Is anyone else partaking? If so, what are some of your picks?

https://www.the52book.club/2026-reading-challenge/

i recently read a book i really enjoyed (kinda nasty and disturbing, unlikeable MC) and checked some reviews shocked that a lot of people were giving it 1 star— a lot of the time just saying that the book was too nasty for them, or that the MC was unlikeable/unrelatable, or something along those lines.

i was a little confused because in my head, that means that the author did a good job because their intention was to disturb and create an unlikeable character. to give a book one star under that reasoning makes me think that many are solely rating based on personal enjoyment, but because personal enjoyment does not equal bad quality or bad work, necessarily.

it frustrates me a little bit because it makes me feel as though authors hard work is being watered down at times just based on reviews that are rating low bc the book isn’t their vibe, when the book was genuinely intended to make you feel that way. i feel like we are missing a lot of nuance in rating and that it might negatively effect authors because of how much ratings matter for them in the publishing world…

imo we should be doing overall ratings a little bit more critically because of our consumer responsibility and not just solely by enjoyment, but i want to hear what others think about this!!

(and this is not to say that i don’t think personal enjoyment matters, but i don’t think it should be the defining factor in overall star ratings!!)

Every book shows more depth to Carl and Donut while allowing the reader to have a comedic relief given the challenges and struggles that the main characters have to go through. I'm happy for the author and picking Jeff Hays as the narrator for the audiobooks is chefs kiss 🤌🏻.

2026 is the year to conquer big books. Excited for this one!