Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish
This week's theme? Top Ten Words/Topics That Will Make You NOT Pick Up a Book
Dystopia
I know that I'm a weirdo in the YA world, but I generally dislike dystopian reads. It all started when The Hunger Games blew up and dystopian books started spawning everywhere. I'm definitely ready for a new trend in YA!
Werewolves
Maybe this is just left over from the Twilight craze but I just cannot get down with the whole werewolf fixation. Vampires? Okay. Wizards? Yep. Angels? That's about my limit. I just cannot get into a guy who transforms into an animal. Bestiality, anyone? (I kid, I kid.)
Love Triangles
I have no objection against convincing love triangles (re: The Vincent Boys, The Infernal Devices) but when a girl/guy is simply being greedy? That's when I have an issue. Make a decision, damn it! I know that you are conflicted and yes, I know that they're both freakishly attractive... but come on!
Heart-warming Books About Animals
I'm sorry but, seriously - I can't stand these. I rarely get choked up when a beloved animal dies in a book. I maybe, maybe got misty eyed when (SPOILER) Hedwig died but I may have also had an eyelash in my eye. I may also not have a heart.
Books About Sports
I don't think that I've ever read a book about sports... The closest that I've come to were the Quidditch scenes in Harry Potter - and I always skimmed those. I can barely sit through a sports game in real life... let alone read a 20-page description of one.
Fairies
I guess I can understand this craze - the whole Seelie/Unseelie Court, Merlin, Arthurian legend thing is cool. I love the idea of actual human legend and lore being tightly knit to fairies and what not. Unfortunately, a lot of fairy books have it all wrong. Fairies are not nice and beautiful creatures who want to love and marry you. You'd have a better chance of finding a real life Edward Cullen than a fairy who wants to leave his/her Court and settle in the human world with you to have babies and love and - you get the picture. The only book that I've read that stays faithful to the true nature of fairies was Merlin's Harp by Anne Eliot Crompton.
"It is the next Twilight!"
No hate to Twilight itself - I loved it as much as the next too-old-to-be-fangirling-fan girl... but whenever I read that tag line, I can't help but assume that the lead heroine is a Bella Swan-like robot. And what I mean is, a teen girl who becomes unhealthily infatuated with a guy who she knows next to nothing about and blindly follows him where ever he may lead her.
"Achingly Beautiful"
I literally have no idea what this is supposed to mean... but I've seen books described as "achingly beautiful" from John Green's The Fault in Our Stars to Colleen Hoover's Hopeless. What do these books have in common, you ask? Nothing, but I'm assuming that "achingly beautiful" is just a description that means that someone, somewhere, has cried over this book.
Ultra-hype
Okay, so I know that I've deviated (a lot) from the topic but any book that has a super big fangirl following or even has just been receiving a ton of hype is one that will give me pause. I know what you're thinking - But, Alyssa, it is popular for a REASON - but c'mon. How many times have you wanted to tell a fangirl to shut up about her favorite book already? And I have a nasty habit of building unrealistic expectations for books that are constantly raved about - no book has lived up to the hype for me yet!
Angels
I am hesitant to even include this particular topic in my list because I'm not always anti-angels in books. A lot of authors have used angels in a truly amazing and compelling way and they are the reason why I'm not completely turned off by them (I'm looking at you, Laini Taylor and Susan Ee). But when angels become a stand in paranormal creature for a story that reads like Twilight? That's when I have issues with it. I don't know why angels give me the knee jerk reaction so much more than vampires (or even werewolves) do... but I just cannot get behind the idea of an angel falling for a measly human girl. When I think of angels, I think of epic creatures created by the hand of a god (doesn't have to be the Christian God, here) to do that god's bidding. And for a fallen angel to be the lead love interest? I don't know. I just can't buy it... and it kind of gives me the heebies for some weird reason.
Alright, that's my list and holy crap - it was hard to come up with. Don't let this post give you the wrong idea - I'm pretty hard pressed to not pick up a book... so I guess these ten are the things that would most lead to me passing by a book.
