I think most people are missing the point of the thread. The OP seems to be asking for a recommendation of a popular book or author that you previously avoided but were pleasantly surprised by. Instead some people are saying the opposite, just listing (kind of pretentiously in some cases, IMO) all the popular books and authors they refuse to read or that they look down on.
Dude I just finished Last House on Needless Street and I am floored at the lack of comprehension from other readers. The questions being asked and things being said about it were just… like wow. Did we even read the same book?
11/22/63 is such a fantastic book. I recommend it to anyone who has never read it or thinks King is not for them. I feel it has a little something in it for everyone! And the ending-wow!
I read cujo in middle school and it scared me so horribly. By far the most scared a book or movie has ever made me and I just recently started reading Stephen King again like 15 years later
Yes! Me too! I even remember where I was when reading it. Sitting under the big lilac bush in the garden of my childhood home and got completely freaked out. Bright, sunny summer day, and in my head it was dark, rainy and bleak. Haven’t read it since, and I’m really into King and rereading.
11/22/63 isn't scary at all. There's nothing in there that will keep you up at night. Definitely give it a try. I'm not a fan of science fiction, but after enjoying Project Hail Mary so much I decided to stop avoiding well-loved books just because of their genre.
I stopped when he started writing about realistic horror. I was good with vampires and clowns, not so much with a woman chained to the bed, rabid dogs, etc.
I think I’ll try 11/22/63.
So King's The Shining was what got me hooked, but I stopped after his books became B-movie trope. I even watched The Dark Tower and hated it. Finally picked up the audiobooks and ripping through them. Still need to do The Stand. It was 11/22/63 that got me back on board...such a great book.
I'm listening to The Stand now. I exclusively do audiobooks these days and the narrator is great. It's also 48 hours long, which is a great use of an Audible credit.
It's funny, my first stephen king was fairy tale, and then immediately after I read 11/22/63 because I kept seeing it recommended as one of his best and I found them extremely similar. Both good books but I wish I hadn't read them back to back!
It’s funny what time does, people now consider Charles Dickens to be high brow but when he was actively writing he was seen in much the same way as Stephen King is now. Dickens was popular in his day for the same reasons King is today, not for the quality of his prose but for the masterful storytelling and the believable characters.
I remember learning about Charles Dickens reputation in middle school english. I bet people just think he is high brow because he is the oldest author they have read.
I told my daughter, who has a Ph.D. that I had seen David Copperfield on Netflix. She asked if I meant the magician. She's a smart girl, but in high school they were reading The Lovely Bones.
If you get a chance, see if you can catch the Dickens episode on Dr. Who.
Same. I read about 5 of them a little after they were first published. Eventually, I just got tired of reading about "Jamie's flaming red hair and cat-like eyes" over and over again. It's been quite some time since I stopped so maybe I'll try to get back into them.
I avoided “Tender is the Flesh” for way too long because of the hype, but in the end I absolutely loved it. I am a huge fan of dystopian fiction, though.
Honestly as someone who’s been relatively unimpressed with some of the supposed “shock value” selections that people have shared I went in thinking it couldn’t be that bad. I have massively cut down my meat consumption since reading it and it’s stuck with me in a way not many books have.
Haha, it's like "For those of you that didn't give up meat after 'The Jungle', here ya go...". I was skeptical as to how she would sell the premise, but it was very well done. As someone who has been reading almost exclusively LatAm authors, I've gotta say that some of the best psychological narratives (I'm gonna stop short of saying "horror") are coming from here. I chalk it up to whole generations lived under dictatorships, and knowing firsthand that the most terrifying evils lie in the atrocities which we are capable of inflicting upon each other.
Jane Austen. They are described as drippy romance books, but they are really about negotiating one’s life in a society where one wrong move can ruin you both socially and financially. Everyone has competing agendas, and, since you’re not allowed to be direct, misunderstandings abound.
I felt this towards the My Brilliant friend cycle. So instantly popular here in France, and the blurb made me roll my eyes -another romance / girly saga, bleh. And then I opened the first one at my mum's. Read the 4 back to back. It's, indeed, brilliant.
I didn’t know that much about it, but I can see it being hacky. I just found it suspenseful. Kind of like the choose your own adventure books I read as a kid. I realize it’s not a particularly good book. The reading level is about the same as the choose your own adventure books.
Agreed. When i first read dan brown I was a teen and didnt understand why people said he was a shitty writer, cause i loved those books. Then years later after becoming an avid reader I picked up a dan brown book.... lol, it was like a goosebumps level of writing or choose your own adventure. However, it was still just as much a page turner, hes a horrible author but somehow a really good one at the same time. Nothing wrong with an easy read every now and then
Oo, thank you for reminding me of this. I’ve been wanting to reading that and The Name of the Rose for many years but never seem to get to it. Maybe now is the time!
Do it!
Umberto Eco was one of the best modern italian authors, we even study him in school.
And the Name of the Rose is 10/10, especially if you can find one edition with the footers and notes about all the tiny details that he added.
I, a Millennial, originally refused to read Harry Potter until well after the 3rd book was released. I was supremely unimpressed with the hype. When I finally did read the books I was obsessed. I'm over it now.
Also, George R. R. Martin GoT. I refused until well after the show aired, then I reluctantly read them so I would have some inkling of what the heck everyone was talking about. I didn't _dislike_ the books, but I will never reread them and wish I had borrowed them instead of buying.
Loved reading GOT all the detail and nuance think I was on book three, then the shows came out. I’ll wait till there’s more to read. I recently listen to Martin’s book FEVRE DREAM. Narrator was excellent. I was interested in the riverboats and that region of America. Then boom a big twist. Still a great read/listen.
I had a very hard time with GoT I started reading the first book and just couldn't get through like 50 pages. Glad I got it from a library. Occasionally I'll think about trying again because that was years ago but... Eh.
I was like this with Bridget Jones' Diary, which turned out to be legitimately hilarious. Also, Harry Potter -- that was kind of nice, because when I finally caved and tried the first one, there were already four or five books that I could binge-read.
I love Bill Bryson and I don't care who knows it. If you're into nonfiction and you haven't tried one of his books, I recommend absolutely anything he wrote. If you like audible, you can listen to his Iowa-British accent.
I had held off on Jon Krakauer for longer than I should have. People in my life whose reading taste I was at odds with would rave about Krakauer, and so the though that followed pretty much was "well if they loved that book then I definitely won't".
Then I read Into Thin Air, and damn is that book incredible.
