My Unpopular Book Opinions

[00:00:04]Well, hi hello everyone and welcome back to a brand new video. I've seen this kind of video around quite a lot especially on Instagram but I've seen a few YouTube video on that caliber a few months ago as usual. I am very [music] late to trends if I ever see trends coming my way. I don't really follow them but I thought it was an interesting video. Just a little disclaimer, I don't know how unpopular this would actually be because I haven't watched any of these videos in a very long time. As I said, [music] these kind of videos like the unpopular opinion stuff was very popular like 6 months ago to a year ago. And since then, I haven't really watched more videos. because I've seen a [music] few um as I said on Instagram the last few months and the last few weeks but but I'm not necessarily agreeing with a lot of these things which I suppose is the purpose. [music] So I don't know if it's going to be the same for these but let's let's just try it out. All right, let's just let's indulge myself on that one.

[00:01:02]It's the summer holidays. We are bulk filming at the moment because we will be around and about in [music] the next few weeks. So I'm trying to do my best.

[00:01:12]That's the reason why I am filming today even though I went yesterday do my hair and it's [music] not what I would usually look like. And also my right eye is watering and has been watering for 2 hours at this point. So if my makeup looks a bit strange, it is [music] because it is. And I have been crying for absolutely no reasons for like 2 hours and it's very annoying. But let's just try it out with my first I guess unpopular opinion that is not really unpopular because I already [music] mentioned this in another video and some people agree with it and some people didn't. That's why I I put it um first and it is that science fiction and fantasy should be two separate stuff in both like book stores and basically everywhere they are always put together and it is very annoying nowadays we do have a different list for like romantisy and romantisy and fantasy tend to be separated now like I see it on like the good readads list and blackwells and water stes and stuff like that. But science fiction and fantasy are always put together and I said that before in I think it was the Hugo 2026 video that I made. Um, science fiction is a bit losing over fantasy when we talk about SFFF, the last F is always the one that is the most talked about. And while I understand that some things can be a bit in the middle, science fantasy is actually a thing. And I think science fantasy has its place within science fiction just like space opera does, Ukrainia does as well. Like it's just a subgenre in science fiction.

[00:02:50]I think it's [music] fair to keep science fantasy as part of science fiction because it is a subgenre of science fiction. We will do different videos on the subg genres of science fiction. Like cyber punk is a subgenre.

[00:03:01]As I said, science fantasy is when people for example really try to put Star Wars away from science fiction.

[00:03:07]Star Wars is science fantasy. So, it is science fiction. That's just >> [music] >> um the way I I I see it and that's just basically the way it is. But that's besides [music] the point. I really do believe though that we should separate as much as possible science [music] fiction and all the subg genres and the big umbrella of science fiction [music] and fantasy because science fiction is always losing and nowadays fantasy is taking the the share of the lion, the [music] lion's share, I guess you would say. So, yeah, that's my first opinion.

[00:03:34]I don't know how unpopular it is, but that's [music] just that's just what it is. The second opinion, I don't know if I really want to talk about it, but it's it's [music] really something that I do not understand. I don't understand trigger warnings at the beginning of books. To me, it is akin to being a spoiler. And I don't understand like I I I do get that some people have triggers.

[00:03:56]I do also have triggers. There are some things that I don't want to read about, but I I I guess it comes up very early on in books and I just can't I I can just put the book [music] away. You know what I mean? Like I don't understand people who absolutely want triggers at the beginning of every single [ __ ] book. I think if you if you really have this issues, it's not the problems of the books. It's not the issue like the the issue is not on the author or on the book. It's on you.

[00:04:24]And I'm going to say something that is extremely old white men conservative type. Um, but the world is not going to cater to your triggers in any way, shape or form. And I do understand that entertainment is a bit different, but at some point you have to do the work on yourself. Like for example, to me, I don't like uh things about pregnancies. [music] I I really despise reading about a pregnant people, a pregnant person story. It's really something that makes me highly uncomfortable to the point where I cannot physically read about it. So I just put the book the book away and I just know it isn't for me. Like if it is like sometimes I trudge through it like it was the nettle and bone book. It was heavily about how [music] pregnancy kills the sister and stuff and I still went through it because it was not the main plot [music] of the thing but like it completely depends on the book. Sometimes I just completely stop reading. Like for example, I I used to read a lot of A3 stuff, a lot of Star Trek stuff. M Preg for example, I I cannot I I don't [ __ ] with it. I don't I just don't read it and I just don't. And sometimes there were no trigger warnings in this stuff and I just stop reading. That's that's it. [music] And I understand that people have different levels of trigger and different levels of, you [music] know, needing to to to have some things to them. But when it comes to books, I don't know. Or movies, I don't know. It kind of veers towards the territory of spoilers. And also, I do believe that like that's what reviews are for.

