Never will i touch a book by Colleen Hoover or Sarah J. Maas, think i am allergic against overhyped authors with their own desks and shelves in bookstores. In the case of CoHo i hear that she only writes toxic relationships and makes those appear as being the norm to her mainly ya female target group, makes me feel so icky....
With Colleen Hoover i agree, but with Sarah J Maas Acotar is shit, but Throne of glass are the best fantasy books created, there is no other fantasy book that compares to it
@@MariamMariam-xv7oo Eh. I tried ACOTAR and Feyre was so stupid imo, I can't even imagine the author being able to write smart characters. I liked A Fate of Wrath and Flame so much better for world building. And the fact that it doesn't get enough credit and attention is ridiculous.
I read ugly love when I was 12, and it’s literally about a toxic FOB relationship with the guy verbally abusing the girl. It might have been physical too. But it was 🥰🥰soooo romanticccc. Not. Can’t help but feel like reading that subconsciously impacted me
@@MariamMariam-xv7oothat’s how I feel about ACOTAR I bought it the day it came out and have been obsessed ever since. Favourite series of all timeeeeee
Jesse don't be scared to get "controversial" your honesty is always appreciated even if you don't share a necessarily positive opinion, you're always very respectful in the way you talk about books and authors you dislike! it's one of the things I appreciate most about you and your channel
all i'm gonna say is that it took me ages to read Priory of the Orange Tree (bc life) and not once did I forget what was going on or feel uninterested in the story and it made me so happy to be immersed in that world for as long as i was. as far as the pages contributing to the story, i feel like every page is like slowly weaving the threads of the plot together and it was really cool to watch it all come together and unfold. sooooo yeah -- when you feel up to it, i recommend giving it a chance👍😄
i think some books are meant to be read over multiple sittings, and i hate how booktube/booktok has made fast reading the norm! you do not need to finish a book in 2 days, especially one that's almost 1000 pages. you can take your time with books, especially with priory.
There are several popular books that I had wished to read but sometimes when a book is overhyped, I go to Goodreads and read both the top 5 star and 1 star comments. Then I determine which one convinced me more. I don't trust the general rating anymore because there are several highly rated books that I've ended up not liking. So I'm wary now. I've had an awful time with books recently. Now I just want books that slap me with greatness. So this is what I've ended up doing.
You are not missing anything with Colleen Hoover. I wish I had DNF’d It Ends With Us. I honestly think that a more accurate title is “It Begins and Ends with Smut.” The relationship in here was so toxic, abusive, and all they did was have sex. I don’t like books with explicit content. It’s just not my cup of tea. I didn’t know CoHo was known for that before going in. I’ve heard that all of the relationships in her books are toxic and I just can’t get behind that.
The vibes I get from the summaries of her books is “fanfic author I’d quickly scroll past every time they popped up because I know I’ll hate whatever they write”. I will never understand the obsession with toxic relationship smut, it just makes me feel so icky, but for some reason a lot of people seem to enjoy it.
CoHo has also written main characters that are disabled and they are in abusive/toxic relationships. I’m disabled and unfortunately was in a abusive relationship I don’t need to read it.
@@VicandWes I’m so sorry that you had to go through that type of relationship. I hope you came out stronger. You definitely deserve better. They are definitely so many better books out there with healthy relationships.
If I had a nickel for every time a booktuber mentioned my favorite book series in a books they will never read video, I would have a lot of nickels. But... today, I do not have a new nickel. And that is very satisfying.
Tbh I just read Where The Crawdads Sing because of the movie and because I wanted to understand Carolina by Taylor Swift. Since every swifties that have read this says how great Taylor translated the story to a song.
I listened to the Priory of the Orange Tree as an audiobook, just saying you have other options if you're intimidated by its physical form. The length is worth the story, though. Its a great book.
Jesse saying that he doesn't want to talk about the controversies about the author of Where the crowdads sing and we should search if we want to know, took me out of guard 'CAUSE I HAD NO IDEA!!! Aaaaah and I love that book so much! How unfair XD
The Priory of the Orange Tree is 3 books away on my TBR, and I just wanna say: I’d focus on looking at word counts rather than page number. Priory is around 225k, which is still a big book. I totally understand your unwillingness to read it because it’s so THICK, but the book was literally designed to seem super big on the shelves, since it’s supposed to be a punchy standalone. I’d look up the word counts to a bunch of books you’ve read to see how the length compares. I understand pacing can make a book feel endless or quick, but I’ve never understood people’s focus on page count and spine thickness. I have the tiniest books that are actually 300k words, and you wouldn’t be able to tell by the page count. This is not a dig at you by the way, this is just a thing that’s been building up inside me over the past year or so lol.
For my spicy viewpoint of popular books, it's Lord of the Rings. I was a freshman in high school when the movie of Fellowship of the Ring came out and everybody I know (even my friends who had always hated reading) were picking up the trilogy and reading it and telling me how great they were. So I read the first book and gosh I was so BORED. It took me hours to read the first hundred pages, when usually I can read a page a minute, easy. And I've tried to start over again and see if I can make it through books 2 and 3 multiple times in the 21 years since then and I still find myself bored to tears. And I do almost nothing else but read in my free time! I've read plenty of boring books! But Lord of the Rings...it's a no. It may make me a literary Philistine, but...I'm going to say it. They're boring as hell.
Alright you asked for an essay and an essay you shall have. Priory of the Orange Tree is truly SUCH an amazing book! The writing style is SO elegant and there is so much description that you really feel immersed into the story. It is big and I can understand the intimidation, but one thing that I really liked about it is that despite it’s length it doesn’t feel long at all because you can’t help but continue reading. It’s also broken up into the six parts with each part almost feeling like it’s own story so if you did get to a point that you needed to hit pause on reading it it’s very easy to do so. The world is fantastic, the characters are beautifully written, and the way it all gets woven together is so fascinating to unravel. I had my doubts going into it as well but it has since become my favorite book ever, and I really think that you would like it as well. And if you do decide to read it and don’t end up liking it I will give my sincerest apology, but I REALLY believe you will enjoy it.
Dune is one of my favorite books (and the one that got me into sci-fi!) but I don't know if I could have read it without the movie lol. I saw the movie several times in theaters because I was obsessed and that really helped me in my reading experience to understand the world and visualize/understand what was going on! But you definitely still need a lot of patience, it's definitely more of a vibes over plot experience for the majority of the first book
Me too, I never would've made it through if I hadn't seen that movie It helped me not only figure out the pronunciation but it made it so much easier to follow the story
I felt the same way about Where The Crawdads Sing and wasn’t very interested in grabbing it. And then my husband’s nana got it for me and I couldn’t deny her. So I read it and cried a few times not expecting it to be as good as it was as I thought it was overhyped. It was good and it reminded me of a writing style similar to To Kill a Mockingbird (but third person instead of first)
I'm still in the middle of reading Dune, it is a hard book to get through, it requires so much attention to it; Also with all the Spice opening I was expecting us to dive right into Dune XD. But I agree, I avoided Dune for a long time because I thought it would be basic and now its because it is hard to just, I guess, digest? I just wish we had better movies so people who won't/can't read it will finally understand my love of it XD
@@Xatalla Reading Dune is like taking a University Class haha, but it helped me get through some fears in life, which I really appreciated! The new movie only scratches the surface of the heart of Dune, it's more about gorgeous visuals then the depth of this story. Also take your time, don't rush it and I hope you love it in the end :)
i relate to the feeling dumb when starting a book thing so much! i recently started reading "this is how you lose the time war" and the writing style + english not being my native language just messed with my head to the point where i was very confused about what was going on.. i paused it atm 😅
A popular book that didn't meet my expectations was Normal People by Sally Rooney (there are a few more books but that's the most popular one out of the bunch). After the first 60 pages, I strongly disliked it and similar to you with Ali Hazelwood, I dislike Normal People so much that I really don't foresee myself reading any of her other books. Also, I think it's normal (no pun intended) to shed light on books that aren't your cup of tea and provide reasonable explanations as to why. Some people may feel the same but are afraid to voice their concerns. As long as people are respectful with their opinions, there's no harm to it.
