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What do you stubbornly refuse to read, and why?


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I have, so far anyway, refused to read Twilight et al.

 

And Danielle Steel, just seeing the covers brings me out in a cold sweat. You see swathes of them at boot fairs and charity shops, they're like Japanese knotweed, persistent but deadly. I've no idea why I've developed a prejudice against them, I think it may be due to an unfortunate quarter of an hour I spent sat in front of one of those mini-series of hers .... if I'd have watched paint dry it would've been more constructive.

 

They're just not for me that's all.

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I completely agree about Danielle Steel. Her, Nora Roberts, Mary Higgins Clark and any of those authors who seem to churn out book after book using the same basic storyline and only change the characters names and the setting do not even get a glance from me in the store.

 

If the book has potential to be turned into a Lifetime movie (if you don't have those in the UK or elsewhere, they are the overly dramatic soap operaish kind of movies) I won't touch the book.

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I don't think I can say I'll never read a particular type of book. Chicklit does not appeal to me but you never know I'll probably stumble upon it. As it is I've suprised myself in what I've managed to read. For years I wouldn't touch Laurell k Hamilton. I've read a few and enjoyed them despite the many noticable errors. A few is enough for me though. I've stumbled into paranormal romance. I didn't think I'd ever read romantic books. Its all because of those cross over books, books that don't quite fit in one genre. These days I'll try anything once.

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I'm not into goth, wont read them. Having said THAT, if I did read goth, I wouldnt read Lora Leigh. I work in a bookstore and this woman has almost two shelves of books. She's cranking out about 6 or 8 books a year. They just CANT be any good! Not to mention the erotica section she's cranking out at the same time. It must be a formula she's using.

 

I also wont touch "urban fiction" by such authors as Zane (gripping titles such as Purple Panties) If I can avoid it, I let other employees shelve those books:lol: They KNOW how I feel! The last time I handled one of those books, I felt the need of a shower and an antibiotic:lol:. Just nasty!

 

I've also come across books such as the Satanic Bible which I wont go near, much less read.

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I hate any hardcore sci-fi or fantasy books like Lord of the Rings or the Harry Potter series, i personally really dislike sci-fi and always have done so i find any books with these themes irritating,

 

This was me a year ago. However I picked up the first HP book in the series after ever other peron in the world had read them, and was captivated. Against all odds. Unbelievable.

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Anything that involves religion, or any of its machinations.

 

Why?

 

Well, I'm an atheist.

Well, so? Me too, atheist or agnostic I'd call myself. But still, I pick up books like Umberto Eco's In the Name of the Rose. I mean, it's fiction. I read Harry Potter, books about elves etc. If you consider books that involve religion another sort of fiction, they're readable. Doesn't go for everyone, but if you don't read books just because they involve religion, there's lots you can't read right?

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The more I read the more I realise I don't want to avoid any particular genre or author because that way I might really be missing out on a lot of great reads. I can't really know if a book is any good unless I try it, right? For example, I hated the movies Fever Pitch and High Fidelity, and also hated the book Fever Pitch when I read it years ago. That made me avoid Hornby's books like the plague. I was so annoyed that there are two titles by Hornby on the Rory Gilmore book list and that I would have to read them eventually. I grabbed the bull by the horn(y)s (hehe!) and read High Fidelity and was surprised that I really enjoyed it. After that I also read The Complete Polysyllabic Spree by him and loved it, and now I'm reading A Long Way Down which is an absolute gem!

 

There was also this Finnish author I really despised for some reasons and figured I'd never read any of her novels. A friend of mine had felt the same way before but then she'd just recently decided she should try and read one of her books, and she loved it and read all the others and was really giving me a hard time for not wanting to read them. So I gave the books a chance and ended up liking them immensely and now she's my favorite Finnish author. Funny how things go sometimes.

 

There is, however, this one author I know I won't be reading and that's Stewart Home. I tried his books in my teenage and they were disgusting. We have a Finnish equivalent for him and I won't be touching any of his books either. But I think that's a bit different because I've tried them out.

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"...if you don't read books just because they involve religion, there's lots you can't read right?"

 

I've never struggled to find a good read, Univerze, but I do struggle with books that sell religion under the guise of fiction, and I find that writers of a religious bent can't seem to help but come across as being preachy.