[00:05:56]Essentially, if you really want to to wait for someone to tell you, just wait for the reviews. Wait two weeks. You can't wait two weeks to read a book.

[00:06:06]That's just uh yeah, that's an unpopular opinion, I [music] guess. Um, the third one is the quotation marks for [music] dialogues. I have seen this in newish books and I guess like the road kind of does that as well, but like in newish books. I've seen this in [music] um I don't remember the name of the books. I will put them here if I remember them. But I've seen this in in in some new books that [music] like dialogues are not in quotation marks. They just they just jump a sentence as they just jump a line and put [music] the sentence and when you're not an English like an an English speaker u when English is not your mother tongue sometimes it's very confusing and you're like is it a sentence like is it is it is it just a dialogue it's very [ __ ] confusing [music] and I don't know if I if it was confus I don't know if it would confuse me the same if it was in French because French is my is my mother tongue I don't know if it would confuse me the same but I I think it is extremely confusing [music] And I mean it is a general consensus that when you have a dialogue you put quotation marks and when [music] it isn't there it annoys me a bit. It doesn't really change my opinion on the book. But [music] I'm also thinking about the people who already have issues with reading like reading problems like [music] maybe dyspra not dyspraxia my god dyslexia.

[00:07:26]Maybe it is it can be an issue for them.

[00:07:28]I don't know. I'm not going to speak for them. But um to me at least it is an issue because I'm not an an you know natural English speaker. English is not my my mother tongue and sometimes I I I do [music] tend to need sometimes to get used to it is what I'm thinking. And I think I I missed a few as well. [music] Um, this one I actually kind of talked about it in a previous video on my classics videos, but most classics are only loved [music] because you are told to love them. When you read some, not all of them, but when you read some classics now, it is just not that good. Even in the context of the period, even in the context of the literature of the time, [music] it is just not good. Like it is just not good. it the story is is very vague, very vain. The the the writing style is atrocious even in the context of the period. Some books of you know sometimes are only beloved because we are told in school or again and again again in culture to love them.

[00:08:36]I'm not going to site names. I already did in my in my cultures video my my classic sorry video. If you want to see that I will put it down below. That is something that I've seen a lot and I think I'm actually going to make a full video about it. But characters do not have to be likable. And them being relatable do not mean good or nice or like you. And it is something that I've seen a lot on social media lately. And it really I'm not going to say it annoys me. It it it scares me a bit to see people and not teenagers, not only very young people. I see [music] like 30 years old, 40 years old saying this as well.

[00:09:16]Yeah, you're not always supposed to like a character. A character not being likable is sometimes the point. [music] And it is the point in a lot of books that I read. Um I talked lately to a colleague of mine about Dune. He is reading Dune [music] and he doesn't like Paul. And that's why the book is good in my opinion. That's why you can really go into like especially the next books after Dune [music] like Children of Dune and Dune Messiah, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. [music] Um Paul is not supposed to be likable. He is supposed to be a horrible person and you're not supposed to well you can you can kind of feel for him, but you're not supposed to be in complete [music] empathy for him because at the end at the end of the day, he's still killing people. He's doing [music] like a huge genocide. He's he's killing millions of people for his his ideas and stuff. So yeah, you're not supposed to like Paul. You're not supposed to like Takashi Kovage. You're not supposed to like most of the the people in Neil Ash's books. And that's the point really. That's the point that some people are just not likable. And sure, it has to be well done. And I see it in um the Peter Hamilton books [music] where there is this guy who is very bad towards women. most of these his characters are very bad towards women and it's never discussed and that's the issue when the book doesn't really go into details about that and the book doesn't really u says [music] that it is bad and kind of like condones it but like for example if you take the George R Martin books the horrible stuff that are happening are not praised in any way shape or form the horrible stuff are happening and it is horrible and everybody thinks it is horrible but it's just the way it is right it It's it's the way it is done is important. But yes, you you do not have to relate to a character for a book to be good. You do not have to like a character for it to be good. Do I like that um Anakin Skywalker is killing younglings? Absolutely [ __ ] not. But it makes sense giving the character. And that's that's basically um what I want to say about it.

