August 12, 2013

Good evening fellow readers! So of course I found a new challenge to participate in the hopes of proving myself better than the last. I picked up this challenge from The Chronicles of Radiya and very much look forward to 30 consecutive (hopefully, gulp) days of blogging.

Day 11: A Book That You Hate

I really don’t like to say I ‘hate’ books because its kind of harsh but the book gods demand it so here I go. A book that I hated (or had a very strong negative reaction to) was Fallen by Lauren Kate.

Here is the blurb on the back of the book (nope, I don’t know what I still own it):

There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all sewn-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce– he goes out of his way to make that very clear. But she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to flame, Luce has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret…even if it kills her.

How do I begin? Lets start with the misleading synopsis. Daniel is ‘the only bright spot’ at Luce’s new school according to the blurb but from what I could tell that couldn’t be further away from the truth. When Daniel and Luce meet for the first time, he proceeds to flip her off.

Oh, it gets better.

Despite this incident she is drawn to him (because flipping off girls only adds to the mysterious factor apparently) and after several more incidents of Daniel treating her like garbage Luce decides to break into his school records to find out more about him, because for some reason (which isn’t obvious to the readers) Luce is intrigued by Daniel.

Lets review that for a moment shall we, a girl was treated horribly by a guy but decides to get to know him better anyway because he is cute and mysterious. That’s a great message to take to heart kids!

Secondly this book is 452 pages long. For 400 pages (literally from the first page to page 401) THERE IS NO PLOT! We watched Luce ogle Daniel for 3/4 of the book with stupid, insipid thoughts like what size shoe Daniel wears (WHAT?). Then the last fifty pages, Lauren Kate remembered she needed to finish the book and also make it somewhat about angels so she wrapped it up in the best way she could: by solving absolutely NOTHING.

You are one sly devil Lauren Kate. You got me. I saw Fallen on the bookshelves and was really attracted by the cover. (The only appealing thing about the book). I read the blurb on the back of the book and thought it was just okay, but low and behold, as I exit the store there’s a copy of Fallen in my hands, bought and paid for. If this doesn’t cure me of judging books by their covers I don’t know what will!

You know what the worst part of it is? Disney has secured rights to film THE WHOLE SERIES. Why Disney, why? Please for your sake, if you see this book– run in the opposite direction. You’ll thank me, I promise!

What book do you hate? Share it below and happy reading!

P.S.– A few of the links below express different opinions than mine just so you can see a different perspective.

Fallen by Lauren Kate (ifbookscouldtalk.wordpress.com)
Book Review: Fallen by Lauren Kate (teacupstown.wordpress.com)
Fallen Series (feminmission.wordpress.com)
The Fallen Series by Lauren Kate (bizarreandcurious.wordpress.com)

Now that your all settled in on the couch I want to bring up an issue. No, don’t get frightened, we are not attacking you. We are confronting you about…well about your problem. Yes, I think it’s time to own up to it, you’ve been judging books by their covers again.

Don’t. Don’t try to deny it we have evidence. Denise saw you at the book store last week, that’s right she was there. Did you think we would leave you alone while you’re going through this? The clerk at the book store recommended a book to you didn’t he? What did you do? To get through this you are going to have to come out of denial, now what did you do? You said “no thanks” to the book store clerk didn’t you? You didn’t want that book based off its cover. You can’t keep living you’re life like this. It’s not fair to you and it’s not fair to the books.

Still admitting you don’t have a problem? What about Tuesday evening? You and Jared were at the library, ring any bells? Jared said he saw you pick five books without even a glance at the synopsis. What made you decide to check out those books? You judged them by their covers didn’t you? And how did that work out, were they quality reads? I didn’t think so. Listen, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem; so go on. There you go, you see, already I can see a difference.

Now that you’ve admitted your problem lets share some success stories to help motivate you. Remember, we’ve all been here, it happens. Sometimes you only have enough money for one book and you see the book you’ve been meaning to get when another one catches your eye. The cover calls to you, works it spell over you and before you know it you’ve bought the book without even reading what it’s about. It happens to the best of us, these ‘black outs’ are common, you just have to pick yourself up and start again another day.

Look at Paul. Six months ago he was in the same spot as you; buying books left and right based solely on their covers (which oddly enough all featured parakeets), but here he sits today. Six months of not once judging a book by its cover.

Then there’s Mary. Poor Mary was worst off than you. She had bookshelves filled with books she bought because of pretty covers but never read because they weren’t quality books. After she purchased Marked we knew that we had to intervene. She struggled at first, that’s perfectly normal but the important thing is that she made the effort. She got rid of all her books and filled her bookshelves with books she would actually read. She started looking beyond the cover.

You can even take me as an example. I started off just like you but now I’m three years clean. It’s been a long time since I judged a book by its cover. (I think the last time was Prince Caspian which sent me over the edge). You can be where I am today, no don’t shake your head, you can. You have to visualize it, believe it and above all want it. Think of all the quality books that wait for you? Don’t you want to enjoy reading again? Good, now lets start with a trip to the book store, no don’t worry, I’m coming with you. We’ll only look at the backs of the books. Bring it in, all hands in everybody, now together on three: SEEING PAST THE COVER!

The subject of this intervention is now three weeks clean. They thank everybody for caring enough of about them to help.

Paul now spends all his money buying parakeets.

Mary is now happily surrounded by the books she loves but can’t find her glasses to read them.

The leader of this intervention fell off the wagon two days ago. We are doing all we can for her.

I don’t know about you but I’m definitely guilty of judging a book by its cover every now and then and sometimes it’s a good thing and sometimes it’s a bad thing. Do you ever judge a book by its cover or do you make it a rule not too? Share it below and happy reading!

This post has been added to Oh, Chrys and The Fiction Conniption‘s Let Discuss! meme. Check out other discussions that have been linked up this week here.