I have never seen a "Disappointing books list" that had so much positivity and understanding that gave what felt like a beautiful explanation and exploration of who you are. This is one of the biggest reasons I love your videos, you are such a positive person even in things that could be easy to be negative and derivative. Thank you again for being such a positive and wonderful person in the world.
I hope The Discoworld fans take your criticism with a light heart. Your method of rating books is quite similar to my own. I wish Goodreads would change the star system. Almost every book I've read this year would simply be three stars when some of them were very good (7 and 7.5) while others were way more weak and disappointing would also simply be three stars (6 or 6.5). Three books were five stars, ignoring one reread, and only two books were two stars.
Only 4 really bad books for the year is a very good year!! If I finish the 5 books I'm currently reading, I will have read 139 books this year. My worst 2 that were not DNFs were Gunslinger by King and Practical Magic by Hoffman. King's angry writing was very off-putting for me and the Hoffman was a big disappointment. It was well written but very dull. Out of the 139 books, I had less than 10 that were only fair. The majority of my reads this year were OK - neither great nor horrible. There were about 20 that I really enjoyed!! I hope your good reading continues into 2025 and that my reading enjoyment improves a bit!! Merry Christmas!!
Wow, 139 books! That's a lot! I believe on the low end of our list we have similar experiences, but the top of your list seems a little less crowded. On to an (even) better reading year!
In the 90s there was a phase where everyone around me was raving about Terry Pratchett, but somehow his books were extremely hit and miss for me. Some I loved (like Mort or Guards, Guards) but others I didn't really enjoy. So I stopped reading him at some point. I always thought I might pick him up again, at least for the series I enjoyed, but it somehow never happened.
I believe I'm having the same experience with Discworld. Thing is, I already bought the entire series, and so far they have been very nice palet cleansers...
For me, the biggest disappointments were: "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess, it's just unpleasant to read! Mark Lawrence "The Broken Empire" the whole trilogy, I'm not interested, the characters are repulsive and disgusting! Martha Wells "The Murderbot Diaries" the first book was still nothing, but the subsequent ones are not, I increasingly notice that when the main character is an Android or a robot or an artificial intelligence, I cannot empathize with him, and I do not believe that a robot can have its own way of thinking! Well, the last book, Kazuo Ishiguro's "Klara and the Sun", again, I do not believe that an Android can have its own mindset, and in general, the story turned out to be dry, uninteresting and leaving questions for me!
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence is one of only five books I've DNF'd in my entire life. I dropped it halfway through and to make it even worse I have the other two still in plastic from when I bought them almost ten years ago. I'll give him one more chance in 2025 and try to complete this trilogy. I've also been avoiding Martha Wells's Murderboat books. Everything I've heard about these books so far doesn't sound like the kind of thing I'll enjoy. And considering that one of my biggest disappointments in 2024 is an acclaimed modern sci-fi... I'll stick with the old sci-fi.
I have never seen a "Disappointing books list" that had so much positivity and understanding that gave what felt like a beautiful explanation and exploration of who you are. This is one of the biggest reasons I love your videos, you are such a positive person even in things that could be easy to be negative and derivative. Thank you again for being such a positive and wonderful person in the world.
Thank YOU! Your comments always lift me up!
OOOOOH I am shocked with The last unicorn and Phantastes! Everybody says good things about it! :O
The last unicorn, okay. But Phantastes?? No, that was downright unreadable (at least to me)...
@@DutchGreyBeard I am almost 1/3 thru Tigana, btw. And I am loving it! It's very court/intrigue fantasy, and slow burn.
I hope The Discoworld fans take your criticism with a light heart.
Your method of rating books is quite similar to my own. I wish Goodreads would change the star system.
Almost every book I've read this year would simply be three stars when some of them were very good (7 and 7.5) while others were way more weak and disappointing would also simply be three stars (6 or 6.5).
Three books were five stars, ignoring one reread, and only two books were two stars.
Exactly, the five-star-rating-systems leaves to little room for nuance.
Only 4 really bad books for the year is a very good year!! If I finish the 5 books I'm currently reading, I will have read 139 books this year. My worst 2 that were not DNFs were Gunslinger by King and Practical Magic by Hoffman. King's angry writing was very off-putting for me and the Hoffman was a big disappointment. It was well written but very dull. Out of the 139 books, I had less than 10 that were only fair. The majority of my reads this year were OK - neither great nor horrible. There were about 20 that I really enjoyed!! I hope your good reading continues into 2025 and that my reading enjoyment improves a bit!! Merry Christmas!!
Wow, 139 books! That's a lot! I believe on the low end of our list we have similar experiences, but the top of your list seems a little less crowded. On to an (even) better reading year!
In the 90s there was a phase where everyone around me was raving about Terry Pratchett, but somehow his books were extremely hit and miss for me. Some I loved (like Mort or Guards, Guards) but others I didn't really enjoy. So I stopped reading him at some point. I always thought I might pick him up again, at least for the series I enjoyed, but it somehow never happened.
I believe I'm having the same experience with Discworld. Thing is, I already bought the entire series, and so far they have been very nice palet cleansers...
Don’t be put off by Molly Molly Mandy in my recommendation of The Treasure Seekers by Edit Nesbit - I think you’ll enjoy that much more
I won't. Her books are already on my TBR!
For me, the biggest disappointments were: "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess, it's just unpleasant to read! Mark Lawrence "The Broken Empire" the whole trilogy, I'm not interested, the characters are repulsive and disgusting! Martha Wells "The Murderbot Diaries" the first book was still nothing, but the subsequent ones are not, I increasingly notice that when the main character is an Android or a robot or an artificial intelligence, I cannot empathize with him, and I do not believe that a robot can have its own way of thinking! Well, the last book, Kazuo Ishiguro's "Klara and the Sun", again, I do not believe that an Android can have its own mindset, and in general, the story turned out to be dry, uninteresting and leaving questions for me!
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence is one of only five books I've DNF'd in my entire life. I dropped it halfway through and to make it even worse I have the other two still in plastic from when I bought them almost ten years ago. I'll give him one more chance in 2025 and try to complete this trilogy.
I've also been avoiding Martha Wells's Murderboat books. Everything I've heard about these books so far doesn't sound like the kind of thing I'll enjoy.
And considering that one of my biggest disappointments in 2024 is an acclaimed modern sci-fi... I'll stick with the old sci-fi.
I don't think I could empathize with an AI-character either. Just the title alone, Murderbot, makes me lose all interest.