All book lovers have a hot take about reading.
So, when you u/OriginalChance2520 asked r/Books, "what are you bookish hot takes?", I knew I had to compile the best replies.
1. "Celebrities publishing their ghost written garbage memoirs are cluttering up the best seller shelves and it drives me insane."
"Can we have more actual books from actual writers and turn those writers into celebrities rather than have to look at some actor or influencer's life story or advice? "
2. "Being able to predict the ending doesn't make a mystery book automatically bad."
"If the characters, setting, tone, etc are all interesting and well-written, then knowing what happens shouldn't make or break the book. I also feel like it varies so much from reader to reader, because someone new to the genre might not be familiar with all the tropes/common outcomes but a person whose been reading mysteries for decades has seen most of what's out there. I always tell people when it comes to books & movies, if a story is good I should be able to enjoy it just as much on the second and third through as the first time."
3. "Not every book needs a happy ending."
4. "I hate that its been normalised when talking about a book you can expose basically the whole plot as long as you don't give away the 'twist' or ending."
"Blurbs, reviews, recommendations, etc are all guilty of this."
"Yeah, my friend does this with movies. Will summarise a plot halfway, then stop and say, 'I won’t give away the twist…' You did give it away. By saying there’s a twist."
5. "My hot take is this: I've come to hate twists."
"I think they're overdone. I think people love them because it gives them that sweet, sweet hit of dopamine that we've come to expect from any and all media. Book takes some work? Story been going on for a while? You've got to think about things, or slow down and (metaphorically) chew your food? WORRY NOT! there'll be a TWIST!Look, an occasional twist is okay, but I don't need a book to zip-zap-zow me at the end with something I "never saw coming." I want the story to unfold."
6. "I will not buy a book with a hideous cover."
7. "I've read better sex scenes on AO3 than I have in any published book."
"There are a small number of authors who can write a good sex scene and an ungodly large number of authors who can write a terrible sex scene. If you can’t write a good sex scene… pro tip… you don’t need to."
8. "I find the 'tropification' of literature to be extremely problematic and keeps new readers from exploring new genres and plots."
"I say this as someone who enjoys romance occasionally: A romance novel should not be described as, 'one bed, forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers.'"
"I also feel like because of tropfication, a lot of plot points are shoe horned in so the author can include enemies to lover or whatever in their blurb! And then it’s not even well done, because it’s just a checkbox!"
9. "People complain about current YA covers being either the cutesy 'Canva-art' stylization or flourishy metallic words but I would take that a thousand times over the 'faceless photograph of skinny white girl wearing a ball gown' covers that were popular like a decade ago."
10. "I’m past the age where I judge people for their media diet."
11. "Celebrities writing children’s books is bad for children’s lit."
"They’re usually not very well written and it means less space for up and coming children’s authors who won’t get the dedicated shelf space/window display some random celeb will."
12. "Reading should not be a luxury."
"Even the cost of paperbacks these days is too much. I was at Barnes and Noble the other way and saw way too many 250 page paperback books that were MSRP 18-20 dollars. It's worse in YA, where the audience doesn't even have its own money to buy the books with."
13. "Not sure if this is a hot take but I despise seeing the cover of a book with ‘now a major motion picture’ or ‘adapted for television’."
"I will not buy any edition with something like either of those things on the cover."
14. "Every physical book should come with an ebook copy or at least a steep discount for the ebook copy."
15. When reading the blurb what immediately turns me off is when the male lead is described as "mysterious/ handsome/ attractive".
16. "The majority of 'paranormal romance urban fantasy' should be in the romance section of the store instead of the fantasy section of the store."
"If the story is primarily romance based, it should be in the romance section of the store. That it's between a vampire angel and a werewolf demon is beside the point."
17. "Required reading in schools shouldn’t only be comprised of classics."
18. "Audio books are a perfectly acceptable method for consuming a book."
"And anyone who treats it like it is somehow significantly different or not really reading is more worried about the flex of having hours of free time than they are about the actual contents of the narrative."
19. "There are a lot of hidden gems in self published books."
"A Backpack Filled with Sunsets by Ifeanyi Ogbo and The Strangers of Braamfontein by Onyeka Nwelue are two reads I recently enjoyed."
20. "I think all books should initially come out in paperback and only get printed in hardcover if it does well/for special editions."
21. "People who act offended or appalled when other people dog ear their pages or crack spines are weirdos."
"Grow up. Why are you telling ME what to do with MY books?"
"Books (religious books aside) aren't sacred objects. They're just words printed on paper in between two covers (though with ebooks or audio, sometimes not even that). They have the worth and meaning we wish to assign to them, but it's not an inherent value. People are thus allowed to use these non-sacred items for whatever they want, in the same way we use other products without getting snobby over their potential uses. People can organise their bookshelves (gasp!) by colour, or with the spine hidden, who cares. They can use them as literal doorstoppers, as kindling, they're allowed to read only the chapters they like, they're allowed to cut them up or dog-ear the pages, write in them, whatever."
22. "Most 'plot holes' that people find in popular books or series aren't actual plot holes."
"It is either information irrelevant to the plot that they are looking for or the information is already there, but it is being ignored/denied."
23. "This is a niche opinion and I recognise that my opinion has its problems, but...I've grown to kind of despise the book influencer culture."
24. "Reading a bad book is worse than watching a bad movie."
"The time and effort it takes to read and concentrate on what a book is saying, its themes, writing style, and characters is way more work and time wasting when it's bad."
25. "I hate how it's become a trend to put a Spotify list at the beginning of the book."
"I don't care if you listened to Taylor Swift and Harry Styles during your writing, let me enjoy my book in peace."
26. "A good plot is never more important than good prose. Never."
27. "I really don’t like music in books."
"Writing about a singer/songwriter ‘pouring their heart and soul’ into passionate lyrics that the author wrote is lame and never has the intended impact for me. When they talk about ‘cool’ or ‘uncool’ bands it also rubs me the wrong way and shows how the author has an inflated ego relating to their musical tastes. That being said, the songs in The Hobbit/LOTR were dope."
28. I wish more award-winning or "Best of the Year" books were not devastatingly sad!
"I love a good sad book, but books with happy endings and hope-filled stories should also win awards and praise. It seems like every recommendation list I read is all/mostly books that will make me cry."
29. "I don’t care how fast people can read."
30. "Graphic sex has as much of a place as graphic violence, technically, it doesn't HAVE to be there but it undeniably adds to the tone, atmosphere and maybe even gives character insight compared to a version of the same book without the graphic sex/violence."
"If I'm reading a book about people who go on Viking raids, I expect violence and gore. If I'm reading a book about people who are sexually active, I expect sex. Don't put those things 'off-screen' if those are things the characters are supposed to be engaging in.
Not saying this as a slight on you, but I think people are just prudes about sex. Like you said, it's apart of life, so who cares if a character gets down and dirty? There's no shame in it. Purity culture has made normal acts in everyones lives a taboo topic somehow.
And in case I get the reply of 'So, you want to see the parts where a character poops? That's part of life.' It is, but taking a dump wouldn't effect 99% of any plot. Two characters having sex though? That changes a fair bit. Even a character having sex with a no-name one-off that never returns after the sex scene is over? That can still show you a lot about them as a character that them taking a dump wouldn't. The way a person has sex can tell you a lot about them."
31. "Anne Brontë is the best Brontë."
Note: submissions have been edited for length/clarity.