the WORST books i read in 2025 (of the 137 i read)

Listen, if I am a gallery of everything I have ever loved, I am also a museum of everything I have ever hated. And so,

welcome back. Welcome back to my YouTube channel. This is an annual tradition

channel. This is an annual tradition where I talk about the worst books that I read in the last 365 days. That's right. My hateritis is

days. That's right. My hateritis is flaring up and I think it might be contagious. So, in 2025, I read 137

contagious. So, in 2025, I read 137 books. And these are the 11 I rated the

books. And these are the 11 I rated the lowest. Why 11, I hear you ask? There is

lowest. Why 11, I hear you ask? There is

no reason. There is no rhyme or reason for this number. There is also no rhyme or reason in these books. So, these are the books that I found to be underwhelming disappointing perhaps

even nauseating.

as a faithful to the love of books. I

believe these are traitors and should be banished from the castle immediately.

These are the books that I found to be spiritually laboo books that are emotionally moon beam ice cream. Books

that I feel were thought through about as much as that Sydney Sweeney jeans commercial. Basically, I want them out

commercial. Basically, I want them out of my sight. I'll be honest with you, I find this to be quite a cathartic experience to just sort of rant and rave about these books because I suffered

through them and I want to protect you.

And also, they do say that a problem shared is a problem harved. And there's

actually quite a lot of us here. So, if

each time one of you watches this video, the problem gets divided, eventually it won't matter, right? Logic. That's what

we're going with. Let's get going, shall we? Welcome to my temple of misery.

we? Welcome to my temple of misery.

Starting with book number one. This is

surrounded by narcissists. And listen,

I'm conscious of the fact that when you give a bad review to a book called Surrounded by Narcissists, people might turn this around on you. Uno reverse

card. Maybe you're the narcissist. Maybe

it's me. Maybe I'm the problem. But much

like in the rules of Uno, if someone puts a reverse card on you, you can put one right back. And that's what I'm going to do today because I'm actually going to flip it around. Wicked witch on

the author of the book. This guy has written books and I am not kidding.

Called surrounded by idiots, surrounded by psychopaths, surrounded by liars, surrounded by setbacks, surrounded by energy vampires. That one is camp, I

energy vampires. That one is camp, I will say. Surrounded by bad bosses, and

will say. Surrounded by bad bosses, and finally surrounded by narcissists. There

are more spin-offs here than like Fast and Furious. This is too surrounded, too

and Furious. This is too surrounded, too narcissist. I didn't like this. I feel

narcissist. I didn't like this. I feel

like I didn't get a lot from it aside from frustration. Like a stress ball in

from frustration. Like a stress ball in book form. It's a shame there isn't

book form. It's a shame there isn't another book in the series called surrounded by self-awareness because Thomas Ericson, I think the problem might be you. Maybe we need to be like

surrounded by mirrors. Perhaps

surrounded by therapists might be good.

This is giving that one person that you know who is always falling out with their friends. It's like every time you

their friends. It's like every time you see them, they are having another issue, another major blowup with a different friend, and you start to realize, you know what, the common denominator might be you. I read this book because it was

be you. I read this book because it was featured on The White Lotus. Belinda is

seen reading it by the pool, but the author kind of admits in the introduction of the book that he doesn't really know anything about the science of narcissism. He's sort of just going

of narcissism. He's sort of just going on a vibe basis. There is a whole section in this book about how car

headlights look like narrowed eyes. And

that is a reflection on our culture.

Huh? What? I've never read anything that felt more like someone just trying to hit a word count. And I've written some terrible university essays in my time.

This man, I feel, was woefully underprepared to discuss this topic to the point where I actually think he kind of misrepresents what narcissism even really is. So, I found very little value

really is. So, I found very little value in this book. I think potentially you would find more value if you ripped out the pages and put them in a fireplace and heated your house with said fire.

And that's that on that book number two.

This is the other non-fiction book that I'm going to talk about and then the rest are all fiction. For the life of me, I cannot find this book. I think it has gone to the big coffee table in the

sky because this is the ultimate coffee table book. It's by Iris Appfell. I'm

table book. It's by Iris Appfell. I'm

not going to lie to you. I don't even remember the name. This is a coffee table book that is intended to just be flicked through, look at the pictures, maybe skim read it a little bit, but I read the whole thing cover to cover,

which feels like an act of self-sabotage to be honest with you. The reason I did this is because I was planning to make a video on the books that Doi has recommended. Doi was having such a big

recommended. Doi was having such a big moment at the beginning of last year and I felt like it would be a cool video because she had this kind of meteoric rise to success and it sort of seemed like she just broke onto the scene out

of nowhere but actually she had been grafting for years and years and years and actually # booktube she'd made a video here on YouTube about her books that she recommended. So I was like

