What truly ANNOYS you in books? And not in a good way.

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Calliea

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Hey,

I've been lurking and browsing around some of the threads around here (damn you, insomnia) and I've encountered an opinion that some books seriously annoyed the reader and made her mad. That, in turn, made me genuinely curious, but instead of trying to nag the person by a private message, I thought I'd ask here.

So what does make you feel annoyed in books? I don't mean an irritating character that's well-crafted and purposefully making the reader see red. I'm more curious about things that went wrong somewhere.
 

Anna Spargo-Ryan

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blacbird

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Continuity flaws. Anachronisms. Inconsistencies. Historical inaccuracies.

I once critiqued a manuscript in which two pre-WWII fliers got to joking about the Bermuda Triangle. That term never existed until Charles Berlioz published his famed best-seller The Bermuda Triangle in 1964. It was a detail inconsequential to the story, one easily removed, and I pointed that out, gently, to the writer. Who got really huffy with me, insisting that such stuff didn't matter. I decided never to read anything more of his stuff, a decision I've never regretted.

But I see stuff like this in published material all too often.

caw
 

lolchemist

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These have all been answered in threads before but one thing that kills me in any book is when the author goes "I have a secret and I'm going to hint at it for 400 pages and then it's going to turn out to be incredibly stupid." It's their not-so-clever way of making tension. They forget that tension doesn't mean GIVE THE READER A TENSION HEADACHE!
/rant
 

Matt Walker

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It annoys me how in most books, no matter the genre, how if the protagonist meets a new main character of the opposite sex they almost always fall in love. I mean, sheesh.
 

johnhallow

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I'm with lolchemist, and I'll add characters who fail to figure out "mysteries" we've discovered ages ago (romantic or not).

Characters who keep doing assholish things (I recently quit a series because the vampire MC drained a woman to death (from her thigh, with her screaming) for no reason whatsoever, then cut off her head and dumped her body in a sewer. Later when her death appeared on the news he wasn't remorseful, just irritated). Another character from the same book, the vampire's love interest, kept flipping out at everyone for no reason. In one bit, she seduced and had sex with another character. She then felt guilty about it and blamed + attacked him, saying that he'd raped her.

Characters who sort of meander through the plot without taking real steps toward dealing with the story's most pressing issues (the aforementioned book, again).

Characters who repeatedly do stupid things, like sticking with someone's who is blatantly cheating on them or making self-destructive decisions that are obviously just going to come back to haunt them later.

Characters who don't ever help anyone out. If someone who deserves help is in trouble and the MC doesn't help them then then... grrr.

Plots that are too convoluted.

Plots that are too simple... if I can see what's going to happen it has to be really exciting or I'm going to quit.

I'm sure there are more but these are all that come to mind at the moment xD Pretty standard gripes ;P
 
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_Sian_

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It annoys me how in most books, no matter the genre, how if the protagonist meets a new main character of the opposite sex they almost always fall in love. I mean, sheesh.

This annoys me too, so I like it when there's more than one possibility for romantic interest. I remember reading the first Kate Daniels book, and I thought there was a possibility she might end up with Curran (who she does end up with, six books later), but there was also equal possibility she could end up with other guys.

She was physically attracted on a surface level to a couple of them. Which is much more realistic to me than the whole "oh, this guy is the love interest, we're going to only describe him in sexual terms."

There are plenty of guys that I find myself attracted to on a surface level. Doesn't mean I'm going to hook up with them. And I don't think that surface level of attraction would be wiped out if I was in a relationship.
 

hikarinotsubasa

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Plodding through a book right now that sometimes reads like this:

I woke up. It was cold. I looked out the window. There was snow on the ground. It must have snowed overnight. I got back into bed.

That rapidfire "This happened, then this happened," without any sensory details or reason to care. *sigh*
 

robjvargas

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The upper right corner of the page.

That's where my finger goes to separate the page for turning, and that corner paper-cuts me right at the first joint of my index finger.
 

