Top Ten Tuesday – 5 Things That Make Me Want to Read a Book & 5 Things That Make Me NOT Want to Read a Book
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
This week’s TTT topic is actually just supposed to be Things That Make Me Instantly NOT Want to Read a Book but life got in the way last week so I missed last week’s topic, which was Things That Make Me Instantly Want to Read a Book, so now I’m combining last week’s and this week’s topics into one post and giving you five of each.
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Things That Will Instantly Make Me WANT to Read a Book
1. FOUND FAMILIES – Doesn’t matter the genre, if there’s a found family, I want to read about it.
2. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS OR BOOKISH PEOPLE – Again, doesn’t matter the genre,
this kind of book has a special place in my heart and will always be a must read.
3. FAVORITE ROMANCE TROPES – Grumpy/sunshine, enemies-to-lover,
small town romances, and second chance romances are like catnip to me
4. NEW RELEASES BY AUTO-BUY AUTHORS – Again, pure catnip for me.
Don’t even need to read the synopsis to know I’m going to read them.
5. ADULT DEBUTS BY FAVORITE YA AUTHORS – I’ve been struggling a bit lately with YA books
so I’m always thrilled when a YA author I love tries their hand at writing something non-YA.
Things That Will Instantly Make Me NOT Want to Read a Book
1. LOVE TRIANGLES
2. INSTA-LOVE
3. IMMATURE MAIN CHARACTERS – I’m all for following a character’s journey of growth and development
but draw the line when MCs are just so immature that it’s painful and cringeworthy every time they speak or think anything.
4. TOO CLOSE TO REAL LIFE (i.e. set during COVID or too steeped in politics).
I don’t mind a little politics but as soon as it gets too preachy, I’m done. I read to escape reality, not be further immersed in it.
5. CONSISTENT LOW RATINGS AND/OR DNFs
BY TRUSTED BLOGGERS AND BOOKSTAGRAMMERS – If they say it’s bad or just won’t be a good fit for me, I believe them.
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Found families really are the best. They always pull so hard on my heart strings. Insta love always makes me roll my eyes so heart. Like no, you do not love him after two days.
Yes to auto-buy authors – I also sometimes do not even read the blurb before I hit the preorder button! Also, agree with immature characters – I think that’s part of the reason why I don’t read a lot of YA anymore.
Great idea combining these. I’m right there with you on too close to real life (I’m sooo over Covid stories!) and low ratings on Goodreads.
I’m much the same as you for both lists. I had love triangles, instalove and similarly the low-ratings thing on my list today too. Great post!
I can agree with these mostly. I love the fake relationship trope. I dislike things with heavy religion or politics in them. I’m also not a fan of much YA.
Love triangles have me running away too. But I didn’t mind the Twilight one for some reason.
I totally agree with you on all of these! 😀
Found families and bookish people. I love a story with a bookstore too. Same here with YA. I used to read so much of it but my blog is like a YA desert now lol.
Not a fan of love triangles either except rarely when they’re done very well.
I hate preachy books of all kinds. I don’t like political creep. The one book you featured was billed as political (that’s why I didn’t read it), but when I pick up books that are about a wedding, and then have to be subjected to all sorts of political pandering, I get mad. I have written off quite a few authors and moved away from YA because of these things.
I never had any desire to read Fifty Shades of Gray. So many people can’t believe it, but it’s true. I’m not averse to the genre, but I had (have) no desire to read it.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/how-i-select-books-to-read/
I agree with you on all of these, although I actually don’t have a problem reading about real-life situations. Politics, though? No, thanks!
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Immature main characters are one I agree with – I just…it’s not hard to be an adult when you’re an adult. Having fun, being goofy? Yes. That doesn’t mean you need to be immature as well. Yuck.
Agree with pretty much all of these! I love a good found family or bookish characters, but dislike love triangles and instalove!
I despise love triangles, too!
I’m pretty much the same as you on almost all of these on both sides! Found families has always been one of my favourite tropes, and any book that hints at offering that will immediately make it onto my TBR. I love books about books (I don’t know how much you like historical fiction, but if you do, then Madeline Martin does really great WWII books with a bookish theme). I also have many auto-buy authors where I’m almost certain to buy any of their new releases, and I’ve found myself moving away from YA lately so I’m also really happy when I see some of my favourite YA authors moving into an adult space! I’m not a big romance fan, so most romance tropes are likely to turn me off, including the two you mentioned in your dislike section: instalove and love triangles which are two of my most hated romance tropes! Whilst I won’t veer away from things mentioning real life politics, I do veer away from anything mentioning Covid, it still feels too soon to read about and honestly, I’m not sure it’s a time I’ll ever want to relive in fiction, I’d be much happier if authors just pretended Covid hadn’t happened in their worlds!
It’s fun learning a bit more about you this way. I also don’t like love triangles or immature characters. I’m going to add inconsistent characters. Auto-reads for me are usually books from favorite authors or books that I’ve seen come with great reviews.
Mention of a book about books is sure to intrigue me as well. Happy reading! https://readwithstefani.com/did-i-read-the-books-on-my-30-books-to-read-before-i-turn-30-list/
I cannot resist a book about bookish people. That’s an immediate draw for me too! I am not a fan of instalove either. I would add secret babies to my list of romance tropes I don’t care for, I think. I tend to avoid those if I know it’s coming ahead of time. This is a great list, Suzanne!
Great list, Suzanne. I do not like being preached at, especially when it is a fiction story. I don’t read certain nonfiction genres for that reason, so I don’t want it in my fiction.