great I'll make a video in response to that where I read those books. So, I

started with Iris Appfell's book, and it literally put me in such a slump that the video just ended up never being made and coming to fruition. So, sorry about

that. Also, I kind of feel like everyone

that. Also, I kind of feel like everyone was demanding, like begging Dochi to release that anxiety song and then the second that she did, everyone was like, "Actually, that's annoying." And you know what? I didn't want to kick her

know what? I didn't want to kick her while she was down. I didn't want to be like, "And also the book you recommended sucked." So, we're going to talk about

sucked." So, we're going to talk about it now instead. This book is kind of like style advice, kind of like esoteric about a bit of an icon, but she

regularly contradicts herself throughout the book. It's very surface level. There

the book. It's very surface level. There

is the depth of a puddle. It's giving

kind of like celebrity book deal. Let's

churn this out, make a quick buck, and never talk about it again. And listen,

the book isn't aiming to win a pelitza.

I think it knows its lane and it stays in it, but I did not have fun. I had

nothing of the sort and so unfortunately um I don't even know where the book went. It's like a fever dream. Like did

went. It's like a fever dream. Like did

this even happen? Did I did I imagine this. I don't think I did. I remember

this. I don't think I did. I remember

complaining about it at the time. So now

we move on to fiction. And I'm going to start with Euro Trash. I am going to hold up my hands here and say I was catfished. I was catfished by a cracking

catfished. I was catfished by a cracking title. Eurotrash sounded to me like

title. Eurotrash sounded to me like something that was going to be loads of fun. And it felt like it was going to be

fun. And it felt like it was going to be kind of facitious in tone, tongue and cheek, sort of about the pursuit of joy and counterculture. And I was wrong. I

and counterculture. And I was wrong. I

mean, maybe the title would be accurate if we covered the first part, you know, if you're picking up what I'm putting down. I mean, you can read. I don't know

down. I mean, you can read. I don't know why I was acting like it wasn't right there. Reading comprehension sort of a

there. Reading comprehension sort of a prerequisite for being here on a book channel. Let's talk about the book. This

channel. Let's talk about the book. This

is a novel about a man who goes on a road trip with his 80year-old mother.

And basically, they just spend the entire trip bickering. And if I wanted to spend all that time listening to two people bickering, I'd go on a road trip

with my mother. I'm kidding. I actually

did go backpacking with my mom over Christmas and we had a blast. We had a hoot. I feel like we just laughed the

hoot. I feel like we just laughed the entire time except when that we saw basically the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen in my whole entire life

and my mom decides to timelapse it as the sun goes beneath the horizon. We

stood there on this beach for like 20 minutes while she was filming it and then afterwards she realized she'd been filming it in slow-mo

instead of time lapse. And also, you kind of need a tripod for filming a time lapse of that length because it was the shakiest video you've ever seen. At one

point, halfway through, she turned to me to say something and then turned back.

So, we don't have a very cinematic time lapse of a gorgeous sunset, but that's okay. We had a nice time anyway. This

okay. We had a nice time anyway. This

book though is about a tumultuous mother son relationship, and to me, I just found it a bit irritating. I don't know if this was going to be in this video as one of my worst books of the year, even

though I really didn't enjoy it until at the start of 2026, I read Oh, it's right here. This book called Palava by Brian

here. This book called Palava by Brian Washington. And this is also about a

Washington. And this is also about a mother and son arguing, but it's so much better. It is so much more eloquent. I

better. It is so much more eloquent. I

think it really captures the emotions in a way that feels real, but you also empathize with each of the two people involved in the equation. This one

annoying as hell. so just too much. And

I think for me, this book felt so swallowed up by its own sense of self-important and hubris and sort of like puffing its literary chest that it sort of just forgot to be enjoyable for

the reader. I felt alienated by this

the reader. I felt alienated by this author, but not in an experimental way.

in a way where I felt like it was holding its palm on my forehead and I was like trying to run at it, trying to be involved, but the author felt to me too busy stroking his own ego and being

pretentious. And it's only 190 pages,

pretentious. And it's only 190 pages, but it felt like a slog. And the whole time I was reading it, I just couldn't wait to be reading something good. Next

in this parade of failure, we have Silver Elite. Oh, Silver Elite. This

Silver Elite. Oh, Silver Elite. This

book certainly proved to me that sometimes when you have FOMO on the internet, it's okay to just mow. It's

okay to just miss out. It's actually

encouraged sometimes. I wish I had known that before I picked this up and spent my great British pounds on this book.

