What's bugging you in the novel you're reading?

VeronicaX

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
295
Reaction score
24
Location
The land of the midnight sun
The book I'm trying (!) to read is ... I guess it's okay. I only presumed it'd be more of a pleasure than it is considering it's a book that many speak fondly of. It just so happen that it's flat and predictable, at least so far.

Maybe I'm just picky, maybe I'm judging too quickly, maybe it's simply not my genre. No matter what: it's not ... good, in my opinion.
 

Velcro

Scribbling Scribe
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 16, 2011
Messages
226
Reaction score
21
Location
St. Louis, MO
I was a little concerned that the book I'm reading was a propaganda story written to introduce young and influential readers to the Wiccan religion...but now I'm seeing that the writer is not just talking about that religion instead comparing religions through different characters.
 

BrumBall

Keep Right On
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 14, 2011
Messages
200
Reaction score
34
Location
Redditch, England
The last two books I've read -

The Casual Vacancy - slightly annoyed that JK killed the only character who I wanted a happy ending for. I only bothered reading the second half of the book to see what happened to her!

Dracula - all the 'goodie' characters are too sycophantic. They are constantly talking about how great they think each other are, especially Mina who must be the most wonderful person on the planet!
 

LJD

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 12, 2010
Messages
4,226
Reaction score
525
Well, this is the third novella I've read in about as many months in which the heroine is named Charlotte and is nicknamed Charlie. (In two cases, just by the hero. In the other, everyone called her Charlie.)

Minor complaint, I guess...
 

Persei

Let it go
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 5, 2012
Messages
530
Reaction score
44
Location
Brazil
I'm reading Jane Eyre. And everything moves so sloooooow I want to set the book on fire. Autobiography (and slow ones at that) are not really my thing.
 

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,616
Reaction score
7,294
Location
Wash., D.C. area
Michael Crichton - Congo

I know it cannot be helped, but since it was written in the late 70s he goes into a lot of detail about computer passwords and other technology that is now commonplace. He gets an A+ for making it interesting, but it's amusing now just how tech savvy we've become in my lifetime.
 

Chrissy

Bright and Early for the Daily Race
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 13, 2011
Messages
7,249
Reaction score
2,005
Location
Mad World
Third book in Game of Thrones.... all the good guys are getting killed!!!

Still can't put it down.
 

Marumae

Queen of Quixotica
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 12, 2010
Messages
255
Reaction score
19
Location
Fantasia
Website
www.instagram.com
Reading two books right now, Emily of New Moon and Paranormalcy.

While I love L.M. Montgomery and the Anne of Green Gables series, it's been years since I've read them and this book is definitely different, seems to have less of a quirky, happy charm to it and seems to have an air of sadness that it can't shake. I just hope this isn't a book of constant suffering that turns Emily into a Too Good For this World heroine.

I'm enjoying Paranormalcy, but I'm not falling in complete absolute love and I'd heard such great, amazing, wow, wonderful things about it. Nothing too bad, there's just some....cliche's that are standard for the genre that I'm weary of. I think perhaps this is a sign that I am done with Urban Fantasy/Paranormal books for good. Personal taste and all that.
 
Last edited:

Chrissy

Bright and Early for the Daily Race
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 13, 2011
Messages
7,249
Reaction score
2,005
Location
Mad World
Same book, Page 921...

So help me, if they kill Jon Snow, I'm going to smash my Nook into little itty bitty pieces....
 

Emermouse

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Messages
896
Reaction score
89
Age
38
Location
In America
Re: Game of Thrones:

I've still got my fingers crossed that George RR Martin can pull this off, but I'm worried that he's overextending himself. I know everybody loves Theon and Asha, but do we really need the Iron Islands plots? To say nothing of Dorne. The latest two books haven't had the momentum that the first three did and I'm afraid it shows. But so far, I'm still clinging to the hope that George RR Martin will pull all this off.

That is if he doesn't pull a Robert Jordan and die on us before finishing the series.
 

Chrissy

Bright and Early for the Daily Race
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 13, 2011
Messages
7,249
Reaction score
2,005
Location
Mad World
Re: Game of Thrones:

I've still got my fingers crossed that George RR Martin can pull this off, but I'm worried that he's overextending himself. I know everybody loves Theon and Asha, but do we really need the Iron Islands plots? To say nothing of Dorne. The latest two books haven't had the momentum that the first three did and I'm afraid it shows. But so far, I'm still clinging to the hope that George RR Martin will pull all this off.
Emermouse, I agree. I'm almost done with the fourth book now and there are so many loose ends and subplots that I'm starting to get impatient. Also, I'm really, really tired of the descriptions of weather and land and water and sky and trees and snow and... I know what the entire realm looks like by now!!! Get on with the plot!!!
 

Ergodic Mage

Neophyte Writer
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 29, 2012
Messages
238
Reaction score
21
Location
In my house
I'm two thirds of the way through Hugh Howey's Second Shift-Order book, the latest in his great Wool series. The thing that bugs me the most is I'm close to finishing and have to wait for more, again.
 

bettielee

I'm a sparkly fairy princess!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 7, 2009
Messages
24,466
Reaction score
12,761
Location
Enchanted Forest and/or editing cave
Website
bettielee.wordpress.com
I had to start the book I'm reading over again. It's Nachtsturm Castle, a sort of Jane Austen continuation. I got so lost - I had no idea what was going on, so I had to backtrack and got nowhere.

Also, at one point, the heroine goes thru a hidden passage and walks down flights and flights of stairs. She is chased by a person and a vicious beast into a room that slams shut behind her. A bowl of fruit and a candle are lit within. A painting that looks just like her hangs on the wall.

She is rescued from this situation, and nothing about what happened is discussed. No one is surprised at the painting and nothing is said of the vicious beast that chased her down the stairs. Or that a candle burns in an empty, hidden room.

