betterbooksahead

The Last Murder at the End of the World: The dazzling original new high concept murder mystery from the author of the much loved, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle | Stuart Turton

bailed

DNF for me. I just could not get into this one - didn‘t particularly enjoy the writing or the story itself. Just wasn‘t my cup of tea.

dabbe #hailthebail! 🙌 #betterbooksahead 2h

3 likes1 comment

Amiable

Remember Me: A Spanish Civil War Novel | Mario Escobar

bailed

Tried to read this for #BookedinTime, but I have to throw in the towel. The narrative is plodding and pedantic and the dialogue comes across as lectures by the characters. Life is too short —moving on.

Cuilin

Cuilin #HailTheBail I completely get it!!! I seem to be doing this a lot lately, myself. Here‘s hoping your next read is five stars. 21h

Amiable @Cuilin I was listening to a podcast and someone made a comment that we are only here for a finite time and can only read so many books, so why waste that time on a book you aren‘t enjoying? It was like she was speaking directly to me and telling me to ditch this book. 😀 7h

dabbe #hailthebail! 🙌 #betterbooksahead 2h

45 likes3 comments

Hooked_on_books

The Names: A Novel | Florence Knapp

bailed

The first hour of this 9.5 hour audiobook is full on physical and verbal domestic abuse, and I am not here for it. It feels like this is less how a boy‘s life is impacted by different potential names and more the impact of his abusive father‘s reaction to said names. I don‘t care to read a book that gives an abuser that kind of power.

dabbe #hailthebail! 🙌🏻 #betterbooksahead 4d

Aims42 I second @Dabbe ☝️🚀 4d

52 likes1 stack add2 comments

BiblioLitten

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club: A Novel | Helen Simonson

bailed

I tried not to, but I‘ll have to bail on this one (gave it 100 pages). Perhaps it‘s the timing. The plot is promising, the characters have potential but the writing feels clichéd and unnatural. It maybe unrelated (or not) but I read two pages of Ann Patchett and I can‘t stop thinking about that book now. #currentlynotreading

dabbe #hailthebail! 🙌🏻 #betterbooksahead 1w

36 likes1 comment

DieAReader

The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 | James Fenimore Cooper

bailed

#Read2025 #Wardens2025 #ShelfSweep #Elizabeth #UnpopularOpinion

With 76% read & 9 chapters remaining…this is a solid DNF for me. No matter what I did, I could not focus or keep track of everything that was going on. Too wordy for my tastes - reminded me of reading Shakespeare in HS😬🫨

I very much enjoyed the group read setting, just not this book😂🤭

Cuilin, CoverToCoverGirl, Tove_Reads, Andrew65, GHABI4ROSES

dabbe #hailthebail! 🙌🏻 #betterbooksahead 1w

IMASLOWREADER love the powet of DNF lol 1w

DieAReader @dabbe @IMASLOWREADER 💖🤓 1w

See All 8 Comments

Andrew65 Better to focus on books you are enjoying. 1w

Cuilin #hailthebail seriously life‘s too short. I hope your next book is more enjoyable. 1w

DieAReader @Cuilin 💖Thanks! 🤓So very true! 6d

CoverToCoverGirl Lol! I quite liked Shakespeare. 🤭 I just read Huck Finn and didn‘t really care for it. I‘ll have to put this one my classic to read list. I really liked the movie. Daniel Day Lewis wasn‘t hard on the eyes either. 😁 6d

DieAReader @CoverToCoverGirl 😁Chances are you‘ll enjoy this one more than I did. Never saw the movie unfortunately. 5d

35 likes8 comments

dabbe

Untitled | Untitled

#ThreeListThursday #TLT @dabbe
We're on to list 2! Bye bye, scary 1700s. All of these are from the 1800s!
1. Survey link: https://www.listchallenges.com/1001-books-you-must-read-before-you-die-1800s
2. Share your score if you'd like.
3. Share your 3 favorites from the list or 3 that you might be interested in reading, or 3 you thought were horrible or a combo of whatever you'd like.
4. Tag a few!
Tagging JUST A FEW who've played before. 🤩