What I will say is that it starts out promising. It's about a pluckucky and

promising. It's about a pluckucky and headstrong main character who is a little spicy, but it didn't feel cringeworthy to me at first. She has

these psychic abilities, and so does her uncle, who is her primary caretaker, and he is then taken away by the government and killed. People in this world who

and killed. People in this world who have psychic abilities are marginalized and they are murdered by the government, by the state. So, you're thinking, okay, we're setting up this sort of dystopian

landscape. No, wrong. This is the

landscape. No, wrong. This is the smuttification of dystopia. It's like 50 shades of 1984. That feels wrong to even put George Orwell in the same sentence

as this. He is rolling in his grave

as this. He is rolling in his grave knowing that I just did that. To me,

1984 sprinted so that this book could limp or like hump your leg or something.

That's how horny this book is. And the

social political drama means absolutely nothing because it sort of just acts as a backdrop for boning. It's kind of like how a porno will have this elaborate starting point to like set the scene and

then, you know, two minutes later they're just bonking. That's what it is.

The dystopian element is just a background for them to hook up and to kind of raise the stakes, I guess, of their attraction to one another. But

that was a whole separate issue for me because basically our main character is just too damn horny for her own good.

It's like you need to save the world, but you can't. the world will have to wait because you need to get laid. She

needs to go to horny jail with no parole. After her uncle is captured, she

parole. After her uncle is captured, she needs to prove that she does not have any psychic abilities and she is not trying to overthrow the state. And so

she has to enroll in this academy basically so they can keep their eyes on her. But she thinks, "Ah, I'll join this

her. But she thinks, "Ah, I'll join this academy and try to infiltrate it from the inside." But then she gets

the inside." But then she gets digmatized. She gets sidetracked. She

digmatized. She gets sidetracked. She

becomes so attracted to her oppressor.

Yes. To her oppressor that she can't really do anything because she's too busy being a horn dog. Like she she can't focus on anything cuz all she can

focus on is how hot her oppressor is.

She's like drowning in the dick sand.

And it's a real problem. And it just feels silly. Like, oh, he's so terrible.

feels silly. Like, oh, he's so terrible.

He's terrible of such terrible things, but I'm sure he could do some terrible things to me in bed. Girl, pull it together. I'm serious. Like, come on.

together. I'm serious. Like, come on.

Don't. No, don't come.

Bad choice of words. Continuing on.

Then, after all that, the guy turns out to be on her side all along. So, what

was all that tension even for? What was

all of the moral conundrum of it all for? For me, that just felt as a cheap

for? For me, that just felt as a cheap way to absolve all responsibility from this person, to resolve all of the internal conflict that she was feeling with no consequence. This was about as

revolutionary as a labu. It's lazy

writing. It doesn't change the fact that she was still lusting over someone she perceived to be her oppressor this entire time. And while it's very

entire time. And while it's very convenient that he's not actually evil, where's your integrity, girl? She has

the backbone of someone in a retirement village. I just No, no, no, no, no, no.

village. I just No, no, no, no, no, no.

And you can't convince me to read another one in this series. No chance.

Cuz I'm not rooting for her. All right,

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now back to the next book. So that was Silver Elite. Now the next one I want to

Silver Elite. Now the next one I want to talk about breaks my heart actually to be including in this video, but I'm going to do it. I

want to preface by saying that I love all caps underlined in bold size 72 font. Love Lov Chimamanda and Goi

font. Love Lov Chimamanda and Goi Adich's other books. by ever. Her newest

book, Dream Count, did not tickle my pickle. Let's talk about it. Her other

pickle. Let's talk about it. Her other

books, like Americana, smashed apart my brain and then put it back together with gold like Kinugi. I love Purple Habiscus. I love Half a Yellow Sun.

Habiscus. I love Half a Yellow Sun.

Banger after banger. It's like Katy Perry releasing One of the Boys, Teenage Dream, Prism, and then Witness.

like, oh, um, okay, here's what I'll say. In this

book, extraordinary writing, stunning writing. On a line by line level,

writing. On a line by line level, Chimamanda can write the house down. But

I think I'm going to die in this house.

Because for me, this wasn't a writing issue. It was a storytelling issue. And

issue. It was a storytelling issue. And

those are two very different things. The

overall book for me just didn't flow very well. It's about the pandemic. It's

very well. It's about the pandemic. It's

about unrequited love. It's about

desire. It's about the expectations on women in marriage, in sex, in relationships, in their careers. And

it's also about 200 pages too long. We

follow the lives of four different women whose lives intersect, but it really moves at a glacial pace. There were so many extracts that were astute and

intellectual and perceptive as Chimamandanda and Goi Adiche always is.

