The Anti-TBR Tag

Hi friends 👋🏻 I’m easing myself back into blogging by taking part in the Anti-TBR Tag which I first saw from Caro @ The Bookcheshire Cat!

I usually try to make this blog as positive as I possibly can, but I am naturally a pessimist so it feels good to sometimes just let it all out and give all of the reasons why I don’t want to read a certain book. Without trashing it, of course, because that’s crossing a line for me.

This tag was created by Nicole @ Nicole & Her Books!

A popular book everyone loves that you have no interest in reading?

I don’t know if the Percy Jackson series is universally loved, but it is quite popular with book bloggers. However, it’s not a series that has ever caught my interest because I’m not into mythology-based stories and there are so many books in the franchise as a whole. I just don’t have the energy for that kind of commitment.

A classic book (or author) you don’t have any interest in reading

I think at this point Stephen King can be considered a classic author since pretty much every single one of his books has been a bestseller and even people who don’t read much know who he is. I have tried to give King’s books a chance many, many times, but the more I think about them, the less interested I become in reading them. For me, King stories take too long to get going and by that point, I’d rather just watch the movie versions, of which there are plenty. It’s probably horror fan heresy to say that you’re not interested in Stephen King, but I’ve never been one to care about things like that.

A problematic author whose books you have no interest in reading?

In response to something I saw that basically shamed readers for not wanting to monetarily support bigoted authors, I will say that if you don’t want to support authors because you disagree with their personal ethics, you are allowed to. If you’re the kind of person who can “separate art from the artist”, good for you but do not tell people to “grow up” or stop being so sensitive for holding bigots accountable for their actions and views.

That being said, I’m glad that I have no nostalgic ties for any of Orson Scott Card’s books because I cannot and will not give any of my money or support to homophobes, especially those who have been interpreted by critics as inserting their homophobia into their work.

An author you have read a couple of books from and have decided their books are not for you?

My relationship with James Joyce’s books isn’t so much “I decided his books aren’t for me”, but more like “I would rather shove a fork in my eye than read anything by Joyce ever again.” I realise that it sounds extreme but I did not have a good time reading Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, or those two passages from Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake at university. The only entertaining thing he wrote was his love letters to his wife because they were actually comprehensible. Stream of conscious narratives just do not agree with my brain and I can only read the same autobiographical novel over and over a few times.

A genre you have no interest in OR a genre you tried to get into and couldn’t?

I just can’t get into historical fiction no matter how hard I try because history has never been my favourite subject. I’m perfectly fine with genre books that are set in the past, like the Stalking Jack the Ripper series because they don’t necessarily focus heavily on the historical context and serve as a setting instead.

A book you have bought and will never read?

I’m not sure if I would completely rule out ever reading Lolita, but it is a book that is not a priority of mine in any way at this moment in time. The writing can be as beautiful as possible, but the subject matter (child sexual abuse from the POV of the abuser) is still extremely off-putting no matter how much the author is condemning it.

A series you have no interest in reading or a series you have started and DNF’d?

I DNF’d The Cruel Prince about half-way in and I have absolutely zero interest in retrying it and continuing on with the series. I found the plot to be boring and I didn’t like any of the characters, plus what I found out happens in the rest of the series put me off of continuing on with it. Plus, I’m just not that into books about fairies anymore.

A new release you have no interest in reading?

I don’t have an answer because I never know what new releases are out there and I’m a backlist reader who doesn’t have the money to buy new releases all the time. So, let’s just say all of them because I’m more interested in reading books that I already have.

talk to me!

What’s on your anti-TBR? What genres can you just not get into no matter how much you try?