mcctrish, DebinHawaii, wanderinglynn, Megabooks, peaKnit, melissajayne, Soubhiville, BarkingMadRead, Crazeedi, tpixie, Cuilin, AmyG, kspenmoll, TheBookHippie, Amiable, CogsOfEncouragement, catiewithac, Susanita, Lynnsoprano, Blueberry, Vansa, Bklover, Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick, Aimeesue, TheLudicReader, Larkken, jenniferw88, julesG, Deblovestoread, Librarybelle, Eggs, Chrissyreadit, Read4life, rwmg, CatLass007, Q84, BookwormAHN, Pogue, Traci1, Sleepswithbooks, CSeydel, Ruthiella, RamsFan1963, TheSpineView, EadieB, CBee, Bookish_Viking, ShelleyBooksie, TheAromaofBooks, ImperfectCJ, Cupcake12, bthegood, Sparklemn, lil1inblue, The_Penniless_Author, PageShifter, LiseWorks, AllDebooks, AnnCrystal

jenniferw88 1700s were NOT scary for me thanks to my MA 🤣 1w

CSeydel Yikes, only 13, although a couple of my favorite books did make the list (Silas Marner and Tess of the D‘Urbervilles) 1w

jenniferw88 18 this time! 1w

See All 65 Comments

Chrissyreadit Only 9- but a lot of nf books. 1w

Lynnsoprano Wow, only 12! However, there are 19th century authors who are missing from this list, whose books I would have expected to make the list—Hawthorne, Austen, Brontë, to name a few. 1w

Bookwormjillk Ooof only 9! 1w

Susanita @Lynnsoprano I guess the divisions are not entirely exact with so many books. There were some Austen and Brontë last week. In fact, without them my score would have been even worse! 1w

Lynnsoprano @susanita Ah, that explains it. I was down with COVID last week—not bad except for the headache. I‘ll have to go back and look at that list. 1w

BarkingMadRead I only had 15. I own like 5 or so more but haven‘t read them yet 🙈 1w

Bklover 15- thanks to a years ago obsession with Jules Verne and HG Wells. And, of course, #hashtagbrigade 1w

Librarybelle So bizarre—I did worse this week than last with only 13! And I call myself a classics reader! 🙄 1w

willaful 12 for me. Alice and Little Women my favs, of course! I'd like to read What Maisie Knew. Calling the #HashtagBrigade ! 😁 1w

dabbe @jenniferw88 Yay for you! I find them rather terrifying myself. 🤣 1w

dabbe @CSeydel I think my score will be right around there, too! TESS was my #1 fave book in 2023 with the #hashtagbrigade! And we're currently reading THE MILL ON THE FLOSS. I loved MIDDLEMARCH, too. Is SILAS your favorite of hers? Thanks for playing and sharing. 💚💜💚 1w

dabbe @jenniferw88 #woohooyou Thanks for playing and sharing. 💚💜💚 1w

dabbe @Chrissyreadit 🎯🩵🎯! Thanks for playing and sharing. 💚💜💚 1w

dabbe @Lynnsoprano There are still more books from the 1800s coming your way! 🤩 Thanks for playing and sharing. 💚💜💚 1w

dabbe @BarkingMadRead We need to get them into the #hashtagbrigade! 😍 Thanks for playing and sharing. 💚💜💚 1w

dabbe @Bookwormjillk I feel it! I haven't taken it yet, but I think I'll score around the same! Thanks for playing and sharing. 💚💜💚 1w

dabbe @Susanita @Lynnsoprano The list I have is ordered by centuries, but not necessarily in chronological order of that century. So, the 1800s could have one from 1813, then the next from 1802, then the next from 1889, and so on. 🤷‍♀️ 1w

dabbe @Lynnsoprano I hope you're feeling better! 😍 1w

dabbe @Bklover IKR? I still need to read WAR OF THE WORLDS. I've read his others, but not that one! 😱 Thanks for playing and sharing. 💚💜💚 1w

dabbe @Librarybelle I think I'll score worse, too! But, man, some of those titles I have never even heard of! I'm more of a British Lit classics girl, not a world one. Thanks for playing and sharing. 💚💜💚 1w

dabbe @willaful Ooh, that one does sound good for the #hashtagbrigade, doesn't it? Thanks for playing and sharing. 💚💜💚 1w

Bklover Thanks for the tag! I truly appreciate it. 🩷🩷🩷. Also loved Tess with #hashtagbrigade (edited) 1w