That's what we've come to expect from her. And maybe we take that for granted,

her. And maybe we take that for granted, but for me, the issue is I found myself not wanting to pick this book back up again. Like no part of me wanted to

again. Like no part of me wanted to continue reading it. Even though when I did read it, I would be like underlining sections and I'd be like, "Wow, that was so lovely. What a wonderful

so lovely. What a wonderful observation." There was no impetus to

observation." There was no impetus to continue reading it. I would have been fully satisfied to just stop at basically any moment. And I feel like that's not good. That's not a good thing. The final section was actually

thing. The final section was actually the best, I think. But it's kind of like how I imagine if you run a marathon, when you get to mile 20, you're just a bit out of breath and your muscles ache and you just want to be done. That's how

I felt. Like I was all out of juice by that point, you know? I wanted to read something different. I wonder if it was

something different. I wonder if it was a structural issue, like if the four stories had been told simultaneously and we'd sort of jumped between perspectives a little bit, it might have worked

better. But it feels like four nollas

better. But it feels like four nollas sort of smooshed together. Sort of like four interconnected short stories. The

trouble is none of them are short. Like

it's the short part of the short story in the room with us. No. So lots of ideas, lots of observations, lots of brilliant observations. But as a

brilliant observations. But as a project, I'm just not convinced by this.

And when you come to expect excellence from an author, it's so devastating when that's not what you get. So

next book, Say You'll Remember Me is ironically extremely forgettable. This

feels like a book for the brain rot generation with no attention span who need to be told exactly what is going on and exactly how everyone feels in every

single line. Like there is no reading

single line. Like there is no reading between the lines in this book. It is

like the author thinks you're stupid.

Everything feels so obvious. It's a

romance book, but it feels more like a Disney Channel original movie for people who just discovered 10 minutes ago what the concept of dating is. The characters

will spell out exactly how they feel.

Like it is a spelling bee and they are being awarded for precision. But when

you're reading a book, you don't need that. You can infer things. It's okay

that. You can infer things. It's okay

for some things to be implicit. Almost

syllable by syllable, the author is turning to the reader and being like, "Are you following this? Do you

understand? It's like, yeah, like I I get it. And it's weird because this

get it. And it's weird because this isn't aimed at a young audience. This

isn't YA. This is for adults. It's

actually like the story is for people who are experiencing their very first date on Earth. It's mostly about two people who meet. They do an escape room and they get locked in the escape room

and they get a little hot and heavy.

They get a little passionate and then they start dating and to cut a long story short, they end up in a long-distance relationship. And

long-distance relationship. And actually, most of the book is about them navigating being long distance. He's a

vet and so he can't leave where he lives because he's too busy like saving animals, which again felt so kind of obvious. There's actually a book called

obvious. There's actually a book called Save the Cat and it's writing advice.

Okay. So, it's like if you want your audience to feel sympathy for one of your characters or to root for one of your characters, they could, for example, save a cat at the beginning of the novel, right? That's the that's the

general advice. And if you've ever been

general advice. And if you've ever been to writing school, you will have heard of that. If you've Googled like how to

of that. If you've Googled like how to write a book, that probably will come up. And the thing is, I think you're

up. And the thing is, I think you're meant to sort of customize it a little bit, like copy the homework, but change it a little bit. So, that's what she does. She makes it a dog. He saves a

does. She makes it a dog. He saves a dog. It just felt like I don't want to

dog. It just felt like I don't want to give Chat GPT enough credit to say that it could have written this, but I think what it could produce wouldn't be far

off what this is. You know, I am baffled to learn that this is meant to be the first in a series cuz I don't know why anyone would want to read these characters again. It sort of feels like

characters again. It sort of feels like the author is blowing a balloon full of air but not tying it at the bottom. like

it just she keeps letting go and it just goes and that's how I would describe this book. The female love interest, the

book. The female love interest, the female main character in this book, her kind of tension in her life is that her family are in disarray because her mother has dementia and I actually found

myself jealous of the mom because at least she could forget what was happening. Is that am can I say that?

happening. Is that am can I say that?

Probably not. So, another thing that was grinding my gears was how often in this book they said that the main character looked like Riceand from Acatar.

Why do we need to keep saying that? You

made the point once. Why in every chapter? Because also like I haven't

chapter? Because also like I haven't read A Court of Thorns and Roses. It's a

book by Sarah J. Mass. I haven't read that. So, when it kept saying he looks

that. So, when it kept saying he looks just like Ryan from Acatar, I'm like I don't know who that is. We're going to need a few more adjectives. We're going

to need a few more describing words, please. What I will say, however, is

please. What I will say, however, is that I will be giving another Abby Jimenez book a go. Because people really rate this author. People really

recommend her books. And I do think that when I mentioned this on my channel before, a lot of people commented being like, "Try one of her other ones. I

think you'll enjoy it. I think those ones are better." So, I'll try anything twice as a general rule in my life. And

that will also apply here. I will give Abby Jimenez a second chance. Next we

have Pineapple Street. This is not a book about a street full of swingers as the title might suggest. Actually, I