Buffysquirrel

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Hahaha, how long have you got?

Nothing happens. I mean I read Look to Windward recently, and not only does nothing happen, nobody expects anything to happen, either. And when one little thing does happen, maybe it was all imaginary anyway. Book, meet wall.

Book sets up situations that then don't happen, or emphasises apparent plot points that don't lead anywhere (I'm looking at you, Sunshine, with all the flipping baking. And baking. And more baking.)

Nobody in the book is worth caring about but the author is oblivious.

There are no apparent goals and the characters wander over the landscape at random.

Brothels. Lately, I am really sick of brothels in books.
 

jaksen

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Hahaha, how long have you got?

Nothing happens. I mean I read Look to Windward recently, and not only does nothing happen, nobody expects anything to happen, either. And when one little thing does happen, maybe it was all imaginary anyway. Book, meet wall.

Book sets up situations that then don't happen, or emphasises apparent plot points that don't lead anywhere (I'm looking at you, Sunshine, with all the flipping baking. And baking. And more baking.)

Nobody in the book is worth caring about but the author is oblivious.

There are no apparent goals and the characters wander over the landscape at random.

Brothels. Lately, I am really sick of brothels in books.

Haha, haven't read a 'brothel book' in years.

But one other thing, if you are finding lots of books annoying, try reading another genre. Sometimes in one genre things do get repetitious. For ex., I've read so many mysteries I can see a clue or red herring a mile away. I hate that. When I watch a mystery-type movie, I'm the one saying, okay I know how this will end. I know who did it, etc. It bugs my family no end and so often (not always) I am right. I did this with the movie, Shutter Island. At the very first scene I knew the whole story - or its central idea. No one believed I hadn't read a review or the book, but I hadn't. And I saw the movie when it first came out.

Annoying often comes from: read this, seen this, etc. Also, if you're accustomed to exciting, fast-paced books, then a slower one, with emphasis on characters and their interactions with each other, or how they make bread, can seem real s l o w.

So lately I've drifted into women's-oriented literary, reading Pulitzer winners, etc. I'm finding it slow-going, and some books I've simply set aside, never to finish. I'm also trying some historical stuff, some self-published books, and some hard sci-fi, some YA.

But if it's truly annoying, try a diff. book. Life is too short.
 

Buffysquirrel

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When I watch a mystery-type movie, I'm the one saying, okay I know how this will end. I know who did it, etc. It bugs my family no end and so often (not always) I am right.

Hahaha my husband does this, but I've (mostly) trained him to ask first if it's okay to tell us what'll happen. The one time I managed to trump him was with Thirteenth Floor where I figured things out before either him or the protag. But yeah, knowing how books are structured leads to this. But it also leads to irritation when the book isn't structured *right*.

I did a round-up of last year's reading in my lj (link below) recently and it is fairly varied, although with a bias towards SFF. I just don't understand where all these brothels are coming from ;).
 

Wilde_at_heart

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Whiny, histrionic or woe-is-me characters. If you have to include them, please kill them off.

Clumsiness in an FMC. It hasn't been charming since Julia Roberts rom-coms turned it into a cliché 20 years ago.
 

Little Anonymous Me

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Characters who are too stupid to live. One that's had me foaming at the mouth lately are characters who are so moral and just that they can't bring themselves to tell the whitest of lies...even when it would prevent future harm/save lives/etc. And they are then rewarded for their stupidity and praised for doing the right thing, and there's nary a mention of 'If you'd done X instead of Y, Bob would still be alive.'


*howl of rage*
 

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When the power of friendship is enough to destroy an evil that has lurked, murdered, maimed, and manipulated for literally hundreds or thousands of years. I read mostly horror, and if you give me an antagonist that is almighty and all-powerful, I'll call shenanigans when love and friendship and close personal bonding turns into kryptonite in the final hundred pages.
 