What the actual, truck, people?!
 

Emermouse

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Messages
896
Reaction score
89
Age
38
Location
In America
Sorry, Emermouse - but I don't love Theon! I think he's far too full of himself and needs a bit of cutting down to size. Asha is great, though.

Me too! I'm baffled by the amount of fan love he gets. He's an arrogant jerk who got pounded; what's to love about that? Not to mention, yeah, he had a rotten childhood; name a character in ASOIAF who didn't. He only starts to redeem himself in the fifth book.
 

sunandshadow

Impractical Fantasy Animal
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 17, 2005
Messages
4,827
Reaction score
336
Location
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Website
home.comcast.net
Ugh, I start reading a book which is supposed to be an original fairy-tale/fantasy suitable for young teens, and three chapters in there have been two murders, torture, and bullying at sword point! Ew! I wanted a romantic and mysterious fairy tale with lots of cool symbolism, not this gruesome stuff.
 

bearilou

DenturePunk writer
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 5, 2009
Messages
6,004
Reaction score
1,233
Location
yawping barbarically over the roofs of the world
The author feels the need to describe every character's appearance and outfit, and the color of everything (not just the outfits!) is mentioned.

I hear you there. The book I'm reading? I'm on page 198 and I have counted 19 separate descriptions of clothing worn by the love triangle.

It could be a drinking game.

And the book is terribly dated. I feel like I'm reading an UF version of Purple Rain.
 

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 8, 2007
Messages
9,767
Reaction score
3,936
Location
you martyr and shine.
In Real Life & Liars by Kristine Riggle, one character has the "quirk" of tugging at his earlobe whenever he's nervous or thinking. I've never been wild about obviously pasted on quirks like this anyway, and this one seemed rather childish for a 30-year-old dude. But what really bugged me was he had to do this in every single scene he was in, and the one time he didn't do it it was "He would have tugged at his earlobe except his hands were full."

Gaaaaaaaah!

It wasn't a horrible book, but it was unfortunately larded up with facemaking which is a major peeve of mine. Lip chewing/biting, wincing, cringing, smirking, scowling, eye rolling .... to me, that always adds up to a whole lot of nothing going on. Not that there's anything wrong with an occasional facial expression, but come on with the facial charades. It's too bad some writers think "show don't tell" means "show your characters making stock faces in response to absolutely everything that happens." I was beginning to picture them all as variations of Jim Carrey.

/rant
 

Emermouse

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Messages
896
Reaction score
89
Age
38
Location
In America
Thirteen Reasons Why

You wanna know why the girl killed herself? It was so the main character can hear her tapes and grow as a person.
 

Yorkist

Banned
Joined
Feb 10, 2012
Messages
1,974
Reaction score
572
Location
Navigating through the thorns.
Emermouse... oooh, that sounds awful.

What's really annoying me about the book I'm reading is that I keep losing it.

Re: ASOIAF. This is really bugging the crap out of me because there's no way I would've gotten into the series without the TV show (the writing is, shall we say, not to my taste). Martin has killed off all of my favorite characters except Sansa (if she dies I am done). In the last two books, a thousand pages of nothing happens. And the three Mary Sues main characters have become absolutely insufferable. I hope the HBO writers can do something with this hot tub o' mess.
 

Brightdreamer

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
12,975
Reaction score
4,508
Location
USA
Website
brightdreamersbookreviews.blogspot.com
Reading two right now, one on Nook and one on Kindle. (I'm between hardcopy books right now.)

On my Nook, I'm reading After London or, Wild England (Richard Jeffries.) Older post-apocalyptic/reverted-to-Dark-Ages story. It seems hell-bent on infodumps and descriptions and backstory overload. I'm giving it a break due to the age of the piece, though. And, honestly, I've read far worse.

On my Kindle, I'm partway through Clockwork Kingdom (Leah Cutter.) No major complaints at the moment, though I'm hoping the girl MC isn't going to succumb to Plot-Extending Stupidity in the near future.

Just went through about three titles in a row on my Kindle that were deleted before the 10% mark. (For book review purposes, my new policy is "10% or it never happened." Clawed my eyes out one too many times after feeling obligated to finish what I started... Now, I only feel obligated to finish if I've posted the title under Currently Reading on my blog.) Reasons for deletions: unlikeable characters, terrible editing/spellchecking, overly pretentious writing style, three chapters in which nothing whatsoever happened.
 

Brightdreamer

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
12,975
Reaction score
4,508
Location
USA
Website
brightdreamersbookreviews.blogspot.com
I'm reading Cartwheel. It's a take on that girl in Italy who may or may not have killed her roommate. I think the writer is having too much fun with her words and her introspection, and it's getting a little old. Not bad, but a little too self-aware.

Ergh... the extra-clever self-aware story. That's a very fine line to walk, if you want to pull it off...

I'm reading three stories right now, all of which are a little irksome (but not so much that I'm stopping reading them.)

Nick of Time, by Ted Bell - A YA time travel adventure that's taking its sweet time on the whole "time travel" and "adventure" deal promised by the title and cover blurb. Now, everyone's sitting around yapping (again) instead of actually doing anything adventurous.

Surcease of Sorrow, by Matt Inglima - A short story about a man who travels back in time to save Abraham Lincoln's son. I just started it, and the MC has proven stupid on two counts already. Hopefully, he wises up quickly.

The Celestial Omnibus and Other Stories, by E. M. Forster - An older public domain short story collection, tending toward the erudite and poetic. Not having been raised in England in the early 20th century on a classical education, I'm sure some of the impact is lost on me, but even then he seems to be trying too hard to be Profound and Literary. Still, he has some good imagery, and the stories aren't bad overall.