wish it was. That would have been way better than what it actually is. I would

describe this book as being sort of like an episode of The Real Housewives, except nothing happens. There is no discernable story line and they all just become kind of like super woke at the

end, but without any real substance, you know? It's kind of the level of depth of

know? It's kind of the level of depth of I saw a Tik Tok about this once and now I'm going to speak on this subject like I'm an expert. The characters sort of

become socially aware at the very end but not in a meaningful way. It doesn't

feel authentic to the characters and it also doesn't feel authentically written if that makes sense. One of them has this quite random outburst about how

gender is a spectrum, which true, agree, but it's just never discussed or analyzed or considered ever again. And

it it sort of felt like maybe the author had had some feedback that the characters weren't likable or weren't relatable or felt sort of vapid, maybe

superficial. It felt like everything in

superficial. It felt like everything in the book was a bit trivial. And so they were like, "What if you just add in a few kind of buzzwords and then the book will be liberal and that will be the

redemption arc, but it felt insincere."

I sort of miss when rich people were just a bit shameless and they wrote about being rich in a fun way that we could then read and get lost in a little

bit, you know? Instead, this one sort of becomes a social issues tick list at the end when I don't think that's what this book set out to be at all. It's about

three women who live in Brooklyn Heights and they're all linked to the same family and they kind of all have different relationships with money, whether they've been born into wealth,

whether they have married into wealth or whether they feel quite philanthropic and want to give money away. And it was sort of fun when it was being audacious

and indulgent, but then I think there was too much like self-consciousness and fear of the criticism it could get. And

as a result, here I am criticizing it. I

mean, maybe normalize nuance. That would

be cool. That wouldn't that be swell if we just normalize nuance? That would be great, actually. All righty. This next

great, actually. All righty. This next

book won the International Booker Prize in 2025 and was an extremely humbling moment for me because I have managed to

successfully predict the winners of the International Booker Prize and the Booker Prize. Every single time since I

Booker Prize. Every single time since I started reading all of the books on the short list for both of those prizes, I've managed to correctly predict the

winner every single time until 2025. And

in 2025, I think I got a little bit cocky. I got a little bit too sure of

cocky. I got a little bit too sure of myself. And I decided, all right, this

myself. And I decided, all right, this time around, I'm not just going to predict the winner. I'm also going to rank the entire short list from worst to

best. In the process of doing so, I made

best. In the process of doing so, I made a monumental tit of myself because which book did I say was the worst of the crop? This one. Which book went on to

crop? This one. Which book went on to win? This one. I think I got a little

win? This one. I think I got a little too big for my boots, but I do have justification for why I thought this.

And so in this essay, I will be sharing that. I found this odd as a choice of

that. I found this odd as a choice of winner for the International Booker Prize because that prize is split down the middle, shared between the author of the book, who wrote it in the original

language, and the translator who brought it to us in English. And for me, I found fault with this book on both sides.

Obviously, I am not a translator, so take this with a pinch of salt. I'm

going to talk about my reading experience of the translation. It is

also a mammoth achievement. This is the first Canada book to be shortlisted for the prize, to win the prize. Nothing can

take away from that, and this is a prize-winning book, and fair enough. But

from my personal experience as a reader of this book, I found this difficult because the translator deliberately didn't translate a lot of the words from

Canada. So there are different things

Canada. So there are different things that exist in the original language and the translator said that her reasoning for doing that was because she didn't want to interrupt. She wanted to

maintain the rhythm of the language. She

wanted you to see the canada words.

Great. I am so 100% here for that. I

think that is a great idea. That's a

wonderful thing to do. However, in my head, that means we'll get footnotes right at the bottom of the page or even at the end of the book. No, wrong.

There's no glossery. There's no

explanation of any of the terms. The translator said that the reason that she chose to do this is because she didn't want to interrupt the reading experience by your eyes being cast down to the bottom of the page and sort of

interrupting the flow of the sentence.

However, I didn't know what the word meant, and so I had to keep Googling what everything meant, which I would argue is way more disruptive than if the translator had quickly explained, you

know, if something is a food item or if it's something that you would find around the house or if it's a term that doesn't translate 100% from the original Canada language. But as a result, for a

Canada language. But as a result, for a lot of the sentences, I had no clue what was going on and what it was explaining and describing. So then I would have to

and describing. So then I would have to Google what that thing was. Then I would have to sift through the Google results and the dafted like AI summary at the top, which by the way is almost always

wrong. Like I don't know how it's

wrong. Like I don't know how it's possible for that AI summary to almost always be inaccurate. It's like Siri.

Like Siri's favorite color is five. Like

shouldn't AI be smarter at this point?