For me this is the whole ACOTAR series... I just can't be bothered to read it, it sounds too smutty for my taste and the way fae are described feels generic like it could be any other creature (which is a bummer cus I do like fae as they are in mythology). I feel the same about Coleen Hover the way she writes trauma according to what I'm told is a no for me.
Written Sci-Fi(especially Classic Sci-Fi), as a genre, is kind of notorious for being a bit more intellectual work to read[ rather than just being fun romps]. Which is kinda different from Sci-Fi movies & tv, which kinda carries a bit more of a fun-romp type reputation, maybe because it often tends to lean a bit more into the full-on Sci/Fantasy side of things(?). But sci-fi books, on the other hand, are kind of known for leaning pretty hard into philosophy and actual theoretical science and historical context/precedence and greater implications for the future and such-plus, when it's classic Sci-Fi books[ like written at very least in the 1990s and/or even earlier], the ways that people write back then & the ways that people worded things or structured and/or punctuated their sentences & everything are pretty different than nowadays[ where easy digestibility and clear-glass/straightforward prose and Deep/limited POV and mass marketability and such has almost completely taken over most things]. I feel like you often had to do the work to immerse yourself in your own mind with classic books, but more modern books tend to make more of an effort to do the work for you and immerse you in their world for themselves. So, for all of those reasons, I think it makes perfect sense that its more difficult maybe to just get swept away by them or that it might feel like more work to digest them as you're reading especially if you aren't already used to that. I feel like Sci-Fi specifically targeted more toward teens and younger readers is more prone to just be fun futuristic romps or whatever(so like YA &/or Middle-Grade sci-fi books). But maybe that's just me. 🙂🩶
No, I think you're right. A lot of classic SF is very much like that and is much harder to truly connect with a character because the story is deeper, so it requires more attention than most people think and I feel jumping into classic SF can be like you said--the world is more in media res in classic SF (like Dune) so you kind of have to parse the references and what things are using context clues while paying attention to the context. It's a very difficult genre to jump straight into, because you have to approach it knowing that it's philosophical questions first, the Science Fiction is just the Set Dressing
I loved Dune so much, but it definitely is a big boi. Not to forget that there's a whole series (which I haven't started yet...) If you ever have a sudden urge to consume high sci-fi / fantasy, definitely give Dune a try, but don't if you're not in the mood, it'll just feel like you're making yourself suffer.
I read Dune alongside the audiobook and found it much easier to consume. I tried reading the Spanish Love Deception but I feel like I’ve been reading for 84 years and I still haven’t got to the main part of the premise. Had to DNF- I might pick it back up if I think I can get further but not right now. Always enjoy watching your videos 💛
I thought I saw this video posted yesterday and when I went back to it later, I couldn't find it. Wonder why it was deleted and reposted. Either way, today I'm on time. No way will I miss the same video twice😂
I literally have no interest in any of these books except maybe priory. Its size excites and intimidates me at the same time for someone in and out of slumps lately. I have ordered it solely for the fact that i have a book buddy who wants to try it and we agreed itd be more fun as a buddy read at the end of the yr.
I got Because of Winn dixie that my teacher read us. I am currently reading Pamela Anderson's new book. I heard Britney is writing a book, and I'm excited.
I'm right there with you with The Priory of the Orange Tree, not because of the length but because I got 30 pages in and couldn't stand the writing. I can understand other people loving it, and that's great for them. But I just couldn't get into it.
ooof, having dune on this list hurts a bit, I read for the first time a few months ago and loved it, I can absolutely see people not vibing with it though, more than any other book I have ever read it has required me to sit down and dedicate time to read and understand it.
I refuse to read any Coho books, before I knew what her books are about and any feelings from other people there was something about her covers that made me run in the opposite direction, you know when you see something out in the wild and it makes you cringe? That has been my genuine reaction to her books, pure eek, then I started watching booktube and I realized why I get that reaction in the depths of my soul.
I couldn’t read Atlas Six! I got it for Christmas and I was so excited because I really want to enjoy the dark academia energy. But as I read it- I couldn’t keep up with who was who, or what was what. Everything felt both rushed and slow and every character was just agonizing. The only memorable character to me was Parisa and everyone else was completely dull and outshined by her. I never finished it and it held me back in my reading journey for five months!! I really tried to give it a chance but at the end of the day it just wasn’t for me.
Where the Crawdads Sing was nice, worth the read, It ends with us, definitely not. The priory of the orange tree, I’m always on the fence about because of how beautiful that art is…I know, I’m shallow like that…The Atlas Paradox, I’m with you, The Atlas Six was such a disappointment. Now, I’m there for Dune, that being said, I read it like 20 years ago, not sure how I would enjoy reading it now, or re-reading. Keep up with your opinions!
About big books, I started reading Don Quixote which is north of 1000 pages. It's not bad that I would want to dnf it but it is also not the kind I would read in one sitting. I really don't wanna drop it and I also don't wanna start another big book at the same time. So I'm trying to read short books on the side just to make sure I don't go into a slump. 😅
I'm not involved in the TikTok/BookTok comm, so when I see a book that gets a lot of exposure, its news to me. As for these books..you're not alone in not wanting to read Collen Hoover. I see her books everywhere and just judging the covers, her books and I wouldn't be vibeing. BTW you're not Unintelligent for not understanding Dune. I haven't read it personally, but I have tried giving A Song of ice and Fire a go after Game of Thrones got big and I couldn't get into it.
I'll be honest, one book/series that I'll never read is Throne of Glass. The concept of it seems overused, the main character (from what I heard) has a personality I can sense I'll already dislike, and I've had thrown in my face too many times to ever want to pick it up. Same with A Court of Thorns and Roses.
Where the Crawdads Sing was so good! First of all, I think it was beautifully written and the scenic descriptions alone had me calculating how difficult it would be to upend my entire life and move to one of the Carolinas. I also enjoyed the way the story's timeline happened (if that makes sense?). The order of the flashbacks and plot itself told the story in a compelling way. After watching the movie, even the small differences in the order of events in the movie was less compelling in my opinion which further solidified my love for the book's timeline. I'm assuming you've heard that you know the plot involves murder and maybe I'm just bad at guessing plots but I genuinely could not figure out what the truth was until it was actually revealed. I also loved the twist at the end that was unrelated to the murder trial. Additionally, I'm usually not the type of person that cries over books but when I finished this book, it had me tears rolling down my face, staring at the wall mourning the fact that there is no more story left for me to read. At the very least, I think it's worth reading so you can appreciate the fact that the movie adaptation is one of the few book to movie adaptations (that I've seen) that I actually thought did the book justice.
If you want something that feels different and like something you’ve never read before, I suggest “The Spear Cuts Through Water” by Simon Jimenez. It is excellent. Immediately became one of my favourite books of all time.
Hi Jesse, i absolutely understand why you might never read Priory, but I will say that if you ever change your mind i suggest reading A day of fallen night first, because Priory will make more sense that way, since ADOFN takes place 500 years before it🤗But either way happy reading📚🦉😁
I just read the priory of the orange tree last month and I really enjoyed it!! The beginning was so slow though and I almost gave up on it but I ended up enjoying it a lot and I was so glad I read it. There are such nice descriptions of different nature scenes but yeah this probably won’t convince you to read it 😂 it was so long it took me 2 months to read it
I recommend watching the movie adaptation of where the crawdads sing. I haven't read that book either but the movie was great. And I'm currently reading it ends with us as my first Colleen Hoover book. Tbh I'm almost halfway through and still feel kinda iffy about the plot and characters. I will finish is though. Despite so many redflags and cringy moments because I'm intrigued to know the ending. 😅
as somebody who started dune not too long ago, totally understand where youre coming from. im absolutely loving it, but the main thing that got me into it was the audiobook. having someone read it to me helped it make sense.
