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I just finished The Book Thief, and also just liked it okay. The sketchbook sections (especially "The Standover Man") really moved me, but the rest of it was just all right. I'm pretty overscheduled (as who isn't?) and a book has to be really, really amazing for me to feel that it was worth 500+ pages. And this wasn't quite.

Becky: You and I had similar reactions! No longer alone ;)

Not a huge fan of The Amber Spyglass which is a shame since I have an autographed copy from England that someone went to a great deal of trouble to gift to me.

Grownup books: The Thirteenth Tale -- what is the big deal about that endless book?

The Memory Keeper's Daughter -- I want those hours of my life back.

Hi Camille: I ended up generally liking The 13th Tale, but a full 200 pages could have been cut (especially the first 100--they were terrible).

I'll avoid the Memory Keeper's Daughter.

I haven't had one of those in a while, but I really didn't like Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo, and a lot of people really seemed to like it. Also, while I didn't dislike Magyk, I didn't like it as much as everyone else seemed to. I thought it talked down to the reader. But one of my nieces loved it, so I promised her I'd give it another try.

I hated Octavian Nothing. I really disliked The Pull of the Ocean. I saw nothing in Chasing Vermeer. And I'm on the fence about the Invention of Hugo Cabret. Sure the art is good, but the writing...I'm not seeing all the *starred* quality everyone else is. (I also didn't like Lovely Bones).

I forgot to mention something important. I know it's silly to post again two seconds later, BUT, I wanted to point out that I had a completely different response to The Book Thief after I listened to it on audio. (That is to say, I read the book first, then later listened to it.) The first time was 'just okay for me.' Nothing great. But not awful. I thought it dragged a bit. I had read better stories. But then I listened to it about four months later. What a difference. I don't know if it was the excellent narration--It is read by Allan Corduner and produced by Listening Library--or if my mood was just better that week. But it made me change my mind on this one.

What a great idea for a post. I can think of more movies than books that I feel "alone" about. I can also think of books that I really like and no one else has said a word about. I will comment later.

My Am I Alone Here? list would go on for pages, as you probably know, Kelly. However, I would include The Book Thief, The Amber Spyglass, The Subtle Knife (which I didn't even finish), and Chasing Vermeer (which I thought was just awful). I also thought King Dork was seriously overrated. I've taken heat for not caring for The Queen of Attoila or her King. (Loved The Thief, though.)

In adult books, Thirteen Moons by Charles Fraser was pretty but eh.

I could go on, but we all have things we need to be doing.

I only read Book Thief on audio, and loved it. A lot of people who read it on paper struggled with it I think.

I'm struggling now with Octavian Nothing. I. Can't. Seem. To. Enjoy. Reading. It.

Oh, one more... A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life. Didn't like it. Didn't get it. Didn't want to get it.

It's evident that everyone has "am I alone here?" titles. I couldn't stand Octavian Nothing, and I have yet to get past the start of the first Bartimaeus book (despite being almost convinced by people that I should give it another chance). I was also disappointed by The Amber Spyglass.

Hmmm...Thanks for sharing, y'all. One thing is clear so far: The audio for "The Book Thief" must rock!

I will add (and for you, Jen) the audio for the Bartimaeus trilogy is super good. Really excellent. I'd suggest that route.

Lots of people I trust did not like "Chasing Vermeer," either, Gail, so I've never picked it up.

Nancy: It's sounds like "a brief chapter" is like my "stay with me." Just didn't click for some reason.

Based on your responses, I've moved Octavian down my tbr list!!

Zee! Come back with yours...

Posting again to because I am cracking up about the similarities of our lists.

Chasing Vermeer is one of those books that I liked when I first read it but has dimmed over time although it has not made the outright "dislike" level yet. I think I am generally a sucker for any kind of art book.

Jen--Try Bartimaeus again. You just have to settle in to his voice.

I really disliked The Secret Life of Bees and She's Come Undone and Lovely Bones. The Memory Keeper's Daughter bored me.

"Based on your responses, I've moved Octavian down my tbr list!!"

No, don't! It is definitely not for everyone (seems pretty darn close to being an adult book to me), but I thought it was fantastic. Do give it a try.

Ironically, another book by the same author is one of my "Am I Alone Here?" books. Feed. While I certainly enjoyed reading it --- love the language, especially that first line, I was just not as wowed by it as others. For one thing, it didn't feel as original to me as to others because it reminded me of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange in terms of alienated teens and a special dystopic/futuristic teen world with a special language (droogs anyone?). I also felt wonderful as the sentence level writing was, Feed's plot got pretty tangled as it went on and by the end wasn't working that well for me at all.

