Yup lp1. I haven't yet read all the great literature from the past 200+ years so why would I read the book du jour?

I have very specific likes and dislikes, so while I read some popular authors, I avoid many others. I never understood the purpose of a book club except as a social gathering. I don't want to dissect a book and the characters' or author's motives. I just want to read the book for my own enjoyment or edification.

I'm part of a neighbourhood book club and we read light weight stuff. I don't mean historical romance but just easy to read things. They may be fiction or non-fiction and I have enjoyed most of them. I would never join a "serious" literature book club.

There was one book that was chosen which I really didn't want to read and so I didn't.

I don't let people talk me into a book that I really don't want to read - I don't have that many free hours to not be entertained or satisfied with my reading time.

I have to read a lot for my work and so I'm not an avid reader in my free time. A friend of mine who shares my political views has gifted me a few political books and my mother has given me historical books. All of them look like really good reads! I'm just not inclined at this point in my life to read them. I've had to tell both my friend and my mother that I'm saving the books and will get to them later. They are thoughtful gifts.

The only books I've completed in the past few decades were written by David Sedaris. I like to laugh.

I can read just about anything, except: Chick Lit and spy books (Tom Clancy, etal).

Yep, that's me MizGG. Hate those romznce novels, and Clancy's story lines don't hold my inerest~guess I must don't care for fiction, of any kind. I've read several of Bill O'Reilly books, and I think it's because they're very informative, as well as very straightforward~loved The Spin. I'll read a biography/autobiography occasionally, but of course it needs to be about a person of my interest. I think my favorite was Memoirs of a Geisha, which I read years ago. Over the last few years i've read more books that are spiritual in nature. It may depend what i'm 'mentally needing' at a given time.

The Paul kalanithi book.

I have no interest in reading books with a strong police detective bent, sci-fi stories, or books of a differing political persuasion. There are so many good books I've yet to read that I just can't see wasting time on something that doesn't appeal to me.

My son's girlfriend gave me "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families," a book about the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Although it won numerous awards and it isn't a long slog of a read (unlike the 3rd volume of Robert Caro's LBJ biography that I'm plodding through), how utterly depressing! I will take a deep breath and skim through it at some point, because I appreciate her thinking of me with a well-written book, and reading it will be a bond of sorts between us. But I can't stomach cruelty. I'll need to follow up with something happy & uplifting -- any recommendations?

I don't read anything that involves cruelty, fiction or non-fiction, to children. I don't care how many awards The Lovely Bones received I will never read it.

My job (working with juvenile offenders) is often so intense, depressing and frustrating, I find that I don't want to read anything too heavy or draining. I read for escape and entertainment these days. Some very excellent books have left me depressed for days, and I just don't need any more of that right now.

Wally Lamb's "The Hour I First Believed" is a good example. Excellent, but terribly depressing.

awm03 - I walked out on the movie Hotel Rwanda years ago. A friend wanted to see it. She is very conservative so I had no idea she would select such a depressing (although real) subject.

I'd like recommendations, too, for happy, uplifting fiction (no Sue Grafton or Janet Evanovich, though)...

Delilah - I don't go looking for happy, uplifting fiction but I think everything I've read by Fannie Flagg is fun.

I'm about 60 pages into my book and it is about what I expected. A book that my friend would like. She seems to be in constant search for the answers to life's questions. I don't think you are likely to find those answers in these types of books but she does. I will soldier on with it for her sake.

Ick. Shades of The Bridges of Madison County. My sister bought it for me. I didn't get anything out of that boring book. At least it was short.

The things we do for the ones we love, eh gyr? ;-)

I like my book club, but we tend not to be too trendy, usually. And there's a good mix between fiction and non-fiction. And most online-pubbed book questions get tossed out of the window before we have to find answers for those! Since the most trendy books are hard to get at the library, this gives us incentive to find books that have stuck around for a few miles... ;)

If there's a book on our upcoming discussion list I really DON'T want to waste the time reading - (most anything political) I opt out for that month.

While I've run into a few serious "dogs" in my book club, it's more than balanced out by discovering authors I'd otherwise probably never would have discovered if left to my own nefarious devices.

The Grapes Of Wrath. It was on my nephew's HS required reading list in 2009 and he was dragging his feet getting to it. This was discussed at a family gathering and a bunch of us said we'd read it too, and a family book club was started.

I was never assigned the book in school and I'd never read it. I thought it would be an easy read for me. I like Steinbeck. Right up my alley. But it wasn't. I could not get through that book. I'd fall asleep every time I picked it up at night and avoided it during the day. I found it so depressing.

