# What kind of book WON'T you read?



## xtine (Feb 17, 2011)

I'll tell you what I have a hard time reading

RPP - Rich People's Problems. Heiress this and magnate that....typically I can't even get through the blurbs.

What about you?


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

I used to think that Westerns were the only thing I couldn't read, but I recently read a VERY Dark, morbid YA book, that I got NO pleasure from whatsoever.  So now I know I won't read any more of that type either.  The book was well-written, but I just disliked how absolutely dismal the book was.


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## ML Hamilton (Feb 21, 2011)

I am so done with "Real Life" stories. They are usually more fantasy than what I write. Gag!


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

I read almost everything but I wont read:

Business style self help books - you know, get in touch with your inner manager and so on.

Also, books promoting health fads.

Almost everything else there are examples of worthwhile books even if I dont generally like the genre.


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

I can't take YA fantasy.  I' grown, why would I want to read about teenaged angst?

Anything Dr. Phil-ish (self help books).


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## Cappy (Sep 6, 2011)

Self-help books.

I have a friend who's addicted to them. I don't know, I've yet to meet anybody whose life was transformed (as many of the covers promise), so I'm a little cynical about them.

Having said that, I do like some of the titles. 'Feel the fear and do it anyway' is a great title.


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## Vanessa Wu (Sep 5, 2011)

I love self-help books. I've read so many I think I could probably write a definitive one. No, no, I can write a definite one. I will write a definitive one. Because every day, in every way, I just keep on getting better and better.

In general, I do not like reading books by or about drug addicts who have made an amazing recovery and kicked their habit. Candy by Mian Mian is an exception.

I won't read books telling me to find Jesus or that Jesus will find me.

I won't read books telling me how to sell a million ebooks in 5 months. My loss, probably, but I don't care.

I have no qualms about ditching a book after a few sentences, a few pages or a few chapters if I am not compelled to read on. For this reason I will give most other books a try.


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

Vampires. I'm done with them. With zombies running a close second. Which is a shame because I love horror.


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## Cappy (Sep 6, 2011)

Telephone directories. I won't read those either. Such boring plots.


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## evie_d (Sep 13, 2011)

Anything with a fated-to-mate trope. I find those very boring. I'm generally not a fan of military stories or hard sci-fi either.


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## xtine (Feb 17, 2011)

Oh here's another....

Books about AmeriKa's steep decline into a third-world nation, or a military coup in the USA.
There are just so many and after chapter 2, I know who the author voted for in 2010.


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## Mycopsycho (Jan 17, 2011)

Sci-fi, self-help, Hollywood starz bios

Sent from my Motorola Atrix 4G via Tapatalk using Swype.


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

Ty Johnston said:


> Vampires. I'm done with them. With zombies running a close second. Which is a shame because I love horror.


This, plus fantasy. Real life it tough enough.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Westerns.

Self-help.

Books by politicians (generally even ones I may somewhat agree with but especially by or about Sarah Palin)

Straight romances.

Thrillers that are nothing but flaying or body parts being ripped off. I am picky and require a real plot.

Ones with a conservative political agenda

Telephone books but I'm a sucker for the back of the cereal box.


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## Sean Cunningham (Jan 11, 2011)

Instruction manuals. I'm a guy. 



evie_d said:


> Anything with a fated-to-mate trope.


I remember hearing of a book that messes with this concept. Everyone wears a bracelet with a counter on it that counts down to the time they meet their perfect match. The book asks the question, so what do you do in a world with those bracelets in it? Do you wait? Do you make the most of it until then? What happens if your counter hits zero but you like the relationship you're in?


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## AnnieOldham (Sep 1, 2011)

I agree about the vampires--mostly because books these days aren't about vampires. They're about sparkling teen heart throbs. If you are interested in a vampire book where the vampires are actually vampires, and it's NOT a love story, try Robin McKinley's Sunshine.


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

AnnieOldham said:


> I agree about the vampires--mostly because books these days aren't about vampires. They're about sparkling teen heart throbs. If you are interested in a vampire book where the vampires are actually vampires, and it's NOT a love story, try Robin McKinley's Sunshine.


Someone here on KB said that Twilight makes a lot more sense if you realize it is not about vampires but about FAIRIES.