The man is brilliant --- he can write like few others. I think Octavian works beautifully start to finish --- no plot problems at all. And I've definitely grown to appreciate Feed more over the years and maybe should reread it once again, but I still think it isn't as unique and amazing as the whole rest of the world thinks. So I guess I am pretty alone on that one!

Monica

PS I read bits of Infinite Jest (as I loved the man's essays), but can't say I read it through --- about a tennis prodigy, I vaguely remember, but not much more.

Ditto Bartimaeus #1. I got halfway through it and just put it down.

I liked The Book Thief, but didn't finish I Am the Messenger.

I thought The Golden Compass was merely okay. So many others love it that I feel like I'm missing something. Yet in the seven or eight years since I read it, I haven't bothered to try it again, nor have I read the other two books.

But my biggest "Is it just me?" (as I call it) is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Read it, didn't love it, didn't hate it, but also didn't particularly care what happened to any of the characters.

There are those that I know some loved and some loathed or didn't care for - and I didn't care for:

The Lovely Bones (Dead on Town Line tells the same story - IN VERSE! - and it does it better. Read it.)

Octavian Nothing (Didn't live up to the hype.)

The Tale of Despereaux (I would have approved if DiCamillo had won the Newbery for Winn-Dixie, so I was glad that it got the Honor.)

I'll stop there, but there are more. Plenty more.

I love The Book Thief. IMHO, it has everything: great characters, great storytelling, great writing, poignancy, urgency, humour, drama, history...

I'll second "Amulet of Samarkand" and "Twilight." So many people hate Edward Tulane that I know I'm not alone. ;)
And while I liked The Book Thief, I thought I Am the Messenger was a much better book.

I'm with you on the Book Thief, and with a lot of other commenters on Octavian Nothing (I tried so hard to like it! MT Anderson is one of the coolest people I've met, and I wanted to like it so badly! I just couldn't make it happen). Both are certainly skillfully written, just not the right book for this reader.

I thought of another one: Midnight for Charlie Bone. I didn't hate it, but I didn't think it was all that great, either. It just seemed to me to be a pale Harry Potter imitation. I never read the rest of the series.

Books I LOOOVE that no one else seems to give a flip about: Perfect by Natasha Friend; Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates; any of the True Colors series by Melody Carlson

Books that I thought were crummy that others seem to like: I just read The Fat Girl by Marilyn Sachs. This was originally published back in the 80, but this was so poorly written it was comedic. Yet when I went on amazon, it had nothing but positive reviews, even from publishers.

Books I thought were okay but everyon else seems to LOOOVE: twilight by stephanie meyer (this was already mentioned)

Wow! Thank you all for sharing. Like Camille, I'm cracking up by some of the similarities here.

Thank you all for sharing with me. I really appreciate it :)

And, Monica, thanks! I'll still keep it on the list :)

I agree with others re: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I never connected with the characters, especially Bella. What kept me reading (and getting the sequel) was the setting--Forks, Washington, where it apparently rains ALL the time. Fun reading for someone who lives in Arizona!

Loved:
The Book Thief!
Octavian Nothing!
His Dark Materials!
She's Come Undone!
Feed!

Not so much:
The Memory Keeper's Daughter

And a new one that everyone loves (but me, apparently) A Heart-Breaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. Blech.

Hi Kate: YOU ARE NOT ALONE. I seriously disliked "A Heart-Breaking work..." I felt used and manipulated when I finished it. Plus, I did not like Dave Eggers (as he presented himself in the book) not one single bit. Smarmy, too smart for his own britches. Blech is right.

I also love with my whole self the entire "His Dark Materials."

I've tried the Judy Moody books by Megan McCarthy a few times, and just don't like them. But I can appreciate her enough that I put her in my Strong Girls list. How's that for being objective?

This is a great post. Thanks Kelly.

I really liked Book Thief and Octavian Nothing!

But I feel completely alone on my dislike for Eragon, Tyrell, Hatchet, and Special Topics in Calamity Physics.

Oh, Jennie, you are so not alone on Eragon. I think everyone who is not a 12-year-old dislikes that book. I also did not like Calamity Physics. GAve up 1/2way through.

One that hasn't been mentioned yet: I get argued with all the time about "Peter and the Starcatchers". I hated that book with a burning passion and everyone else seems to have loved it. I thought it was awful though (I really don't know how I finished it). I really hated "Ella Enchanted" too, although I've never met anyone who agreed with me. I found it incredibly frustrating - 200 pages of just bad things happening and no indication of that ever changing and then suddenly she's Cinderella? Ugh! I agree with Jennie on "Hatchet", never liked that one.

