the worst books i read this year

[@marynelson2875]

“Sexist and weird” is exactly why I won’t be ever reading any Murakami. I also hated When the coffee gets cold thank you for validating me.

[@lbhreads]

adam driver as a concept gives me nightmares so the love hypothesis was a lot for me

[@SallyThames]

im crying leah

[@zainabelmadhoni6856]

I love reading romance books but "The love hypothesis" was so cringe for me

[@SallyThames]

AGREE! and now i LIKE romance a LOT and still its a no for me on that one

[@totallynotsonali]

Sally, if there’s one thing you know about me it’s that I’m a hater. the scream I scrumpt when I saw this, I was ASCENDING

[@SallyThames]

I KNEW U WOULD LOVE

[@SB-oy9if]

“She’s a horse girl….neigh🙃” I’m fucking dead

[@SallyThames]

had to set the scene

[@jamiepop123]

Thank you for saying this about Before the Coffee Gets Cold, because I’ve been halfway through it for forever and it put me in a reading slump. I am now releasing myself to DNF it, lol

[@gabrielle_vx]

This was hilarious! Not the amish romance novel 😂

[@SallyThames]

it was something else

[@milleraynsmoak]

thank you sally for representing us seven husbands haters 🫡

[@SallyThames]

someone has to do it!!

[@milya1926]

my best friend keeps recommending it to be but i am nowhere near to being interested in fake famous people and such so this made me even more sure to probably never pick this up

[@esotericareads]

Sally is my person simply for disliking this book.

[@hadeel_K]

Yessss!! 🙌🏻

[@FedeDragon_]

at the beginning of the video you said "worst books I've read in 2023" and I immediately started panicking thinking I somehow skipped one full year. That is actually a good plot for a book now that I think about it

[@SallyThames]

lol i noticed that after i posted it 💀

[@maybeillreadtoday]

the level of unprofessionalism in the love hypothesiss made me want to screaaammmmmmmmmmmm - adn the way her friend kept instigating it???? she might as well have been twelve doing k-i-s-s-i-n-g song in the middle of a conference omgggg like my coworkers are lucky they know my first name they would not have access to THIS much of my personal life LMAO

[@SallyThames]

SAY IT LOUDERRR

[@alirobertson7438]

the hateration gave me life, sent me to the grave, then resurrected me. Keep spreading the lapvona gospel

[@SallyThames]

trying to WARN some ppl

[@falonwillow]

i love you so much for hating evelyn hugo, us evelyn hugo antis are few and far between

[@SallyThames]

you are seen

[@totallynotsonali]

SAND AND WEIRD MAGIC MILK?????? 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 it’s giving the grapes of wrath (I’ve never read the grapes of wrath)

[@SallyThames]

IT IS NOT GIVING THE GRAPES OF WRATH LMFAOOOOO

[@totallynotsonali]

@@SallyThames 👩‍🦯👩‍🦯👩‍🦯

[@rananajjar]

not my petty as* cheering when you mentioned Tyler Jenkins Reid and Murakami 😂

[@susanbiggart7027]

Came here for Pimpology 😂

[@SallyThames]

i’m sure it’d be on here if i dared read it

[@annieb5157]

Sally: not that you were considering putting it in your cart or anything *Me considering putting temptation in my cart: 😳*

[@SallyThames]

omg annie pls

[@itmedana]

omg i’m so glad someone else didn’t love before the coffee gets cold 😭😭 i just bought it recently and i keep trying to read it but i can’t get past the first like 60 pages. the writing is nooooooot doing it for me!! and i’m so disappointed bc i was so excited abt it

[@SallyThames]

felt!!!

[@Pestopasta_]

Finally someone who doesn’t think lapvona was a masterpiece. It was painful to read, disgusting and seemed like it was trying so hard to be different. Idk maybe that’s Ottessa’s style, but it’s not for me. I’ve got her other books sitting on my shelf and at this point, I’m thinking of selling them.