That's why I don't trust it. So anyway,

then I'm like sifting through articles or I'm reading on, I don't know, Wikipedia. And that to me was way more

Wikipedia. And that to me was way more disruptive than if the explanations had just been at the bottom of the page or at the back of the book. That felt like part of the duty of the translation. I

think that's just my opinion. This was

awarded a prize and some of the judges are translators themselves. So listen,

that might not be everyone's experience with this book. That might not be everyone's opinion. I'm just that that's

everyone's opinion. I'm just that that's what I think. Then on the author side, as a short story collection, I don't know if this worked especially well. It

felt quite repetitive. It felt like these stories were never intended to be presented alongside one another. In

fact, they weren't intended to ever be presented alongside one another. And it

does show. It's weird for a collection to be at once repetitive, but also to not be cohesive. You know, it also feels perhaps a little unfair that this would

be shortlisted given that it's pulled from 20 years of writing. This is 20 years of one author's writing collected into one collection, which sort of feels

like you're then comparing, you know, like a Michael Jackson greatest hits album with like the new Tate McCrae release, you know, like how can you compare those two things? I guess that

is one of the inevitable drawbacks of a book prize because this was first published in English in 2025 and so it has to be considered in the 2025 prize

circuit, prize run. So that's not really the book's fault. But for me, an International Booker Prize winner should test us and challenge us intellectually and be pushing the envelope of what's

possible with literature and words on the page. And I don't know if this felt

the page. And I don't know if this felt like it did that for me. It was

certainly challenging, but that was on like a logistical level because I had to keep Googling things, not on a kind of intellectual level. And so for me, this

intellectual level. And so for me, this didn't have a lot of momentum. It felt

laborious to read. I wasn't a massive fan of Heart Lamp, but I applaud its achievement. And at the end of the day,

achievement. And at the end of the day, what do I know? Next, shall we talk about Great Big Beautiful Life? Listen,

Emily Henry is the patron saint of romance novels. I worship the ground

romance novels. I worship the ground that she walks on. And I am saying this as someone who has read all of her books, who read Beachread for the first time in 2025 and gave it five stars,

would have given it six if I could. I'm

saying this because I know what Emily Henry is capable of. This book did not work. I affectionately refer to this

work. I affectionately refer to this book, Great Big Beautiful Life, as Great BL. And the trouble for me is this book

BL. And the trouble for me is this book was very clearly rushed. And who wants a rushed BBL? It's a blend of three

rushed BBL? It's a blend of three genres: literary fiction, romance, and a little sprinkling of mystery. However,

I'm not sure this will fully satisfy fans of any of those genres. I don't

think it succeeds particularly well at any of the three. The mystery aspect is sort of flimsy at best. It's poorly

paced and frankly a little bit gimmicky.

It feels quite tacked on at the end and without giving spoilers, we hardly actually see the two characters that the twist involves interact. So to me, it

just felt random. The romance element also felt quite underwhelming to me because the female main character, Alice, falls in love almost overnight

with a man who, aside from being tall, has very few defining characteristics or traits. I guess in tropification terms,

traits. I guess in tropification terms, you would call it grumpy exshine, but it's just odd. The second he stops glowering at her, she's just in love

with him. And I'm not convinced by that.

with him. And I'm not convinced by that.

I don't know what the real attraction is between Hayden and Alice, aside from the fact that they are just the only young people within maybe a 10 mile vicinity.

I'm not saying I'm better than that. In

fact, I'm worse. But this is just like the only person within her 10 mile radius that she comes into contact with who is her age and is like slightly handsome and suddenly she's in love with

him. Even though they have less

him. Even though they have less chemistry than like Scooter Brawn and Taylor Swift, the tension in the novel relies on the fact that Hayden and Alice are competing for the same journalistic

job. But I think that their love affair

job. But I think that their love affair needed a little bit more interrogation, perhaps a little bit more of a close reading. Then the literary fiction

reading. Then the literary fiction element of the novel manifests in a woman called Margaret who has retired from public life. She was always a bit of a socialite and she finally wants to

tell her story. So Hayden and Alice have both been brought in to kind of interview for the role and test out their writing and give her kind of sample chapters so she can choose who can best tell the story of her life. If

you are thinking this sounds a lot like reheating The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo's Nachos, well, you'd be correct. It's been done before. It's been done better. I'm

before. It's been done better. I'm

thinking of that cover Jojo Siwa did of Betty Davis's eyes. Like why are we remaking a classic? and doing it badly.

Alice interviews Margaret about her great big boring life. But large parts of Margaret's lineage could easily have been skipped over or reduced to a sentence, not a whole chapter. Suddenly,

there are all these strands. We're

learning about Margaret's grandparents, but we've only just met Margaret and we've only just met Hayden and we've only just met Alice. And so, there's a lot going on right at the beginning.

Sort of like a trumpet player who's just out of breath before he can even get to the chorus. There's just nothing left.

the chorus. There's just nothing left.

