Video summary
In this episode of Top 5 Friday, the host discusses five award-winning books that he personally failed to enjoy despite their critical acclaim and prestigious accolades like the National Book Award, Bram Stoker Award, and Pulitzer Prize. He emphasizes that his negative reactions are entirely subjective issues rather than flaws in the writing itself, framing them as a "me problem" where personal taste clashes with specific narrative styles or themes. The first book he examines is *Flashlight* by Susan Choi, which won the National Book Award; while he appreciated the prose and enjoyed most of the plot, he felt disconnected from the character Ann after the initial chapters and simply did not care about her journey later in the story, leading to a lack of emotional investment despite the novel's overall quality.
The host then moves on to works by William Faulkner, specifically *A Fable*, which also secured a National Book Award for its short story collection and novel form. He admits that he stopped reading halfway through because the dense writing style left him completely confused regarding plot developments and character motivations, ultimately deciding never to read another book by this author again. Similarly, he struggles with John O'Hara's *Ten North Frederick*, finding it difficult to maintain focus as a chore rather than an enjoyable experience; although he finds moments of humor in the dark political satire involving secret scandals among politicians, he feels like an outsider looking into a world that lacks character depth and flow for him. He also mentions having tried reading Faulkner's *As I Lay Dying* multiple times but only managed to understand it partially before giving up on the author entirely.
The fourth book discussed is Tom Deddy's *Haven*, which won the Bram Stoker Award, a prize the host believes often functions as a popularity contest rather than a measure of literary merit. He criticizes the novel for feeling like glorified fan fiction that borrows heavily from established horror masters like Stephen King and Clive Barker without adding enough originality to deserve such high praise. The final entry on his list is Larry McMurtry's *Lonesome Dove*, which won the Pulitzer Prize, a book he has attempted to read at least ten times throughout his life but consistently puts down after two hundred pages due to his personal dislike for Westerns and baseball, genres heavily featured in the story. He acknowledges that these preferences might stem from childhood influences involving his father's movie choices rather than any objective failure of the books themselves.
Ultimately, the host concludes by reiterating that while he respects these works as award winners and likely great literature to others, they simply do not resonate with him personally. He expresses particular regret over disliking *Flashlight* because it was so highly praised by everyone else after winning its major award, yet for him, it felt like a book that came out of nowhere without connecting emotionally. Although he recognizes potential biases in his critiques—such as being an Asian-American reader who might miss cultural nuances or having generational dislikes for Westerns—he stands firm in the belief that these are five excellent books that just do not work for his specific tastes, and he invites viewers to share their thoughts on whether they can convince him to finish any of the unfinished titles.
Read the full video transcript
I got the air conditioning off so I can
sweat because people don't like the
sound and the hum and the hiss and the
Hello everybody. E here. Welcome back to
Top 5 Friday. Today, we are talking
about five award-winning
books that I just didn't love. Um, I do
own one of these. Yeah, one. Actually, I
own two. Let me go get it. So, yeah, I
own two of them. The other ones I I do
not own. Um, but I I tried an e-book. I
tested them out.
I did finish one of them. Two were DNFs
and then the other two I own. Anyway, so
these are books that
it's one of those type things. It's like
it's not you, it's me type type
You know, it's it's not you, it's
not the book, it's me. And I'll explain
why I didn't like any of them. So,
recently I finished Flashlight by Susan
Choi.
Um, loved the writing.
For the most part, I loved everything
that happened in the book. Not loved, I
mean I enjoyed the book overall.
Um, I really really liked the the final
the final paragraph. Actually, the final
chapter from Louise's point of view.
Um,
I I just didn't I don't know why, man. I
just didn't care.
Um, it just the Ann was a great
character and I really latched on to
her, but there's not much from Ann's
perspective. There is a lot up front
from her perspective and the stuff where
she like meets the neighbor and I wanted
more of that. I wanted more of that type
of thing. Now Now, this book did win the
National Book Award. So, you know, take
what I'm saying with a grain of salt. It
did win the National Book Award. People
seem to love it.
