It’s been almost two years since I last did this, so I figured my anti-TBR list was due for an update (especially as I’ve decided to read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell [Susanna Clarke] after all, though only because of the release of Babel [R.F. Kuang]).
Original tag by Nicole & Her Books.
1. A popular book EVERYONE loves that you have no interest in reading?
Every now and then I think about trying to pick up the Chronicles of Narnia again, and every time I am defeated by the sheer number of books in the series. I don’t even know where I’m supposed to start. Do I start with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, or do I start with The Magician’s Nephew, which is supposed to be the chronological starting point? I have so many questions. All I can say is that I watched the most recent Lion, Witch, Wardrobe movie three times, the latter two against my will, and I have no interest in this series.
2. A classic book (or author) you have no interest in reading?
I’ve spent the last several years slowly coming to the conclusion that I am never going to read Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen). One, the synopsis does not entice me. Two, it’s such a foundation in literary pop culture that I feel like I know too much about it, and the reality is unlikely to meet expectations. Three, I have really struggled with Jane Austen in the past. I’m sorry, but her style makes my brain fog over. Four, the only reason I would have read it anyway would have been to feel all clever and lItErArY, and right now I’m kinda thinking that any last-ditch attempt to pick up this book would result in madness. Here I do solemnly declare that I will never read any Jane Austen novel, because they’re just not my thing.
3. An author whose books you have no interest in reading?
I have zero interest in Rainbow Rowell. I don’t know anything about her books, but her covers really rub me the wrong way because they’re so………fanfictiony. Wikipedia says that at least one of her books satirizes fanfiction, so I get that the covers are of a piece with the vibe, but all the same I will not be picking them up.
4. A problematic author whose books you have no interest in reading?
Joseph Boyden. My patience for people who falsely claim Indigenous heritage is zero, especially when – as in Boyden’s case – they begin to speak on behalf of the communities they claim to represent. We can’t even say he’s doing good work, because it sounds as if his “work” has contradicted the actual work done by Indigenous communities.
5. An author you have read a couple of books from and have decided their books are not for you?
Kate Atkinson, which makes me a little bit sad because I really do love Life After Life. Then I read A God in Ruins, and I cannot anymore with this author. She really needs to get a grip on the rambling. I swear at least 60% of A God in Ruins was unnecessary WWII aircraft-related stream of consciousness, and the other 40% was what I actually came for, which was the story.
6. A genre you have no interest in OR a genre you tried to get into and couldn’t?
I did briefly try to get into cozy mysteries, but that was a bust because everything I read was horribly written and didn’t seem to have been proofread even a little bit. This is a real bummer, because I love all the cozy vibes and I really wanted it to work out. I might have gotten into Brownies and Broomsticks, which was better written than the other two and included recipes in the back, if it hadn’t mocked mental illness (and if the protagonist had been slightly less obnoxious, but, well, I covered all that in the linked post).
7. A book you have bought but will never read? (This can be a book you have unhauled/returned to the library unread.)
I bought You (Caroline Kepnes) on a whim, and I regretted it immensely. I hate Joe. I hate that he’s the protagonist. I don’t care if it’s supposed to be a satire. The fact that there are four books in this series tells me that Kepnes cannot let this repulsive man go. I’m hoping he’ll die in the fourth book, but I don’t have the stamina to find out, and I really have no idea why these books are so widely described as compulsively readable when You is a pile of misogynistic garbage dredged from the basement of a mega pretentious serial killer’s brain.
8. A series you have no interest in reading OR a series you started and have DNF’d?
Never gonna read Divergent (Veronica Roth). You can’t make me do it. The trailers for the movie looked so much like The Hunger Games, and, while I don’t know enough about the Divergent series to know how similar they actually are, I’m going to be comparing it to The Hunger Games the entire time that I’m reading it. I also tried Outlander earlier this year just for shits and giggles, but gave up at page 75. It was so boring and Claire was so annoying, and I am no longer willing to waste time reading books I don’t like.
9. A new release you have no interest in reading?
I have no interest in anything Naomi Novik has written, and I will not be reading The Golden Enclaves.
