My bookish unpopular opinions

I don’t know what got into me, but I felt like I needed to talk about my book-related unpopular opinions. I don’t think I ever dedicated an entire post to this particular topic, but recently, I’ve been toying with the idea. I also quite like to read other bloggers’ opinions. I find it fun and interesting to see what things other people see as unpopular. So, without further ado, let’s look at mine!

I have no problem DNFing books

Bookworms can be divided into two groups: 1) the ones who DNF books whenever they don’t enjoy them, and 2) the others who can’t do that and would rather force themselves to finish the book. I can get where they come from because sometimes you just want to believe that it gets better, so you stick with it. However, often times, if you don’t enjoy a book by a certain page number (and this varies from book to book, and person to person), it’s not going to be more enjoyable. Therefore, I would rather just DNF it whenever I get the gut feeling, instead of wasting my time, and maybe risking a reading slump by forcing myself to finish the book. I also have nothing against DNFing series, I’ve done that loads of times. It doesn’t even have to be after the first book, sometimes I DNF’d after three or four instalments (like the Throne of Glass series, as I just lost interest in it after the fourth book, plus my reading taste has changed).

I don’t see the point in speeding up audiobooks to 2-3x speed

I had my audiobook phase a few years ago when I listened to quite a lot of them. I only sped them up to 1.5x speed, that was my limit, that was when I could still comprehend everything. This is coming from someone whose native language isn’t English, so my experience is different than most book content creators’. I see YouTubers speeding up audiobooks to 2-3x speed, and I wonder: can they actually fully understand what’s happening, or did listening to them become like a competition, a background noise, a productivity booster? I believe some people who are blessed and can listen to them extra fast while being able to retain most of the information. I applaud them, that’s a superpower in my eyes. However, I think some people do this method just to be able to read a certain amount of books per month, tick off another checkbox, and feel productive. And I’m not blaming the individuals, we as a modern society value quick things, hustle culture, etc. That’s why more people should talk about why it’s so powerful in this era to slow down and enjoy things for what they are, and not rush through an experience just to get to another. And I say this as a person who reads quite quickly but would love to learn to take books more slowly, like a sommelier, who enjoys sipping a glass of wine, carefully tasting every bit.

I don’t think seeing the adaptation first is a bookish sin

There are times I saw the adaptation first and that made me pick up the book. For example, now that I’ve seen the second season of Shadow and Bone, it made me want to be more immersed in the Grishaverse, so I’m going to try to read the Shadow and Bone trilogy. As someone with aphantasia (I have a post about this in my drafts for a year now), it’s also lovely to see the worldbuilding and characters on screen, because it helps me when I read the books. Sometimes I even prefer the adaptation over the source material, like Bridge to Terabithia, The Fault in Our Stars and Little Women. These are great books, but the adaptations have done something special that made me love their stories even more. There are also cases when the two mediums are different enough that you can enjoy both without being bothered that they changed so many things, like in Howl’s Moving Castle or Stardust. So if you’re interested in an adaptation, but want to stick to the old saying, “Always read the book first!”, don’t hesitate to watch it without a twinge of guilt.

They should stop overmodernising classics in adaptations

Just because there are many adaptations of classics, that doesn’t mean people wouldn’t like a new one faithful to the book. I think that production quality has evolved so much in recent years that movies and TV shows can look absolutely stunning. Book lovers deserve a well-made, true-to-the-book adaptation that is high quality. I think producers/directors/or whoever is responsible should stop assuming that old books are outdated and in dire need of a fix-up because otherwise viewers wouldn’t understand/enjoy them. That’s just thinking so little of viewers, and I don’t like that. Let’s have an example: Jane Austen’s two most recent film versions, Emma (2020) and Persuasion (2022). Emma is a prime example of a slightly modernised adaptation that’s exceedingly well done. It is quite faithful to the story, a bit modernised, yet, I didn’t feel it was out of place. The landscapes, the interiors, the shots, everything was so aesthetic. It is my favourite Emma adaptation, though I also love the 2009 BBC mini-series. Then, we have Persuasion, which is the other side of the coin, a modernisation done excessively. That book is my second favourite Austen after Emma, so I’m even more pissed at the new adaptation. It’s a joke, honestly. The makers must think us viewers incapable of enjoying Austen in her full authenticity, because I can’t find any other reasons why they felt the need to put phrases like “It’s often said, ‘If you’re a five in London, you’re a 10 in Bath.'” or “Now we’re worse than exes, we’re friends.” Maybe they tried to make the film more relatable to people living in the 21st century, but why would they do that? I turn to Jane Austen to get away from our modern life, so I’d love to be not reminded. In my opinion, if they want to do a modern film/TV show that can be relatable to people, come up with something original, don’t butcher an old classic.

I don’t read or write book reviews

Even though a huge chunk of most book bloggers’ content are reviews, I rarely ever read them. I don’t like knowing too much before picking up a book, I don’t even always read through the synopsis. And when I am finished with the book, I don’t read them either as I don’t want to be influenced by another person’s opinion. I also don’t like writing them, no wonder there are only two on my blog, and both are from many years ago. It’s not that I don’t think about what I’ve just read, but I’d rather write it down in my journal or talk about it in real life with a friend.

I don’t see the appeal in owning multiple editions of the same book

This probably stems from being a minimalist, but I just don’t get why people buy more than one copy of the same book. I know that people can do whatever they want with their money, and I’m glad that it makes someone happy to own twenty copies of Pride and Prejudice, for example, but I could never do that.

I don’t buy books without having read them beforehand

Or I very rarely do that, though I definitely did that a few times in 2022. This partly comes from the fact that I’m a minimalist, the other reason is that I wouldn’t want to waste money on something I am not sure I’d love to keep. I’m someone who only keeps what they love and want to reread from time to time. My method is to borrow a book from the library and if I adore it, then it can be put on my wishlist, and be purchased someday.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know in the comments if you agree with any of them! I’d love to know your unpopular opinions, so feel free to share them.

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