I caught a lot of (good natured) flak for not completing it and every New Year since I've resolved to read it. But, bleh....I haven't.

We're all different, amck2. I liked Grapes of Wrath but I haven't been able to get through other "great" books. How many times have I picked up The Gulag Archipelago and then put it down? Too many. I finally decided not to kick myself for not finishing it.

But rosesstink, I don't even like my sister. ;)

About the only genre I loathe is romance novels. I read a lot of books and have tried to stop feeling guilty when I just can't stand a book and stop reading it.

lol, rosesstink. My son has been raving about The Gulag Archipelago and wants me to read it. Not sure why my sons and their friends like these brutal, depressing histories! Youth is psychologically protective, I think; they naively see these cruel events as aberrations that won't occur again. This son, though, once talked compellingly of Robert Caro's The Power Broker and made it sound so interesting that I finally gave that book a try after avoiding it for 20 + years -- even my husband couldn't get through the 1300 pages of dense financial and political detail. But I did slog through it (it took a year) and adored it. Caro is an amazing chronicler and unravels secrets like no other journalist. Since I enjoyed The Power Broker so much, DS gave me Caro's first 3 volumes of his LBJ biography, another tome I swore I'd never attempt. Not wanting to disappoint DS (like you say, roses, the things we do for the ones we love) I reluctantly began the first volume. It was terrific! Who knew LBJ was so fascinating and Texas history & politics so colorful? I immediately started the 2nd volume, totally engrossed.

So will add The Gulag Archipelago to the bottom of the wait list, if it's as worthwhile as DS says it is. At least the Rwandan Massacre book is relatively... & mercifully... short.

I've loved the two Jonathan Franzen novels I've read in the past (The Corrections and Freedom) plus some things in the New Yorker, and couldn't wait for Purity - I even bought it in hardback. But I started reading it and ugh, I really don't like it. I was lost about the characters almost right away and have discovered through this and the Goldfinch that I am really not interested in Cold War or Russian espionage/mafia type books. I loved the first part of the Goldfinch SO much, then it devolved into this weird thread about the Russian mafia and I could barely finish it.

So, Purity is on my bedside table, but I seem to be avoiding taking it up again. We'll see.

I do not read sci-fi or romance novels. I do read some chick-lit if it's of a certain humorous genre (Mary Kay Andrews for example), which I don't really consider romance novels. I put those in the category of fun, beach-reads. Or Dorothea Benton Frank. A bit more serious characters and less 'romance'.

I used to always tough it out, even when I didn't care for a book, which wasn't too often. Now, I've learned to just give in and put it away if I'm really not into it.

Speaking of slogging through a book. About a year ago DH took Ulysses (the James Joyce one) out of the library. "Good luck", said I. He's tried it more that once before. He didn't finish it but has been going to the library about once a week to read it for 1/2 hour or so. Funny that it is never checked out, eh? ;-)

Fantasy/science fiction and romance are also usually my genre deal breakers. But one can never say never; I avoided the Game of Thrones books for years till I finally decided to take a chance on the first one (long before the tv series, which I've never watched), was promptly entranced and proceeded to spend an entire summer lost in Westeros.

It's hard to explain but I absolutely require a sense of 'intelligence' in a book. I just can't stand reading something that is flat, unimaginative, pedantic. I like some genre/series books, always because the author has shown some creativity or spark in the characters or plots. Thus the Michael Connelly Harry Bosch series, or even Miss Julia and her lighter than air adventures. Unfortunately romance books don't seem to have much of what I enjoy and I just don't read them.

RIP, I've read all the books in the Song of Ice and Fire series (GoT) on my iPad. Loved them.

Runningplace, I feel the same way about books. I avoid both genres you mentioned above - sci fi b/c it typically doesn't interest me, and romance b/c well, just not my thing. However, I did read a book last year as part of the book challenge that I'd never have picked up otherwise, but actually really enjoyed (Station Eleven). I don't mind books that do have romance in them, but not the bodice ripping kind. Or at least, I don't want it to be central to the story unless it's really done well. I've found that over the years, I can't even read chick lit much anymore. Just too many that are poorly written and have me rolling my eyes - one that sticks out in my mind is The Last Original Wife. I hated it, but for whatever reason I forced myself to finish, probably b/c it was such a quick read. I have to read another sci fi for this year's challenge and planning to read The Martian.