Top Ten Tuesday #2

     Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, which allows bloggers to share lists of some of our favorite (and not-so favorite) things.  This week we’ll be highlighting the top ten words/topics that will make us avoid picking up a book.  This is only my second time participating in this meme you guys! :)  And I'm going to brainstorm to see if I can come up with ten deterrents of my own, but if not I'll enlist my brother Collin to take over half of the list.  

Anna's Top Ten Words/Topics That Make Me Avoid Books

1.  Urban Fantasy - There are occasional exceptions to this (because I'm a sucker) but I like my Fantasy to be straight up and either light or high - nothing urban or contemporary being the main focus/setting in it.

2.  Incest - So there are quite a few books with faux incest in YA as a big plot device.  I just can't do it!  Every time it makes me think of my own brother and totally squicks me out beyond all measure.  It makes me want to crack open characters' heads with their own nasty stupidity.  This is probably the main sticking point with me on the original three books in the Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare.  It just grosses me out to the max and lowers my opinion of the characters majorly.  So, yeah.  There's that! :)

3.  Steampunk - I have once again made exceptions for this, but I don't really care for steampunk AT ALL.  It just kind of bores me, as I'm not a gears/machinery kind of girl.  And real history is so interesting that you don't need alternate reality-type fantasy elements to create an awesome story!  It can be done without them.  Not my thing.

4.  Androids/Clones - I should have avoided Cinder by Marissa Meyer for this exact reason, but the fairy tale aspect sucked me into reading it.  I have no sympathy for androids (clones maybe a little).  They are robots - no matter how 'human' they may seem they are NOT human.  They are machines.  A case of pointless exposition and misplaced emotions in my opinion.

5.  Humans In Love With Ghosts - I just read a book with a love triangle between a human girl, a ghost boy and a human boy.  If I had known about the triangle prior to reading, I'd have probably avoided it with a major effort.  It just always seems so pathetic and pointless for a human and ghost to love each other (except in the movie Ghost - if it's Patrick Swayze it's always acceptable!).  I always want to scream at them to get a life and quit being so emo.  Especially when they only meet after the ghost is already dead.  Maybe if they spent as much time on their life and real people as the stupid ghost, they wouldn't create a hopeless situation!    

6.  Zombies - They are CORPSES.  Yet they are being romanticized in the tradition of vampires, a la books like Warm Bodies.  I'm sorry, that is not okay at all with me.  It's gross.  I even have issues with Snow White, being personally iffy near the end, and am wary that the Prince was a closeted necro.  To have that full on explored in zombies makes me ill.  Leave the dead buried where they belong!  I also don't want to read about Grandpa Jerry eating someone's brains.  Not my kind of book.

7.  Animals as main characters - There is a reason that I have never read the Redwall series by Brian Jacques.  I just have a hard time investing myself in the lives and concerns of animals.  People are already interesting enough to me and animal sidekicks fully fill my needs as a reader.  I have made exceptions like the truly amusing The Mouse and the Motorcycle.  Also books like the Berenstain Bears, Bunnicula, and Mercer Mayers' Little Critter series.  But that was then and this is now.  I just don't give a flying f*** about a dog's inner monologue.  Time travel to me 15 years in the past and you might be able to catch me in a receptive mood.  Might.  

8.  Divorce - I am 23 years old, unmarried and with no children.  If a book has an interesting cover/title I'll read the synopsis.  If it says the word 'divorce' I'm out like a light.  Just not something I'm interested in, especially since it also signals middle-aged characters usually and I'm not there yet by any means.  It bores me to tears!

9.  Menopause - I will read books about women's book clubs (it is a failing in my character - I blame my Mom for this one).  If any of them ever mentioned menopause I would quit.  Such is the reason I've never read Nancy Thayer.  Maybe in another 40 years or so, but not now.

10.  The Next...*Insert Million Dollar Moneymaker Title Here* - I know other people will probably say this in regards to specific fandoms, like Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games.  I don't have a specified anger, just a generalized one (like this wide-sweeping garbage ass statement of a 'recommendation').  This pisses me off like no other, because it turns people off of good books that are most of the time NOTHING LIKE what they are compared to!  I know a lot of people who are avoiding Divergent because of the Hunger Games comparison.  I might have as well if I hadn't read it before it started being compared to HG.  It just makes me really mad!  If you were here you'd probably see flames shooting from my eyes right now! LOL

What about all of you guys?  What are the ten things that put you off the most with books?  I can't wait to read all your lists and discover some things to commiserate about!  Happy Tuesday y'all and it was great hangin' out with you! :)