Given that there are, like, 12592439258402954 more books than I’ll ever be able to read in this lifetime, at some point, I have to be a little picky about the books I pick up.
So how exactly do I decide what’s worth reading? Now that’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? The age-old question that’s stumped the geniuses of the generations! Okay, maybe not that drastic, but it is sometimes hard to decide.
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is about our favorite tropes, but I’ve previously done two posts on this—one about tropes I will forever read and one about tropes I want more of.
So this week, I thought I’d delve into what will make me snap a book off a shelf faster than you can say, “Beelzebub.” Not sure exactly why you’d randomly want to say that, but hey, I won’t judge.
Dragons
I am so predictable in this regard. If you ever need to summon me, mention of either bacon or dragons will do the trick, every time. What is it exactly that people find so appealing about giant, cranky lizards that breathe fire and wreak havoc on humanity? I have no idea, but I’m so there.
Reasons:
✿ Can breathe fire and fly and eat people without others getting bent out of shape about it.
✿ Maybe a teensy bit jealous that I can’t do any of those.
✿ Powerful allies, powerful enemies.
✿ Infinite ability for good or evil or hoarding mountains of gold.
✿ Only monsters don’t “aww” at dragon babies.
Haunted Buildings
I really don’t like scary things, but for some reason, I love haunted buildings. I can’t get enough of them. Something about the creepiness and the jumping at shadows and making myself totally paranoid … I enjoy it? I don’t know. That feels weird to say.
Reasons:
✿ Adrenaline is a free and effective high.
✿ Things go bump in the night. They’re not always psychotic killer ghosts, but why take the chance?
✿ Secretly, I totally want to live there.
✿ Ghosts are people, too.
✿ Old houses have character. Sometimes, also, bloodlust.
Mythology
I’m a real sucker for any sort of mythology. The more obscure, random mythology the better, but I do love the old tried-and-true ones of, say, Greek and Nordic fame. Any book that takes a mythological creature or concept or tale and turns it on its head, count me in!
Reasons:
✿ Make you question everything you thought you knew about reality.
✿ The world is a big and scary place.
✿ Adds just a touch of supernatural to the real world.
✿ The real world is a boring place and really needs this.
✿ Not-so-secretly hope they’re real.
✿ Even adults need fun things to believe in.
Archaeology / Paleontology / Treasure Hunting
I don’t think there are too many fiction books out there that involve paleontology. It certainly seems less glamorous than archaeology, I suppose. But still! These are definitely my guilty pleasure books. Give me a cheesy adventure with some artifact (magic or otherwise) and clues or boobytraps or impossible odds and I am one happy reader.
Reasons:
✿ Totally what I wanted to do at one point (before I realized I hate both traveling and hot places).
✿ Who doesn’t want to read about great, semi-impossible discoveries?
✿ Adventure! Danger! Booby traps!
✿ So many possibilities for different discoveries to be made.
✿ Name dropping some of my favorite dead people.
Ghosts / Necromancy
Not sure what it is about dying and then coming back in some form or another, but if I see either one of these in a book, I’m all for it. I’m not talking about ghosts as haunting spirits, necessarily, or poltergeists or any sort of horror story plot. Just ghosts being ghosts, living their best afterlives. I feel like necromancy doesn’t really need an explanation, though. It’s always been cool.
Reasons:
✿ Best way to spend your afterlife … by living again!
✿ Skeletons are pretty cool.
✿ Subvert your fear of death by resurrecting or just sticking around.
✿ Skeleton armies are creepy and fierce and should be admired.
✿ Just trying to live their best afterlives.
✿ I half blame Casper for this one, because who didn’t love Casper?
Dystopia
I know that technically people are saying the dystopia trend is dead/dying, but it will live on forever in my heart, okay? I just cannot get enough of these, ever. I do have limits, though, like I’m not huge on zombies and I’ve read too many “the grid is down, what do we do now” sorts of books. What I love are the utopian futures turned sideways. The promise of a better world that somehow just didn’t work out because humans suck. Give me more of those, please.