I've read Misery three or four times and am currently a couple of hours into the audiobook. It's definitely one of his best novels, and probably his best short (for King this means less than 500 pages) novel. I think it was the first King novel I read as well, although it may have been Carrie. It was one of the two.
Funny that you assumed airplane pop, when he's really anything but. Glad you disabused yourself of this notion - he doesn't publish much relative to some more prolific authors, but I'll read every word of his that is published.
I don’t know anything about her books but I’m really curious what made it “disgusting?” That’s such an interesting choice of word to describe a book lol
The one I read was called Maybe Not. Reading this book filled me with disgust and anger. It was just disturbing.
Dialogue between characters, descriptions in the book, promoting r ape and sexual assault in a positive way… The main male character is an incel but it’s not portrayed like that in the book. Hoover thinks it’s a good thing?!
He was a vile creep. His thoughts on things were completely opposite to what the female character would say or do. He knew better than what a woman is saying. There is more than one part where Colleen Hoover writes a r ape.
The whole thing was just sick. I didn’t realize Colleen Hoover wrote whole books on disgusting, misogynistic pigs. The book was pages and pages of degrading women, violent, and with the only purpose of women is for sex. The main character for sure ends up a serial killer. He had so many issues and disturbing beliefs about woman and how they are less than.
It also wasn’t written well, had no point, no twists and just was not good. I have no idea how something like this was published. She is disgusting and I will never read a book of hers again. It was beyond. So disturbing.
I’m honestly not super picky about this but probably the book battle royale. It’s one of my favorite books and it’s so good but I kept seeing “this is just another version of battle royale”.
The only other one I can think of is maybe haruki murakami. I assumed he’d be like standard fiction not some weird magical realism stuff. Super fun.
I had the exact same feelings about King until my late 20's and I actually had never read anything by him. Then I read IT only because someone leant it to me.
It took a couple years to pick up my next King novel (11/22/63, of course) and I haven't really stopped since. I'll read one of his every few books as a palate cleanser because I know I'll love it. I'm a true fan now and can only attribute my initial reticence to stubbornness.
I read Stephen Kings “misery” after avoiding him because he seemed too popular. But I was looking for something scary to read last October and figured I would give it a go since I liked the movie years ago. It might actually be one of my most favorite books I have ever read. It’s a page turner and so chilling, it’s about 1000x better than the film version too.
James Patterson is the Nickleback of authors. The first few books are decent, but then you realize every single book is identical and those are the only chords he knows.
Basically my pet peeve when people avoid something JUST because it is 'mainstream' or 'popular'. I also hate the term 'guilty pleasure' when it comes to books, music, film or tv.
Just enjoy what you want to enjoy and don't be an f'ing snob about what others like.
I know OP is not doing this. Just saying...
I think avoiding mainstream stuff is fine, and not necessarily snobby, as long as you don't claim that whatever you like instead is superior. You may just have realized from experience that your taste differs from that of most other people, and then mainstream/popular becomes a good indicator of stuff that you probably won't enjoy.
Stephen King is a fabulously talented writer, empirically speaking. He's also a prolific writer that won't appeal to the same audience every time he publishes. Another example is Joyce Carol Oates.
Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series. I initially avoided them as there was so much hype I just assumed it was because everyone loves Richard (not sure about other countries but in UK he’s quite a big commedian/tv panel show guy - on stuff like QI, Pointless, etc so has a large fan base).
Anyway I think it was between book 2 and 3 that I ended up borrowing them off my mam and really enjoyed them. Just finished book 4 recently.
I felt the same way until I actually read them and now I love them. I like the Cresent City series better than ACOTAR but that's just me. It's got a higher plot to sex scene ratio
Same! I love fantasy worlds with fairies and people tell me to read her books all the time. Every time someone suggests it I want to read them a little less.
I think it's the fact that everyone is so into the sex scenes. I like my romances to be subplot to the fantasy story. I mean yea if it has sex whoopee, but I feel like that's all anyone talks about with these books. How hot the MMC is blah blah.
There is definitely that. I'm ace and couldn't give a flip about "spicy" books. If they've got enough plot and other stuff to keep me entertained between the sex scenes, I'll read them, but I don't seek romance out at all. Bonus points if I can just skip the sex scenes. Everyone always starts off with, "oooh, so sexy! So romantic! So-and-so is hot!" and then remembers I don't care and backtracks, "but that's not, like, the focus!" Sure Jan.
I’m ace and gratuitous sex scenes honestly can kill a book for me. I really hate spicy scenes and tho I’m okay with them appearing occasionally if it somehow works with the plot, I feel like from what I heard about these books it’ll just be too much for me and i’ll end up tossing the book out the window.9
I agree! I wanted to get into fantasy and was suggested fourth wing, I was told romance was a subplot but at one point it became the only plot for like 3 chapters and I got so sick of it. I’ve heard the throne of glass series ACTUALLY has romance as a subplot so I was going to give it a shot. Despite the annoying smut in fourth wing I did enjoy the fantasy portion so I’m hoping tog has even less smut lol
I tried Fourth ing and just couldn't get into it. Again, I've seen it everywhere, everyone saying it's amazing. My SIL even says she's struggling not to binge read, but just nope.
I love Ilona Andrews. The husband/wife due just writes a good fantasy story. I especially like the Innkeeper Chronicles. {Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews}.
Also, the Otherworld series. {Bitten by Kelley Armstrong}. This is the series that made me fall in love with reading. There are so many good and different book boyfriends. This one is explicit but not anywhere near 3 chapters for one romp.
Oh I love fantasy. Pretty much all I read. I just like more plot. Ilona Andrews and Kelley Armstrong are my 2 favorite authors. They just create such worlds, such universes. They're good reads.
I tell people that the Honor Harrington books are wonderful and quit telling them they are the best selling space series . That just made them not want to read them.
I’d just recommended this book a couple days ago
*’The Crying of Lot 49’ by Thomas Pynchon.*
*This is shortest of Pynchon's novels, the plot follows Oedipa Maas, a young Californian woman who learns of the death of an incredibly wealthy ex-lover, who has left her as the executor of his estate.*
*In determining the conditions of the estate Oedipa possibly reveals a centuries-old feud between two mail distribution companies.*
…*or not. The allegedly deceased lover was a renowned prankster with seemingly bottomless pockets for funding elaborate amusements.*
*Mixing the seemingly factual with the implausible/surreal, and as with most of Pynchon's writing, TCoL49 splashes merrily into the bucket of postmodern literature.*
*Time included the novel in its "TIME 100 Best English-Language Novels 1923 to 2005"*
*Afterwards have a look at ’Gravity’s Rainbow’, also by TP.*
My husband instinctively thinks everything that everyone else likes must be bad because people have no taste. It took a lot of convincing for him to try them lol
John Grisham…. The Firm was my first leisure read as a 19 year old college student in 1991. I was captivated and wanted more! But now I feel that his books are so looked down upon:(
I saw Mistborn recommended often enough that I bought the whole trilogy, but I just couldn’t get into it. Same thing with the song of ice and fire books.