[@SallyThames]

i really did like rest and relaxation but i’m not itching to read the others

[@ReadheadReads]

Omg thankyou yes!! Before the coffee gets cold😩❌ I was so ready to love this one. I can see how the author is trying to hit these emotional high points, but when they fall so flat it just feels ick and manipulative. So much telling not showing! The stories were weirdly sexist and old fashioned imo. Like the first story is meant to be about love but it’s just - ‘girl is very successful at job, boy leaves to be successful and doesn’t tell her, girl falls apart but then *spoiler* if she pesters him back in time he tells her to just ‘wait for him.’’ Like, what?? I 100% don’t see how any of this is moving. Maybe I’m dead inside. I also can’t stand it when everything relies solely on just characters who don’t communicate properly. Keep up the hate Sally, I’m here for it ❤️

[@SallyThames]

YES EXACTLY

[@kaitlynprokopp6430]

I completely agree with your Lapvona take. I have no idea how one book can talk about breastfeeding so much. It’s been months and I’m still thinking about it

[@SallyThames]

LITERALLY why

[@isassky]

I didn't hate "the seven husbands of evelyn hugo" but I didn't love it. The first part when she was rising to fame was ok but as soon as she got famous and everything became about the romance I got bored. I didn't care about ANY of the characters and the plot twist was like meh. The ending was a little pretentious imo. I felt like everything was very superficial and none of the characters, except maybe for evelyn, felt well rounded. I mean it's an ok book to read if you don't have anything else but with all the hype I was deeply disappointed.

[@DynamiteTrujillo]

'It was a teenage boy's wet dream and I hated it' SAMSIES! I love Murakami and I totally don't understand why everyone loves this one so much. It's garbage. Also - agree on Evelyn Hugo and Before the Coffee Gets Cold. Love ya. xo

[@SallyThames]

😘😘😘

[@megdrummond-wilson824]

Evelyn Hugo sucks thank you for speaking the truth 👍🏻

[@totallynotsonali]

I need the temptation video in my subscription box right nOEW

[@SallyThames]

LMFAOOOO IT FELL APART

[@totallynotsonali]

I love Negative Nelly Sally 🫶

[@SallyThames]

ILY

[@readingaster]

the worst book i read this year that everyone loves was the house on the cerulean sea, it was so bad it made me want to scream like what the fuck is everyone on????

[@marcelle8828]

Hi Sally! Despite being a subscriber for some time now, I've never left a comment before, these past days, however, have been hard for me because I've moved abroad and I'm living all alone for the first time. This video has genuinely been the only thing that has managed to make me smile in a while, and it's been lovely to see a "familiar" face, so thanks for that:) Happy new year, and I'm hoping 2023 brings a lot of joy and many great reads to you

[@SallyThames]

wow wow wow this filled me with so much joy! i’m sorry you’re feeling alone but glad i can be a familiar face 💗💗 you’ve got this!

[@jordanpearson9883]

Omg every second you talked about Autobiography of Red was a stab in my heart 😂

[@SallyThames]

i’m sorryyyyyyy 😭😭😭😘

[@its_brittni4616]

Thank you for saying it! Evelyn Hugo & Norwegian Wood. I don’t get it!

[@SallyThames]

speak your truth!

[@hslotfan]

my worst books of the year are very much unpopular opinions !! i hated the cruel prince , it ends with us , and legends and lattes

[@elskabee]

every time the love hypothesis makes it to another worst list it adds a year to my life

[@SallyThames]

welcome!! happy you’re here 🥰

[@allisonpaiges]

fellow seven husbands hater here - agreed i was bored 2 tears OMG not the before the coffee gets cold sLANDER *unsubscribes* (jk) this is literally in my list of top books from the year having different opinions is so much fun #justsayNOtomagicians

[@SallyThames]

#PICKACARD

[@readingaster]

sally you are so fucking brave for saying you didnt like evelyn hugo i am hereby cancelling my subscription

[@SallyThames]

NAURRRRR COME BACK

[@readingaster]

every time i hear about the lap sitting scene in the love hypothesis i wonder how on earth that book got through a whole entire publishing process and no one stopped it

[@readingaster]

i'm always up for a rant on the course of love, that book is on my to be burned pile, subscription back on

[@readingaster]

BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD WAS SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT,,, SPEAK YOUR PIECE

[@readingaster]

i suppose i'm skipping lapvona then

[@sadief8075]

It makes me ridiculously happy that for once someone outside of Europe has read Siddharta (or any Hesse for that matter) and hated it as much as I did lmao. It's one of these assigned readings in High School in German speaking countries and I DESPISED that book and its pretentious Writing. Plus Hesse was such a whiny little man who hid in a beautiful part of my home country Switzerland during WW2 and instead of seeing his priviledge, joining the resistance of other exiled German Writers or at least helping fellow Refugees he was just being a crybaby about it. And his books are somewhat praised everywhere? Gimme a break. Anyway, happy New Year Sally !! Thanks for making me laugh

[@SallyThames]

glad it brought some joy!! happy new year!

