Unpopular bookish opinions tag

(Original photo by Lou Levit via Unsplash)

I first saw the “unpopular bookish opinions” tag over on Two Book Thieves and couldn’t wait to answer the questions! Like any rabid bookworm I have a lot of opinions about what I read, and while everyone talks about the books they love, we usually don’t spend a lot of time talking about the books we don’t love. (And for good reason—no one likes a Negative Nelly. But sometimes, you have to let it out!)

Here are nine questions from the Thieves and my answers!

A popular book or series that you didn’t like. I read The Maze Runner for a book club and disliked every page of it. The movie wasn’t much better. The writing was clunky and so many parts of the book felt pulled from other, better YA novels. I couldn’t even bring myself to care about the characters enough to skim through the rest of the series.

A popular book or series that everyone else seems to hate but you love. I don’t know if “love” is the right word, but there is a lot of hate on Goodreads for The Selection, and I actually liked it. It was a fast, fun, fluffy break from some of the weightier books I tend to read.

A love triangle where the main character ended up with the person you didn’t want them to end up with, or an OTP that you don’t like. Spoiler alert, for those of you living under a rock…it still kind of bugs me that Katniss wound up with Peeta at the end of The Hunger Games. I kind of feel like she would have ended up unattached, or maybe kind-of-attached, not settled down and talking kids and a white picket fence. I really did like Peeta, it just didn’t feel like it “fit” as the end to her story.

A popular book genre that you hardly reach for. I really don’t care for contemporary YA. I just can’t get into the stories, for some reason.

A popular character that you don’t like. Never for the life of me will I understand girls who like guys like Edward Cullen. I did watch all the movies with one of my friends and maybe it’s because I’m older (and hopefully wiser), but I can definitely see both threads there: the romantic and the possessive. I think maybe younger girls mistake that possessiveness for love, because they’re insecure about being wanted and adored? Not sure, but if a guy acted that way around me now I’d start whittling a wooden stake.

A popular author that you can’t seem to get into. Someone will surely crucify me for this, but—John Green. I think the man himself is smart and funny, and I did enjoy reading The Fault in Our Stars, but I don’t really get why people slobber over his books. They’re okay, but they’re not that amazing.

A popular book trope that you’re tired of seeing. The manic pixie dream girl. So annoying!

A popular series that you have no interest in reading. The Mortal Instruments. I know! I know! There are some rabid fans out there…but I gave it a good shot and I just couldn’t push myself past the first two books.

Everyone says “the book is better than the movie”, but which movie or TV adaptation did you enjoy more than the book? The Lord of the Rings. No disrespect meant to Mr. Tolkien, who was a master of language and world-building—but his ability to piece together a coherent novel was lacking, to put it kindly. Thank goodness Peter Jackson and his team did such an amazing job with the movies.

So there are my unpopular bookish opinions! Do you agree with my answers? Disagree? What unpopular bookish opinions do you have? Tell me in the comments, or if you also do this tag, leave me a comment with a link so I can check it out!