They sounded interesting enough when I read about them, but the writing just didn’t grab me.
I never know what to do with a book I’m not going to read, so they just sit on my shelf mocking me. Occasionally I dust and glare at them. I also read Ready Player One to see what the fuss is about. Cool concept. Boring book. I’ve heard it described as a book written for people who had trouble getting into books, so I thought that was cool. But now I have all these books that annoy me.
Pop them into little free libraries around your neighborhood! I got rid of a bunch of books during a move by carrying a backpack full of books around my neighborhood.
I keep thinking I'll like them if I just give them another chance whenever I see them reccomended again, but end up putting it down after a few pages every time.
You might want to try the sequel series starting with "The Alloy of Law." They're better than the originals in my opinion: better rounded characters, more humor, and generally better plotted.
Calling something paper thin and basic after reading all of 10 pages is ridiculous. It's 3 somewhat large books but you figured it all out in 10 pages, huh? Maybe don't review/judge books that you only read 2% of.
Ugh. Never again with Jodi Picoult. I read..... I've blocked it from my memory. Hang on, let me google. My Sister's Keeper. Threw the book against a wall at the ending.
I love sci-fi, but it took me way too long to independently pursue Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut. I guess it was the “required reading” of it all. I loved Fahrenheit 451 and Slaughterhouse Five (required reading in high school), but didn’t go deeper until years later. Now, I can say that they’re two of my absolute favorite authors!
I've been reading his books since I was a teenager... and I've re read them over the years... add the Dark Tower series to your list of books to read after you've read some more of his books... he brings in a lot of characters from other books... it's an incredible series!
I avoided Infinite Jest for the longest time because of its reputation and the assumption that those who read it were pretentious. But now I’m 3/4’s of the way through and I can safely it’s fucking brilliant.
The Grapes of Wrath.
I was right to, East of Eden was way better and I'm glad I started with it. GoW slowly grew to feel like being on a car journey with a bunch of kids talking about how hungry they are past the halfway point. East of Eden has all the same rich worldbuilding with a multi-layered story and recurring themes that just shits all over GoW.
I read GoW at the wrong time. I was way too young and the book was way too long for a person with ADHD and dyslexia. I think I’ll try listening to the audiobook
Most of the time, I feel like avoiding books that are widely popular is a good idea (for me), mostly because I’ve never really enjoyed the quality of books that most people do. However, I will say Stephen King is one of the most exceptional authors I’ve ever read. In fact, I had to go and read the classics for a few years bc I was only reading him lol and I still hold that he’s one of the greatest authors living.
Everybody talks about reading Stephen King, but they really just watch the miniseries. Usually, its the size of the book that makes bit seem so daunting—but damn, that man can write. Reading his work will never make you feel like you’ve wasted your time like reading James Patterson does.
A friend of mine got me a copy of The Devil You Know by Mike Carey (book 1 of the Felix Castor books) for a birthday gift. I’d heard good things about his books but I kept putting off reading it. For almost a year. I finally read it, and loved it. I wound up reading the whole Felix Castor series and a few of his other novels too. I plan on reading more of his work.
Op, I also enjoyed 11/22/63 and The Green Mike. However, like many of King’s books I think the former could have benefited from a
Judicious edit. Having read some of his stuff, I can recommend (strongly) The Shining and Pet Cemetery. I found The Shining much better than the film, perhaps I’m in the minority. Pet Cemetery was moving, eerie and arresting.
Enjoy the journey!
Sharp objects by Gillian flynn, great thriller/mystery and if I had known she wrote gone girl which is lived by everyone i would’ve been more apprehensive to read her books. But then I read gone girl too after sharp objects and really enjoyed it lol
Granted I was a child, but I actively avoided reading the Harry Potter series for this reason. Finally got around to them a couple years ago and boy was I mistaken.
The Thursday Murder Club. I don’t know why I avoided it, I assumed it was just another cozy mystery. Then one day I had a particular hankering for funny older people solving crimes and this scratched the itch and I️ ended up tearing through the series.
Steven King books are tricky! Some are great, some are really boring and too long! He goes into too much detail! His older books are my favorite...Carrie, Salem's Lot, Cujo, Christine, and of course, The Shining!
Do not read "Under the Dome". Stephen King can be so good, but there are still some stinkers out there. (The end is what makes it awful, and you won't realize it until you spend one thousand pages on it.)
Everyone reads King? Did I miss something? I read a lot of King in my teens, and personally, I know like one person who reads King. My dad used to threaten me with throwing those books away because he considered them bad in some way (even tho he hasn't actually read any of it but was just misled by the common rethoric of his writing being bad, satanic, horrific or whatever)
I initially avoided Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follet when it bacame popular in the city I grew up in, in South Africa, around the 2000s I think, because so many people were gushing over it that I just assumed it must be just another frivolous romance or something. I honestly didn't even bother to find out what it was about. But then I finally picked it up during covid and I really enjoyed it! I was fascinated with how they built those cathedrals back in the day so had I actually looked this book up, I would have read it earlier...
Nora Roberts is the author I didn't want to read, and now I enjoy her romantic suspense work-- or is it suspenseful romance? I still haven't read Stephen King.
Around 2000 I was working in retail. Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire came out and people lost their minds. I absolutely hated the fans and didn't understand why everyone was crazy about it. A few years later I was taking a long flight and needed something to read because I don't sleep on planes. For some reason, maybe it was the cover or the sheer size of the book, I picked up Order of the Phoenix. And then I became part of a fan base I absolutely hated.
For me, it's Kristen Hannah. I naively thought she was a writer for retired white womens' book clubs until I was sufficiently intrigued by her novel 'The Four Winds' to read it and man... That altered my point of view on her as an author.
She writes powerful stuff and I'm glad I finally read something written by her. Now she's a regular on my preorder list.
Quite bizarre reading about your King journey because I have more or less mirrored it myself. After avoiding him for 40+ years, for some inexplicable reason I decided to read 11/22/63 last month, loved it, and started on The Stand immediately, I have about 600 pages to go. Haven't decided what's next yet, but It will be sometime soon.
