Today, we're going to be talking about books that don't really fit into my reading taste
but I love them anyway.
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What's the purpose of this video?
I don't really know.I've just been thinking about the fact that I have a really wide range
in reading taste. I like a lot of genres.
I like a lot of different types of books but at the same time,
there are certain genres that I've tried over and over again
and I'm having such a hard time connecting with and there are certain tropes
or certain devices that I hate.
We recently did a video talking about tropes that I don't like that are done super well.
Now we're going to do a video talking about books that don't fit into
my reading taste.
I still like them despite that and it confuses me.
First book in the series is The Remnant Chronicles.
I guess first series on the list is The Remnant Chronicles.
This is a YA fantasy that I read a long time ago
but I've re-read not that long ago and I still look back on
with such fond memories.
Let's see, what do we have?
We have Runaway Princess, Love triangles, well only one love triangle.
Incredibly selfish self-centered protagonist though her arc is amazing.
Tons of prophecies and poems woven into the poems,
is that the right word?
I think just prophecy and text pulled from fictional text woven into this book
which I tend to not like that.
A huge massive focus on relationship dynamics and relationship drama
as opposed to the driving plot throughout a lot of the--
It does so many things that don't work for me.
It's still a series that I love so much
and actually really want to do a re-read of soon.
I think I really connected to these characters.
I had a comment on one of my videos about love triangle, well,
when I was doing the video about tropes that I’ve seen done well.
Somebody brought up The Remnant Chronicles for a love triangle.
I don't think that it belongs in the list because I still think that the ending
of the love triangle was frustrating.
Even though my ship won out,
I don't like the way it was handled in the end but it was one of the best love triangles
I’ve seen done at least.
I was really attached to the characters. I loved the driving story
and the arc that this character goes through from book one to book three
and the level of her strength, oh my goodness,
she is not a pick up a sword and beat out all the boys' protagonist.
She's not a tough strong gruff really rude but we'll call it being a strong woman character.
She is a strong woman, she is strong in her character,
strong in her beliefs, and strong in the sacrifices that she makes.
She is phenomenal.
I remember reading book three for the first time and just being amazed
at who she chooses to be and the sacrifices she chooses to make.
The ending of this book, of the war, of everything,
not of this book of book three frustrated me.
There're so many things that this series did that is on my list of things
that I don't like seeing done.
I can't explain it, it doesn't make sense.
I love it so much. Let's talk about the Wayward children series.
I feel like that's fair to put on this list because first of all,
I didn't like the first book in the series.
These are all short books like 150 pages I think.
Didn't like it and didn't continue on with the series for a while.
Then my friend read book two she loved it I went ahead and read it
and I loved it too.
This series doesn't fit on my list because I like it for the worlds.
This is about portal worlds.
This is a portal world fantasy. It's about these kids
that find a doorway, step through it Narnia-esque and they enter into
a world that they truly belong in.
Then for one reason or another, they're knocked out of their world back
into the real world and they're just waiting for their doorway to open back up
because that's truly where they belong.
Each story explores another world except for the first one.
I don't care about these characters very much.
Honestly, I can barely even tell you any of the characters' names
or what their personal struggle is. I just care about these worlds.
These worlds are so fantastical and they feel like a classic fairy tale each one.
They have these laws of either nonsense or a logic and it all--
I feel like I’m constantly in a different form of Alison wonderland
or of Narnia or Peter Pan just something like that.
That's just so perfectly odd.
I read these little short books for the world.
I don't care about the driving plot in any of them.
I don't care about these characters hardly at all.
The world is what gets me.
I don't know how to recommend these books because usually,
I’m the type of reader that I like plot, I like character, I like magic,
I like world, I like all of these things to be comprehensive and strong
and not one is super weak but the other is super strong.
That's usually a no-go for me,
it's not for the series. I love it for this one isolated thing
and I can't even tell you if the other things are done well because I don't care.
Tunnel of Bones, I put this on the list mostly just because it's middle grade.
I've been reading a lot more middle grade lately trying to connect
with some of you guys’ favorites because you guys have been sending me
a lot of books and you've been sending me a lot of your childhood favorites.
I've been reading them and I’ve not been connecting with them.
I don't know, I just for whatever reason it's harder for me.
I think it's because I’m such a critical analytical reader and middle grade--
I guess I’m either super analytical or I’m super classic fairy tale whimsical.
There's no in-between and I feel like middle grade hits that sweet spot
where it is taken seriously but also you have to suspend your disbelief
and just get caught up in the whimsy of it.
It hits that balance that works for so many people and completely is a miss for me.
Tunnel of Bones though is a middle grade that I really really enjoyed
and I think it's because it was more on the side of this is reality with a little bit
of whimsy with a--
Not even whimsy just with a little bit of magic.
It's rare for this age range to fit with me.
Tunnel of Bones, I read the first two books in the series I don't even know
if the third book is out yet and I really enjoyed both of them.
I think I gave both like four or maybe even five stars,
I don't remember.
Just to be clear because I’m on the internet, I’m not dogging middle grade.
I think middle grade is wonderful.
It hits that sweet spot that just doesn't work with how I enjoy books usually.
Tunnel of Bones is proof that there are middle grades
out there that remove myself from nostalgic
because there are some middle grades on my shelves that I absolutely love
and hype up regularly.
A lot of it it’s tied up in nostalgia and remove nostalgia,
I’m reading it as an adult.
This is proof that there are some that can hit for me and there are
still several middle grades on my shelf that I think,
"Yes, this might work for me."
Animal Farm.
This is another one that was brought up in a recent video.
