Skip to main content

My Unpopular Bookish Opinions

 Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at That Artsy Reader Girl! Unpopular bookish opinions--I feel like we've been down this road before! Do I have any unpopular bookish opinions I haven't already shared? Hi, I'm Miriam, and I hate Mr. Darcy (really. hate. him.) 😛. Let's see if I can conjure up some unpopular bookish opinions for the 2020s.

My Unpopular Bookish Opinions for the 2020s (So Far)

  1. I'm not a big fan of enemies to lovers--in fact, it makes me NOT want to read a book (I do anyway sometimes because there are so dang many of them, but fortunately, a lot are mislabeled).
  2. I AM a big fan of friends to lovers--these don't seem to be as popular, but I love seeing friendships deepen into relationships, and I think these are a lot more realistic anyway!
  3. I'm not a Sarah J. Maas/ACOTAR fan *gasp*--To be fair, ACOTAR is the only one of her books that I've read, so I wouldn't write her off entirely and would maybe try Throne of Glass or something else. But 1) I'm tired of the "the series gets better as it goes on" party line. Yes--that is very often true, of many fantasy and other series. But there are also plenty of series I can read where I actually enjoy the first book--AND then also get to enjoy better second, third etc. books. And 2) My actual issue with ACOTAR is the power imbalance in the relationship between Tamlin and Feyre, and yes I know she ends up with the other guy, but that doesn't preclude similar power imbalances and/or consent continuums that I'm not here for popping up in later books, and I don't need to worry about it when I can just...read other books.
  4. I'm done with dystopias--Probably not actually an unpopular opinion, seeing the rise of cozy fantasy and hopepunk (which I am 100% here for), but some people are still reading/watching Station Eleven, The Handmaid's Tale etc., and you'd have to pay me a lot of money to do that right now.
  5. I'm not especially worried about AI "authors"--I think this will probably end up panning out like ebooks--there will be a craze, we will have a lot of AI kids' books, coloring books, cookbooks, and similar "low-content" books flooding the market. However, right now, AI isn't sophisticated enough to write coherent novels or even short stories, and even when it is, it lacks the--you guessed it--human element. Part of the appeal of books, especially these days, is connecting with the author, online, yes, which AI could maybe technically do, but also at events. Hearing the author speak. Imagining the author's life, thought, and writing process. That's no fun if we know it was randomly generated by a bot. I think AI books will have their place, but they won't replace the demand for books by real human authors.

And that's all for now, folks!

Comments

Lydia said…
I’m not a Sarah J. Maas fan either!
@Lydia--good to know it's not just me!

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: The Speed of Clouds by Miriam Seidel

Book Review: The Speed of Clouds by Miriam Seidel *To Be Released from New Door Books on April 10, 2018* Mindy Vogel is haunted by the future. In frequent daydreams, she toggles between her real, wheelchair-bound life and the adventurous life of her fanfic alter ego, SkyLog officer Kat Wanderer. She's haunted by all that Kat can do which she cannot---belong to an organization of comrades, walk, and fall in love---yet. Because at twenty-four, Mindy's future is very much ahead of her, wheelchair notwithstanding. Through Mindy's "SkyLog" fanzine and related emails, Seidel evokes Star Trek fandom around the turn of the millenium, but also creates a new and compelling science fictional universe, similar to what Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl  does for the Harry Potter fandom with "Simon Snow." Mindy is among the pioneers transitioning fandom from print to digital, boldly encountering like-minded individuals from the comfort of her chair behind the monito...

Books with Single-Word Titles

Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at That Artsy Reader Girl! Books with Single-Word Titles These are all my favorite books that I could think of with one-word titles. A lot of fantasy, a few nonfiction (minus subtitles) and Kindred , whether you consider it scifi or historical fiction. Also two portmanteaus using the word "bitter." I suppose it's a word that lends itself to amelioration. 1. Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler 2. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore 3. Fire by Kristin Cashore 4. Heartless by Marissa Meyer 5. Inheritance by Christopher Paolini 6. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius 7. Stoned by Aja Raden (has a subtitle) 8. Educated by Tara Westover 9. Fledgling by Octavia Butler 10. Kindred by Octavia Butler

The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection

 Most of the books I buy these days are ebooks, or books I'm technically "renting" (I guess that's the right term?) on Kindle Unlimited. I also get a few ebooks for review, usually from LibraryThing or directly from authors. Mostly I get books from the library, but I also try to buy/preorder from my favorite authors--sometimes ebooks or sometimes an actual book if I don't have a signed copy from that author yet! Here are the most recent books I've either bought or rented (TBR would be a whole other list!). Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at That Artsy Reader Girl! Top Ten Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection Everlasting Spring: 101 Poems for Every Season of Life by Sonya Matejko (Ebook for review from LibraryThing) Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawagachi (Kindle Unlimited) Spark by Allie Lasky (Kindle Unlimited) The Hannukah Hook-Up by Jessica Topper (Kindle Unlimited) Hooked by M.C. Frank (Kindle Unlimited) A Dance of Blood and Destiny by K.R.S. ...