Reasons:
✿ See? Our world could be worse.
✿ Always interesting visions of the future.
✿ Terrifyingly realistic potential timelines.
✿ People planning to take over the world, take notes!
✿ The best laid plans of mice and men … sometimes go awfully wrong? Who would have guessed?
✿ People suck. Even in a “perfect” world, people continue to suck.
Crows / Ravens on the Cover
Guys, I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON HERE. Why do I immediately snatch up books that prominently feature crows/ravens on the cover? Magic, probably. Who knows? I don’t get it any more than you do, but that book immediately goes flying onto my TBR.
Reasons:
✿ Crows are both cute and omens of bad stuff and death. The confusion is real.
✿ Crows are fantastic creatures.
✿ There’s something mysterious about a murder of crows. Probably why it’s called that.
✿ I have yet to read a bad book that involved crows/ravens.
The Buzz
FOMO is real, guys. If everyone is talking about a book, I feel so much pressure to go read it, too. Because if everyone thinks it’s so good, I’d be silly not to read a really good book, right? Who does that to themselves?
Reasons:
✿ Everyone else is reading it! I can shout about it with people.
✿ Plenty of reviews to decide whether or not I’ll like it.
✿ Can hear from others why they enjoyed it.
✿ Probably easy to get your hands on.
✿ Have a chance to be part of something!
✿ 10,000 bookish people can’t be wrong, can they?
Sarcastic / Funny Blurb
Listen, I value humor and sarcasm. If the blurb is written in a way that makes me laugh or the tone immediately catches my attention, I know the characters and I are going to get on juuuuust fine.
Reasons:
✿ Humor and sarcasm are qualities that should be admired.
✿ Who doesn’t want a good laugh once in a while?
✿ Laughing is better than crying.
✿ A good quip a day keeps the doctor away.
✿ Sarcastic people are the best people.
Beautiful / Eye-Catching Cover
I know they say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover … but what do they know? We all do it, whether we admit it or not. The simple fact is that I may not decide to read a book based solely on its cover (of course not, that’d be silly), but an eye-catching cover makes it much more likely that I’ll pick the book off the shelf in the first place and then read the blurb.
Reasons:
✿ I need some more prettiness in my life.
✿ My very simple mammal brain likes shiny and pretty.
✿ They’re my preciousssss.
✿ So I’m a little bit shallow. Sue me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yes, beautiful covers! Gets me every time. I’m also a sucker for ghosts and dystopians😁
Well, that’s two votes for dystopians. Can’t possibly be dead, now can it? 😉 I view covers as first impressions. Not necessarily the only thing you judge something by, but it does matter.
I love everything on this list. I read little horror these days, but I’m always up for a good haunted house or paranormal story in general. There’s something irresistible about those tropes, especially when the author puts a lot of work into developing the backstory and explaining why the ghost(s) weren’t able to move to the next work when they first died.
My TTT.
That’s about the only sort of horror I’ll actually read, is involving ghosts/paranormal. xD I like when things go bump in the night. Yes! Awesome backstory is great. I don’t even always need a backstory, though, if it’s written well enough. Sometimes, just a really creepy haunting is enough without knowing the why.
I’m going to be reading The Lady Rogue and I can’t wait to pick it up. Thanks for sharing!
I just finished it this week! I hope you enjoy it. 🙂 I had a lot of fun with that one.
“Dragons” = honestly, same. I ended up reading the spin-off of the Lady Trent series without knowing anything about the main series because it had four cute dragons on the cover.
And I haven’t read many (any?) books that feature archaeology/paleontology but that would be so interesting.
Great list!
I honestly think a lot of those books lately feel like Indiana Jones, but I’m also sort of perfectly okay with that. I’ve definitely also picked up books just because of dragons. xD I’m always willing to at least give it a shot.
