Things That Make Me Want to Read (Or Avoid) A Book

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is all about phrases, buzzwords, or topics that make a person want to read (or avoid) a book. This may be another topic that is difficult… maybe I should break out that green covers one I haven’t posted yet? Let’s give this a try.

We’ll start with things that make me want to read a book:

1. By My Favorite Authors. There are some authors that you just know are going to write a fantastic book. I’ve found that over time, some of them have changed styles and I might not be quite as fascinated by their new stuff as I have been with their old work, but typically authors I love can be trusted to write another good book.

2. Dystopia. I loved it when we went through a time when dystopian books were all the rage. But trends come and go. I see some at times, but it’s not like it used to be.

3. Medieval Fantasy. I write a lot of Medieval-style fantasy, so I tend to like it.

4. Elves. We need more of them. I tend to like to play them when I’m playing D&D.

5. D&D. I guess we have a trend here now. But I really like Kristy Boyce’s books and I’d like to try the Dungeon Crawler Carl books.

6. First Loves. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why I like YA so much, even though my kids are YA age. There’s just something so fun about falling in love for the first time.

7. Plagues and Ice Ages. This is more on the nonfiction side, but I tend to like books about the Plague, the Little Ice Age, and the year 536, which historians have described as “the worst year to be alive.” Also the “Spanish” flu (another plague). I have read some fiction books on these topics though.

Then there are a few things that make me want to avoid a book. While this doesn’t always mean I won’t read it, I’m less likely to.

8. Witches and Demons. This isn’t an always no, but I try to avoid books that try to make evil look good? I do like the Shadowhunters books, but the demons tend to be the bad guys in that story. It really depends on the story, but it’s going to make me think twice about whether I want to read it.

9. Excessive cursing. If I hear that the characters in the book curse like sailors (and I was a sailor; I don’t really remember them cursing more than normal people, but that might be a historical thing), I’m more likely to pass. Sometimes a curse word or two belongs there, but sometimes it could be avoided.

10. Books that are too “spicy.” For the most part, I’d rather avoid books more on the spicy side. Not everything has to be put on paper. We can do our own imagining.

I suppose this wasn’t too difficult after all since I included a little of both. What are some things that make you want to read (or avoid) a book?