Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’ve been avoiding

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.

This week’s theme is:  Books I’ve been avoiding.

Sad to say, but there’s a pretty long list of books I have been avoiding. I guess my reading tastes have changed over the last couple of years, and I’ve just not been willing to acknowledge it. Earlier, I really loved to sink my teeth into long, complex novels; literary fiction was my jam. Recently though, I’ve been starting to avoid such books. Maybe my brain is just too fried with all the long hours at work and home. Who am I kidding? Streaming TV is the villain here.

Anyway, here’s a list of books I’ve been avoiding.

  1. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles – I’ve been trying to read this book for the past year, and it’s just not working for me. I haven’t given up on it fully, I just have been avoiding it.
  2. So many books on my classics reading list – I think I should just finally admit to myself and the world at large that this classics reading challenge I took up way back in 2012 is just not going to happen.
  3. So many books on my Man Booker reading list – I haven’t given up on this reading list yet. But I definitely lost my enthusiasm when they expanded the scope of the Booker prize winning novels in 2013. Surely the quality of the books on that list should only have improved by expanding the base?
  4. Sequels to books – Once upon a time, there was a time when I didn’t feel satisfied unless I finished all the books in a series. But now, with just too many series books floating around, I’ve been happy to avoid books that I think may not work for me. Looking at you, Death’s end (by Cixin Liu).
  5. Quichotte by Salman Rushdie – Rushdie is an author I admire, and I love his earlier books. The later ones though just seem meh, even if they still get nominated to the Booker shortlist.
  6. Gun island by Amitav Ghosh – I was all gung-ho about this book, until I read Malvika’s luke-warm review. And now, I’m not avoiding this book exactly, it’s just dropped down slightly on my TBR list.
  7. Orhan Pamuk’s books – I have a whole shelf of them at home, and have not read even a single one. Just can’t make the commitment.
  8. Bunch of self help books – I have been recommended a bunch of self help books at work. We even have a book club in office to discuss these books. But really, such twaddle. I can’t believe we live our lives based on this nonsense. Sorry, just not a fan of the genre. And I’ve been avoiding/skimming through these books. Just picking up enough to have a discussion 🙁 .

What about you? Have you read any of these books or genres of books? What kind of books do you tend to avoid?

11 comments

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  1. malvikajaswal

    Oh Dear! I wish you would read Gun Island one of these days so I can find out what you think of it! Unfortunately, I am the only one who has read that book in my circle yet and now no one is reading it and I feel so incredibly guilty! Everyone seemed to love it on Amazon! Quichotte has arrived at my doorstep already and have heard lots of good reviews floating around – supposed to be better than his last few books. *fingers crossed* Phamuk is liked by all people whose reading tastes seem to be completely contrary to mine, and so I have never felt like picking him up – although somewhere in my mind is the idea that I have to force myself to so so one of these day. Hey, that’s an idea for a post – Books I must force myself to read!

    • Nish

      I will probably get around to Gun Island. I am much too fond of his books to ignore them for long. I don’t have much hopes for Quichotte, let’s see. I like your idea for the post 🙂 I might steal that some day when I am running out of ideas.

    • Nish

      I like the way you put it “prioritizing the TBR”. Yes, that’s what I do too 🙂

  2. lydiaschoch

    Yeah, I tend to avoid self-help books, too. Most of them aren’t helpful at all.

    My TTT.

  3. BookerTalk

    I avoid Pamuk too, I tried reading Snow but it was. It for me and everything else I picked up by him brought on a similar reaction. Good luck with the booker prize list. I have one more to read and then I’m done with that project. It became a bit of a slog towards the end because the quality of winners has definitely changed in recent years.

    • Nish

      Hasn’t it? I was wondering if it was just me, and my reducing attention span.

      I think the last year I enjoyed the prize fully was when The Luminaries won. There were some really good contenders that year.

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