#it's different than non-fiction though reading about history or politics or an exploration on xyz is fun
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i need to accept that i'm simply not an intellectual i can read theoretical texts and understand them more or less but i lack the higher faculity that actually makes me give a shit about any of this
#it's different than non-fiction though reading about history or politics or an exploration on xyz is fun#but anything too conceptual or philosophical and i'm out#though i like it when i can attach it to my blorbos in some way ... putting it to practical use
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The Unpopular Opinion Book Questionaire
Before I start, credit where credit is due: I copied the questions and format of this post from @resist-the-fearās post and this wordpress post, because I couldnāt figure out how to add my answers into the original post without messing up all formatting. And Iām really sorry if this upsets anybody, but the idea is cool and itād be a shame not to continue it on tumblr.
So, here we go...
1. A Popular Book or series that you didnāt like.
1) Feels like the Twilight Saga would be the obvious answer (and it IS), but Iām gonna go for pretty much all of Dan Bownās novels and Iām gonna explain my dislike with The DaVinci Code
This novel actually angered me so much that I wrote my masterās thesis on how Brown deliberately mislead the majority of his readers into mistaking his fiction for actual facts in order to sell more books.
The gist is, any and all art historic descriptions and information given within the book are fully fictional. That includes a page of āfactsā (labeled as such) preceding the novel itself (which doesnāt contain any actual facts at all) and a note underneath stating that all descriptions of paitings were accurate. Spoiler alert: Theyāre not. I majored art history in school and did a lot of research, but, honestly, anybody whoās interested in art history and knows the very very basics about the renaissance and other time periods can easily disprove all of the novelās supposedly accurate art descriptions.
And, to be truthful, I have to admit that Brown is really fucking good at fiction. Heās also really good at writing his fiction around and over existing art historic knowledge and twisting it without making it too obvious for careless readers. Thatās kinda cool. And I get that disguising fiction as fact isnāt a new trend. I mean... Defoe did when he falsely claimed that Robinson Cruseo was a factual report of a true event, because the readership of his time period wasnāt familiar with adventure fiction. But what really annoyed me was 1) how many readers actually believed Brown to have uncovered some genuine conspiracy and 2) that Brown kept feeding into the delusion of those fans again and again through comments in interviews and webpages, even though he fully knew itās all fiction, because he himself made it up.
Ā 2) And then thereās the Wanderhure series, written by a German writing couple under the pseudonym Iny Lorentz. Iām not sure if this has been translated into English, but itās been highly popular in Germany and several other countries (won some awards and was made into a series of TV movies and whatnot). It is, quite honestly THE WORST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ IN MY WHOLE LIFE.
The first novel was recommended to me by relatives because parts of it take place in a city that I have lived in for quite some time, and itās a historical fiction based on a medieval poem. The premiss of the novel is great: during the middle ages, a young and respected girl gets accused to have sinned by some townspeople and nobody believes her to be innocent, as she is just a girl. She gets cast out of her city and home, left with no other choice than to become a traveling whore if she wants to survive. She ends up becoming quite successful in her profession (in the sense that she has many high ranking clients from both church and state who pay her with lots of money and other favors) and returns to the city that cast her out long ago to have a huge effect on politics and religion.
The story was quite intriguing to me, both due to the interesting plotline as well as the reference to the city I live in. HOWEVER, it is horribly written. All characters, especially the protagonist, are unbelievably flat. There is no character development whatsoever, even though the story offers plenty of chances to find it. I read through the book because of the locations... houses that actually still exist, that I have been in, Gateways that iāve walked through, roads that Iāve travelled on. Those are very well described. Itās easy to figure out each and every step the characters take on a map and thatās really cool. But the plotline was destroyed by less than mediocre characterization and simple, unimpressive language. Every time a character is supposed to feel something, the sentence literally goes, āShe felt xyzā - and thatās as descriptive as it gets. Thereās no atmosphere created and not an ounce of fluidity in the sentence structure. The whole narration is as dry as brick and the story reads like a two dimensional still drawing of a 3D rollercoaster ride.
2. A Popular Book or series that every one else seems to hate but you love.
I honestly donāt think that thereās any book series that EVERYBODY hates. And I do think that all the books I love, are actually pretty popular. Buuuuut...
Iāve seen the Mortal Instruments series getting a lot of hate on tumblr. And I fully understand why Cassandra Clare isnāt everybodyās favorite author. I donāt like her methods and procedure at all either. But, I have to say that I do like the basic plotline of the Mortal Instruments. Iāve only read the first three novels, and I have no clue what happens afterwards. And thereās a lot to be criticized, be it Clare ācopyingā existing dialogues, or some really flat and ... well, just plain naive characters. BUT the plot itself is cool. So, I felt positively entertained and liked it. Love would be a bit of a strong term, though, I think.
