Rants & Raves: Things In Books I'm Just Not That Jazzed About

This is a feature that appears sporadically on the blog, whenever I have a bookish issue I need to rant or rave about. Feel free to comment with your thoughts!

The other day I finished going through my Goodreads TBR list and paring it down. It had gotten to over 2200 books and I'd seen another blogger (I think Jamie from The Perpetual Page-turner, perhaps?) saying that they'd been weeding out books they're not likely to read from their list, so I figured I'd do the same. (I am now down to below 1850 books, so I am feeling good about it! Even though that is still a massive amount of books, lol.)

Anyway, during this process, I've noted certain elements or aspects of books that make me go, "Ehhhhh I'm probably NOT going to like that" so I've compiled some of them in this blog post. (Don't worry, there are others that make me go, "oh YES I'm keeping this on the list, how have I not read it already?!", and they'll be catalogued in another post!).

This was also inspired by Small Review's similar posts Give Me That Book! (which I happened to stumble across recently and got me thinking, 'I should do a post like that too...') and Talk to the Hand.

So without further ado, here are things in books that will make me raise an eyebrow and think twice about adding to my TBR list...

- Trolls. I just... they're gross? Usually? Sorry, troll fans. Maybe point me to a book where they aren't portrayed as ugly, hulking, clumsy beasts who like to gnaw on unsavoury things. (Same thing with zombies, really, unless they are portrayed in a very un-gross way. Also not a fan of demons or goblins. I get creeped out easily, okay? :P)

- Cheating. This one depends a lot on the situation and how it's written, but as a general rule, I am not a fan of characters cheating on their boyfriends/girlfriends/spouses/what-have-you (I don't condone cheating in real life, so I am not thrilled to read about it in my books. It will definitely lower most characters in my opinion.) Similarly, I'm also not big on characters who lead on two (or more) people at the same time.

- Circuses. Clowns kinda freak me out and seeing poor animals forced to do tricks is not my idea of a fun time. Circuses always seem like they have a great capacity to go really WRONG.

I genuinely don't get why anybody LIKES clowns.

- Talking animals. These are hit-and-miss for me, but here's a detailed post explaining it.

- Nasty, mean-spirited, backstabbing characters who have no redeeming qualities and do not learn their lesson. Wuthering Heights, I'm looking at you. Also, the Luxe series. And Vicious.

- Really "zany" characters who are just TOO out there, and make a point of being quirky because they want to prove how different and special and unique they are. Believe me, if there was a convention for all the quirky/zany/"unique" YA characters, they'd realize really fast how many of them there actually are. (The blogosphere seems to be divided on these sorts of characters — half of it appears to love them, the quirkier the better, and the other half... doesn't. I usually fall into that latter half, particularly with contemporary books where there are just one or two zany characters, while everybody else is "appallingly" ordinary.)

- Superpowers/superheroes. I was never into Superman/Spiderman/Batman/whatever-else-there-is growing up (either the comics or the movies), so this sort of premise just doesn't tend to appeal to me. I don't read books for non-stop action-y fight scenes, and I feel like that is what most of these books would be.

- Computer hackers and virtual realities. Start talking code and you will see my eyes glaze over. Geeky discussions of technology hurt my brain. I can't visualize what's going on and I get really bored.

What are some elements in books that will make you go "uh, nope, not reading THAT"? Are any of them on my list?

Stay tuned for the next post, where I talk about some things in books that get my hearty stamp of approval! 

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Pet Peeves

This meme is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, and this week's topic is bookish pet peeves. I haven't done a Top Ten Tuesday post in a while (too long!) so I'm happy to be back at it.

And so, in no particular order, my bookish pet peeves are...

1.) When the jacket description doesn't remotely resemble what the book's actually about. You think: "Awesome, this book is going to be all about {insert-exciting-topic-here}!" and then you read it and realize that {insert-exciting-topic-here} is mentioned exactly once, as a sidenote. Not cool.

2.) When the jacket description gives too much away and so for the majority of the book you know exactly what's going on even when the main character doesn't. This is particularly deadly if it's a mystery.

3.) When the illustration/model on the cover doesn't look anything like the main character, or there are other inaccuracies that make you go, "HUH? But there is no black cat in Hex Hall! How did *you* get in there?"

4.) When there are stickers or library bar codes that obscure the MOST IMPORTANT part of the cover image. Case in point:

Chapters, you have made this book into Girl v. Weird Being With An Orange $2 Head instead.

5.) Love triangles where it's really obvious to the reader which guy the author wants the heroine to get with (this often means I end up rooting for the other guy because he doesn't seem quite so perfect).

6.) Love triangles where the girl flits between two guys, absolutely unable to make up her mind, and neither of them calls her on it.

7.) Books that address some psychological issue inaccurately. I majored in psychology so it really bugs me when they misrepresent a disorder or whatever because they're basing it on pop psychology misconceptions rather than real research.

8.) Plot holes. Obvious, gaping plot holes that make me wonder if the editor was on their break when the book went to production.

9.) Annoying or despicable main characters that I just can't get behind. Wuthering Heights, I'm looking at you.

10.) TOO MUCH ANGST. Sorry emo teenagers, but I can only stand so much.

I could keep going here, really, but that's 10 now so I'll stop. I actually quite enjoyed making this list!

What are your bookish pet peeves?