Susanita @Lynnsoprano Ugh. I hope you feel better! 1w

Eggs 💗🌺💖 1w

CogsOfEncouragement 19 for me this round. 1w

ImperfectCJ I missed last week, so I'm playing catch-up. I've read 17 from this round. Love Alice and was surprised how much I enjoyed Kim and Sister Carrie when I read them. Now to post about last week's list! 1w

dabbe @Bklover 💜💚💜 1w

dabbe @Eggs 💜💚💜 1w

dabbe @CogsOfEncouragement We scored pretty closely together this time! Thanks for playing and sharing. 💜💚💜 1w

dabbe @ImperfectCJ We're close in our scores! Added your choices to my TBR. Thanks for playing and sharing. 💜💚💜 1w

tpixie @dabbe yikes! 9% I am currently reading Les MIs! December 31 that‘ll get me up to 10%! ❤️‍🔥. @dabbe @CSeydel Tess is a favorite ❤️ (edited) 1w

CSeydel @tpixie it‘s so good. Reminds me, I‘m due for a re-read … on the other hand, I still haven‘t read Jude the Obscure. Decisions decisions 1w

CSeydel @dabbe believe it or not, I haven‘t read Mill on the Floss OR Middlemarch (despite having the latter on my shelf for like 3 years, gazing dolefully at me every time I walk by with another book in my hand). But yes Silas Marner is one of my favorite books of all books! 1w

Faranae 30! Some of these authors feel over-represented, like they could have just chosen 1 or max 2 by that author and fit someone else in. Some of these I really have to vote against! I read André Gide's “fruits of the earth“ in French and yikes. Also I love Sherlock but just put the Hound on there and move on! 1w

rwmg 29 Brings home how Anglocentric my 19th century reading has been, even if not completely so. But an embarrassing number where I've never heard of book or author. 1w

AnnCrystal
Thanks for the tag
📚☺️👍🏼💝. (edited) 1w

peaKnit Ope, 5! I also love Tess, I see she is a popular read! I read it in Highschool. 1w

Daisey I‘ve read 30 from this week‘s list, and that‘s with consistently reading from the 1001 list for the last several years. 1w

tpixie @Daisey 🩷🩷🩷 1w

tpixie @CSeydel I know it‘s so hard to do a reread when there‘s so many other books still left to read! 1w

dabbe @tpixie You're in good company; most of us are between 5 and 25! Here's hoping the 1900s are better for all of us! And I think we should be able to include LES as 3 books just for its length alone! 🤣 Thanks for playing and sharing. 💜💚💜 1w

dabbe @CSeydel And SILAS is the one of hers I haven't read! 🤣 I adored MIDDLEMARCH and am enjoying MILL, though MIDDLE is better IMHO. I'm moving SILAS up on the TBR! 😍 1w

dabbe @Faranae The Sherlock is a hard one for me as I am a MAJOR Sherlock fan. But I see your point. Perhaps only one book per author, right? Yet some writers are way better than others and contributed more to the overall literary aesthetics of history. Hard choices all around. BTW, you beat my sorry butt. Thanks for playing and sharing. 💜💚💜 1w

dabbe @rwmg 🩵🎯🩵 So many world authors I've never heard of, nor their books. I need the clock to slow down so that I can get to them! Thanks for playing and sharing. 💜💚💜 1w

dabbe @AnnCrystal YW! 🥰 1w

dabbe @peaKnit I applaud any teacher who had high schoolers read TESS. I adored that book! 😍 Thanks for playing and sharing. 💜💚💜 1w

dabbe @Daisey You know, some of them just don't look that appealing to me. I don't care how low my score may be, if I'm not even interested by the cover or the little snippet provided in the 1001 book, I ain't reading it! 🤣 Thanks for playing and sharing. 💜💚💜 1w

CatLass007 My score was 11 and I think I should get some credit for at least TRYING to read Les Miz three different times. But I didn‘t check it. A couple of these I‘m pretty sure I read so I checked them. I read most of these with #NoPlaceLikeHolmes, #HashtagBrigade, #RandomClassics, and #WhatTheDickens, so thank you #LITSY! I also DNF several others. But, as @dabbe reminds me, #HailTheBail #BetterBooksAhead (edited) 1w

CatLass007 Three that I own and want to read are Anna Karenina, War and Peace, and Middlemarch. 1w

