Hyped up books! - did you read them?

[tobee]

I'm probably a bit too fascinated by this, but what books do you remember being hyped up to the max and "everyone was reading"? Did you read them at the time? Did they live up to the hype? Do they stand the test of time?

So, off the top of my head, I'm thinking

The Silence of the Lambs
The Secret History
The Essex Serpent
Where the Crawdads Sing
A Little Life

I think it's interesting to me because I tend to shy away from anything hyped because I assume it will be disappointing, I'm stubborn and don't want to feel duped by the hype.

For example I never hear people talking about The Essex Serpent any more or see it recommended. But people still talk about The Secret History as evidenced by the thread on here currently. The Silence of the Lambs has been superseded by the film.

Piranesi anyone? Load of guff, still not sure what the hell it was about

Oh God… 50 Shades! 😖 I was never going to read them, but an elderly family member did, and insisted on telling me all about the bondage stuff 😳

I'm not in the UK. I read English books, but can't always tell the level of hype that applies. I haven't read a lot of the ones mentioned, except Harry Potter (my DH always read them first though!), Bridget Jones and Adrian Mole, and enjoyed them all. Elinor Olliphant was underwhelming. Lessons in chemistry - saw the Netflix series and liked it, but haven't got round to the book yet. I've read a few with I suppose a lower level of hype: Life after Life (loved it), The Time Traveller's Wife (good), The Miniaturist (hard going). I read a lot of these because of my book club. On the definitely not highbrow side I listened to all the Thursday Murder club books as soon as they came out, and enjoyed them a lot.

Just catching up on this thread and amused by lots of these replies!

Way after it came out I tried to read The Secret History and couldn't get past the first few pages. Then I tried again a few years later. Same. I eventually downloaded the audiobook because it was on special offer but Donna Tartt reads it herself and I just found her voice too super annoying to listen to. Sorry to her fans! 😬

I can well imagine her having an annoying voice!

I quite enjoyed The Goldfinch as well, though I’ve never re-read it.

The bit where he nearly freezes was fantastic. This boy from California who’s never seen snow. She portrayed that so well.

I.think A Little Life is a ridiculously bad book. It's just totally over-the-top misery porn. I loved The Secret History at the time but agree that I don't think I'd enjoy it as much now. I liked Crawdads. I stopped reading hyped-up thrillers years ago because they would always be disappointing.
I definitely think I'm just getting older and more cynical. I thought Daisy Jones and the Six and Hello, Beautiful were idiotic but I think I might have liked them when I was in my 20s.

I LOVED it! Just goes to show it's about personal taste, innit... 🙂

@Costacoffeeplease I enjoyed The Poisonwood Bible, but haven't felt inclined to read anything else by the author, i also enjoyed Wild Swans.

No intention of reading:
life of pi
normal people, average
the book thief
tattooist of Auschwitz
Atonement
handmaids tale (still haven’t got around to that)
Half a yellow sun
The shadow of the wind
This is going to hurt (tended to be annoying)
Lovely bones, average
The da Vinci code,
Girl with the dragon tattoo series
Harry Potter (never read them)
satanic verses
Eleanor Oliphant is fine
Lessons in chemistry
Where the crawdads sing
The Kate Atkinson books like Behind the Scenes at the Library
Anything by Hilary Mantel

Didn't like the Adrian Mole books, but they did have their merit. I was around the same age as him and they didn't ring true. A male friend the same age as me loved them.

@BrandyandGinger I agree about Daisy Jones and Hello Beautiful, and would add Evelyn Hugo. None lived up to the hype, esp Hello Beautiful which was just awful.