[00:11:26]Look, I have a new cup.

[00:11:28]can probably don't [music] really see what it's written, but it's it's very cute. And I received it like a few a few days ago as a Pride collection on the Goodman's merch store, and I really [music] really adore this cup. It's actually the first time I'm using it.

[00:11:41]So, cheers. I'm using it with you guys.

[00:11:43]In the same [music] way, I've seen this like just a couple years ago. It's not written on my on my list, but I I just saw it maybe [music] last week that people do not like first person books anymore because [music] they do not like if they don't agree with what the character is doing, they can't relate to it because I would not do it.

[00:12:05]We really are doomed, [music] aren't we?

[00:12:08]I is not you. I is like a friend telling you what they did over dinner. I like the character I is not you. I can't believe we have to say this to adults.

[00:12:19][music] I don't want to be full like booktuber and sociological booktuber being like we really live in a society and the literary crisis like but at some point man just help us in that front like yes the literary crisis is real. If we have to explain to people that I in a book is not you it's it's someone else telling their story. My god, we really we really live in a society, aren't we? Okay, this is I think going to be a very popular one. Most books over 500 to like 600 pages could be shorter. And I do believe that overwriting and lack of concision is a thing. And don't get me wrong, I love pros. All right, sometimes when I write, I also go into more details about this, about emotions, about the place, about stuff like this. And I think it is important, but sometimes it really should be more concise. And there is quite a few authors. I I'm thinking about Robin Hub sometimes like Brendan Sanderson does it as well. It's mostly a fantasy thing in my opinion [music] when you see like the very big books behind me like the very big ones are mostly fantasy. Science fiction doesn't and don't necessarily go into that fault. But fantasy really has a problem with it. [music] And I'm sorry to say most of you guys are not Tolken. And it is already not amazing what Tolken doted at times. Don't get me wrong, Token is an amazing writer, but sometimes do I really need to know every single flash of color in a leaf? Absolutely [ __ ] not. Again, I understand it's a very nice pros and it's nice to read sometimes, but yeah, some books, not all of them, but some books that are over 500 to 600 pages long, they could have been 300 pages and nothing would have been lost. Nothing of value would have been lost. But yeah. Um, okay. This I'm actually going to make a video about it.

[00:14:07]Audio books count as reading. The same spots in your brain are lighting up when you listen to a book or when you read to a book. Do you process the information the same way? No. It depends on the people on the person. For me, I cannot do audio books. I have [music] to physically read the books in order to really get the information, order to really get into it. But some people are not working this way. Some people do not do it this way. And I do believe that audio books count as reading. And in the same way, like it's it's a segue, but in the same way, mangas, [music] mangas, do you say mangas in English?

[00:14:41]Maybe. And comics count as reading.

[00:14:45][music] It is reading. And I do believe that we have issues, especially with younger men. When you tell them that their comic [music] books and their graphic novels and mangas do not is not real reading, that's how you alienate them and that's how you push them away from reading in the [music] first place.

[00:15:01]And it it does it does alienate them quite a lot. And you can have very solid stories and very solid morals and very solid writing in um comic books and mangas and and graphic novels and stuff.

[00:15:14]And we should stop alienating [music] this huge part of the population because it's it's how you prevent men from getting into literature in the first place. [music] And I say men because it's mostly men. If we're being serious, trash can be nice as long as you acknowledge it and as long as you do not think it is the next [music] masterpiece since sliced bread.

[00:15:40]Don't get me wrong, I love watching trashy movies. Sometimes a n a nice trashy book is fun. Okay, I I I like to, you know, watch a trashy show, watch a trashy movie. Sometimes it's just fun.

[00:15:55]All right. Not every single part of your time has to be dedicated to the next big piece of literature or movie or whatever. You do not have to watch like amazing stuff that are like cultural defining piece of literature or whatever. You do not have to do that.