I have not read anything else by this
author. This book kind of came out of
nowhere for me.
I did see a couple of the other books
that were up for nominations coming. I
saw the nominations coming is what I'm
talking about. But for the most part, I
just I don't know. This one didn't gel
with me even though it is a good book.
Next up, we're going to speedrun the
next two because I've already done
videos on one of them.
The next one is a fable by William
Faulkner. He won the National Book Award
in the '50s at some point in time for a
short story collection and for this
novel.
I got halfway through this and I just I
wrote I put it down one night and I
realized that I have no idea anything
that I've read.
I went back and tried reading closer. I
still did not understand what was going
on. I did not understand the the
importance of some passages. Could I
have you know made a college course of
this? Yes, but that's not why I'm
reading the National Book Award winners.
I'm reading the National Book Award
winners because the vast majority of the
books that I love and like my top 20
list are National Book Award winners.
But this one man, just Faulkner in
general, I'm going to I'm going to give
a hard pass to from here on out and I
know I'm going to see the Faulkner fans
down there. Hey Rudy,
you got to try this one next. You got to
try that one. I did I did As I Lay Dying
and it was all right. I didn't love it,
but I understood that one for the most
part. Next up, we have one that I have
not finished yet. Do I plan on finishing
it? I don't know because I'm enjoying
it, but every time I pick it up
every time I put it down, it's like it's
a chore to go back to it. And I found
myself time and time again after reading
like 10 to 20 pages going, "Let me read
something else for a bit and come back
to this one." And that is 10 North
Frederick by John O'Hara.
And this one won the National Book Award
right after A Fable won cuz I'm reading
them in order of winning.
And the
it's really funny book, really funny
circumstances uh a very dark situation.
Uh politician has just died and
everybody's coming out of the woodwork
talking about who's gay and who's uh
who's actually secretly broke and uh it
this man of God he's not really
Christian, you know, so on and so forth.
Um and I'm just not gelling with it. Uh
every time I go back to it I do I'm
enjoying it while I'm reading it, but
that's the vast majority of what I read.
I don't think that you can judge whether
or not you are in enjoying something if
you're only able to uh you can judge it,
but uh
I'm I'm not able to get into the flow of
the book. I don't feel the book. The
book isn't a world that I'm living in.
It's I'm an outsider and it's honestly,
it's almost like reading a really funny
newspaper. Um where you're getting the
pertinent facts, but other than that,
it's kind of void of everything that I
like reading about and most of that is
character development. Now, could it
still be coming? It could be.
I'm 106 pages into a 400 page book.
So, all the character development's
usually up front.
I don't know. Did you Did you read it?
Try try to talk me into it down there in
the doobly-doo. Okay, so the next one is
one that I am I'm not going to talk
about in detail, but it's one that I
have a big problem with and I usually
don't talk about it because I do not
want to give it any more uh publicity
than I think that it deserves. Um I do
not know this author even though I'm in
the book community's kind of sort of in
the horror community or I was at the
time that this book won the award.
Um this is also one of the books that
kind of not kind of it made me back away
from the horror community. I like if
this is the best they got,
we're in trouble and that is Tom Deddy's
Haven.
Uh it's a Stephen King light uh small
town horror coming of age not coming of
age, sorry. It's about a a a guy who's
sent uh wrongly convicted of killing
some kids and he comes back to his
hometown, and the killing start again.
There's monsters and whatnot. You know
the setup. You've read it a hundred
billion times.
Um in fact, the only recent like
small-town horror that I've really
really liked is Devil's Creek by Todd
Keisling. Um but yeah, Haven won the
Bram Stoker Award.
And I just couldn't help I think it was
put out by Cemetery Dance, and I
couldn't help that that was part of it.