Those are all I can think of right now.

Oh, this is fun. :)

I am the only person on the planet who actively hated Frida by Jonah Winter and Ana Juan. It came out in 2002, and I can *still* get worked up about how it didn't deserve all the acclaim it got. I also hate Johnny Tremain and pretty much anything by Steinbeck.

I both can and can't believe the number of books I loved that people seem to universally hate in the comments here, but that's okay. I will say that I think you need to be seriously in the throes of grief to appreciate A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Its genius is in the way it puts the reader right in the middle of what it feels like in one's brain when one is dealing with major grief. It's not a feeling people enjoy, which is why I think people dislike the book so much. I think the same is somewhat true for poor Octavian Nothing.

It really makes me laugh that people love those Bartimaeus audios. I listened to that when I was on ALSC's Notable Recordings committee and hated it passionately. A lot of other people on the committee loved it, though, and I've talked to dozens of people who claim to love it since.

You know, sometimes it can be baffling and even a bit demoralizing to not like things other people love or to love things a lot of people hate, but I also kind of enjoy it -- having my own opinions and all that.

Thanks for starting this discussion, Kelly. Very thought-provoking. :)

Everyone who reads my blog knows that I couldn't stand Nick and Norah, but after I posted my review I found out I wasn't alone. The Book Thief left me underwhelmed. (Yes, I know that's not a word, but it should be.) I've read a few adult novels this year that I could have done without, too. Lonesome Dove comes immediately to mind. I didn't finsh, and Gus can go to . . . California as far as I'm concerned.

Sherry: Underwhelmed is EXACTLY the word I'd use to describe my reaction to "The Book Thief."

Adrienne: I totally agree with you and that's why I love books and literature. You can't agree with everyone--which means the perfect book is there for you!

Katie: I also could not review "Peter and the Starcatchers." I like the authors and I'm neutral towards Peter Pan. But I did not like "Peter and the Starcatchers"--a lot.

Hi there! I'm coming a bit late to this discussion... I've felt alone regarding a lot of books published over the past few years that others have loved. One thing, though:

I really dislike Steven Kellog's work. I feel alone in that regard. I think he ruined the reissue of Massie's The Baby Beebee Bird.

Really late to this, and really alone on a few almost universally-loved books. (Twilight was just meh for me but that's been mentioned, Tale of Despereaux ditto, and didn't make it past the first chapter of Octavian Nothing as I hit a spot which seemed to suggest it was yet another preach-against-the-evil-religious-folk book and I wasn't in the mood.)

But for the Really Alone - after 37 comments, I'm unsurprised to see nobody has mentioned I, Coriander. I expected to love it, given the combination of fantasy and historical, but it's loaded with inaccuracies and misleading representations of real historical happenings and that makes me froth at the mouth.

The Folk Keeper. I don't mind weird and creepy, but for whatever reason, it turned me off.

More recently- how i live now.

I thought The Thief Lord was good, but hated the movie.

I have thoroughly enjoyed Philip Pullman's Dark Materials books, as have many others - I enjoy the references to the church, etc - very clever.

The Book Thief is moving down my list TBR as is Octavian Nothing, based on comments here.

I'd like to nominate Ian McEwan's Atonement as one of the most overrated books out there (and now the overrated Kiera Knightly will be in a film adaptation.

Also, I thought the His Dark Materials books were OK. Just don't share the enthusiasm felt by many about them--though not on this post.

What? Nobody nominated Inkheart?

The Giver. Didactic. I am alone on this one--I know.

The Ya-Ya Sisterhood, or whatever it's called. Self-consciously Southern. If you are unsure that the writing is, um, not good, listen to it on tape.

More good choices, guys!! Thanks for sharing your choices :)

Susan: I've steered clear of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood from the beginning!

Thanks for being brave enough to say that these lauded books were "just okay" in your opinion, not super duper fantastic.

Hype usually makes me start reading a book with a bit of skepticism. I have started Octavian Nothing. I don't hate it, and I'm not far enough into it to judge it, but I did push it aside for other books.

I can't add too much here, because I usually forget books that are forgettable.

The Thief Lord and The Penderwicks were both HUGE disappointments for me–and everybody loves them! Huh? Have either of these authors ever met a four-or five-year-old child? Maybe they should listen to how they speak and take notes. Nothing riles me more than kids who talk like adults–unless it's the obscene amount of money that chick who wrote The Devil Wears Prada is making for writing the WORST BOOK EVER. Ever.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to vent! I feel so much better now.