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 The Silence of the Lambs has been superseded by the film.

I've realised part of the reason I don't want to read "A Little Life" is that the title gives me the pip!!!

Shantaram. Read it once in my early 20s when everyone around me waxed lyrical about how amazing it was. I remember I found it quite compelling, but when I tried it again in my early 30s - what a load of rubbish!

War & Peace for me, I’m still only on page 34 four years later!!!!

Ive just read the current one thats all over Instagram etc.. Broken Country. What a huge disappointment.

I'm sure he thought it was 😜

Oh no, I was planning to read this!
I was so disappointed by Hello Beautiful. Flat characters and dull writing

Yes, I didnt enjoy Hello Beautiful either! Im in a reading rut at the moment

Fleishman Is In Trouble. That’s another one that was everywhere ( I think they made a film?) but was utter drivel.

I found the Midnight Library disappointing, I loved the concept, but didn’t like where the author took it. Wasted potential!

I've just finished Hello Beautiful and i loved it. It was our book club book and we all loved it.

I finally got round to reading Normal People about eighteen months after everyone else (and still had an eight week waiting list at the library) and just could not see what the fuss was about. I slogged through it but honestly could have put it down at any point and not been bothered about finishing it. No desire to read any more of her stuff. Gave up on Crawdads about 100 pages in.

I did enjoy Gone Girl and I do re-read it, but I think Sharp Objects and Dark Places (Gillian Flynn's earlier books) are better - Dark Places is heartbreaking at times.

Weyward also didn't make much of an impression on me, the story sounded interesting but the writing wasn't great, especially the parts set in the 1940s where everyone acted and spoke like it was the 1840s

I recently liked a couple of books by Jessica Knoll - Bright Young Women and Luckiest Girl Alive

I'm so glad I didn't read this... something about the word 'Crawdads' told me that it would be over sentimental shite that I wouldn't enjoy.

These were hyped books that I didn't enjoy for the above reason: The Time Traveller's Wife and The Five People You Meet In Heaven.

I did read Essex Serpent and I was OK with it but it didn't blow me away. Felt similar about Wakenhyrst.

A hyped book that I that I loved was The Pillars of the Earth.

Ah I did also love Captain Corelli. The one before Bridget Jones - Cause Celeb - was great and the book that got me into Helen Fielding.

I love The Secret History, it's probably one of my favorite books. Also loved The Essex Serpent and Where the Crawdads Sing
I tend not to read hyped up books but some of the ones I read end up being hyped up

I attempted Captain Corelli's Mandolin twice and failed.

My daughter read Where the Crawdads Sing and said it was shite.

Same here @RaraRachael . It was probably great but not for me.

I've tried Middlemarch several times and never got past the first 20 pages. Again, it's probably brilliant, but found I didn't care about the characters.

I loved The Secret History, Crawdads was Ok, A Little Life was bloody awful.
Others mentioned...
Lessons in Chemistry I found quite irritating, especially the dog parts. I loved Eleanor Oliphant. How to Kill Your Family was very hyped a couple of years ago - I thought it was rubbish.

My mum raved about lessons in chemistry - said she couldn't put it down. She gave it to me and I keep trying but honestly it's just so irritating.
I agree, the dog parts are annoying

And holidays!

Before the days of Kindle you could look around the pool and see everyone reading that year’s bestseller. I still picture certain holidays as the ‘Da Vinci Code Year’, ‘Captain Corelli Year’, ‘Cloud Atlas Year’.

in some ways I miss it - I wouldn’t go back to proper books from Kindle but there was something rather nice about going to WH Smith at the airport and picking up that year’s holiday reads - even if they turned out to be twaddle.

I had to read The Curious Incident..... as CPD for work. Everyone else raved about it. I lasted a couple of chapters then just pretended I'd read it all.

Couldn't see what all the fuss was about.

This is probably very specifically Irish, but the first over-hyped book I read was To School Through The Fields by Alice Taylor. It was a really saccharine look back at the author's rural childhood and it was drivel. Then she was always on The Late Late Show and stuff like that.

Absolutely loved it…🏛️🌊🪸
I was completely transported by it!

I loved Piranesi too!

Butter: now there's a different story. Definitely overhyped. Great cover art though.

This is interesting! I'd like to know more about books that have been hyped in different countries. Even more interesting is when you find books that are bestsellers in the English language that are different in different English speaking countries. Presumably this is (often?) down to the marketing.

Had to give up on the Bee Sting