But I loved Sunshine too . But for even more vicious vampire book, try "The Stress of her Regard" by Tim Powers. Am about halfway through and wow! Harsh!


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

Oh, I forgot about faeries.  Faeries, elves and magicians just completely turn me off.    

I recently purchased a ebook after seeing an email from audible for just this book, I wondered why just this book.  So I read the blurb about a circus that only opens at night.  A little more research found critics calling the author a genius.  So I pulled the trigger at $12.99 only to find out it is centers heavily on kids and magicians.  I asked for my money back.


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## BRONZEAGE (Jun 25, 2011)

In response to the original post,  generally speaking if *everyone* is reading a title in popular fiction that is a huge red flag to not read it or proceed with caution.

& Use the same criterion for mainstream /  Hollywood films. 

In both cases, reading trade reviews helps sort out the good stuff from chaff...


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

BRONZEAGE said:


> In response to the original post,  generally speaking if *everyone* is reading a title in popular fiction that is a huge red flag to not read it or proceed with caution.
> 
> & Use the same criterion for mainstream / Hollywood films.
> 
> In both cases, reading trade reviews helps sort out the good stuff from chaff...


While I take the exact opposite view. I am almost certain to disagree with trade reviews and use them only to know what to avoid. 

I very, very rarely read vampire novels, but can't say never. I highly recommend GRR Martin's vampire novel which I consider a classic _Fevre Dream_. I have no problem with elves or any other fantasy trope as well as it is well done, although I don't use them much.


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## BRONZEAGE (Jun 25, 2011)

JRTomlin said:


> While I take the exact opposite view. I am almost certain to disagree with trade reviews and use them only to know what to avoid.


Perhaps you need to upgrade the trade reviews you read also.


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## Straker (Oct 1, 2010)

Ty Johnston said:


> Vampires. I'm done with them. With zombies running a close second. Which is a shame because I love horror.


Yes. And werewolves.


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## N S Cooke (Sep 27, 2011)

I can't read books with obvious heroes, that have no relevance to everyday life:

The CIA agent
The SAS kick-asser
The FBI burnout
The clandestine killer, bread in a secret laboratory housed beneath a disused Marks and Spencer Store.

No, to all of the above. They need not apply to be read by me.

Give me the little old lady who plays bingo of a Thursday, or the window-cleaner who see too much. Gritty, unlikely heroes. I like books that we could see ourselves in, where we can identify with the characters. 

Oh, and no OK Magazine kiss and tell all Biographies


Nick


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## ArtMayo (Sep 13, 2011)

Horror and erotica.

As Moss of _IT Crowd _said: "My ears are not a toilet!"


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## WFMeyer (Apr 14, 2011)

I can't read anything about vampires - for me it's been done to death (no pun)

Also, I've tried, on the advice of several female friends, to read romance novels...I just can't get through them...


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## schmoodle (Oct 2, 2011)

Vampires for me, too. Any fantasy stuff.

Also, I tend to avoid books that are mostly about the sex. They bore me to tears. Stuff from Sandra Brown comes to mind. If you read one sex scene, you've read them all, I believe.


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## rmbooks (Sep 19, 2011)

Self-help books and Reality TV star memoirs.  I like a good story, so I'm pretty open to all other genres.


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## Nessa Quill (Jul 16, 2011)

Hmmm. Let's see...


celebrity memoirs _(they're already rich)_
anything dealing with politics _(need I say more)_
Woe-is-me or whiny YA books _(teenagers do smile and laugh occasionally)_
Suspense novels _(once I know who the killer is, I'm over it)_


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## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

Paranormal Romance - I just don't get it.
Hard out sci fi - I don't know what a gravity literal time line with subdural linkages is.
YA - Vampires are evil, not incredible lovers.

Others as well, but they are the main ones.


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## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

Here's a fairly specific one: fantasy worlds with aliens.  I don't know why, I just can't stand that.


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

Ben White said:


> Here's a fairly specific one: fantasy worlds with aliens. I don't know why, I just can't stand that.


Sounds a bit dodgy  I dont think I've ever come across aliens in fantasy?


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## Guest (Oct 3, 2011)

Romance. It just doesn't seem to click with me, particularly when it's the only thing the characters are concerned with.

A genre I once described as "nothing happens and people whine about it." The type of book where all the problems could be fixed if one single character was prepared to actually do anything, rather than moan about it over cups of tea. After all, if the characters obviously don't care about what happens to them, why should I?

