Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. And this week, we have a Spring Cleaning freebie. So here are ten books I recently said Nay! to.
1 / The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh Because it turned out to be Vampire + Melodrama + YA genre, and I’m afraid I’ve outgrown that.
2 / Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse Because it’s an amazing series but only the first book is out yet and I’d rather wait and then binge-read.
3 / Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K. J. Parker Because I was really looking forward to this till I came across a very different perspective.
4 / Soulswift by Megan Bannen Because I got to know it has a tragic end, and I can’t stomach one of those right now.
5 / Snake Eyes by Hillary Monahan Because although it was extremely well written, it was also a very grotesque (for me) tale about reptile humanoids.
6 / The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan Because although it’s rare to find a YA book dealing with disability with such sensitivity, this book seemed relentlessly bleak.
7 / Death in the Stocks by Georgette Heyer Because this turned out to be exceptionally boring with characters that were all very “cold fish”.
8 / Lucy Anne Trotter Series by Anya Wylde Because this didn’t turn out to be as funny as I had hoped, and rather contrived.
9 / Corrag by Susan Fletcher Because it reminded me too much of Outlander, and I’m not sure I want to read something along similar lines at the moment.
10 / Planetfall series by Emma Newman Because I really liked the premise but other readers have warned it’s not a read for pandemic times.
22 replies on “Ten Books I Said Nay To”
Good for you for knowing your limits!
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-books-about-fresh-starts/
It sounds like you have some great reasons for saying nay to these books! I haven’t read any of them, but there are other books that I have temporarily set aside because I don’t want to read them in the middle of a pandemic.
Thanks for visiting my TTT earlier!
Me, neither! I was tempted by Black Sun, but I am trying hard not to buy new books this year.
And I keep looking at Planetfall. My GR buddies mostly love it, but I am not really into YA…
Eh? Planetfall is YA? Thought it was more adult dystopian bleak future with spaceships. Oh well, one more reason to set it aside.
And agreed with you on limiting new buys, I mean, there are already so many books sitting on my TBR shelf, let’s finish those first.
Yes, turns out I am still dealing with pandemic fatigue. I thought I was over it! 🙁 In any event, gives me a reason to sort out that TBR pile
“I say thee nay, foul book” Okay now that that’s out of my system… 🙂 I’ve only read one of the Planetfall books- Before Mars- and really liked it, but haven’t taken the plunge with the others yet. There was a moment that shocked me in that book- yikes. Well, maybe not shocked, but it was an emotional punch.
Black Sun- yeah probably same. Binging is good 🙂
Oh, well quoted. That would have been an awesome title for this TTT post. 😀
Good to know your thoughts on Planetfall – I guess that’s a separate category called “Not TBR for Now” for me, haha.
I got so nervous when you included Black Sun on the list, and I was all prepared to be outraged, but your explanation made complete sense. It’s such an incredible book that I can totally understand wanting to binge read them.
Haha, yes. I think I remember chatting with you some time back on Black Sun? Yeah, I don’t want to end up with cliffhangers and I can’t do series right now, so it’s more “set aside” than “nay, nay”.
I laughed at your explanation for Black Sun, because I’m the same way. As much as I love a good series, it’s hard to start knowing I’ll have to wait so long between books.
Exactly! Though to be honest, I have downloaded the book cover as desktop wallpaper, because it is so lovely… which makes it difficult to set aside the book for now
Corrag has been on my to-read list for a while now, and I still haven’t gotten to it. And it’s probably there because someone knew I was an Outlander fan and recommended it to me. 🙂
That is precisely how it came on to my TBR pile too! I think it’s safe to say neither of us is reading Corrag any time soon 😎
I agree that it’s so much nicer to be able to binge-read a complete series, so that’s a great reason to say nay to a book (for now) 🙂
Lex, My Spring Cleaning goals are to clear out some of the books I have read and held on to. I need to admit that I will not be able to reread all of them. Also to catalog and shelves the ones I bought in the last year or so. Too many stacks on the floor of our tiny condo.
I am not familiar with many of these books, but I did read Death in the Stocks and liked it. I found it humorous. But a lot of readers don’t like Heyer’s mysteries.
I don’t mind Heyer’s mysteries. I liked her Envious Casca a lot. But somehow for Death in the Stocks, I expected the lead characters to just be a little more empathetic. Not for me, I guess!
I haven’t read or actually heard of most of these! I am definitely a “moody” reader so a lot of times it’s just not the right time for a certain book and it goes back to the bookshelf until I’m ready. If it just seems like it’s something I’ve outgrown out of or just not interested in any more then the book goes to my donation pile.
Yes, I am a very moody reader too. I actually have a “set aside” folder for locking away books for some other date. 😂 But some days, I really want to weed them out with a fervor!
You need some books to say Yay to! Have you read Dear Mrs. Bird? I listened to it on audio so I would recommend that if you are having a hard time focusing on a book. It was my favorite book of 2019 and I just heard there is a sequel coming in August.
I am writing a very boring but luckily short paper on social capital at academic libraries. If I can just focus and get it done tonight, I could actually read something fun. I have a new book called The Houseboat out and I am afraid it will be due before I get to it, unless I get disciplined.
Dear Mrs. Bird looks great. I just checked out the Goodreads blurb: “Any letters containing Unpleasantness—must go straight in the bin.” Haha, exactly what I want. Thanks also for the tip-off about the audiobook version, will look for that.
By Houseboat, are you referring to Elizabeth Ann’s Houseboat? (It was the only version I could think of after a simple Google search.) Hope you’ll manage to read it soon, look forward to your review!
I didn’t enjoy The Beautiful tbh. Corrag I loved – but I knew it as Witch Light. I admit it got off to a slowish start, mainly because the prose is almost poetic and it took me a while to get used to the style but then I was hooked.
Lynn 😀
Good to know Beautiful has other naysayers too. But your comment about Corrag is interesting. I have read another work by Fletcher before (Shadow Spinners) and it was lovely, and as you put it, very “poetic”. Hmm… Maybe it isn’t time to say farewell forever to Corrag after all…