Struggle reading books in third person

[holls8]

This is so stupid, I don't know why but whenever I try a book which is in third person I just can never get into it. I now usually download a sample knowing the book is highly rated and soon as I see it's in third person I move on. I much prefer first person as I feel can really imagine the situation better and get into the characters head, and generally find it much easier to follow. I know that probably sounds really stupid. Is anybody else like this or not? It's annoying because there's books I've got on my TBR list that are in third person where the storyline sounds really good!

How interesting. I'm just the opposite. I never gave it much thought, but I vastly prefer the third-person omniscient stance where you get a much better and bigger picture. When I was younger it was so hard for me to deal with first-person narratives (one reason I hated Huckleberry Finn), because normally the character would be nothing like me. Besides, many (most?) books aren't necessarily about getting inside one character's head - they're about solving a mystery or following a family saga or seeing the workings of a society.

I'm the opposite too.

I agree with MsA. It can be really restricting to only get the first-person view of the world. And it can be really infuriating when they turn out to be an unreliable narrator!

Another opposite here but I get exactly what you mean. Linguistic/style preference really. I do a groan everyone I open a book and it’s first person. I’ll struggle through it it’s good but I feel I have the worst luck on this.

Ooh I am the same as you OP.

Also, I tend to prefer novels written by females. I struggle to get into a man's head, if that makes sense.

I hate first person!

I totally get that, I much prefer a female author for the same reason!

I'm really into psychological thrillers at the moment and have heard a lot of good things about Lisa Jewell, but the ones I've looked at all seem to be third person. Interesting that more of you prefer third person, it's making me want to force myself to read them to see if I can get into them, so I think I'll attempt that once I've finished my current book.

Likewise @MsAmerica. Ist person accounts irritate me beyond belief unless we're talking a master of the craft like Muriel Spark.