Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. How it works is that each Tuesday the host assigns a topic and then posts their top ten list that fits the topic. Every blogger can create their own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well and link to the host’s. The topic for February 20th, 2018 is: Books I’ve Decided I’m No Longer Interested in Reading.
I did skip a post day last Saturday, but it’s because life has gotten a tad more hectic than anticipated. I feel like I’m making the same excuse over and over again, but it seems like adult life is one relentless responsibility after another and I think I deserve a long holiday. I might just do a Bilbo someday. But seeing as it isn’t going to be today, I have a new Top Ten post for you. This time I’m cutting it short to five because I actually don’t have books on my TBR that I’m not interested in. Also, I cannot seem to abandon series mid-way for some reason, but this list contains the only few exceptions I’ve made.
1. House of Night series by P. C. and Kristin Cast
Just when you think this series has finally ended, they announce more books. I’m so fed up of this world that I actually began to skim-read and hate the characters by the end of it (Book #12, as it stands currently). I can’t see how they can drag it out even more, but this is my ‘point of no return’.
2. The Innsmouth Legacy series by Ruthanna Emrys
I read the first book in this series, Winter Tide, last year as I’d snagged an ARC from NetGalley. It is set in the same universe as the famous Call of the Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft. Since I’ve not read the source material, this was very hard for me to get through and I don’t see myself continuing on.
3. Four by Veronica Roth
This is a short story collection focusing on Tobias, the love interest in the Divergent series. Given how much I hated the ending on this series, I don’t myself picking up this book to further my understanding of the world or even bother to get a different perspective. I’ve already said my goodbyes to the characters and the world, so I don’t want to come back to it in this lifetime at least.
4. The Quests of the Kings trilogy by Robert Evert
Another case of a NetGalley ARC that didn’t agree with me. The problem with this one was more fundamental in the sense that I just didn’t like any of the characters. This is one of the examples of books in which male authors get the ‘strong female character’ trope utterly wrong. I definitely won’t be seeing this one through to the end.
5. Isa Maxwell series by Ana Spoke
I think I got the first book in this series for free and I only heard about this because I was following the author’s blog. However, this was a case where the humour in a comedy book just didn’t work for me. I laugh out loud very, very rarely when I read books, which is why comedy as a genre isn’t for me. The second book in the series is set in India and I don’t think I can read this book without getting offended at some point, which is why I’ve decided to abandon the series altogether.
Do you try and finish series like me or do you only complete the ones you love? Do books make you laugh out loud often? Is your current read a DNF or are you flying through it? Let me know in the comments section below.
I never had interest in Four, I completed the Divergent trilogy because I had already bought the whole series. And I wasn’t that invested into Four that much while reading the series. Normally I try to complete the series if I already bought the whole series.
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I actually have a lot of guilt if I don’t finish series that I’ve started (including novellas), so the fact that I didn’t read Four speaks a lot about how much I didn’t like Divergent. I couldn’t relate to or root for Four and I was essentially rolling my eyes all throughout Tris and Four’s romance. I feel like he only took on a personality of his own in the epilogue part.
Do you usually buy series together or buy the first, see if you like it, and then buy the rest? The latter is a great way to avoid reading books you may not enjoy.
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At first I bought series together, but lately I am restraining myself from doing so. If I like the first book I can always go out to buy the next one. At first I was feeling a lot of guilt as well for not finishing a series and sometimes I also felt guilt for not liking a series as much as others. It has become easier lately. I hope it will get easier for you as well.
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I suffer from the exact same feelings! I have to remind myself that it’s okay not to have read all the popular series and loved them like others have. It’s so good to know that you’re past that now! 🙂 I know I will be too if I make a conscious attempt to do so.
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Good luck! You can do it, when you are ready for it 😄
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Thank you! 🙂
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I’ve never been urged to pick up Four either. I liked the series okay, and I wasn’t too mad at the ending at all, in fact I actually liked it, but I just wasn’t as in love or fangirling over Four as everyone else was.
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Good to know you liked the series more than I did. 🙂 But Four as a love interest didn’t work for me either. I think some parts of it may have been problematic as well. I can’t remember for sure now, but I also can’t be bothered to go back and read it. Have you tried her other duology yet? I think it’s called Carve the Mark?
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Same here, I read the series ages ago…. No I haven’t read any of her other books! I’m not interested in any of them.
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I’m debating on whether I should give them a go. But they have been called out as having the white supremacist trope, so I’m leaning towards ‘no’.
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