Book Tag – The Book Snob Tag

Do you always read the book before watching the film / TV show?

Not really, if I’m really excited about an adaptation but it’s not coming out for a while then I will pick up the book first, similarly if it’s something that’s been on my TBR for a while I will try to read the book before seeing the adaptation… but I don’t have to read the book first.

In fact, in some ways it’s easier for me to watch an adaptation first and then read the books as I’m far less likely to watch a TV show or film based on a book if I’ve already read the book (purely because I’ve been so disappointed so many times now!). Whereas, if I do watch the adaptation first and really like it I’ll generally get the book to see how different it was.

You can only choose 1 format in which to read books for the rest of your life.

Which one do you choose: physical books, eBooks or audiobooks?

Even though I definitely wouldn’t have the space, I would still choose physical books. As much as I love the convenience of my kindle, especially for commuting or travelling, it still doesn’t beat the satisfaction of having full bookshelves and the feel of the pages!

To be really specific I do prefer paperbacks (especially floppy paperbacks) over hardbacks… Mainly because it’s easier to find a comfortable position to read in and it’s easier to take them around if the book you’re reading isn’t on your kindle. I also prefer the covers of paperbacks too whereas some hardbacks can be quite disappointing once the dust jacket is off… Although, I do feel fancy sitting outside with a naked hardback resting in one hand like a heroine from an Austen novel…

Would you date / marry a non-reader?

Whilst not reading isn’t exactly a dealbreaker for me (as everyone has more than one interest or hobby to connect with) I think their reason for not reading could be. If someone just doesn’t enjoy it for themselves or prefers to do other things that’s totally fine, but if they have an actively negative opinion on books and reading then that would be an issue. As long as there is mutual respect for differing interests it’s all good!

You have to ditch one genre – never to be read again for the rest of your life.

Which one do you ditch?

Now, the obvious answer for me is non-fiction but to make it interesting I’ll also choose a fiction genre… Which would probably be crime thriller novels.

This is the genre I reach for the least. I like detective fiction and whodunits (which I classify separately, no it isn’t cheating) but when it comes to gritty crime novels or true crime novels I just don’t have that much of an interest… The world can be terrible enough at times so the last thing I want is for that to follow me into my reading too!

You can only choose to read from one genre for the rest of your life.

Which genre do you choose?

This is a tough one as I read so many different genres and am very much a mood reader! 

If we are counting this as a genre then I would say translated fiction as I love reading books from other cultures, especially East Asian. However, if I’m not allowed to group translated fiction together then it would most likely be fantasy… Which is not something I thought I would say a couple of years ago!

Which genre do you think receives the most snobbery from the bookish community?

When I first started book blogging back in 2010 I would have said that a lot of bloggers looked down on the ‘chick lit’ (now ‘women’s fiction’) community and would try to pass it off as not ‘proper’ reading or just ‘trashy holiday’ reading. I think now that it has been rebranded as ‘women’s fiction’ I see less negativity around it (although there is still some).

Now, I would say that it’s probably the Young Adult community that gets put down a lot, especially the adults that are part of it as the books are deemed ‘too young’ for them which is dumb.