ToddDragon Collaboration: Our Controversial Bookish Opinions

Since meeting one another at a Booktube meet up back in August 2019, I have been following Samantha Drage’s photography and book blogs, as well as her youtube channel. When I started planning to start my own blog I knew that I wanted to write in collaboration with Sam as I feel we have a lot in common with one another. Luckily for me, when I asked Sam if she would be interested, she was just as excited as I was! We will be collaborating bi-monthly on various posts related to books and writing. For today, however, we introduce ourselves in our best light: Through our most controversial bookish opinions!

Here on the Bookternet we have many conflicting opinions. For the first pair of posts in our ‘ToddDragon Collaboration’ series, Sam and I have decided we would share and compare our bookish opinions. We haven’t discussed our opinions with each other at all until these posts. Without further ado, here are my responses to Sam’s!

I think classic poetry is stuffy and long-winded and doesn’t convey emotion in the same way modern poetry does.

Now, I am really on the fence about this. After having a quick glance over my poetry shelf I definitely own more modern poetry than I do classical. There is something about modern poetry's relation to my own feelings and experiences that I enjoy far more than I would the Romantic or Beat poets. However, I think that studying so much poetry as a part of my degree has given me a greater appreciation for classical poetry. We have so much to thank the forerunners of modern poetry when it comes to the way they have influenced our understanding of the English language as a form of art, not just a form of communication. Certainly there are forms of classical poetry I find dull and dry as sawdust. For me, it changes from poet to poet. So, I’m going to say I don’t have my own strong opinion for this one.

I hate DNFing books. I just can’t bring myself to do it even if I hate the book.

I think this really does divide all of us on the Bookternet! Back in 2017, when I first started using Goodreads and watching Booktube/ reading bookish blogs, I felt a lot of pressure to finish a book I started even if I was hating it the whole time. However, when I started university in late 2018 I realised that if kept forcing myself to read books that I wasn’t enjoying just because I was already part-way through them, I really wouldn’t have the time to read both my course books and books that I actually liked. I think the reason that some people find DNFing (Bookternet slang for ‘did not finish’, for those who aren’t familiar) so difficult is the idea of failure to complete a task, or because they feel a sense of commitment to find out what happens in a book. I’ve definitely had this reading thriller books before - I have to find out the resolution to the mystery even if I can’t stand the writing style! But, for the most part, I can DNF books. Especially ones I hate.

Book covers on adult literature are boring and ugly.

Yes! Attending an arts university means that so many of my friends are talented artists, illustrators, photographers, graphic designers. It drives me crazy when I see any kind of boring or ugly cover that’s just a generic word font over a picture of a house or something. There are so many talented creative types you could commission to do you a really beautiful cover for your books, if only you’d put the time and money aside to invest in them! Of course, it's nice to have a minimalistic cover with a simple title and polka-dot print of something (the Penguin Classics clothbound editions? Stunning) but if I see one more wine glass on the cover of an adult’s novel… I’m going to lose it. It’s safe to say I agree with you here, Sam!

I hate romance books (romance in books is fine, but pure romance books are terrible and cringey).

Again, I’m a bit on the fence about this one. I certainly enjoy books that feature a lot of romance (for example, I absolutely adore Adam Silvera’s books, which always have a romance focused plot) but I would also argue that if I read a romance based book it usually has various other interesting subplots or characters so that it’s not solely focused on romance. As for chick-flick type romance novels, I definitely don’t enjoy those. Perhaps that is because they are so white, middle-class, and heterosexual dominated… That’s a conversation for another day. That being said, I’m not sure where I stand with romance books.

I think bookshelves organised by colour are terrible because there is no real organisation, which stresses me out.

As beautiful as rainbow bookshelves are, I totally agree. I once tried to organise just one shelf by colour, got halfway through and decided I couldn’t deal with not knowing where my books were. I just don’t have a good enough memory to remember each of the colours of their spines!

Please make sure to check out Sam’s blogs and social medias! Book Blog: https://books.samanthadrage.co.uk/ Personal/ Photography Blog: https://photography.samanthadrage.co.uk/

YouTube: Samantha Drage

Twitter: @Samantha_Drage

Instagram: @ThePhotographyDragon