Top Ten Tuesday: Unpopular Book Opinions

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week, I’m putting on my armor and confessing my unpopular book-related opinions. Please don’t hate me! I swear I’m a good person!

Unpopular Book Opinions

1. Super-popular authors whose work I can’t seem to get into no matter how hard I try: Cassandra Clare, Veronica Roth, Gayle Forman, James Patterson, Brandon Sanderson, Marissa Meyer, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce.

2. I like the Game of Thrones TV show more than the books. I know the show has (many, many) problems, but I can re-watch the TV series without getting bored. Reading the books will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime thing. They’re too long. Each one takes me a month to read. The show gets to the point a lot faster by leaving out minor characters and plotlines.

3. I’m not bored with young adult dystopias. Remember the dystopia craze that happened 5-10 years ago? There were suddenly a billion YA dystopias, and everybody got burnt out on them and begged publishers to stop? I’ve recovered from my burn out! Please bring back all of the dystopias! Make them unique, though. My burn out happened because the books became too similar.

4. The house system at Hogwarts is a terrible way to organize a school. It’s unnecessarily divisive. Before Harry starts school, Hagrid—a Hogwarts employee—tells him that evil wizards come from Slytherin. Ron also says negative things about Slytherins when Harry first meets him. When Malfoy and Harry meet, Malfoy bashes Hufflepuffs. Harry is prejudiced against Slytherins for his entire school experience. Also, the students complain that some teachers give kids from their own houses preferential treatment. The house system causes pointless drama. Teenagers manufacture enough drama on their own. They don’t need a school or its employees giving them superficial reasons to dislike each other.

5. Dear Martin and How It Went Down are better than The Hate U Give in every way. All three books have similar themes, but The Hate U Give gets most of the hype. I think Dear Martin and How It Went Down are more innovative.

6. I actually enjoy reading classics (most of the time). Yes, they’re dated. Yes, they’re challenging. I like them because they helped shape our current culture. I feel like I understand storytelling and modern literature better because I’ve read so many old books.

7. Art, music, and sports are boring to read about. These things are great in real life, but they don’t translate well into writing because they’re meant to be experienced firsthand. Reading about a game is never as fun as sitting in the stadium with your friends. When you’re reading descriptions of art, music, or sports instead of living through them, they lose their excitement.

8. People shouldn’t rate/review books they haven’t read on Goodreads. I’ve seen this happen a few times: Someone reads an advanced reader copy, hates the book, and posts a long rant. Then other people post reviews that say, “This reviewer hated the book, so I hate it too.” Maybe you should wait for more reviews before you parrot the first person to post a rant. Your perspective might change if you listen to more people. Or, focus your energy on boosting books you love rather than tearing down books you haven’t read.

9. The romances in many young adult books are unnecessary. There seems to be a secret rule that YA books need romances. This sometimes leads to books where the romance feels like an underdeveloped afterthought. It’s okay to be single! I would rather read about a single character than a half-baked romance.

10. If you’ve read J.R.R Tolkien's books, you’ve read pretty much every high fantasy book. Historical settings, kings and queens, good vs evil themes, magical quests, wars, prophesied “chosen one” characters. Every time I read the synopsis of a high fantasy book, I get déjà vu. They all sound the same to me.

Do you have any unpopular book opinions?