this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2025
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Unpopular Opinion

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when it comes to their books.

The way LOTR was written made it so fucking boring, I dropped it halfway through The Two Towers.

The Twilight series, on the other hand, was so entertaining that I read it till the very end. I don't care if the characters are trashy / drama is crap / whatever; I just want to be entertained.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 days ago

This is not an unpopular opinion.

It's rage bait.

[–] [email protected] 73 points 2 days ago

I upvoted because I could not disagree more.

But! No judgement from me. Everything's not for everyone. I can reread the LOTR trilogy for the 12th time or delve into the Silmarillion (basically the history of the LOTR world) and love every second. Whereas I tried to make it through the first Twilight book after watching the movie and had to put it down and take a shower. But if you like Twilight more, read that, because that's what you like! Your thoughts still have value!

[–] [email protected] 40 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Such a truly unpopular opinion. I could not disagree more, but I also think there is a difference between what you find enjoyable and objectively what is better. Something that you do not find enjoyable can still be objectively better than something you do. You might enjoy reading tabloids more than Shakespeare, that does not make tabloids better writing, just something you find more entertaining. I think that is the issue most people will have with this post.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago

there is a difference between what you find enjoyable and objectively what is better.

I am aware. The clickbait title is intentional😈

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Or you could just admit there is no objective truth when it comes to art. Maybe you are arguing tabloids are technical writings while Shakespeare wrote pieces of art?

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Fucking hell, I hate having to upvote this...so much....

Twilight is everything that is wrong with modern literature. It's dumbing down your art in order to cater to a population whose reading levels have declined to the low grade school level over the years.

Good books increase your literacy. You learn new things from reading them; new words, new phrases, etc... an author is supposed to add to the collective intelligence of the world, not debase themselves to write at a fourth grade level so that their books are more popular to incurious illiterates.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days ago

Upvoted because you are wrong

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago

You disgust me. Have an upvote.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Every book as a target audience. You don't like it, fine.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Quality of content vs engaging presentation. I can understand this despite my loathing of Twilight

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I hate everything about this post

But you really might like Percy Jackson books.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)

But you really might like Percy Jackson books.

I do.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Have either of you read the Pendragon series by D.J. McHale? If you liked Percy Jackson, you'll probably enjoy them as well. I really enjoyed the audio books.

I don't know how to tag/ping people on Lemmy, so i hope u/surewhynotlem sees this as well. @surewhynotlem (<- just checking if that works)

Have a great day!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Thanks for the recommendation.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Me too. It's wonderful brain candy

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

That what Lit RPG is for me

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 days ago

At least you admit you are only there for jangling keys.

You would love early 2000s YA fiction. Have fun.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Did you read the Hobbit? Might be more your speed. I'd also most highly recommend The Children of Hurin.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Thats a unique way to call someone a dumb sibling fucker

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You might as well just start insisting that green is actually red, because that is how hilariously, ridiculously, mind-numbingly wrong you are.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Opinions are never wrong. They are just popular or unpopular :)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

That's like just your opinion man

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

I was about to come in here guns blazing, but I did read twilight in high school. I tried to read LOTR but I tapped out 100 pages in. It's just. So. Dry.

So well played, fuck you.

[–] notnotmike 14 points 2 days ago

Reminder that "Vote the opposition of the norm"

If you agree that the opinion is unpopular give it an arrow up. If it’s something that’s widely accepted, give it an arrow down.

You definitely get an upvote from me

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Hmmm. I like The Lord of the Rings more overall, but it could feel...draggy at points.

The only part in the first two Twilight books I liked when I was was told to read them when I worked at Borders was her use of empty chapters to represent depression and the passage of time. I'm a sucker for using the medium like that.

I should read House of Leaves.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

House of Leaves drags at times. At times it's gripping, and at times I was bored stiff. It's interesting, I think it's nutty, I think it's a real reach and ought to be lauded, but I just never thought it was that good. I've discovered I'm just a sucker for classic epic fantasy though, so perhaps it just weren't for me. I also read it 20 years ago at this point, and so perhaps with my maturity I might enjoy another read. My brother in law just got me a copy actually, which is good because my original copy disappeared.

I never read Twilight so I have nothing to add there.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It still feels like something I should try and read, House of Leaves. I don't think I'll suuuuper enjoy it, mostly because horror is very much not my jam, but use of medium very much is!

Twilight was easy to read is another bonus for it. You can tear through them quickly. Which is what I did when told I had to read them by my boss. I read the first two in...twoish days, returned them, said "Okay I've read the first two, please don't make me read more" and she said okay.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Just curious, why did your boss require you to read Twilight?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It was Borders and sometimes she just wanted us to read a popular book so we could talk to customers about it. It was right before the midnight release of the 4th book, and I'd be register that night, so she wanted me to...try and talk about it, I guess.

I just sold them the books and wished them a good night and hoped they enjoyed it instead!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Have worked at Barnes and Noble before, the Harry Potter Craze was insane, I get it

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago

This is such an insane take I love it

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Trashy romance novels are also apparently entertaining but that doesn't make them good literature. Twilight may be entertaining but the terrible grammar, word choice and plot make it a joke. Its the reality TV of novels.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The first book of twilight was far more compelling to read than the first book of LOTR. It almost felt like I was being trolled with how many pages are spent describing mundane nonsense in LOTR.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

Haven’t tried to read Twilight, but I tried to read LOTR and couldn’t because it was so fricking boring

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The ridiculous amount of songs and poems in the LOTR books were incredibly boring. They're certainly not page turners. Very slow pacing and often overly detailed descriptions abound.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

You're not wrong. But also I don't think it would be quite the same without, and the tedious display of reverance for song and poetry contributes something very human (and often beyond human) to many of the characters.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm with the OP, I gave it a shot but the songs and poems were a negative for me too. I just started skipping them, and also skipping most of the giant paragraphs detailing what a broom looked like or how a piece of ham glistened or whatever.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

giant paragraphs detailing what a broom looked like or how a piece of ham glistened or whatever

I genuinely don't even know where that is coming from. He is known for lengthy description of landscape and geographical features, and that critique would be valid, but... not about trivial details about random objects like this? Huh??

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 hours ago

Well I was making an attempt at humor there, maybe not entirely fair. I do remember descriptions around feasts and stuff like that being overly long, but they might not have included descriptions of mundane objects like I was implying.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You like what you like. I prefer science fiction myself. I tried reading the first LOTR book and I couldn't get through it bcz it had like 2 straight pages describing the scenery.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Followed by two more pages describing each piece of food on the table in as much detail as possible.

Lotr was clearly written when people had more time on their hands.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Lotr's time use and verbosity is nothing to me, I've read Robert Jordan's works.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 hours ago

This is all based on my weak memory, but I read maybe half Robert Jordan's wheel of time and dont remember having the same issue. I can't remember why I didnt finish the series though, so maybe it was a bit too drawn out for me after all.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

LotR is really, really old. It's another time with different reading habits and writing culture. It's just logical it can't really compete with current literature. It might beba masterpiece but when the audience changes its just not so appealing anymore.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I totally agree and I hate myself for it. I only got a few chapters into the Two Towers. I did read all of the Hobbit though

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I think this is the first time an opinion has triggered my gag reflex.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 2 days ago

Lotr is boring as fuck but twilight is garbage pap. I cant read either