Friday Reads: The Worst Books of 2023
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- Опубліковано 5 січ 2024
- We start with a Friday Reads this week, then pivot to talk about my least successful reading adventures in 2023. Expand for more information. 👇
Links 💻
My Affiliate Page on Bookshop: bookshop.org/shop/supposedlyfun
Channel Mentioned 🍿
Thanks to @shawnbreathesbooks for being a Barbara Pym expert
Further Viewing 🎥
December Reading Wrap-Up: • Reading Wrap Up for De...
Best Books of 2023: • The Best Books of 2023
Best Nonfiction Books of 2023: • The Best Nonfiction Bo...
Books I Read in 2023 That More People Should Discover: • Books I Read in 2023 T...
My Deep Dive on His Family: • Did the Wrong Book Win...
My Deep Dive on The Netanyahus: • Why Did The Netanyahus...
Last Friday Reads: • Friday Reads: Great Bo...
Jump to the Worst Reads of 2023: 11:35
Titles Mentioned 📚
Morning and Evening, Jon Fosse: bookshop.org/a/99775/97816289...
Mayflies, Andrew O’Hagan: bookshop.org/a/99775/97807710...
Franny, the Queen of Provincetown, John Preston: bookshop.org/a/99775/97815515...
Crampton Hodnet, Barbara Pym: bookshop.org/a/99775/97816038...
Excellent Women, Barbara Pym: bookshop.org/a/99775/97801431...
The Christmas Orphans Club, Becca Freeman: bookshop.org/a/99775/97801431...
The Furrows, Namwali Serpell: bookshop.org/a/99775/97805934...
A Lesson in Dying, Ann Cleeves
His Family, Ernest Poole: bookshop.org/a/99775/97819783...
Rumpole Rests His Case, John Mortimer: bookshop.org/a/99775/97801420...
Wanderers, Chuck Wendig: bookshop.org/a/99775/97803991...
Holler, Child, Latoya Watkins: bookshop.org/a/99775/97805931...
Rabbit, Run, John Updike: bookshop.org/a/99775/97804499...
The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family, by Joshua Cohen: bookshop.org/a/99775/97816813...
My Affiliate Page on Bookshop: bookshop.org/shop/supposedlyfun
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Email: supposedlyfungreg-at-gmail.com
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I love that instead of getting upset that someone had colored in the picture, you found joy in it. 😊❤
It was such a delight to find!
LOL! “ I wanted to exorcise this from my house like a demon! Like a demon!”
Oh, I’d buy that T-shirt in every color 😂. Thank you. I’m going to live on that laugh all weekend long.
I think the shirt was a limited time offer for charity, but if you check MT Book CO’s website the Bonfire campaign may still be active.
Actually, I was advocating that your review be on the T-shirt. Your emphatic humor was a delight.
@@HH-xl3sk Ha! Oops. 😂
I love Barbara Pym. I still have my vintage copies from the 70’s (or early eighties) and re-read them regularly. Such beautiful prose. Enjoy (whenever you feel like it).
Oh how cool! Those must look amazing.
Thanks for your sensitivity around talking about your 'worst books'. I had 6/106 books I DNA'd/skimmed. Yeah, I've had a slow start to getting back into reading, post holidays. Partly because I read lots in December to get them read in 2023 - a year's a bit arbitrary of course, but with so much to read...Have a great 2024 reading year.
Here’s to a great reading year ahead!
The colored-in picture is such a cute bonus. I've never read Barbara Pym; she sounds promising. Nothing Burgers! I read a few of those last year. 😄
I adore the colored-in picture so much.
I smiled when I heard your Updike assessment after reading Rabbits Run. I've only read Witches of Eastwick and New Yorker essays. His fiction has otherwise not attracted me. I smiled because I met Updike in the mid 90's. I attended a lecture he gave and during question and answers I asked him what he thought about Gore Vidal's recently published memoir Palimpsest. Vidal never liked Updike's writing, but I didn't share that with the audience. Specifically I said that Vidal had written that he (Updike) was good on infidelity. It caused laughter from the audience and Updike to exclaim, "I knew there was a reason why I didn't want to read that damn memoir!" Laughing it off, then quickly stating that Vidal was a great writer. He then went on talk about infedility being the subject of great literature like Madame Bovary and Ana Karenina. Afterward I had him sign a copy of Nabokov's Lolita for a friend of mine who refused to read it, but I thought if he recommended it (which he did!) she'd do it. And a copy of Henry Green's Partygoing which Updike had recently reviewed in The New Yorker and introduced me to. He was pretty nice about it all.
p.s. Regarding Irish writers, have you read William Trevor's short stories? Excellent works. O'Hagan I like, he writes for the London Review of Books. He also admires Joy Division, which is a plus in my book.
