Have you tried reading a book because everyone has been talking about it? Have you read a book because your friends highly recommend it? What about your experience on reading it? Did it meet your expectations or it just let you down?


I’ve been hearing a lot of good reviews about these particular books that I considered as the hyped ones. Sometimes, I’m tempted to try reading them and see why they like it. But, most of the time, I end up not liking it the way the others do.

I know that you all have these friends who always tell you and encourage you to buy and to read the book they keep on obsessing about. They sometimes exaggerated the way they talk about it just to make it looks interesting enough for you to fall on their request to give it a try.

Yesterday, I tried asking my fellow bookworms about the hyped books that just disappointed them. The books that belong to the top 5 are 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James, Paper Towns by John Green, Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, and The Selection Series by Kiera Cass.

I also asked them why they don’t like it and most of them said that the plot or concept might be great but the way it was deliver was awful and kind of boring. They also said that they only liked the first book in the series and the remaining books seem rushed. Another thing is the poor development and inconsistency of the plot and/or the characters. And lastly, someone answered that the writing is good but the story is not.

So, knowing why someone just put the book down even if a lot of people talks about it just make me understand that hyped books don’t always guarantee you a good read. Instead, it only became popular because of the big money spent on marketing the said books.

Not all hyped books are bad either. Remember that there are also some that really deserved their titles. Harry Potter Series would be one that until now still makes some buzz around the world.

From my experience, only some of those hyped books really made me liked them. So, when there’s a book that everyone is talking about, I tend to ignore them. I will just put the books on my “read-when-hyped-is-down” list and try to find an undiscovered gem which is much better – most of the time – than those hyped books.

The decision of labelling hyped books as worth reading depends on us. It is us who make it popular by telling our friends how good the book is and by recommending it to the other people. We just can’t blame them if they happened to hate it. It is not your fault if a lot of people are disappointed because the book didn’t meet their expectations. Always remember that each of us have different taste when it comes to books. Just keep on discovering new books and enjoy reading it. Don't let the others affect your decision on whether to read the book you picked or not.


How about you? Do you think hyped books are worth reading?

Published by A. J. Busia