Marketing books where all the advice boils down to "Spam people". I regard spam as a problem to stamp out, not something I want to contribute to!

I don't like the fated-to-mate trope, with one exception which I read online. The lead was fated to marry their worst enemy, an utterly despicable human being, or the enemy would die in agony within a day. The lead's response was to refuse, get a comfy chair, and a big bucket of popcorn...


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## Sean Cunningham (Jan 11, 2011)

mashadutoit said:


> Sounds a bit dodgy  I dont think I've ever come across aliens in fantasy?


Oh it can be done, and done well. From a certain point of view Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series is essentially Romans with superpowers versus the Zerg from Starcraft, with a race of Klingon-like humanoid canines in the mix.


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## Charrlygrl (Aug 1, 2011)

I really dislike the romance genre, paranormal or otherwise. 

I refuse to buy anything "written" by anyone who appears on The Jersey Shore.


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

N S Cooke said:


> I can't read books with obvious heroes, that have no relevance to everyday life:
> 
> The CIA agent
> The SAS kick-asser
> ...


Nick: Try Oliver Kitteridge. A book not to avoid.


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## Linda Andrews (Aug 16, 2011)

Most literature, self-help books, political books and generally anything I'm told I must read.


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## Danielle Kazemi (Apr 2, 2011)

Zombie novels are probably number one. Dystopian ones are right behind. I hate reading how we are all doomed. Have some optimism people.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

I'm rather worn out on dystopias, then tend to give a simplistic enemy, and tend to all be the same.


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## monkeyluis (Oct 17, 2010)

Well I usually read sci-fi, fantasy, horror, thrillers. Everything else is out. I do read some business books, I research adult learning a lot, I'm a trainer in the corporate world.


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## GerrieFerrisFinger (Jun 1, 2011)

I won't read self-help non-fiction (most is actually fiction IMHO) or biographies of the rich and famous (there's very little that is  new in a celeb's book and tell-all is a little tidbit about a high school incident).
I read non-fic history and historical fiction. 
I don't read YA or Westerns, although I have read big westerns like Lonesome Dove. I read very little mainstream/literary. Just too angsty and boring (most of the time). 
I don't read zombies or vampires (since Anne Rice's Lestats). I don't care for graphic novels, although I'm opening to reading a good one. 
I could probably think of more, but that's the highlights.


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## Moppet (Sep 30, 2011)

AnnieOldham said:


> I agree about the vampires--mostly because books these days aren't about vampires. They're about sparkling teen heart throbs. If you are interested in a vampire book where the vampires are actually vampires, and it's NOT a love story, try Robin McKinley's Sunshine.


Oooooh... I loved that one. I keep looking to see if she's done a sequel.

Oh, and I don't read Ayn Rand. I'm sure she's wonderful, but too many people I really disliked told me she changed their lives.


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## kabubi (Jun 14, 2011)

xtine said:


> I'll tell you what I have a hard time reading
> 
> RPP - Rich People's Problems. Heiress this and magnate that....typically I can't even get through the blurbs.
> 
> ...


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

Won't read vampire, chick-lit, YA, political. Also not keen on memoir.


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

I'm not drawn to light, breezy, funny books (chick lit, rom com, etc). Douglas Adams-esque humor is another thing altogether...


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## Kali.Amanda (Apr 30, 2011)

Generally, I'll give anything a fair chance to charm me. The moment either the topic of rape or child abuse rear its ugly head, I close the book and it goes to the thrift shop.


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## Stacey Joy Netzel (Aug 3, 2011)

Someone below mentioned Reality TV 'star' memiors and I have to wholeheartedly agree.  Absolutely refuse to read those.


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## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

Charrlygrl said:


> I refuse to buy anything "written" by anyone who appears on The Jersey Shore.


Has one of them written a book?


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## Alexis-Shore (Feb 20, 2011)

I won't read badly written books.

Otherwise, why close yourself off to genres that might surprise you?


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## B Regan Asher (Jun 14, 2011)

WFMeyer said:


> I can't read anything about vampires - for me it's been done to death (no pun)
> 
> Also, I've tried, on the advice of several female friends, to read romance novels...I just can't get through them...


Ditto. Especially vampires. I just don't get it.