There's just too much going on right at the beginning. And I feel like probably

the beginning. And I feel like probably this book needed a lot of editing, but they didn't have enough time in their schedule of when they wanted this book to be released because Emily Henry is

just the most valuable IP in this industry right now. Put Emily Henry's name on the cover of a book and it's going to sell so many copies. I mean, I will most certainly be buying it. But I

really hope that her publishers and her editors will be committed to quality over quantity. And this, I think, is the

over quantity. And this, I think, is the latter. At one point, one of the

latter. At one point, one of the characters points out that for the people you love, you'll do anything.

They say, "You'll unmake the world and build a new one." And I think that's also true for creative pursuits. I hope

that in the future Emily Henry will love her work enough that when she delivers a draft that isn't working, she will unmake it and rebuild it and make something really strong and valuable

because her artistic legacy is important and I want her to be brilliant cuz I know that she can be. I know that she is destined for such greatness and has already achieved so much greatness. But

for me, this is a first draft that needed re-editing. Going back to the

needed re-editing. Going back to the drawing board, it honestly reads a little bit like a screenplay. And I know that she is now in the world of bookto-screen adaptations. I just hope

bookto-screen adaptations. I just hope that she still values the novel, the the book as an art form. And it's like, okay, I would love to see Emily Henry

writing for the screen, but I also want the novels to be really great as well.

And listen, like I said, I'll be in line when she's ready to deliver us a new book, but it doesn't need to be soon. I

just want to say to her, take your time and we will be patient. I promise. All

right. I'm realizing that when I said there were only two non-fiction books and then the rest were fiction, that I was actually being like a liar, liar, pants on fire because what are these two

then? These are both non-fiction. So,

then? These are both non-fiction. So,

let's talk about these and then we're done. This

done. This This is M Train. Maybe my most controversial take is I just do not care for Patty Smith's writing. I literally I feel like I need to deliver this

information from like over here from a safe distance because I'm so afraid. I

am genuinely so scared that like a mob of people wielding iced matcha lattes with two pumps of vanilla syrup will

knock down the doors of my house. So

many people worship Patty Smith and I just don't get it. This to me feels like a book that you have on your bedside table to seem edgy, to seem well read

rather than actually being well read. Is

that a fair observation? I don't know.

Honestly, I think it's more [ __ ] girl than it girl. At this stage in the game, I've really tried, but there is no money you could pay me to read another Patty Smith book. Like, there is more named

Smith book. Like, there is more named dropping here than even the Epstein files. and she will have an occasionally

files. and she will have an occasionally jaw-dropping brilliant line, but it's like thrift shopping where you kind of have to rifle through all of these horrible clothes that someone probably

like died in and then you find, you know, every three trips that you take to multiple thrift stores, you find like a gem. And I know it feels good when you

gem. And I know it feels good when you wear that garment and someone compliments you and you can say, "Thank you. I thrifted it." That's that I'm

you. I thrifted it." That's that I'm sure that's the feeling of satisfaction people get when they can say thank you I read Patty Smith. But I fear that the satisfaction of being able to say that

is more fulfilling than the process of actually reading the thing. I don't

know. Are you guys actually enjoying this or are you just skimming it? I

genuinely I am baffled. In M Train especially, she does my least favorite thing which is just recounting a bunch of dreams she had. Like oh a bunch of things that didn't happen. It felt so

mundane to me. me it felt so self-indulgent perhaps. I feel like this

self-indulgent perhaps. I feel like this book is so dull. It looks at ditch water and goes, "Ooh, that looks like a nice tequila sunrise cocktail." We're getting to the end of the video. It's getting

elaborate. I'm having to find very creative ways of saying I didn't like something. I'm begging you on my hands

something. I'm begging you on my hands and knees to read Eve Babs instead, please. And finally, my last

please. And finally, my last contribution to this list is Die Hot with a Vengeance. Love the title. Bought

it for the title. It's an essay collection that says it's about vanity.

Um, it's written by a former beauty editor. I thought it sounded really,

editor. I thought it sounded really, really fascinating, but in the end, this barely scratched the surface. I think I think by the time it was published and

by the time I then read it, it already felt outdated. And that's the issue.

felt outdated. And that's the issue.

