So I’ve been seeing this Twitter thing going around in which you tweet one bookish opinion per like your tweet gets. I have a LOT of opinions and 140 characters is just too short, so I thought I’d ask you guys to join in on the fun!
What are your bookish opinions, popular or otherwise? What drives you crazy about the book community? What underrepresented books do you want to see more of? Do you have reading quirks? Shout about them here!
Here are some of mine:
1) I am first and foremost a spine breaker and everyone else can just freaking deal with it. Have you ever tried to read a 1,000 page mass market paperback without cracking the spine or messing it up in any way? I dare you to try.
I eat while I read. I read in the tub. I chuck my book in my purse and take it with me everywhere. My books get messed up. They get tattered. They’re not always pretty and pristine when I am done with them, but they’re meant to be enjoyed and loved.
2) I absolutely love lending people books. If someone wants to read one of my favourite books and I have a copy, it’s theirs. I am the Great Library of Justine.
3) Bookshelves arranged by colour are gorgeous, but so impractical. I would probably know where everything was if I arranged my shelves like this, but everything would be split up! What about the series? I’m not sure I could deal with it.
My shelves actually aren’t arranged in any special way right now. I just shove books where they fit and try to keep series together where I can. I’d like to arrange them by genre or put them in alphabetical order, but honestly I acquire so many books that I’d be constantly reshuffling things to make them all fit!
4) No one should ever, ever, be shamed for what they’re reading. I’ve been seeing a few younger bloggers complaining that adults are getting ARC’s of YA books when they, the teen bloggers, are ‘entitled’ to such things. No. Anyone should be able to read whatever they want. If you’re an adult who reads YA, awesome! Prefer sci-fi and fantasy? Great! Read romance? That’s fantastic.
The one that bothers me most is romance. Romance readers are the butt of so many jokes. I was at Bloody Scotland last year and the two of the three authors at a particular event randomly decided to go on a rampage against romance authors and readers. Seriously? You’re in an auditorium of 200+ people who you’d ideally like to buy your book. You’re going to potentially trash their reading taste? I can guarantee that I’ll never buy either of your books. The same goes for authors who try to trash other authors or genres (cough cough Phillipa Gregory cough. Never buying one of your books. Byeee.)
Romance outsells every other genre by a huge margin. Romance novels make it possible to fund a number of other books a publisher produces from the risky debut author to the small-run literary fiction.
Okay, I’m done with that rant. This makes me mad.
5) Similarly, if you preach about how people should take your genre seriously while making fun of or looking down on readers of other genres, you’re part of the problem.
6) The most popular opinion of all: libraries are wonderful and you should use them.
Slightly weird opinion: I must own my books. If I get something from the library and love it, I end up needing to buy it.
7) The number of books you read does not reflect how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ of a reader you are. Read at your own pace, read for yourself, and never feel bad for not reading as much as another person.
I feel like the blogging community unintentionally sets us up for feeling guilt about the amount we read. I see people who get through 10-20 books a month, sometimes even more, and I wonder why the hell I can’t read that much! But I shouldn’t care, and I’m working on getting better about this.
8) Everyone should try classics, BUT don’t feel like you’re a bad reader for not liking them. So much emphasis is put on how many classic books you have read, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing. I think there’s something out there for everyone in terms of classics (I can make suggestions if you want one!) and it’s important to see where our favourite genres grew from. But if you don’t enjoy them, then you don’t enjoy them. And that’s okay!
9) DNF books! Chuck them over your shoulder dramatically if you don’t like them! Life is too short to read books you’re not enjoying. Just because one person loved a book doesn’t mean you will. Similarly, just because you hated a book does not make it ‘bad’. I give a book 100 pages to grab my interest. If I don’t like it, I put it aside. As a reader, I have no obligation to finish a book I don’t enjoy.
10) We should be able to discuss why we disliked a popular book without fans of said book jumping down our throats. It’s okay to dislike something that’s popular. I have absolutely hated some popular books and I do worry that I’ll get attacked for it.
11) I think that it’s not a good thing to only read one kind of book. Whether it’s an age range (only adult or only young adult) or a genre (only fantasy), you’re narrowing your mindset. It’s good to branch out and read something new from time to time. Now, I’m not saying you have to abandon your beloved fantasy for literary fiction, but I do think that readers should try out new things. Who knows, you may discover something new that you absolutely love!
Also, branching out helps prevent reading slumps.
Those are my bookish opinions! I have a lot more (I am very grumpy and opinionated), but I’ll stop for now. Now it’s your turn.
Let’s chat! What are your bookish opinions? Do you agree with any of these? Disagree? What have your experiences been? Let me know, I’d love to discuss!
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