15 Responses to “WHAT KIND OF BOOK WON’T YOU READ?”

1. I agree with you Kate. I don’t care to read books with gore or violence. Also the excessive use of the f… word really turns me off. Vampires do nothing for me. I don’t read any paranormal. I very seldom read Science Fiction. There you have it, all the stuff I don’t like to read.

   by Annette on October 14th, 2007 at 12:14 am
   
   

2. Hmm…
   Well, to be honesty, I can’t read literary fiction, or most, if not all, regular fiction (whether it be mainstream or something else). It just bores the heck out of me. Reading about people living in our current world doing things that I either already go through or know someone else has gone through just doesn’t entertain me–really, it puts me to sleep. I live real life, I don’t want to read about it.
   I read a lot of science fiction, but I’m very careful what I read regularly in that genre. I don’t read stuff like the Star Wars novels or anything else in a shared universe. And I really don’t like SF that delves too deeply into science. A trend I have noticed in SF is the use of Quantum Physics, which scientists even have problems understanding. The writers, who are usually rather educated, try to portray ideas revolving around QP, but they fail to understand that most of us who read SF aren’t scientists. So, they give us these concepts and either do a poor job of making it understandable, or spend too much time explaining it. One book that did a wonderful job at this was Spin State by Chris Moriarty, which to my understanding thus far is the only book that has done this successfully.
   I also read fantasy. Sometimes it’s really thoughtful, sometimes not, but most of the time it’s just very escapist and fun. Young Adult fantasy really keeps me entertained, maybe because it brings out that child in me.
   I don’t really read romance. I will if it involves a paranormal aspect (science fiction, fantasy, whatever), but straight romance I generally avoid. I’ve never read any westerns, but sometimes I get the urge to try one, but never know where to start. I generally can’t read horror. Stephen King has only kept me interested enough to finish one of his books–Cell.
   What am I missing? I do agree that excessive gore or violence kind of ruins a book. I like books that do have violence, but I’m not interested at all in guts and really descriptive gore.
   Do the Hardy Boys count as cozy mystery? I used to read them as a kid. There was also a book I read that was rather good called Farthing by Jo Walton which was somewhat like an old Sherlock Holmes style mystery. Might be worth checking out!

   by SMD on October 14th, 2007 at 1:58 am
   
   

3. The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew — I’d call them cozies because they never described gory or violent scenes. It was all about solving a mystery, not watching a crime happen. Agatha Cristie wrote cozies, as well. So did Rex Stout. I read all of those, plus one young adult series that I wonder how many of you have read or even heard of: The “Trixie Belden” mysteries?

   Kate

   by Kate on October 14th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
   
   

4. Kate, I’m not a big fan of Sci-Fi. And I can’t stand depressing books! So I usually steer away from Oprah’s picks. There’s enough depression in the world without me going to look for it.

   by Heather on October 14th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
   
   

5. Gore and violence I do not like. Nor Sci Fi. Nor particularly verbose books. But I love cozy murders…and I regularly review children’s books!

   by Rudolf on October 14th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
   
   

6. I don’t like horror or cruelty. Thaat’s why I don’t read serial killers. There’s always a scene where the killer is torturing his victim. Ugh.

   by Maggie on October 14th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
   
   

7. I remember Trixie Belden. I think I still have one of those books (and of course Nancy Drew.)
   I don’t care for science fiction in general or paranormal, but I intend to read Karen MacInerney’s next book about the werewolf… Maybe she’ll convert me… I prefer a really good who -done-it…don’t want to read about violence — don’t need excessive cursing. I find that’s just a cop-out when the writer has no vocabulary…

   by Judith Walpole on October 14th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
   
   

8. I’m not a fan of the sci-fi/fantasy genre. I also don’t like things with graphic sex. I prefer the cozy mystery, but I do read things that are a little more violent. (Not often, but once in a “blue moon.”)

   by Lori on October 14th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
   
   

9. Heather, I’m with you! If I know half the characters are going to kill themselves, I’m leery of the book. The Hours, for example, was pretty bleak to me!

   by JB on October 14th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
   
   

10. I read Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon as a child but I think the biggest influence on me was Enid Blyton who truly hooked me with her Famous Five series when I was in primary school. Here in Australia we tended to have more exposure to British writers during the sixties and seventies so I suppose that Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie were a natural progression. I did broaden my horizons ( and save heaps of money) through my choice of profession - I became a librarian but I still don’t read SciFi!

    by Vicki on October 15th, 2007 at 3:01 am
    
    

11. I can’t read pages on pages of description. One of the lawyers turned writers does that and he just bores me to tears. I don’t like true life pain, like Running with Scissors. I like some literary fiction, but it has to have a story folks.

    by Lynn on October 15th, 2007 at 7:02 am
    
    

12. I’m not a big sci-fi fan. I will read some fantasy. One of my all-time favorite books is The Mists of Avalon. Gore and violence I can only take in small bites, and I’m with you, Kate–anyone hurt a kitten and I’m throwing that book againts the wall too!

    by Michele on October 15th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
    
    

13. Having seen the rest of the blog entries, I’d agree with Kate and Michele - cruelty to animals or children is a big NO in my world as well…

    by Rudolf on October 15th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
    
    

14. At first I thought this would be a pretty short list - heck, it seems like I read everything from books to magazines to those brochures you pick up at the rest stops on the turnpikes - but when I gave it some thought, it turns out there are several types of books that I never read. I’ll read just about any non-fiction, and pretty much any fiction genre - Sci Fi, Romance, Historical Fiction, Mysteries, “regular” Fiction - but for the most part I insist on reasonably happy endings. I want all the likeable people that the writer introduces me to, to survive the story. I don’t care for gore, terror, violence against children, against animals, or against nice people in general. Bodice-rippers are okay, but no graphic sex, please. (And does anyone besides me have trouble with the term “graphic novel” for a glorified comic book? When I hear “graphic novel”, I think novel with graphic scenes.) No tearjerkers, either. One of the reasons I enjoy reading as much as I do is that it’s a sort of mini-vacation, and I don’t want to vacation in a place where all the people are frightened, nasty or miserable.

    by Karen on October 20th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
    
    

15. Hear, hear, Karen.

    by Kate Collins on October 21st, 2007 at 10:53 am
    
    

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