"Do Not Read" and "Skip This Author"

Fact: I don't like coffee. I just like saying Coffee Clutch in my best and deepest New York accent. Considering I'm a New Yorker, I'm pretty freaking good at it. So I've got my tea and I hope you have your heated beverage of choice, because it's time to gab the day away.

We've all heard the term "must read". Someone reads a book, love it so much and insists that everyone they know read that one book. You also might use the term "auto-buy". Someone reads everything by one author, loves it so much and pre-orders every book by that one author.

But how about the opposite? Is there a book that you really hate and you tell everyone not to read? How about an author whose books you really didn't like and refuse to read any more of their books and maybe tell other people to stay away as well?

I'm not talking about bad author behavior or whatever else. That's something separate and I'm not interested in getting into that right now.

I'm honestly only talking about your own personal preferences based on plot or whatever else.

As for me, the same way I don't have "must read" or "auto-buy" books, I also don't have "do not read" or "skip this author" books. If I don't like a book, maybe I'll tell someone why I don't like a book (just as I think all readers who review in any capacity do) but I don't like to wave someone away from a book. It makes me uneasy. I don't want you to miss out on something you might love.

I also won't entirely dismiss an author even if I haven't liked their previous books. I mean, I'll probably be less inclined to pick up another book by the same author, but I won't completely dismiss it. You never know what might change. Maybe their new book is in a different genre or they've learned something between that last book I didn't like and this new one. It's really about the plot and the sound of the book more than anything else.

Maybe my inclination to not mark something "do not read" or label an author "skip this author" leads to making my friends suffer or more reading things I won't necessarily love, but it feels wrong to me to come down hard with absolute labels.

Are you guys soft like me or do you come down hard on these kinds of things? Let me know in the comments below!

Auto-Buy Lists: Do I REALLY Have One?

Fact: I don't like coffee. I just like saying Coffee Clutch in my best and deepest New York accent. Considering I'm a New Yorker, I'm pretty freaking good at it. So I've got my tea and I hope you have your heated beverage of choice, because it's time to gab the day away.

A couple of things led me to write this post. First: The revelation that Robert Galbraith is actually J.K. Rowling. Then my mind flipped back to a Top Ten Tuesday post I did a little while back entitled Top Ten Authors On My Auto-Buy List. And THEN I had a whole debate with my sister about both of these things and so we are here today.

But wait, WHAT are we talking about today? Well. I guess the topic up for discussion is the concept of blindly picking up a book JUST because an author you LOVE wrote it. I know, I know, I told you all I wrote a Top Ten Tuesday post with a whole list of authors I claim to do this for, but, when I sit down to really thing about it, it's possible I was lying a little bit.

Trouble for everyone.

I mean, J.K. Rowling is on that list and I don't own A Casual Vacancy or this new book, The Cuckoo's Calling (I did leave the adult books off that list, but STILL). I also definitely don't EVERYTHING by Tamora Pierce, Rick Riordan or Phillip Pullman. All of these people have written A LOT of books and, while I do own a lot of books, their complete works don't exist on my shelves. I actually don't think I have the complete works of any author with more than 5 books out on my shelves.

Yeah, I used the same gif to discussion posts in a row. DEAL WITH IT.

So why did I write that post? When I listed those ten authors, what did I mean?

Here's what I think was going on in my head:

Those ten authors listed are the Top Ten Author who, when I hear they have a new book coming out, I sit down and think to myself: "This is a book you're going to get grabby hands about. But you love this author very, very much and you should probably take a second to make sure this book is something you would naturally gravitate to before picking it up just because."

Now, why is it important for me not to pick up a book just because? Well, I need more than just a familiar writing style and voice to get me through. So I can't promise that I'll be able to make the leap from MG/YA to Adult Fiction with J.K. Rowling. And even if an author generally stays in the same genre, like Tamora Pierce, I also can't guarantee I'm going to be able to make the shift from Tortall to Emelan. Honestly, the fact that I love both the Greek and Egyptian-based stories Rick Riordan publishes is just dumb luck.

I cannot express the joy I felt upon finding this gif to express my sheer dumb luck.

Yeah, I expect authors who've written 5 books I already love to produce a 6th I'll likely also love. But honestly? Blindly assuming this'll be the case just doesn't work for me. Will I shove a book by an author on that pesky Top Ten list to the top of my "Maybe You Wanna Purchase This Book" list? (I have lots of list, guys) Yeah. Does that mean I'll ACTUALLY buy it? Not necessarily. I need to read the summary and consider what the book is about. Because the worst thing in the world, in my opinion, is blindly picking up a book by an author you love only to discover you DON'T love the book as much as you should and having your experience with that author altered for no good reason. Especially now that a lot of authors are crossing genres and categories. It can get REALLY TRICKY, REALLY QUICKLY, guys. Really.

