Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and is a chance for everyone to get to know fellow bloggers and share lists. I love lists. Every week is a different list.
This week is Top Ten
Unpopular Bookish Opinions
This is my first time doing Top Ten Tuesday this year, and hasn't time flown since I posted My Top Ten Favourite Posts This Year back in December? I really felt like letting my bitchy side out this week.
- Books aren't meant to stay pristine.
Books are there to be read and loved Spines should be broken and pages should be dogeared and annotations should be written. As long as they're your books you can do what you like. - DNF reviews are good and helpful.
I like to know why it didn't work out for you, because your idea of hell could be my idea of heaven. - A 5 star rating system is more helpful than a 10 star rating system.
You have to be more harsh in your judgement to decide whether you will round a half star up or down. The more stars you have to rate with the easier it gets to smack a 7 or 8 on everything and frankly that's useless. - Sometimes the film is better.
I'm looking at you, Pride & Prejudice. Although this could be because I an Keira Knightley trash. - Love triangles aren't all bad.
Sometimes they are excellent and they can build conflict and chemistry so well. Also, they're kind of a guilty pleasure, I love the WHICH ONE WILL THEY CHOSE moments. - Backwards Books are OK.
I personally have a lot of my books displayed page out on my shelves rather than spine out. They make small, dark rooms lighter, they're a good backdrop from Instagram, sometimes the noise of all of the spines is too much. - Content warnings should be on every book they apply to.
Honestly, a single line at the beginning would be amazing. So many times I have been surprised by shock triggering content, and while I've been OK others may not have been. I always try to include them in my reviews. - Blurbing a book in your review is just lazy and spoilery.
If I want to know what a book is about, I will read the blurb. When I read a review I want to know what you think and why, I don't want the story rehashed for three paragraphs before a single short line on why you liked it. - Umbridge is the best Harry Potter character.
She is so complex and layered, and I love how she is so set in her conviction that she is right and that she is the hero - Most of Bookstagram is boring
It's the same books in the same flat-lay themes over and over. Where has the creativity gone?
What are your unpopular bookish opinions?
Actually as long as the blurb is one paragraph, I don't see a problem with it. (Except if your whole review is two paragraphs!)
ReplyDeleteA small blurb is OK, but not one that's longer than the review!
DeleteAgreeing with you on Bookstagram. I want to love it, but after a while I feel like it's all white noise.
ReplyDeleteAlso the blurbing bit - drive me crazy? Sometimes I'll do a couple sentences to sum it up (esp. if I'm making a point about the plot) but even that's rare. People summarizing the book in their review is what turned me off book reviews in the first place!
Some love triangles can be good. :) I actually have a draft post where I'm collecting good ones as I read them. I don't think the love triangles themselves are bad... it's honestly just the way the romance is written.
And DNF reviews are the BEST.
Oooh I'm looking forward to your love triangle post! I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for it.
DeleteI agree that negative reviews are usually more helpful than positive ones. And more often than not I end up liking the book for the exactly the same reason someone didn't like it for. :D
ReplyDeleteAlso agree with 5 star ratings over 10 stars. And the need for content / trigger warnings in all books. (Something I should start including in my reviews).
When it comes to writing your own short recap of the story, I actually find it very helpful. But, of course, the blurb shouldn't be longer than the actual review.
Erhm... love triangles. Nope! Not for me :D
I am definitely more likely to buy a book based on a negative review than a 5-star review haha.
DeleteI HOWLED reading this. Except I think I'm one of those people who writes the kind of reviews you hate 😂😂
ReplyDelete😂😂😂😂😂
DeleteNah yours are good because you put WHY you loved it and how it made you feel, and that's what makes a review :)
I like a well done love triangle as well, but this does seem to be an unpopular opinion! Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteI mean, I get why so few people like them haha
DeleteI include blurbs in my reviews because I personally find it helpful, but I can see why people might not like it. I don't do DNF reviews because I don't feel I can make a proper judgement on the book without having read the whole thing. I agree that the book can be better than the film and I don't think books have to stay pristine either. Love triangles, eh, I still really hate them, I think most of the time they aren't done well and it's way too obvious who the MC is going to choose.
ReplyDeleteMy TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2019/06/11/top-ten-tuesday-215/
I include a blurb before my review, because they are helpful, but when I click on a link to a review and it's actually their own blurb? Uuhh... Not what I signed up for haha.