What a fun story about Updike! Thank you for sharing. I have not read Trevor yet but he’s on my list to read before we go.
I like to joke with my friends, "Little Ireland," I tell them, "produced artists that shaped the 20th century imagination, Bram Stoker, Yeats, Beckett, Wilde, Joyce, and Shaw. Like Yoda, don't judge it by its size" :) Trevor is fantastic, too. @@SupposedlyFun
@@LibroParadiso-ep4zt Very true! For a small island, it has produced a lot of all-time greats.
Hahaha! Clever Greg wearing a one star * review T shirt for this video. I totally understand the sluggishness associated with reading at times. I certainly wonder how people maintain the joy and wonder of reading when it is tied to something like a booktube channel or as a book reviewer and such. I have a bunch of books I probably should DNF but my stubborn nature pushes me to think I need to finish them anyway. On a rare occasion, I have ended up loving a book I struggled to get into initially. Most recently Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister was one of those books. I was ready to DNF at page 142 and then something happened that finally grabbed me and I am glad I finished it, in tears mind you. I am glad to hear why others do not like a particular book and why. I do not view the critique of books as negative. Just the same... adore your channel and appreciate your opinions on books even though you did not like one of my favorite books The Overstory by Richard Powers LOL.. I may forever tease you about this. 😉😜🌲🌳🌴🎄🎋
I definitely agree that it’s not inherently negative to critique a book, but I do think there’s a temptation to be a bit mean in a flashy way when you have a BookTube channel. I will revisit The Overstory someday soon and we’ll see! That could be one of those books you mention where if you get far enough it starts to click. Who knows? In the meantime, tease away! 🤣😉🥂
‘I don’t have time for that’ 😂 😂 nor do I 📖🪱💚
🤣👯🥂📚
Skipping Rabbit Redux is a very good idea.
I feel validated to hear that from you, so thank you!
You should totally color the illustration in the Pym book! I love that idea!
I think I will! It was such a delight to find.
Fun backstory, Crampton Hodnet was her first novel and remained unpublished for 45 years when it was published after Barbara Pym's death. She also has a really interesting life because she received great praise for initial novels and then more and more critique that she was 'stuck in the past' as the 1950s wore on and her publisher rejected the remainder of her novels for sixteen years. In the background a young Philip Larkin corresponded and praised her work. He finally got her notice in 1977 when he wrote about the most underrated novelist of the last 75 years. Her novel Quartets of Autumn was published that year and shortlisted for the Booker. But she had been fighting breast cancer and died in 1980. Her early and rejected novels were published postumously.
I read Jane and Prudence last year and it features severel of the Crampton Hodnet characters as side characters (but was published when CH was unpublished).
I love the colouring in of the house. I think it would be so cool if you continued the tradition. I am rereasing a used edition of the Eustace Diamonds right now and having so much fun deciphering the previous owner's annotations.
That’s a very fun story! She seems like a fascinating author. I also have fun deciphering annotations sometimes. Used books can be a joy!
Happy 2024! I'm really glad I found your channel recently. You have added several books to my TBR list and also told me about books that I won't make time to read (knitting is priority) yet am happy to hear about them. I can't do audiobooks if there are too many characters so that's not always an option.
Happy 2024! I’m so glad you have been enjoying my channel and getting something out of it. That means a lot! 🥂
I really enjoyed your worst of 2023 list! I hope you do another one for 2024.
Thanks! I imagine I will do one next year as well.
Only two DNFs. That's impressive. In 2023 I had nine.
I was surprised when I saw that there were only two!
Happy New Reading Year!!
Happy New Reading Year!
Yay for Crampton Hodnet! 👏👏 Sounds like a great way to begin the year to me!
Yay, indeed, for Crampton Hodnet! And if you find you enjoy Barbara Pym, try “The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym” by Paula Byrne (2021).
Thank you both for the recommendations!
I didn't know that's what Rabbit Run was about. It's been on my tbr list for a while, but now I'm thinking of letting it go.
