I like looking at books that members of Goodreads have read, mostly because I’m nosy, but also because I’m always on the look-out to see if there are any books that sound interesting.
I came across a GR member who’d read the following books:
The Broker, John Grisham
The Shining, Stephen King
The Rainmaker, John Grisham
The Runaway Jury, John Grisham
A Time to Kill, John Grisham (a fan I think)
My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult
The Help, Kathryn Stockett
The Hunger Games
The Firm, John Grisham
Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
National Velvet, Enid Bagnold
Marley & Me, John Grogan
Secret, Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks
One For The Money, Janet Evanovich
The Devil Wears Prada, Lauren Weisberger
Confessions of A Shopaholic, Sophie Kinsella
No reviews for any of the above, just her five-star ratings.
When you look at that list, what comes to mind? What do you think of the list?
I’ve read just four of the books listed here, how many have you guys read?
Carolyn
March 17
9:38 pm
What comes to mind? She’s not a romance reader.
I’ve read five of them. Loved Grisham’s The Firm and A Time to Kill, then sort of went off him. Read The Shining, The Hunger Games, Little Women*. I have The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on my Kindle, but have yet to read it.
*Read Little Women pre-puberty I think, lol.
Angelia Sparrow
March 17
9:41 pm
She has very mainstream taste and sounds quite ordinary. Not someone I’d be interested in spending much time with.
Then again, I haven’t ready any of those books because none of them looked interesting.
AztecLady
March 17
9:45 pm
I’m a cynic. s/he reads exclusively off best seller lists.
Karen Scott
March 17
9:53 pm
I’m a cynic. s/he reads exclusively off best seller lists.
It wont surprise you to know that I feel the same as you. *g*
Mireya
March 17
10:22 pm
I’ve read three. Female; someone who is a HS senior or just out of high school. I agree with the bestseller only OR only goes by popular recommendations.
FD
March 17
11:45 pm
I think the same as AztecLady.
I’ve read 13 of those, but most of them I’ve read only because they were what was available at a train station, and that I hadn’t already read them.
Lori
March 18
12:25 am
I’ve read 7 of them, and have 2 on my Kindle unread and 1 in my paperback pile unread. It’s a pretty standard list but if thats all she has then I’d guess not much of a reader. And bet she’d let Oprah choose her books for her too.
LBea
March 18
12:41 am
I agree withh Mireya. High school senior.
I’ve read seven. Shit. I’m officially boring.
The Shining, Stephen King This is a fabulous read.
A Time to Kill, John Grisham The movie was better. Snore.
Les Miserables, Victor Hugo Okay, I read half. THe musical is more my speed.
Secret, Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd Love this book.
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott Loved this book when I was twelve.
One For The Money, Janet Evanovich Who hasn’t read this? It’s a classic.
The Devil Wears Prada, Lauren Weisberger Another snoozer.
Confessions of A Shopaholic, Sophie Kinsella And shopping gets really old, really fast, but Sophie writes some cute books.
ME2
March 18
12:50 am
I’ve read 4 of them.
Little Women, The Devil Wears Prada, The Firm and The Secret Life of Bees.
I think she is an Oprah disciple.
Krista
March 18
1:44 am
I think all of those books have been made into movies so maybe that’s why she read them. But I agree, not my personal taste.
Cindy
March 18
2:07 am
As Krista said, my first thought was she reads books that movies are based on.
Linda Hilton
March 18
2:42 am
I’m a REAL cynic — I don’t think she’s read any of ’em but wants people to think she has. These are books that are so heavily reviewed and discussed, she could read a few reviews or see the movies and be able to pass herself off as having read them to impress people.
Marg
March 18
6:25 am
Either bestsellers lists or books that have been made into movies.
Karen Scott
March 18
8:14 am
I’m a REAL cynic — I don’t think she’s read any of ‘em but wants people to think she has. These are books that are so heavily reviewed and discussed, she could read a few reviews or see the movies and be able to pass herself off as having read them to impress people.
That’s exactly what I thought Linda. I think she attempted to read The Time Traveler’s Wife, and couldn’t finish it. She gave it a one star rating.
She admitted on a thread by the way that she couldn’t finish it. I guarantee she wasn’t able to get past 50 pages.
Stephani Hecht
March 18
1:56 pm
I’ve read a few of them. I think I am the only person on Earth that read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and didn’t like it. Everybody else goes crazy over it, but it just didn’t do anything for me.
Linda Hilton
March 18
2:04 pm
Just for the record — I’ve read four:
Water for Elephants
The Help
Les Miserables
Little Women (when I was about 50-something)
But I’ve been around too many people who BUY best-sellers slash important books and never read them but they want everyone to think they have. “I just started it, it’s so good! I just don’t know when I’m going to have time to finish it!” meh
Maili
March 18
3:58 pm
I haven’t read five on the list.
The rest – I bought from WH Smith at train stations or airports and read whilst travelling, then left them behind on train/plane seat or in my hotel room when finished.
If I saw that list elsewhere, I’d think the reader was a film viewer because almost all those have been adapted for screen (I think the only one that hasn’t been is The Broker). I know some people do grade books after seeing film/TV adaptations (remember some said they loved Austen’s P&P, especially the Darcy in a wet shirt scene? :D).
But giving all those the five star grade? The feck?
I struggled through the first 50 pages of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, DNFed One For the Money, Confessions of a Shopaholic and The Notebook, and didn’t like The Help and The Devil Wears Prada. I’m inclined to support my theory that her book grades are based on her seeing films or expectations (Hunger Games).
“No reviews for any of the above, just her five-star ratings.”
Eep. I rarely review books on GoodReads. Is that truly a bad thing?
Las
March 19
3:44 pm
Yeah, definitely someone who reads of the bestseller list.
I’ve read 7 of those. Three Grisham’s, Les Miserables (might not have finished that one), Little Women (required reading for school), The Secret Life of Bees (meh), and The Hunger Games (enjoyable but tainted by the disaster that was Mockingjay).