Tiger from Tiger’s All Consuming Books and Karen from For What It’s Worth have introduced a meme called “Book Blogger Confessions.”On the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month, they will be discussing a topic that affects book bloggers and give us a chance to vent, share our opinion or offer a solution. Pam from Midnyte Reader has taken over for Tiger while she pursues international aspirations. 
Have you ever loved a book that you know is not a great literary gem? Maybe it’s filled with spelling errors, tired cliches, and is utterly cheestastic but you loved it anyway. How do you handle that as a blogger who is used to critical thinking and analysis? Do you pretend you never read the book – never to be reviewed or added to your Goodreads shelf
Yes, but I am not going to name the books because I don’t want to come off as a douche to the authors. There have been a few that were just really entertaining, even if there were plot holes or strange language. I will admit to enjoying a craptastic tale or two. Who doesn’t? Spelling errors can be a little annoying, but I’m sure I don’t catch them all. I’ve never “pretended” to read a book, and the thought has never crossed my mind. That’s just silly, to me. I’m not afraid to say I have or haven’t read a book, regardless of what everyone else thinks. I like the diversity in our opinions.
Conversely – have you read a classic, that is considered a literary gem but you just didn’t get it? Are you embarrassed to admit that or do you review it anyway?
Um, yes. While I haven’t read a lot of them since high school, some of those lit classics made no sense to me or were just boring as hell. And um, these are not literary gems, but they are popular and I was not as impressed as everyone else:
- Delirium: It was good, but not amazing. The ENDING was amazing, but the rest of the book was kind of…not.
- Tempest: The world-building was wicked confusing for me.
- Ruby Red: Hmmm. I’m seeing a time travel theme here…
- Linger and Forever: I just HATE that I could not get on board with these books. I was let down and wish Shiver was a standalone.
- Fallen: I still haven’t picked up the rest of the books. It was just… :/
- Starcrossed: I couldn’t even finish it. And I LOVE Greek mythology… *sniff*
- Bridget Jones’s Diary: Definitely not for me…
- The Vampire Diaries: I barely read 100 pages…but I sure love the show!
- From Dead to Worse: I haven’t picked up the series since.
- Breaking Dawn: Crap.
So….what lit gems and piles of poo have you been lying about? 
© 2012, Smash Attack Reads. All rights reserved.
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I think my biggest 2 classics that I never got where Open Road by Jack K. and Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James J. Both of those books drove me nutty!
There are a lot of popular series that I don’t like as much as the next person and I am OK with that. Beautiful Disaster and Gone Girl were the most resent for that.
I am with you–I have read a few books that I think most would find crappy but I enjoyed the hell out of them. Might have been when I read them or my mood when I was reading them. Whatever it was, they hit my sweet spot! It happens! I am usually delighted when it does
Recent not resent *ugh* it is early!
were not where *double ugh*
We are just going to chalk up my obvious lack of spelling and grammar today to it being 6am on a Monday.
You are excused.
I can change it for you, or leave these comments here because it’s funny. heh.
hehe no need to change it
You should see some of the work emails I send that early in the morning. Luckily their overseas and just assume it is a “Texas” thing 
I have never read either of those classics!
I love it when that happens too. Sometimes I’m ok with an ok book!
Felicia needs Amanda in the a.m. (or coffee!) Me, I never have tpos
I avoided classics in high school so I can’t attest to any of those but I really didn’t think too highly of Immortal Rules… just not the shiznit for me. I rolled my eyes too much.
… but then, I loved Breaking Dawn (eek)
Ha. Word. Amanda + Coffee would be the ultimate. And nope, I nevr have typos either.
How did you avoid them? They were required for me. You did dislike Immortal, I remember. Boo on You!
BD was just, wrong. It all felt wrong. I wish the series would’ve ended with Eclipse.
I would kill to have Amanda sitting beside me in the mornings. I seriously do most of my communication between 5am and 9:30am in the morning. It is not something I recommend!
That is damn tortue.
totally agree with you about Linger and Forever. I stopped with the Fallen series too. I fell asleep in the 2nd book.
Such a disappointment.
That’s too bad. This is one of the reasons, I usually prefer stand alone books and a lot of times, I’ll read the first one in a trilogy or even series and then stop.
Great meme! Thanks for being kind to authors.
I have Tempest and Shiver but haven’t read them yet. I happened to enjoy Breaking Dawn but I know many who hated the whole Renesmee thing (or however the hell you spell that ridiculous name!) Have you seen the first movie?
I’ve seen all the movies so far. I actually enjoyed the movie better. I think Renesmee might take the joy out of round 2 for me, no matter how cute she is. I will never NOT be able to picture her has the creepy ass child from the book. In all honesty, I was just disappointed that SM went that route with the story. It ruined it for me.
Shiver is so fantastic. Beautiful love story, in my opinion. Tempest…*sigh* So confusing.
I agree with you about lots of your “not as impressed” list. I have generally attributed it to the fact that I am not the target audience for these books. My students are lots more enthused than I will ever be.
Like you, I don’t see the point in pretending I have read a book or not read it. I can read whatever I want and it really shouldn’t matter to anyone else.
I don’t mind spelling errors. I am not dumb I can figure out what they meant. But I really can’t deal with terrible grammar. For some reason I just get lost and stuck and before I know it I have lost interest.
Awesome answers. I don’t think I could list the crap books I loved, either!
As for the “gems,” I can totally get behind Tempest, which was CRAZY confusing, as well as The Vampire Diaries. I think I read the first book in the series that I had, which contained the first 2 books, maybe? Definitely liked the TV show better. And don’t even get me started on Breaking Dawn. It felt like it was written in a completely different way by a completely different author. It really didn’t fit with the series.
I do disagree with Delirium … I thought it was a great read!
A classic that I just did NOT like was ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude.’ It was boring, boring, boring. And confusing.
Great post!
So many people didn’t like Linger & especially not Forever. I think I’ll pick up Shiver one day and just stop right there!
I can ignore a certain amount of spelling errors and plot holes as long as I’m having fun or connecting with a character. I just take them for what they are – cheesetastic – they are a little more difficult to review because as you said you come off as a bit of a douche but I have in the past and the authors have taken it well lol
I’ve never pretended to read a book either…it never even crossed my mind. And there are definitely some really popular books out there that I haven’t liked but everyone’s gone ga-ga over them.
Pure greatness. I agree on everything I’ve read. Dilerium…I couldn’t buy it, even though I liked Alex. Matched was a better love dystopian.
Fallen was no bueno.
Shiver was ok, but seriously they switch places??? I love Stiefvater’s Fairie series is awesome.
There are so very few literary novels that I actually completely adore (besides the Jane Austens, of course)–I’m much more of a cheestastic girl. And, out of your list, I agree with all except I liked Bridget Jones’s Diary. The rest…meh.
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