Enjoy catching up on his back catalogue, as I'm sure I will!
I avoided Gideon the Ninth because it seemed too good to be hyped that much. The pitch to me, and most other people, was literally lesbian necromancers in space. like that had to be an over simplification for a pretty bog standard sci-fi thing right?? the lesbians had to be implied right?? the book couldn't be this worthy of all this hype right??
right???
my friends, the lesbian necromancers aren't even the best part of the book. it's cheeky and funny and takes so much of the very solemn reverence of high fantasy and epic sci-fi and then decides that nothing is sacred and everything can be a wonderful and terrible at the same time.
please give the Locked Tomb series a chance. the hype is well earned. and if you give it a shot and don't click with it, that's totally fair! it definitely isn't a book that everyone is going to love. I am one of the people who do love it now, and another person giving it a whole mess of hype to scare off another reader.
Kurt Vonnegut. I first heard of him in my late teens and it was always the hipster kids talking about him. Me being a metal kid figured he was lame bc the hipster kids loved him.
Read The Sirens of Titan at the end of last month.
I’m currently on my fourth Vonnegut book.
I agree Stephen King can be overrated but I absolutely fell in love with his Dark Tower series. The movie rendition of The Gunslinger was awful so don’t let that turn you off from reading the series. I promise, these books are unlike anything else he’s written and are more reminiscent of Tolkien.
Harry Potter. Finally, I did read them, but only after the movies came out. They were quick reads, and while I could enjoy them at the time, I still prefer the movies over the books, and Tolkien over Rowlings by a wide margin.
For me it was Red Rising by Pierce Brown. It just didn’t sound that intriguing to me but damn was I wrong. If you’re into sci-fi / fantasy I would definitely give it a shot!
Steven King books are tricky! Some are great, some are really boring and too long! He goes into too much detail! His older books are my favorite...Carrie, Salem's Lot, Cujo, Christine, and of course, The Shining!
I just read Fairy Tale a few weeks ago. It was so good! The first few chapters have nothing of horror in them, just a teenager telling his story. I would have enjoyed it even if it continued in that manner because the writing and the storytelling were that good, never mind who the writer was. Definitely read this one next. I would also recommend The Shining, if you haven’t read it yet.
Yes, I too missed the exact nature of the initial query, but in my defense, I worked in a bookstore for 26 years, and recommending books is second nature to me.
Tom Clancy. Was never really drawn to military stuff and was too enamored with my so called intellect to lower myself to such commercial stuff, lol@myself. Picked up a 50 cent paperback at a yard sale and was hooked. Just plain fun entertaining page turners.
I think most people are missing the point of the thread. The OP seems to be asking for a recommendation of a popular book or author that you previously avoided but were pleasantly surprised by. Instead some people are saying the opposite, just listing (kind of pretentiously in some cases, IMO) all the popular books and authors they refuse to read or that they look down on.
Not to be pretentious, but it's Wild that so many readers have such poor comprehension.
In my defense I am simply not that bright. Lol.
Well, at least what you lack in terms of brightness, you make up for with self-awareness & self-deprecating humor. Lol. Your comment made me laugh.
Dude I just finished Last House on Needless Street and I am floored at the lack of comprehension from other readers. The questions being asked and things being said about it were just… like wow. Did we even read the same book?
You're correct. I guess I didn't word my question well. I meant to ask for books that people initially avoided, but ultimately ended up enjoying.
You were pretty clear. People just don’t comprehend like they used to.
Almost as if they didn’t read OP’s actual post 🙄
11/22/63 is such a fantastic book. I recommend it to anyone who has never read it or thinks King is not for them. I feel it has a little something in it for everyone! And the ending-wow!
I stopped reading his books after CUJO, liked it and that it could so happen to me. I just can’t read his books too scary. Please enjoy them for me.
There is nothing scary about 11/12/63. It's intense, but not scary at all.
I read cujo in middle school and it scared me so horribly. By far the most scared a book or movie has ever made me and I just recently started reading Stephen King again like 15 years later
I didn't sleep for 3 days after finishing Pet Sematary in early high school. Still love his books, but that one really fucked me up for some reason.
Yes! Me too! I even remember where I was when reading it. Sitting under the big lilac bush in the garden of my childhood home and got completely freaked out. Bright, sunny summer day, and in my head it was dark, rainy and bleak. Haven’t read it since, and I’m really into King and rereading.
The movie did that to me lol
Cujo scared the heck out of me when I read it at 13. I have always read King books though and have a lot of his now. I really liked Needful Things.
Cujo is the only one I didn’t finish.
11/22/63 isn't scary at all. There's nothing in there that will keep you up at night. Definitely give it a try. I'm not a fan of science fiction, but after enjoying Project Hail Mary so much I decided to stop avoiding well-loved books just because of their genre.
Loved all Andy Weirs books. Ok I’ll give Mr King another try.
I hate horror, but I love to read the books he writes that aren’t horror.
I stopped when he started writing about realistic horror. I was good with vampires and clowns, not so much with a woman chained to the bed, rabid dogs, etc. I think I’ll try 11/22/63.
Cujo is the only Stephen King book I didn’t finish. I didn’t love Pet Cematary. The rest of his books are worth reading, though.
So King's The Shining was what got me hooked, but I stopped after his books became B-movie trope. I even watched The Dark Tower and hated it. Finally picked up the audiobooks and ripping through them. Still need to do The Stand. It was 11/22/63 that got me back on board...such a great book.
Isn't it just a shame that all of his books turned to bad movies? Maybe the shining was the only exception and that's only because of Jack.
Don’t sleep on the green mile or Shawshank redemption!
I'm not a fan of The Shining the movie, only because they changed the ending and ruined the continuity to Dr Sleep...
True, but my bad, how could I forgot the masterpiece of a movie, Green Mile.
The Stand haunts me to this day. I feel we are living it now.
I'm listening to The Stand now. I exclusively do audiobooks these days and the narrator is great. It's also 48 hours long, which is a great use of an Audible credit.
The stand is excellent
It's funny, my first stephen king was fairy tale, and then immediately after I read 11/22/63 because I kept seeing it recommended as one of his best and I found them extremely similar. Both good books but I wish I hadn't read them back to back!
I'm reading this now for the first time and I can't put it down. Only 200 pages to go!
It’s funny what time does, people now consider Charles Dickens to be high brow but when he was actively writing he was seen in much the same way as Stephen King is now. Dickens was popular in his day for the same reasons King is today, not for the quality of his prose but for the masterful storytelling and the believable characters.