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## Charrlygrl (Aug 1, 2011)

WriterCTaylor said:


> Has one of them written a book?


Yes, believe it or not, 'Snooky' wrote a book! I use the term 'wrote' very loosely.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

I won't read anything primarily about drug wars, terrorism, romance (paranormal or otherwise), self-help, anything with a religious agenda (of any persuasion) or a political agenda, anything written in first-person present tense, anything with the words "harsh", "gritty", "realistic", or "true-to-life" in the description, or (as someone else said) books about teenage angst. I also have a probably unreasonable intense dislike of any Star Wars or Star Trek novelization/tie-in and won't read any of them. Also, no fan fiction. Ever.

I also don't read historical fiction, although I have no particular bias against fiction written in the actual period.

All this would seem to limit my choices, but it doesn't at all. There are still so many to choose from that I will never run out of things to read or re-read.

Mike


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

Anything that looks like those cheap romance novels, anything by Danielle Steele...ever!


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## EliRey (Sep 8, 2010)

I read just about anything that can take me away. I read for escapism and relaxation. Only thing i don't like is sci-fi especially the ones with over complicated worlds, species, powers.. I'm trying to relax when I read I don't wanna have to take notes to keep up.


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## GerrieFerrisFinger (Jun 1, 2011)

Moppet said:


> Oooooh... I loved that one. I keep looking to see if she's done a sequel.
> 
> Oh, and I don't read Ayn Rand. I'm sure she's wonderful, but too many people I really disliked told me she changed their lives.


Never could read Ayn Rand. The repetition! her books could be cut to 60 percent. Never liked Norman Mailer,but loved James Jones.


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

I try to steer clear of anything whose back cover indicates, "She hates him.  And he hates her.  In fact, he's so horrible that she succumbs to Stockholm Syndrome and they tumble into bed."

It makes me want to stab things.


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## D/W (Dec 29, 2010)

It's very interesting how much people's taste in reading varies!

I don't read sci-fi or books featuring vampires or zombies.  I really love some of those book covers, though!  I also have an aversion to stories that take place pre-1800.  Ancient history bores me.


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## Eliza Baum (Jul 16, 2011)

Books that I know are designed to make me cry. I read _A Walk to Remember_, and that was enough to break me of that type of book FOREVER.


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## Tommie Lyn (Dec 7, 2009)

I don't like:

- Vampires/shape shifters/werewolves, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera
- Fantasy
- Sex stories/erotica 
- Depressing Hunger Games-type stuff
- Celebrity biographies/autobiographies
- The general Romance category
- Pretentious literary fiction

and probably something else I'm forgetting right now.


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

balaspa said:


> Anything that looks like those cheap romance novels, anything by Danielle Steele...ever!


Had to giggle at this. I'm not a romance reader and tried one Danielle Steele book b/c someone gave it to me (no idea why). Never wanted to try another. Ever.


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## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

Kali.Amanda said:


> Generally, I'll give anything a fair chance to charm me. The moment either the topic of rape or child abuse rear its ugly head, I close the book and it goes to the thrift shop.


I'm exactly the same. I was reading a book recently, when all of a sudden out of the blue, the fourth chapter had a very graphic child abuse scene. I closed it and sent it back to the store because there was nothing about that anywhere in the blurb or advertising.


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## Verbena (Sep 1, 2011)

Linda Andrews said:


> Most literature, self-help books, political books and generally anything I'm told I must read.


The same.


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## Mark Young (Dec 13, 2010)

I am learning to NEVER to say "I would never read ..." because, as soon as I spit it out, I find a book that changes my mind. It is all about the writer and how well that person can carry me into their world ... whatever world that might be. I just don't want to be dragged through the gutter on my way to the end of the story.


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

*Series:* These should never go beyond 4 or 5 books, otherwise it's just a treadmill of words and story lines. If I see books with numbers like 11, 23, or 31, then the author is just paying the mortgage with the keyboard.

*YA:* I know there's a big fad for adults reading books for written for thirteen age group, but I just can't relate to kids.

*Media Tie-In:* I don't need to read the novelization for the newest hit movie or read the further exploits of Captain Kirk (or some other derived source). If I don't bother with the TV shows or movies, so the tie-in stories won't cut it for me either.


