Tuesday, May 30, 2023

What Makes Me Avoid A Book?


Last week, I listed some of the reasons I will add a book to my to-be-read mountain. Today, we're going to talk about the opposite. What makes me run away from a book and refuse to read it?

(Warning: I sound like a complete asshat in this post. I'm sorry! I swear I'm nice! Well, mostly nice.)

Let's get into it:




🙈  What Makes Me Avoid A Book?  ⛔





Amateurish Or Unfinished Projects



This is mostly a problem with self-published books. If you've been around this blog before, then you know I'm a pretentious snob. I used to work in publishing and have seen many books go from draft to finished product. If I read a book's sample pages on Amazon and am reminded of an editor's slush pile, I won't read it. I can tell if a book has been professionally edited.





Too Abstract, Experimental, Or Dense



I loved college and am thrilled I got the opportunity to go, but I'm also thrilled I never have to go back. I don't want to read super challenging books anymore. I don't want to spend a whole semester trying to sort out what an author is saying. I'm too tired for that!





Is This A Romance Or Not?



Sometimes I read the first paragraph of a synopsis and think, Yes! This book is for me. Then the rest of the synopsis is about the characters falling in love, and I feel my excitement dying. I'm not a huge fan of romance. I don't want to read a romance book with an interesting subplot. I want to read an interesting book with a romance subplot. There's a big difference!





It's Too Close To My Real Life



Some people want to see themselves in literature. I'm usually not one of those people! If a book sounds too similar to my real life, I'm temped to run in the opposite direction. If a book's synopsis mentions drug addiction or sexual assault, I'm out. I've seen enough of that nonsense to last me a lifetime. I want my books to be real, but not too real!





I'm Burnt Out On The Book's Genre



I live in an area of Colorado known as The Fox News Cinematic Universe. I mean . . . have you seen how Lauren Boebert behaves in public? Yikes. My parents and neighbors are her supporters. I want to understand the people around me, so I read approximately one zillion books about their beliefs, and then I got discouraged. It's hard to stay engaged and compassionate with people who passionately hate you. I read so many books about politics and sociology that I'm burnt out. I'm tempted to donate all my books and adopt the Darkling's attitude from that GIF ^^.





I'm An Insufferable Know-It-All



Everybody is an expert at something. It could be a job, a hobby, or even a health problem. Occasionally, I'll read the synopsis of a book and go, "Umm . . . I have a feeling the author doesn't understand what they're writing about."





The Author Is A Jerk On Social Media



Some readers are great at separating an author and their work. I'm not one of those readers. I love talking about books on the internet. If an author is a jerk to readers who criticizes their work, I probably won't read their work. I don't want a random author and their angry fandom jumping into my DMs. No book is worth that stress. 





Too Much Dialect & No Audiobook



I'm a slow reader. Having to read dialect slows me down even more. If I'm slogging through a book, I'll probably feel stupid and quit. If a story has a ton of dialect, there better be an audiobook edition. I'm going to need it.





It's A Genre That's Not For Me



I read widely and am pretty good at knowing which genres I like. I usually want character-driven stories with strong settings and poetic writing. Some genres have other priorities. I know those books aren't for me.





Art, Music, Or Sports



Watching hockey is one of my favorite things. Reading hockey is boring. Some stuff just doesn't translate to fiction. I love looking at art and listening to music, but reading descriptions of those things does nothing for me. I usually avoid books that have a big focus on art, music, or sports.









What makes you avoid a book?






17 comments:

  1. Agree with certain genres just not being for me, and I generally avoid literary fiction because I just don't want to think that hard about my books.

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  2. These all make perfect sense! Bad editing is something that turns me off, too.

    Here is my Top Ten Tuesday post.

    Lydia

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  3. Great TTT list! I don't enjoy dense or experimental books either.

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  4. Agreed on Certain Genres. Here is my post-https://paigesofnovels.com/2023/05/30/top-ten-five-tuesday-things-that-make-me-not-want-to-read-a-book/.

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  5. I like watching hockey, too, but probably wouldn't read a book about it either. I'm not a huge fan of audiobooks, but what you mentioned about dialects would be a reason for me to listen to one. Have a great week. :)

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  6. Dialect - OMG! That's why I never made it through Outlander. It was such a chore, I gave up. Too much reality - Covid, major political issues, too many social issues . I don't need that. I read the newspaper for that.

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  7. I am enjoying seeing these lists. I agree that sometimes if a book is too close to my reality, I just don't want to read it. I live it so don't need more of it.

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  8. Not everyone is going to like every genre. I'm not going to read horror, and I may give a few other genres a try. But I also have my tried and true genres that I will lean into.

    Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
    https://readbakecreate.com/how-i-select-books-to-read/

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  9. I've seen "problematic authors" on a ton of lists this week. I'm very out of the loop on these things and I'm glad I am! Ha ha. I rarely know much at all about an author when I try out one of their books. I'm definitely one who can separate author and book, especially when I'm completely ignorant about whatever is going on.

    Happy TTT!

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  10. Ditto on the "Is this a romance or not." It always happens to me when trying YA or new adult books. I go in expecting straight fantasy and often end up with a plot saturated with romance.

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  11. Love this! I'm an escapist reader so I tend to avoid things that are too close to my real life and when I was more active in social media I came across an author that I loved who was really negative about her own books (apparently she wanted to write in another genre but her publisher didn't think it would sell). I haven't been able to read her books since then. And I have definitely DNF'd a book on Agatha Christie because the author clearly didn't even do a basic Google search on her. Great list!

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  12. An interesting list of reasons (many of which I'd agree with) about what not to read. I thought Boebert was from western Colorado? I'm sorry you have to deal with family who support her, but I have family and friends that support MAGA folks and they drive me crazy. Clever name you gave your region: "The Fox News Cinematic Universe."

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  13. Ha ha "Is this a romance or not?" is so me! I get so frustrated when I pick up something expecting one genre (fantasy is normally the worse culprit for this) and then the plot is solely about the romance. If I wanted a super heavy romance plot in my books, I would read romance novels, it drives me up the wall when I pick up a book because the plot actually does sound like something I would like and then the author spends all their time focusing on the romance or not. Honestly, I can even take or leave romantic subplots, I don't mind them and when I get really invested in the romance I can enjoy it, but I'm just so frustrated by every book HAVING to have a romantic subplot that I tend to try and actively look for books that don't have any kind of romance in them at all. I read across quite a lot of genres, the only genres I tend to avoid are romance and erotica because I know that's not my thing, I tend to be more picky with stuff like science fiction and horror but that's not to say I won't read them at all, I just have very specific things that I like there. I also feel you on being burned out on a book's genre, I was feeling burnt out on fantasy last year so I didn't read much of it, but I've felt more into it this year so I've been reading more, it's swings and roundabouts!
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2023/05/30/top-ten-tuesday-422/

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  14. Totally agree about the author being a jerk. I am also not a person who can separate the author from their work, and I am kind of glad? Like I don't want to be tempted to spend money on jerks! I also don't love straight up romance- I am cool with it as a subplot, like you said, but hard nope on having no other plot. I also haaate when an author seems to know nothing about the topic they're writing about- though I am also not usually lucky enough to catch it before I start the thing!

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  15. I generally avoid any mention of paranormal in my books. Lovely list this week. Happy reading! https://readwithstefani.com/did-i-read-the-books-on-my-30-books-to-read-before-i-turn-30-list/

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  16. I avoid horror, supernatural, sci fi, and some fantasy. I have found dystopia books I liked, but normally stay away. True crime I'm not interested in. I'd rather the horror stays in the fiction category. Have a good reading week.

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