I am always surprised by ghost romances. I just can’t do them for some reason. Maybe my brain isn’t imaginative enough. I’m glad you enjoy them, though!
No, no, I don’t read ghost romance. xD That sounds … weird. I mean, I don’t tend to read romance in general. I like ghosts as in paranormal spec fic and sometimes horror. :3
Uhhhh, I can’t believe I forgot to mention dragons! Is that a trope? Who cares, why did I not mention them?! I’m also going to reach for ghost stories even though I scare easily. Looking forward to Gideon the Ninth!
I mean, it *should* be a trope if it’s not. Because dragons. Who’s going to argue with them about whether or not they get to be tropes? Dragons win every time.
I scare super easily, too. xD My family makes fun of me. But I still love it. I just started Gideon the Ninth! I’ve been dying to read it, too, but I’m enjoying it so far.
I call myself a cover snob, so I’m 100% all about an eye-catching cover. 🙂 That’s the first impression of a book, so I admit if it doesn’t catch my attention I don’t tend to take the time to read about it.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a cover snob. xD I will 100% admit that there have been books that I know I’ve passed on shelves and their covers didn’t catch my attention so I didn’t pick them up, only to have someone later recommend them and end up loving them.
Oh man, so many of these make me pick up a book, too! Dragons and treasure hunting and mythology? Yes please! Also, I’m very glad to know that it’s not just me who doesn’t like horror, but adores haunted houses. 🙂
I think if I could find a book that combines dragons, various mythology, and treasure hunting in a really fun, convincing way, I’d probably just stop reading forever because clearly, I’ve reached the pinnacle. xD
That would be an awesome combination!
DRAGON HOE <3 lol jk jk. I love it
DID YOU END UP READING THE LADY ROGUE YET??? I feel like I'm still waiting for you to read it.
I will always proudly be a dragon ho. I’m pretty sure we need pins. It seems like we should have pins. A dragon with a fancy banner underneath it that says “dragon ho” would be nice.
I DID. I finished it this weekend. I just haven’t had a chance to get back to reading your review. Or writing one. xD Because I’m a slacker. I have a review half written lol.
We do read very similarly: haunted houses, ghosts, dystopian. I love all of those! And definitely dragons, too. 😀
Ha, it seems so! Must be because great minds thing alike. 😉
Ooh dragons and mythology, YES!
(www.evelynreads.com)
I have to admit, I am a sucker for a good dystopian tale. It’s one of my favorite genres. I love any sort of take on mythology too, both the serious ones and the ones that are downright silly.
Thanks for stopping by my blog today!
Oh, I love the slightly silly takes, because it’s usually something new and fun.
Great post! 😊 I also still like a good dystopia, it’s so interesting to read about a possible future. And I have to admit that I also judge books by their cover… but just like you it’s not the only reason to read the book.
It’s a little depressing, though, when you hit a dystopia that seems so freaking possible and you’re trying to get the book to tell how it got to that point just so you can determine how many years you have left until the inevitable. xD
So many good tropes!! I love dragons, mythology, and anthropology/archaeology/treasure hunting… and so many other ones you posted. Thanks for checking out my post and for linking yours in my comments! Literally gonna go back and add some of these to my TBR list!
I hope you enjoy them!
AH. I also wanted to be a paleontologist at one point!! I need all the reads, I don’t think I’ve read any and now I feel a burning hole in my reading life!!! (I don’t know why I never thought to track some down) so if you have any recommendations, let me know!
Thanks for stopping by my TTT!!
Morgan @Remembered Deservedly
Yaaay! Unfortunately, there really aren’t too many paleontologist books that I know of, either. =/ One book that’s on my TBR that sounds interesting, though, is Raptor Red. It’s told from the POV of a dinosaur, and it’s written by a paleontologist, and it blends together fact and fiction. So that seems fun. If you’re more in it for, like, historical fiction, character-driven stuff and not so much adventure, I read Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier, and it was okay. Kind of slow and dry, but it’s based on a true story of the women who discovered the first ichthyosaur skeleton.
