Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by  The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here.  This week’s topic is:

 Unpopular Bookish Opinions

I wasn’t really sure where to go with this one so I’ve probably gone off on a strange tangent but here are some of my probably unpopular bookish opinions:

1. I don’t finish a book if I’m not enjoying it.  I used to be absolutely completist and read dogmatically through a book whether I was enjoying it or not.  I think I’ve come to realise that life is too short and there are a lot of good books.  Therefore if I’m going to find all the good books then I’ll have to stop reading the ones I’m not enjoying.  This probably makes my blog and reviews look as though they’re always glowing with praise – but that’s primarily because I only continue reading the books I’m enjoying.  Otherwise reading becomes a chore and I tend to go into a slump.
2. I’m an absolute convert to e-books.  I know – break out the pitchforks!  I just find them so convenient. I love physical books, the tactileness of reading them, just turning the pages, well, everything.  But, I can’t deny I’ve totally gone over to the dark side.  I read on kindle.  My kindle has a backlight which I just love.  I can carry around hundreds of books – which might feel unnecessary but, hey, you never know.  It’s really easy to just highlight chapter headings, names, places or even make notes and I really like some of the other features like knowing how many minutes are left in a chapter – so I can easily prioritise between sleep and reading.
3. Similar to the above, I’m starting to get on board with audio books.  They don’t all work for me I have to admit and I know there seems to be a whole body of opinion out there that this isn’t really reading, and technically, maybe it isn’t actual reading – but I’m still mentally digesting the book so I say it counts.  I did worry that audio wouldn’t work for me and that I’d switch off and miss huge swathes of infortmation but if anything it’s exactly the opposite.  And, if you’re listening to a book with difficult place and character names you have the added bonus of correct pronunciation – and if you heard me making a totally ass out of some of the names I’ve read you’d truly understand what a gift this is.  Yep, I’m very pleasantly surprised with just how well audio is working out for me.
4. I don’t mind books that pay attention to detail.  In fact I welcome some of the detail – obviously I don’t need every leaf on a tree or stone in a house detailing, and I don’t want a room describing in full every time a character enters but I like the extra attention that helps to bring the world alive even though I recognise that others may feel this sometimes slows the plot down.
5. Ratings.  At the moment I don’t rate the books on my blog – basically I don’t always think I make the right choice for my ratings and so I prefer to go off the tone of the review.  So, if I’m gushing like a love sick puppy then it’s probably a full 5* whereas if I’m just giving a very straightforward review that tends to have the words ‘enjoyed’ and ‘liked’ as oppose to ‘smitten’, ‘in love’ etc, then that would be a book that was okay, a decent read, but probably 3/3.5 stars.  (However, I am considering changing this in the near future.  I have to rate my review books after all.
6. I like adaptations.  I know this can be a mixed bag and that some books adapted to screen can be a disaster but overall I just really like to see some of my favourite books converted into movies or series and I’m happy to take the risk – after all, if I don’t like the adaptation it doesn’t spoil the book for me.
7. I can’t listen to music and read.  It’s just not possible for me at all – too much conflict of interest – one of them always wins out and usually I realise that I’ve read the same page twenty times and not absorbed a single word because I’m too busy singing – badly singing at that.
8. I don’t like every type of book!  This is a fairly common misconception – people see you read a lot and so very kindly pass on their books to you – but more often than not they’re not your type of book.  Just picture it – somebody brings in a box of books and says ‘you love reading don’t you, so I’ve brought you in some books I was getting rid of’ – firstly, my anticipation has now skyrocketed, BOOKS – what sort of books will they be, excitement am I.  Then I open the box and can’t discover a single thing to stay excited about – BUT – because I’m very polite I have to maintain this expression (that is killing my cheeks btw) that everything is just hunky dory.  Not to mention this person is then going to relentlessly pursue me for the next six months asking how I liked them all.  Doomed. I’m not being ungrateful, seriously I’m not but more often than not I’d sooner not be the local second hand book depository because it rarely works out – I mean, what are the chances of somebody giving me a whole set of amazing fantasy books??
9. Certain popular book tropes just don’t work for me – to name a few off the top of my head – instalove (lust by another name), love triangles, mysteriously never present parents, etc.
10. I’ve told you mine now tell me yours….