Refuse to read?

[Mina Markliff]

Are there any books people refuse to read? Either because the author is awful or just on principal?

I can't think of any... yet. There may be a few on principal but I would usually try to approach a book with an open mind. How can you judge a book by its cover?

[Plottoberry]

How do you know if you haven't read them? Not judging, just very curious!

Anne Rice has a special place in my heart, because Interview With The Vampire was the first grown-up book that I read (I was 12 and Dutch... yeah). I do get why people don't like her books. She uses so much details, her books are way too thick (>1000 pages in Queen of the Damned was not necessary for a storyline that is actually not even that complicated), she has some strange ideas about relationships and sex.

I do love how she portrays her vampires, how godlike they are and their relationship to humans and other vampires. Her books are often really romantic, with the Talamasca, New Orleans, the settings and the intellectual vibe.

Not every book by her is good, I agree (I read Interview with the Vampire, Queen of the Damned, Merrick and The Witching Hour), but Interview With The Vampire is really good. I think Queen of the Damned is simply too big for no reason. I enjoyed Merrick because it was relatively easy to read. The Witching Hour was kind of extreme in some ways, but the ending was terrific.

[Combefairy]

Her newer novels aren't excellent, I'll give you that (The Wolf Gift is pretty lame and I like to pretend Blood Canticle and Blackwood Farm never happened. Merrick was intolerable, as was Memnoch the Devil, UGH). But she has some real gems in her older works. Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, Pandora, Queen of the Damned, Tale of the Body Thief and The Vampire Armand are all positively lovely.

[Rachael Kerr]

I'm going to have to agree with a lot of people here when I say that I refuse to read any vampire/werewolf romance books. I read all four books of Twilight, just so I could be an educated hater, but I'll not go beyond that.

[Plottoberry]

But please, do read Dracula. Dracula rocks.

[Phoenix]

Here's my list:

Hunger Games (might change eventually when its popularity dies down)

anything by Mark Twain but especially Tom Sawyer/Huck Fin

anything by John Steinbeck unless it's a school assignment

The Pretties series by Scott Westerfeld  

[Aoife hayes]

I refuse to read any of the books from the new vampire/fantasy YA explosion. Whenever I visit a bookshop, these take up 90% of the Teenage/YA section. I know they're going to be an even crappier take on Twilight. I read Twilight. I know what it's about. I've read enough sexy sparkling vampires in my literature to last me a lifetime. I'll stick to my Dracula, thanks.

[Kal M!]

I was never interested in Twilight but read the first one just because everyone kept saying how amazing and then how horrid it was, and I feel like so many people hate it just because it became cool to hate (what other reason is there to hate a book you've never even read). I don't particularly care for Twilight, but it's no worse than the majority of YA literature (which is generally a subpar genre) in my opinion. 

[The Inkling]

my thoughts exactly

[Zoë Achilles]

I don't read "girl books" (not like twilight, more these "kisses and spaghetti" books (yeah, I just made that up, but sadly they actually have names like that)) those are the only books I judge by their looks, so if I see a pink book, I will not touch it, but there is one BIG exception. I have a book called "the princess bride" by william goldman and it's pink, but I love it. (I usually don't read stuff like that, but this book really got me...) so because of that book I'm always trying to be open minded when I see a pink cover, but it still doesn't really work, because I saw so many bad books in pink...

[Plottoberry]

Sometimes the covers can be highly misleading. Once I read a book called ''The Finishing School'' by Muriel Spark and the cover was pink with a rucksack on it and an apple or something. However, the book was about a finishing school and the twisted mind of the principal. The ending was bizarre. It was one of the most awesome books that I read. I also remember ''Finding Cassie Crazy'' to be an amazing book. It is about teenagers and love, with it's also about penpals, family and friends and I loved it.

[Zoë Achilles]

I know covers can be quiet confusing, that is also why I always read a summary of the book and a little excerpt if I can find one or if I hold the book in my hands ;) But these special books are easy detected because of their covers and they usually don't mislead, the problem is that they made me anxious about other books with rather special covers...

[Chelsie Lacny]

I don't think I would ever refuse to read a book. There are plenty of books I might choose not to read, because there are other books I would prefer to read, but if given the right recommendation or put in the right mood I would probably read anything.