Um the the publisher was part of it. Uh
getting it just the
a lot of awards are popularity contests.
Bram Stoker Award has always been a
popularity contest. And some people say,
"Well, yeah, if it's popular, it should
win."
Yeah, to some extent. Um if you edit
your book well, um if if you, you know,
don't have glaringly obvious errors, and
if you don't rip off like 10 different
authors to to write that book. Um I
don't I I once again, I don't know Tom
Dady. He might be the the nicest person
on the face of the planet, but this book
did not deserve to win any awards,
um much less the Bram Stoker Award. Uh
so, it literally This is the book that
If you're looking is like, "Why doesn't
he do awards?" By the way, I have been
nominated for numerous awards in the
horror community, Splatterpunk Awards,
all all these things, and I have told
the people who contacted me about it
that I didn't want to be involved. So, I
I pulled myself away from it. It's like,
"Oh, that's fan- fancy coming from
someone who's never won anything."
I That was my choice.
Anyways, um so, whether it be the Stoker
Award, whether it be uh Splatterpunk
Awards, any of those things, people have
come to me and say, "Hey, I'd like to
nominate this." And I've been, "No,
thank you." Um because I'm not here for
the awards. I'm just here to write my
books and to entertain people. That's
That's all I want to do is tell my
stories and have fun. I don't want to
I'm not part of the cliques. I'm not
part of any of that stuff.
Uh but yeah, so Haven uh it is one of
those books that I think it is
reductive. I I think it is uh far in
superior it is far far away from the
authors that the book rips off. Whether
that be King, Straub, Clive Barker, any
of those things. This feels like
glorified fan fiction. And then here at
the end we have one that is going to
piss off even more people. Um and that's
a Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.
Um I don't I I've tried reading this
book
um
many times throughout my life. I would
say and I'm not exaggerating, no
hyperbole,
I would say at least 10 times I have
opened up this book, gotten two to 300
pages in and put it down and just said,
"I don't care." Which is funny because
it won the Pulitzer Prize Award. It won
the Pulitzer.
And everybody says for the character
work. I I maybe it's part it could be
some of my like in in
inner bias.
Uh my dad all he watched when I me and
my dad didn't get along, all he watched
when I was growing up was John Wayne
Westerns, just the Westerns, none of his
other stuff. The Westerns and uh
baseball. I hate baseball and I hate
Westerns. So, could that be my problem?
Like I said at the beginning, this is a
me problem. This entire thing is a me
problem. It is not
you, book. It is me. But yeah, that's uh
that's five of them. Um I I don't I I
don't like crapping on books um but uh
ha- Haven is the the one exclusion here.
I mean I just I I'm floored. I'm still
floored that that one won.
Uh but yeah, the rest of them
I mean I'm sure they're great. I just
either can't get through them or I did
not see the point. And I really hate
that I didn't like Flashlight because
everyone was all everyone was talking
about it, especially after it won. But
for me it just kind of came out of
nowhere and I think the other books that
were nominated for the first time I'm
saying this, I think the other books
some of the other books that were
nominated would have been a better pick.
Does that make me biased? It could. Um
but I also am not an Asian-American. I
am I'm just a white dude. I I may not I
may have missed some of the stuff that's
important
to to understand the the the Korean
aspect, the Japanese aspect, all the
stuff that this that this book really
hinges on.
I did not feel the characters came
together well. I'm talking about it
after already talking about it. It's
over and done with. If you already
clicked away, you already clicked away.
No need to defend my point anymore.
Anyways, it is currently 95° in my
office cuz I got to turn the air
conditioning off so I can sensitive
ears. I get it. I get it. The beginning
of the video was a joke. But anyways, so
have you read any of these books? Would
you like to convince me to finish any of
them, the ones that I didn't finish? Let
me know down in the doolie deal, but
until next time, I have been you, you
have been me. This has been another top
five Friday. I'll talk to you guys
later. Bye-bye.