I’m currently making my way through the archives of the bookish podcast, Currently Reading. It’s a really great podcast, especially because the hosts can get super snarky about books and reading. Too many bookish podcasts and #bookstagrammers don’t allow for the snark, and that just doesn’t work for me. Gimme your real thoughts about what you’re reading, please and thank you!
Anyway, one of the episodes in their archives involved talking about their “bookish demerits.” Your bookish demerits are the things you do (or don’t do) when it comes to your reading life that could be a hindrance. These are areas where maybe you could improve—or perhaps not. Thinking about my own bookish demerits was rather fun, and I thought I would share them here!
1) Not liking Jane Austen. I’ve read a few Jane Austen books, and haven’t liked any of them. I think I’ve given all of them 2 stars on Goodreads if I’ve even rated them. I feel like, in order to be a proper bookish woman, I should love Jane Austen and everything she stood for in literature, but her writing just doesn’t do it for me.
2) Abandoning books too soon. I have never been and never will be someone who thinks you should “finish what you started” when it comes to books. Some books are meant to be abandoned—maybe it’s the wrong time or simply just not the right book for you. But sometimes I worry that I abandon books too soon. Some books start off slow, some may not get to the meat of the story until halfway through. And I could miss out on a great story because of the slow start. Then again, there have been too many times to count where I’ve pushed through a slow start to finish a book because I feel like I “should” and am not rewarded by the ending.
3) Judging a book by its cover. I can’t be the only one who does this! A bad book cover will completely turn me off—it doesn’t matter if the book gets rave reviews. There’s just something about a poorly designed book cover that gives me pause and makes me wonder what the author was even thinking. (I know authors don’t always have control over the look of their covers, but let’s be honest here: It’s usually self-published authors who do have control who seem to have the worst-designed book covers.)
4) Not reading a book if it has a low Goodreads rating. I have a problem when it comes to Goodreads ratings in that I let them guide my reading much more than I should. If a book has anything lower than a 3.7 rating, I honestly debate if I want to either a) add it to my want-to-read list or b) read it altogether. Goodreads reviews tend to skew on the higher end, so a book that has a 3.3 overall rating? It definitely concerns me. However, recently I finished two books with very low Goodreads ratings—Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave (3.5) and Every Wild Heart by Meg Donohue (3.3)—and liked both of them! So it does make me wonder how many books I’ve missed out on because I give too much weight to Goodreads ratings. Hmm…
5) Getting angry when people give low ratings to books I love. In my book club, we have this inside joke about the way I lost my cool and screamed, “WHAT?!?!?!!?” when I found out that a friend didn’t like Mindy Kaling’s first book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?. Listen, I understand that we all come to reading with our own likes and dislikes, or own experience, and all that. But it’s very hard for me to not take it personally when someone gives a two-star rating to a book that changed my life. It makes me question their reading taste and our entire friendship—how could you not love this book that means so much to me?! And this also works in the opposite direction: when friends rave about a book that I didn’t like. What is wrong with you that you loved that book so much?!?! I’m working on this judgmental side of my personality. Promise.
6) Not reading long books. A book longer than 500 pages intimidates me. There are a handful of books that have been sitting on my TBR for a long time, and their length is what keeps them there. I checked my reading stats for this year and 2019—I haven’t read any books over 500 pages this year, and read only three last year. Two of those three were audiobooks, though, so maybe that’s my gateway to reading longer books?
Your turn! What are some of your bookish demerits?
I too will quit books if they start to hint at animal abuse, which is oddly more common than you’d think. My book club is reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and there’s a scene where an uncle gets a gun because the character’s puppy is sick… idk what happens next. I couldn’t stomach it and I just can’t with that kind of thing. I don’t want that kind of thing in my damn books. So I guess I will either have to hope that I can click through the pages to get past that part, or I won’t have much to say at (virtual) book club this month.
I don’t like Jane Austen either. I’ve tried and she’s just not for me. I feel that way about most classics now.
I have started to abandon books earlier but I think it’s actually a good thing. If i am really not enjoying something/being pulled into the story, it needs to be set aside. there have been times when I’ve kept reading because it’s a book club book or someone raved out it and I have yet to finish a book I wanted to quit and felt glad I stuck with it!! So I’m really try to ditch things that aren’t working for me!
My demerit is taking it super personally/feeling bad when a person doesn’t like a book that I’ve raved about. I know we all have our own tastes but I just feel responsible for them taking the time to read something and then not liking it!
Lastly, I pretty much do not buy books anymore and I either pass along books I liked to someone else or sell them to a used book store. I am not a re-reader and I no longer feel like I need to have all these shelves full of books. I am sure some think this is terrible, but I do give money to my library so I feel like that is my way of supporting authors. And i buy a lot of books for Paul! But he reads them over and over and over again so that feels like a great investment.
I love reading this list! It’s so fun! I am going to check out that podcast!
I relate to 3 and 4 so much. I like sci fi and so many of them turn me away because the cover is just ridic!
Ha, I do not relate to 5 though. Like with other media, there is something for everyone, and not everyone is going to like everything 😉 I do feel bad when someone gives me a book to read they loved and I did NOT like it. Like, I feel bad they thought I would?! Ha.
Long books are really turning me off right now. But Beyond the Point was such a good 500-pager 😉 I am about to start The Heart’s Invisible Furies which I know was one of your 500 pagers you loved!
I am not sure if this counts for my own list, but I have a problem with buying books and having them in my house. As in I don’t want to, anymore. I don’t want physical copies of many books. That feels so weird. And I don’t want to buy a book until I’ve read it once. Is that odd?
I’m the exact same way on Goodreads! I totally am a snob when it comes to not reading books that don’t get a high enough rating on there, ha ha. I will admit, I personally love Jane Austen, but I’m not a huge fan of Shakespeare (which feels shameful to admit because I used to be an English teacher!).
Are you accepting new friends on your Goodreads? I’m always looking for other active users to inform my own reading choices! My profile is: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5912677-torrie
I have NEVER read Jane Austen and I likely never will. I don’t know if her books just don’t sound appealing to me or not, but Austen has never been on my TBR shelf!
I totally judge books by their covers. If they get good reviews I’ll ignore it (my ereader is in black and white anyway) but still! It needs to at least look like a good book!
I’ve only ever abandoned one book – Lauren Graham’s biography. I just couldn’t get into it and shelved it about two chapters in.
I TOTALLY judge a book by its cover. It’s so funny, because my husband does this too — and we are attracted to very different types of covers. I can almost always spot a book that will appeal to him!
I also judge books by their titles. And by the first paragraph. Many a book have I put down in the bookstore because the first paragraph didn’t draw me in.
Haha, we all have book demerits… I am definitely guilty of judging books by their covers.
I used to get upset when my taste of books didn’t align with other people’s taste in books… but I’ve learned that just because you like it, I don’t have to like it and vice versa. Of course, I’d love for others to love the books that I love, but it doesn’t work this way…. it comes down to genre preference, writing and narration styles, etc.
I usually don’t abandon books, unless it’s really, really bad…