The Broke and the Bookish recently asked bloggers to list the ten topics or words that guarantee we will pick a book. This week’s Top Ten Tuesday does the opposite.
1. Cancer. I have always shied away from the Big C books, but honestly, after going against my own instincts and reading John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, cancer books are now and forever non-negotiable. I have enough experience with it. I don’t need to read about it.
2. The Holocaust. I cannot wrap my head around the atrocities done to and by so many people. I can’t even handle the heartwarming stories of triumph in the face of such evil. Not for me.
3. Poetry. I just don’t get it.
4. Novels in Verse. I have read a few novels in verse and they aren’t bad, they just aren’t my cup of tea.
5. Christmas. Seriously. I just cannot get into the schmaltzy sweet Christmas stories. It sounds a little Scrooge-y, but I can live with that.
6. Faeries. I have tried, but so far the only faeries that I can get down with are Julie Kagawa’s.
7. Nonfiction. I want to read nonfiction. I really do, but I struggle with it all the time and then usually end up avoiding it.
8. Short Stories. These are so tough. I find that they usually just leave me wishing that there was more.
9. Talking Animals. Why? No.
10. New Adult. I just don’t get it. Is it the fact that the characters are college aged that make it special? Or is it all the sex? I suppose I should read some before I decide I don’t like it, huh?
This list makes me feel and sound so narrow-minded, but don’t believe that I am. I definitely try to read outside of my comfort zones and have even been pleasantly surprised to find amazing treasures. A few examples of this are Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt (Audubon. Really? Birds?), Winger (Rugby-um, no thanks) by Andrew Smith, Pop (Football and Alzheimer’s. I wasn’t interested in high school football when I was in high school. Why now?) by Gordon Korman, and The Art Forger (Art/art history. So not my thing.) by B.A. Shapiro. Turns out that I do love to read about birds and rugby and football and art.
What topics turn you away from a book?
Happy Reading!
˜Megan
YA? Why Not? 
Yep, totally agree about cancer. I feel like the only person in the world who wasn’t a fan of The Fault in our Stars, just because I found it so depressing. And Poetry blah. I try so hard to like it, but I just can’t…..It probably has to do with school corrupting it by having me analyze EVERYTHING….I just can’t handle that! Great picks!!!
My TTT
I agree about the Holocaust. I’ve tried a few books that had happy endings, but it’s still so depressing that people did such terrible things to other people…
Cancer books make me so sad, but I keep reading them anyway, I guess I love to sob real hard. I agree on the talking animals part, it works in the animation movies, but just not in books.
And also after reading your list I want to add “Books about sports” to my list. I read Catching Parker by Miranda Kenneally and found out how much I really don’t want to read a book, where football is the only things (besides cheesy love).
Great list by the way!
I don’t read the “new adult” books either — it just seems like a made-up title somehow, like people wanted to draw attention to books that could just be regular mainstream fiction. I also don’t get talking animals, though I did love the Narnia books.
I also try to avoid books with lots of graphic violence (a la Girl with a Dragon Tattoo; I was not prepared for that craziness when I picked up that book at an airport once!).
I expected to see NA on a lot of lists today since it’s such a polarizing trend. It’s definitely hard to weed out the good from the bad. Talking animals and faeries don’t really float my boat either.
I don’t think your list makes you narrow minded at all! We all have things we’d rather not read. And outside of Narnia, talking animals is weird. They don’t even talk in HP!
Here’s my TTT!
Jess @ Such A Novel Idea
i hate the talking animals thing, too! Absolutely can’t handle it! And about New Adult…I’ve been avoiding those ever since the hype started but now I really think I’d like them if I tried!
Haha. I just don’t get poetry either. I don’t mind novels in verse (especially free verse) although it’s not a favorite. But straight up poems. ugh!
I sort of feel like those that like romance, like New Adult. Because that is what it is. So far, anyway. Only it’s romance with younger characters. If romance isn’t something you enjoy (and by romance, I mean adult romance) then NA probably wouldn’t be enjoyable for you.
I think that “New Adult” is just another way of marketing. I think many adults don’t want to be caught reading “Teen” books, but might be more amenable to “New Adult.” If you want to try New Adult, give “Hold me Closer, Necromancer” by McBride, a go. I don’t think it was actually labeled New Adult, but it would definitely fall under that heading.
I don’t like “Based on a True Story” or Hallmark. Ugh. Give me my Sci-fi fantasy every time!