The Stand

Really tried, but couldn't stick with it. The stories were somewhat compelling, but there was just too much exposition that didn't seem relevant to the story overrall. I don't always consider that a bad thing, but didn't find that it was worth the cost in the end.

Also, it seemed so odd to me that even as people were clearly dying from a plague that was highly contagious, characters still consistently seemed to seek out other people while taking no precautions like masks or distancing. I guess that's the hindsight that Covid provides us now, but it made the book less believable.

And on that note, I found the supernatural elements to be unnecessary. There was so much to draw from already - lab leak, government cover-up and misinformation, apocolypse, dissolution of society, etc. that the fantastical elements were a bit overkill. But I'm willing to concede that perhaps it would have all made sense in the end if I could have stuck to it.