I listened to Priory of the Orange Tree as an audiobook and had to restart it twice because I was not following what was happening and I couldn't listen at the speed I normally do. Both times I restarted I was about 20% through it and had trouble keeping apart all the characters in the different storylines and felt like I was missing the point of the plot. At the start it's almost like alternatingly reading 4 slow books at the same time that you don't know if and when they will connect to each other. When I'd read probably 2/3 of it I putt it down for a couple of weeks and had to skip back a couple of hours when picking it back up again, because I couldn't remember what was going on. Reading this book was an accomplishment for me, and I'm a really big reader. We just didn't completely vibe. It's a good book, I loved the world and worldbuilding but it was so slow for probably about 75% of the book but then the ending was kind of rushed instead. Even with my struggles I wished it would have been longer, or maybe split up in two parts.
You arnt missing out on Colleen Hover I know that some people like her books and I know where she was coming from in her book I read the author's note so I got the message she was trying to send for the book but I just did not enjoy it. For me, it was too problematic the relationship was too abusive for my liking and it almost reminds me of a bad version of what I can remember from reading After by Anna Todd I feel like in my mind the relationship was along the same lines as by no means was the relationship in After abusive but I feel like it was toxic and so was the relationship in Colleen Hover. Also, I really liked the Secret History.
As a Dune adorer, I can understand where you are coming from with your criticisms on it. It is a very slow read and as someone who is extremely well-versed in sci-fi it was a seamless transition into the pages. I'm so sorry you did not have a great experience trying to read it. If you ever pick it back up at some point, just know that there is an index at the back with a list of definitions for every unknown word
Everything I've heard on BookTube about Hoover suggests to me that not reading her is not a loss. Normally when I encounter a phenomenon whose popularity I don't understand (often because I'm not really the target demographic), I try not to just dismiss it out of hand and give it a chance by actually reading/watching/listening to it (as the case may be). In Hoover's case I will make an exception; I don't see anything good coming of that. Dune is... good. It's Lawrence of Arabia in space, basically. It gets off to a fairly clumsy start (which is difficult to get past) and falls apart near the end, but the stuff in between is fine. It's just not the greatest SF novel ever written in my opinion. And I know Paul Atreides is kind of supposed to be an ultimately unappealing main character, but that didn't help it. Leonard Maltin once characterised the first film version as joyless, oppressive and long, which description can, I think, be said about the book too. Heard of Crawdads, but hadn't heard the, er, backstory of it. I'm not sure how that makes me feel about possibly reading it. The Secret History is something I need to read at some point. Depending on how that makes me feel, I might consider reading The Goldfinch as well one day. Of the other books you mention, I probably haven't heard of half of them and I'm not interested in the others.
I'm currently reading Dune first sci-fi book I've picked up, yes in the beginning it's a lot, but what I did was I had notes to figure out what is what... although you do have to do some thinking I feel like it pays off. I'm almost done with the book and so far I'm pretty satisfied with it. I've heard that Dune is either a hit or miss with people. It's 50/50.
I understand the reason for not continuing Dune (I myself have only read 2/3rds of it so far and I will finish it one day, but life) and the patience and attention required for it are high. I would suggest for classic sci-fi, if you're still interested in trying more of that genre is Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K Le Guin; It deals with a lot more classic themes of sci fi and is a bit of an easier read--and if not, the PBS movie adaptation of it is very good and extremely close to the book if you like the story but find the prose hard to get through. Dune just requires so much attention that it is hard to do other things while reading it. But I feel like Spice got into your brain because I truly thought you were going to say 'The Spice Must Flow' after that intro and then go into why you'll never read Dune xD
I desperately want to tell you to read The Locked Tomb series, or at least try Gideon the Ninth because its one of the best books I've ever read but I do fear that it falls under that category of SciFi that does not hold your hand and explains you through out. It's an insanely good series and I'll recommend it to the end of time, and I'd even love to know your opinion on it but I don't know how comfortable you'd be for a book like that
I agree so much with what you said about the hype surrounding lightlark and how it is hyped up. The initial tiktok that went viral and got the deal? Sure, that’s great. The hype afterwards? I find it forced, which of course doesn’t say anything about the book or the author, but does put me off a little
I made it halfway through Dune before I started getting a bit bored. So I decided to put it down at the halfway point and read something else and I just... haven't gotten back to it. I haven't heard any of the others except for The Love Hypothesis and I only know it because it's Reylo fan fiction.
I get that about big books. I am not necessarily intimidated or hesitant about reading big books, but if I am not liking them they are harder for me to dnf. Because I want to give them a real chance, and by the time I feel like I've done that and I am still not enjoying it, it feels silly to dnf because I've already read 500 pages that I might as well read the next 300. Despite the fact that I am not getting anything out of my reading. And at the moment, I am almost avoiding them because I haven't had a lot of reads that I truly enjoyed this year that I don't want that annoying aspect of myself to push me through a massive book that I am simply not liking.
Jesse, we love the balance as you called it. We are here for your unpopular opinions😁🙌🏽 love them. For me, a book that I read recently that I was severely disappointed by (almost DNFed it) was House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas. Look, here me out. This was the first Sarah J Maas book I’ve ever read and I heard she has some better work (Court of thorns and such). I knew her books always kind of had mixed opinions because of her toxic male characters and relationships and a couple other minor critiques. This book. I😮💨 I can’t. I am glad I finished it and I just started the second one but wow. I want to write a spoiler but I’ll refrain, basically, something MAJOR happens within the first five chapters and that’s why I wanted to DNF. I had no interest in reading about the main character at all so I found myself wondering what the heck I was staying for. Also, I don’t think Sarah knows that the words, “man” and “woman” exist in the English language- I can’t tell you how many times she used the words “male” and “female” and everytime it would RIP me out of the story and I would cringe so hard (I listened to the audiobook). It was tough. I really want to continue giving her work a try- especially the previous series I mentioned but wow was I flabbergasted.
Definitely had some other- arguably- more important critiques but those ones got me the most. Especially the word choice, just constantly pulling me out of the story.
I read “The Invisible Life of Addie Larue” and “Song of Achilles” and found both of them very underwhelming 🫢 I definitely missed the Hype Train, by a lot, on those two.
Dune was the first book I read that I liked (first ever sci-fi read) it is kind of weird and there’s a lot of stuff that’s not really explained about the world.
I am in the camp of "i dont need to read a book just because its popular" anymore and have been there for a while. I think with booktube and book socials in general we're hearing about books alll the time and so yay to getting better about what picking up what we know we'd enjoy. Thats not to say i havent picked up some books in the past few years that are hecka popular that i dont think id ever have read if it wasnt for the clout it was getting like the hunger games prequel comes to mind 😅 i was like did i need to know about mr. Snows love live when he was young nope 😂 but i am looking forward to seeing the beginning hunger games depicted. K ramble done! Also with you on the atlas six don't have an interest to read it but go ahead to all that enjoy!
please please please read the priory of the orange tree!!!! It’s the best book I’ve ever read in my entire life. EVERY SINGLE PAGE WAS AWESOME!!!! also btw the margins are huge and it’s not that many words
A book I will never read: The Fault in Our Stars. From the day that I first started getting into books, this was up there. People sung it's praises about how it was such a good and sad book, but for some reason it always just gave me the ick. There were even times that I borrowed it from the library but I could never get myself to even open the book. A book I was severely disappointed by: The Spanish Love Deception. I remember when I kept on seeing this book EVERYWHERE on Instagram. Everyone was singing it's praises and how it's such a good book. So I was like let's see what the hypes about. Now, I generally good at keeping my expectations low when starting a book, even when it's really hyped. So when I ordered this book I was mildly excited to read it. But, this book took SIX MONTHS to get to me. No joke. Usually books take 1-3 days to get to my library but I ordered this book in December and got it in June. So, to be fair my expectations sky rocketed at this point because I was like, it HAS to be good. TLDR, it was not, it was not good. Now, I'm not into spicy books. Like, I'll read the passages but I'm much more into banter. But this book just felt like a wattpad story that somehow got published. I've never been more disappointed in a book in my life. Now whenever I see it posted on Instagram I immediately scroll past it.