DeleteIt's very rare that a love triangle is done right, but when it is I'm in love.
I'm a neat freak when it comes to my books and the condition they're in! Oh the horror seeing you're books will probably cause me LOL! Trigger warnings should definitely be a thing in books. I've had people tell me they don't really like them because they can get spoiler-y, so maybe don't include them in the synopsis but somewhere in the book. I used to hate love triangles. Now I can agree that if it's done well they can take the story to a whole other level :)
ReplyDeleteWith content warnings, I'd much rather have a "spoiler" for a horrific triggering thing than have people be hurt by it. I liked how they did it in Girls of Paper and Fire, with a warning on its own page and links and phone numbers to help.
DeleteYes, DNF reviews definitely are helpful.
ReplyDeleteMy TTT.
I love DNF reviews! Lets me know why it didn't work for someone (and sometimes, that's something that totally works for me and makes me interested in the book). I agree that content warnings would be great. Even put it on a separate front page so that if someone doesn't want to read them, they can skip right past that section, no harm, no foul.
ReplyDeleteI so used to be guilty of the blurb thing. xD But I figured, if you wanted to know what the book was about, you'd read the official blurb, which is going to be so much better than any nonsense I write anyway, so I can save some time. Great list!
I think *some* love triangles are done well. The fanfic I started over the weekend will have one. They can be annoying when they're just thrown in there and they really don't make sense though. I agree with you on content warnings, and I tend to skip blurbs in reviews. I'm cool with a reviewer writing in their own words what it's about (I usually do) but I want to know what you think about the book, not the publisher.
ReplyDeleteAhh I agree with so many of these. I agree that content warnings should be present on all books and I always do my very best to include all of them in my reviews, too, because they're so important and you never know who you might help and who might need them <3
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about DNF reviews. They can be helpful. I want to know why you ended up putting down a book. I couldn't do a ten-point rating system. All those half-stars feel unnecessarily complicated.
ReplyDeleteRating out of 10 would just be giving me far too many options haha.
DeleteI agree with content warnings. It would save people a lot of heartache. Movies do it, I don't see why books can't.
ReplyDeletewww.tbrandbeyond.com
Yes to DNF reviews! Like you say, what doesn't work for you might work for me, so they're not necessarily a turn-off to the book.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on a lot of things, especially the DNF reviews and that movies can be better than books!😊
ReplyDeleteXoxo
Shirley | shirleycuypers.blogspot.com
I totally agree with your opinions. I feel yes at times DNF reviews are better than not posting at all. Also about reviews with spoilers ��. Bookstagrams for me used to be boring but I saw a few which were really great with just books. Although they used a ton of props which I can't �� so I ended up using whatever I had. But at the end It wasn't for me.
ReplyDeleteI used to be so obsessed with collecting things to use as props for instagram, then I switched to a black and white feed and just do whatever xD
DeleteOmg all the yeses to this - Books aren't meant to stay pristine! I love a book that looks well read ��
ReplyDeleteI love booksta but I can see your point! I have some friends with GORGEOUS photos and content thankfully though! Love your points! I'm still working on the " I don't need to keep my books pristine" part haha
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Sometimes the adaptation is better.
ReplyDeleteGreat list! You got some I'd never think of, but agree with, especially the backwards books and DNF reviews.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great list! I agree with so many of the things you said.
ReplyDeleteI always break my spines and actually read my books! I have to disagree on the love triangles though, I hate them lol
ReplyDeleteI so agree with books should be well loved! Also, I hate blurbing in reviews too, like I put the summary above so you can read before my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI do wish I could let myself batter my books a bit more. I like them to be pristine but I get that cracked spines, dog earring etc makes them look loved!
ReplyDeleteI also agree that DNF reviews help, I mean it’s good to know why someone didn’t enjoy a book incase it’s something you also wouldn’t enjoy!
YES! Sometimes the film is better... or at the very least just as good even if in a different way. :)
ReplyDeleteI still find the bookstagram accounts I follow really pretty... but I understand what you're saying. I'm someone who does this, but I'm okay with it. I've tried new themes, and different things, but they just don't work. For now, I still take photos the same and still enjoy it. :)
Thanks so much for visiting Finding Wonderland, Cora!!