[00:16:10]But you have to acknowledge what it is and you have to be, you know, sincere [music] where with your taste and with what you're doing and what you're reading and what you're watching. [music] I see way too many people talking about some books and some movies as culture defining pieces when you just like them. [music] It doesn't have to be culture defining.

[00:16:37]It doesn't have to be amazing. It just mean that you like them and it's fine, but it can still be trash even if you like it.

[00:16:44]That's that's just again [music] my opinion on the [laughter] matter as an M of trash. Um, yeah, I I'm very like I talked about Chasing the Moon lately.

[00:16:57]It's not trash, but it's certainly not culture defining. It's just a nice little book that I enjoy reading and it was it was fine. It was nice. I mean, when you really think about it, Good Almonds, it's not that good. It's just very fun to [music] read.

[00:17:13]And that's it. Like, it it's fine sometimes to just like things that are nice to watch. I I I have like Funko Pops of like Sha of the Dead right in front of me. Is it the best movie ever?

[00:17:24]No. But it's just very [ __ ] one fun to watch. I watch the Ronin Emmerish movies all the [ __ ] times because they're so [ __ ] fun. Are they the best movies ever? [music] Absolutely [ __ ] not. But they're very fun to watch. Expect it's even Moonfall. I mean, we watched Moonfall not too long ago. I hated it when I went to see it on in the movies [music] like at the theaters, but I I showed it to my husband. It was not actually that bad.

[00:17:50]It was trash, but it was not bad. You know what I mean? Like there is a difference between trash trash and bad, I believe. Um Oh, that this is a good one. And we have this a lot in my country, but like there's nothing secret about the book object. And people are too [ __ ] weird about it. I talked about it in my aesthetic of reading video. I think it was like my third maybe second video on the channel. But people are so [ __ ] weird about the way people use books. Books are objects.

[00:18:22]They're not sacred moral pieces. Like it's not the [ __ ] grow grail grail in English. It's not the [ __ ] grail. Like you're not desecrating the speech of God or whatever. If you write in a book, if you annotate in a book, if you even if you if you trash a book, like I I remember and I talked about it in said video, but I remember like a public library um in France getting [music] like dragged all over social media and even mainstream media because they tossed books [music] that were wet, that were damp, that were so damaged and you could even you couldn't even read it.

[00:19:00]Like it was all falling into pieces when you [music] would touch the books. like it was so damaged and they got dragged all over the place because they they [music] they trashed the books. They they put they they bent the books because they were not readable and people were like, "Oh my god, it's still books. It's like they compared it to the the book burnings in a second. It's like it's not a book burning. The book still exists. They're just not readable. You you cannot do anything." thing like I remember something like there was the Laad which is a very beautiful [music] um edition and I think it only exists in France or whatever but this guy was highlighting the La [music] Playad books in like the subway in Paris or whatever and people were going off on this guy like first of all you take pictures of people you don't know in the subway [music] it's [ __ ] weird and second of all he paid the price for this book it's his object he can do whatever the [ __ ] he wants with [music] it does it annoy me when people dog air that books yes but as long as Don't do this with mine.

[00:19:57]When I I lend it to [music] them, I don't care. I I couldn't care less. It is an object. It It's not sacred. You can do whatever the [ __ ] you want with a book. [music] And people treating him like I think it's a book burning or whatever. It really messed people up and I understand it to some extent, but [music] like you can't just walk to Water St. A Cultura, a snack, a a Bars and Nobles and just buy the other book. It's not like it's the [music] a Gutenberg Bible.

[00:20:26]I don't know. People are so [ __ ] weird with the [music] way you treat your books. It's It's so [ __ ] weird.

[00:20:32]Um, I do judge a book by its cover sometimes. I can't tell you the number like the sheer number of books I bought just because they were pretty and I didn't know what the [ __ ] it was talking about. Like the um I'm not going to do that because my my dress is extremely short, but not short, but like it's Yeah, the slit is slitting. Um the number of books I didn't know what the [ __ ] they were talking about. I couldn't care just because the cover was so pretty I had to to [music] to buy it.

[00:20:57]But like the silver novel books were exactly like this. I bought the first book of the expense, Leviathan wakes, not knowing it was the first book of the expense because it was not really written on the cover. It was very small.

