Last week, I made a list of reasons to buy a book. This week, the ladies at Broke and Bookish asked what are the reasons I would choose not to read a book. Now, to be fair, I could read almost anything in the right circumstances. My reading taste is as varied as there are book genres but given the choice, there are some categories that would me cringe. Without going into too much detail, since it seems a little pointless to speak in the negative, I would pass by these books without so much as a second glance.
- Otherworldly. I have never read a book with vampires or werewolf or zombies or any of that and I am not planning to start anytime soon.
- YA Dystopian. While I have found a few of these movie adaptations interesting (Hunger Games and Divergent), as a whole, this is not a genre that I read from often.
- SFF. While I am a scientist and read a fair amount of science Non-fiction books, I don’t actively seek out Science Fiction.
- Cliched romance. I don’t go for predictable plots so if I think the book will be a write-by-the-numbers romance, l don’t bother. Usually, I make this judgment based on the cover – if the man is only half clothed and touching a woman in any way, that is not a book I will be picking up.
- Celebrity Memoirs. I have read and enjoyed several autobiographies of famous actresses, singers, athletes, politicians. Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father and George W. Bush’s book about his father, the other George Bush, are among the best biographies I have read of all time. Within the last 3 years, Cameron Diaz released two books about health – The Body Book (reviewed here) and Longevity – topics I would not have thought she was an expert on and both were books I absolutely enjoyed. But I draw the line at the tabloid kind of tell-all books reality stars and C or D-rated actors tend to write when they are trying to revive struggling careers.
- R Rated – Graphic language and violence. I tend to avoid looking up a book synopsis before I read a book. I like to experience the story without knowing too much about the plot and the situations but if I knew that a book featured graphic violence and obscene language, I would not want to read it.
- Series. These days, I’m not interested in following the same character for multiple stories so I am hard pressed to pick up a book unless it can be read as a standalone.
What about you? What are the reasons you would choose to NOT read a book?
Linkup –Top Ten Tuesday
RUN WRIGHT 
I’m sort of starting to feel that way about YA dystopian novels as well. I read so many of them when I was in high school that at this point I feel like they’re pretty predictable and all follow a similar formula when it comes to plot and character development. Great list!
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Thanks for the comment, Holly. A good dystopian is okay – I enjoyed The Giver, Lord of the Flies, 1984, etc – but in the past few years, it seems to have become overused. That’s okay since there are fans of that genre but I’ll just look elsewhere.
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Yeah, same here. I’ve enjoyed the dystopian genre in the past, but it’s been written about far too much recently. I hope we get more positive – or at least not depressing – stories soon.
There are certain series I enjoy, but I’m getting far more pickier about them these days. Some stories really do not have enough plot to be stretched out into so many books.
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday!
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I understand where you’re coming from with the YA dystopian genre! I think at one point you just grow out of it especially since nowadays it is really hard to find a unique YA dystopian novel!
And I have to say I agree with celebrity memoirs! I don’t think I will ever read one unless it’s from a person whom I adore very much!
Great list 🙂
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Agree with #4! I can’t remember the last time I picked up a romance novel with the steamy pose on the front cover. Not my thing.
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ahh misleading title hahah I thought this was a list of recommendations of books to avoid in general and I got curious.
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Lol. I am actually working on that list too.
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I hated cliché romance books!
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I actually e joy YA a good dystopian or sci fi is a great escape but lately there just doesn’t seem like there is anything very original and attention grabbing.
I won’t read sleazy porn type romance novels, I think they are what get women into porn addiction and I want nothing of them.
I don’t like books with too much swearing in them. A little if its needed is fine. But the F word throughout and overused I won’t even finish the book. I get enough trashy talk like that walking down streets or around tourists I figure I don’t need to read it too!
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I find it fascinating that you are a scientist but don’t read sci fiction. Intriguing.
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Totally agree about the series and celebrity memoirs!
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Funny you read non fiction science books but not sci-fi. I know a group who works at a science think tank and they love sci-fi and fictional stories of all types! I’m also wondering what genres you do enjoy?
