Top Ten Words/Topics That Will Make Me NOT Pick up a Book
(Not Necessarily in the Following Order)
Zombies. BIG turnoff for me. It’s been way overdone, and is typically VERY un-original.
Forbidden Love. Sorry, but no. Not happening. Definitely not happening. Forbidden love gets old, really fast. And It’s really quite predictable. Innocent, socially-awkward girl meets creepy dark stalker dude, but falls in love with him anyway. And runs off with him. And lots of other stuff.
Love Triangles. Sorry, but not happening. I have read WAY to many love triangles. Maybe the first few I read were good, but after that? Puh-lease!
Anything with “Bones” in the title. Okay, so I admit, this one’s pretty stupid, and I don’t even do it consciously. But it definitely takes me quite some time to get around to reading a book with ‘bones’ in the title. Something I really am trying to fix.
Apocalyptic. Okay, so this one isn’t a sure turnoff for me, but it is starting to be way over-done… so if we could pull back a little on the end-of-world jazz, that’d be great.
Really Long Series’. *Cough, Wheel of Time, cough* Maybe I’m not the best one to talk about this (Ranger’s Apprentice, 12 (short-ish) books. Work and the Glory, 9 HUGE books) but, at this point and time, if I’m at the library, and I see this book that looks interesting, but there are 10 other HUGE books next to it. Sorry, but no. I’m really in the mood for some good ol’ stand alone books. (Margaret Peterson Haddix!). But no one writes stand-alones anymore. *sigh*
“Fans of Twilight and The Hunger Games Will Love This Book!” Now, I’m not saying anything against either series. I liked Twilight (#1) and I LOVED Hunger Games (#1 & 2), but combing the two? You get an over-done, apocalyptic love triangle. BUT, not every book compared to either series is like that. I’ve read some great, completely original novels that are frequently compared to HG (Divergent).
Religious Bashing. I’m fine with reading religious novels, and a lot of times, I love them! But any book, that puts down or bashes or lies about ANY religion (even if it’s not mine) is a book I will NOT be reading, thank you very much.
Journal-Entry Format. No, just no. A book that starts at the climax, and does the whole “let me tell you how I got here” thing. I hate them so much. And far worse, are the ones done in journal-entry format. I’m sorry, but my suspension of disbelief stops there. No one, I repeat, no one can or even wants to write that much in their daily journal. Some books in journal-format, I have read and thoroughly enjoyed (Book of a Thousand Days) but most? Not happening.
Well… That’s really all I can think of. On average I am a very open-minded person, to pretty much any genre out there. Biography, Non-Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Urban Fantasy, High Adventure, even Mystery. Very few things will actually turn my away from a book.
What’s your Top Ten for this week?
Escaping Reality – One Book at a Time 
Great list!
I’m with you on the LONG series…ten massive books just feels like asking for far too much commitment. I have too many books to read without starting down paths like that.
Love Triangles, I’m mixed on. I like the *concept* but they’re so rarely done well. I’m sick of love triangles where the protagonist’s choice is really, really obvious, but somehow we hang around for ages until he/she just goes ahead and *makes* the choice.
Journal Entry Format, also mixed. It can be done well–but so often it’s just a device for a first-person narration, and then I get annoyed…
We actually have quite a bit in common. Thank you for stopping by my TTT :)
We do! Thank YOU.
Definitely agree with you about super long series. They just seem so daunting, and time consuming. It sort of puts me off. And surely, the story doesn’t take 20 books to tell!
My Top Ten post :)
Oh, yeah! I think once they hit a certain amount of books, they’re just stretching. The book starts just getting boring, same old, same old.
I sort of feel that way with The Mortal Instruments. I think it ended nicely at the third book, before she decided it was going to be a six book series. I feel as if the fourth and fifth books didn’t really need to be in the series.
Oh, the love triangles. I definitely dislike those, and I can’t believe I forgot that one.
Oh, gosh, they are the WORST!
For me it’s not necessarily extremely long series, so much as ones with overly detailed books (i.e. Sword of Truth, Game of Thrones). I have a hard time forcing myself to give them a shot because I know it’ll be taking me a lot of time (which is precious) to finish one. And I might not even like it! :o The horror, right? LOL Great list!
My TTT:
http://diamondinroughcoal.blogspot.com/2013/07/top-ten-tuesday-2.html
I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s so true! All that time and thought and effort, and then you may hate the book! :)
Anything longer than Harry Potter probably isn’t going to get my attention. Although GOT is getting up there. And I love the quirky one about bones. I’m sure I do that with some other word/topic.
Here’s my TTT!
Jess @ Such A Novel Idea
I know, right? it’s so completely random!
I agree with the long series. I’m even tired of trilogies. I miss stand-alones.
So true! Trilogies are definitely starting to get to me, also. I want the good old-fashioned stand-alones! I mean, sure, the authors and companies don’t get as much money as if they write a 20-book series, but still!
I like ‘journal plus’ books. A well-done book that combines emails, notes, text messages, etc., as well as journal entries can be believable. Otherwise, you need very special circumstances to explain why the character is writing so dang much, I agree.
Personally, I’m happy with up to a trilogy. That’s fairly short, right?
Oh, yes. I’ve read a few of those ones, and they’re definitely better than the plain ones. It’s nearly impossible to shrug off the fact that some teenager who’s crazy-busy with school and life and drama, has time to write a word-for-word account of what she did all day, and every conversation she had.
It is really hard to find good standalone books. Seems that everything these days is a series. I don’t mind series so much, but when some are 30+ books it’s a bit much. Also oh gosh, love triangles are a huge pet peeve of mine and I cannot believe left it off my list (has fixed that now), they are so bloody annoying.
So very, very, true! Thanks for stopping by!
The longest series I have read so far is HP. My cousin has read the Wheel of Time 3 times! I don’t know how he does it, every year he goes back and reads them. And yeah, a good stand alone book is a wonderful thing to come across, but I hardly see any nowadays. I have a book I’m in the process of writing that will be a stand alone, so hopefully it will become one of those gems :-) Thanks for stopping by and sharing!
Vyki @ On The Shelf
Dang! That is pure insanity! Every year? Does he read any other books?
Hey, once you finish you’re book, I’ll definitely check it out! I’m always in the mood for a good stand-alone.
He does read other books but the series probably takes up of the year! Thanks I’ll let you know when it is complete maybe you could be a beta reader :-D