Strictly speaking, it's about a former high school basketball star who runs out on his pregnant wife, but Updike wanted to use the scenario to get out his thoughts on the disintegration of marriage and religion.
Here’s a list of what I call fun reads
Enter The Aardvark
Standard Deviation
The Rachel Incident
Early Morning Riser
A Marvellous Light
Slippery Creatures
Ten Things That Never Happened
❤
Thanks for the recommendations!
Happy New Year! My first week or so of January is generally dedicated to reading/finishing books I meant to read in December but didn't get around to because I went into holiday mode. It drags a bit, but at least I don't have to figure out something new or motivate myself to get started on reading challenges. I hear you on not wanting to slag off books. It makes me feel mean. But sometimes I come across a book that makes me want to rant. 😅
I love finding inscriptions or notes or even doodles in second hand books! I think you should definitely colour in one of the other chapter illustrations. Pick your favourite chapter. Then you can come back to it in ten years and see if it's still your favourite. Or if you don't keep the book, leave a note inside encouraging the next reader to do the same.
That’s a fun idea! I think I will color one in myself. Rabbit, Run definitely made me want to rant. Cheers to 2024 reading (whenever it may begin).
I've never read Barbara Pym.... I'm going to have to go on a book hunt now 😊
I definitely enjoyed my first experience with her writing!
I love your comments on Wanderers,don’t know the book but really appreciate when you start to feel enough is enough-dnf.
To me, the length is a big ask when it takes so long to get started.
At Christmas I gave myself time off. If I read anything it was romance, crime fiction/thriller. The fun stuff that doesn’t take mental energy.
That sounds like a solid plan to me.
Regarding negativity: I know I am the oddball but I actively avoid negative videos and channels. I caught this one only because the previous video ended and I was cleaning my office and youtube rolled over to this one (sorry!). I DO appreciate how you handled the disappointments and DNFs ... I guess I need to evaluate if I trust the creator vs skipping them all. Thanks for opening my eyes.
Happy New Year 🎆🎊🎈
Hopefully you will get over the little slump.
I really liked Mayflies and hope when you get to it you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
Not going to lie, I’m a little sad when I don’t get to see Teddy in a video 😊
Joel had been traveling all week so Teddy was glued to him after he got home. They both went out for an adventure! But happy new year! 🥂
I’m really excited to (finally) read Mayflies soon.
That was just great, thank you. I loved your explanations for why you didn't like those books.
Thank you!
Greg, discovered your channel near the end of 2023 and have watched as many as I can. Thanks for the insights, some about books and writers who had been unfamiliar. As for Updike, do you think his reputation will slip in the years ahead? Also, is the well-behaved Teddy a Wheaton terrier?
Thank you so much! Teddy is a Welsh Terrier, and so were Guinness and Jameson (the two dogs we had before him). I do think Updike’s reputation has already slipped a bit in the years since his death as he’s undergone a bit of a re-evaluation with contemporary readers-but I do think a lot of highbrow readers and academics still adore him, so his reputation is still largely strong.
When you didn’t like The Marriage Portrait it tempered my expectations and so then I was doubly happy when I greatly enjoyed the book. Everyone is different like you say. Loved Mayflies!
I’m glad you liked The Marriage Portrait! I look forward to reading Mayflies.
I didn't get a clear view of your shirt so not sure what it says. Went to the MT bookstore but couldn't find it. Did you ever consider doing a segment showing you bookish shirts? I have a bit of a collection. I read Of Time and Turtles in 2 days - started reading at bedtime (read til the sun came up) then did the same the next night. I started The Curious World of Seahorses by Till Hein - so far very good. It is little - 202 pages and a smaller size. When you showed Franny, the Queen of Provincetown - I read it years ago - I worked in a bookstore and most of the staff read it - happy thoughts of fun working in a bookstore.
MT Book Co got a one-star review on Google and turned it into a t-shirt that they sold for charity. I think it was a limited time deal that they sold on Bonfire, with all proceeds going to charity. Thanks for the recommendations. I miss my time in a bookstore as well, and love reminders.
Oh my gosh, I loved that colored-in illustration! I think you should do one, then have Joel do one, and then take it to Montana Book Company and have the booksellers do one, lol! Make sure they autograph their masterpiece; there, now you've got a really special book to remember all the staff that has helped you! 💚 As far as Pym goes, I absolutely loved Quartet in Autumn. She so beautifully rendered a melancholy story of four coworkers retiring from their careers. A lovely, heartbreaking read. 💚
Also, missing Teddy, today!