I refuse to read The Priory purely because of how BIG that book is. I read DUNE way back in the 1980s when the very first DUNE movie was released. I loved both the book and the movie. Still need to read more books in the DUNE series. Have not read anything by Donna Tartt. I am not a fan of thriller/murder, so I will not read any Colleen Hoover. I tried reading the Atlas 6 and I really wanted to like it but so far that one is a DNF. I may try again later. I am also not big on romance, so I wont be reading any of the STEM romances. I am not a fan of Fantasy so I dont read Jennifer Amentrout or Sarah J. Maas. But I do like Steampunk and Scifi. Aurora Rising and Illuminae were both WONDERFUL books. Must read the rest of those series. I did try reading Nevernight and Poppy Wars and DNF'd those as well. I have purchased Babel but have not read that one yet! The size is quite daunting. Have also purchase Jade City but not read that one yet either.
The priory of the orange tree is very much worth the praise it gets. But it is big, and I would definitely recommend to not read it before you have the time and mindset to read it. That said, not one word is wasted in that book. The characters are interesting, flawed and very human, the world is so rich in lore, and it is presented nicely. When you feel like reading a big book, read this. The description does not do the story credit at all, simply because it can’t. I personally put of the priory for about a year, then finally read it and loved it.
Oh yeah, I watched several videos about Dune before diving in and even then I only got about a third of the way in before I DNFed it for the same reason. At the time, I was looking more for entertainment (read: escapism) than a book that would "expand my horizons" if you will. I was thinking that if I did enough research beforehand I could just dive on in to the world of Dune and get lost in it, but it just wasn't meant to be, and that's okay. Maybe another time!
I’m truckin my way through Les Mis right now because my friend and I are seeing the show in February and he wants me to read the book first (I’m also kinda curious) but AGHHHH ITS SO LONG WINDED JUST PLEASE GET TO THE POINT 😩 I’m trying to think of it as a 5 book series instead of one 1500 page book but it’s not going too well lol. I’m hoping it’ll pay off later
I don't get the Colleen Hoover hype. I read It Ends With Us and it was so badly written and the characters were so toxic that I was furious at myself for wasting my time when I finished. And her other books seem like more of the same.
I’ve heard so much about Colleen hover books and they have become so popular and I kind of wanna maybe try one at some point but idk I just don’t feel I’d like it. Her books just don’t seem that appealing to me. But maybe one day I’ll try one.
For some reason I haven’t been able to read science fiction lately, even though I want to read Dune and others at some point. I really did like Lightlark. I don’t plan on reading Colleen Hoover though lol.
I think I kind of also don't want to read CoHO. and a popular book I personally feel that did me dirty was "Normal People". When I read it a year and a half ago , I had heard nothing but only good things about it but it didn't stand up as anything special to me and I was extremely underwhelmed by it.
To me it's funny when I see how many readers don't approuch to thick books because of this and I'm totally the opposite XD but I know it's something I'm used to since I could bought just a few throught the years so I wanted books that I would ended up like in months XDDD
Jesse please share your 'controversial' thoughts. This is your channel and you can do whatever you want on it. Btw a popular book series that I'll never read is ACOTAR. I'm NEVER reading that.
I have no interest in reading Colleen Hoover. I was curious of Ali Hazelwood in the beginning, but I have lost that. That might be because I'm not interested in reading romance at all at the moment. Often I don't get to books while they are at the top of the hype and when the hype dies down so does my interest. I have saved a lot of time and money on buying the paperbacks since they usually come out a year later so the hype has died and also my interest.
I thinks you are being too defensive, as though you don't want to offend someone who may love one of these books. I've only read two of the books: Where the Crawdad Sings, which I really enjoyed, I was intrigued by the story and loved the nature description and Dune which I read back in the 1980s (yes I'm ancient) when I was really into sci-fi, strange planets and alien customs, it is not the kind of book I'd read today. If I were to make a similar list The Priory of the Orange Tree and It Ends with Us would be on my list, these don't seem books for me, although like you, Verity by Colleen Hoover maybe the exception (with CoHo), I heard the plot is quite similar to Freida McFadden's The Wife Upstairs, not sure which came out first.
i’m so happy i rediscovered your channel! so fun! any tips for someone coming back to the reading world after a few years out- so much to catch up on omg too many books too little time
I honestly loved the priory so maybe give me your email or something and I might get around to writing the reasons you should read it and my honest thoughts because I genuinely think it's a book you'll enjoy. I've been following you for years now and seeing your taste I think this book will satisfy you but who knows I could be wrong. Also I liked the Atlas Six and paradox but the first book was definitely better the second book was a lot more toned down and dry you're not really missing out.
I bought where the crawdads sing I think the day before I found out all the controversy and whilst I don’t know much about the controversy at all and I did buy it before I knew about it all, I still feel very very awkward to read it now edit: I just did some research and yeah I now feel very uncomfortable at the idea of reading it.
READ VERITY. Its such a fast and intriguing read and its one of those books that leaves you THINKING. It's actually entertaining and fkd up and the only coho book id actually recommend to everyone.
I honestly understand why you wouldn't want to read Priory of the Orange Tree. It is a big book and if I din't take my time reading this I wouldn't like it as much as I do.
Me getting visceral flashbacks as u say ur willing to read verity as a coho book
UH OH is this one of her known "bad books" LOL
@@jessethereader DONT TOUCH IT
@@jessethereader just read Rebecca or Jane Eyre. Colleen doesn't have good books
@@jessethereader they all are 😂 at least this one is supposed to be a thriller 🤣🤣🤣🕳️🚶♀️
verity is the ONLY colleen hoover book that i’ve enjoyed
Jesse: I'll probably never read Lightlark
Me who just watched a 7,5 hour video roasting it: Good choice
OMG I WATCHED IT TOO IT WAS SO ENTERTAINING 😭
I'm still working on that video
Krimson rouge ?
“It Ends With Us” was my first and my last COHO book🥰 you are not missing a thing!
You really aren’t. At least for you you read probably her least problematic book. November 9 and Ugly Love made me want to End It All.
@@xLovelyThorns thank lord I will never read another coho book except it starts with us becoz I have already read it ends with us
Reminder of Him is not quite as problematic at least in terms of the boyfriend...but I think that book would have been better without the romance
@@xLovelyThornsUgly Love was my first and last. There was NOTHING good about it. And the comment about the baby’s 🥜. Wth?!
Never will i touch a book by Colleen Hoover or Sarah J. Maas, think i am allergic against overhyped authors with their own desks and shelves in bookstores. In the case of CoHo i hear that she only writes toxic relationships and makes those appear as being the norm to her mainly ya female target group, makes me feel so icky....
With Colleen Hoover i agree, but with Sarah J Maas Acotar is shit, but Throne of glass are the best fantasy books created, there is no other fantasy book that compares to it
@@MariamMariam-xv7oo Eh. I tried ACOTAR and Feyre was so stupid imo, I can't even imagine the author being able to write smart characters. I liked A Fate of Wrath and Flame so much better for world building. And the fact that it doesn't get enough credit and attention is ridiculous.
I read ugly love when I was 12, and it’s literally about a toxic FOB relationship with the guy verbally abusing the girl. It might have been physical too. But it was 🥰🥰soooo romanticccc. Not. Can’t help but feel like reading that subconsciously impacted me
@@MariamMariam-xv7oothat’s how I feel about ACOTAR I bought it the day it came out and have been obsessed ever since. Favourite series of all timeeeeee
Same!