We're talking about something so fastm moving as the beauty industry. Like

already the beauty standards had changed from what this book is detailing and describing. And we have new things like

describing. And we have new things like Ompic. And the conversation moves so

Ompic. And the conversation moves so quickly here that to me if you've spent more than one scrolling session on Tik Tok or Twitter, you've probably read most of the takes that this book

contains. I think it needed to go

contains. I think it needed to go deeper. I think it needed to illustrate

deeper. I think it needed to illustrate its points with philosophy and psychology and an analysis of the human mind. I think it needed more thoroughess

mind. I think it needed more thoroughess because this felt like a surface level excavation that just sort of dredged up a lot of soil, but we never got to the bones that are actually buried deep

beneath the earth. Like they are there and I would love to read about that and I would love to um for an analysis to go that deep. This one just doesn't. And it

that deep. This one just doesn't. And it

was frustrating because I felt like it could go further. I also do live with Jordan Theresa who is fellow YouTuber and she makes really insightful commentary videos about very similar

things and so I am very spoiled because I do feel like I could walk into my living room and hear something more interesting than this book details because Jordan is so switched on and she's always researching these things.

So like I said, I think it's just so fast moving that already the trends have changed. And I felt sort of the same

changed. And I felt sort of the same with Die Hart with a Vengeance as I did with the book Trick Mirror, which I found the first essay in that book is absolutely phenomenal. It's so great.

absolutely phenomenal. It's so great.

One of the best essays I've ever read.

But then a lot of the other essays in that collection sort of just recount things that you've probably already heard. And it becomes more of a sort of

heard. And it becomes more of a sort of regurgitation of other people's stories and events that have occurred. And if

your screen time is more than like 3 hours a day, you probably have heard them. That also occurs in this book. My

them. That also occurs in this book. My

sentiment towards a lot of these books is I just felt underwhelmed. I wanted

more from them. And I believe in the brilliance of books, right? I believe in the potential of all books to be great.

And that's where this comes from. like

this frustration when I read something that I don't enjoy comes from a place of wanting it to be brilliant and giving all books the dignity of criticism

because of course all of these books they span genres some are non-fiction some are fiction um I did not correctly count how many of each there would be but that's there you go this is about

words not numbers okay but yeah I do believe that all books whether they are fluffy romances or dystopian stories or

whatever it is, literary fiction, like everything deserves the chance to be judged and thought about critically and analytically and to be improved upon as well. So that's why I want to share I

well. So that's why I want to share I guess this feedback so that hopefully it encourages you to think about why you don't like things. Like there may be things you encounter that you don't

enjoy. My question to you always is why?

enjoy. My question to you always is why?

Tell me why. Encourage yourself to think about why. Challenge yourself to think

about why. Challenge yourself to think about why. You know, was it the pacing?

about why. You know, was it the pacing?

Was it the characters? Was it the tone?

Was it the style? Was it the level of complexity? Could it have done more?

complexity? Could it have done more?

Could it have gone a step further? Yeah.

I just always encourage you to think about why you do enjoy things and also why you don't enjoy things rather than it just being like a hated that, loved that, you know? So, that's why I think

it is important to share this analysis.

Every year, I'll be honest, I question whether I should make this video, especially now that I have like a book podcast with my Inklings book club and I regularly come into contact with authors, you know, like, is this

something I should be doing? Is this are these opinions I should be sharing? But

I do think that we should all be encouraging art to be as good as it can be. And so that is why we should share

be. And so that is why we should share our subjective opinions on the art that we consume.

I hope that makes sense. So, I hope I hope that's allowed. But yeah, this has been my worst books that I read in 2025.

I'm sorry. I'm sad. I wanted these books to be great. That's why I bought them because I thought they would be. You

know what? Sometimes I just get too curious for my own good. I had no business reading some of these books, but I I get FOMO. I get FOMO. I see

other people talking about something and I just want to know what they're talking about. So, that's why I ended up reading

about. So, that's why I ended up reading some of these. All this to say, thank you very very much for watching this video. I hope that you enjoyed. My best

video. I hope that you enjoyed. My best

books of the year video will also be coming very very soon in the next few days. So, this video may have been more

days. So, this video may have been more on the negative side, but the next video will be overwhelmingly positive. Like

there is there are not enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe how much I loved those books.

And the good news is I came up with a list of like 25 books of the best books that I read in the year and I could come up with 11 that I found to be underwhelming or disappointing. So, hey,

let's celebrate that. Thank you for being here. I love you a lot. You can

being here. I love you a lot. You can

check out all of my social media down below. I now write a column for Esquire

below. I now write a column for Esquire magazine if you're interested in hearing my seasonal book wrecks. I have a book club called Inklings Book Club, which you can come and join if you would like.

This month, we have of course been reading Wthering Heights. The whole

world is talking about it. And um I wanted us to be involved in that conversation, thinking about Emily Bronte's original source material. So,

it's been really, really fun to read alongside a community of book lovers. If

that's you, come and join us over at the Inklings Book Club. We're on

Instagram_inklings and on Fable Inklings Book Club and on Spotify and Apple Podcast as well with the Inklings Book Club podcast. So,

plenty of places you can find me. But

for now, love you to the moon and back.

See you next time. Bye-bye.