Ever read a book you thought you should like but didn't?

After having several people tell me I should read Life of Pi by Yann Martel, I finally did. "It's so good, you will love it!" they all said. Yes, it was beautifully written and contained important life messages, but I really didn't like it all that much. I'm almost embarrassed to say so, given how popular it was (and now there's a movie coming out).

What about you? Any books you've read that are loved by the masses but not you?

There are some of us who Rate a book @ a half-star to indicate our disapprobation. In some cases, the books are beneath contempt, but leaving them unrated lets the perpetrators off unscathed. Take a look at my Collections, especially the "Read but not owned" sub-head for some choice examples. Incidentally, it's taken me years to develop the gently hypocritical but harmless smile and mumble to use when even a good, tasteful friend gets that starry-eyed look when praising something which instinct tells me to avoid. And, for the record, quite aside from the literary sinners pilloried in my listings, I certainly swim against the tide in saying that among the moderns, Toni Morrison and Joyce Carol Oates are nothing buffed to a very high gloss. Among the supposedly sainted dead I put Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and TS Eliot.

Who would answer "No" to this question? Ever have a bad meal at a bally-hooed restaurant? Ever dated somone attractive who turned out to be not your type? Surely this is part of life.

>>3 booksaplenty1949: Unless you are a paid Amazon reviewer, you would probably answer "yes" to this question. But I believe the original poster was starting a conversation (i.e., "Talk about WHICH books 'you thought you should like but didn't'") -- not taking a poll.

Yes, I was just interested in others experiences in this.

The receptionist at my doctor's office was just raving about Nicholas Sparks and couldn't believe, that since I always had a book in my hand, that I hadn't read him. I know enough to know that he would fall in the half star category for me.

Just lurking and I thought I would answer that question-While I enjoyed Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness I don't believe it comes anywhere near being one my favorite books for this past year. I saw this recently on somebody's thread on LT and I was a bit surprised. Really, one of the best books this year? Nay, I say! And Shadow of Night by same, disappointed me, in that I thought it was not even up to the standards of Discovery...I understand there is a third book in the wings but I guess that one could go either way. The second book, if I could put my finger on it, gave me the feeling that it was just filling in the pages with stuff in between the action of the novel which was few and far between. It dragged for me.
Also, in regard to Life of Pi, I thought the writing was unique and there were some life lessons to be learned in there, but as with most books, especially more modern novels, there seems to always be a part around the middle that just drags and is almost filler for the rest of the book. I found that here and even the ending dragged for me. I liked the ideas he put out there but felt there was too much information in the final stories he told. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

A History of Ghosts. It was written by Dan Aykroyd's father, and it's the HISTORY of GHOSTS! It had everything. This should have been my favorite book ever. There was nothing wrong with it at all, it was a very good book. And yet I felt totally meh.

#7 It's the curse of being known as a reader when other people (often those who themselves don't read a great deal) discover something and 'know you will love it because you love books'. It is hard for them to understand that reading a lot usually makes you a more discriminating reader (or so one would hope) rather than someone who will just read anything in print. But hey, I'd rather see someone enthusiastic about Nicholas Sparks than the kind of person who abhors all reading matter. Just because I dislike a book doesn't mean other people shouldn't enjoy it. (Obviously this does not apply to the piece of excrement known as The Shack: anyone who hands me that and claims I will love it is likely to be told in no uncertain terms how pointless their life has become.)

The real problem comes with books that I can tell are 'good' - well-written, thoughtful etc - but which just don't do it for me. I've abandoned quite a few over the years with great regret when I've discovered that whatever other merits they may have they just aren't calling to me and I suspect this is what happened to the OP with Life of Pi. It's just further proof that we all come to every book with our own tastes and life-experiences that affect our enjoyment of certain themes or individual works regardless of their literary merit.