Jesse don't be scared to get "controversial" your honesty is always appreciated even if you don't share a necessarily positive opinion, you're always very respectful in the way you talk about books and authors you dislike! it's one of the things I appreciate most about you and your channel
all i'm gonna say is that it took me ages to read Priory of the Orange Tree (bc life) and not once did I forget what was going on or feel uninterested in the story and it made me so happy to be immersed in that world for as long as i was. as far as the pages contributing to the story, i feel like every page is like slowly weaving the threads of the plot together and it was really cool to watch it all come together and unfold. sooooo yeah -- when you feel up to it, i recommend giving it a chance👍😄
i think some books are meant to be read over multiple sittings, and i hate how booktube/booktok has made fast reading the norm! you do not need to finish a book in 2 days, especially one that's almost 1000 pages. you can take your time with books, especially with priory.
There are several popular books that I had wished to read but sometimes when a book is overhyped, I go to Goodreads and read both the top 5 star and 1 star comments. Then I determine which one convinced me more. I don't trust the general rating anymore because there are several highly rated books that I've ended up not liking. So I'm wary now. I've had an awful time with books recently. Now I just want books that slap me with greatness. So this is what I've ended up doing.
Same!
You are not missing anything with Colleen Hoover. I wish I had DNF’d It Ends With Us. I honestly think that a more accurate title is “It Begins and Ends with Smut.” The relationship in here was so toxic, abusive, and all they did was have sex. I don’t like books with explicit content. It’s just not my cup of tea. I didn’t know CoHo was known for that before going in. I’ve heard that all of the relationships in her books are toxic and I just can’t get behind that.
The vibes I get from the summaries of her books is “fanfic author I’d quickly scroll past every time they popped up because I know I’ll hate whatever they write”. I will never understand the obsession with toxic relationship smut, it just makes me feel so icky, but for some reason a lot of people seem to enjoy it.
CoHo has also written main characters that are disabled and they are in abusive/toxic relationships. I’m disabled and unfortunately was in a abusive relationship I don’t need to read it.
Dude! This is so true. I read it and was almost super overwhelmed. Did videos and shorts on it ..slowly i am feeling so guilty of giving time to it.
@@VicandWes I’m so sorry that you had to go through that type of relationship. I hope you came out stronger. You definitely deserve better. They are definitely so many better books out there with healthy relationships.
That’s what I’m saying it ends with us is it begins and ends with sex and more abuse
If I had a nickel for every time a booktuber mentioned my favorite book series in a books they will never read video, I would have a lot of nickels. But... today, I do not have a new nickel. And that is very satisfying.
the coho cult is so real bro im TIRED 😭
Tbh I just read Where The Crawdads Sing because of the movie and because I wanted to understand Carolina by Taylor Swift. Since every swifties that have read this says how great Taylor translated the story to a song.
Tbh same and I'm so glad I did because I loved it!!!
literally the one reason i read it haha, i loved it
I listened to the Priory of the Orange Tree as an audiobook, just saying you have other options if you're intimidated by its physical form. The length is worth the story, though. Its a great book.
After Cindy’s CoHo Discourse, I’m happy to see it here as well 👏🏽
Jesse saying that he doesn't want to talk about the controversies about the author of Where the crowdads sing and we should search if we want to know, took me out of guard 'CAUSE I HAD NO IDEA!!! Aaaaah and I love that book so much! How unfair XD
The Priory of the Orange Tree is 3 books away on my TBR, and I just wanna say: I’d focus on looking at word counts rather than page number. Priory is around 225k, which is still a big book. I totally understand your unwillingness to read it because it’s so THICK, but the book was literally designed to seem super big on the shelves, since it’s supposed to be a punchy standalone. I’d look up the word counts to a bunch of books you’ve read to see how the length compares. I understand pacing can make a book feel endless or quick, but I’ve never understood people’s focus on page count and spine thickness. I have the tiniest books that are actually 300k words, and you wouldn’t be able to tell by the page count.
This is not a dig at you by the way, this is just a thing that’s been building up inside me over the past year or so lol.
For my spicy viewpoint of popular books, it's Lord of the Rings. I was a freshman in high school when the movie of Fellowship of the Ring came out and everybody I know (even my friends who had always hated reading) were picking up the trilogy and reading it and telling me how great they were. So I read the first book and gosh I was so BORED. It took me hours to read the first hundred pages, when usually I can read a page a minute, easy. And I've tried to start over again and see if I can make it through books 2 and 3 multiple times in the 21 years since then and I still find myself bored to tears. And I do almost nothing else but read in my free time! I've read plenty of boring books! But Lord of the Rings...it's a no. It may make me a literary Philistine, but...I'm going to say it. They're boring as hell.
Alright you asked for an essay and an essay you shall have.
Priory of the Orange Tree is truly SUCH an amazing book! The writing style is SO elegant and there is so much description that you really feel immersed into the story. It is big and I can understand the intimidation, but one thing that I really liked about it is that despite it’s length it doesn’t feel long at all because you can’t help but continue reading. It’s also broken up into the six parts with each part almost feeling like it’s own story so if you did get to a point that you needed to hit pause on reading it it’s very easy to do so.
The world is fantastic, the characters are beautifully written, and the way it all gets woven together is so fascinating to unravel.
I had my doubts going into it as well but it has since become my favorite book ever, and I really think that you would like it as well. And if you do decide to read it and don’t end up liking it I will give my sincerest apology, but I REALLY believe you will enjoy it.
Only the first chapter? Jesse no! You have to keep going! The first chapter does not do this story justice trust me!
Dune is one of my favorite books (and the one that got me into sci-fi!) but I don't know if I could have read it without the movie lol. I saw the movie several times in theaters because I was obsessed and that really helped me in my reading experience to understand the world and visualize/understand what was going on! But you definitely still need a lot of patience, it's definitely more of a vibes over plot experience for the majority of the first book
Me too, I never would've made it through if I hadn't seen that movie
It helped me not only figure out the pronunciation but it made it so much easier to follow the story
I felt the same way about Where The Crawdads Sing and wasn’t very interested in grabbing it. And then my husband’s nana got it for me and I couldn’t deny her. So I read it and cried a few times not expecting it to be as good as it was as I thought it was overhyped. It was good and it reminded me of a writing style similar to To Kill a Mockingbird (but third person instead of first)
I loved Dune but it was one of the harder books I've read, no shame in not reading it if you're not enjoying it now.
I'm still in the middle of reading Dune, it is a hard book to get through, it requires so much attention to it; Also with all the Spice opening I was expecting us to dive right into Dune XD. But I agree, I avoided Dune for a long time because I thought it would be basic and now its because it is hard to just, I guess, digest?
I just wish we had better movies so people who won't/can't read it will finally understand my love of it XD
@@Xatalla Reading Dune is like taking a University Class haha, but it helped me get through some fears in life, which I really appreciated! The new movie only scratches the surface of the heart of Dune, it's more about gorgeous visuals then the depth of this story. Also take your time, don't rush it and I hope you love it in the end :)
i relate to the feeling dumb when starting a book thing so much! i recently started reading "this is how you lose the time war" and the writing style + english not being my native language just messed with my head to the point where i was very confused about what was going on.. i paused it atm 😅
A popular book that didn't meet my expectations was Normal People by Sally Rooney (there are a few more books but that's the most popular one out of the bunch). After the first 60 pages, I strongly disliked it and similar to you with Ali Hazelwood, I dislike Normal People so much that I really don't foresee myself reading any of her other books. Also, I think it's normal (no pun intended) to shed light on books that aren't your cup of tea and provide reasonable explanations as to why. Some people may feel the same but are afraid to voice their concerns. As long as people are respectful with their opinions, there's no harm to it.
For me this is the whole ACOTAR series... I just can't be bothered to read it, it sounds too smutty for my taste and the way fae are described feels generic like it could be any other creature (which is a bummer cus I do like fae as they are in mythology).
