Weekly Question - Jan 22 - What You Don't Read

[Jennifer W]

This one is kinda hard for me to answer. There are definitely genres I don't read often, but I will dabble in just about everything- though years may go by between dabbles!
I think my main criteria is that the story and characters have to be realistic. This doesn't mean that the setting is real (though sci-fi fantasy is on my list of seldom read for this reason), but don't make me suspend disbelief the whole time I'm reading. The one that I've encountered a LOT over the past few years is the "Nazi with a heart of gold". Holy expletive, expletive- if there were that many "good" Nazis, who the hell did the Holocaust even happen?? (eye roll) I love WWII fiction and nonfiction, but if I come across another one of those, I'm going to need to buy new windows when the book goes flying through one!

Another one that has always struck me as "my brain is weird" is paranormal horror. I can read murder mysteries and true crime and I even have a pretty high tolerance for abuse etc, but the fake stuff? Nope! Keep it away! Real serial killer? Fine. Ghost/ demon/ monster serial killer? Not a chance.

Some others on my seldom read list:
Romance
Self Help
Christian fiction
Memoirs (obviously, they're quite realistic, but why is *your* life so darn important that I should read about it?)

[Hannah]

Jennifer W wrote: "This one is kinda hard for me to answer. There are definitely genres I don't read often, but I will dabble in just about everything- though years may go by between dabbles!
I think my main criteri..."

I so agree with you about memoirs. There are a few memoirs that I've loved, but they must have two qualities: the author must write with absolutely outstanding prose and must be telling the story of a specific, extraordinary event in their life. My two favorites are When Breath Becomes Air (by a neurosurgeon dying of cancer) and In the Dream House (by an author about her abusive relationship) and no other memoir I've read has even come close to these two.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

I rarely read memoirs, especially by celebrities, but Becoming and Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood were both terrific on audio, read by the author.

[Nadine in NY]

Hannah wrote: "I love Becky Chambers, too! Her books don't feel like uplit so much to me, though they are optimistic and slice-of-life, so I understand the connection. I think the connection I'm seeing between th..."




I might be conflating hopepunk with uplit.

[Erica]

I’m not a big fan of fantasy (there are some exceptions like Discworld), war stories (also some exceptions), romance, westerns… I’ll mostly read anything else

[Tiffy]

I've been thinking about this, because it's hard to find something I say "NEVER" to. Romance and contemporary lit I just don't tend to enjoy very much. Poetry is something I'd never voluntarily pick up. Hard sci-fi makes reading feel like work and so I tend not to pick those unless I know the author is accessible.

But actually, the number one reason for me DNF-ing books last year was when they got overly political in a fiction setting where it wasn't relevant. I have no desire to be sold an agenda, thank you. I get enough of that in real life.

[Joan]

I'll read just about anything. I find that there is usually a couple of really good books in every genre. There are a few I don't get excited about. A cozy mystery typically isn't my thing but every now and then it's fun for a prompt.

I'm not sure I've read enough of a complete fantasy series to know how I feel about them. I've tried some popular fantasy.

I tend to put off historical fiction books but after I read them I find that it was a really good story and I learned a thing or two.

I stayed away from horror for many many years but now I'm back to reading that. There was also a time I liked cozy mysteries.

I just feel that my tastes seem to change all of the time.

[Ellie]

Jennifer W wrote: "Memoirs (obviously, they're quite realistic, but why is *your* life so darn important that I should read about it?)..."

Yeah, I don't see the appeal of reading about all the ins and outs of someone's fairly normal life...but if they had a super cool job or experienced something extraordinary, I might be interested. I get frustrated when I have to read about someone's childhood for the first few chapters too. Get to the good stuff already! 🤣

[Pam]

Genres I mostly avoid:

Romance (with the exception of Daphne du Marier)
Anything to do with zombies
Poetry
Erotica
Most chick lit, YA and New Adult
Thrillers, unless they are sci-fi

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Ellie wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "Memoirs (obviously, they're quite realistic, but why is *your* life so darn important that I should read about it?)..."

Yeah, I don't see the appeal of reading about all the ins..."

That's funny, I love reading about people's childhoods, it's adulthood that gets boring to me (depending on what they did of course).

