Every Tuesday over at  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  This week’s topic is:

Top Ten Things That Will Make Me Instantly NOT Want To Read A Book

The opposite of last week’s list, I’ve tried to use the same headings, so here goes:

1. Bloggers  – if all the bloggers I chat with seem to be not really enjoying a book then I admit it puts me off reading, even if it’s a book I really want to read it will probably move down the ‘must read’ list – life is too short and whilst I like to form my own opinion if the popular opinion is generally against a particular book it will put me off picking it up or at least make me less eager to do so.
2. Author – well, sometimes you can have an author that just doesn’t seem to work for you, their particular style maybe doesn’t do it for you.  When this happens then, yes, maybe the first couple of times I’d put it down to experience and try another book but after that it would probably be a no go for me.
3. Cover – just as a great cover makes me want to pick up the book, well, the opposite is obviously just as true.  I would probably stay away from certain types of covers.
4. Hype – yes, I used this last week, but while I do usually crumble in the face of popular opinion sometimes my stubborn streak just kicks in and the hype really does put me off.
5. Part of a series – maybe the first or second book didn’t work out for me – I do have quite a number of uncompleted series.
6. Genre – I know that authors don’t really like to be pigeon holed, but if a book falls into certain categories then I would probably not be very interested – not a judgement on any body else of course, just not my go to kind of book – romance, for example, I don’t mind my book having a romance along the way but just not the main focus.
7. Content – I do tend to find insta love and love triangles a little over used and if I read about a book having such content then I would be less interested in reading.
8. Certain descriptions – I’m not a really hard sci fi fan, simply because I figure things will go over my head.
9. Unlikable characters.  Characterisation is such a big selling point for me,  Fantastic characters just make the book don’t they?  If I’m reading a book and can’t get along with the character it will just slow the book down and ultimately stop me from picking it back up.
10. What did I miss?

Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  This week’s topic is:

Ten Authors that I’ve met/seen/listened to

1. Neil Gaiman – at a book reading.  Not only are his books amazing but he’s great to listen to and really patient.  He signed everyone’s books and it was a very long queue – must have took him forever (or at least a couple of hours).
2. Joe Abercrombie.  Another reading organised at Central Library in Manchester.  This was for his venture into YA with his Half a King book.  I don’t think there’s anything better than listening to an author read their own work – they just bring something more to it.
3. Robin Hobb.  A great reading for her The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince.  She answered lots of questions about her inspiration and how she came to write books.  Really interesting session.
4. Sarah Pinborough – this is a woman who just makes me laugh.  She’s so funny!  And, of course it doesn’t hurt that I’ve read and loved quite a number of her books.  She was at the Gollancz Festival last year and took part in a number of the panels.
5. Ben Aaronovitch.  At a book event in Waterstones, Deansgate, Manchester.  Another really genuinely nice guy – he just had plenty of funny stories about asking fans about things on twitter and about sitting on different buses as they travelled around London just to take a different look at some of the places he could use in his writing.  I use public transport a lot – and there are always plenty of funny/not so funny stories as a result!
6. Brandon Sanderson – another book event at the above Waterstones.  He was great to listen to.  He answered a bunch of questions, he spoke about his experiences as a writer and his processes, he read a sneaky peak out of his third Words of Radiance book and he signed a huge amount of books for an extremely long line of fans.
7. Joanne Harris.  This was a very informal event at a Library in Oldham.  It was great because it was a very small venue and felt almost like you were all just having a chat.  There was a reading for the Gospel of Loki and then questions and answers.
8. Joe Hill – who was at the Gollancz Festival.  I didn’t see too much of him but he did attend the end of one of the panels I was observing and he took part in the audience Q&A asking questions of the panel himself and I thought that was pretty cool.
9. Elizabeth May – who also attended the Gollancz Festival – a lovely young woman indeed whose name you will no doubt recognise from The Falconer series.
10. Who next??