Ten Book Turn-Offs

May 30, 2023

Ten Book Turn-Offs

There’s exceptions to every rule, but I generally steer clear of books that involve any of the following:

Sports – Nothing against ’em, I just don’t love any particular sport enough to read about it.
Political, social, or religious polemics – The line between helpful and harmful here is very blurry. In many cases, the same message could be expressed in a more bridge-building way.
Gratuitous and explicit sexual scenes in fiction – Never again.
Frequent bad language that doesn’t serve a purpose
Romance genre – Clean or not, I just don’t care for it.
Heavy prose in the style of James Fenimore Cooper – I can tolerate it, but… it’s rough.
Extensive world-building – e.g. a lot of sci-fi and fantasy
Books about an author’s career – I dislike books that are primarily focused on an author’s career, or movies about a filmmaker or actor. It just feels like navel-gazing to me, when there are so many bigger stories to tell.
Self-help books that try sooo hard to be edgy – The recent trend of titles with the f-bomb in them, for example.
Books with occult themes – As a Christian, I usually avoid these kinds of books, unless it’s old-timey Lovecraftian stuff.

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Marian

Blogger, YouTuber, reader, and scribbler. I love classic literature, tea, and rain, preferably all at once.

6 responses to “Ten Book Turn-Offs”

smellincoffee

May 30, 2023 at 4:03 pm

I tried a few times to make up a list but my mind was not being creative. I largely share your list, though extensive worldbuilding may be a subjective thing. Where would LOTR & Dune fall on your scale of “Okay, you’re not even trying” to “….there’s a story in here somewhere under all the mythology, epic history, and extensive botantical description, isn’t there? ….isn’t there?!”

Oh, and I’m so glad you enjoyed The Moon is Down. I liked it, too, but I think you got a lot more out of it.

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1. Marian
  
  May 31, 2023 at 11:33 pm
  
  Oh, I’d need to read LOTR again to give it a fair assessment…. when I read it as a teenager, I was going through some personal difficulties that made reading hard. So slogging through all three books was something of a nightmare. 😆
  
  Dune is a tough one – it’s got worldbuilding in spades, but Herbert delivers it mainly in expository dialogue, which is one of my least favorite things to read. The prose is light in description and dialogue heavy, but at the cost of emotional depth, except in a few poignant scenes (leaving you to sigh for the other missed opportunities) . I felt much more immersed in the “Duniverse” of the 2021 movie. Maybe Cyberkitten would have a different take, though!
  
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  1. Cyberkitten
    
    June 1, 2023 at 12:46 pm
    
    I think the world/universe building in both the Dune books & the newer movie is mostly implied. Little is actually explained (some in the quotes at the beginning of each section in the books) so you have to absorb it along with the Spice. It’s very subtle and it does take some getting used to, but it’s amazing how much you can pick up in between the text. I hate it when in some books you have characters explaining the back story during conversations. You’d expect the other character to say: Yes, I know… I was *there* dude….. DUH!
    
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lydiaschoch

May 30, 2023 at 4:15 pm

I’m not into sports either.

Here is my Top Ten Tuesday post.

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Snapdragon

May 30, 2023 at 6:40 pm

I am not interested in reading the romance genre. I do love me some good old fashion Lovecraftian horror.

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Susan

May 30, 2023 at 9:21 pm

I’m with you on all of these, although I have read a few memoirs about a celebrity’s career. I have to really love them to do that, though. I enjoyed THE ANSWER IS…by Alex Trebek and my husband and I are enjoying l istening to SURRENDER by Bono together.

Happy TTT!

Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com

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