Atlas Shrugged, I made it about 5 pages into the woowoo boogeyman ancap manifesto that bitch Ayn Rand snuck into the end of her funny train book

Louise Penney and Hillary Clinton co-wrote a political spy thriller; I put it down after three pages because the writing was terrible. It was like no one thought an editor would be a good idea.

Why Nations fail

This was not the book’s fault at all.

There was a popular SciFi novel (I won’t name it) with a prologue in which it is revealed the character the protagonist has been helping is attempting to self-harm. The character reveals they are determined to kill themselves. The protagonist makes a proclamation that they will not interfere with someone’s will and leaves.

I spent most of the week helping on a suicide watch for a friend. Their medication had stopped working and they were in acute mental distress. It was an excruciating time for all of us, but we had to get them through it.

On my day “off” when others were minding our friend, I picked up that book. After the prologue, I returned the book to the library with the worst taste in my mouth imaginable.

I understand the book does great things. I wouldn’t shame the author. But it was exactly the wrong time for me to enter that text.

My friend, thankfully, got the treatment they needed and is living well right now.

I think I noped out of Ready Player One by the second chapter.

Scurvy: The Disease of Discovery by Jonathan Lamb. I think I got to the second chapter.

Here’s the review I left on Amazon:

This book is TEDIOUS AS HELL. Look, I love nonfiction. I love reading about weird, niche interests. I like literary peeks into history. This book sucks for any of that. The author is more concerned with his meandering vomitus of facts and quotes, than in any sort of cohesiveness, much less entertainment. When he actually discusses scurvy- its physical and mental effects, the experience of having it and being abroad, etc.- it’s interesting. Unfortunately those moments are few and far between.

American Sniper. The American war and army propaganda made me sick after about 10 pages.

Book called Goerings gold. Made it one chapter.

Just terribly written. Amateurish doesn’t even cover it.

After only a few pages into Lolita I realised I probably wouldn’t be able to enjoy the prose due to the subject matter.

A few pages into Fourth Wing, wherever she said, “Double standards for the win.” That phrase does not belong in a fantasy book.

I can’t remember the exact title, but it was a non-fiction book titled something like “Why America is Mad About the Wrong Things”

I stopped early in chapter 2 when I realized it was going to essentially be the same chapter over and over.

Rich dad poor dad. Went into it without researching ahead. Got weird vibes from literally the first chapter. Then found out ‘If books could kill’ have an episode on it, so listened to that instead, lol.

Probably about 40 pages in, I think. It was the second book of AA Attanasio’s Radix Tetrad, and after trudging through the first one, I hoped the second would be more enjoyable as I had been led to understood it was much different. It was indeed much different, but not in a manner which made it more enjoyable, so I gave it up.

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. One page.

I put it on hold at the library when I was still seeing it recommended highly. By the time it finally came through, I’d been seeing a lot more critiques. But I still wanted to try it because I’d waited so long. And then the vibe on the very first page completely turned me off. I could tell I wouldn’t like the writing or the MC. Thanks for making it so easy, Colleen. 🤪

20 pages into Leave the World Behind by Ramuun Alam. I hated the overwritten prose so, so much.