[@pilargp]

I’m chilean and I had to read Demian for school 🙃

[@leoniesliberi]

If you are setting the scene so well with the classics slander, let me go ahead and say I had to read Heart of Darkness for an English lit class and I truly wish Mr. Conrad had stuck with his first language and never learned English so I never would have had to suffer through this book 🙃

[@totallynotsonali]

the lost apothecary…I COULD NOT GET INTO IT I TRIED SO HARD BC THE CONCEPT IS SO DELICIOUS BUT THE EXECUTION IS OH SO AWFUL 😭

[@AnaWallaceJohnson]

Before the Coffee Gets Cold was an absolute snoozefest.

[@SallyThames]

HARD AGREE. like at one point the audiobook literally put me to sleep. was a good nap though.

[@flklrvrmr]

not the amish romance 😩

[@SallyThames]

YES INDEED

[@Fiona_Co]

I didn’t have a ton of TERRIBLE books but I was very disappointed by The Atlas Six. It did not live up to the hype for me. I still will probably read the sequel though 🤷‍♀️

[@HarvestLockwood]

I looked it up. It is "ground my gears" in past tense. Grinded sounds better in my ears but also is not a word so RIP.

[@michellerae_]

I didn't like before the coffee gets cold either!! the first story was good but the rest lost me. I'm still so confused about the book of x. i gave it to a friend to read and they don't like it either

[@SallyThames]

book of x was the scrollmates flop era

[@mariannaferrari6014]

norwegian wood was mid, Five feet apart was a less well done version of the fault in our stars, Harlem Shuffle was redundant, the song of Achilles was the one I hated the most tho. Whiny narrator of a story that everyone knows and a love story that's not believable because the main reason why they fall in love is bacause Patroclus thinks that achilles is hot.

[@SallyThames]

i do not agree but speak your truth!!

[@valeriec.3986]

i had such a good reading year, and if i had to select the worst books i read this year they would be my antonia by willa cather and the short stories collection by ernest hemingway. let me explain! my english teacher made us choose from a few willa cather novels to read in a group. the first chapter of my antonia was great, and i was so excited to read it, but the expectations and plot i formed in my head were not met whatsoever. the writing was great, but the story fell flat for me. i rated it 3 stars though! hemingway is a great writer, but he's too masculine for me. reading 40+ stories with similar themes and topics - that i don't necessarily enjoy - was not too fun for me.

[@foreverlazy552]

The worst book that I read this year was definitely Some Kind of Magic by Mary Ann Marlowe. This book was atrocious, both its plot and main character were incredibly aggravating, and this book is the first that I've ever DNF'd.

[@holly4393]

I’ll say it. I hated Pure Colour so much and I don’t know why everyone likes it. It took me like a month to read and it’s like 100 pages.

[@SallyThames]

i am with you!! it almost made this list but i decided i hated these more!

[@parlezvouskitty]

i haven’t read the love hypothesis but heard about that freaking sunscreen bit oh no NO

[@parlezvouskitty]

i’m also still processing temptation and that this book exists lololol

[@parlezvouskitty]

i refuse to read lapvona i don’t think i can handle it LOL but listening to you talk about it confirms it’s a no for meeeee

[@SallyThames]

save your time and your money and your dignity and skip all 3

[@rowan.27]

I haven't seen anyone talk about Kiss & Tell by Adib Khorram but it was just... bad. Almost 400 pages and could've been a novella like so much of it was so unnecessary!! Plus for YA it had some really graphic sexual language which felt uncomfortable to read about as an adult reading about teenagers. Idk it just was not good 😭

[@yzavelmanzano3055]

I love hearing Norwegian Wood slander

[@SallyThames]

my pre-destined purpose in life

[@MaryE171]

omg, this video was such a joy to behold

[@SallyThames]

im glad my hatred brought you joy 🥰🥰🥰

[@alexandraramz]

h8r sally let’s GOOOO

[@alexandraramz]

the course of love is literary TRASH ….. like why???? WHY!! nothing more painful than a book that could have been good ending up being hot GARBAGE

[@alexandraramz]

the plot of every murakami books: getting boners. titties.