My local used bookstore had Quartet in Autumn. If it’s still there when I get back, I may try to grab it! Thanks for the recommendation-I love the idea of having MT Book Co color a page, too.
Joel had been traveling all week, so when he got home Teddy glued himself to Joel’s side and wouldn’t leave. So Joel took him for an adventure while I filmed. Hopefully he’ll be back next week!
Finishing Geneology of Murder which is too much-way too many characters to follow.
Good to know!
Having trouble too getting back into reading after the holidays. Supposed to be reading The Wager for January book club but it's too heavy for my addled brain right now. However, I settled on So Big by Edna Ferber for it's sublime writing 😅
I’m so excited to read So Big for my Pulitzer Project. I may do it soon.
I too get in ‘moods’ where I’m just not interested in reading. 🤷🏻♀️. I finished out 2023 with North Woods and then The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. LOVED them both. I just finished All the Quiet Places as my first 2024 read. Also loved! Now reading Leave the World Behind and next up will be The Rain Heron.
All the best to you, Joel and Teddy in 2024! And keep the great recommendations coming! 📚📖✨
All best to you and yours as well! Happy 2024! 📚🥂
Happy New Year. Thank you for all the interesting videos (and views of Teddy) of 2023. My former book club also hated the John Updike book. They were reading the Pulitzer Prize winners and read the first Updike book but skipped the second winner because they hated the first book so very, very much. Luckily for me this happened before I joined the club so I've never read the guy and don't intend to.
That sounds very much like it will be my experience of Updike. 😂🤣
When I’m in a reading slump I enjoy picking up a graphic novel. Some recs: Sabrina by Nick Drnaso, Black Hole by Charles Burns, The Park Bench by Christophe Caboute (this has no text - just story telling through images), Death Wins a Goldfish by Brian Rea
Thank you for the recommendations! A couple of people have mentioned Sabrina to me recently, so I may check my library.
I feel like Joshua Cohen wrote The Netanyahus because his father used to tell him all his life he was a bad Jewish man and now he wants to prove him wrong by showing him how many big Jewish words he knows.
😂🤣
I read Updike decades ago and what I can tell you about his books is that Rabbit is not actually a rabbit. Other than that, totally forgettable. So Pulitzer does not equal meaningful or memorable.
That is true!
What are your favorite Christmas books? I focused on finding movies this past month in my "stop ignoring the world and actually try to have fun with this" December. Making a list for this year.
So far, Christmas Orphans Club is pretty fun. I used to read The Catcher in the Rye every Christmas since that’s when the book is set, so maybe I’m not the best person to ask. 🤣
I usually lean into short, no-too-heavy books that will provide distraction from holiday stresses without feeling like a burden.
@@SupposedlyFun 🤣 That is definitely a surprise Christmas read! I listened to The Matzah Ball which was a fun romance (I normally don't do those) but a Jewish woman who secretly is a Christmas romance novelist was worth a try. It uses the tropes while sometimes mentioning them. I recommend for fluffy silliness that had a few laughs, if your library has it.
That sounds like a fun book! And it’s on Scribd (or whatever it’s called now)!
@@SupposedlyFun I hope you enjoy it! Joel might like it too 😊 If I come across any more fluffy light Christmas books I will definitely share. December needs that. 🧡
@@AntisocialAuntie December definitely does!
an Irish recommendation id like to give because I only got to yesterday and read in a day (surprising because I love Oscar but anyway) de profundis by Oscar Wilde ❤ don’t know if you read it before but Oscar wrote it during his time in prison.. omg I just can’t help loving him so much.
Is it possible for you to take a week or two off from reading and a week or two off from posting on your channel or would UA-cam throw a lightning bolt at you as punishment?🌩 It’s important that reading and posting don’t become a chore for you. Go on, take a week or two off. We’ll still be here when you return.😊
And thanks so much for bringing my attention to Edna Ferber’s “Fanny Herself.” I became immersed in that story.
UA-cam’s algorithm does penalize you if you break a posting schedule (especially if you have a regular rhythm), mostly because they want the viewer experience to be nice and not have any gaps. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, though. I’m so glad you liked Fanng Herself!
