What's Your Reading Quirk?

You may already know this, but I am very open-minded about what I will read or try to read. If someone recommends it to me personally, I'm going to give it a shot. I may not like it in the end but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt in the beginning. There are very few reasons I will absolutely refuse to try a book. These are the few that I came up with:

• It's written by Ernest Hemingway
• The main plot is about animal/children abuse
• It has been optioned for a movie starring Kristen Stewart
• And that's about it. Seriously, I can't think of any other reasons.

Now, let's talk about my 14 year old sister. After seeing the first Hunger Games movie with me (which I forced her to go see), she read the entire series 3 times front to back within a month or so. So it's safe to say she enjoys a good dsytopian, right? After she devoured those, I (and my dad) suggested that she try Gone by Michael Grant or Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. We knew she would really enjoy them if she gave them a chance. But she refused to even go past the first page. Why, you ask? Because they were by male authors? Nope. Because they hadn't been optioned for movies (yet)? No. Because they were both written in third person.

Is that the most oddly specific reason you've ever heard to not read a book? I asked her what her reasons were for this and here's what she said: "I like thinking from the main character's view. I like thinking like them and hearing their thoughts. If it's romance, I don't wanna know that the dude likes the girl early on, I like getting in her or his shoes and think what I would've done. And it just bothers me. I want to read 'I' not 'Anna' 'walked across the room'." And I get that. I really do. It's fun knowing all the main character's thoughts and feelings. But sometimes you need that element of surprise. That shocker moment when a character does something seemingly out of nowhere and you wonder what their motivation is.

I'll be honest...I had to really think about what exactly 3rd person was. I've been out of school way too long for that kind of stuff to stick. I gave her this lovely stack of books the other day after she requested new stuff to read and specifically "horror and romance" lol. And I didn't pay attention to the "voice" at all. She's already zoomed thru Anna & The French Kiss and is "totally addicted to it" as I knew she would be. :) I also gave her a list of books, including Eleanor & Park, which is in 3rd person. I'm hoping she will still give it and others a chance, because she's going to miss out on some amazing books if she doesn't.

And here's where you come in! How do I convince her to give 3rd person a chance? What's your favorite book written this way? Or are you like me and don't even notice it? And...what's your reading quirk? What makes you say, "No way, I am not reading that ever ever ever." Is it male authors born in 1852? Books with green covers? Plots about vampire unicorns? (I'd totally read that lol.) Let's discuss!

(Thank you, B, for your help with this post! <3)