More gif finding joy.

Of course, I obviously want you all to support your favorite authors. You should buy their books, go out to their events, draw them fan art, whatever. Just maybe don't pick up a book you know you shouldn't (as I conveniently discussed two weeks ago).

And, for the record, I DNFed A Casual Vacancy and have no intention of reading A Cuckoo's Calling. Did Potter shape basically my entire childhood? Yes. Do I own JK Rowling a whole lot of everything? Obvs. Do I think she's a fantastic writer? Abso-freaking-lutely. But it's for all of those reasons that I WON'T be picking up her adult books. They're not for me, I recognize that, and don't want to make that kind of poor bookish choice (SEE SASSY GAY FRIEND? I AM LEARNING).

I know not everyone's like me in this respect (probably not even a lot of people are like me in this respect). I actually love that readers can and do follow authors wherever. But I hope you can all see where I'm coming from. And possibly share where YOU'RE coming from. (In the comments below, of course!)

Top Ten Authors On My Auto-Buy List (12)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

There are SO MANY authors I would put on my auto-buy list. Mostly because there is so much awesome out there and I apparently ENJOY being broke (no, not really, I just like books more than I like money, I guess). But here are my Top Ten. I feel like a lot of mine will be on a lot of your lists.

1. Sarah Dessen
ALWAYS Sarah Dessen. She is a contemporary genius. It's like she helped invent the feels. Or the word squee. Or both. I just can't imagine not pre-ordering something she wrote.

2. John Green
John Green is a genius I haven't known about for nearly long enough. Not only do I love the stories he tells, I love HOW he tells them. Not to mention, every time I read one of his books, my fangirling gets more and more serious because I realize JUST HOW CLEVER this man is.

3. Tamora Pierce
Tamora Pierce has been on my auto-buy list since I was a tiny, itty bitty reader. The worlds she crafts are just so magical and I want to soak up EVERY BIT of it in hopes that one day I'll find myself in those worlds. But until then: EVERY SINGLE BOOK WRITTEN BY THE GODDESS SHOULD BE MINE.

4. Gayle Forman
Gayle Forman is another author who probably helped invent THE FEELS. She's so awesome-pants I'm not even sure we're all worthy to read the words she puts on the page. She just knows how to tell a story, y'know?

5. Tahereh Mafi

I feel like there are a lot of authors who helped invent the feels. Add Tahereh Mafi to the list. I fall to pieces again and again with every word. I can't BELIEVE I waited so long to read her books, but I know I'm hooked now, to be sure, and will be buying everything she writes ever from now until the end of time.

6. Philip Pullman

I don't even know if Philip Pullman writes all that much anymore - a least not YA, but I DO know the man HONEST TO GOD knows how to weave an amazing tale. So I'll pretty much overlook any bizarre, angry undertones found in his work just for that.

7. Maggie Stiefvater
On more than once occasion I’ve noted that she could write about feet and I would still buy that book. And I meant it. Not to mention Maggie Stiefvater is entirely adorable, which makes me just LOVE HER EVEN MORE.

8. Rick Riordan
Honesty time: For the release date of the latest Percy Jackson book, I put an all-day event in my calendar entitled: PERCY JACKSON DAY. I regret nothing. But really, I just love what Rick Riordan does with mythology and I kind of hope he starts up another series about a different mythology group. Norse, this time? How many different mythologies are there? I don't even know, but I want this author to write a series about each one I can HAVE THEM.

9. Markus Zusak
I read The Book Thief and proceeded to buy everything else he’s written. Markus Zusak's writing style is SO DIFFERENT and so very heart breaking that I can't imagine my life without his books.

10. J.K. Rowling
But only if it’s YA. I took The Casual Vacancy out of the library a couple of months ago because I really wasn’t sure how I would like J.K. Rowling’s foray into adult fiction and, I’m not going to lie, I haven’t yet finished the book. But if she ever puts out another YA book, I assure you I’ll be buying it. And so will all of you, probably. And then we'll all freak out over it together. So I'm EXCITED.

HOW CUTE IS THIS MAN?

So that's the list. I know, I know, so many obvious choices, but it's the TRUTH and I would never lie to you guys! Now tell me, who do we have in common and what are your other choices?