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Pam wrote: "Genres I mostly avoid:

Romance (with the exception of Daphne du Marier)
Anything to do with zombies
Poetry
Erotica
Most chick lit, YA and New Adult
Thrillers, unless they are sci-fi"

I can't get interested in zombies, vampires or werwolves. I used to feel that way about dragons till I fell in love with Temeraire from the Naomi Novik series.

[Carol]

Don't like and avoid:
Science fiction
Fantasy
Horror

And it's not a genre, but I really do not like anything - in any genre - that is written in a stream of consciousness style.

And there's nothing I hate more than picking up a light romance and finding a section that is extremely sexually graphic. If I want light romance, then leave all the graphic stuff out. If I want to read about hardcore sex, I'm quite happy to read a book that is honest about being erotica.

Of course, there are always exceptions to every rule. For example, the Harry Potter books are some of my favorites because they are fantasy books that are written as though they are really books about reality. And The Hunger Games books are also exceptions for me.

[Jennifer W]

Jennifer W wrote: "Memoirs (obviously, they're quite realistic, but why is *your* life so darn important that I should read about it?)..."

When I do read memoirs, they're almost always by musicians. I'm hoping for some behind the scenes thinking on how some of my favorite songs came together. So far, I haven't really hit a gold mine as far as song creation goes, but I'll keep looking! I'm eagerly awaiting for my library hold to come in on U2's Bono's memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story

[Marie (UK)]

Never say never but I don't like werewolves / zombies/ shapeshifters and only read them if absolutely forced (via a challenge). I don't like to be told I should read more of any given genre e.g. Feminism, LGBT, Black literature etc - I have and do read all of those stated I am just using them as examples, I love to read Good literature and even in the genres I don't like I have found Good Books.

[Bana AZ]

This is a bit the opposite of last week's question. Are there genres you don't like and don't read? What is it that you don't care for?
I was a huge horror fan as a kid, but now I'm too scared to read much of it. Though I have a lot of Stephen King on my TBR, I'll have to make sure I'm never alone when I decide to read those.
Christian self-help.
Stream of consciousness -- ok, this isn't a genre but a narrative style. I really don't like it (I may even hate it). Virginia Woolf and Sally Rooney have this style.

And related - are there topics you just can't read about?
I think... birth scenes. Especially difficult birth scenes. I deliberately skip pages if I find that in a book.

[Bana AZ]

Ellie wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "Memoirs (obviously, they're quite realistic, but why is *your* life so darn important that I should read about it?)..."

Yeah, I don't see the appeal of reading about all the ins..."

That is funny. I wasn't interested in memoirs before, but there are some that just a great writing style that it's worth reading for that instead of for what actually happened to the person.

[Ellie]

Ana AZ wrote: "That is funny. I wasn't interested in memoirs before, but there are some that just a great writing style that it's worth reading for that instead of for what actually happened to the person...."

I am not a style over substance kind of reader. I can think a sentence is beautiful but at a certain point I get bored of lovely sentences strung together if there's not something else to be interested in. I know plenty of people value style more highly though.

[dalex]

I cannot read romance novels because of the heteronormativity, the tropey Hallmark plots, and the unbelievable HEA. And I am not a fan of any book that can be described using adjectives like cute, heartwarming, cozy, uplifting, charming, inspiring, etc.

I think the only plot device that is a hard no for me is pedophilia or anything that remotely implies it. In fact, anything that sounds like inappropriately lusting over someone totally skeeves me out.

[Dana]

I usually avoid romances (especially contemporary YA romance) or stories about a character just doing nothing and complaining etc.
But sometimes I read some that are pretty great, like for ex my last book in December for the ATY prompt (BIPOC Romance) I listened to (and was surprised by it) The Summer I turned pretty. OMG, that was such a great book and I want to continue with the trilogy.

I also seem to avoid historical stuff, even if they're historical fiction or historical romances, but I've read a few in these genres and some were ok-ish, some were meh, one was dnf-ed.
But I started (and paused) The Book Thief, which is actually amazing!

Other genres / topics that I definitely avoid: Alien stories/Space Wars, Westerns (good thing I want to read The Gunslinger for that prompt), but I don't know why.
Maybe I'll challenge myself to read a few books in these genres and see if I'm wrong.

I also don't like fairies in general. They don't appeal to me.
Also, don;t hate me, but I don't fancy enemies to lovers, especially if the hate is random or stupid.
I love friends to lovers, that's one of my favourite tropes.

Well, these are some of the ones I avoid, usually. :D
My rant is over.