Books that lived up to the hype

[petronella23]

Inspired by another thread about books that didn't live up to the hype, what about ones that did?

Any books that were really hyped or popular that you thought totally deserved it?

Mine are Gone Girl and Secret History.

This and the other thread are just mirror images!

Not helping me at all decide whether to get Demon Copperhead on audible.

I love all of her work, too. Why didn't she write more? 😭

I have listened to TSH probably at least 40 times on Audible and I love it because Donna Tartt, herself reads it.

I found it unreadable for the same reason

I would say do it! I loved it. I think it is worth the investment of time spent reading/listening to it.

Agreed.

I bought a copy based on MN and the narration was so off putting I got no further than the second chapter.

I'm only saying this because it's strange who we differ. I tried to read Secret History but couldn't get past the first few pages. Many years later I tried to listen on audible but found DT voice super off putting and couldn't last more than a few minutes! I did wonder if I would have got on better if a professional voice artist had done it instead it felt a bit control freaky at the time to insist on reading it as well. But lots of authors do now and they have only recently done so.

The hype for a book is usually - people have read it and enjoyed it /found it interesting and so recommended it / given it great on line reviews/ratings. Or it’s a book that has been nominated (or even won) awards- these are the books that get talked about. So by that very definition, any book with lots of hype is going to be one that lots of people have read and then talked about liking.

it shouldn’t be surprising that this thread mirrors the other “hyped but bad” thread, books no one liked wouldn’t get hyped (bar celeb ghost written ones or the massive big authors like Marian Keyes who’s books get hyped before anyone’s read them).

Agree - equally apt names for the respective threads would be 'Books lots of people liked but I didn't' and 'Books lots of people liked that I also liked'.

I think it depends when on the hype train you jump on

ive just finished A Gentleman in Moscow after reading positive reviews online and here and IRL. However, I was disappointed as it wasn’t this perfect amazing book everyone told me it was. Perhaps I wouldn’t have been disappointed if I’d just picked it up myself without all the hype.

Have you read anything else of hers? I loved Demon Copperhead but have enjoyed other books of hers as well, especially The Poisonwood Bible.

Well Donna Tartt is quirky. I'm quirky too and I think that helps. Everyone's different I guess.

I’m apparently the only person in the world who wasn’t crazy about The Poisonwood Bible. On the other hand, I love her first two novels, The Bean Trees and irs sequel Pigs in Heaven, and her slightly later Prodigal Summer.

@wutheringkites yes I've read (listened to) prodigal summer. I liked it but I didn't love it. I was trying to find a writer I like as much as Elizabeth Strout and Kingsolver was one of the suggestions.

@EggChair have you tried The Lacuna or Flight Behaviour? I loved both those too.

This is going to hurt read very differently before and after I gave birth. I then understood why so many women come out of hospital with trauma because they are not taken seriously.

For thrillers I accidentally read I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes after picking it up at a charity shop. Loved it. Was then a wait of many years for his next book (Mr Waterstones was bored of me asking for it) Year of the Locust. Hubby is reading it at the moment and I will have it for holiday.

I enjoyed A Gentleman in Moscow but didn't love it. I did however love Rules of Civility by the same author.

Also thought The Secret History^^ was ok but absolutely loved The Goldfinch

Birdsong
The Nightingale
The Winter Garden
The Light Between the Oceans
The Girl on the Train
Anything by Victoria Hislop

I disagree with a lot of these, but truly thought The Secret History was one of the best books I've ever read...and I've read a lot. I'm old, I'm in the business and have a bachelor's in English Literature which means you're often told what you should like or it's assumed what you like but that's rarely the case. Like, I fucking hate Hemingway, for example.

To add to this, Wild by Cheryl Strayed was one of my favorite memoirs. Movie was fine, but the book was marvelous.

Agree with PP that Rules of Civility (which I thought sublime) was better than A Gentleman in Paris (liked it a great deal, but the former beat it out of the park). Similarly, I loved The English Patient but was absolutely blown away by In the Skin of the Lion.

My other top favorites are Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, An American Marriage by Tayari Jones and Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. And, warmly, Murder on the Orient Express. I read that almost every year, google train tickets in Vienna and Istanbul, look at my bank account and sigh.

Mumsnet favourite, Hearts Invisible Furies

Also All The Light We Cannot See

House of Glass was an amazing non fiction recommendation on here too

I didn’t get on with The Lacuna, but liked Flight Behaviour, which struck me as close in tone/approach to Prodigal Summer.