I know very little about UA-cam algorithms but it seems harsh to penalize someone for their posting schedule. This could easily lead to burnout for many UA-camrs. Take good care of yourself, whatever you decide to do.@@SupposedlyFun
I don’t know at what point the algorithm would flag a channel for not posting-I think it’s more intended for cases where a channel goes dark for a month or more. But since Google remains vague about it, it’s hard to know what will or won’t actually harm a channel.
Yes for honesty about books you didn't enjoy! I definitely want to hear honest positive AND negative opinions- that's why I watch booktubers. Avoiding any negativity is bland and unbalanced. It's a real shame that you feel pressure to read when you're not in the mood. I certainly don't need to hear about books you finished all the time. A more general bookish chat would be great too - maybe something about how your taste has changed over the years, or the role of reading in your life or something. Or just take a break. We'll still be here when you return.
I’ve been working on a video about how being on BookTube has changed my reading-so stay tuned for that! I think I just want to avoid being mean or mean-spirited with criticism because so many people lean into that. It seems fun and it gets clicks, but it doesn’t seem useful to me. But it is useful to share critiques when you don’t like something. Just a balance to manage!
@@SupposedlyFun I don't think any criticism you do would ever be mean or mean-spirited. It's helpful for us out here (who are looking for reading list ideas) to hear honest opinions.
@@claudiahemmings2080 Thank you!
I just started a channel myself and I also have to think about how negative I want to be. Luckily my "worst" books last year were actually fine, but not great. I hope this year will have the same result.
It’s a difficult balance to manage! I try to keep criticism from being mean or mean spirited, but I think there’s value in sharing what you don’t like.
I may be mistaken but as we head into the second week of 2024 I believe John Updike leads Supposedly Fun videos with 3 book tosses.
I laughed so hard when I read this comment. 😂
And I think you are correct!
I don't understand why people get so agitated if someone does a negative review on books they love. As long as you have valid reasons and are able to explain them reasonably, I might be a bit disappointed, if I like the book, but it is only your opinion and one amongst a hundred, a thousand or even a million. I am very often actually very interested in opposite opinions, because that's most of the time much more interesting to listen to.
The only John Updike book I have read is The Witches of Eastwick, which some consider a feminist story, but then I thought more about and started to wonder why he portrays sexually liberated women is as witches and why it is they form a relationship with the devil. Hmm. I also disliked The Netanyahus which felt like slapstick to me. Please do colour in an illustration in the Barbara Pym book. So fun.
I read somewhere that Witches of Eastwick has been embraced by his fans as Updike’s “feminist” novel, but it’s really just something he wrote in response to the constant complaints he got about his portrayal of female characters. I don’t think it’s at all surprising that the only way he can see women as being liberated still sexualizes them.
It's a brave reader, an excessively patient reader, who actually tries to read the work of most (if not all; I don't want to go through the list now) recent Nobel Prize laureates. One would believe that the Nobel Academy is providently hinting what authors should be avoided at all costs.
Huh. I'm still in the middle of Updike's "Couples" and never would have guessed he saw adultery as a bad thing. He was quite good at it himself. Only recalled one death during the book (a pet), but did a word search and sure enough JFK's baby dies. A guy commits adultery and the president's baby dies. Just finished reading several articles on Updike, many of which seemed to come to the conclusion that he was contradictory and full of himself. I haven't written him off as an author yet, but there are a lot out there I'll get to first.
He definitely seems like someone who was full of himself and very contradictory. Starting with Rabbit, Run probably highlighted his worst tendencies as an author for me-but we’ll see what happens when I attempt Rabbit is Rich.
Don't put too much pressure on yourself to read, when you are not feeling it. Even as booktubers we can make many videos without reading a book. Leaving aside the amount of time we can spend talking about why we are not reading and ways we tried to get back into it, or even the rabbit hole of slump topics. And if that still isn't enough till you finished a book, there are always tags. ;)
But seriously, dont let not reading stress you (more than it is stressful for a reader already).
When it comes to not talking about "bad" books I don't understand the idea. Honestly, I don't trust reviewers who claim to only read 5 star perfect books. How do they do that? Or did they forget that the majority of reading is 3 star (aka good) books? Seriously, I think it is interesting to hear what didn't work for someone in a book and sometimes that might just be the thing that would work for the audience. I think as long as we say what didn't work for us or why we think it's bad, it is valuable and adds to the flavor of the book. Trash talking and insulting the author is never okay, but you don't do that.
