Rachel ClevesI don’t understand why a certain novel I read recently and *really* disliked has made it on to both the NYT 100 notable books of the year list, and the Washington Post’s 50 notable novels of the year list. Gripe gripe gripe. #amreading #literaryfiction @bookstadon
Kelly Wheaton 
🦫💧🐸 🌻🌹@rachelcleves do you want to name it? One I hated (Oprah selection) I waded through was The Story of Edward Sawtelle. When I finished it I slammed it on the coffee table. There was not even a whisper of hope to hold on to. 576 pages of well written prose but just a horrible thing to do to the reader. It was also one of the most donated books to our local #library . I don't think I was alone. #badreads #books
@kwheaton Jean Hanff Kurelitz’s “The Latecomers.” I hated the characters, thought it was too long and boring, and the emotional resolution was facile. As you can tell, I was a big fan!
Rachel Shelden@rachelcleves @kwheaton I so agree!! It was not good at all. I thought it was impossible to get past the very dumb conceit that the roommate/girlfriend would not have immediately seen the resemblance!!
@rachelshelden @kwheaton thank you, I haven’t yet communicated directly with anyone else who’s read the book. Good to know I’m not alone in my profound dislike. Why sooo much praise?
@rachelcleves @kwheaton it really is wild that it’s on so many best of lists. I felt that way about another book last year that I also did not like. (And perhaps that feeling registered strongly because I am pathologically incapable of putting a book down once I start it.)
@rachelshelden @kwheaton me too, I definitely tend to be a completionist. which 2021 book triggered your ire? who knows, maybe I share your ire.
@rachelcleves @rachelshelden that's interesting. I can't remember because I returned them befoe finishing. I should keep a list. 😂
@rachelcleves @kwheaton Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway. I know several people who really liked it but I thought it was awful!
@rachelshelden @rachelcleves i read it and enjoyed it. But I am okay with non linear story telling. I read his earlier work A Gentleman in Moscow. Which I liked as well. I think the key (beyond good writing) is for us to identify or care about at least one character. That is dependent on our own unique life experiences. BTW are you born a SHELDEN? I ask because we have a SHELDON/SHELDEN Zoom on Sundays (genealogy).
@kwheaton @rachelcleves I don’t mind nonlinear story telling, I just didn’t like the story or the characters. It all felt very forced to me. But I do seem to be in the minority!
I married into the Shelden fam—how funny there is a zoom.
I married into the Shelden fam—how funny there is a zoom.
@kwheaton @rachelshelden haven’t read it yet. Funnily enough, A Gentleman in Moscow is in the skin category of books I’ve started and not finished. No particular reason, just kind of laid it aside? FWIW I’m reading Zevin’s “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” now - also popping up on year end best lists - and I’m loving it. Sympathetic but complicated characters. Fascinating exploration of creative collaboration and friendship.
@rachelcleves @kwheaton I’ve heard that book is wonderful! Glad for the rec. I just read Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These and loved it (short enough you could read it in about 90 minutes).
@rachelcleves @rachelshelden yeah...it wasn't always smooth sailing but satisfying in the end. It is complex.
@rachelshelden @rachelcleves ah I have learned if I don't like it 25-50 pages in--there's better books calling me. Not every book is for every body.