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## Moppet (Sep 30, 2011)

Katharina said:


> I'll read anything. Almost. I refuse to read about rape turned to love.


Hear hear. Those actually make me really angry.


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## Moppet (Sep 30, 2011)

Geemont said:


> *Series:* These should never go beyond 4 or 5 books, otherwise it's just a treadmill of words and story lines. If I see books with numbers like 11, 23, or 31, then the author is just paying the mortgage with the keyboard.


What about Stephen King's Dark Tower Series? Or the Death Gate Cycle by Weiss and Hickman? both are 7 books, and, IMHO, are excellent series.

Also, I'll forgive really long "series" if they're just set in the same world, with cameos by the other characters. Some authors just like their worlds. Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series springs to mind.


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## Amy Corwin (Jan 3, 2011)

Eliza Baum said:


> Books that I know are designed to make me cry. I read _A Walk to Remember_, and that was enough to break me of that type of book FOREVER.


Yes. What you said. That's why I frequently jump ahead to the end. I'd like at least one or two of the major characters to survive past the finale, and I won't read a book that just wants to pull tears out of me. Life is hard enough. I want to feel good, or at least relieved (in the case of horror) when I reach the end.

I shy away from any books that have the following words in their descriptions: heartwarming, "pulls at your heartstrings," "will make you cry..." sexy, erotic. So far, I haven't been good at figuring out the keywords associated with horror bloodfests. I prefer my horror a little less whack-'em-and-stack-'em. I like more subtle spookiness like Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House."

Anyway...I'll try to read anything. Whether I get past the first page is another story


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## Meb Bryant (Jun 27, 2011)

I don't understand the zombie/romance thing. Isn't decomp a turn-off?


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

I'm also not a fan of vampires, werewolves or zombies. I never did see the appeal, so Twilight wouldn't have been on my TBR pile even if it had been one of the best written books in the universe. 

I don't read diet or exercise books because every week, there's a new and better one, which makes no sense because humans haven't changed all that much in 10,000 years. It just makes sense that if you eat healthy and exercise, you'll be thinner and more fit than if you don't. (Not saying I practice this, just that I know if I did, I'd be thinner and healthier.  )


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## Bellagirl (Jul 23, 2011)

I refuse to touch anything with a quasi-religious message (from Christian fiction to Dianetics), as well as zombie books and just about anything hailed by the MFA powers-that-be as the next literary masterpiece.


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

Moppet said:


> Also, I'll forgive really long "series" if they're just set in the same world, with cameos by the other characters. Some authors just like their worlds. Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series springs to mind.


When I was first writing my comment, I put down "Episodic Series" as opposed to other types of Series, but I decided that readers may cause confusion. Defining the types is probably best deferred to a different thread.

What is or is not a Series can be debated: William Faulkner set most of his stories in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, but his work isn't a "series." Nevertheless, the four to five book rule probably holds together pretty well across the gamut most of the time.

As per your example of the Dark Tower, I think the last three books were pure stinkers, IMHO. They could have been wrapped up into one and been much better. (On the other hand, the major problem with the last three DT books was a bad implementation of metafiction.)

Iain M. Banks is an excellent science fiction author who Culture Books are some of the best in the genre. Even though his stories and characters can be 1,000s of years apart, the "Culture" has remained constant through out all of them, and I agree with a reviewer who said (I paraphrase) "It's getting stale. Time to move on or truly shake the foundations the Culture until smoothing new is forced out."


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

I doubt there's a genre out there I wouldn't at least take a look at, but I'm not a fan of the boilerplate formula romance genre, gory horror, or hardcore porn.

I'll read just about anything, for no other reason than to see how the author constructed the story, the words they chose, the style and the tone...I might not like the book, but I can probably appreciate the writing, good or bad...


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## Kayden Lee (Sep 9, 2011)

I don't want to read anything that has to do with children being evil. I don't know why, but that just gets to me.


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## Chris Turner (Jul 23, 2011)

Can't say that I'm a big fan of chick-lit, but then I'm a guy.  Also, stuffy 'literary fiction' starts to get to me after a while.  If the story's engaging, I'll give it a chance.


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## Dawn McCullough White (Feb 24, 2010)

Science Fiction (sorry friends who write Sci-Fi, this is why I have not read your books)
Mystery/Thrillers
Political Thrillers

I just find them dull.

Dawn


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