I feel the same about Coleen Hover the way she writes trauma according to what I'm told is a no for me.
Written Sci-Fi(especially Classic Sci-Fi), as a genre, is kind of notorious for being a bit more intellectual work to read[ rather than just being fun romps]. Which is kinda different from Sci-Fi movies & tv, which kinda carries a bit more of a fun-romp type reputation, maybe because it often tends to lean a bit more into the full-on Sci/Fantasy side of things(?). But sci-fi books, on the other hand, are kind of known for leaning pretty hard into philosophy and actual theoretical science and historical context/precedence and greater implications for the future and such-plus, when it's classic Sci-Fi books[ like written at very least in the 1990s and/or even earlier], the ways that people write back then & the ways that people worded things or structured and/or punctuated their sentences & everything are pretty different than nowadays[ where easy digestibility and clear-glass/straightforward prose and Deep/limited POV and mass marketability and such has almost completely taken over most things]. I feel like you often had to do the work to immerse yourself in your own mind with classic books, but more modern books tend to make more of an effort to do the work for you and immerse you in their world for themselves. So, for all of those reasons, I think it makes perfect sense that its more difficult maybe to just get swept away by them or that it might feel like more work to digest them as you're reading especially if you aren't already used to that. I feel like Sci-Fi specifically targeted more toward teens and younger readers is more prone to just be fun futuristic romps or whatever(so like YA &/or Middle-Grade sci-fi books). But maybe that's just me. 🙂🩶
No, I think you're right. A lot of classic SF is very much like that and is much harder to truly connect with a character because the story is deeper, so it requires more attention than most people think and I feel jumping into classic SF can be like you said--the world is more in media res in classic SF (like Dune) so you kind of have to parse the references and what things are using context clues while paying attention to the context.
It's a very difficult genre to jump straight into, because you have to approach it knowing that it's philosophical questions first, the Science Fiction is just the Set Dressing
I mean I looooved Priory and the Prequel - could I write an essay about it?? Absolutely not 😭😭
They are chunky and complex, but VERY good.
I loved Dune so much, but it definitely is a big boi. Not to forget that there's a whole series (which I haven't started yet...) If you ever have a sudden urge to consume high sci-fi / fantasy, definitely give Dune a try, but don't if you're not in the mood, it'll just feel like you're making yourself suffer.
I read Dune alongside the audiobook and found it much easier to consume.
I tried reading the Spanish Love Deception but I feel like I’ve been reading for 84 years and I still haven’t got to the main part of the premise. Had to DNF- I might pick it back up if I think I can get further but not right now.
Always enjoy watching your videos 💛
The audio book is the way I got through dune too.
I'm just starting the video, but daaamn! I'm so into Jesse's looks here, with the cute pink like sport jacket and THAT chain, AMAZING! ✨✨💜
i would LOVE a Verity reading vlog. I feel like youre someone who's opinions I really enjoy hearing even if I sometimes don't agree
Verity is the only book by Hoover I plan to read. It was pretty good, not a favorite, but I enjoyed.
I thought I saw this video posted yesterday and when I went back to it later, I couldn't find it. Wonder why it was deleted and reposted. Either way, today I'm on time. No way will I miss the same video twice😂
yeah when i clicked on the notification it said it was privated, must've accidentally hit post or something
My guess is that he deleted it to edit some things or something, but who knows^^"
I literally have no interest in any of these books except maybe priory. Its size excites and intimidates me at the same time for someone in and out of slumps lately. I have ordered it solely for the fact that i have a book buddy who wants to try it and we agreed itd be more fun as a buddy read at the end of the yr.
I got Because of Winn dixie that my teacher read us. I am currently reading Pamela Anderson's new book. I heard Britney is writing a book, and I'm excited.
I read Because of Winn Dixie for school too, but I loved it!
@@kayla68779 no I loved it too
I'm right there with you with The Priory of the Orange Tree, not because of the length but because I got 30 pages in and couldn't stand the writing. I can understand other people loving it, and that's great for them. But I just couldn't get into it.
ooof, having dune on this list hurts a bit, I read for the first time a few months ago and loved it, I can absolutely see people not vibing with it though, more than any other book I have ever read it has required me to sit down and dedicate time to read and understand it.
I refuse to read any Coho books, before I knew what her books are about and any feelings from other people there was something about her covers that made me run in the opposite direction, you know when you see something out in the wild and it makes you cringe? That has been my genuine reaction to her books, pure eek, then I started watching booktube and I realized why I get that reaction in the depths of my soul.
I couldn’t read Atlas Six! I got it for Christmas and I was so excited because I really want to enjoy the dark academia energy. But as I read it- I couldn’t keep up with who was who, or what was what. Everything felt both rushed and slow and every character was just agonizing. The only memorable character to me was Parisa and everyone else was completely dull and outshined by her. I never finished it and it held me back in my reading journey for five months!! I really tried to give it a chance but at the end of the day it just wasn’t for me.
Where the Crawdads Sing was nice, worth the read, It ends with us, definitely not. The priory of the orange tree, I’m always on the fence about because of how beautiful that art is…I know, I’m shallow like that…The Atlas Paradox, I’m with you, The Atlas Six was such a disappointment. Now, I’m there for Dune, that being said, I read it like 20 years ago, not sure how I would enjoy reading it now, or re-reading. Keep up with your opinions!
About big books, I started reading Don Quixote which is north of 1000 pages. It's not bad that I would want to dnf it but it is also not the kind I would read in one sitting. I really don't wanna drop it and I also don't wanna start another big book at the same time. So I'm trying to read short books on the side just to make sure I don't go into a slump. 😅
Where the Crawdads Sing is such a good book. The movie is oookay. I loved this book. Coming of age story. Beautiful.
I'm not involved in the TikTok/BookTok comm, so when I see a book that gets a lot of exposure, its news to me. As for these books..you're not alone in not wanting to read Collen Hoover. I see her books everywhere and just judging the covers, her books and I wouldn't be vibeing.
BTW you're not Unintelligent for not understanding Dune. I haven't read it personally, but I have tried giving A Song of ice and Fire a go after Game of Thrones got big and I couldn't get into it.
I'll be honest, one book/series that I'll never read is Throne of Glass. The concept of it seems overused, the main character (from what I heard) has a personality I can sense I'll already dislike, and I've had thrown in my face too many times to ever want to pick it up. Same with A Court of Thorns and Roses.
Where the Crawdads Sing was so good! First of all, I think it was beautifully written and the scenic descriptions alone had me calculating how difficult it would be to upend my entire life and move to one of the Carolinas. I also enjoyed the way the story's timeline happened (if that makes sense?). The order of the flashbacks and plot itself told the story in a compelling way. After watching the movie, even the small differences in the order of events in the movie was less compelling in my opinion which further solidified my love for the book's timeline. I'm assuming you've heard that you know the plot involves murder and maybe I'm just bad at guessing plots but I genuinely could not figure out what the truth was until it was actually revealed. I also loved the twist at the end that was unrelated to the murder trial. Additionally, I'm usually not the type of person that cries over books but when I finished this book, it had me tears rolling down my face, staring at the wall mourning the fact that there is no more story left for me to read. At the very least, I think it's worth reading so you can appreciate the fact that the movie adaptation is one of the few book to movie adaptations (that I've seen) that I actually thought did the book justice.
Hey!!!! Thanks for posting!!! You always make my day!! Hope all is well!
I love it that every time I watch one of your videos, I like completely agree with you 😅 this is why you're one of my favorite booktubers
If you want something that feels different and like something you’ve never read before, I suggest “The Spear Cuts Through Water” by Simon Jimenez. It is excellent. Immediately became one of my favourite books of all time.