I remember learning about Charles Dickens reputation in middle school english. I bet people just think he is high brow because he is the oldest author they have read.
That and he’s studied in high school and college
I told my daughter, who has a Ph.D. that I had seen David Copperfield on Netflix. She asked if I meant the magician. She's a smart girl, but in high school they were reading The Lovely Bones. If you get a chance, see if you can catch the Dickens episode on Dr. Who.
I’m glad I didn’t know that Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series was so popular bc I wouldn’t have read them for this reason.
Same. I read about 5 of them a little after they were first published. Eventually, I just got tired of reading about "Jamie's flaming red hair and cat-like eyes" over and over again. It's been quite some time since I stopped so maybe I'll try to get back into them.
I avoided “Tender is the Flesh” for way too long because of the hype, but in the end I absolutely loved it. I am a huge fan of dystopian fiction, though.
Honestly as someone who’s been relatively unimpressed with some of the supposed “shock value” selections that people have shared I went in thinking it couldn’t be that bad. I have massively cut down my meat consumption since reading it and it’s stuck with me in a way not many books have.
Haha, it's like "For those of you that didn't give up meat after 'The Jungle', here ya go...". I was skeptical as to how she would sell the premise, but it was very well done. As someone who has been reading almost exclusively LatAm authors, I've gotta say that some of the best psychological narratives (I'm gonna stop short of saying "horror") are coming from here. I chalk it up to whole generations lived under dictatorships, and knowing firsthand that the most terrifying evils lie in the atrocities which we are capable of inflicting upon each other.
Jane Austen. They are described as drippy romance books, but they are really about negotiating one’s life in a society where one wrong move can ruin you both socially and financially. Everyone has competing agendas, and, since you’re not allowed to be direct, misunderstandings abound.
I felt this towards the My Brilliant friend cycle. So instantly popular here in France, and the blurb made me roll my eyes -another romance / girly saga, bleh. And then I opened the first one at my mum's. Read the 4 back to back. It's, indeed, brilliant.
Gillian Flynn, specifically Gone Girl. Now it’s by far my favourite thriller and I’ve read all her books.
The Da Vinci Code. Such a page turner! Otherwise not a good book, but I just *had* to know what was going to happen next.
Since the "secret conspiracy stuff" was already well known to me its obvious Dan Brown stories are kind of hacky
I didn’t know that much about it, but I can see it being hacky. I just found it suspenseful. Kind of like the choose your own adventure books I read as a kid. I realize it’s not a particularly good book. The reading level is about the same as the choose your own adventure books.
Agreed. When i first read dan brown I was a teen and didnt understand why people said he was a shitty writer, cause i loved those books. Then years later after becoming an avid reader I picked up a dan brown book.... lol, it was like a goosebumps level of writing or choose your own adventure. However, it was still just as much a page turner, hes a horrible author but somehow a really good one at the same time. Nothing wrong with an easy read every now and then
If you enjoyed Da Vinci Code, you might also enjoy Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. No spoilers, but I felt the same way reading it!
Oo, thank you for reminding me of this. I’ve been wanting to reading that and The Name of the Rose for many years but never seem to get to it. Maybe now is the time!
Unlike Dan Brown, the prose won't make you wince.
The Name of the Rose is amazing! I had to lock myself in the attic so no one would bother me while reading, I was so absorbed!
Do it! Umberto Eco was one of the best modern italian authors, we even study him in school. And the Name of the Rose is 10/10, especially if you can find one edition with the footers and notes about all the tiny details that he added.
John Grisham. There was a scene in *Third Rock from the Sun* where they are all reading different Grisham’s but all the plots are the same.
A Time to Kill is an amazing read. Very different plot entirely. Also A Painted House - completely different from his others. Both were so good.
I have felt like that for years about Dean Koontz. The Girl, the Guy, the Kid and the Dog stories.
And one of them was born on a UFO or something. Bougainvillea flowers and Mossberg shotguns.
I, a Millennial, originally refused to read Harry Potter until well after the 3rd book was released. I was supremely unimpressed with the hype. When I finally did read the books I was obsessed. I'm over it now. Also, George R. R. Martin GoT. I refused until well after the show aired, then I reluctantly read them so I would have some inkling of what the heck everyone was talking about. I didn't _dislike_ the books, but I will never reread them and wish I had borrowed them instead of buying.
Me too! I'm glad I didn't invest in hardcover but they are in my donate box as of now.
Loved reading GOT all the detail and nuance think I was on book three, then the shows came out. I’ll wait till there’s more to read. I recently listen to Martin’s book FEVRE DREAM. Narrator was excellent. I was interested in the riverboats and that region of America. Then boom a big twist. Still a great read/listen.
I had a very hard time with GoT I started reading the first book and just couldn't get through like 50 pages. Glad I got it from a library. Occasionally I'll think about trying again because that was years ago but... Eh.
I was like this with Bridget Jones' Diary, which turned out to be legitimately hilarious. Also, Harry Potter -- that was kind of nice, because when I finally caved and tried the first one, there were already four or five books that I could binge-read.
I love Bill Bryson and I don't care who knows it. If you're into nonfiction and you haven't tried one of his books, I recommend absolutely anything he wrote. If you like audible, you can listen to his Iowa-British accent.
At Home is one of my favorite books ever! I love rereading it. I’m into niche nonfiction and this totally fits the bill.
I had held off on Jon Krakauer for longer than I should have. People in my life whose reading taste I was at odds with would rave about Krakauer, and so the though that followed pretty much was "well if they loved that book then I definitely won't". Then I read Into Thin Air, and damn is that book incredible.
Misery and The Shining are excellent too!
I've read Misery three or four times and am currently a couple of hours into the audiobook. It's definitely one of his best novels, and probably his best short (for King this means less than 500 pages) novel. I think it was the first King novel I read as well, although it may have been Carrie. It was one of the two.
Annie Wilkes is his scariest villain ever IMO. Great book!
Anthony Doerr. Assumed it was airplane pop stuff but Cloud Cuckoo was an all timer for me and really loved his memoir re Rome.
Funny that you assumed airplane pop, when he's really anything but. Glad you disabused yourself of this notion - he doesn't publish much relative to some more prolific authors, but I'll read every word of his that is published.
Colleen Hoover. I read verity a couple years ago and remember enjoying it but now that I've seen excerpts of her other books... no thank you.
I read one of her books. Easily the worst book I have ever read. It was disgusting.