Mostly books I DNF or didn't like fail to meet my (mostly false) expectations or just plain bore me. That could still be a life changer book for others. Most of my 2024 DNFs were hyped and beloved books. But they weren't for me. And usually people are glad to hear a different opinion on those books everybody just raves about.
I hated Rabbit, Run too. I felt it was deeply sexist.
I've been so glad to hear so many people agree with me about how awful the content of that book is since I read it.
The Netanyahus is definitely overrated.
I’m glad I’m not alone.
I recently started The Netanyahus and, so far, it is hilarious. You know, I read different books for different reasons. I am enamored of diamond-cut prose: crystalline, hyper-logical but also resonant. So, the story is almost not so important to me, if the prose style and/or voice--connected, somehow--is masterful. At other times, I can get lost in pure story/plot, dramatic moments, and so on, even if the prose style is pedestrian (One hopes for a breathtaking story fused with sublime prose, but I can think of only a handful of books that achieve this ideal fusion...) This is all to say that Cohen's book's darkly comic humor and its reflections on Jewish-American identity--oscillating between caustically comic and disturbingly unsettling--fits more into the crystalline prose category: the savage humor almost rises to Swiftian levels. It's amazing that a contemporary writer has such fine control of the prose, which ambitiously deals with complex ideas and emotional states.
As far as "aging" well or no...I...I guess I'd just say that Cohen's book is a re-imagining of Netanyahu Sr.'s campus visit to Cornell in the 60s, while the narrator is based on Harold Bloom. In other words, it's an invention thinly based on a historical occurrence, with no definite or one-to-one connection to historical events. Cohen is partly dealing with Zionism, so in that way the name of the Netanyahus is relevant--as symbol or figure--when it comes to the discussion of Zionism. But I guess to me the worth of a novel has more to do with its intrinsic qualities, rather than how relevant or irrelevant it is to contemporary cultural debates. Why then read anything before the 21st century? In terms of older texts, a lot of the historical, cultural, and political contexts have been lost to us. Or why read foreign lit?
Happy reading and cheers.
I'm not saying that all books need to have contemporary meaning, what I'm saying is that to me, it felt that the entire novel was looking at the legacy of the Netanyahu family in the rear-view mirror--and that is decidedly not the way things worked out. And as I noted: the first section of the book was good to me. I did not at all like the sharp turn into slapstick that the story takes in the second half. If you have a better experience of the novel than I did in that second half, then that's great. Happy reading!
@@SupposedlyFun I guess I don't disagree with much here, except that even if Cohen had intended to move beyond the Netanyahus or lay their cultural significance to rest--I've not finished reading the novel, so I can't say for myself if this is indeed his intention--how does this affect the worth/merits of the novel itself?
@@cesarsoto5197 Ultimately, this is just my opinion, so it doesn't necessarily impact the merits of the book itself regardless. But if you're asking if I would have liked it better without the rear-window vibe I got, the answer is I still wouldn't have liked the book. It's the hard turn into cartoonishness in the second half of the novel that really turned me off.
@@SupposedlyFunI get it!
I hated The Netanyahus
I’m glad I’m not alone!
@@SupposedlyFun Oh, i hated it way more than you (i think).
I didn't like it from the very beginning. I wanted to read Joshua Cohen before the Pulitzer, everybody said he was a very funny author, well, i didn't find The Netanyahus funny at all.
It's probably the worst Pulitzer winner i've ever read and the most boring (and i didn't like Tinkers at all unlike a lot of people).
It was a huge dissapointment, and i was not that fond of some recent winners (i didn't lilke Less, but at least i understood why it won because the finalists are way worse, well at least The idiot, a novel that i don't understand the hype).
At least i liked Trust (and i'm reading Demon Copperhead right now and i'm liking it) but the Pulitzer has some rough years (there's always something awful in the Booker's longlist but at least their winners are really good)
I hated the book too. What a waste of an award. I don't have enough background in the inside of academia or the variations on Jewishness to appreciate this one.
Oh, John Updike. He has the dubious distinction of being an author I will not read. Most of those American mid-century white dudes (aka the mid-century misogynists) are a huge no thank you. Just have a seat, Sir. I adore Barbara Pym. If you want something else witty and fun, try Nancy Mitford. Start with The Pursuit of Love.