kahlan:
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Akebe (sp!) - had to read this at school - made me want to shoot myself to stop the pain!!!
I found this really hard to read to begin with but eventually found it bareable and didn't feel like it was too much of a chore to read.
From looking through my GoodReads ratings I've discovered that there a fair amount of books which I've not enjoyed.
In 2001:
I was forced to read the first two Harry Potter books for school and hated them. Fantasy just isn't my thing, and witches and wizards definitely aren't.
In 2002:
There actually aren't any books rated below 3-stars!
In 2003:
I hated the fourth Princess Diaries book - Mia Goes Fourth - as it consisted of Mia worrying about the fact that she had to go to a royal ball instead of a date with her boyfriend, and thinking that he might dump her if she told him, so she just worried and never told him. Eventually he was like, "Mia, it's cool, you're a princess, I understand that you have to go to a ball." And then they were happy. What was the point of this book? It was just one big jumble of whining and worrying and it could have all been avoided if she spoke to her boyfriend at the start of the book! I'm amazed that I bought books 5 and 6 after reading this one. Crazy 11-year-old me.
I also wasn't too keen on The Secret Princess Diaries, the World Book Day one, but I can't really remember why. I think it was just pretty pointless and uninteresting.
Mia's Christmas was pretty rubbish too, as Mia spent loads of money on Michael buying him the perfect gift and worrying that it wasn't good enough. Lilly does strip-bowling in the castle in Genovia and totally embarrasses Mia as obviously this is in inappropriate thing for a princess's friend to be doing. Mia also makes a big fuss over making sure the palace is good enough for her friends. Mia - it's a palace! Of course they're going to like it. Yeah, lots of whining. The later books annoyed me because of this.
Eternity by Tamara Thorne was accidentally put in the teenage section. It's actually a very, very gory and very, very disturbing and rather explicit adult horror novel, so no wonder I only gave it two stars. I think I was scared for life by this book as I can still remember some of the grisly murders, most of which were somehow linked to sex in some odd way. Poor 11-year-old me. There was some odd stuff about a cult and a mini-Stonehaven and the members of the cult were transported to this village called Eternity where the mini-Stonehaven was...through the Bermuda triangle. And they all lived forever (hence Eternity). I can't remember where all of the murders linked in but I suppose that bit of the book was pretty interesting. But the murders were just disgusting. I think that would still put me off the book as an adult.
In 2004:
There were lots of unlikeable books this year!
I gave up on Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre. I think it just didn't interest me. But I was 12, so don't hold me to it.
Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta annoyed me because her boyfriend was a jerk and treated her pretty rubbish and kind of hid her from his friends. And Francesca was just like "Wow, he's so amazing!" I don't remember anything else about the book so it can't have been that good.
Vegan, Virgin, Valentine by Carolyn Mackler was another teen read which I didn't like, mainly because Valentine, one of the main characters, managed to convince her aunt (same age as her) to just live for the moment, which I don't like the idea of at all. Living for the moment is how people get into debt and have bad relationships. Also, the book seemed to promote random sex as being good, which isn't a great thing to let your 12-year-old daughter read about. Amusingly, I'm sure my mum read this book as well and didn't seem to mind me reading it.
Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot was an alright chick-lit read but I'm really not keen on email-format books. You don't get to know the characters properly. Pus, this one had a lot of pop-culture references, and that's one thing which really annoyed me.
I liked The Guy Next Door a bit better, but those things still really annoyed me. Two-stars for both.
Give Me Five by Meg Cabot was slightly better than the fiftth book but involved Mia forcing her boyfriend to take her to prom. The whole book seemed to suggest that prom is the greatest event in a girls life. As I am in my last year of high school and because all of my classmates also have this attitude this annoys me more than ever! I'm boycotting prom. In the book, Mia's boyfriend suggests going bowling instead. I think I'll do that.
No Place for a Man by Judy Astley also has two-stars. All of her books have some sort of teenage subplot about the main character's daughter, and I didn't like the one in this book.
All Inclusive was slightly better, but the ending was totally crazy - there was this Don Juan in it who seduced the MC's teenage daughter and then the MC's friend - and the ran of with the MC's friend's grandmother. It was very, very unrealistic, hence the two-stars.
In 2005:
This was the year that I gave up on Meg Cabot, as you will see from the following reviews.
All American Girl: Ready or Not - one star - reason: the main character isn't ready to have sex, tells her boyfriend this, and then does it anyway on a whim. What? She also doesn't know what life drawing is which shows that she's obviously not as passionate about art as she makes out. And then she freaks out over seeing a naked man and refers to his "personal area" as IT. Wow, way mature. Fabby portrayal of seven-teen-year olds! Also, I read the first book at 11 and I would not want my 11 year old reading about sex, especially not a book which doesn't deal with the topic very well, like this one.
The Princess Diaries: Sixsational - one star - reason: deals with sex very badly AGAIN. Mia isn't ready to have sex but doesn't talk to Michael about it as she thinks he'll dump her. So instead she worries. As always. plus, Mia gets Bs in English and freaks out. Her teacher says she's giving her Bs because Mia has to write about something more serious than Britney Spears's break-up. Amen! And then she backs down at the end of the book when Mia makes a rubbish speech about Anime or something. This book sucked so bad I don't even remember the plot-line correctly. This is when I stopped buying her books.
Teen Idol - one-star - reason: Meg Cabot bashes Christianity, and the plot just wasn't interesting.
Honeymoon by Amy Jenkins was the worst chick-lit I ever met. FMC is in love with fiancee, gets married and then meets a guy in their hotel who she once had a fling with. So, on a whim, she leaves her hubby to go on holiday with ex-fling, who has also just got married. Then they realise that they aren't right together so get back together with their respected partners and live happily ever after. Clearly someone wasn't ready to get married if they do flighty stuff like that!
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella was painful to read. I found it so embarrassing that she constantly bought junk which she didn't need and couldn't think logically when she went shopping - "Do I really need this? Will I ever use it? Is it worth it for the money? Can I afford it?" Even at 14, when I read this, I couldn't imagine myself behaving in the way the FMC did. So, not an enjoyable read. Very cringey and I couldn't relate to the character at all.
Thirty-Nothing by Lisa Jewell - I can't remember much about this book but it just annoyed me. I think it was another case of A meeting B and realising that they like each other but getting off with other people before they got together. I wish people would just tell each other how they felt.
Being Committed by Anna Maxted - I don't remember anything about it but obviously I didn't like it as I gave it two stars.
In 2006:
The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson just didn't interest me at all. I actually gave up on this book and I rarely do that. I couldn't find anything outstanding or adventurous about the events in the book.
In 2007:
A much younger friend leant me Seventh Heaven by Meg Cabot and another one of her books got one-star. The characters were meant to be sixteen but behaved very immaturely. I can't even remember anything about the storyline.
In 2008:
I must have picked my books well as none of them have less than three stars!