were stupid. Though I usually like the theme of "your whole happy life was a lie"
"my eyeballs rejected it... I could not find the story in the forest of words" 🤣🤣🤣
Maura - I just have to say, I loved it when you went off on your "rant" - You are always so composed and to see you like this was so enjoyable! You are passionate about your reading experiences, as so many of us are - Thank you for saving us the time - Looking forward to BooksLikeWhoa's year end best of - As Always!
lol sometimes you just got to let it all out!!
I had quite a few, particularly romances, that I thought I would love and only liked. But the one I read that I viscerally hated hated HATED was Ready Player One. That book is such a circlejerk. Could not even stand it and immediately THREW it into my unhaul pile.
Ugh HARD agree!!
That’s so funny that you hated Daisy Darker so much because I actually liked it quite a lot. The ending wasn’t my favorite but I enjoyed the story overall!
Great video! I thought I liked Daisy Darker until I read the ending, I have never read such a stupid ending.However, I didn't like the characters of Rock Paper Scissors, (I loved Bob the dog,- he was the only character I liked) but still liked the book.
Haha absolutely love hearing you talk about Daisy Darker. The only book that made me angry this year was The Night Shift - by far the worst thing I read.
Currently reading a bunch of Ruth Ware on your recommendation - and loving it. I love her character focused, slow burn style. Just finished One By One, thought it was great, almost five stars.
YAY, so glad you enjoyed it!!
I also hated the ending of Daisy darker but I didn’t quite hate it as much as you did so I still gave it three stars because I enjoy the atmosphere and I suck at giving books low ratings haha
Your comment about the MC in The Dark Side of the Road made me actually laugh out loud!!🤣Also, completely agree with you about The Atlas Six. Fun video. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I didn't read as many 'bad' books this year surprisingly, maybe because I'm learning my own reading taste a bit more after delving into adult books. I have a bit of popular books that I disliked so that's going to be interesting to admit haha, one of them being Barbarian Alien which I shouldn't admit on your channel but I'm outing myself anyway 😂
lol we can still be friends!
I got A Lesson in Vengeance for the Sahic romance but up to the oint I read, seemed like that would all be in flashbacks, so that defeats the purpose, I also only heard it was dark academia before that and so was thinking of The Ravens, but no one mentioned it was a thirller in the videos I clicked on, saw that on Amazon when the book was already in my hands. Furthermore, there's something super obvious even though I've only read maybe twenty pages in, perhaps not that long, just thorugh chapter one, but there's something about a character's name that is clear what the story is going to do, or what she claims her name is, and also knowing its a thriller, yeah don't have to go any further to guess some of what is going on, also I saw it has an unreliable narror and that was a no for me, had I know any of this before buying it, would not have.
I almost want to read Daisy Darker so I can see what made you so angry😂 But I won’t, because I also DNF’d “Rock, Paper, Scissors” ….I get it.
lol I put spoilers at the end of my November wrap up if you are curious :D
Sooooo glad to hear your thoughts on The Cartographer's! I just couldn't. DNF'd and rated a 1 on Goodreads because zero isn't an option.
omg the cartographers pisssssed me off!!!!!
I did actually like Thunder Head not as much as the first one, but it was fine. My least favorite book of the year was This Is Not The Jess Show, because it promised thet everything wasn't as it seems and the I-Phone was the hint that it wasn't really the 90's, but there was no I-phone and it was like near the end the author just went: "Oh yeah, I'm suppost to now say this is 2037 and it was just a tv show all along without any hints of it. And trust me, I kept reading it book to assure myself that I ddin't miss the hints.
I felt like I was the only person who didn't like The Atlas Six. I couldn't figure out exactly what I hated about it, but you said it so well. I made it through over half and just could not finish it.
I really liked The Cartographer. But there was some predictable aspects to it especially if you have read a lot of mystery/thriller books. I liked it far and away better than Magnolia Place .
I ended up removing 5 books from my TBR 😂 thanks for this Mara, less pressure for next year!!
You're so welcome!
I hated Rock Paper Scissors. After watching your review of Daisy Darker with spoilers, I am so happy I didn't read it.
Maidens was also big disappointment for me, given that Silent Patient is my all time fav. Could't stand Mariana, so repellent and annoying. I started Daisy Darker now, just because you hate it and I couldn't wait to be translated in my country so I started it in English. Cannot wait to see your beloved ending lol
We don't get to here you get this ranty often, and I find it highly entertaining 🤣🤣
Every now and then, I gotta let it out :D
@@bookslikewhoa I’m here for it haha
the maidens I did not like at all, I just finished because I had it in audio and I have to speed it, I'm totally agree with you
Thunderhead was so good!!!!! This one hurt a little
I DNFed The Maidens. I got so bored by 10% in. Listened to the audiobook. And ParaNoras aren't my thing either. About the time of the Key series.
