Wicked.
(Most disappointing first 15 pages.)
The style of writing was just too awful.
*Grumbles about the waste of money and how I should start beginning books before I buy them, regardless of its status as a NYT Bestseller*
YES! I was so disappointed, because I thought the idea of the book was fantastic. I expected it to be funny, snarky, etc. I mean, you're talking about the Wizard of Oz from the Wicked Witch's perspective. It should have been comedy gold. Instead, we got a bad fantasy novel. Though I never really could get on board with the Oz books, either. I guess I was expecting a treatment based upon the world of the movie, instead of the books. Ah, well. Didn't like it.
A Confederacy Of Dunces. Hands down.
I have always heard from people who had what I thought was good taste how great this book is, and the story behind its publication is very compelling. So when I saw it in a used book store I picked it up.
I knew 100 pages into the book that it wasn't for me. But because of the pedigree, I slogged halfway through it before I wised up and gave it away. What a car crash of a book.
Hmm! I haven't tried that one yet, but have heard lots of people recommend it.
Life's too short to keep reading a book based upon recommendations. I'll give a book a chance up until about 1/4 of the way through unless I just HATE it. There've been a couple of books that started slow and ended up making my Favorites List: Of Human Bondage, Rebecca. But after having trudged all the way through A Farewell to Arms against my better judgment, I'll never read a whole book I hate all the way through because it's supposed to be a classic. I still hold a grudge against Hemingway for that.
My sister read the Twilight series, and then the first book over again, trying to figure out what in the heck people were seeing in it. Apparently all her friends had read the books and were super into them. She was like,
what am I missing?!?!
I learned not to read anything based upon Oprah's recommendations. House of Sand and Fog, We Were the Mulvaneys, The Lovely Bones, etc. Oprah and I do not have the same taste in books. She likes her stories grim, apparently.