Top Ten Words/Topics That Will Make You NOT Pick Up a Book.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013



This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for the Top Ten Words/Topics that will make you NOT pick up a book. This is the exact opposite of the April question. I’m pretty open minded about trying new genres, but there are a few words that tend to make me avoid a book. That’s not saying I’ll never read something that falls into these categories, they just aren’t my normal thing.
  
1) Political commentary – Really, politics haven’t changed much over the past few centuries.

2) Parenting – Just not there yet.

3) Romance Novels – Not my jam.

4) Teen angst – I’m okay with some (think Harry Potter book 5), but too much and it wears me out.

5) Self-help – I really liked The Happiness Project, but other self-help books usually just seem like common sense tips to me.

6) Chick Lit - I know there are some great ones, but there’s also a lot of junk.

7) Cold war spy thriller - Tend to bore me

8) Celebrity Memoir - I don’t think any 20-something celebrity has lived enough to write a book about their life.

9) Fan Fiction – I’d rather read the fiction that inspired it.

10) Classic rewritten as romance novels - Think Jane Eyre rewritten as erotica, just wrong.  

15 comments:

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

My list would just about "mirror" yours Melissa. I do like some self-help time books though, and some bios/memoirs.

Loni said...

I'm a parent, and I don't like parenting books. The couple that I've read, I've found too preachy.

I like classic-inspired works, but like you, not ones that are re-written as erotica/romance novels.

Krista said...

Self-help and chick lit are not my bag either.

TTT @ Krista's Dust Jacket

The Relentless Reader said...

Great list! I would agree with almost everything :)

Rewritten classics. Ack! JUST STOP!

Brooke said...

I would have probably written the EXACT SAME LIST. Parenting - yuck. Even if I had kids. Also, cold war spy novels - never found them interesting. And HP book 5 made me want to shoot Harry.

Anonymous said...

I laughed reading this. These are mybook turn offs too -- esp rewritten classics. "The horror, the horror..."

Sarah @WordHits

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Diane - I like memoirs if the person has led an interesting life. I guess I should have specified it's celebrity memoirs from 20-somethings that really irritate me.

Loni - Ha, I'm glad I'm not the only one!

Krista - You had some great ones on your list too!

Jennifer - Seriously, whoever decides they need to rewrite a classic needs to stop and go read the original again.

Brooke - Damn it Harry, stop whining and let someone else help you!

wordhits - Ugh, the rewritten classics are just shameful. I'm always worried someone will read one of those and never pick up the original.

Karen said...

this is how my list would look too - though I don't have such an aversion to the thriller one. I would swap young adult for that one

Kelly said...

Yep, political books are just not for me.
And parenting, I'm only 18 so parenting books are WAY too soon for me to check out.
Awesome list! :D

My TTT

Melissa @ Confessions of an Avid Reader said...

Great list! I'm on the same pages as you with respect to many of your choices, the only exceptions being that I do read some Chick Lit and I like Cold War spy thrillers.

Suey said...

I totally should have put chick lit on my list. Oops!

JoAnn said...

Wish I'd done TTT this week! My list would pretty similar to yours, with the addition of 'paranormal' and 'vampires'.

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Karen - Maybe I'm just reading the wrong spy thrillers!

Kelly - I don't have kids, but I'm at the age where people keep talking about great parenting books they've read. Blech.

Melissa - I like some chick lit, like Bridget Jones Diary and a few Kinsella books, but there's good and bad in any genre.

Suey - I keep seeing words on other lists that are perfect too!

JoAnn - Ha, yes! Paranormal and vampires both could have made mine too.

Meytal Radzinski said...

My problem with political commentary is that I constantly feel as though I'm either supposed to be vehemently in agreement with the author, or vehemently opposed. My takeaway is always "who was this written for?", which is definitely not the point of quality political commentary...

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Biblibio - I know what you mean. Those books rarely feel like a discussion. They feel like an attack.