Anti TBR Tag 📕 All about the books I don’t want to read

Hello fellow bookworms 📕  Today I come to you with another Tag that I saw a couple of months back on Lais @ thebookishskies blog! It’s the Anti TBR Tag all about the books or authors that we have no interest in reading or the series we no longer wanted to finish. I really liked the questions and from time to time I also like to reflect on what I don’t want to read as opposed to what books I’m excited for. As always, these are just the books/authors I’m not personally interested in, and some of them I might give a chance in the future, as you never know. The book was created by Nicole @ Nicole & Her Books!

Let’s start!!

1. A popular book EVERYONE loves that you have no interest in reading?

➽ I have to agree with Lais and say The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang. It has become a super popular series everyone loves and recommends, be it on the blog or on Twitter, which I’m happy about. However, I just know that this isn’t the book series for me as a very emotionally invested reader. It has some pretty heavy triggers and overall seems to be a very dark and emotionally draining series. I just cannot do that very Dark Fantasy, especially with all the content warnings, so I know that I definitely will not read the books. I’m happy that so many people love them though, as we need more diverse books in Adult Fantasy! As so many people seem to love it, I’d say go for it, if you’ve read the trigger warnings!

2. A classic book (or author) you don’t have an interest in reading?

➽ It would be easier to mention a classic book I AM interested in reading. But I do have a specific book in mind. I tried reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte a couple of times when I was still in high school … and I never managed to push myself to finish it. It was honestly so dry and boring to me, and I couldn’t find the motivation to force myself to finish it. I also wasn’t that into the premise and all the manipulation later on, which is probably also why I don’t tend to find Jane Eyre retellings to be very appealing. I don’t think I’ll try this book again! 😴

3. An author whose books you have no interest in reading?

➽ Libba Bray immediately came to mind, as there was quite a lot of hype around the Diviners series. However, I was never interested in reading it despite all the rave reviews and haven’t felt compelled to pick up her other series. I’ve also heard mixed things about how she writes certain minorities and generally have heard her books include a lot of slurs/offensive language. That’s actually really sad as she writes Historical Fiction and Fantasy, a combination I really like 😔

➽ Another popular Fantasy author I never got into was Morgan Rhodes. I never read her Falling Kingdoms series, as I wasn’t interested in it and heard the series goes downhill from readers who loved it. She’s an author I would consider reading something from if I was interested in an upcoming release, but for now, she has no books out that pull me towards them. This might have been different if I had read her books around the time they came out, meanwhile now I’m interested in other Fantasy books 📚

54. An author you have read a couple of books from & have decided their books are not for you?

➽ Katharine McGee comes to mind, as I read the first two books in her Thousandth Floor series … and there was so much Bury Your Gays, I couldn’t believe it. The premise of a futuristic high society was so cool, but as I said, the queer characters were treated horribly and them not getting their happy ending twice was concerning. I also heard that the second American Royals book has a completely polarizing ending, so I don’t think I’ll read more books by her. The thing I hate is second books suddenly turning everything that happened upside down, so I probably wouldn’t like it as well.

➽ I only read one book by Naomi Novik but I hated it so much, so I don’t think I’ll read any of her books, especially as her newest series was criticized for containing harmful stereotypes and generally being iffy. The book I hated by her was Uprooted, which is quite well-beloved. I DNF’d it after 50% because it really grated on my nerves with the slow pacing and the love interest. The amount of verbal abuse surprised me and made me question why The Dragon was supposed to be seen as a valid love interest. There’s victim-blaming later on as well, and it all rubbed me the wrong way, so I stopped reading 😅

5. A genre you have no interest in OR a genre you tried to get into & couldn’t?

➽ Thriller, Crime & Horror is the holy trinity of genres I don’t read because I’m a scaredy-cat. I did read some light YA/MG Horror books last October for Halloween and I like some mystery books, but I’ll never be the person who is into crime novels or psychological thrillers. And I definitely cannot do Adult Horror a la Stephen King as it’s much more than I can handle 😅

6. A book you have bought but will never read? (this can be a book you have unhauled/returned to the library unread)

➽ A book that comes to mind is Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare. I have given up on reading Cassandra Clare’s books as I don’t find them interesting anymore, so I unhauled my copy of Lady Midnight and gave it to a friend. I was trying to give this series a chance as I heard it’s much better than TMI, but then I realized that I didn’t want to spend any more time on the Shadowhunter books. I would much rather read books that I was more excited about, thus the unhaul.

➽ I also gave away Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I wanted this to be another adventure into Adult books, but I read the beginning and … hated the book. I couldn’t get Eleanor as a character at all and honestly thought she was rude and judgemental. There is a difference between having no social skills and being nasty to the people around you, and I sadly couldn’t see anything redeeming about Eleanor’s behavior 😅 I knew that I would get angry reading about her the entire book, so I let it go.

7. A series you have no interest in reading OR a series you started & have dnf’d?

➽ It’s hard to talk about series I’m not interested in reading, as sometimes I change my mind. I think here I’ll go with Nevernight by Jay Kristoff. I did read the Illuminae Files which Kristoff co-authored with Amie Kaufman, but I have no intentions of reading his other books. Nevernight seems to be popular in Adult Fantasy, but I never had any interest in it, specifically as I heard the female main character is obviously written by a male gaze. I also just didn’t get excited by the synopsis and would rather read a different book to get me into Adult Fantasy. Though I loved Skyward, I probably also won’t read the Mistborn series, as it looks super long and doesn’t appeal to me.

➽ I have a lot of unfinished/DNF’d series, but one I’m really sad about is Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco. I liked the first book but then accidentally spoiled myself for something that happened in book 3 which completely soured my mood. There are certain tropes I cannot stand and this was one of them, so I didn’t want to read book 2, just to inevitably dislike book 3. [spoiler]In case you’re interested this was about the cheating plotline I heard takes place during the third book, with the main character being drawn to a new love interest and emotionally (not sure if physically) cheating on her love interest, while pretending she cannot talk to him for plot reasons. I hate that trope so much, especially if it’s not really addressed again.[/spoiler] Other popular series I won’t be finishing include The Folk of Air by Holly Black, The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, and An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir.

8. A new release you have no interest in reading?

➽ Sadly I have to say These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong here, as I’ve seen a lot of hype and love for the book. I’d love to join in the hype (though this book wasn’t really on my radar before) but I’m worried about the content warnings, which is why I’m actually glad people take the time to mention them. There seems to be some body horror and most importantly insects, which are two things I cannot handle if there’s a big focus on, so I think I’ll skip out on this one. I’m still happy so many people seem to love the book though!

➽ I also don’t plan on reading any Karen McManus books (The Cousins was most recently released in December) now that I think of it. She writes YA mystery/thriller but like I said, it’s not really a genre I reach for often and I heard mixed things about her books so far. Yet I see her books on lists literally everywhere. Sadly I’m also not drawn to her books and their premises, so I don’t think she’ll be an author I reach for in the future.

I’m Tagging

• Marie @ drizzleandhurricanebooks
• Caitlin @ caitlinalthea
• Margaret @ weirdzeal
• Xandra @ starryskybooks
• Sofii @ abookathought
• Morgan @ morganisreadingagain

What popular books are you not interested in reading? What genre could you never get into? Any series you’ve given up on? 📕