Welcome to 2025 everyone! My first post of the year is going to be book related, and I think it’s fair cause it’s my favorite type of articles to write. Usually I talk about the books that I either deeply loved or averagely enjoyed, because I prefer writing about stuff that I liked to inspire others.

But, of course, I also read many books that I strongly dislike for various reasons. Some of them are famous works that are loved and praised by others. So, in this post, I decided to write a list of 10 books that disappointed me. But before I start, I want to mark that this is purely my subjective opinion based on my interests and interpretation of these works.

1. Haruki Murakami – Norwegian Wood

A little prehistory. I used to see philosophical and wise quotes from Murakami a lot in internet, hence why I decided to read his most famous and successful work. The beginning and the ending were quite alright, I liked the stream of consciousness and some interesting topics the main character was reflecting on. But the general plot was just trash. It was so bad that now I don’t even remember most of it, but I remember it being boring and mediocre. Maybe if my hopes weren’t too high, I’d have enjoyed it much better, but sadly I didn’t.

2. Charles Bukowski – Ham on Rye

Just like the previous case, I saw some good quotes from Bukowski and decided to check him out. But again, this was a book about nothing. I realize that there may be some interesting and hidden thoughts about the life in the US during the Great Depression and how it affected everyone. But even if such thoughts existed, they were oppressed by the descriptions of boring events that didn’t lead to anything. The book ended, and I didn’t understand what I was reading about.

3. Holly Black – The Cruel Prince

If you’re a part of Booktok or Bookstagram you definitely know about this book. It’s the first part of a popular young adult fantasy series about the world of faeries. I was expecting to enjoy it cause it seemed to have everything that I love about this genre, but it turned out so poorly written. For the whole book, you’re basically waiting for something big to happen, which it does only in the end. Throughout that time, nothing really evolves, it’s just the same few situations or the thoughts of the main character repeating over and over again. It was so not interesting that I didn’t even read the rest of the series.

4. Jane Austen – Emma

I truly like Austen’s works, some of which I’ve reread many times. But when it comes to “Emma”, I can’t make myself like it, no matter how hard I try. There are too many descriptions and background stories of so many secondary characters that don’t really have much to do with the main plot. It gets a little better towards the end, and it was interesting to follow Emma’s character development, but gotta be honest, that I skipped most of those descriptions and backstories cause it was too much.

5. Jules Verne – Twenty Thousand League Under the Sea

Again, an author that I love, but I was disappointed with one of his most favorite novels. Maybe years ago when people didn’t know a thing about submarines and the underwater world it had a “wow effect” but now it seemed boring. Especially when Mister Verne kept thoroughly describing thousands of types of fish for a few pages. I wanted some fun action, not an encyclopedia about fish. Though gotta tell that I once praised the author’s immense knowledge about pretty much everything, and I stick to that opinion, so kudos to him.

6. Alexandre Dumas – La Dame de Monsoreau

One of the saddest things about reading is when you don’t like a book of one of your favorite authors. I think Dumas is a genius, I love many of his works, but I couldn’t even finish this one. There were, again, too many characters, too many stories, some of which were totally unnecessary to the plot (at least for me). So I just didn’t enjoy it and kept forgetting who was who and what was their story. If someone asks me about the plot of this novel, I can only tell about the great feast in the beginning of the story.

7. Jerome K. Jerome – Three Man in a Boat

I don’t want to write too many bad things about this book, because it was a good one. I just happen to be not a fan of such genre. I was expecting to see some cool adventures of three friends on their “cruise”, but instead got some anecdotes and stories from their past about some random people and situations. It did have some funny parts that I liked, but in general, it’s just not my type of literature.

8. Charles Dickens – The Old Curiosity Shop

Before buying this book, I read its summary that said the following: it’s a sweet story about a little girl and his grandfather who work in the old curiosity shop and are surrounded by magical things. I found that story interesting. Sadly, it didn’t have anything to do with the reality. The reality was dark, sad and depressing, especially the end when the little girl dies. Sorry if I spoiled it, but the book was published in 1840, so I don’t reckon it’s really a spoiler. I know that Dickens is a realistic author that portrayed life how it was with its difficulties, but I didn’t expect him to be that brutal to kill off the main character.

9. Jack London – Martin Eden

I usually tend to dislike a book when I hate a character and don’t understand their motives. That’s pretty much the case with Eden. He was a hopeless idealist who gave up and killed himself after facing some difficulties and not finding his place within a certain circle of society. I know that it’s a rough description of the character and if there’s a literature teacher reading this they’d probably think that I just didn’t understand the story. And maybe I didn’t, I don’t object. But I don’t like when people start romanticizing suicides from stories like this, thinking that it’s the best solution to their problems.

10. Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet

Isn’t it kinda sad that Shakespeare got to write so many amazing and deep works, but now he’s most famous for his mediocre play about a couple of young teenagers who make such a big fuss over their fake love. Why fake? Cause they only loved each other for a day or two and didn’t properly know one another. Before his crazy love for Juliet, Romeo was deeply in love with another girl and was going to kill himself because that girl rejected him. No matter what everyone says, I don’t think this is the greatest romantic story ever existing, because it wasn’t love, it was just hormones and exaggerated emotions of two kids.

Once again, I want to point out that just because I included these books in my list and defined them as “boring or mediocre”, it doesn’t mean that they’re bad in reality. Maybe I didn’t get to understand the essence of these works, or just read them in the wrong period. Or they simply weren’t of my type. Remember that there’s no one objective truth, especially when it comes to taste and opinions.