Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each week a new theme is suggested for bloggers to participate in. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want. Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to The Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
This week’s topic is ‘My Unpopular Bookish Opinions and I’m more than ready to share mine. Some of these might ruffle feathers, but hey — reading is personal, and there’s no one right way to love books!
Hardbacks are overrated
I know many people love them, but I really struggle with them and don’t enjoy reading them. They don’t fit neatly on my shelves, they are awkward, heavy to carry around, and murder on the wrists. Give me a floppy paperback or an e-book any day!
Sometimes the movie is better
Before you light the torches, hear me out: World War Z is my go-to example. The film might not match the book’s structure, but it delivers a gripping, chaotic outbreak story in a way that’s equally compelling, and sometimes more emotionally gripping.. Not every adaptation has to be a carbon copy.
TV/Movie tie-in covers are not my thing
Even when I love the adaptation, I cannot stand a book cover that features the actors. It just kills the magic for me before I even open the first page.
Diverse Books should be good books, first and foremost
Diversity is important, but a book still needs strong writing, interesting characters, and solid storytelling. Diversity shouldn’t be the only reason a book gets praise.
Buddy reads and book clubs aren’t for me
I like reading at my own pace, in my own bubble. I don’t want to schedule my reading. I don’t want to pause at specific chapters for discussion. Not my idea of fun. I just want to read at my own pace and vibe with the book privately.
School Curriculums Need a Refresh
Classics have their place, but so does modern literature. There’s room for fresh voices and stories in classrooms — maybe even more room than for the usual suspects. Forcing the same old titles onto generations of students doesn’t inspire a love of reading. Mix it up!
Standalones over series
I love a story that knows when to end. A tightly written standalone, with a satisfying and self-contained plot, will always beat a series that drags or gets bloated. Not every story needs three (or seven) books to make its point.
Multiple POVs should actually feel different
If I can’t tell whose chapter I’m reading without checking the name at the top, something’s gone wrong. Voice and perspective should be as unique as the characters themselves.
Most love triangles aren’t love triangles
A lot of “love triangles” are really just two different men backing a woman into corners until she “chooses” one of them. Real emotional tension and choice? Rare. Forced and formulaic? Common. A triangle has three points
Read and let read
At the end of the day, it’s simple: people should read whatever makes them happy, without guilt or snobbery. Highbrow, lowbrow, or total fluff — it all counts.
I love this post! I agree with most of your points, except the one about hardcovers… but then I do agree about them being hard to carry around and fit on shelves, so it’s not like I don’t concede that you have a point! (I mostly like them because I don’t have to worry about breaking spines the same way I do with paperbacks, but digital and audiobooks remove all of these issues even better!) I particularly like your point about diversity – I often struggle when I’m reviewing a book that has great representation – particularly when it’s perspectives or cultures or issues I rarely see addressed in books – but that isn’t a great read. How do I review that? I don’t want to discourage writers from the issues and representation in it, and I feel like it’s better that it exists than that it doesn’t… but yeah. It would be so much better if it were also a really great book too. I’m also coming to really appreciate books that have diversity without being *about* it. People who are just there, being neurodivergent or disabled or whatever, but mostly doing other things in the story just like everyone else. It doesn’t always have to hit readers over the head. I love books that deal head on with representation, don’t get me wrong, but I want more of the just there stories as well. Thanks for the thought-provoking read!
I recognise and accept I’m in a minority when it comes to hardbacks – when I had to pack up my books to move house, I ended up donating a lot of big hardbacks to the charity shops because I wasn’t picking them up.
As a disabled and neurodivergent reader, I love books who’s plots don’t revolve around ‘this person is autistic’ – it’s like the difference between The Good Doctor (this doctor is autistic but he’s still a doctor) and House (this is a doctor who also happens to be disabled). It’s one of the reasons I adore Talia Hibbert – contemporary romance where the characters just happen to disabled. Not a book about a disabled character