Nowadays I can only finish books that are read out of pure, unadulterated, glorious anger. These books set my nerves on fire, sent me gleefully raging to my partner between chapters, and keep me focused on one thing: whatever the author has masterfully (or unintentionally) made me come to hate.
This is a far cry from my regular programming of cottage core-esque comfort reads. Before this schadenfreude (or masochist?) phase took effect, I read books like:
- The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
- A Psalm for the Wild Built series by Becky Chambers
Now if I read anything lovely or escapist, I feel nothing but analgesia and boredom. Spite is now my raison d'être. It's the sole emotion that brings me to the page now and keeps me there for a full length book. Some that I've finished since this transition have been:
- Burn Book by Kara Swisher (hated the tech bros she so brilliantly describes)
- The Braid by Laetitia Colombani (hated the one-dimensional female characters and complete lack of research)
- James by Percival Everett (hated all the racists that deserved the end they received. Also hated Everett's writing style, sorry not sorry)
Give me a book where the main character is wronged and their antagonist gets their satisfying karma served with caviar on ice. Give me a story that points the finger up at the dragon hoarding gold and says, "Grab your pitchforks and sharpen the guillotines– tonight we're eating the rich." Or give me a book that's so bad, I'll be sprinting for the door and opening every window, to shield my brain from the noxious fumes of substandard prose from an overconfident author.
Yes, I'm already in therapy. Yes, I'm a frustrated writer myself. Can't wait to hear your book suggestions.
by Realistic-Silver8771
7 Comments
Obligatory Slewfoot
The “You” series on Netflix just finished its last season. Her books are dramatically more fucked up than the show and you’ll absolutely hate the main character whose head you are stuck in throughout the read. Not remotely as likable as he is in the show.
“You” by Caroline Kepnes
Verity
Idk if it still holds up but the book Demian by Herman Hesse made me want to throw it against a wall lol
The grandaddies of them are Moravagine by Blaise Cendrars, there is evil in this book. Sweet revenge is found in The Count of Monte Cristo.
If you want to hate the main character, you could try A Confederacy of Dunces
Guillotine by Delilah S Dawson has extremely hatable rich characters who “get eaten” (not literally)