I did a video talking about tropes that I hate, that I’ve seen done
and not just I accepted it but I actually love.
One of those tropes is talking animals. I don't know, why I can't explain it,
it doesn't make sense, I don't like it.
I never like it.
In that video, I gave an example of a book
that has one single talking animal in it. Then somebody commented and said,
"Animal Farm" and you're right. This is a cast of talking animals.
The humans are barely even in it, they barely speak at all, this is all animals.
I don't know how, I loved it so much.
I loved this book. I gave it five stars, I think it's phenomenal.
I loved the whole messaging behind it as well as just it as a story.
It was great.
It was such a good book and I don't know.
It's a cast of talking animals maybe because it was so blatantly symbolic,
maybe because of the messaging behind-- I don't know.
For whatever reason, this book is perfect and I would not change it even though
it deals with one of the tropes that I can't jive with ever.
Let's talk about detective series.
That's another genre that I have just struggled with.
It seems like almost every single--
See, I love thrillers and I can get down with a mystery but for whatever reason,
a murder mystery from a detective's perspective is a very niche thing that I don't like.
I don't know why, I just don't, I just couldn't care less about watching
this detective solve a crime.
Asimov’s Robot detective series I really enjoyed.
I will say that as I read through all four books,
there was this caveat of it's still a tough sell for me because I still don't care
about watching these detectives solve the crime but because
I love Asimov’s sci-fi. I enjoyed this a lot.
It's a human detective paired up with a robot detective.
I love his use of AI.
I love his ability to create problems within his own laws
and find ways to solve it within his own laws and world.
That was the element of this that I enjoyed so much.
Does it belong on the list?
I think so because it's still a detective murder mystery but it is the sci-fi
element that made me really enjoy reading through it.
One thing that I've noticed about myself-
actually I'm going to talk about two books here, On The Fence and On Luna Time.
One thing that I've really noticed about myself is when I do love a Romance,
I love it so hard, then I think, "I like romance."
When I'm in a romance mood, I pick up a romance and I don't ever like it.
It's hard for me to really understand what that means or what I'm supposed to do
about that because I want to read romance that I like because these two I love
so ridiculously much. I want more.
I want to love more books like this, in this genre but for whatever reason,
I have such a hard time with the romance genre. I don't even know why.
I don't even have cohesive thoughts on this one.
I don't understand why.
I want to like more books in this genre, but I don't.
These don't fit my reading taste but I wish they did.
I think The First law fits on this list even though this is a series that I hype a lot.
This is a series that I love so much and talk about regularly.
I think it really fits here. There are a few reasons why.
One, I don't think I'm really into grimdark.
I do like dark gritty fantasy but once it transitions over into grimdark,
it tends to be too much for me.
The fact that I love The First Law as much as I do is surprising to me.
Also this is is a story that basically doesn't contain a plot
until halfway through Book II and the plot is great,
and it's incredibly satisfying and I love it.
However, as I said before, tend to be a reader that I like a balance.
I like plot, I like characters, I like world-building, I like magic.
I like things to be well done across the board, which I don't know,
it feels like a rude--
Anyway, if you focus on your characters, and this author focused
very intentionally on his characters, this was not him just dropping the ball
or doing poorly, he made a choice.
If you focus only on your characters or only on your plot but your characters
are really hollow,
I may love the element that you did well but the element that you didn't do well,
it's going to affect how I enjoy the book. The First Law is not that way.
I think maybe partially because it's so clear that he's focusing on
his characters intentionally and not focusing on the world-building
or the plot until later on intentionally, maybe that's why it worked for me
or maybe it's just because this author's writing
is so unbelievably phenomenal that I didn't care,
I got swept away in what he was telling me.
Either way, this series does not fit in my taste and I love it so much.
I think I'm going to end this video on I Am Legend which I don't really know
if it fits here but sure, let's put it here.
There's a lot that this book does that should work for me,
it makes sense that it works for me, it's an apocalyptic setting,
a really really smart protagonist that can get his way out of things,
not by luck but by really thinking things through
and trying and failing and trying again.
A really bleak world and bleak themes, at the ending, I enjoyed so much.
There's so many things that this book did that it makes sense
that I would like it but vampires.
Vampires are a supernatural creature that I have been trying a lot lately,
a lot is maybe a relative term, more lately.
I've been in a vampire mood, I've read several vampire books
and DNF almost all of them.
I've focused primarily on classic vampires because modern vampires
like I want the dark, the gritty.
I'm realizing that vampire's version of dark and gritty
isn't for me because they're [?] and I don't like reading that over and over again.
Even if it's just the act of bloodletting, it's still a very sexual act for vampires
and it's also still a very aggressive non-consensual act.
I don't like reading it over and over again.
I understand the appeal of this but I've realized that it doesn't fit
with what I like to read.
I Am Legend, in case you don't know because the movie turned it to zombies.
The book is vampires. It worked for me in this one.
I'm not really sure why, it just did. There you go.
There is a list of books that don't actually fit my reading taste
but I still love them so much. Now onto the ad.
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Watch out for those planes. Thank you guys for joining me for this video.
I would love to hear what you guys think.
Have you tried some of these books on my recommendation
and then been confused as to why I would recommend them because maybe--
This has happened to me before where people have a similar taste to me,
they read what I recommend and then they read some of these books
and they're like, "Merph, why do you like this?
This didn't work like your recommendations tend to do."
Are they books that you love, are they books that you hate?
What are your list of books that don't fit your reading taste?
I post videos every Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
I'll see you guys [?] soon. Bye.