How about you - what made your list?
-Alyssa
Love triangles just escaped being on my list this week. I agree with you about ultra-hyped books. Great list!
ReplyDeleteThank you ^.^
DeleteI'm so surprised by the amount of times fairies have come up tonight! I personally avoid fae books like the plague, but I honestly thought I was the only one. Especially with how popular Julia Kagawa's books are.
ReplyDeleteBekka
Pretty Deadly Reviews
You're not alone!!! I read The Iron King and thought it was too like Labyrinth for me to really enjoy it... At the time, I felt like it was a knock off! I think that I was probably a bit too harsh but it kind of put a bad taste in my mouth from there on out.
DeleteI think anything that's the next Twilight gets an automatic ban from me. I don't even like Twilight, but I can't copies, I want originality. Plus this type of marketing seems so lame and lazy.
ReplyDeleteMy TTT
Aly - totally agree with the lame and lazy marketing... but it was kind of brilliant when they first started using that tag line. After Twilight, so many people were like, WE NEED MORE NOWWW! And slapping that on the cover drew in so many! But Twilight has been over for years... and I think we all just need to move on!
DeleteYep Love Triangles & The Next Twilight are on my list. They wind me up no end.
ReplyDeleteI have no patience for love triangles!
DeleteI have trouble with Fairies too. Not something I'm all that interested in.
ReplyDeleteMy TTT List
My interest in them extends as far as the Arthurian legends... but STOPS COMPLETELY AFTER THAT!
DeleteBooks about sports is definitely a no no for me too. I can deal with it if doesn't focus on particular sports matches though.
ReplyDeleteAnd good point on "achingly beautiful." What does that even mean? To me, it means that it's sad and tugs on your heartstrings, but you still love it because you connected with it? Does that even make any sense at all? o__O
Anyways, awesome thoughtful list! :D
My TTT
It does make sense! Unfortunately, ANYTHING could be seen as "achingly beautiful" - painful beauty is in the eye of the beholder =P
DeleteWe totally have some topics in common. I hate love triangles, and that is probably the topic that turns me from a book the quickest. Although dystopians are right behind. They just aren't for me, and I'm ready for a new trend in YA lit, too.
ReplyDeleteWhile I say that I'm ready for a new trend, I'm a little wary of what that trend will be... It can ALWAYS be worse, right?! Watch it - zombie mermaids who turn into were-crabs will be the next hot thing.
DeleteI love all of these answers! I, too, have issues with werewolves (bestiality is a nope, nope, nope), the "hypes", and "next Twilighters" (because one Twilight was enough...not to mention four.).
ReplyDeleteI'm iffy on Faeries because I really love the idea of them. Many off topic tangents I could go on, but I won't. I recently read the Iron Fey series and thought it was pretty cool...but I'm a sucker for brooding men. I agree with the Labyrinth parallel--legit had that same thought. Then I read some more faerie type stuff...and realized it was the exact. same. thing. Blegh. I am, however, reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman. It has some of the same structure/characters as the other stuff, but I feel like I'm actually learning something about myself as an American. Yay melting pot! I also really liked The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. Wasn't totally faery-ish, but certainly had elements.
Lastly, I once had someone recommend I write a story about fallen angels who have to live off the blood humans--aka vampire angels. My answer was hell-to-the-no. What are people thinking??? Cheese and rice.
Not to mention that most of the "next Twilight" books are carbon copies of Twilight with a different paranormal creature (*cough*HUSH,HUSH*cough*). I don't really mind Twilight, to be quite honest... (the Twihards are the ones who I despise) but seriously, people! We need to move on and move forward!
DeleteAnd, fairy elements?! Explain!! That sounds really interesting! When I was thinking about my anti-fairy rant, I was thinking about Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series. Blech. Did NOT like that one.
And vampire-angels? In what world...
It's about this island on which races featuring magical water horses (aka kelpies) occur every October/November. It's way cool and totally different than anything I've read recently. I'm also a horse person, so that helps. I think it's only $2.99 on Kindle--not even that big of an investment!
Delete