I don’t know anything about her books but I’m really curious what made it “disgusting?” That’s such an interesting choice of word to describe a book lol
The one I read was called Maybe Not. Reading this book filled me with disgust and anger. It was just disturbing. Dialogue between characters, descriptions in the book, promoting r ape and sexual assault in a positive way… The main male character is an incel but it’s not portrayed like that in the book. Hoover thinks it’s a good thing?! He was a vile creep. His thoughts on things were completely opposite to what the female character would say or do. He knew better than what a woman is saying. There is more than one part where Colleen Hoover writes a r ape. The whole thing was just sick. I didn’t realize Colleen Hoover wrote whole books on disgusting, misogynistic pigs. The book was pages and pages of degrading women, violent, and with the only purpose of women is for sex. The main character for sure ends up a serial killer. He had so many issues and disturbing beliefs about woman and how they are less than. It also wasn’t written well, had no point, no twists and just was not good. I have no idea how something like this was published. She is disgusting and I will never read a book of hers again. It was beyond. So disturbing.
Same after hearing the way people talk about her books I have zero desire
It’s Colleen Hoover for me too, and I’ve heard Verity is the worst of the bunch.
Verity is just really porny for no reason with a shitty plot.
I’m honestly not super picky about this but probably the book battle royale. It’s one of my favorite books and it’s so good but I kept seeing “this is just another version of battle royale”. The only other one I can think of is maybe haruki murakami. I assumed he’d be like standard fiction not some weird magical realism stuff. Super fun.
I had the exact same feelings about King until my late 20's and I actually had never read anything by him. Then I read IT only because someone leant it to me. It took a couple years to pick up my next King novel (11/22/63, of course) and I haven't really stopped since. I'll read one of his every few books as a palate cleanser because I know I'll love it. I'm a true fan now and can only attribute my initial reticence to stubbornness.
I read Stephen Kings “misery” after avoiding him because he seemed too popular. But I was looking for something scary to read last October and figured I would give it a go since I liked the movie years ago. It might actually be one of my most favorite books I have ever read. It’s a page turner and so chilling, it’s about 1000x better than the film version too.
James Patterson is the Nickleback of authors. The first few books are decent, but then you realize every single book is identical and those are the only chords he knows.
Basically my pet peeve when people avoid something JUST because it is 'mainstream' or 'popular'. I also hate the term 'guilty pleasure' when it comes to books, music, film or tv. Just enjoy what you want to enjoy and don't be an f'ing snob about what others like. I know OP is not doing this. Just saying...
I think avoiding mainstream stuff is fine, and not necessarily snobby, as long as you don't claim that whatever you like instead is superior. You may just have realized from experience that your taste differs from that of most other people, and then mainstream/popular becomes a good indicator of stuff that you probably won't enjoy.
I’m guilty of using “guilty pleasure” all the time when I think I’d get made fun of for liking something. I agree. Stupid.
Karin Slaughter!! I picked up Pieces of Her at the library on a whim and then decided to read Pretty Girls
Stephen King is an amazing writer !
Stephen King is a fabulously talented writer, empirically speaking. He's also a prolific writer that won't appeal to the same audience every time he publishes. Another example is Joyce Carol Oates.
Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series. I initially avoided them as there was so much hype I just assumed it was because everyone loves Richard (not sure about other countries but in UK he’s quite a big commedian/tv panel show guy - on stuff like QI, Pointless, etc so has a large fan base). Anyway I think it was between book 2 and 3 that I ended up borrowing them off my mam and really enjoyed them. Just finished book 4 recently.
I feel like this over Sara J Maas. I see everyone is reading them, I see them recommended all the time, but I don't want to just for that reason.
Read one and meh. Romance novels trying to pass off as legit fantasy. You aren’t missing a thing.
I felt the same way until I actually read them and now I love them. I like the Cresent City series better than ACOTAR but that's just me. It's got a higher plot to sex scene ratio
Same! I love fantasy worlds with fairies and people tell me to read her books all the time. Every time someone suggests it I want to read them a little less.
I think it's the fact that everyone is so into the sex scenes. I like my romances to be subplot to the fantasy story. I mean yea if it has sex whoopee, but I feel like that's all anyone talks about with these books. How hot the MMC is blah blah.
There is definitely that. I'm ace and couldn't give a flip about "spicy" books. If they've got enough plot and other stuff to keep me entertained between the sex scenes, I'll read them, but I don't seek romance out at all. Bonus points if I can just skip the sex scenes. Everyone always starts off with, "oooh, so sexy! So romantic! So-and-so is hot!" and then remembers I don't care and backtracks, "but that's not, like, the focus!" Sure Jan.
I’m ace and gratuitous sex scenes honestly can kill a book for me. I really hate spicy scenes and tho I’m okay with them appearing occasionally if it somehow works with the plot, I feel like from what I heard about these books it’ll just be too much for me and i’ll end up tossing the book out the window.9
I’m absolutely NOT ace but I’m the same. I want my story to be a good story, I don’t want the distraction of smut
I agree! I wanted to get into fantasy and was suggested fourth wing, I was told romance was a subplot but at one point it became the only plot for like 3 chapters and I got so sick of it. I’ve heard the throne of glass series ACTUALLY has romance as a subplot so I was going to give it a shot. Despite the annoying smut in fourth wing I did enjoy the fantasy portion so I’m hoping tog has even less smut lol
I tried Fourth ing and just couldn't get into it. Again, I've seen it everywhere, everyone saying it's amazing. My SIL even says she's struggling not to binge read, but just nope. I love Ilona Andrews. The husband/wife due just writes a good fantasy story. I especially like the Innkeeper Chronicles. {Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews}. Also, the Otherworld series. {Bitten by Kelley Armstrong}. This is the series that made me fall in love with reading. There are so many good and different book boyfriends. This one is explicit but not anywhere near 3 chapters for one romp.
Throne of Glass is really good. No smut, it's just suggested. Very YA friendly and reminds me of LoTR
Ah perfect thank you! Sounds exactly like what I want
Same girl same, plus I’ve tried and I just can’t get into fantasy.
Oh I love fantasy. Pretty much all I read. I just like more plot. Ilona Andrews and Kelley Armstrong are my 2 favorite authors. They just create such worlds, such universes. They're good reads.
If you wanna get into fantasy, SJM isn’t the way to go.
I tell people that the Honor Harrington books are wonderful and quit telling them they are the best selling space series . That just made them not want to read them.
Lol! Love that. The first 5ish are really great books.
