TMST: Buddy Reads

 Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the lovely Rainy Day Ramblings, and currently assisted by a team of bloggers, Roberta @ Offbeat YA, Karen @ For What It's Worth, Berls @ Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen @ That's What I'm Talking About, and Linda @ Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell.

This week's topic is: Do you like to read with others (buddy reads, readalongs, bookclubs, etc)?

This is one of the ideas that I go back and forth on. Sometimes I think it would be super fun to be able to read along with someone, and other times I think it's too much pressure, and I dislike it. Also, I tend to read a lot of things when they are no longer at the height of their popularity (or classics), and so it can be difficult to have someone else want to reach with me.

That being said, I have done this kind of thing in the past, albeit, unintentionally. When the Harry Potter books came out, and the Hunger Games series did (or in this case, the movies), I read these along with friends and family and got the opportunity to discuss them - and that was tons of fun! I loved those experiences so much, that I later tried to get my boyfriend to try and do buddy reads with me. Unfortunately this didn't end up panning out, and since then I've sort of been intimidated by the pressure to read at a certain pace with someone. I think I'd like to try it at some point, but I don't think it would be something I would do any time soon.

For bookclubs, I truly think I would only be content reading along with friends who are on a remotely similar brainwave as myself. I am all for different opinions, but I can find a lot of debates turn into arguments and are frustrating, which I feel like can be tempered a bit amongst my friends, but maybe not so much with a group of unknowns.

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How do you feel about buddy reads and bookclubs? Do you like to debate topics?

TMST: Book Blurb Turn-offs

Tell Me Something Thursday? Although a bit delayed on my end, this week's Tell Me Something Tuesday from Rainy Day Ramblings was suggested by my friend at Offbeat YA, Roberta.

1) The greatest dystopian since The Hunger Games!
I hate two things about this. I don't enjoy comparisons to other novels, and I despise when people list things as "the greatest" or "the best" unless you are 100% certain that it is. And with something as subjective as a book, you definitely can't make that statement.

2) It continues from the front inner leaf of the dust jacket to the back.
I'm sorry, but if you needed all of that space to describe the book, then your description is too long and has likely gone into far too much detail. It's also a total pain to flip from the front to the back simply to figure out if I want to waste my time on this book. Yes, I am aware that is petty.

3) The entire plot.
That was a fascinating short story, thank you. I'm going to put this down for the next three years until I completely forget the spoilers I just read...if I even ever pick it up again. Related to the previous point, it's super important to give browsers just enough detail to get them intrigued, but not enough to spoil things beyond the first few chapters.