[00:21:08]I just thought it would look so [ __ ] cool I had to buy it. And in same way when I read an ebook and I really like it, I I buy [music] a physical copy of it just to support the author a bit more. I really want the cover that I really want. I'm I'm very annoyed about um some of the books that I have that are like the American size and not British size and so it looks a bit weird because it's not the same [music] size.

[00:21:33]That's just the autism talking. But yeah. Yeah. I I do judge a book by its cover. Like I I literally talked about this to my husband this morning. I received like the what? Wait, my phone is right here. The Water St. [music] I'm I'm um subscribed to the Water St. news later newsletter and there is this new Brendan Sanderson [music] book called The Fire of December and I don't know anything about the [ __ ] book but this is the most ya ass looking cover I've ever seen in my life and I don't want to buy it. It just looks so like it it it is gorgeous. You can probably see it, but like yeah, it is gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but it's so it's so trashy in its own in its own aspect. I don't know. It's just it just looks [music] Yeah, it looks like something. Okay, I do think that people should read to challenge themselves sometimes, and I talked about it in a video before. I don't remember which ones, but reading should just be about pleasure, but about opening yourself up to other ideas, experiences, and way of ways of thinking. It doesn't always have to be about that, but it should be [music] at least some of the time. And that I try to challenge myself sometimes with [music] authors that I don't necessarily like and I try to push myself into it or authors that very obviously do not share [music] the same political ideas as me.

[00:22:59]I used to do it all the time when I was younger. I had to do it for my studies, but sometimes I would do it for [music] like my own reading time as well because I do believe that's how you grow as a person to confront yourself with ideas that are not yours. [music] And I understand that people have a very small cultural time in their lives. And so if they want to dedicate their time towards more entertaining and pleasurable experiences, I understand. But sometimes I do believe that you have to challenge yourself a bit to grow as a person especially nowadays with like the literary crisis going on. Um I think it is it is something you have to do I think. And the last one is unpleasant books do not equal bad books. Some books are made to be unpleasant. [music] And this is quite a a new idea and a new way of thinking for me. But I do believe that some books are not made to be um in like they are interesting, but they're not made to be pleasant. I talked about it in a late a last video with the the Steven Graham book. It was like Buffalo Hunter Hunter, I think the the [music] title was. So, the camera died. It's now several hours later. So, [music] if the light is a bit different, that's just going to be the way it is.

[00:24:21]Anyway, I don't know where I actually stopped. I think I said what I wanted [music] to say regarding the last point that books can be difficult to read [music] for other reasons that them being bad and sometimes a book can be unpleasant [music] without it being bad. And I was I think talking about the Steven Graham Jones book that was [music] the Buffalo Hunter Hunter that won the Nebula I think this year and [music] it is a very difficult book to read. But it's not a bad book. It's just touches on subjects that [music] are difficult to read about and that hard and that are very important, but it's not a very pleasant book to read. And I also got this, not for me, but a lot of people have told me that for Blind Sides [music] as well. I don't necessarily agree with Blind Sides. I don't believe it is an unpleasant book to read, but a few people have said that to me, and I've seen a [music] few people saying that they think the book is bad because it was a difficult read. [music] And I I don't think it is fair to equate the two. Um, anyways, that's basically what I wanted to say. That's basically the gist of my unpopular opinions. I hope that you like this video. As I said, I don't know how [music] unpopular these really are. I think some of them just show a difference maybe in how we see entertainment and how we see books and culture and literature at large. And that doesn't mean that we are wrong or right. It just means that we have different [music] opinions about things. And that's basically the gist of it, isn't it? So yes, that's basically it for this video.

[00:26:10]You guys, please tell me in the comments below if you do believe that these opinions are unpopular and what are your unpopular opinions as well. Maybe you have some that I will agree or disagree on and we can have a discussion about it. So that's basically it. Please follow me on YouTube, on this channel if you want to, also on different social media. I am pretty active on Instagram, Goodreads, and also a bit on storyraph.

[00:26:34]I really got to [music] put my reviews on Storyraph as well and to think about doing that. Um, and I will at some point. I think it's like the fifth [laughter] video now of me talking about it and I will I will um ultimately do that. I promise you. Uh, please also uh leave a like on this video. It's always helpful. Like and subscribe or whatever.

[00:26:55]I think everyone knows by now how to do [music] this YouTube thing. And I will see you guys in a next video next Sunday. Can I get the wahoo? [music] Cheers.