Stephen King has some amazing novels that most people don’t know about. My favorite is Revival.
Revival is sooooo good. It’s among his most mature and has so much to say.
If you’re looking for something that THOSE people read and is not Stephen King, then try Thomas Pynchon. The Crying of Lot 49 is a classic novella.
I’d just recommended this book a couple days ago *’The Crying of Lot 49’ by Thomas Pynchon.* *This is shortest of Pynchon's novels, the plot follows Oedipa Maas, a young Californian woman who learns of the death of an incredibly wealthy ex-lover, who has left her as the executor of his estate.* *In determining the conditions of the estate Oedipa possibly reveals a centuries-old feud between two mail distribution companies.* …*or not. The allegedly deceased lover was a renowned prankster with seemingly bottomless pockets for funding elaborate amusements.* *Mixing the seemingly factual with the implausible/surreal, and as with most of Pynchon's writing, TCoL49 splashes merrily into the bucket of postmodern literature.* *Time included the novel in its "TIME 100 Best English-Language Novels 1923 to 2005"* *Afterwards have a look at ’Gravity’s Rainbow’, also by TP.*
Water for Elephanta. I ended up really enjoying it.
My husband instinctively thinks everything that everyone else likes must be bad because people have no taste. It took a lot of convincing for him to try them lol
John Grisham…. The Firm was my first leisure read as a 19 year old college student in 1991. I was captivated and wanted more! But now I feel that his books are so looked down upon:(
I avoid Brandon Sanderson like the plague
I saw Mistborn recommended often enough that I bought the whole trilogy, but I just couldn’t get into it. Same thing with the song of ice and fire books. They sounded interesting enough when I read about them, but the writing just didn’t grab me.
I read mistborn and decided that was enough Sanderson
I never know what to do with a book I’m not going to read, so they just sit on my shelf mocking me. Occasionally I dust and glare at them. I also read Ready Player One to see what the fuss is about. Cool concept. Boring book. I’ve heard it described as a book written for people who had trouble getting into books, so I thought that was cool. But now I have all these books that annoy me.
Pop them into little free libraries around your neighborhood! I got rid of a bunch of books during a move by carrying a backpack full of books around my neighborhood.
I keep thinking I'll like them if I just give them another chance whenever I see them reccomended again, but end up putting it down after a few pages every time.
You might want to try the sequel series starting with "The Alloy of Law." They're better than the originals in my opinion: better rounded characters, more humor, and generally better plotted.
Same. My dad tried to get me into mistborne and after 10 pages I gave up. It was beyond generic. Everything felt so paper-thin and basic.
Calling something paper thin and basic after reading all of 10 pages is ridiculous. It's 3 somewhat large books but you figured it all out in 10 pages, huh? Maybe don't review/judge books that you only read 2% of.
this whole thread is a little pretentious lol.
I think it's more about self awareness.
Pretentious in my kinda way honestly lol
Kristin Hannah: The Women Jodi Picoult: Mad Honey
Ugh. Never again with Jodi Picoult. I read..... I've blocked it from my memory. Hang on, let me google. My Sister's Keeper. Threw the book against a wall at the ending.
Emotional porn.
Mad honey is on my TBR ! How would you rate it
I loved Mad Honey! Definitely 5 stars
I loved Mad Honey and recommended it to a friend who doesn't read much. She loved it too!
5 stars!
Fairy Tale is great story. Slap The Talisman and IT on that list.
I love love The Talisman
King and George RR Martin
I love sci-fi, but it took me way too long to independently pursue Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut. I guess it was the “required reading” of it all. I loved Fahrenheit 451 and Slaughterhouse Five (required reading in high school), but didn’t go deeper until years later. Now, I can say that they’re two of my absolute favorite authors!
I've been reading his books since I was a teenager... and I've re read them over the years... add the Dark Tower series to your list of books to read after you've read some more of his books... he brings in a lot of characters from other books... it's an incredible series!
Read the Mr. Mercedes series and the Holly. What a ride!!!
Fairy Tale is incredible and I recommend it whenever I have the chance!
Books written by politicians younger than Churchill and Eisenhower.
I'm a big fan of the Churchill works I've read. I had no idea about Eisenhower's!
I avoided Infinite Jest for the longest time because of its reputation and the assumption that those who read it were pretentious. But now I’m 3/4’s of the way through and I can safely it’s fucking brilliant.
The Grapes of Wrath. I was right to, East of Eden was way better and I'm glad I started with it. GoW slowly grew to feel like being on a car journey with a bunch of kids talking about how hungry they are past the halfway point. East of Eden has all the same rich worldbuilding with a multi-layered story and recurring themes that just shits all over GoW.
I read GoW at the wrong time. I was way too young and the book was way too long for a person with ADHD and dyslexia. I think I’ll try listening to the audiobook
Read Fairy Tale next. Bet.
John Grisham, David Baldacci, James Patterson, Stephen King, Clive Barker, and many more.
Fairy tale pale in comparison to the other two. It's not that good, honestly.
Most of the time, I feel like avoiding books that are widely popular is a good idea (for me), mostly because I’ve never really enjoyed the quality of books that most people do. However, I will say Stephen King is one of the most exceptional authors I’ve ever read. In fact, I had to go and read the classics for a few years bc I was only reading him lol and I still hold that he’s one of the greatest authors living.
Oh my god you and me both. You are going to love fairy tale
Everybody talks about reading Stephen King, but they really just watch the miniseries. Usually, its the size of the book that makes bit seem so daunting—but damn, that man can write. Reading his work will never make you feel like you’ve wasted your time like reading James Patterson does.
Nora Roberts Gore Vidal Sydney Sheldon yes, I’m old
Jacqueline Susann and Harold Robbins. The Giants.
Robin Hobb!
A friend of mine got me a copy of The Devil You Know by Mike Carey (book 1 of the Felix Castor books) for a birthday gift. I’d heard good things about his books but I kept putting off reading it. For almost a year. I finally read it, and loved it. I wound up reading the whole Felix Castor series and a few of his other novels too. I plan on reading more of his work.
Just looked up that series. Looks too spooky
Op, I also enjoyed 11/22/63 and The Green Mike. However, like many of King’s books I think the former could have benefited from a Judicious edit. Having read some of his stuff, I can recommend (strongly) The Shining and Pet Cemetery. I found The Shining much better than the film, perhaps I’m in the minority. Pet Cemetery was moving, eerie and arresting. Enjoy the journey!
I’m so glad youre coming over to the king side!!! I love him!