 

I am quite sensitive to the subject though, so it could just be me.:lol:

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I also don't like being preached by - by anyone of any persuasion, which is why I won't be reading any more Dawkins any time soon :lol:. Even as an agnostic though, I find that so many good writers (from Milton to to the Miltonic Steven Brust) take their ideas from religious concepts that it would be a crime to ignore them.

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Everyone is entitled to their opinion and reading material, obviously, and the following is no more than my own tuppence on the subject :lol: while I have shelves filled with non-fiction, I do think that the entire point of good fiction is to teach readers without them feeling like they are being lectured at.

 

Fiction has made me who I am, by teaching me about loyalty, love, Ideas; through books about things that have mostly never happened I have learnt the way humans think, feel, interact; within the pages of novels I have discovered just how beautiful and base, how amazing and how abject, how divine and despicable people can be. I have learnt to judge less and listen more, to give value to experiences different than my own and always question my preconceptions. I have inferred values, nurtured passions, developed my understanding of the workings of the world.

 

I could never consider that a waste of time :lol:.

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"Fiction. With very few exceptions, reality is more interesting. Especially since what you are reading in non-fiction actually happened."

 

Mountainhiker, you are the ying to my yang.

 

I think your viewpoint illustrates possibly the largest of gulfs between readers.

 

On one extreme are those who cannot read anything unless it actually happened, and on the other are those who only deal in what could happen.

 

I'm of the latter, where possibilities are limitless, and can also swallow up what really did happen (historical fiction), and although I can't imagine reading along such a narrow path as non-fiction, I 'get' where you're coming from.

 

I suppose we all close ourselves off to some genre's and at the end of the day we're limiting what we can enjoy.

 

I'm with you on Dawkins, Bookjumper - he is seriously preachy for an atheist! I didn't make it all the way through The God Dillusion.

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I read many different books, but there's only ONE I started to read and then stopped because it was SOOOOO incredibly boring !!!

It was "Atonement' by Ian McEwan !! I really forced myself to read as much as I can...I read 127 and then I gave up ! Then I watched the film... which was really wonderful :(

For the first time I prefered the film rather than the book !

 

Another author I refuse to read is Marc Levy. I tried to read it one of his books once but then I found it was really as dull as ditchwater !

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Fiction has made me who I am, by teaching me about loyalty, love, Ideas; through books about things that have mostly never happened I have learnt the way humans think, feel, interact; within the pages of novels I have discovered just how beautiful and base, how amazing and how abject, how divine and despicable people can be. I have learnt to judge less and listen more, to give value to experiences different than my own and always question my preconceptions. I have inferred values, nurtured passions, developed my understanding of the workings of the world.

 

I could never consider that a waste of time :).

 

As usual, Giulia writes how I think, but with such articulation and eloquence that I feel a little intimidated! :D Suffice to say, I feel exactly the same way.

 

I appreciate that I may well be vilified for saying this (it may have cropped up in this thread already, but life is short and I want to mow my lawns) but I simply will not be reading anything Twighlight (is that how one spells it?) related. I can't do it. My mouth goes dry at the very thought of it. I tremble at it's very mention. And what's all the hoo-hah about he whom they named R-Patz? Now, I can see that there's something about the sulky-yet-vacuous looking lass on the posters, but, well...honestly...:D

 

And with that controversial post, Mac scoots off gibbering wildly in search of emancipation and beer. Perhaps he will find one within the other...:lol:

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I refuse to read Marc Levy and Guillaume Musso (French authors), even though everyone tells me things like "he's my favourite author, I love his books" etc. They write easy stories, in my opinion, and because I know that with my tender heart I will unfortunately like it, I refuse to try. :D Soap romance isn't what I call quality, but I know that there are good romance books. Still, Musso and Levy don't go in that quality category, in my opinion.

 

That was a bit harsh, sorry if someone loves them. :lol:

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Any Dan Brown books. I was a Borders bookseller at the height of Da Vinci Code mania, and having to de-sticker and re-sticker 554 books a week, every week, made me detest them. Along with "Do you have the Leonardo Code?" "Tesco's have this cheaper" "Do you have a book by Tom/Dick/Harry Brown? It's about an artist." "Have you read it? It's the best book ever written." "You haven't read it? I'm surprised they let you work here" :lol:

 

I will never read anything by Boy in the Striped Pyjamas author John Boyne, because I think it's a travesty of a book on so many levels, and I will never read a Jeffrey Archer book because my Grandad would come back from the grave to tut at me!

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