3. A Love Triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did NOT want them to end up with (warn ppl for spoilers) OR an OTP that you donāt like.
Not giving any spoilers, but the Demonās Lexicon Trilogy. I really, really disliked the reveal of an actual pairing in the third novel. It didnāt make sense to me, and I wasnāt reading for romance to begin with. It kind of cheapened the story because the love interest side story suddenly got A LOT of attention that it didnāt before and that shifted the focal point of the overall plotline. (Loved the first book, really liked the second, couldnāt care less for the third, tbh)
4. A popular book Genre that you hardly reach for.
Itās either crime fiction or esoteric non-fiction.
Iām actually into a lot of different genres: almost all types of fiction (YA, dystopian, sci-fi, political, thriller, mystery, adventure, horror, fantasy etc.), also childrenās books, travel books, hobby and craft books, satires, other humorous books, biographies/autobiographies, educational books, historical books both fiction and non-fiction...
Doesnāt matter, but crime fiction (as long as it doesnāt contain anything else) is just so boring to me. Also, it feels to me as if most crime fiction heroes solve those crimes with A LOT more lucky coincidences than I would hope actual crime fighters depend on.
And esoteric books are just completely outside my personal interests. Either the stuff described in those books feels like fiction to me while being sold as non-fiction, or itās stuff that I feel should not be aquired through books but personal encounters and explorations.
5. A popular or beloved character that you do not like.
Definitely Clary Fray from the Mortal Instruments. Man, she is soooooo slow on the uptake and so naive in so many ways. And sheās also kind of a horrible Mary Sue, not just because of her name... (I mean, really? Clary, Ms Clare? š) But also because of how she is so awesomely good at everything and how she always thinks of the perfect solutions for everything when nobody else does. Kinda... very little room for character development. But, then again, who needs that, right?
6. A popular author that you canāt seem to get into.
Aside from Dan Brown? Hereās my unholy trinity...
1) Stephenie Meyer (yeah, the Twilight one) - I was actually sent an e-book copy of Twilight right before it became such a huge success. I started reading it, because my friend recommended it and praised it so highly. But, I couldnāt make it past a couple dozen pages. The writing style is just so bad, I couldnāt continue. The characters were so flat, I lost any and all interest in what was going to happen. And the story wasnāt all that intriguing either, especially because it was loaded with antiquated world views, especially Bellaās character and what was deemed right for her to do was just... WOW, it was just so unbelievably bad, lol. I was so surprised that it actually ended up being successful.
2) E.L.James (the 50 Shades one) - For years, I genuinely believed that it was impossible to write worse than Meyer. Boy, was I wrong. I tried several times to read more than ten pages of 50 Shades of Grey, and I failed every single time. Itās not just a bad story, Iāve seen childrenās books for toddlers that have a more interesting sentence structure than what she comes up with for an adult audience. Her language is so dull and non-descriptive that even the supposedly racy sexy bits read like a phone book to me. Honestly, I DONāT GET WHY anybody ever had any interest in this book series. The language is unspeakably poor, the plot takes all the wrong turns it could possibly take, the āresearchā done before writing the book... I donāt even know where that load of complete misinformation could possibly come from.
3) Iny Lorentz (the writing couple I mentioned above: Elmar Wohlrath and Iny Klocke) - Just bad, bad, bad writing. No concept of character development, fiction asthetically written like non-fiction, no use of language to create atmosphere or convey emotions. They write neutral snoozefests. And... I canāt bring myself to write any more on them.
7. A popular book trope that youāre tired of seeing. (examples ālost princessā, corrupt ruler, love triangles, etc.)
Mary Sues and Gary Stues. But Love Triangles are a very hot contender.
8. A popular series that you have no interest in reading.
All the different Shades, lol.
9. The saying goes āThe book is always better than the movieā, but what movie or T.V. show adaptation do you prefer more than the book?
Definitely Stand By Me which is Stephen Kingās The Body. That movie is about as great as that story could have possibly been when put onto the screen. The actors were so perfectly cast, the cinematography, costumes and set design really captured the time period, atmosphere and geography, and the facial expressions portrayed all the right emotions beautifully.
Also, I have to say, out of all of Kingās movie adaptations, and while neither The Body nor Stand By Me are categorized as horror, the scene where you can see the dead boyās face is one of the scariest, most horrific moments I can think of in a film ever. It gave me nightmares when I first saw it, and still, to this day, I have to close my eyes when that scene comes up. And the cool thing is, itās not meant to be specifically horrifying, or gory or scary. But the simplicity of the sudden glimpse into dead eyes, to me, is scarier than any monster I could imagine and does Kingās reputation more than justice.
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