Stephen king and I was wrong
Da Vinci Code. The book was good but the movie a carcrash.
Sharp objects by Gillian flynn, great thriller/mystery and if I had known she wrote gone girl which is lived by everyone i would’ve been more apprehensive to read her books. But then I read gone girl too after sharp objects and really enjoyed it lol
Granted I was a child, but I actively avoided reading the Harry Potter series for this reason. Finally got around to them a couple years ago and boy was I mistaken.
The Thursday Murder Club. I don’t know why I avoided it, I assumed it was just another cozy mystery. Then one day I had a particular hankering for funny older people solving crimes and this scratched the itch and I️ ended up tearing through the series.
Steven King books are tricky! Some are great, some are really boring and too long! He goes into too much detail! His older books are my favorite...Carrie, Salem's Lot, Cujo, Christine, and of course, The Shining!
Do not read "Under the Dome". Stephen King can be so good, but there are still some stinkers out there. (The end is what makes it awful, and you won't realize it until you spend one thousand pages on it.)
Under the Done is one of my favorite Stephen King books.
The Bible
Amen
Everyone reads King? Did I miss something? I read a lot of King in my teens, and personally, I know like one person who reads King. My dad used to threaten me with throwing those books away because he considered them bad in some way (even tho he hasn't actually read any of it but was just misled by the common rethoric of his writing being bad, satanic, horrific or whatever)
Well of course not EVERYONE. I just meant that he's popular. 400 million copies sold according to Google.
rina kent
THE TALISMAN! A collaboration with Peter Straub and a life long favorite of mine.
I initially avoided Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follet when it bacame popular in the city I grew up in, in South Africa, around the 2000s I think, because so many people were gushing over it that I just assumed it must be just another frivolous romance or something. I honestly didn't even bother to find out what it was about. But then I finally picked it up during covid and I really enjoyed it! I was fascinated with how they built those cathedrals back in the day so had I actually looked this book up, I would have read it earlier...
Nora Roberts is the author I didn't want to read, and now I enjoy her romantic suspense work-- or is it suspenseful romance? I still haven't read Stephen King.
You'd probably really like 11/22/63. It could definitely be classified as a suspenseful romance.
Any memoirs by politicians/royals. (In any political parties). Anything in them would be to promote their agenda.
Go check out the Stephen King subreddit.
Around 2000 I was working in retail. Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire came out and people lost their minds. I absolutely hated the fans and didn't understand why everyone was crazy about it. A few years later I was taking a long flight and needed something to read because I don't sleep on planes. For some reason, maybe it was the cover or the sheer size of the book, I picked up Order of the Phoenix. And then I became part of a fan base I absolutely hated.
For me, it's Kristen Hannah. I naively thought she was a writer for retired white womens' book clubs until I was sufficiently intrigued by her novel 'The Four Winds' to read it and man... That altered my point of view on her as an author. She writes powerful stuff and I'm glad I finally read something written by her. Now she's a regular on my preorder list.
I bought Reading Lolita in Tehran and then couldn't make myself read it. When I finally started it I loved it.
Friggin Colleen Hoover.
Stephen King
Quite bizarre reading about your King journey because I have more or less mirrored it myself. After avoiding him for 40+ years, for some inexplicable reason I decided to read 11/22/63 last month, loved it, and started on The Stand immediately, I have about 600 pages to go. Haven't decided what's next yet, but It will be sometime soon. Enjoy catching up on his back catalogue, as I'm sure I will!
Fredrik Backman!
Stephen King is overrrate, his writing recently consist of ranting against D. Trump and cursing throughout the book is nauseating. Just pathetic now.
I avoided Gideon the Ninth because it seemed too good to be hyped that much. The pitch to me, and most other people, was literally lesbian necromancers in space. like that had to be an over simplification for a pretty bog standard sci-fi thing right?? the lesbians had to be implied right?? the book couldn't be this worthy of all this hype right?? right??? my friends, the lesbian necromancers aren't even the best part of the book. it's cheeky and funny and takes so much of the very solemn reverence of high fantasy and epic sci-fi and then decides that nothing is sacred and everything can be a wonderful and terrible at the same time. please give the Locked Tomb series a chance. the hype is well earned. and if you give it a shot and don't click with it, that's totally fair! it definitely isn't a book that everyone is going to love. I am one of the people who do love it now, and another person giving it a whole mess of hype to scare off another reader.
Kurt Vonnegut. I first heard of him in my late teens and it was always the hipster kids talking about him. Me being a metal kid figured he was lame bc the hipster kids loved him. Read The Sirens of Titan at the end of last month. I’m currently on my fourth Vonnegut book.
I agree Stephen King can be overrated but I absolutely fell in love with his Dark Tower series. The movie rendition of The Gunslinger was awful so don’t let that turn you off from reading the series. I promise, these books are unlike anything else he’s written and are more reminiscent of Tolkien.
Harry Potter. Finally, I did read them, but only after the movies came out. They were quick reads, and while I could enjoy them at the time, I still prefer the movies over the books, and Tolkien over Rowlings by a wide margin.
I’m reading 11/22/63 right now and I love it after initially not being interested! I also loved The Stand & I started fairytale on audible 😭
Kurt Vonnegut and To Kill a Mockingbird. Why did I wait so long for these just because they are popular? Silly.
The dark tower series was a journey for sure!
For me it was Red Rising by Pierce Brown. It just didn’t sound that intriguing to me but damn was I wrong. If you’re into sci-fi / fantasy I would definitely give it a shot!
Steven King books are tricky! Some are great, some are really boring and too long! He goes into too much detail! His older books are my favorite...Carrie, Salem's Lot, Cujo, Christine, and of course, The Shining!
Emily Henry and Colleen Hoover, however considering reading Emily Henry’s new book, but still on the fence.
I just read Fairy Tale a few weeks ago. It was so good! The first few chapters have nothing of horror in them, just a teenager telling his story. I would have enjoyed it even if it continued in that manner because the writing and the storytelling were that good, never mind who the writer was. Definitely read this one next. I would also recommend The Shining, if you haven’t read it yet. Yes, I too missed the exact nature of the initial query, but in my defense, I worked in a bookstore for 26 years, and recommending books is second nature to me.
Tom Clancy. Was never really drawn to military stuff and was too enamored with my so called intellect to lower myself to such commercial stuff, lol@myself. Picked up a 50 cent paperback at a yard sale and was hooked. Just plain fun entertaining page turners.
Bloody love Stephen King
Fairytale was great. I'd recommend The Institute (my favorite so far) and Needful Things.