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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41417
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41417
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **Short answer:** J.K. Rowling claims never to have read a fantasy book in her life, and she did just fine. For that matter, J.R.R. Tolkien hadn't read much fantasy either.

**Long answer:** _who_ considers the books on your list "best" in their genre? I haven't heard anything other than ridicule for _Wheel of Time_ and _Shannara_, and I'm not too fond of _Harry Potter_ either (nothing"obvious" about liking that series). _The Lord of the Rings_ is for me a life-changing classic on par with Hemingway, but then a lot of people don't enjoy reading Hemingway. People are different in their likes and dislikes.

Be analytical in your reading: if you like a book, what is it about it that makes it "work" for you? If you don't like it, what "doesn't work"? @Weathervane gives a good explanation on this. Any book has its strengths and weaknesses. Try to find those in the books you are reading, learn from the strengths, avoid the weaknesses. If you fear that you're "missing something", it might be enlightening to talk to someone who liked those books: maybe you did miss something, maybe it's they who missed some problems, and maybe it's just that they weigh the relative strengths and weaknesses of the book differently from you.

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the book he wanted to read, because it had not been written yet. So can you, if you find out what it is that you want to read, and what it is that makes you turn away from a book.

Original score: 66