Books We Love to Hate

Every month, we ask patrons at Haymarket Gainesville Library to answer questions on our “Library Window,” like:

 “What is your bucket list book?”

“What book are you going to read next?”

and…

“What books do you love to hate?”

It was surprising what an enthusiastic response we got to that last question; the passion sparked by a hated book. Which teacher, book club leader, friend, relative or even yourself, do you still hold a grudge against?

When I first saw this question and started thinking about it, I had a hard time coming up with any books I hated. I suppose you might expect that from someone who works at a library, but I couldn’t believe I had enjoyed all those books teachers forced on us. Maybe just the idea of being required to do something brought out the stubborn streak in me; maybe it wasn’t the book at all. But I have since remembered one or two books that I can’t believe I wasted so much of my life reading.

Although some books we’ve been required to read haven’t been our favorites, maybe we’re still able to learn from them. Some of these “forced” books have all sorts of social references that have become a part of our culture.

• “Nineteen Eighty-Four” (George Orwell, 1949) is full of them: “Big Brother,” “newspeak,” “thoughtcrime.”
• “Catch 22” (Joseph Heller, 1961): I use the phrase “Catch 22” all the time. I will admit, I couldn’t force myself to read that book, but I did watch the movie. Does that count?
• “So it goes…” from “Slaughterhouse-Five” (Kurt Vonnegut, 1969).
• Shakespeare has a lot of those much-repeated references which I will avoid listing here except for my favorite, “Et Tu, Brute?” from “Julius Caesar” (1599) and one for crafters, “bedazzled” from “Taming of the Shrew” (1590).

Other books have given us new words. Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” (1726) gave us the word “yahoo;” “Pandemonium” is from John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” (1667); and “nerd” from Dr Seuss, “If I Ran the Zoo” (1950). The list goes on. I find it fascinating how many of these ideas come from books I wouldn’t normally associate with them. I really hate to preach anything any of my literature professors may have said, but here goes anyway. How much richer are our lives because of these tales and the ideas they spark? 

Aside from the cultural value of some of these works, it was fun to see what some people had remembered enough to know they hated reading them. Some titles posted up on our windows did not surprise me – “Beowulf” (700-1000), “Odyssey” (Homer), “Heart of Darkness” (Joseph Conrad, 1899), and one of my favorites to hate – “Moby Dick” (Herman Melville, 1851). Others were a complete surprise to me. I mean, who gets riled up about “The Chronicles of Narnia” (C. S. Lewis, 1950) to actually hate it (unless you despise how well Lewis sold you on the idea of Turkish Delights and were so disappointed when you actually tried one)?

It was also interesting to see how many of the books I really like were scribbled onto upside-down hearts and plastered to the window. Personally, “The Hobbit” (J.R.R. Tolkien, 1937) is one of my all-time favorites. As they say, no accounting for taste. 

That is just another argument for a widely varied book collection – there is no accounting for taste. I say this all with the understanding and appreciation for the fact that we are not all the same, and that is a most wonderful thing. To me, the world would be a very dull place if we all liked the same things and thought the same thoughts. And so, it is with our books – the more (ideas), the merrier!

No one can force you to enjoy reading a book – or take any of those books off your “Books I Love to Hate” list. Finding out what books – and ideas – others are passionate about can lead to some interesting and enlightening conversations, if we listen. “Variety's the very spice of life,” as William Cowper stated in “The Task” (1785). 

So, happy reading (we hope)! And be sure to come by the Haymarket Gainesville Library to post your answers to our next Window Question.

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Written by Martha Scott, Library Technician, Haymarket Gainesville Library