Hi Jesse, i absolutely understand why you might never read Priory, but I will say that if you ever change your mind i suggest reading A day of fallen night first, because Priory will make more sense that way, since ADOFN takes place 500 years before it🤗But either way happy reading📚🦉😁
I just read the priory of the orange tree last month and I really enjoyed it!! The beginning was so slow though and I almost gave up on it but I ended up enjoying it a lot and I was so glad I read it. There are such nice descriptions of different nature scenes but yeah this probably won’t convince you to read it 😂 it was so long it took me 2 months to read it
The day always gets better whenever Jesse uploads ❤!
I recommend watching the movie adaptation of where the crawdads sing. I haven't read that book either but the movie was great.
And I'm currently reading it ends with us as my first Colleen Hoover book. Tbh I'm almost halfway through and still feel kinda iffy about the plot and characters. I will finish is though. Despite so many redflags and cringy moments because I'm intrigued to know the ending. 😅
as somebody who started dune not too long ago, totally understand where youre coming from. im absolutely loving it, but the main thing that got me into it was the audiobook. having someone read it to me helped it make sense.
I DNF'd The Priory at around 30% 💀 I just couldn't get through it. I read It Ends With Us and I know I will not read any more CoHo.
omg you should read Where Our Oceans Meet it’s so 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻
I listened to Priory of the Orange Tree as an audiobook and had to restart it twice because I was not following what was happening and I couldn't listen at the speed I normally do. Both times I restarted I was about 20% through it and had trouble keeping apart all the characters in the different storylines and felt like I was missing the point of the plot. At the start it's almost like alternatingly reading 4 slow books at the same time that you don't know if and when they will connect to each other. When I'd read probably 2/3 of it I putt it down for a couple of weeks and had to skip back a couple of hours when picking it back up again, because I couldn't remember what was going on. Reading this book was an accomplishment for me, and I'm a really big reader. We just didn't completely vibe.
It's a good book, I loved the world and worldbuilding but it was so slow for probably about 75% of the book but then the ending was kind of rushed instead. Even with my struggles I wished it would have been longer, or maybe split up in two parts.
it's funny to see verity mentioned here after Cindy posted a video about it hsjshsjshs
LOL
Dune is one of my favorite books, but I can definitely see it not being for everyone, just like any other book.
You arnt missing out on Colleen Hover I know that some people like her books and I know where she was coming from in her book I read the author's note so I got the message she was trying to send for the book but I just did not enjoy it. For me, it was too problematic the relationship was too abusive for my liking and it almost reminds me of a bad version of what I can remember from reading After by Anna Todd I feel like in my mind the relationship was along the same lines as by no means was the relationship in After abusive but I feel like it was toxic and so was the relationship in Colleen Hover. Also, I really liked the Secret History.
As a Dune adorer, I can understand where you are coming from with your criticisms on it. It is a very slow read and as someone who is extremely well-versed in sci-fi it was a seamless transition into the pages. I'm so sorry you did not have a great experience trying to read it. If you ever pick it back up at some point, just know that there is an index at the back with a list of definitions for every unknown word
I'm imagining a Dune book with a bombastic side eye look under EVERY SINGLE SECOND of this video XD.
Everything I've heard on BookTube about Hoover suggests to me that not reading her is not a loss. Normally when I encounter a phenomenon whose popularity I don't understand (often because I'm not really the target demographic), I try not to just dismiss it out of hand and give it a chance by actually reading/watching/listening to it (as the case may be). In Hoover's case I will make an exception; I don't see anything good coming of that.
Dune is... good. It's Lawrence of Arabia in space, basically. It gets off to a fairly clumsy start (which is difficult to get past) and falls apart near the end, but the stuff in between is fine. It's just not the greatest SF novel ever written in my opinion. And I know Paul Atreides is kind of supposed to be an ultimately unappealing main character, but that didn't help it. Leonard Maltin once characterised the first film version as joyless, oppressive and long, which description can, I think, be said about the book too.
Heard of Crawdads, but hadn't heard the, er, backstory of it. I'm not sure how that makes me feel about possibly reading it.
The Secret History is something I need to read at some point. Depending on how that makes me feel, I might consider reading The Goldfinch as well one day.
Of the other books you mention, I probably haven't heard of half of them and I'm not interested in the others.
I'm currently reading Dune first sci-fi book I've picked up, yes in the beginning it's a lot, but what I did was I had notes to figure out what is what... although you do have to do some thinking I feel like it pays off. I'm almost done with the book and so far I'm pretty satisfied with it.
I've heard that Dune is either a hit or miss with people. It's 50/50.
Well tell me if you like it. Because every time I see people talking about dune. they never really mention the plot.
I understand the reason for not continuing Dune (I myself have only read 2/3rds of it so far and I will finish it one day, but life) and the patience and attention required for it are high. I would suggest for classic sci-fi, if you're still interested in trying more of that genre is Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K Le Guin; It deals with a lot more classic themes of sci fi and is a bit of an easier read--and if not, the PBS movie adaptation of it is very good and extremely close to the book if you like the story but find the prose hard to get through.
Dune just requires so much attention that it is hard to do other things while reading it. But I feel like Spice got into your brain because I truly thought you were going to say 'The Spice Must Flow' after that intro and then go into why you'll never read Dune xD
I desperately want to tell you to read The Locked Tomb series, or at least try Gideon the Ninth because its one of the best books I've ever read but I do fear that it falls under that category of SciFi that does not hold your hand and explains you through out. It's an insanely good series and I'll recommend it to the end of time, and I'd even love to know your opinion on it but I don't know how comfortable you'd be for a book like that
I agree so much with what you said about the hype surrounding lightlark and how it is hyped up. The initial tiktok that went viral and got the deal? Sure, that’s great.
The hype afterwards? I find it forced, which of course doesn’t say anything about the book or the author, but does put me off a little
I made it halfway through Dune before I started getting a bit bored. So I decided to put it down at the halfway point and read something else and I just... haven't gotten back to it.
I haven't heard any of the others except for The Love Hypothesis and I only know it because it's Reylo fan fiction.
I won't be reading any Sara J. Maas books or the Heartstopper series or the City of Bones books...or the Hunger Games series...the list goes on and on
I get that about big books. I am not necessarily intimidated or hesitant about reading big books, but if I am not liking them they are harder for me to dnf. Because I want to give them a real chance, and by the time I feel like I've done that and I am still not enjoying it, it feels silly to dnf because I've already read 500 pages that I might as well read the next 300. Despite the fact that I am not getting anything out of my reading. And at the moment, I am almost avoiding them because I haven't had a lot of reads that I truly enjoyed this year that I don't want that annoying aspect of myself to push me through a massive book that I am simply not liking.
Jesse, we love the balance as you called it. We are here for your unpopular opinions😁🙌🏽 love them.
For me, a book that I read recently that I was severely disappointed by (almost DNFed it) was House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas. Look, here me out. This was the first Sarah J Maas book I’ve ever read and I heard she has some better work (Court of thorns and such). I knew her books always kind of had mixed opinions because of her toxic male characters and relationships and a couple other minor critiques.
This book. I😮💨 I can’t. I am glad I finished it and I just started the second one but wow. I want to write a spoiler but I’ll refrain, basically, something MAJOR happens within the first five chapters and that’s why I wanted to DNF. I had no interest in reading about the main character at all so I found myself wondering what the heck I was staying for. Also, I don’t think Sarah knows that the words, “man” and “woman” exist in the English language- I can’t tell you how many times she used the words “male” and “female” and everytime it would RIP me out of the story and I would cringe so hard (I listened to the audiobook). It was tough.
I really want to continue giving her work a try- especially the previous series I mentioned but wow was I flabbergasted.
Definitely had some other- arguably- more important critiques but those ones got me the most. Especially the word choice, just constantly pulling me out of the story.
I read “The Invisible Life of Addie Larue” and “Song of Achilles” and found both of them very underwhelming 🫢 I definitely missed the Hype Train, by a lot, on those two.
Dune was the first book I read that I liked (first ever sci-fi read) it is kind of weird and there’s a lot of stuff that’s not really explained about the world.