I read The Secret History about 20 yrs ago and it’s still one of my absolute favourites. There’s just something about it that draws me in every time. But if I’d read it purely on the back of hype and BookTok etc, I might have gone in with really high expectations and been disappointed. Whereas I picked it up in the library, had never heard of it before and thought it sounded interesting. Sometimes that’s the best way to get into a book, with no expectations. I hated The Essex Serpent, thought A Little Life was great but on no account will I ever read it again 😆. I didn’t mind Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow but I did not understand why it created such a buzz. Loved Lessons in Chemistry, thought Butter was interesting but ultimately was a let down, enjoyed Yellowface but much preferred Babel by the same author. We all have different tastes, but sometimes I think people on TikTok see the hype for something, read it and then because they’ve invested their time in it and want to be part of the crowd, feel that they either have to rave about it or absolutely slate it, there’s no in between. Sometimes a book is just OK but no one seems to say that online when a book creates a lot of hype. I just try to go on the synopsis and see whether that interests me rather than thinking that because everyone has read it I should too.

This Is Going To Hurt was really spoiled by misogyny threaded through it. Glad he stopped practising, he needed to.

Oh I wouldn’t put Hilary Mantel on that list. I’ve got so much from her books. And Kate Atkinson can be patchy, but when she’s good it’s worth it. Life After Life was great. (Not incl Jackson Brodie series, which, apart from the first one which is a cut above, is very much ‘pay the bills’ territory.)

I read The Secret History, Where the Crawdads Sing and A Little Life.

I enjoyed The Secret History but found it long and boring towards the last act. I still enjoyed it but I’m not in a hurry to re-read. Where the Crawdad’s Sing was not so bad but I’m not in a hurry to re-read it and it’s not a classic for me. A Little Life was just trauma porn by a quarter of the way through but it’s well written and heartbreaking.

Awful book! I hated it. Trauma porn.

Also Where the Crawdads Sing was a yawn fest.

I avoided this one because the title is so annoying!

Just finished Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason which got loads of good reviews.. I found it a bit irritating and couldn’t wait to finish it

Chris Whittaker's All the Colours of the Dark really dragged for me yet others raved about it. Likewise Crawdads. Loved the Adrian Mole books. Ones from many years ago that I had to put down unfinished were Captain Correlli's Mandolin and a Prayer for Owen Meany. Maybe I would like them now, who knows! Loved a lot of the other John Irving books but couldn't finish Owen Meany.

Crawdads was so predictable. DM said, I didn’t see the ending! Well, I did.
The Bee Sting. Couldn’t get through it.
Caledonian Road. Bored.

This is something I’ve been thinking about lately, since once again falling for hype. “Piglet” by Lottie Hazell, touted as a work of genius by the usual crowd.

It’s utter tripe from start to finish.

No!!! LOVED Piranesi! So captivating. Spellbinding.

Hamnet - couldn’t get in with it

Eleanor Oliphant - - didn’t feel the love for this either, and didn’t find it plausible

Books were mainly book club choices.

I'm not on tiktok or anything, so I never see the hype! Tend to pick up books on a whim, and read a lot, some good some not!
I did quite like Crawdads, but I missed the hype, so it was just another book. I thought it was OK.
Did try 50 shades- dire!! The writing style made my teeth itch!

I remember everyone reading the same books on the tube! Also discussing them/passing them to each other in the office.

From those days:
Bridget Jones - great, funny, engaging
Wild Swans - enjoyed it, big satisfying saga, interesting cultural depictions
Memoirs of a geisha - weird and creepy, possible small-foot fetishist
Captain Corelli's Mandolin - decent but over hyped
The Alchemist - hateful, if I ever meet this bloke I will punch him
Secret History - again, nice big satisfying book, well written
The Corrections - loved it at the time, haven't read it since

Later:
Cloud Atlas - interesting concept, badly needed an edit, too wedded to structure for the sake of it
Gone Girl - started off okay but went round in circles for at least the last third; boring
The time traveller's wife - nice idea, shame about the writing

Later still:
Eleanor Oliphant - execrable
The Salt Path - I'd have pushed those fuckers off the cliff if I'd have met them. Self serving main character energy bullshit.
Yellowface - boring. 'Things that people said on the internet' is a poor basis for a novel.

Yes! I remember sitting on the tube and 6 people were reading Wild Swans. I found it a but turgid.

Eleanor Oliohant was indeed execrable! Cloud Atlas however is genius.