Give me your silliest, nitpickiest reason you stopped reading a book!

My pettiest reason has to be when a woman living in Arthurian times took note of another woman not wearing a corset, when corsets wouldn't be invented until literally a thousand years later (and not even called corsets until the Victorian era). I was about four chapters in I think and I put that book right down.

For context, I am a 26-year-old French woman and I mostly read detective novels by French authors so maybe this post concerns a French cultural topic. I read few detective novels but I noticed that in most cases the author creates an opposition between generations, whether it is between a policeman, a journalist and their younger colleagues or the perception of youth by the police. The "old generation" criticizes seeing the new one who no longer uses good old investigative methods or is not lively and intelligent enough. We often find speeches such as 'it was better before' or 'young people are more violent today'. I admit that I find this speech tiring and does not make me want to get into reading more detective novels.

I would like to have your opinion on this subject. Aren’t young people the audience for these books or do I just fixate on a detail? 😅

I see so many posts/comments about needing book recommendations or help getting out of a reading slump. Let’s play a fun game to add a few (or possibly several) books to our TBRs! 🙌🏻

Drop a GIF in the comments and then see what book recommendations someone has for you based solely on that GIF alone. It can be a vibe you’re hoping for, a nod to a genre you’re craving, or something completely chaotic and random. 😈

If you see a GIF and it makes you think of a book, drop a rec!!

Happy book finding 📚🤸🏼‍♀️☕️✨📖

If I had to look back at all my 5 star books, I would notice at first glance that there's no particular pattern. They're of different genres, authors, plots, and there's no commonality in whether it's character driven or plot driven either.

But I think that for me, a story is GREAT if it fulfils certain questions I ask myself at the end of every fiction book.

Did the story make me feel something? Was there a character arc (Good or evil, I don't care) where the character transformed? (Doesn't matter if the transformation was into obsession or madness) Did the author strike a balance between showing and telling? And was the prose good? Did the writing fit the narrative or the book? Was the plot decent and did it slot well into the character growth? For me personally, the plot comes secondary to the characters. I can forgive an okay plot if the author makes me fall in love with the characters. A good example of this would be “I kissed Shara Wheeler”

For non fiction, I ask:

Did this teach me something new? Was the prose accessible? Was it research backed?

If it's yes to at least two of these; I end up giving the book 5 stars.

So I want to ask you, my fellow readers… what makes a book GREAT for you?