I feel like I am the pickiest reader I know. I prefer reading light, humorous type books. But as it turns out, writing things that are genuinely funny is a difficult ask; generally, at least to me, a lot of “funny” writing comes off as trying too hard and failing miserably.
I will also just stop reading whatever if the book has any one of several items that piss me off. This includes, but is not limited to: bad/unrealistic dialogue, unnecessary romance/sex, cliche or unrealistic plots, or unlikable characters that I am supposed to root for.
I have started so many books - ones that were recommended by trusted friends or that were on a bestsellers list - only to put them down within the first few chapters because I just couldn’t stand whatever the book was doing or trying to do.
I’m actually genuinely sad I don’t enjoy reading more, but I refuse to slog through books that I just don’t like, so the end result is that I don’t read very much. It’s frustrating.
I do generally see the same trends for myself with other media like TV, Movies and even Video Games (to a lesser extent). It’s funny you brought up BoJack Horseman, as I tried to watch it and just couldn’t get through it. I think for that particular thing, though, rather than an unlikable character, the vibe of the whole thing was really depressing, even if some dialogue was funny, and, well, I engage in media to escape from depressing reality, not to have it called out further.
I’ve found the best humor writing in nonfiction works, honestly. Authors like Bill Bryson and Dave Barry are really good, although I will say that Barry’s more recent stuff seems to have lost his edge. For fiction, I’d have to recommend Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
I used to reread a number of older Dave Barry books, as well as “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves” by Lynne Truss, as I enjoy language stuff. But lately, I find I’m not even rereading those things, but just playing more video games instead.
I have bought some new books with some Christmas money that are allegedly what I am looking for, so we’ll see how that goes!