Those both sound great!! I’ll have to pick them up (and step up my research on Paleontology-esque reads!!) I think Jurassic Park is the only one I’ve read, which was AMAZING, but now I need more!! Lol
If you come across any ones that sound good, keep me in mind! I can’t believe people don’t write it more often. D: Seems like a trope with endless potential.
If you’re interested in the nonfiction dino side, though, I’ve known a couple people who have read The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World and said it was interesting. I just haven’t had a chance yet.
YAAAS to this list!!! 🙌🏽 I’m definitely not on the same page with the haunted buildings and ghosts because that’s really not my jam (I’m way too much of a chicken for that ish) BUT the others!!! I’m here for it! Love a good story based on mythology/folklore and I’m all over funny blurbs and eye-catching covers. And also, I’m so here for the books with dragons that are super nice, wise and funny af. I’m definitely a sucker for the buzz too — I mean see me reading The Whisper Man coz of FOMO and bookstagram as a prime example of that haha 😂 I didn’t even know there was talk that dystopia was a dying breed! I wonder if that’s because we’re living in our own man-made IRL version of it 🙃 I’m always gonna be here for it too though; it’s just too good! Fantabulous list, Sammie!
Whaaaat? No sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories for you? No late-night visiting that creepy old house that’s rumored to be haunted? 😛
… I mean, that’s pretty much why I wanted to read Whisper Man, too, now that you mention it. xD
HAHA I think it’s BECAUSE I was pushed into going to those haunted houses and forced to listen to ghost stories, combined with my overactive imagination that really sent me running as fast as I could AWAY from the creepiness 🤣 LOL
That’s fair. My siblings used to scare the crap out of me with scary stories, and I hated it because I would have nightmares lol.
Sarcastic people certainly are the best people! After dragons, of course. And mythology? Yes please. I don’t think I’ve read many books with paleontology 🤔
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot of books featuring paleontologists, which is a shame. I mean, didn’t Jurassic Park prove that people will absolutely read/watch things about paleontologists?! I feel like we missed the boat here.
Yes to dragons!!! And I love stories about archaeology/paleontology/etc. as well. And if a cover has any type of gorgeous bird on it, I’ll probably read it. XD
I’m so glad I’m not the only one with a weird fascination with birds on covers. xD
I keep finding more and more books with birds in the title or on the cover (or both) and I want to read them ALL!
What we really need is either more time in the day for reading or bosses that will accept “I was reading” as a legitimate excuse for why your work isn’t done. xD I feel like that’s totally not too much to ask for.
I love a well told ghost story so much- it can’t be all scares, there needs to be something to care about to get me to keep reading, but when it’s good, it’s great. I work in a hundred+ year old building that used to be a morgue, so I especially like ones that have a similar setting.
Also dragons, always dragons. Preferably very intelligent ones that wield magic, but still, always dragons.
Yes! The best ghost stories aren’t about the immediate jump-scares, but the ones that haunt you at night when you’re trying to sleep. 😉 Oh goodness. I’m not sure I could work there. xD I think I’d be too paranoid LOL!
Catch me getting extremely emo on the fact that there are so many books I could never read because life and times!! Gahhh!!! No but in all seriousness, these are fantastic reasons and it’s so good to be picky on what you do pick up! Also, I love sarcastic blurbs, too. The more it sounds like Daria from the show Daria is narrating it, the more I want to read it.
Oooh, can I join you in this emo-ness? Because I’m so there. Every day. xD I’ve never seen Daria! I’m going to have to go look that up, though. I can use aaaall the sarcasm in my life right now.
YES! A good adventure/ treasure hunt is the best.
Mythology, ravens, dragons, beautiful covers… Yep! All guaranteed to give me a case of the grabby hands.