I found the end of The Maidens insulting. What a letdown!
Ha! As much as I love most of your recs, I must say that "Rock, Paper, Scissors" was not THAT bad! At least it had me guessing up until the end. And let's not completely toss Paul Tremblay away. He has his moments! Cheers!
I'm glad you enjoyed more than I did!
I also thought The Atlas Six was A LOT. I didn't get past the 6 being introduced 🙃
Oof. That Thunderhead opinion hurts me. :)
Me too :(
We seem to have similar tastes agree totally about Atlas Six and Rock Paper Scissors! Can’t wait to hear your favs
I didn't rate the Cartographers as low as you did, but yeah a whole lot of nothing at the end really. So much promise and such a cool idea left me feeling... meh.
Ohhhh I hated Daisy Darker, couldn't take it - DNF😦
Several of these were books I enjoyed, but The Maidens was one of my most disappointing reads a couple years back after really enjoying The Silent Patient.
I agree, it was a big let down to me after The Silent Patient
Totally agree about The Cartographers!! A good idea, but it was a terrible book!
I did not enjoy Daisy Darker either but I thought the stupid ending at least explained why the titular character kept hanging around her awful family. I thought that was the best part of the book. 🤣
lol FAIR
Lol. When you were mini ranting about Daisy Darker I had a flash of Madeline Khan in Clue, “flames on the side of my face”. Made me lol. Thanks for that 😂. I also hated the ending.
I wish, what a queen!! :D
I read all of The Atlas Six and it was so not good. I totally don’t get the hype.
I don’t want you to read books you hate but also I do bc I love angry Mara 😆
lol I'm no Liene but I can be riled!!
Thank you for the validation on Daisy Darker, loved the rant!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I loved this rant. ❤
I don't like Alice Feneey either. Black Leopard, Red Wolf was both a disappointment and a worse of the year book for me.
I like measuring/framing these as misses in worthwhile risks
it makes me feel better if nothing else :D
Catographers I gave 3 stars. I also hated Daisy darker.
My eyeballs rejected it - 😂 Quote of the year Mara!
My absolute worst book of the year was Shatter Me by Taherer Mafi. I could not stand the main character
Freaking SLOW CLAP on Literary Fiction! Trauma Porn!!Trying to do Pop Sugar Reading Challenge and sheesh the prompts! Happy Day
Thank you! You saved me a lot of money. I always trust you.
Glad to hear that!
The Atlas Six has a threesome...that is why it is popular. I agree it was terrible and I will not continue.
Here for more Daisy Darker hate! 🔥🔥🔥
A book that I absolutely hated and I think is probably going to be one of the worst books I‘ll ever read is So you have been publicly shamed by Jon Ronson. This book is so unscientific. He constantly defends a white woman who posted a racist joke and doesn’t even apologize while he downplays the fears of a black woman in an all male environment. And he even paints her as hysterical. He never connects the points on how your identity affects your privileges and why the people who are the worst affected by „public shaming“ are a black woman and a sex worker. Also there’s a updated chapter where people on Twitter are criticizing this exactly and he basically says that those people have no clue what they are talking about and again are hysterical… I have no clue why this book is so popular
Oh that's interesting... I see people citing to him frequently on the topic of cancel culture, so now you've piqued my interest!
The twitter lady who got proto-canceled- I do believe she was trying to lampoon the belief she was accused of having from that. I think the way she worded it was stupid, which caused harm, but not actively malicious. I thought she had apologized but its been so long since I looked at it now I'm not sure
The Atlas Six is proof that authors need editors and the willingness to be edited. The Maidens is proof that there are some terrible editors out there. The Cartographers is proof that someone needs to give Peng Shepard a dictionary for Christmas. And Simon Green is not a well man. Just no. (I wish I could have saved you that icky experience.)
AMEN sing it louder for the folks in the back!!!
I feel like the only person on the planet who liked The Maidens.
My heart grew 3 sizes listening you disparage the Maidens 🥲
lol I live to serve!!
Yeah this has been a year of me realising that litfic all reads like pretentious doomer trauma porn where nothing happens. Staying in my genrefic lane from now on!! 😁😂
lol that's where I stay for the most part these days
How lovely you look today!
I love these types of videos because deep down, I am a hater 😂