I often put off reading books that get really good reviews

I often find myself stuck in a repeating pattern of putting off books that get great press — whether it’s due to intimidation or the desire to wait for the right moment to read them, there are some books I just can’t get myself to start. I’ll wait patiently and diligently for my favorite author’s new book to come out, buy it immediately and then let it sit on my shelf for a year before finally giving it a chance. In an unexpected test of delayed gratification, I’ll even put a book I feel I need to read immediately on hold at my local library, just to let my eventual borrowing lapse without reading a single page. With my vulnerable admission aside, I can attest that it’s hard to commit to a book, even when the reviews are that good. But, as it tends to be the case with me, these books usually end up blowing my mind once I read them. My favorite author rarely disappoints me, the book that everyone adores turns out to be pretty remarkable and the novel that everyone says will be a classic in ten years is actually worth reading. Here are some books that I put off for way too long and wish I had read sooner. 

“Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn 

If you haven’t heard of “Gone Girl” by now, I’m convinced you’ve been living under a rock. The psychological thriller novel published in 2012 follows Nick Dunne, a husband who comes home from work to find his wife missing and a crime scene in his house that leaves him just as confused as the cops. As these stories usually unfold, Dunne quickly starts to be suspected of being at the root of his wife’s disappearance, and the more we learn about his and his wife’s life together, the more we question what is being left out of his side of the story. 

Finding this book across the ocean in Madrid with a friend in my ear telling me how amazing it was is what finally got me to pick up the book and start reading it. What initially put me off from reading this book, I can’t say — but after finally breaking into it what I can say is that I was a fool for putting it off. Yes, everyone was right: This book was worth the read. Had most parts been spoiled for me already? Yes. Did I still enjoy it nonetheless? Absolutely.

“Beautiful World, Where Are You” by Sally Rooney

“Beautiful World, Where Are You” is a contemporary fiction novel that invites readers to investigate their place in the world through the perspectives of best friends Eileen and Alice. While leading completely detached lives — from physical separation to emotional — the best friends remain in constant contact through their letters, which span in subject matter from philosophical debates to complaints about their respective lives. While some books that try too hard to discuss current events often come off as overwritten (I seldom want to read about the pandemic: I lived through it), Rooney offers a fresh perspective through characters that are well-rounded and poignantly aware of the world around them. 

I saved this book on Goodreads and bought it the second it came out, just for it to sit on my bookshelves collecting dust for months, all for the fear of Rooney’s newest novel not living up to her past work. But ever since I overcame my delusion and picked up the book, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. I devoured this story in two days, walked away from it thinking about my place in the world and learned a little bit about myself in the process. 

“Anxious People” by Fredrik Backman 

What do you do when you’re at an open house, fighting over a mediocre apartment and a bank robber suddenly bursts in and holds you hostage? You might’ve never thought about this before now, but Frederik Backman masterfully explores this possibility through a fully realized cast of characters that have no business being in the same room as one another. From a rich and obnoxious bank director to young soon-to-be moms to eccentric fixer-uppers and even the first responders on the scene, Backman creates a story that frustrates you as much as it warms your heart while also keeping you turning the page to find the truth behind this absurd scenario. As you wait for the other shoe to drop, you continuously fall further in love with the characters you’re reading about; Backman has always had a masterful power to weave storylines and characters together through the most absurd of realities, and there’s no absence of this skill here. 

Again, I put off reading this novel for years because I was worried it couldn’t possibly live up to Backman’s previous work that I love so much. Again, I was wrong (do we sense the emerging pattern here?). This novel is as bizarre as it is philosophical and as funny as it is serious. It has the unique ability to make me laugh and cry on the same page and I’m so happy I finally picked it up. 

“Sea of Tranquility” by Emily St. John Mandel

“Sea of Tranquility” is a novel I’ve seen on every must-read shelf of every bookstore I’ve walked into for the last year, and now I finally get why. In her time-traveling science fiction novel, Emily St. John Mandel takes three completely different storylines set hundreds of years apart and weaves them together with an anomaly that comes in the form of a violin tune. The novel jumps through time — from Edwin St. Andrew’s exploration of the “New World” in 1912 to moon colonist Olive Llewellyn’s book tour on Earth in 2203 to the detective ​​Gaspery-Jacques Roberts investigation into the anomaly in 2401 — and in doing so Mandel creates a world we recognize alongside new ones that might just be our future. As much as this novel is science fiction, it’s also a page-turning mystery, one that will make your heartburn and bring tears to your eyes when you flip to the final page. 

It took my dad gifting me this book for Christmas to finally pick it up and dive in, to which I owe him my deepest gratitude. Before reading it, I was overwhelmed by the different storylines promised on the back cover, dubious that they could really all be written so harmoniously. Mandel proved me wrong by creating a story that beautifully explores the human condition across time, space and sickness.

Daily Arts Writer Logan Brown can be reached at loganvb@umich.edu.

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