I am in the camp of "i dont need to read a book just because its popular" anymore and have been there for a while. I think with booktube and book socials in general we're hearing about books alll the time and so yay to getting better about what picking up what we know we'd enjoy. Thats not to say i havent picked up some books in the past few years that are hecka popular that i dont think id ever have read if it wasnt for the clout it was getting like the hunger games prequel comes to mind 😅 i was like did i need to know about mr. Snows love live when he was young nope 😂 but i am looking forward to seeing the beginning hunger games depicted. K ramble done! Also with you on the atlas six don't have an interest to read it but go ahead to all that enjoy!
“What do you think, would not one tiny crime be wiped out by thousands of good deeds?”-Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Reading this right now and loving it so far 🥰
I’ve read Verity- its totally worth the hype- but i’ll probably never pick up any other book by CoHo
please please please read the priory of the orange tree!!!! It’s the best book I’ve ever read in my entire life. EVERY SINGLE PAGE WAS AWESOME!!!! also btw the margins are huge and it’s not that many words
I’ve been waiting for you to read the priory since the book was released 😭
A book I will never read: The Fault in Our Stars. From the day that I first started getting into books, this was up there. People sung it's praises about how it was such a good and sad book, but for some reason it always just gave me the ick. There were even times that I borrowed it from the library but I could never get myself to even open the book.
A book I was severely disappointed by: The Spanish Love Deception. I remember when I kept on seeing this book EVERYWHERE on Instagram. Everyone was singing it's praises and how it's such a good book. So I was like let's see what the hypes about. Now, I generally good at keeping my expectations low when starting a book, even when it's really hyped. So when I ordered this book I was mildly excited to read it. But, this book took SIX MONTHS to get to me. No joke. Usually books take 1-3 days to get to my library but I ordered this book in December and got it in June. So, to be fair my expectations sky rocketed at this point because I was like, it HAS to be good. TLDR, it was not, it was not good. Now, I'm not into spicy books. Like, I'll read the passages but I'm much more into banter. But this book just felt like a wattpad story that somehow got published. I've never been more disappointed in a book in my life. Now whenever I see it posted on Instagram I immediately scroll past it.
I refuse to read The Priory purely because of how BIG that book is. I read DUNE way back in the 1980s when the very first DUNE movie was released. I loved both the book and the movie. Still need to read more books in the DUNE series. Have not read anything by Donna Tartt. I am not a fan of thriller/murder, so I will not read any Colleen Hoover. I tried reading the Atlas 6 and I really wanted to like it but so far that one is a DNF. I may try again later. I am also not big on romance, so I wont be reading any of the STEM romances. I am not a fan of Fantasy so I dont read Jennifer Amentrout or Sarah J. Maas. But I do like Steampunk and Scifi. Aurora Rising and Illuminae were both WONDERFUL books. Must read the rest of those series. I did try reading Nevernight and Poppy Wars and DNF'd those as well. I have purchased Babel but have not read that one yet! The size is quite daunting. Have also purchase Jade City but not read that one yet either.
Priory was just 3.5 stars for me. Like, not bad, but not great enough to be worth the time investment.
Colleen Hoover. The new James Patterson.
The priory of the orange tree is very much worth the praise it gets.
But it is big, and I would definitely recommend to not read it before you have the time and mindset to read it.
That said, not one word is wasted in that book. The characters are interesting, flawed and very human, the world is so rich in lore, and it is presented nicely.
When you feel like reading a big book, read this.
The description does not do the story credit at all, simply because it can’t.
I personally put of the priory for about a year, then finally read it and loved it.
Oh yeah, I watched several videos about Dune before diving in and even then I only got about a third of the way in before I DNFed it for the same reason. At the time, I was looking more for entertainment (read: escapism) than a book that would "expand my horizons" if you will. I was thinking that if I did enough research beforehand I could just dive on in to the world of Dune and get lost in it, but it just wasn't meant to be, and that's okay. Maybe another time!
I’m truckin my way through Les Mis right now because my friend and I are seeing the show in February and he wants me to read the book first (I’m also kinda curious) but AGHHHH ITS SO LONG WINDED JUST PLEASE GET TO THE POINT 😩 I’m trying to think of it as a 5 book series instead of one 1500 page book but it’s not going too well lol. I’m hoping it’ll pay off later
you are so valid for never wanting to read colleen hoover 👏 protect 👏 your 👏 peace 👏 king 👏
I would say, if you want a better version of Where the Crawdads sing, I would highly recommend the author Sarah Addison Allison.
I don't get the Colleen Hoover hype. I read It Ends With Us and it was so badly written and the characters were so toxic that I was furious at myself for wasting my time when I finished. And her other books seem like more of the same.
I’ve heard so much about Colleen hover books and they have become so popular and I kind of wanna maybe try one at some point but idk I just don’t feel I’d like it. Her books just don’t seem that appealing to me. But maybe one day I’ll try one.
Honestly I'm myself am boycotting these books right now for simular reasons. Love your videos Jesse!!!!
Verity is so good! I haven’t read any other books by Colleen Hoover but that book was amazing
For some reason I haven’t been able to read science fiction lately, even though I want to read Dune and others at some point. I really did like Lightlark. I don’t plan on reading Colleen Hoover though lol.
I think I kind of also don't want to read CoHO. and a popular book I personally feel that did me dirty was "Normal People". When I read it a year and a half ago , I had heard nothing but only good things about it but it didn't stand up as anything special to me and I was extremely underwhelmed by it.
To me it's funny when I see how many readers don't approuch to thick books because of this and I'm totally the opposite XD but I know it's something I'm used to since I could bought just a few throught the years so I wanted books that I would ended up like in months XDDD
I live for the slander!! Ali Hazelwood’s books seem fine, but every premise sounds the same to me
Jesse please share your 'controversial' thoughts. This is your channel and you can do whatever you want on it. Btw a popular book series that I'll never read is ACOTAR. I'm NEVER reading that.
I have no interest in reading Colleen Hoover. I was curious of Ali Hazelwood in the beginning, but I have lost that. That might be because I'm not interested in reading romance at all at the moment. Often I don't get to books while they are at the top of the hype and when the hype dies down so does my interest. I have saved a lot of time and money on buying the paperbacks since they usually come out a year later so the hype has died and also my interest.
I thinks you are being too defensive, as though you don't want to offend someone who may love one of these books. I've only read two of the books: Where the Crawdad Sings, which I really enjoyed, I was intrigued by the story and loved the nature description and Dune which I read back in the 1980s (yes I'm ancient) when I was really into sci-fi, strange planets and alien customs, it is not the kind of book I'd read today. If I were to make a similar list The Priory of the Orange Tree and It Ends with Us would be on my list, these don't seem books for me, although like you, Verity by Colleen Hoover maybe the exception (with CoHo), I heard the plot is quite similar to Freida McFadden's The Wife Upstairs, not sure which came out first.
i’m so happy i rediscovered your channel! so fun! any tips for someone coming back to the reading world after a few years out- so much to catch up on omg too many books too little time
I honestly loved the priory so maybe give me your email or something and I might get around to writing the reasons you should read it and my honest thoughts because I genuinely think it's a book you'll enjoy. I've been following you for years now and seeing your taste I think this book will satisfy you but who knows I could be wrong. Also I liked the Atlas Six and paradox but the first book was definitely better the second book was a lot more toned down and dry you're not really missing out.
I bought where the crawdads sing I think the day before I found out all the controversy and whilst I don’t know much about the controversy at all and I did buy it before I knew about it all, I still feel very very awkward to read it now
edit: I just did some research and yeah I now feel very uncomfortable at the idea of reading it.
READ VERITY. Its such a fast and intriguing read and its one of those books that leaves you THINKING. It's actually entertaining and fkd up and the only coho book id actually recommend to everyone.
I honestly understand why you wouldn't want to read Priory of the Orange Tree. It is a big book and if I din't take my time reading this I wouldn't like it as much as I do.