May 2026 List of the Month: Books We Resisted Reading

Sometimes we resist reading specific books. Perhaps they're too popular, and we think they can never live up to the hype. Perhaps we've heard something we don't like about the author. Perhaps we just dislike the cover, or have reasons entirely our own. Our May 2026 List of the Month is devoted to the Books We Resisted Reading.

Each member may add ten titles, and is encouraged to add notes explaining why they resisted that book, and whether they eventually changed their mind.

For a complete list of topics covered so far in our project, please see the section for Lists of the Month on the Zeitgeist page

We would welcome suggestions for future lists. Please add them here, and we will keep them in mind, going forward.

"Resisted" implies that we did eventually change our minds, which doesn't seem to be your intent from the rest of what you wrote.

I've only come up with two titles, but they were both books that I did read after previously deciding not to.

I'll have to think on this. I've resisted thousands of books (anything that won a major mainstream literary award, most of what's featured on Canada Reads, etc.), to the point where it's not worth even trying to list them.

Can't think of anything I resisted that turned out to be something I actually appreciated later, but maybe something will come to me.

>3 paradoxosalpha: That’s the best kind to put on the list, IMO, especially with your comments about what you thought after reading them. I’m very interested in hearing about any books I’m resisting reading from those who were also dubious about them.

The second volume of Poetics, because it is poisonous.

That book in the game Anchorhead where you go mad if you finish it.

You know, I'd rather list books I read and wished I hadn't because they were so dire. By dire, I don't mean in terms of the subject matter, but in terms of being overhyped, badly written, just plain wrong, and so on. I can think of multiple books in that category - most Victorian era authors on the grounds of turgid moralising for a start.

I like the variety of ways this can be interpreted, and I've tried to cover all the bases. Something I never intend to read, something I didn't but eventually did and was glad, something I eventually did and wasn't so glad, something I've always thought I should but keep putting it off, and something that's just plain funny to include.

>7 Maddz:

Ooh, that would be a fun list! I vote for it.

>7 Maddz:, I'd expect we won't be trying that. The list would be topped by books of various religions, cults, political parties, etc. A recipe for unfriendly fireworks.

>11 Cecrow: Well, it could be qualified as novels we read and wished we hadn't (which would hopefully weed out the non-fiction and religious stuff). Hmm, where would L Ron Hubbard's oeuvre sit on that spectrum?

What? No one listed Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow?

>13 namfos: I never resisted Gravity's Rainbow! I devoted an entire spring break to it on my own initiative when I was in college.

>13 namfos:, might have been appropriate for me, now you mention it. I finally sampled Pynchon this year but chose Vineland, given the recent movie "One Battle After Another". Turns out it's one of his lowest rated novels so I'd like to sample more. GR seems the obvious choice, but anything too psychedelic isn't going to interest me. I'm now leaning towards Mason & Dixon instead.

I guess I resisted Stephenson's Anathem. I mean, it sounded attractive, but I didn't pursue it. And even after I picked up a nice copy for a song at a friends of the library book sale, I really wasn't willing to tackle it for a full year. I'm 90% of the way through it right now, and likely to finish it by tomorrow. In which event, it will have taken me only a week of reading.

>15 Cecrow:

I had only read Crying of Lot 49 when I picked up Mason & Dixon, and was not disappointed -- M&D is a fun read, and complex but not inherently difficult to follow. Have GR on my shelves but expect it will be a different kind of read, happy to wait for the right time -- similar to my outlook for Joyce's Ulysses. Could easily see myself reading other Pynchon before GR, though: one of his noir entries, perhaps.

After reading the Hunchback of Notre Dame - which I did not enjoy - I resisted reading Les Miserables. Now this is my daughter-in-law's favourite book. So I found an edition - all five volumes! It's on the shelf, but I cannot even begin to think about tackling it.

>18 Blythewood: But how else are you going to learn about the 19th century Paris sewer system?

I resisted "Atlas Shrugged" after having someone recommend it to me because it just seemed too dang long. I don't mind a chonky book at all--if the author knows what they're doing, you don't notice how long the book is--but it didn't seem particularly interesting to me.

About fifteen or twenty years ago I finally relented (I don't remember why) and gave it a read. And I found I was mistaken. Not only was it long, it was the most excruciatingly boring book I've ever read in my life. Also full of unsettling tropes. Yikes. Lesson learned.