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I am pretty open with reading. There is a lot I do not mind attempting. But heavy romance and erotica are a big no go for me haha.
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I’m with you on the series. It seems like there are way too many of them these days. I also never do celebrity memoirs…just don’t care!
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There are so many fans of series though, and I totally understand why authors write series. if you hook readers in the first book, you’re guaranteed to get interest for the rest of the series. Easy to sell books that way so series will always be with us 🙂
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I don’t do romance, and any kind of shapeshifter be it werebeasts or human form dragon is definitely off my radar. I have grown weary of Dystopian. I have not read any zombie stories, but I have an October Zombiethon planned with nontraditional zombie stories. Thanks for sharing your list. 🙂
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October Zombiethon? Sounds frightful. haha. What kinds of stories are nontraditional zombie stories? You’ve piqued my interest.
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Totally resonate with all your points. Looks like we have similar tastes!! I am a scientist and don’t ready much science fiction outside of work either. I have two novels on the DNA on my shelf for years and haven’t gone too much into them. Right now, reading ‘Option B’ by Sheryl Sandberg. So far, so good!
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I saw Sheryl Sandberg talking about her new book and I would like to pick it up too. What are the DNA novels? Maybe it’s time for me to check out some sic fi. I haven’t read anything from that genre in some time and while it’s not my preference, maybe it’s time to try one out again.
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Welp, the first three are some of my favorites and I love a good series. Oh, well! 🙂
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haha. That’s good. I am happy to chat with readers who have a different preferences. I get some of my best and most surprising recommendations from people who read other kinds of books. That’s helps me to grow as a reader.
Thanks for the comment.
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I like Dystopia if it is well-written, like The Giver and The Hunger Games. I agree I hate it when graphic novels are, um, graphic.! Ha! Thanks for visiting my blog.
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And thanks for visiting mine. I am a fan of The Giver and while I haven’t read the Hunger games movies, I loved the movies. It just seems there are so many dystopian worlds that aren’t as well conceived, that maybe the genre isn’t well represented.
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I hadn’t thought about memoirs. I’m not much of a non-fiction reader myself, and can only remember enjoying two memoirs clearly, Makes Me Want to Holler, which helped me understand where my dad was coming from, and Long Way Gone, which I read for a class and have since passed on to a number of students. Also, I’m not a fan of romance in general. Happy reading, yo.
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Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah? I just read his novel Radiance of Tomorrow a couple months ago and have been thinking of reading his memoir but the novel was so graphic, I decided to put a little distance between the two books. Very impactful story though and I’m sure the novel was based on real events that happened during and after the war.
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Yeah. I can’t remember how graphic it was. It’s been a number of years since I read it. Distance makes sense, though.
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I’m totally over dystopian novels, too. The last few I’ve tried to read (can’t even remember their names) I just couldn’t finish. I’m also not a big fan of celebrity memoirs. I don’t know the last time I read one I enjoyed (maybe Donald Hall’s?), but I definitely don’t have any intereste in C or D list actor memoirs. Or even any celebrity’s cookbook, really! (Well, maybe Crissy Teigen!) Thanks so much for sharing your list.
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Isn’t Chrissy Tiegen’s cookbook attractive? I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less from her but I was thumbing through the pages a couple weeks ago and thinking how much I want to own that book. Everything looked so appetizing.
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Your list is pretty similar to mine. Not into sci-fi or those vampire books either. Mushy Harlequin romances are just to much for me.
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haha yeah I’ve never read a vampire book. I think if I was reading a book and one of those creatures popped up, I’d stop reading.
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LOL! Me too
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I do book-reviews and my number one reason to not buy or read a book is if it is boring. I read reviews and commentaries before buying books, I must not yawn from scanning through an author’s book at the store or online.
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Ah, I suppose that’s where we’re a little different. I don’t want to know too much about a book before I read it. I like to have as close to an organic experience as possible 🙂
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