[@SallyThames]

i’m a h8r girl. said see you l8r girl

[@narencampina]

The worst books I read this year were Love and other words by Christina Lauren and Dreamology by Lucy Keating

[@SallyThames]

oh NO not love and other words being on my shelf

[@nisei.reader]

This video only reiterated we are friends; couldn’t agree more on Lapvona and Norwegian wood

[@SallyThames]

ILY

[@nisei.reader]

@@SallyThames ily22222

[@totallynotsonali]

SEVEN HUSBANDS IS ON MY TBR DO YOU THINK SHE SHOUKD STAY ON THERE????

[@SallyThames]

no

[@megdrummond-wilson824]

@@SallyThames queen 👑

[@georgiah8162]

Yessssss !!!!

[@ClaudiCorbo]

weather by jenny offill is the one book that really made me upset. the cover is so dang pretty and it is blurbed by ocean vuong, but holy shit it was so boring. it is incredibly short but was a drag to get through with storylines that mean nothing and go nowhere. BUT the part that reallyyyy put me over the edge was the random doomsday prepping thrown in there, girly wtf!??

[@SallyThames]

weeeeird i’ve heard such good things 😭😭😭 might pass on it now

[@ClaudiCorbo]

@@SallyThames well i too am simply a hater, so i don't want to discourage you!

[@djunaskye6220]

I think the worst book I read this year was Freaky Green Eyes by Joyce Carol Oates.

[@hotaru_in_july9000]

I listened to the "The Shadow of the Wind" audiobook and felt straight up bamboozled. The narrator was great but it had none of the magical realism I anticipated. I spent 18 hours in a /fine/ mystery thriller set in 1940s but was waiting for something beyond the horny young protagonist searching for clues and bringing his friends and family into danger along the way. Also the audiobook 'featured' these musical interludes (composed by the author! 🙈) that felt like the worst spoon feeding. PAY CLOSE ATTENTION THIS IS AN IMPORTANT SCENE because the writing might not be enough to convey the importance 🙄

[@SallyThames]

NAURRR that sounds so infuriating tbh.

[@mariaabela6006]

What are your romance recs? I want to get into it just don’t know where to start :)

[@SallyThames]

people we meet on vacation, take a hint dani brown, red white and royal blue are some good ones that all are v different

[@kaiknowshowtoread]

~*neigh*~ 💀

[@djunaskye6220]

I'm so glad you're honest about how shitty Norwegian Wood is because I'm tired of hearing people rave about it

[@SallyThames]

trulyyyy

[@converse036]

im afraid my faves might be on here lmao 😅

[@SallyThames]

i still luv u

[@converse036]

ok i thought i was safe until autobiography of red lmao.. it’s in my top 10 faves of all time 😂

[@LoreReads7]

pleassseeeee norwegian wood made me physically ill…worst book ive ever read 🤢

[@SallyThames]

it was nauseating wasn’t it

[@mothumn]

evelyn hugo haters rise

[@SallyThames]

we ride at dawn

[@wiktoriarusin5769]

Finally someone who also didn’t like Evelyn Hugo!! 🙏

[@annieb5157]

NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS -- and no one should be🥰

[@SallyThames]

LMFAO YOU SAID LET'S KEEP IT THAT WAY

[@zaravive5809]

Sweet 😂

[@Mariam-jb1qe]

Slayy

[@valeriec.3986]

you're my fav hater

[@SallyThames]

a true honor

[@hslotfan]

honestly i love ‘unpopular opinions’ about books because i love hearing different takes and i am too , a hater 🫶

[@totallynotsonali]

The jump scare Siddhartha was because I knew you hated it but I didn’t know you hated it this much 😭😭😭 let me re-read him real quick 👩‍🦯

[@SallyThames]

lmao balance it out