the anti-tbr tag | it’s a “no” from me, fam!

Hello, dear friends, it’s me again! I hope you all are well, and if you aren’t, then I hope brighter days head your way soon! I guess I’ve been in quite a salty mood lately, as I’ve been sharing lots of unpopular bookish opinions, and that trend is continuing on today! Today I’ll be doing the “anti-tbr book tag”. I found this tag over on Bookish Me but it was created by Nicole & Her Books, and it looked so interesting and fun that I just knew I had to participate! So, let’s get on to my juicy answers!

🌷 Top 10 Tuesday | My Unpopular Bookish Opinions

🌷 Let’s Talk Bookish | My Unpopular Opinions on Books

a popular book that everyone loves but you have no interest in reading

I’m definitely not interested in reading the Zodiac Academy books by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti! I really dislike bully romances (as I mentioned in two of my recent posts), plus this series has, like, a zillion books! In addition, I’ve heard from reviewers I trust who have similar taste to me that the writing in this series is atrocious. Count me out ’cause it’s a “no” from me!

a classic book or author you have no interest in reading

I’ve recently been hearing a lot about Clarice Lispector and how amazing her works are, but after watching Black booktuber Anais Laure’s video where she read and reflected on three of Lispector’s works I decided it’s likely I won’t be reading them. The reason is that Anais Laure is the only reader I’ve ever heard mention how deeply racist Lispector and her works are. Anais Laure mentions how Lispector casually talks about how Black women take pain more gracefully than anyone—which plays into the stereotype that Black women don’t feel pain/bear pain better—a stereotype which is literally the reason why so many Black women die in childbirth and die when going in for other surgeries, procedures, and medical issues. I’m glad Anais Laure picked up on this and mentioned it, because I wouldn’t have wanted to go into Lispector’s works and have been totally surprised by something so harmful and personally triggering for me. It’s a shame, because Anais Laure also mentions that Lispector’s works are critically amazing, but that kind of thing is just something I don’t want to deal with.

an author whose books you have no interest in reading

I’ve never been particularly interested in Seanan McGuire‘s books. I don’t have any issues with them and I’ve never heard that there’s anything problematic with them, they’ve just never really pulled my interest. I think part of it is that I don’t typically read books with protagonists younger than 15, and many of her popular series feature young protagonists. I know both series I’m speaking of are technically Adult series, despite the younger protagonists, but I dunno, they just never seemed particularly interesting to me, I suppose.

a problematic author whose books you have no interest in reading

Although I read (and reread) and adored Harry Potter as a kid, I don’t feel comfortable reading and/or recommending any of J.K. Rowling‘s works anymore. Not only is she a TERF, but she uses the money she makes from her books and its various merch, movies, and TV series to lobby politicians to pass anti-trans legislation. I just can’t, and won’t, put my money or my good word behind that.

an author you have read a couple of books from and have decided their books are not for you

I read all five books in The Selection plus The Siren by Kiera Cass and decided her books aren’t my thing. While I enjoyed the first three books of The Selection as good, fluffy fun reads, I loathed the last two (which focus on a different main character than the original trilogy) and I found The Siren to be mind-numbingly boring. I believe Cass has written two or three new books, but I’m just not interested. I think her books are fun reads for younger teens, but at this point in my life, I’m past that.

a  genre you have no interest in or a genre you tried to get into but couldn’t

I can’t imagine myself ever really being interested in erotica. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the genre, it’s just not my thing. I prefer romance instead, because it focuses on the emotional connection between two people, which is what I think is really interesting.

a book you have bought but will never read (this can be a book you have unhauled/returned to the library unread)

Unfortunately, I purchased Kingdom of Ash, A Court of Wings and Ruin, A Court of Silver Flames, and House of Earth and Blood all by Sarah J. Maas before I knew about her alleged Zionism and will now likely never read them because of it. Because it’s so likely Maas a Zionist and she hasn’t denied it, I am no longer interested in reading her works. But I own these books in digital audio format and can’t return or unhaul them. I might just listen to them and not review them or talk about them here on my blog, since the money is, unfortunately, already in Maas’s pocket. One thing is for sure: I don’t want to influence others to read/listen to her books. It’s really sad too, because prior to learning about her purported beliefs, I had adored her books and series.

a series you have no interest in reading or a series you started and have dnf’ed

I’m 80% through reading Fourth Wing and have decided to DNF it and also not finish the rest of The Empyrean Series by Rebecca Yarros. From what I’ve heard from multiple different reviewers (some of who loved book one and some of whom didn’t), the series goes drastically downhill after book one. I also watched spoiler-filled recap reviews of the first, second, and third books and can honestly say I don’t think the series is my kinda read. I also kinda take issue with how Yarros declared the love interest, Xaden, to be a man of color, but then gave him no identifiable cultural markers, which makes it seem like him being POC is more token representation. So, I don’t think I’ll be finishing this series, at least not anytime soon.

a new release you have no interest in reading

After all the controversy and after getting a better idea of what the “plot” is, I’ve got no interest in reading Firebird by Juliette Cross. First off, there’s a slave/master “romance” in it that apparently isn’t very well explored or fleshed out, and that’s not something I’m interested in. Second off, just in general, when I checked out the Goodreads synopsis, I realized that this book doesn’t sound like anything I might enjoy. It seems like it was written, edited, and published without much attention to quality (though, obviously, I can’t say for sure if it really was) and it just doesn’t seem like it’ll be a read worth my time and attention.

are able to give a definite answer to any of these?

Yes, for the questions whose answers involved authors who are exceedingly “problematic” such as J.K. Rowling, Sarah J. Maas, Clarice Lispector, and Juliette Cross. Part of it is that these authors haven’t made efforts to acknowledge, apologize, and make amends for their behavior. If they do in future, I might consider it, but in the cases of people like Rowling, I think it’d be too little too late.

Are there any popular books you aren’t interested in? What makes you uninterested in a popular book? Is it the hype, story elements, or it or the author’s or book’s problematic nature? Are there any popular books you were initially uninterested in but went on to read and love?

Learn more the author of this post:

Lila @ Hardcover Haven

Lila is a 30 year old anthropology student and lover of literature who's been book blogging for an eternity. Her hobbies include reading, singing, writing, arts and crafts, and snuggling her two cats, Snoopy and Clementine.