TheLudicReader 🤣 7. I still have the essay I wrote about Tess. Hated her. But I loved The Mayor of Casterbridge. 1w

catiewithac 27/100 but why so much Zola? It was a weird list. 1w

dabbe @CatLass007 YES! I love book surveys, but I don't always agree with them. If the book doesn't look good to me, I don't care who thinks I should read it! 🤣 And 🎯 for all of the books thanks to Litsy. I feel the same way. Thanks for playing and sharing. 💚💜💚 1w

dabbe @CatLass007 If I had to put these in order of what I enjoyed, I'd say MIDDLEMARCH, ANNA KARENINA, then WAR AND PEACE. But don't listen to me! 🤣 1w

dabbe @TheLudicReader Well, here's something where we aren't in sync. TESS was my favorite read of 2023 (maybe that was a crappy reading year! 🤣). I want to read that essay when I get there! And I never read MAYOR, but I adored FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWS. That Hardy! #oy Thanks for playing and sharing. 💚💜💚 1w

dabbe @catiewithac I guess Zola is Ze besZt. 🤣🤷‍♀️😍 I've never read anything by him! Thanks for playing and sharing. 💚💜💚 1w

tpixie @dabbe lol Les Mis as 3 books yes! (edited) 7d

tpixie @CatLass007 I‘m hoping to read Anna K next year. I missed out on @TheBookHippie buddy read this year 7d

CatLass007 @tpixie I didn‘t know there was a buddy read to miss. 7d

dabbe @tpixie 🎯🩵🎯 7d

tpixie @CatLass007 🩷 it‘s hard to keep up with all the buddy reads!! 6d

Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick I think I'm coming in with the lowest score: 4! I'm confident enough to carry that torch. 🤣 I enjoyed Little Women & Dracula. Jekyll & Hyde and Alice's Adventures...not so much. I am not familiar with many of these. I should probably do a little research and bump myself up to a nice, round eight books read. 4d

dabbe @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick Some scored “0“, so you're not the lowest! Even if you were, who cares? 🤣 I loved Jekyll & Hyde, but did NOT care of any of Alice's adventures! Thanks for playing and sharing. 💚💜💚 4d

50 likes65 comments

melissajayne

To Have and to Heist | Sara Desai

bailed

DNF. I read about 30% of the book and just couldn‘t get beyond the cover. #2025 #fiction #romcom

dabbe #hailthebail! 🙌 #betterbooksahead 1w

33 likes1 comment

jen_the_scribe

History of the Big House | Charif Majdalani

bailed

As much as I respected the unique writing style and loved the descriptions of Mount Lebanon and the surrounding areas, the way the narrator is written just kept pulling me out of the story. Also, there‘s a lot of details about the orange groves that I just found dull. If this wasn‘t a library book that I have to return soon, I‘d probably try to keep going, but I have other library books to read as well.

dabbe #hailthebail! 🙌🏻 #betterbooksahead 2w

22 likes1 comment

DogMomIrene

Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 | Lisa Unger

bailed

Listened to 19% of this one. Just do not care to hear a story about any kind of “influencer” doing anything. Just an increasing amount of vapid people doing dumb shit.

I‘ve never read Lisa Unger, so if you‘re a big fan, please drop me some of your top recommendations. I‘d still like to give her a try.

5feet.of.fury I‘ve read 2 of hers but was kind of luke warm on both of them 2w

dabbe #hailthebail! 🙌 #betterbooksahead 2w

DogMomIrene @5feet.of.fury That‘s good to know. May try her again… maybe. 2w

AudiobookingWithLeah This one felt like she was trying too hard to be one of the cool kids. I think her older stuff was better. I also DNF'd this one. 1w

DogMomIrene @AudiobookingWithLeah Yes! Definitely felt forced. If I give her a try again, I‘ll go for older titles. Thanks! 1w

38 likes5 comments

5feet.of.fury

The Dead Zone | Stephen King

bailed

Had to bail, the opening was so bleak, I tried skimming forward a bit but I‘m still dreading reading on. Plus SK has been an idiot online this week 😂 wouldn‘t be a deal breaker but it‘s certainly not helping. As @dabbe says #hailthebail ! I‘ll check in with #losersclub & see what I missed @BarkingMadRead

BarkingMadRead This is a super dark book! I totally get it 2w

dabbe YES! 🤩 #betterbooksahead 🙌🏻 2w

30 likes2 comments

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