Blinkk

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I just set down some stupid book called...ehh...what was it called? The Dragonbone Chair, I think? Can't even remember the author. The first hundred pages consisted of nothing but a stupid castle dish-washing boy who messed everything up and got beatings from his superior maid/adoptive-mom/person-thing. The MC couldn't do anything right, and I wasn't rooting for him because he was stupid. I guess he was destined for some great adventure that I never joined him in. Good riddance.

Please make me like your MC. This is such a basic concept I'm surprised when authors can't grasp it.
 

folclor

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Hmm... well, my list is a bit shorter, I think, but I'll add it.

-When the story is about interaction with a monster (specifically vampires or werewolves) and the author romanticizes the monster. If done right it's okay but... they're supposed to be terrifying creatures that have the intent of ripping humans apart on sight. If the vampire wants to use his/her charm to lure in humans, that's great, but once it turns into a romance I'm out.

-Mary Sues or Gary Stus. When MC can't do a single thing wrong... even when s/he does! I find this more often in YA than anything else, but this type of MC is a complete turn off to me as a reader.

-Changing things the stated sequence of events in a prequel. For a long time I hated prequels with a passion because the only prequels I knew of were those that purposely changed what happened in a big way from what was previously stated to have happened in the original series or book.
 

adm

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I often wonder how many people really move back home after some life changing event that leaves them broke or heartbroken. Instead of sleeping on a relative's sofa, they usually find a very private room in the home of a senior citizen. In these small towns, a beautiful woman or man is living there and just happens to be single and just may be the MC's high school love interest.

I also get annoyed when people quit an incredible high paying jobs and are able to support themselves doing odd jobs.
 

Sonsofthepharaohs

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Things I find annoying... like, REALLY annoying, not just a bit irritating (typos are a bit irritating).

Romantic relationships that are totally devoid of chemistry or authenticity. The author tells us they love each other with such passion they would die for each other... but the reader can't help wondering what the hell they see in each other, as they seem to have nothing in common, no interaction, and sometimes hardly any screen time together at all.

If you want me to believe that the MC would gladly fuck up his entire life for the sake of the woman he loves, you gotta show me a glimpse of that love first. Otherwise I call it a plot device and false drama.
 

rwm4768

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I just set down some stupid book called...ehh...what was it called? The Dragonbone Chair, I think? Can't even remember the author. The first hundred pages consisted of nothing but a stupid castle dish-washing boy who messed everything up and got beatings from his superior maid/adoptive-mom/person-thing. The MC couldn't do anything right, and I wasn't rooting for him because he was stupid. I guess he was destined for some great adventure that I never joined him in. Good riddance.

Please make me like your MC. This is such a basic concept I'm surprised when authors can't grasp it.

I actually liked that series, though I will completely agree that the beginning of the first book was so painfully slow. The main character, Simon, also grows a lot over the course of the story, but it takes a lot of patience to get there.
 

Jamesaritchie

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It annoys me how in most books, no matter the genre, how if the protagonist meets a new main character of the opposite sex they almost always fall in love. I mean, sheesh.

Doesn't this happen to you on a regular basis?
 

Phaeal

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Totes normal, nothing-special character turns out to be THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SAVE THE ENTIRE WORLD. Usually after stumbling into a door/hole/vortex/etc. that appears out of nowhere.

I don't so much mind A ONE. That THE ONE bugs me.

Also gratuitous romance.

Also plot holes.

Also a lack of particulars, so that the milieu and characters remain a dull, generic gray.
 

Blinkk

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I actually liked that series, though I will completely agree that the beginning of the first book was so painfully slow. The main character, Simon, also grows a lot over the course of the story, but it takes a lot of patience to get there.

Ya know, I figured Simon had to grow throughout the book because he was so lame in the beginning. I just couldn't like him enough to get through it. He was too timid, naive, and air headed for me to care about him. Haha, sorry to rip on a series you enjoyed. I really gave it a good 100 pages, and that's a commitment from me. It just wasn't paying off.
 
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