Reader’s dilemma: 5 “meh” books I read in 2018

Fellow bookworms, December is breathing over the neck and it only officiates the end of my reading-spree this year. For the next one month- I’d do sparse-read.

 

 

So it seems only natural to round up the “meh” books I read in 2018.

Or the books I kick-started reading with great enthusiasm, but it dwindled over time.

 

Here’s my top five:

 

The Woman in The Window by A.J. Finn

 

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Another “drunken” woman trope? Check.

 

‘Another “drunken” woman’ with botched-up psychology and dark, dark past trope? Check.

 

‘Another “drunken” woman with botched-up psychology and dark, dark past’ having a quickie and feeling guilty about it trope? Check.

 

‘Another “drunken” woman with botched up psychology and dark, dark past trope having a quickie and feeling guilty about it’ discovering  mysterious neighbors trope? Check.

 

‘Another “drunken” woman with botched up psychology and dark, dark past trope having quickie and feeling guilty about it discovering mysterious neighbours’ unintentionally embroiling herself in a murder/crime trope? Check. Check. Check.

 

A long time ago, in a publishing scene far far away, cometh an author with bundles of talent named Gillian Flynn, who committed a cardinal sin.

 

She wrote a book called “Gone Girl” that broke many ceilings regarding modern marriage institution.

 

Then onwards, her formula has been copied, twisted, chewed, spat out and repackaged by wordsmiths of lesser imaginary/words-weaving skills and ambition abound.

 

“The Woman in The Window” is another cog in that wheel.

Related post: 3 over-hyped books 

 

 

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

 

 

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The sweetness shot up my blood-sugar level.

 

The preachiness made me wishing to grate over a blackboard.

 

The “poverty-pron” (*ducking head* after speaking the unspeakable) left me, the reader from a “poor” country, cold.

 

I need to write a separate post on it.

Related post: 5 classics I DNF

 

 

The Passage (The Passage #1) by Justin Cronin

 

 

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Lately, I’ve been meaning to add another shelf on my measly Goodreads account- “What the editor was smoking? Me needy!” shelf.

 

It’d be reserved for books where 200 pages could’ve been easily shaved off-

only if the editor/publisher/whoever-responsible-to-pull-the-strings behind a manuscript-going-to-be-printed-as-a-book.

 

See, I’m not so naive to think that these days editors get the last verdict to give over the corporate machinery/ writer (or ghostwriter).

 

“The Passage” should be the first respectable contender to snag the first spot of the titular shelf.

 

Next to horror, dystopia melts my ovary.

And “The Passage” simply ruined it with its-

• snail-pace,
• cookie-cutter characters,
• meandering plot (that could’ve been so much exciting and gripping if the editing wasn’t gone to take a ride).

 

The best part of the book? It ends.

 

A Court of Mist and Fury ( A Court of Thrones and Roses #2) by Sarah J. Maas

 

 

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I’m a huge connoisseur of reading eye-rolling level of trash, given- it’s an entertaining trash.

 

Sarah J. Maas’s ACOMF not only did funny things with my YA-fantasy admiring psyche but also scarred me so much that I haven’t been able to pick up anything from this genre for the last 3 months.

 

While ACOTR was tolerable and mildly enjoyable, this one is so bad that I’m only too glad to give it a piece of my “Did…wait for it..not finish” shelf.

 

 

 

Lethal White (Cormoran Strike #4)  by Robert Galbraith (pseudonym J.K. Rowling)

 

 

 

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This is another book which should respectfully be placed on  “What the editor was smoking? Me needy!” shelf.

 

Around 600 pages, this is a bulbous, lumbering wagon with no end at the sight and a mystery so banal that you’d nibble on a piece of cold, chewy meat instead.

 

Fun fact: I started reading Cormoran Strike first, floored by the prowess of Queen Jo and then picked up Harry Potter. Ta-da.

 

While the first 3 books of Cormoran Strike series saw me rooting for Robin-Cormoran pairing (“Romoran” or “Cobin” anyone?) while simultaneously losing myself in the intelligent labyrinth of mysteries, “Lethal White” made me want to poke my eyes out.

 

It’s so boring.

 

Stay out of it and pray Jo Ro gets it right on the next book ’cause Cormoran Strike books deliver a realistic, mature love story in the age of  badly-written romance.

 

 

 

How many books have you read so far in 2018? Which ones did you dislike the most? Let me know.